Photo Assignment #7: Open
For the seventh and final photo assignment, I wanted to do a special project. That's why I chose to do the "open" assignment. For this project, I want to take four parallel photographs to represent each of the four classical elements: earth, air, water, and fire. In the process, I would explore which type of photography is best for capturing each element. The combined photo, along with each individual photo, is shown below.
"Earth" Photo / Still Life
"Air" Photo / Motion
"Fire" Photo / Light Painting
No edits were made to improve this photo because it looked awesome to begin with and there was nothing I needed to do to improve it.
The main thing I got out of this photo assignment was getting to experiment with a bunch of different photography techniques in order to create a final synthesis project. For earth, by far the simplest element to capture, I just took a standard still life photo. For air, I needed to capture motion, so I used a shutter speed that allowed me to capture motion blur on some of the blowing leaves and freeze frame on others. For water, I used high-speed photography to capture the water mid-splash, thus creating an interesting and dynamic image. Finally, for fire, I needed to capture the faint light of a rapidly moving alcohol flame. In order to do this, I chose to take a light painting photograph by slowing down my shutter speed immensely. The final result of my work was an awesome synthesis of four parallel photos, each one utilizing a different technique to capture a different element.
Best Photo
"Earth" Photo / Still Life
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| Edited Photo Adjusted Contrast, Brightness, and Saturation |
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| Original Photo Aperture: f/8.0 Shutter Speed: 1/25 ISO: 800 |
In this photo, I had to spend a lot of time adjusting the brightness and the contrast. Unlike the other two "white background" images, Earth had a white floor and a grey wall, which made it look out of place. In order to correct for this, I had to do major brightness adjustments. In addition, I made a routine saturation boost to make the plant look more vibrant.
"Air" Photo / Motion
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| Edited Photo Combination of Multiple Photos |
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| Original Photo Aperture: f/4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/320 ISO: 800 |
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| Original Photo Aperture: f/4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/320 ISO: 800 |
The main photoshop I did to improve this photo was combining multiple other images to create it. I didn't get any air photographs that had enough leaves blowing around, so I used the layer stack technique from the Multiple Me assignment to add leaves from other images into the main one. I also made routine adjustments to brightness, contrast, and saturation to improve the overall quality.
"Water" Photo / High Speed
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| Edited Photo Adjusted Crop, Brightness, and Coloration |
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Original Photo
Aperture: f/4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/320 ISO: 800
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To improve this photo, I first had to adjust the crop. This image was too far zoomed in when compared to the others, so I had to "zoom out" by placing it on a larger background. In addition, I made routine adjustments to the brightness. Finally, I added a blue tint to the water to give more of a "watery" feel.
"Fire" Photo / Light Painting
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| Original Photo Aperture: f/4.0 Shutter Speed: 2.0 ISO: 100 |
The main thing I got out of this photo assignment was getting to experiment with a bunch of different photography techniques in order to create a final synthesis project. For earth, by far the simplest element to capture, I just took a standard still life photo. For air, I needed to capture motion, so I used a shutter speed that allowed me to capture motion blur on some of the blowing leaves and freeze frame on others. For water, I used high-speed photography to capture the water mid-splash, thus creating an interesting and dynamic image. Finally, for fire, I needed to capture the faint light of a rapidly moving alcohol flame. In order to do this, I chose to take a light painting photograph by slowing down my shutter speed immensely. The final result of my work was an awesome synthesis of four parallel photos, each one utilizing a different technique to capture a different element.
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