Jessica Grant. Photography Portfolio

Transcription

1 Jessica Grant Photography Portfolio

2 This photo was for an assignment in capturing visual puns. Although this image is pretty straight forward, I think the colors in the water are visually interesting. Editing for this photo includes increasing the contrast and saturation. I used a fast shutter speed (1/1000 second) in order to freeze the motion of the water.

3 For this photo series I explored lighting and reflections. While working with this glass, I kept my f-stop at 5.6 in order to maintain a shallow depth-of-field. I had to pay special attention to what was in the background and behind me because it showed up in the glass. I used a single light source with an umbrella for this photo. I also experimented with different colors. The blue is a reflection of a binder.

4 By this point in the semester I had learned a lot about lighting and how to set up my subjects. However, I still was not very comfortable with posing people and asking them to look a certain way. If I were to shoot this again, I would ask her to smile more, because in this photo she appears a bit smug. I do like the lighting in this image, which was a single umbrella light. I converted this image to black-and-white and toned down the red. I also dodged her eyes.

5 I believe this is my favorite image from this course. I was trying to model the works from Martin Schoeller, a portrait photographer with National Geographic (example below). He uses two vertical lights on either side of the camera. As I did not have those lights, I used an umbrella light on each side of the camera. His expression seems very genuine and searching. I converted the image to blackand-white to emphasize the contrast between his skin and hair.

6 I had done research about ring lights and thought they made a really cool effect, so I was excited when I got to use a ring light for a week. However, it turns out that my expectations did not meet reality. The photos I had looked at online had been highly manipulated. In order to get the effect where the catchlight filled my iris, I would have needed a much larger right light. This was one of the better photos from the shoot. I purposefully overexposed it and desaturated the image except for my eye.

7 For this image I used two lights: an umbrella light in front of his face and one to the side. I think it is an effective set-up. I especially appreciate the way the light falls on his shoulder. If I were to shoot this again, I would remove the umbrella light from behind his head. One of the things I learned from this class is the difference between hard and soft lighting and how to create that. By shooting through the umbrella, instead of the light reflecting off it, I think it has a soft yet bright look.

8 While doing research on different photography techniques this semester, I learned that my camera can do multiple exposures. I had always thought I could only do them in Photoshop. My camera can, in fact, combine as many as 9 takes into one image. In this picture of the bike path east of town, two images are combined. One is right side up and the other upside down. The tunnel was a critical element in this picture, as without a tripod it would have been difficult otherwise to make it me so symmetrical. Converting it to black-and-white really highlighted the geometry and texture.

9 I shot this in the studio using two soft boxes. I was again striving for the look of Martin Schoeller. I found the front lighting a little bit trickier to work with, as for me it made the image feel like a driver s license. I cropped her face in half to make it a bit more artistic and lead the viewer to her eye. I do like the catchlights in this image. If I were to shoot this again, I would introduce more light. Although my f-stop was fairly open at 5.6, my ISO was 2000.

10 The photo to the left was my attempt at a recreation of the image below by Tobias Muller. I used a single light for this image, but we realized on closer inspection that Muller actually used two lights for his. Positioning the light, in regards to height and distance from the fork, was the most difficult part of this project. I used a cardboard background, but think something smoother would have more resembled Muller s. Overall, I am pleased with the final results.

11 I had seen HDR photography before, but even after this project I am still torn of whether or not I like the effect. I think for some situations it can turn out well, but it can be overdone. I learned that if the setting does not have extreme differences in lighting, it will not turn out the best. This image is a composite of five photos, all with f/11. The exposure time varies from 1/4 second up to 30 seconds, with ISO remaining at 100. I also learned that if there are any specks on the camera lens, they will be magnified in the final image. I had to Photoshop quite a few spots out. If I were to reshoot this, I would definitely take more time to check my composition. It would be a much stronger image if the top of the chapel had not been cut off.

12 This image is one of the last I created in this class, and holds a certain appeal for me. It is a double exposure I created in Photoshop using the images on the right. I like how the feathers can still be seen in the wings, as well as the stars. The image of the bird was a natural fit for double exposure, as it was a dark subject against a bright background.