Extra Credit - Halloween Assignment

For extra credit, we were asked to shoot in a graveyard with slow shutter speeds and set a person as your subject. I wasn't able to shoot during the week, but I downloaded the trial for Lightroom 2 and shot it today. I shot in the Sandy City Cemetery.

Again, I <3 tripod.

I'd like to give a shout-out to my little sister Katie for posing for most of the images. Major props to her for enduring through the cold to help me finish this assignment. Here are some of the highlights:














Here are my favorites from the assignments. I will probably print out a few of the best next week. My favorite of them all is definitely the last one. I love the contrast between the stone and the ground, and I love how it has a heavenly yet ghastly feel all packed into one thought-provoking image.

Lightroom Edit - Avery Celebration

Avery asked me to edit a photo of his triumphant victory after scoring the winning goal in a playoff soccer game. I gladly accepted.

Original photograph, taken by Michael Smith.



Edited by Blake Dover, click to make large.



Printed this for Avery on Tuesday. Great shot Michael!

Assignment #4 - High Key, Low Key

For this assignment, we were asked to photograph white objects on white backgrounds, and black objects on black backgrounds. I found this assignment extremely fun, and I will probably. Not because I didn't think I did a good job, but because it was a fun assignment to shot, and I can definitely see myself doing more photographs similar in nature to these in the future.

We used Manual Focus to shoot this assignment, and I love having control over the focus. The Auto Focus comes in handy when you need to take a few quick snapshots, but if you are setting up a shoot with a tripod and it is a set shot, then Manual Focus helps a ton.

Also, after this assignment, I have found the truth:

I <3 tripod


After

Before

After

Before



After

Before

After

There are my 4 before and afters. The reason for the big difference in the egg shot was that it was tough to get a sharp focus when I was at a high shutter speed, even with a tripod. I was shooting on carpet, so I chose one that was in focus, and edited accordingly.

Irving Penn

Irving Penn passed away today at 92 years old, and was known for his fashion photography and portraiture. Penn focused on very careful and precise arrangment of objects and people in place perfect for a shot. Also, his lighting and clarity of composition heavily defined his work.

Here is an example on how carefully aranged his subjects are in order to form good balance, contrast, and lighting given certain costumes and looks.

Here is another example. It is a simple photograph but it makes one think, and the addition of the ant gives one a sense of wonder in how it got there, why it's there, and will somebody accidentally eat the ant!

Assignment #3 - Before & After 4

The last before and after for this assignment, I did a little more editing on this one than the others. Specifically for this image, I increased the blacks so that most of the image is a black or a shade of grey, and the golf ball really stands out and shines, as well as a spot on the grass. The histogram may not look like a "good" histogram, but this image feels right to me, and it feels like this is how this photo was meant to be.

Before

After

Well, that's Assignment #3! 4 Before & After images using bracketing, and editing the "best" image from a single bracket shooting.

Assignment #3 - Before & After 3

For this set of Before and Afters, I simply edited the blacks, brought out the whites, and made the overall image lighter using the Fill Light tool. No major changes here, just some tuning.

Before

After

One more before and after to go on this assignment.

Assignment #3 - Before & After 2

Here is the second set of "Before & After" pictures from Assignment #3: Bracketing. For this particular image, I had to edit a little more of it than the golf balls, but the original still turned out well.

Before

After

There is the second set of Before & After shots of this assignment. I should have the other two up soon.

Assignment #3 - Before & After

For this assignment, we were supposed to find a object that wasn't moving, so we could "bracket" with it. What this means is that you start with a good exposure, and then have a set apeture or shutter speed, and then change the other format after each exposure. What you have after you finish bracketing is a range of over and under exposed photos, and you can judge which were the best photos by using and judging your histogram. I was lucky enough to shoot this assignment in North Carolina, and along with the photos from the bracketing assignment, I was able to shoot other photos that I wouldn't get here in Utah!


This photo of the golf balls was taken on the driving range of the Govenors Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. The first image is the original copy, and the second has a small bit of editing. The first exposure was very good, because I didn't have to edit much for there to be a good amount of white and black.


Original Exposure




Edited Exposure

So, I didn't do a lot of editing, I just increased the blacks and whites a little bit, and increased the recorvery and fill light by a little.