MM 142 - Post.05

Hello again! This past Thursday I turned in an assignment and today I'm here to share it with you. The objective of the assignment was to find either a quote, verse, song lyric, bathroom graffiti, or anything that was verbal or written inspiration. Then, gather photos and compile them into a final image that represents the theme conveyed in the passage. After a weekend of thinking and pondering various sources I came up with "Not all who wonder are lost". You may be familiar with this quote, it is taken from J.R.R. Tolkiens book trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. I took this quote and derived the image below. Let me know if you can decipher the meaning of the quote in it. Also share any other comments you might have as well... "David, you're insane" is also a plausible comment assuming you feel it applies.




In Him,
d.price

MM 142 - Post.04

Well I managed the presentation of my last assignment. Thanks for the all the contribution and comments, it really help me feel prepared and confident.

The next assignment asked for a photo utilizing unique lighting usage. I chose to go downtown and shoot some long exposure photos of various cityscapes. The following are the semi-finalist from all my photos and from these I chose the winning photo to be handed in. Pick the photo, which in your opinion, best accomplished the assignment topic.

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

6:

7:

8:

In Him,
d.price

MM 142 - Post.03

Next assignment - I have to say it was kinda a mystery to me. I was confused conserning what the instructed wanted. A normal person would have asked clarifying question, but not me. I go ahead and shoot 40 or so photos of a fire hydrant compile them together during class and then ask (after the fact) if this is what he was looking for. In retrospect this could have been a disaster if the teacher hadn't said "yeah, looks good".

Anyway, Below is the turned in assignment. I would tell you what the assignment was, but frankly I am still uncertain. So from the perspective of (does this look good?) what do you think? I am interested in your opinion...




...I have to present this to the class for a critique next Tuesday.

dp

p.s. I do know that our instructor did want us to use various filters and such in this assignment.

Audience Participation "Round 3"

Here is a photo I shot back on July 1st, 2006. Share your thoughts as to WHY or WHY NOT it is a good photograph. Also if you spot anything in the photo that is intriguing to you please share.



If you find yourself speechless then please just leave a ( * ) to ( ***** ) rating.

In Him,
d.price

MM 142 - Post.02

Assignment 1:

Capture 5 photos depicting the words below.

Square


Circle


Triangle


Waves


Star


Please share you comments on whether you think I fullfilled the assignment. Let me know which one you think best describes its word.

In Him,
d.price

Off Camera Flash

The following photo was taken at a welcome party for our pastor's family who just moved up here from TX.

For this photo I used a Slow Sync technique along with the off camera flash, I had a friend manually discharge my SB-600 Speedlight from the right of my subject. Because he was shooting through a decorative latus it caused a interesting set of shadows across the photo. Also, due to the slow shutter speed of my camera, the photos blurry quality creates more interest and mystery to the picture.

Camera Settings:
shutter - 2"
ISO - 400
f/stop - 3.5
focal distance - 18mm




The next two photos utilized the same "off camera flash" technique just from different angle.





If you don't have an external flash unit, but have two "point and shoot" cameras you can achieve the same results by turning off the flash assist on your primary camera and slowing your shutter and using your secondary camera's flash for your key lighting

In Him,
d.price

MM 142 - Post.01

I have completed my first week of classes at the local community college and one of the classes I am taking is MM (multimedia) 142. This class is a digital photography class. It will be the first and possibly the only photography class I take in my life. I thought that over the course of the semester I would share my assignments with you and display my projects (photos) as they become available. As I post my projects, feel free to contribute comments concerning any thoughts you might have.

This sequence should inspire me to post more often. Hopefully my assignments won't be a complete bore

In Him,
d.price

Pitch Black + .45 ACP + 2" exposure =

Okay, it wasn't actually pitch black, but it would have worked better if it had been. In acquiring this photo I was able to use my new Nikon 80-200 F2.8D AF lens. It wasn't a must, but it allowed me to not have to stand too close.

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Black Olive

Black Olive Photographic is a studio I am apart of. We have just launched our web site and I have a public portfolio of my work. To view it you can either navigate to it via the link in my links menu or click on the link below to go directly.

My Portfolio

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SB-600

I know it has been a long time but I am here to tell you about a new "tool" I have picked up and started using with my camera. A few days back I picked up my first external flash unit. Nikon has dubbed it the "SB-600 Speedlight". Since my puchase I have enjoyed several key features included.

#1: Power!

#2: 270 degree swival head

#3: Power!

#4: and again Power!

Now there is a lot included within the word "Power" that I am not specifying. With the "power" of the flash I'm am able to do short burst whereas with my on camera flash I am crippled to one shot at a time. The other aspects of Power is the range of the flash. It is capable os being effective up to 98 ft. Power also comes into play for the use of the swival head. with that feature I am able to use flash everywhere indoors and bounce the light off of walls, ceilings, and even floors if need be.

Here is a picture of my dog taken with my new flash unit. the light is bounced of an adjacent door (right). with this lighting, pleasing shadow detail is created on the left side of her face




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a slow approach to lightning

A couple of nights past I had the opportunity to sit on my deck and enjoy several hours of magnificent lightning. I had my camera ready of course. That night it recieved quite a work out as I kept it clicking away constantly. However, because of the quick nature of lightning it is virtually impossible to predict and therefore created problems for photographing.

My own personal solution included a way for me to enjoy the lightning as a person while also taking pictures of it. Usually I am faced with the problem of disassociating myself with my subject and therefore never fully enjoy the actual moment. With this lightning store it was a different case. I shot from the hip that night. I also used very slow shutter speeds. By using long exposures I could point my camera toward the activity and during the 10 seconds I could sit back and enjoy the lightning. By using this method I was able to capture the photo below along with others.


Nikon D50
10 sec (shutter)
50mm MF
ISO 200
f6


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Panarama

This is a compilation of 9 photos I shot of a sunset after a storm. This is the view from the back of our house.



I owe getting this picture to my sister who heckled me to come and look at this sunset. Thinking I had seen about every sunset out there I wasn't too enthusiastic when she told me to I should get a picture of this one. I took one look, grabbed my camera and came back and took the 9 pictures which make up this wonderful scene.

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Audience Participation "Round 2"

here is the second photo in the series.



If you find yourself speechless then please just leave a ( * ) to ( ***** ) rating.

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A Turning Point

Someone asked me a while back, why I started watermarking my photos. I have a clear answer to give, ownership. I have met many people who refuse to acknowledge the rights belonging to a person to own a work they have created, or in my case captured. Many people justify, their actions of appropriating photos for personal or commercial use by saying “I could have done this”. Well if this is true I would recommend to them that they do just that. If photography or other forms of art were simple or easy to replicate, it wouldn’t be rare, it wouldn’t be sought after, and people would never pay for it.

As a photographer I spend a lot of time behind the camera taking pictures of various people and their daily expressions. I often get weird looks and crazy stares but it is what I enjoy doing. However this dedication to the art of photography allows me to capture distinct facial expressions, even as it disassociates me from congenial interaction. The benefits received by me staying glued to the back of the camera are; un-posed, purely original, and truly keepsake photographs. I prefer to take candids for this very reason but often people assume that I am merely doing it for my own entertainment and that I am willing to shoot anything because of this enjoyment.

As a photographer striving to start a studio, I am faced with the challenge of promoting myself professionally and often times come across as protective and snobbish. This is not the case, I am very eager and happy to provide photos to people who ask, but appreciate people who realize the cost of time and money, past and present, I have spent in the ability to provide memorable photos.

To end this note, I would like to thank all those of you, who have acknowledged and appreciate what I have been and am doing.

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Audience Participation "Round 1"

I am starting a regular posting that will include a strange or not so strange photo that everyone can share opinions about. Please speak your mind. This will only be interesting if people participate.

here is the first photo in the series.


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Macro photography with any lens

well folks, it was a mystery to me a couple of weeks ago, however when thinking about it for a moment I could see how it would work. By simply holding a lens backwards in front of a SLR camera a photographer can achieve stunning macro capability with any lens. The two photos below were taken with ordinary lenses held backwards to my DSLR.

Taken with Vivitar 85-205mm f3.8 MF (backwards)


Taken with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 MF (backwards)



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Fast enough to stop!

Well, I have just acquired a new lens for my Nikon D50. It is a 50mm f1.8D Nikkor lens. 50mm on any Nikon Digital SLR is actually 75mm due to the digital sensor size.

Anyway my main attraction to this lens was that it had an aperture option of f1.8. What his means is that aperture of iris of the lens can be opened really wide, allowing a lot of light into sensor allowing for shooting capabilities in lower light situations.

These pictures below are some selections from numerous photos taken during this game of ping pong. My camera settings were 1/500 sec shutter, f1.8, 50mm, ISO 1600. If you notice, the subject maintains a very similar pose between the shots. It is almost like there was 2 photographers who took the photo at the same time.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think of my new lens.

Strength in numbers

Quantity is a real factor in taking nice pleasing candids. Even really good and experienced photographers don't get good photos 100% of the time, however they may get a higher percentage. The answer then is to shoot and keep shooting. The other night at a a local benefit talent show, I shot over 335 photos and out of those pictures I recovered 13 nice shots.

Senario:
The lighting was poor and flash was not a possibility. The only available lens that was fast enough for that lighting condition was a manual focus 50mm f1.8. Focusing manually can be a little difficult. specially when the camera it is attached too doesn't provide a focus aid. The majority of my problem was in focusing, however I did have some exposure issues as the lighting varied from act to act. The other factor to the night was I was confined to a single seat, it would have been weird to get up and move about for better angles and such.

Here are a few of my winners.







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School

Sorry folks, I have been busy with my first couple of weeks school. Hopefully I will have new cool school projects to post and various techniques to pass on. Keep in touch.

DP

The buy out!

Well folks "My Critical Thoughts" has been bought out by "My Critical Techniques". Not because I am so arrogent to think so highly of my technique, but because it really applied better to where I am going. When I first started this blog it was my intent to write more with images displaying my meanings. Well I hate writing, so it really ended up being a gallery of projects and stuff I have done, with a little bit of writing mixed in. Anyway it is no longer "My Critical Thoughts" but more oriented around my technique.

DP

Low Light

This photo was taken with my new camera.
Nikon d50
18-55mm f3.5-5.6G DX Lens

Specs:
Shutter - 30sec (tripod)
ISO Speed – 200
fStop – 5
Exposure Date 1.14.2006





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Posterization No.2

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Copyright 2006 David Price

Saturation

Saturation in a photograph can have a lot of emotion effects on how the image is perceived.

"normal"

This normal photo was taken mid day. I was using natural light (sun) and the person, the guitar, and the stones seem very bleak. I have several renditions of this photo below to illustrated the benefit of varying the saturation beyond the "normal" photo.

"high saturation"


"low saturation"


"black and white"

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copyright 2005 David Price

Posterization No.1

copyright 2005 David Price




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Cool Picture #3

copyright 2005 David Price

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Long Exposure

Here is a picture shot with my new DSLR. This photo was an experiment to see the noise level generated by this camera during long exposures. It was shot with a 6 second exposure time, a f10 stop, and a ISO speed of 200. I have to say I was amazed at the results. Take a look at the close up and let me know what you think




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copyright 2005 David Price

Cool Picture #2

Copyright 2005 David Price

More Illustrator

These are a few projects in illustrator I have done. I am still working on finishing up the girl published on previous posts. She is almost done.




Copyright 2005 to David Price


Above is the final project for my Illustrator class.

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Below is a new project I am working. It will hopefully make it to a 3' by 12' panarama print



Copyright 2005 to David Price


I am always interested in comments and critiques. Let me know your thoughts and please share any questions.


DP

All images, above and below, belong to David Price and cannot be used without his permission

G-Mesh update No. 1

Here is an update to the "After" picture posted on the previous post.



The obvious addition is the bag. The less obvious additions are the many little striped located on her jacket.

I am still NOT done with this illustration. I thought I would share with you the extent of this project. This illustration has a total of 12 layers right now. This doesn't sound like that many but this includes 12 Gradient Meshes, 161 Stripes, plus numerous shading items. Here is a screen capture of the lines involved in this illustration.




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Gradient Mesh

The art of gradient mesh is a new technique I have been experimenting with for a little while now. This tool is located within Adobe's Illustrator application.

I have been utilizing this technique in the reproduction/illustration of people. Gradient mesh is a simple but very tedious method of artistic computer illustration. below I have a picture showing my progress on a rather large project. I will probably upload some screen captures later on so you can see what is going on behind the surface of the picture.





































Of course this "After" picture is not a finished product by any means. It is just where I am at in the process of the entire illustration.

DP