Self Portraits

For our Self-Portrait project we were to take three self-portraits. They were all to be in black and white, and they were all to capture a mood of some sort. We were also challenged to be as artistic as possible, and stay as far away from normal, cliche portraits that we see on personal pages etc. as possible.One had to use the rule of thirds as the base for the composition; One had to incorporate leading lines, and one had to be taken from a more extreme angle.

Taking these photos was very stressful. The whole time your thinking is this corny, does this look fake or is this artistic? I took many pictures over and over changing every little detail just in case it would make a big difference. We had to thhink in black and white the whole time because we took them in color. In all the stress though, I had a lot of fun. We took photos everywhere and anywhere. My most successful portrait the third photo but the next time I would probably show my face some more. Overall, it was very fun!

Compositional Tricks

I was proud of my first contact sheet; I think it came out very well. I think I did the best on the art of the words. The next time I will probably change the shapes of the photos and maybe the overall set up of the pictures to draw grab better attention. Of all the photos, my favorite is the leading lines because it takes the eye way down into the photo. Although, my favorite trick would have to be extreme angles because they can come out very interesting.

Extreme Angle

To take this photo I got on my back behind a set of computers on the floor. The positives about this photo was the shades of gray then a plane white light under the girl (and of course her facial expression). What i would have done differently is got higher or lower to take the photo. When you take extreme photos from extreme positions, it give it a dramatic feel.

Macro

On some cameras there is a function called macro; it goes in depth in the focus of your picture. Depth of Field is something that is involved in macro, which shows how far you can see behind your photo. You usually use macro when your focal point of your picture is somewhat small or you would like to "magnify" or get real close. The photo on the right is me favorite photo because I got deep into the sewer and not everyday do you see two flowers perfectly placed on top of mud and etc.

Compositional Trick #2: Leading Lines

Leading Lines draw you to the focus of the photo and takes you around the photo to explain the theme. The leading line is the pavement in the photo leading you down as far as you can see. I chose this leaing line because I love the way this concrete is shaped and it does acually go down quite far.

Compositional trick #1: Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is when the main focus of your photo is off to the sides of the photo. In using the Rule of Thirds you can never have the focus of the photo directly in the middle. How I used Rule of Thirds was, the girl that was in the elevator first looking back at the camera was up and off of the center.