Artist Statement

In my portfolio, you will find a lot of growth in my camera and artistic skills. I have grown a lot from learning compositional tricks to taking images in my mind and making them visible on Photoshop. My camera knowledge has drastically increased this year and I can see that in my portfolio. My art vocabulary has expanded as well as you can tell in my statements below every picture. My digital photo portfolio grew over time as I learned more and more about how to use the tools more accurately.
I feel very impressed with my portfolio. I would have to say from not knowing much about the camera and nothing at all about Photoshop, I have grown a lot this year. My mind has opened up to another side of the art world. It feels like I’ve been in one city of art and taking this class has showed me a whole new one. I never really took photography as art I used to think it was just taking picture and putting them everywhere, but I know now that it’s a lot more challenging then that. Its just as challenging as drawing and painting. I liked my surrealism project the most. I like to look at this project the most because in my opinion this photo shows the most growth I’ve had in Photoshop. I feel most successful with learning the tools and ways to use Photoshop. Photoshop is just as difficult as any other medium and actually makes you think in the process. So at first this was challenging and I didn’t know how I was going to get it, but as I kept going at it I learned and now its simple.
I struggled with learning the tools and functions on the camera. The names were very confusing and I first thought I wasn’t going to get it. But luckily enough, I had a great teacher that made everything a lot easier to understand. So, by having that I was able to learn a lot more and use more with the camera. I don’t really use “Auto” on a camera anymore I always turn it to “Program” or in some cases ill use “Aperture” or “Shutter Speed”. I like to set everything to look nice myself just so I make sure that the camera doesn’t set it on a bad setting when I could have had a better one on program.
All in all, I have improved in my camera and Photoshop skills tremendously. I have learned more in this Subject then I have in any other subject this year. I’m glad I was able to learn more about photographs and take them myself. My influences would have to be other artists. I would see when they produced in the process and I would want to do similar projects to put out there that I can do it too. This was a great year for me, I had a lot of growth and my mind has opened up, which opened a whole lot more of opportunities.

Personal Metaphor "The Diary Of Diaries"

(" The Diary Of Diaries")

I chose this metaphor because everyone can trust me with anything they tell me. Just about everyone i know, knows that they can tell me something and it will never leave me. People can trust me with words, so they always come to me when they want to get something out or just talk. So by The Diary Of Diaries", its an exaggeration. A diary holds people secrets and thoughts about everything and anything they want it to. Some peoples diaries are there most treasured possession. So I referred myself as a diary because if a diary of diaries existed, I'm sure it would be twice as more secretive about everything.

I think my idea was a good one. I Put diaries everywhere on the page and then i put me as one on top representing that I am on top. I by putting more diaries i could have enhanced the picture more, making it more interesting to look at. i only put a few because i didn't want to over flow the whole page making it too busy. But when I see it now i think i should have put at leased 4 more. The most difficult part about this project was figuring out how I'm going to put it on a computer. I had no clue how i was going to put everything together making it look like the metaphor. This wasn't my favor project. I think more time is necessary for a project like this. I am not very Proud of this particular project because it went all too fast and wasn't really too much time to think it out all the way. I had to think about it as i went. So this isn't my best project but it was an experience.

Shutter Speed

The settings were set for specifically a dark place. The aperture was set to its lowest setting. We set the ISO to about 400 that way more light would go in. We also set the shutter speed to go off in 10 seconds allowing us to move and create something with the light. I'm actually really glad we did this project. i really like this function on the camera it may be my favorite. i like using the faster part of the shutter speed rather then the slower though. ISO and Aperture allow more light to enter the camera so that way the picture will come out lighter.

ISO: Film Speed

ISO is the function that controls the speed of light that is let into a camera before taking the picture. The difference between flash and ISO is flash makes your photograph brighter by a flash of light taking some color out of your picture and flattening the image. ISO makes your picture brighter but digitally. It makes everything it sees lighter without a light. So its guessing what the picture would look like if it was lighter. You would use your ISO rather then flash because it makes your picture more realistic and photographic rather then a snapshot. It leaves colors in your picture rather then taking colors out. When you use ISO you have to watch out for the grainy-fuzzy after effect. It leaves your picture very blurry and uneasy to see.

Fill In Flash Experiment

Fill in flash is where you turn the flash on event though its already light, to fill in shadows that are too dark. You would use fill in flash when your background is too light and when you focus the camera, you come out dark. By using the fill in flash, you make yourself brighter without damaging the background too much. In my first two pictures, the sun was right behind me making me really dark. So then the flash was turned on and it made me brighter so you can see me better. In the last two, the shadow on her face made it somewhat difficult to see her face, so by turning the flash on, it removed the hard shadows.

Metering

The light meter is a function in the camera where wherever the camera is focused on, will be lighter then where its not. For example, in the first picture i focused on her skin, telling the camera that i want her to be the focus in the camera, therefor making her lighter. In the second picture, I metered on the computer screen telling the camera to make the screen the lighter part of the camera. Spot metering can help by making objects lighter in shadows when they have a bright back ground.

Surrealism: Decisions

The whole idea of the ball in the middle is a decision. It represents decisions that have to be made and that are made everyday regardless of the situation. The tiger in the middle represents a strong and more stubborn part of me. The fire around the tiger represents how strong that decision may influence my life. Fire is a powerful thing and can destroy pretty much everything. So that also represents a bad kind of karma. The circle behind the fire is more of a bright color because that represents good karma. There is always something good and bad about a decision so I decided to put both of them in it, so that way both of them could be recognized. The wings on the outer part of the ball are there to show that the decision can go anywhere. Birds fly in the air and they can go where ever, nothing is in there way like there are on the ground. On the ground there are blocks and houses and boundaries, in the air there is no such thing. So I put the wings on the ball to show that what ever I’m deciding, its my decision and I can do what ever I want with it, I have no boundaries, the decision can lead to wherever I let it go. They symbol in the back with the curved lines sticking out of it represents strength and also my mentality.
By me holding the ball, that shows that the decision is in my hands. Its my choice to do what I want with it. I know the good and bad about it and I have to figure out witch way to let it go. Since its going in the air, I have no boundaries; I can do what ever I feel like doing with it. I’m looking down at it because I’m making a decision about what to do with it. The thought of how important a decision is and the positive and negative consequences that will happen fun through my mind. The hands at the bottom represent what I want, whether its good or bad, there trying to grab it from my hands but I faded them out to show that even though I feel rushed to make a decision, I don’t let the people or idea influence my decision, I still make it completely mine.
The colors in the background represent consequences of making a decision. The darker colors showing the negative and the lighter colors showing the positive. The reason I put the light around the ball is because all of the choices I make are mainly to bring out the light in things. That’s why I had the light start to fade the dark out. All of the colors in the light and shadow represent different consequences that can happen. There isn’t just one or two things that can happen to a decision there are many things that can happen to it.

Surreal Practice Tutorials

We then followed this tutorial found at http://www.voidix.com/eye_manipulation.html to give us ideas and practice combining images, reversing natural laws, transforming objects and using Photoshop to create a realistic surrealistic scene.

I really liked how this image looks surreal as a photograph. I'm used to seeing paintings in this style so its interesting to see something done on Photoshop that is surreal. I didn't really learn much because i already knew how to do a surreal piece. I knew what it consists of and what there mainly about.

We prepared for our surreal project by practicing different techniques we may want to use in our projects. In this tutorial we learned the value of layering textures using blending options to create an atmosphere with dream like qualities.

On this project, it was pretty much the same. I learned how to put overlays into my picture and how all the layer styles worked. I did like how the last project came out more then i liked this one.

Graduation Program

I think i did everything very well. I like everything about this one. I like how i made the purple seem soft and not too put out there. The letter font makes it seem also like its an important event. I honestly don't think i would change anything, I'm very satisfied with this one. Graphic design isn't all that easy but it also isn't all that hard. If the right materials are provided then the only difficult part is arranging the composition. The most important part of graphic design is making the subject the emphasis without making it too dramatic. I would suggest just giving your future classes more information about the event itself. The more information, the more they will understand what they are trying to put out there.

Alternate Program: Academic Program

I think the colors i chose stand out more then the others. I wanted something that would contrast so purple and yellow were the best choices. I wasn't to happy with the results. i would have wanted another image of the school as the back ground but i wasn't able to fine a good one. I chose the clouds as a background with texture added to it so that the back ground wouldn't be so boring and plane. I struggled with coming up with an idea the most. I didn't know what to do with anything or where to put everything. That was mainly the hard part.I definitely did the Graduation program the best.

Effects

I liked the Cross process best (The one at the bottom) because it brings out the colors more. it also makes the colors a alot darker then what they were before. It makes all the colors contrast better and brings a more artistic feeling to it.

Frames

I mainly like the bottom photo more because i like the intense light. also my position has a relaxed feeling to it. I also like the one on top but i would have chosen to use the black side of it if i were to retake the photo. it would have created better contrast. If i could get rid of the white behind me in the bottom photo i think that would have made the photo more artistic. it somewhat random. if it wasn't there the focus would be completely on me, but it feels like there some competition with me and then white behind me.

Color!

i do like my colored shots because they have all the color your going to find in the area. it was dificult to find color where we are at. they also haev an artistic feel to them. there not just quick snapshots. You can tell that some kind of thought was put into it and it wasnt rushed.

In the future, i probably would have chosen a different area to take the pictures, somewhere with more color. also id probably chose different poses to make the photo more interesting.

Balance: Asymmetrical Vs. Symmetrical

Asymmetrical balance is where the photograph isn't the same on both sides. It cant be split in half and still be the same image.

Symmetrical is where everything on both sides of the photograph is the same. on a symmetrical photo, it can be cut in half and be the same image.

Visual balance is important because it has a lot to do with the composition. if there is no visual balance then the composition will be off and will most likely feel as if the photo is tilting to one side. all the attention will be going to only one part of the photo and not the whole thing.

Group Collaberation

The most difficult part of this photo was dealing with WHAT exactly we were going to do. we had to think fast and take the picture perfect being that we had a limited amount of time. it was difficult because not ever one was giving too much input. coming up with a good back ground was also somewhat difficult. we didn't want to make the back ground too busy or too plain. if i did this different i would probably just find a new back ground. and depending on what back ground it was maybe id figure out different, more artistic poses.