studio portrait

Being taught by Michael Cunningham is a blessing and a curse.  He is an amazing professor. He is an even better photographer.  But he is also one of the best critics.  He tells you about your image.  Things you are very proud of are  not so elevated in your book by the time critique is over.  Things I learned from Michael this week:  lighting can make or break a picture, and when all you have is lighting and a subject, it better make it.  Yea.  Thats the gist.  Some of my images (thanks to Amanda for being an awesome model):

photographing interiors

At the beginning of the week, our instructor asked us who, by raise of hands, was interested in architectural photography.  Not one person raised their hands.  By the end of the week, we all felt slightly different.  It was a great week of travel, meeting new people, and enjoying the company and instruction of Judy Davis of  Hoachlander Davis Photography.  I am really glad our curriculum covered this type of photography because it can be used anywhere–in portraits, weddings, fashion…

Our first assignment was at an advertising firm in Arlington, VA; second was an architect’s office in Bethesda, MD.

flickr

Part Two, I suppose.  Just announcing the fact that I’ve added my flickr stream to my blog!  I’ll still intend to update my blog, but flickr makes it easier to post MORE photographs.  So, go ahead:  check out my trip to the C.F. Martin guitar factory.  Here are a few Black and Whites for your viewing pleasure:

The museum:

Sanding the tiniest piece of wood for the back of the neck right near the body of the guitar:

All through the factory there were TONS of different people, each with a different job.  Some sand, some glue, bind, finish, inlay… I’m not sure what this guy’s job was, but I hope it was to give each guitar a strum before it is shipped to it’s new home.  It was a perfect way to end the tour.

Makenzie

Fall 2009. The Kelsey Family asked me to photograph their adorable little girl on her FIRST birthday!  Well, the day after.  It was raining incredibly hard so it looked like we might be inside the whole shoot.  But about 10 minutes after the sky opened up, it cleared.  We were left with huge billowy clouds.  A perfect backdrop for this fun family.

Gunner!

still life, basically

After photoshop 3, our last photoshop class (kinda), we had “Integrating Photoshop into the Creative Process.”  A fancy word for Compositing. And still life.  And photo illustration.  This class was fun but extremely tedious.  Getting perfect lighting to show perfect texture.  Our files were LARGE and our brains were FRIED.  Tina Williams, an amazing local photographer, taught us this week.  Ready for some composites and still lifes? lives? whatever… The idea is to take oh, about 5 to 48739437829 shots of the same thing with different lighting and combine the images using photoshop to get a PERFECT image.  We started with pop-up books, then upgraded to chips:

This is about…7 different images, all with different lighting (one for this highlight, one for that saturation… etc. And as far as I’m concerned, I’m still not finished….

Next, TEXTURES.  Define all the texture in all of the materials.  About 7 images as well…

Our final project (out of six) was to studio light an object and place it in an older image.  The older image is the girls on the bench.  Here is the studio lit Rugby bag.

Using LOTS of foam, a cookie (foam with holes), my friend Kristen, a darker backdrop, and sweet photoshop skills, I was able to place this bag in this next image.

This class was interesting because it seems you could just light the shot with one swoop.  However, for people who work with tiny products and still life, sometimes your only option is to do a composite, and for that reason, I am thankful for this class.  However, for most shots, I think this is “doing it the hard way.”

OH check out TINA WILLIAMS (link above) and her ads she did for Metro–Studio and real life combined…

What a week.

texture

During week 7, which was Photoshop 2, we learned SO much.  It is an unbelievable what that program can do.  I have always admired Jeremy Cowart’s photography, especially his brilliant use of texture.  I started experimenting with texture during this class.  So, taking something like this: and combining it with another image to create a new image with some texture.  Like this: This picture is made up of 3 pictures.  1: the texture, 2: the Buildings and sky, and 3: the plane (just a creative touch ha!)  This next image is from a shooting assignment–I tried to make it look old–civil war era feel.

Wish

The girls in the youth group at my church are AWESOME.  They have so much energy and are so very on fire for God.  Isa (Lisa without the “L,” as she says), a senior this year, helped me out with my project for one of 9 deliverables in my Design and Composition class.  We had to tell a story–can you guess mine?

Thanks so much, girl!  You are beautiful!

Rathe

Week 4, 5, and 6.  Robert taught us Photoshop 1, Composition and Design, and Fine Art Printing.  Photoshop is probably the deepest computer program I have ever worked with.  There are so many possibilities with it, but as Robert said, if you can’t make an accurate selection, you’re doomed.  So after learning about masks, tools, filters, and stealing some material from Photoshop 2, we went into our D & C module.  AKA we went on a field trip to art museums to see a Portrait exhibit, a darkroom exhibit, and to play in the Light Tunnel (images to follow).  Our last week with Robert we spent learning to print a picture.  Let me tell you–I had no idea this was so difficult.  It was a lot like printing in the darkroom–we had to make SO many tests!  With a class of 17, many trees were killed—sorry, hippies.  Enjoy some of the weeks’ fun shots.

before digital

…once upon a time before there was lightroom, ps, sensors, eso digitals…there was a DARKROOM.  Ok.  I won’t be dramatic.  But, there is a really cool feeling you get in CREATING an image instead of pushing buttons.  I’ve only taken one darkroom class, but I loved it. Here are some portraits from my time.  Thanks to my models:  Jordan Lukianuk and Kat Wilson

like the sun

Week 3.  The week we learn that the only light that exists in our own little world is the sun.  As photographers, we use light to create an image.  To have more than one sun is just not natural.  So, we learned how to light people and objects with one source of light–to mimic the sun.  Michael Cunningham, our instructor for the week, really was an inspiring fellow to work with.  His confidence empowered all of us to try new things; experiment with our make-shift sunlight and modifiers.  A couple images from the week!