Essay 6

Ever since the first time I looked at this image after taking it a year and a half ago at Chilifest, I have been completely entranced by it. Naturally it has plenty of symbolic meaning to me because it includes so many of my favorite things (Texas, country music, people, and the outdoors), but I've also always loved the composition of it. There are several compositional elements that make it great, but the four that I believe are most monumental are the lighting, the emphasis, the balance, and the rhythm.

This photo was taken at dusk on a perfect spring evening. The sun was low in the sky and cast a perfect glow on all the other concert-goers around me. Because the sun was so low and because it was dusk, the glow that it emits is a perfectly warm and comfortable glow that one can't help but wish to be included in. Since all of the people in the photo are around the same size, the light is evenly distributed and nowhere in the photo lacks this warmth.

Another factor that adds to the comfort of the photo is the emphasis of the flag isolated in the center. For those who have a lot of state patriotism, this photo is much more meaningful. Even to those who do not have a lot of Texas pride, they can easily see that this photograph is representative of the pride that we have. The photo is split horizontally through the middle and the flag is located in the center of a lot of open space which puts much emphasis on it due to it's isolation.

The fact that the flag is the primary element on the left side of the image draws a lot of attention. If there was nothing else in the main image plane, the image would be very unbalanced. The person in the foreground on the right hand side of the image seems unimportant at first glimpse but they actually have a very important purpose- they balance the image. The mid ground position of the flag when paired with the foreground position of the figure really balance each other out so it is not uncomfortable to look at.

The final impactful element of this photograph is the rhythm of all the bodies joining as one to create a sense of being included in the comfortable and warm image to the viewer. In between the foreground with the larger people and the mid ground with the flag, all of the people are all similar in size which promotes a feeling of repetition and rhythm.

All of these design elements brought together helps to promote the over all pleasure that viewing this photography brings.

Essay 5- Rewrite of Essay 2

Upon reading this topic I am genuinely conflicted because I am an avid fan of all kinds of photography be it traditional dark room, digital, or even the currently popular Instagram. Originally I was going to argue film-based photography is best because it is my go- to when I am feeling artsy, but then I decided to make a pros and cons list and I was surprised at what I came up with.

Ultimately my decision for the sake of this paper is that digital photography is more time-friendly and therefore user-friendly. I will not assume the opinion of “best” or “preferable” because quite honestly I think both are equally superior to each other.

I use the term time-friendly because our generation is obsessed with either being lazy and doing the bare minimum and will achieving results or speeding through tasks, again, to achieve minimum results. Both of these reflect my generation’s inability to complete a task as thoroughly as is usually required.

The benefit to my generation's simplicity when comparing photography types is the simple point and shoot method is usually all that is required of digital photography. A small portion of people have the patience now a days to line up a photography shot and take into account the lighting, aperture settings, angle, and the fact that you can’t immediately see and delete a photo if it is not immediately presentable. They also can’t even fathom the amount of time and preciseness it takes in a developing room to actually develop film.

Most people prefer to shoot a few dozen photos, look over them, red-eye correct on the camera itself, enhance the colors, plug it into the computer, Photoshop to alter their image to something they can not achieve in real life, and then instantly print. The dark room process of this can take hours or even days for particularly difficult negatives to produce one image, not to mention the price of chemicals, materials, and equipment.

Another one of the main advantages of shooting digitally rather than traditional is there are so many more options available. It seems like all electronic companies are producing digital cameras now compared to how practically no companies are selling film cameras anymore. It is an obvious winning point for digital photography when even Kodak, the one time leading camera company, is discontinuing film sales. In comparison, companies such as Nikon have dozens of digital cameras for sale ranging from those for the lazy snap and shooters to the professionals that are depending on them to build a career.

With all of this taken into account, it is sadly clear that the majority of the world has chosen digital over film and that is the direction in which photography is headed. 

Essay 4

               The reason that I chose this photo was because the colors and the lighting allowed it to have a lot of potential as far as editing goes. 

               The first step I always take when editing photos is to change to levels. This helps to bring about clarity in the colors. It makes the lights appear more light and then darks appear more dark. This photo was taken in the evening so the background has the black of the sky. The flash was also on so the foreground is artificially lit up but does allow for the colors to be extra bright. When I adjusted the levels, the darkness became more frame-like and the highlights of the skin became more apparent. 

               The next manipulation that I made was to increase the contrast. This is a linear transfer function and therefore the central portion of the transfer curve is linear and has a slope greater than 1.0. Upping the contrast tends to create a crisper look to the photograph and makes the colors appear more warm and aesthetically pleasing. 

               After changing the contrast, I added noise. At the point that I decided to add noise, I had an over exaggerated image in mind that I wanted to end with. Adding the noise helped to break up the colored pixels and add some abstractness to the photo. I used a low amount of noise so that for the most part, the foreground and background and all the detail for the most part are still very distinguishable. 

               The final effect that I performed was to add a stained glass filter. This is an extremely exaggerated filter and it gave the photo the near undistinguishable appearance that I wanted. I purposely selected the smaller tile option size so that the entire finished photo was not just a cluster of color and there were still some shapes visible. 

               Overall, I feel that these effects and filters created a very interesting final image. Because it is not perfectly crisp, the viewer continues to look at it in order to translate it into a viewable image.