Final Project

Through out this semester I have learned a lot about photography.  I have not only learned many different techniques to take nice photos but I have also learned the difference between what makes a photo one that is pleasing to look at and makes you want it and one that is not necessarily pleasing to look at and maybe you don't like it that much.  I have learned how to make sure that the photos I am taking are not the ones that someone is not going to want to look at but instead ones that people will want to look and maybe even one day buy.  I think that everyone hopes that someday someone will want to buy their photos. It’s funny, before taking this class I never even thought about photography as a career.  I always thought it was something you either had a nack for or you didn’t and I thought I didn’t.  But I have learned that you can teach yourself how to take amazing pictures how to tell when the moment is there and how to capture it they way you want to.  The photos that I chose to represent the work I have done and things I have learned throughout the semester are at the end of this post.  I chose these photos because I (like most other people) am my own worst critic and I am NEVER happy with anything I do.  However these photos are different, I even displayed them on my facebook page, because I am proud of these pictures.  I figure that if I am happy with these photos and proud of them then they show the progress I have made and what I have learned throughout the semester.  I definitely want to continue to study photography and I would love to expand my knowledge and experience about and with a camera.  When I was in high school I worked with a local photographer.  I didn’t do a whole lot but he took me under his wing and really showed me a lot of different things.  About a year ago he succumbed to pancreatic cancer and if it wasn’t for him and the time he spent showing me different things and teaching me what he taught me then I may not have even been interested in taking that class.  So I would love to at some point in the future take a series of photos and dedicate them to him, but I want to make sure that the photos really do him justice and this class has gotten me well on my way to being able to do that!

Composition

Composition is all about the way the objects you are choosing to photograph are arranged within that photo.  Some arrangements are more visually pleasing than other arrangements.  You can photograph one specific item and change where it lays within the photo to see the different variances. You will notice that some will work better than others.  Centering something is not always the best way to make a good picture.  Sometimes shifting it to one side or the other just slightly will make a huge difference in the way the picture turns out.  Using the rule of thirds or rule of nines can really help you develop a nice composition for the picture(s) you are taking.  Also making sure the photo is as simple as possible will really help, there doesn’t have to be a lot of things in the photo to make it a good picture, sometimes the really good ones are the ones that only have one or two objects in them.  I personally gravitate to pictures like this more than the busier pictures because quite often they have too much going on and it makes it hard to know what to focus on.  Whether you decide to take the photo in a landscape format or a portrait format also makes a big difference.  It can make or break a photo.  Basically finding the correct composition for a photo is a lot of trial and error when you first start off taking photos.  Until you learn all of the ins and outs and what works better with what setting.  

These last few weeks have been insane.  My boyfriend was in a bad car accident and we spent 5 days at Albany Medical Center and his car is totaled so I haven't had any time to take any photos. But this is what I learned about composition.