studio style

So anyway after looking at those pictures by Tennesson, and some that I've seen our Professor done, I decided to try this studio style photography. Only I really don't have any equipment but my camera and tripod. So I cut out a cleveland sage that I found around our house, and placed it on top of the sink on a black cardboard paper. I used a black shirt to make its surrounding all black. I know this is not the ideal way, but it was fun to experiment nonetheless. The rest I retouched on photoshop. The black that I used turned out to be not so black so I had to delete the background and replaced it with a painted black layer on photoshop. I then realized the stem were also not so green as the stem on the sage, so I mask the layer and made the stem greener to make it look more real. Anyhow, the image above is what I came up with.

Joyce Tenneson

online artist 3
date viewed: March 23, 2008

I found out about this artist as I was searching through photography books at Barnes and Noble. Her book titled Intimacy grabbed my attention. I thought the title alone was an attention grabber, and the book happened to be about flowers. Perfect, since I have been photographing a lot of smaller flowers for our school project lately. What I like about her style is that she gives the flowers personalities. Sort of like Georgia O' Keefe, the flowers take their own lives as they are put on the spot light through photography. I like how ever details is visible, such as I can flower the curve of a rose petal as the picture above and appreciate its beauty. With my photographs this is becoming to be what I'm trying to strive for, for finer details. I wish I can experiment more with different camera lenses to get the look that I want, but as of right now I don't have the means to do that. I feel like the more I'm getting into photography the more items on my list I want to purchase someday. However, I don't take things for granted. I feel like with my camera I have learned more about what kind of shots I like. The DMC Panasonic that I have had helped me develop keener eyes as far as looking for contrast within my pictures, learned more about apeture setting, white balance, and ISO. I've also been checking out a canon 30D at school that comes with a macro lens, and have been able to play around with that a little bit. I wish for my canon camera someday.
The other thing about Tenneson is that she shoots her pictures in a studio. The background is black, and I think that enables her images to stand out even more. I have been checking out light sets at the stores...even those can get expensive. Though I imagine you don't need a lot of lights to light up the flowers at a studio setting. I want to try doing this technique. Outdoors vs. indoors.

Cards

Accordian Cards





*inside the card


Classic Fold Card

So I finally finished working on my cards. I decided on making two accordian cards and one regular card. Most likely I wont have them by monday, but they are on order and should be arriving soon.

Through the windows...

I also took these images at camp pedleton. I played around with them a little bit with photoshop. I wanted certain object to be really saturated with colors, to make it stand out like the red frame of the window outside.

The strive for clarity

Trip to Camp Pedleton









"You have to be able to see the eyes," said Professor Small as we were laying down on our stomach to get a good shot of this lady bug. Clarity, details, I kept on thinking. One shot is not clear, second shot the bug is facing the other way, third shot is clear, but the eyes are not showing. Twenty shots later, my concentration is still, not even knowing the time was ticking. Forget about the time, I have a goal in mind...to get a good shot of this lady bug. My clothes are getting dirty, somehow it's not bothering me. This time all my shots are in raw, and I hope my images will be better. I don't want my images to be pixelated, I want good quality images. I want the saturation to be good, the images to be as focused as it could be, and the white balance to be right. Wow it's time to go already, time seemed to just passed away.

More shots from Del Dios Highway

The flowers on Del Dios Highway enchanted me...check out these new images. I really wanted to get more panos this time around.

John Szarkowski

Online artist 2
Date viewed: March 16, 2008

As I'm sitting here waiting for my hardware to be formatted, I decided to check out some photographers online. I came across this photographer, and the image above especially attracted me. As I start to become more into seeing photographs and also capturing images...I am becoming more aware of how I present the space within the bondaries of this rectangular shape. Sometimes when I am taking a picture I think about how well I can represent the image or the lanscape infront me. I like this picture because it gives you a sense of eternal space.

Rebecca Siminou

online artist 1
Date viewed: March 14, 2008

I have been really interested lately with the use of digital camera to capture images. I came across this artist once on Prof. Small's other class. I have seen here work on the ordover gallery at Balboa Park. I found her online site and started looking at the images. Besides nature, I am also interested in photographing people. I have started to photograph my daughter myself instead of going to those places such as picture people. Nothing wrong about going to those stores, but I feel photographing my daughter myself makes the picture more personal. Plus it gives me something to do anyway, and allows me to explore my creativity more.

One thing I like about Siminou's pictures was the use of foreground object. I like how she does the opposite, instead of making the closer object clearer the background becomes the focal point of the picture. There was one where, she had a water fountain as her foreground, then the two couples were on the background hugging. Eventhough the fountain was sharper, it was still clear that the two blurry images of a couple hugging were the main subject of the photograph. I want to create something like this, maybe with using my daughter as the subject, and I could also do this in some of my landscape pictures.

Del Dios Highway

On Saturday, I dragged my husband and my daughter with me to check out the flowers on Del Dios Highway. I have been hearing a lot about the wildflowers that are scattered on the mountains. Last time I tried looking for them I could not find them. This time we took the 5 South and exited Villa de la Valle exit. We headed east and turned right on the T road at the end. It was actually much easier finding them going this way because from a distance we could already see them. When we got there, there were other photographers taking shots of this amazing event. I never seen so many wildflowers in one location. Yellow, orange, puprple, and green...a burst of colors.

Pechanga Reservation

Today we went to the Pechanga Indian Reservation. It was my turn to drive this time. We got there just on time to meet with Mr. Willie Pink along with other Luiseno members, our classmates, and the anthropology class. We had two stops, first at the Luiseno Nursery, then we headed more towards the village.



Mr. Willie Pink showing us how strong this dried plant actually is.




We gathered here to learn more about the Luiseno Nursery. This area is use to help cultivate the native plants that are use for basket weaving, and other native plants such us, the elderberry that could actually be used to make flutes. Mr. Pink also told us the misconception that the main food source of Native Americans were the acorns..."the reason why the acorns survived was because nobody wanted to eat them."





Then we drove about half a mile to a Luiseno Village.





I was mesmerized by the strength of these live oaks. Their branches seemed to stretch in different directions that made me feel relatively small in size.


A hut



It is amazing that the hut above was made from this mulefat. Mr. Pink told me that this plant is also use to make arrow shafts.


Mohave plant...they sort of remind me of leaves of a palm tree.



Mr. Pink telling us the different kinds of willows.


Jessica from the anthropology class holding a juncus, which are also use for basket weaving.

As the sun started to set down, it was time to leave. As we drove off...I could still hear Mr. Pink saying, I would not be proud to be the last one because..."to be the last one means, you have failed to teach."

Daley Ranch

So on Saturday, my family and I were heading to the mall. When we got at the lot, I felt like I did not want to go inside the mall. We were just going to end up spending anyway. So then I thought maybe it will be nice if we check out Daley Ranch instead. Never been there before. It turned out to be this long trail, where you can go up the mountain, then down...it seemed endless. We got all the way to the top, then decided to go downward. Part of the trail was muddy. Nice walk nonetheless. Watch out for illegal trails as posted on a flyer. Some people created these illegal trails, that are unstable and just not safe to go through. We were about to go down the mountain, but my husband swore he saw a cayote. Found out there is also a lake around there, and a campground. Maybe next time we'll go camping. I have been wanting to take my daughter camping.

My daughter May May



Found these beautiful flowers on the side of the trail.



Panoramic view... facing south