Tanning Bed

ISO: 800 Aperture: 3.2 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 17-50mm Flash: 580

ISO: 1250 Aperture: 3.2 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 17-50mm Flash: 580

This was an off campus assignment that I had for the newspaper. The assignment was for a story that was about exhibiting the negative effects that tanning can have on your body. They told me that they wanted a picture of a girl in a tanning bed, so that is what I did. Going into the tanning salon to take this picture was kind of awkward, because I had to walk into the little tanning room with Haley with a camera around my neck. The lady at the front desk looked at me strangely, but I was like screw it I have to take the picture. The first picture that I took was of Haley's face, and it turned out alright, but I figured I could take a picture of the tanning bed closed as well. I was just wanting to give them a few more options. Having a flash in this setting was very helpful because of the fact that it's very dark in the tanning rooms.

The Big G

ISO: 1000 Aperture: 5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/100 Lens: 24-105mm Flash: 430

ISO: 800 Aperture:  4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 Lens: 24-105mm Flash: 430

ISO: 800 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 Lens: 24-105mm Flash: 430

ISO: 1600 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Lens: 24-105mm

These are a few of the picture that I took for a photo series for the online newspaper. Basically, Jacob and Davis decided that they were going to go to Gusano's and try to complete the Big G Challenge. This challenge was to eat a humongous pizza in an hour. My job was to capture the story that went along with this. I kind of ran into some issues when taking these pictures. First of all, the ceiling at Gusano's was black. This made it really hard to reflect a light off of. The next issue I had was that somebody ripped the reflector off of the flash. This made things difficult because I couldn't spread out the light as much as I had wanted. I found the main issue to be that the light would almost be like a beam and it didn't look natural. Because of this, I had to do more editing in Lightroom than I would have liked. One of the other things that I found to be difficult was the way in which I was the only photographer there to capture the whole thing. There were a lot of things going on at one time in the restaurant, and I had to find a way to take pictures of all of it. If anything, this assignment showed be that I really need to keep my eyes open, and to be paying attention to everything. This is imperative because this is an event that only happens one time. If I could go back and do this again, I would bring a different flash and probably a 50mm lens because it was really dark in there.

Awkward ARTEX

ISO: 200 Aperture: 5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/125 Lens: 24-105mm Flash: 580 flash with brolly box

This was a picture that I took near the beginning of the year. It was my first off campus assignment of the year. I was really excited about the assignment when I got it because it was about how Mrs. Waldrep's son had kidney issues. I was expecting this to be a picture that would really be able to tell a story, but that turned out to not be the case. Basically, this picture was somewhat of a disaster. When I got to ARTEX, I found out that the person who assigned the photo did not tell the subject that we were coming. My battle buddy and I were just as surprised as the subject to find out that nobody had been informed that we were coming. Therefore, the situation began awkward. The plan was to get an environmental portrait of this guy, however, the room wasn't big enough nor was it very exciting. I guess to remedy this situation, I could have used a wide angle lens or at least a 17-50mm. Basically, this picture turned out to be a headshot. I tried to make it a little more interesting through projecting a shadow, but that was the best that I could do with the situation given. Technically, there is nothing wrong with the mechanics of this photo. It just could have been a lot more storytelling and appealing to the eyes.

Contest Coordinator Experience/Jostens/TOP

This year I have been the contest coordinator. I knew that this was going to be a difficult and time consuming task, but the fact that some people on our team failed to pull their weight when it came to crunch time made it a lot more stressful than it was. Granted, every year we end up doing things at somewhat of the last minute, but this year in particular it was being cut pretty close.

I guess what irritated me the most was the fact that the majority of seniors were doing everything in their power to make the pictures for TOP the best that they could be, and some of the other members on our team slacked off and decided that it was okay to let everybody else do all of the work. Walking into the class during this contest season and seeing people just sitting around tables, playing on their phones, and doing a whole bunch of nothing really irritated me. This time could have been spent in a more productive manor that would have greatly enhanced the entire TOP experience and could have possibly resulted in a more positive placement when it came to whether our photography program would be one of the TOP programs in Texas.

A lot of the times when putting things together for TOP, I feel like people wouldn't listen or even put their pictures in the folders in a reasonable amount of time. It felt like pulling teeth. I hope that the pictures that we put in TOP were the absolute best of what we could offer, but I feel like some people didn't quite look through their folders as extensively as I would have liked. Also I feel that TOP really brought into light those in the class who have not been doing what they should be doing as a photographer in our program. It really shows who has been dedicated when each person can only put two of their pictures in a category.

The amount of dedication of some of the members of our team was also exhibited through the taking of pictures on our portfolio teams for TOP. When you have people who are assigned to one portfolio team taking pictures for the other portfolio team because the other portfolio team couldn't get their pictures together in time, it really shows that not everybody did what they were supposed to do. Also, I know of people on our team who were soooo dedicated to the TTDS photos and who were there to take the pictures just about every night, and I think that it was definitely worth their while. It's just a fact that when you are out in the field working on a specific task, and doing new things that you have never done before that you grow as a photographer and you broaden your sphere of understanding on photography as a whole. I believe that because they were out there working and learning about a lot of off camera flash techniques that they are more confident as a photographer and that they will be ahead of the game when it comes to shooting things next year. I also believe that those who were not involved in their particular portfolio team will suffer the rest of this year and next year. Due to the fact that they didn't have a specific goal and they did not complete it, will hinder their abilities as a photographer next year.

So basically, I feel that our team this year was made up of two opposite groups. The people who were willing to give every ounce of energy and creativeness that they had, and those who didn't give a hoot about the program and where it went. Either that, or they just weren't confident in their skills as a photographer and just decided that they weren't comfortable with participating. I feel that this will really show next year when the seniors are forced to teach the juniors. Either they will be able to answer questions and share what they have learned, or they will just show off their ignorance as a photographer.

Furthermore, I feel that competition season (which is basically all year) would have been better if people knew how big of a deal it really was. I'm not sure that there was really a big emphasis placed on how important competitions were, although I feel that the seniors really tried to. I'm hoping that because of how we did in the competitions this year, that it will really spark a new interest in the photographers, and that they will gain more initiative to do better next year.

All of this brings me to my next predicament. Who will be contest coordinator next year? The people who are the most responsible and dedicated to photography are already photo editors. Also, the fact that nobody has yet to volunteer for this job is somewhat discouraging. This is a job that if failed to be accounted for, I believe will truly hurt the program. Whoever gets this job needs to be dedicated, punctual, a go getter, self-motivated, and creative. Also, one of the most important qualities that this person needs to hold is to be able to handle high levels of stress, especially when it comes close to deadlines. Not only is there a newspaper deadline and yearbook deadline, but in this person's life, there will also be a contest deadline. At this point in the game, I feel that the answer should be clear as to who should be the next contest coordinator, but I just have no idea.

Town That Dreaded Sundown

ISO: 1000 Aperture: 11.0 Shutter Speed: 1sec Lens: 24-105mm Flash: 580

This was the first picture that we took out of the TTDS series for TOP this year. I bumped up the ISO to 1000 in order to get a little more grain in the picture. When taking this picture I tried to think of it in layers. We knew that we wanted to be able to see detail in the background, therefore, we made the aperture 11. We also wanted to limit the amount of ambient light from above Caroline. By changing the aperture, we were able to control how much of the light was illuminating her. For Josh in the background, we used a 580 flash behind him to give him a nice rim light. This also created the long shadows in front of his feet. We also used another 580 flash in the background to light up the area behind Josh. Originally we wanted to be able to use a fog machine behind Josh, but we didn't have enough energy available to power the fog machine. The fog machine would have been really helpful because we wouldn't have had to be as careful about hiding the lightstand behind Josh's leg. This made it difficult to get the desired lighting without being able to see the stand in the shot. We still had to do a little bit of photoshop work to get the stand out of the picture, but it wasn't too bad. In the end, to get this picture the way it is, we had to take a shot of Caroline from another picture and match it up with the background in this picture because she wasn't in sharp focus. This is because we had to drag the shutter speed in order to get the lighting in the background. We pretty much painted the background with light because we told Hailey who was in the background to flash it at a certain point. It took a while to get the timing on this correct, but it eventually worked. Overall, I feel like this picture wouldn't have been what it is without the planning and all of the help that went into it. I was lucky enough to push the button on the camera, but it wouldn't bee near what it is if it hadn't had been for the help of all the other photographers. The pictures for this portfolio in general is a great indication of those who are really team players and those who drop the ball.

Alli's Senior Pics

ISO: 200 Aperture: 4.0  Shutter Speed: 1/320 Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 200 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed:  1/320 Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 160 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/400 Lens: 24-105mm

So this was like the second time that I have gone to take some senior pictures. The last time I took pictures of my friend Macy and I feel like taking them this time was a lot different. When I was taking them this time, Alli's parents were there so I felt kind of awkward telling her what to do. That is something that I need to get more used to I guess. The other thing that was kind of difficult about shooting these is that it was pretty much in the middle of the day and I had to keep finding shade to put the subject in. I really wish that I would have had a flash and also a 70-200mm lens. I kept finding myself taking close up shots and not a whole lot of full body shots. I think that this is probably because I didn't know how to pose my subject to make her look normal. Cause when the subject feels awkward, they more than likely look awkward. Anyways, the 70-200mm would have been helpful because I would have gotten full body shots with the creamy background. Same with the closeup shots, but definitely with the full body. If I could go back and do it again, I would probably want to shoot the subject longer because I only shot her for maybe 30 min. Also, a reflector would have been helpful especially in the harsher light. 

Tanning Bed With Lights

Okay. So I really wanted the tanning bed to glow in the picture that I was taking for this newspaper assignment. However, the lights in a tanning bed do not turn on unless the bed is closed. This made it impossible for me to get a picture of Haley with the lights on. So, I decided to try and test my photoshop skills.

-First Try-

Basically, I feel like this picture looks like Violet off of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I used the blur tool to try and make the lights glow, and then I pretty much just put an overlay over the picture. Smith helped me with this one, and it helped me get a better feel of photoshop, but I didn't really like this one, so I decided to try it again. 

-Second Try-

This was the one that I decided to go out on my own and try. I think its an improvement from the first photochop job that I did, but it still needs some work. I think the lights look better because they look a little more like they are glowing, but I think that it needs to be cleaned up a little more around the lights up near the darker part of the picture. Also, I need to work on the tone of Haley's skin. I want it to look like the lights are glowing on her, but I want it to look really and not like she is sick or something. I think this is a good start for this picture, and I hope to work on it some more or do something like it. I really would like to become more familiar and effective at using photoshop.

Caroline Black and White

ISO: 100 Aperture: 9.0 Shutter Speed: 1/100 Lens: 24-105mm

This was a picture that I just took for fun one day during class. The hardest part of this picture was probably doing to makeup, and I don't even like the way I did it that much. This is probably because it isn't even on both sides. If I could do it again, I would definitely try to do a better job with that. This picture was also a work of innovation. I found the "ring" which was a sticker on the bottom of the white backdrop in the studio. However, it created the repetition of black and white stripes. Another thing that was a little difficult was getting the subject to open her eyes at the appropriate width. I wasn't really sure exactly what I wanted, so she did a good job of listening and trying to fix it. Overall this picture is just sort of okay. It's not one of my favorite pictures that I have taken, but it was a good way to get creative. Also, I wasn't sure if I liked the picture in Black and White or in Color. So I just did both haha

Book

ISO: 100 Aperture: 11.0 Shutter Speed: 1/100 Lens: 17-50mm Flash: 580

This was just a random picture that I decided to take during class one day. I had some extra time on my hands so I decided, hey, why not get creative. To take this picture, I put the black background up in the studio, then I found a dictionary and put two pages together in the center. In order to get them to stay the way I wanted, I took some tape and stuck them together. next, I took a flash and put it behind the book. In order to keep a lens flare from occurring from the flash directly hitting the lens, I placed the book on top of another book and tilted the flash. It took a lot of tries to get this right, but it eventually sort of worked out. The other thing that I found to be difficult was getting the amount of lighting even on both sides of the pages. If I could go back and do this picture again, I would want to try to get a rim light on the actual book on both right and left sides, because I only have one on the right side right now. I liked taking this picture because it was kind of a stress reliever.

HUMCO

ISO: 400 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/400 Lens: 24-105mm

This was a picture that I took for an add for the newspaper. I went to go take the picture, and the place looked pretty empty like there wasn't much of anyone there, so I just hopped out of my car to take the picture just like I would have done any other assignment of a sign. While taking the picture, some guy ran out of the building next to the sign and started yelling at me. I calmly told him where I was from and that they had purchased an add from our newspaper. He reprimanded me somewhat and I told him I was sorry, but on the inside I was just kind of like whatever, I just need to get the picture. As far as mechanics go, this picture was not difficult. It was basically just a shot of a sign with nothing interesting going on. The one thing that bothers me though is the car sitting in the background on the left side.

Sydnee Russ

ISO: 800 Aperture: 8.0 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 17-50mm

This was a picture that I took for the newspaper a while back. I was told to take a picture of sydnee, but I wasn't exactly sure what they wanted, so I found out who was writing the story and I took him with me to make sure he got what he wanted. I generally feel like that is always the best way to make them happy. Although, sometimes I don't like them to be there because then I can be more creative. However, in this situation, it was favorable because I didn't know the story. This photo assignment wasn't very exciting, however, I do like Sydnee's expression. It was difficult to get a raw emotion while chilling right there in front of her. I guess I should be a little more discrete the next time that I do something like this.

Psychedelic CD

ISO: 200 Aperture: 13 Shutter Speed: 30 sec Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 200 Aperture: 22 Shutter Speed: 30 sec Lens: 24-105mm

These were some pictures that I took the other night when I had nothing to do. I felt like taking a picture but had no flash. Therefore, I decided just to paint with light. I was looking online for some inspiration and came across something similar to this, but decided to make it a little more of my own. In order to get the water droplets on the CD in the lines that I wanted them, I went and got one of those booger syringe things that you use on a baby and filled it up with water. With this, I was able to drop the desired amount of water on the desired place on the CD. I ended up lighting these two pictures a couple of different ways. In the first picture I took a mini mag light and squiggled around the flash directly above the CD. This created a direct reflection onto the CD and that is why it has a white arch coming from the bottom right corner. I found it to be a little distracting, so I cropped the picture in to where if you look a little closer you can see the detail of the flash light in the water droplets. I like the darkness on one side of the water drops and light on the other side. I like the contrast in this. I like the second picture because of all of the colors going on. IT'S SOOOO PRETTY!!! In order to get all the colors and the rim lights around the water droplets I took the flash light and put it on the level of the CD and slowly moved it around the perimeter of the CD. It took me a couple of tries to get that one right because I would always accidentally flash the flashlight directly into the lens of the camera. Overall, I liked taking these pictures because it has been my first chance in a while to just take pictures for expression and fun. I'm hoping that since all of the contests are over with that I will have more time and opportunities to take pictures like these.

Newspaper Gold Crown Award

ISO: 640 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 17-50mm Flash: 430

ISO: 640 Aperture: 3.2 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 17-50mm Flash: 430

These were a couple of photos that I took for the online newspaper. The assignment was to take a picture depicting the Gold Crown Award that our newspaper recently won. I like the bottom picture because it really focuses on the award being put up, but I also like the first picture because it shows the picture being put up as well as all of the other awards on the wall. I really wish that I would have had a wide angle for this picture to capture the amount of wards on the wall. I got at a low left angle to try and get the greatest number of awards that were on the wall. I personally like the top photo, but if the newspaper people like the bottom one better more power to them haha

Madeleine Staff Headshot

ISO: 200 Aperture: 9.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 17-50mm

This was a picture that I took today for the online newspaper staff page. It was just a basic high key photo, so it wasn't too bad to take, however, I really need to work on my posing skills. I feel like that would make any situation such as this go a whole lot smoother. Although it really wasn't awkward because I'm friends with Madeleine and she was easy to work with. I guess if I could go back and do this assignment again, I would make sure that I had a really clear understanding on how the model should be posed for the photo.

Joe's Pizza

ISO: 320 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/1250 Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 320 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/1250 Lens: 24-105mm

So this assignment was to go and take a couple pictures of Joe's Pizza in its new location. It was kind of a dull assignment, so I tried to shoot the building from a different angle. The shape of the building was actually kind of different so I tried to capture that shape in the first picture. To get the angle I actually stood in the middle of the street, which probably wasn't too smart, but it worked I guess. I really need to work on making photo assignments like these more interesting. I guess if I could go back and do this assignment again I would have wanted to shoot it with a wide angle lens.

PG Girls District Game Soccer

ISO: 1250 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/800 Lens: 70-200mm Flash: 580

This was one of my better pictures from the girls district soccer game against PG. I knew that this game was going to be really intense to begin with due to the fact that both teams live in the same town, therefore, there is a lot of rivalry involved. Because of this, I wanted to try to capture the intensity of the game. I feel like I could have done a better job of doing this if I had been able to use the Bigma. This is because I would have been able to get tighter shots of their expressions and things like that. The good thing about this shot is the fact that the girl who is the main focus is on our team, and the ball is in the picture. I feel like this picture may could have been better if my timing was more spot on, but its definitely usable for the yearbook or something like that.

Varsity Baseball Nacogdoches

ISO: 250 Aperture: 2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/4000 Lens: BIGMA

This was one of my favorite pictures that I took at the last baseball game. I remember when I was taking this picture and I was thinking to myself, "What are they doing, hmmmm, I guess I should take a picture of this." After talking to some friends, they were actually discussing plays, so I guess it was pretty important. I liked this picture because it sparked my interest as to what they were doing, and in my opinion it tells more of a story. I need to try to look for more moments like these when shooting sporting events.

Taize

ISO: 10000 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 8000 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 24-105mm

These were some pictures that I took for my church. Mr. Arnold wanted some pictures for PR for our church and asked me to come take pictures. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, so I just took my camera. The lighting was awful inside the sanctuary, so that is why my ISO was really high. If I had the chance to go and shoot this assignment again I would have definitely have taken a flash. However, it was still a church service and I didn't want to disrupt anyone. I like the first picture because it is more of a journalistic view of what was going on, but the thing wrong with the first one is that there isn't a person in it. In the second picture I was trying really hard to get a person in the shot, but it was difficult because I still wanted to show that the person was in a church. Therefore, I tried to get the stained glass in the background. That is what I like the most about the second picture. I think that if I went back to do it again I could do a much better job.

Rosebuds Dance Practice

 ISO: 1000 Aperture: 2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 17-50mm

ISO: 1000 Aperture: 2.8 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 17-50mm

These were pictures that I took last night at the Rosebuds club meeting. Practicing dancing for the dinner dance was on the agenda for the night. The hardest part about this assignment was getting the close up pictures without being in the way of the dancing. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would have liked to have had a flash to bounce off the ceiling. That way, the pictures wouldn't have been as grainy.

Jostens

Sooooo, its jostens time again in the quaint room 61. While this sounds like some mere task to accomplish, one can be proven very wrong. CD's, forms, paper, and kind were being thrown around the room in a rush to finish upon the departure of my drill team trip to San Antonio. Whilst everyone else is in a happy rush of wonder and newness, I (Mary Claire Norton), was slowly and quietly diving into a deeper depression of photo related sadness. I was beginning to buckle under the stress of the photographic competition at hand. However, with the will power of a wooly mammoth, I was able to persevere. This sheer and utter ability to get all of this together in the miniscule amount of time allotted was truly a test of my abilities of contest coordinator.VICTORY OR DEATH!!!!

ATPI Winter Conference

This year at ATPI Winter Conference Woodsies, Mackenzie, and I were on the video team. The contest was to produce a music video in less than 24 hours. The song was called Harris by The Burning Hotels. The criteria for the contest was to have it turned in on time, to use the whole song, and to not alter the music in any way. However, you could interpret the song any way you would like. Henceforth, Mackenzie, Woodsies, and I went back to the hotel in order to brainstorm. Apparently the lyrics for this song do not exist online, so we really had to pay attention to the words of the song to figure out what it was really about. After listening to it, we decided that it was about change and doing something new but being hesitant to leave behind what you had before. After discovering this, it sounded to us like the stereotypical love story, however, we didn't want to be that "average." The next thing that we did was plan our scenes and when we needed to shoot them. We knew that we would have to shoot the video out of order because we needed to be outside for some of the shots. It needed to be bright outside during this. After completing all of the shooting, we needed to tackle all of the editing. Kenzie was a beautiful angel from God for this. She is so good at sequencing and there is no way Woodsies and I could have finished this project without her. We ended up pulling an all nighter in order to get the video exported and stuff. At about 5:30 in the morning, the computer started screaming at us saying that we couldn't render our video. At this point in time, Kenzie and Woodsies and I started freaking out. However, we called smith and he came and fixed it. In the end we were really proud of what we had accomplished. We did the whole video on our own, and we have a lot of pride in it. However, we are still kind of hacked off at the fact that we didn't win.

WOOOHOOOOOOOOO

ISO: 1250 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/80 Lens: 24-105mm

This was definitely a selfie that I took this past weekend. I actually just really like this picture because of our expressions and how caroline is peaking above the top. There really isn't technical about this picture. It was a little dark in the room, so I had to bump up my ISO a little more than usual. There wasn't anyone there to take a picture of us, so we just decided to take it ourselves, and I actually really like it lol

First Soccer Game of the Year

ISO: 800 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/180 Lens: 24-104mm

This was an assignment that I had to shoot while I was at the boys varsity soccer game. The assignment was to take some pictures of the new coach interacting with the boys. While this sounded easy, it was rather difficult. You have to remember that they are in the middle of a game, so therefore, I didn't want to get all up in his business. However, I still needed to get a good shot. This was one of the better ones that I could get. The bars were kind of in the way, but the coach has a good expression on his face and he is motioning toward the boys. I wish that they boys were a bigger part of the picture though.

ISO: 1000 Aperture: 5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/180 Lens: bigma

As far as shooting the game went, this was one of the better pictures that I came out with. I was using my camera which was a canon 6D and with the flash, the maximum shutter speed was 1/180 of a second. This made shooting soccer very difficult because the game moves so fast. However, when I got back to class, Smith told me that I can do high speed sync. So that is what I'm going to have to do next time to make my pictures sharper.

Brother

ISO: 4000 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/160 Lens: 24-105mm

This was a picture that I took of my brother at the Grand Ole Opry. It was really dark in the room, and I was concerned about my pictures being really grainy, but they didn't turn out too shabby. I used my new Canon 6D for the picture, and you can take the ISO up the the size of God!!! The most interesting thing to me about this picture was the atmosphere. There was a bunch of old people!! Although it was fun to take pictures there because of the change in atmosphere.

Hot Springs

ISO: 640 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/320 Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 640 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/320 Lens: 24-105mm

Soooo, over the weekend, some photogs and I decided to go to Hot Springs for the weekend. We had the bright idea to hike a mountain, and these were some of the pictures that I took when we got to the top. I wanted all of us to get into the picture, therefore, I found a very conveniently placed trashcan that doubled as an amazing tripod!! I put the timer on the camera, pressed the button, and ran into the picture. These are actually a couple of my favorite pictures of my friends and I.

Pottery

ISO: 800 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/125 Lens: 24-105mm

This was a picture that I took during class one day when Haley said that somebody needed to go take pictures of pottery. So I was all like, "OKAY!!" Henceforth, I went into the ceramics room and saw that there were "culturally diverse" people. Therefore, I made sure to take pictures of those who were of "another shade." Going in to take the pictures was slightly awkward, because the room they were in was kinda small so there wasn't a whole lot of room to move around. This was the best picture I came out with. I wasn't too pleased with it, but it's usable. I wish that I could have gotten her eyes in it.

Texas A&M

ISO: 320 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 24-105mm

This was the photo that I took today during class. Honestly, there really wasn't anything difficult about taking this picture. The worst part was that I had to go park on the side of the road, with the wind blowing at crazy fast speeds. I know that I looked very stupid, but honestly I didn't care. This was the picture that I came back with. Its really just an average picture, but I don't know how I could make it not average...

Kirsten Weber - Gun Control

ISO: 800 Aperture: 4.5 Shutter Speed: 1/180 Lens: 24-105

This was a picture that I took for the print newspaper. Mechanically, this picture wasn't too difficult to take, however, I did overexpose it a little bit. It wasn't too bad though, cause I brought the exposure down in lightroom. My favorite part of taking this picture was the whole story behind it. I had no idea who this person was to begin with, but they told me to take a picture of her so I was all like, ok! Apparently, this girl's neighbors were murdered and now she sleeps with a gun. It was kind of awkward at first to take the picture, cause like I said, I didn't know the girl, but I got Maggie (the girl writing the story) to come with me and that was good! I really liked that she came with me because of the fact that I knew after taking the pictures that I got what she wanted.

Sweet Tea

      

ISO: 100 Aperture: 8.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 28-135mm

Soooooo, this was how my picture began. Clearly it needed a whole bunch of work considering the picture is pretty much blank. In this picture I had just snooted the flash and was trying to find the garnish in the drink.

ISO: 100 Aperture: 5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 28-135mm

In this picture, I finally found the garnish in the drink with the snooted flash. That kinda took a while.

ISO: 100 Aperture: 8.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 28-135mm

In this picture, I turned on the flash underneath the glass so that I could get the lighting through the drink. In order to get the light just under the drink, I cut a hole in a black poster board, put a piece of plexiglass over it, and then put the flash underneath the hole underneath the plexiglass.

ISO: 100 Aperture: 8.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 28-135mm

This is pretty much the same picture, but I cropped it closer in and to the side. I figured it looked kinda artsy haha

Overall I really enjoyed taking this picture because I like to do project photography. Its fun to have an idea and actually complete it. I plan on doing it again, and the next time I want bigger pieces of ice in the drink. Preferably acrylic pieces of ice so that they wont melt. I think that this will give the drink some more texture that I did't get with the crushed ice.

9th Grade Mount Pleasant Boys Basketball

ISO: 1600 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/200 Lens: 24-105mm

So this is a picture that I took at the last basketball game that I shot. I would have to say that this is the first time that I shot freshman boys. I found that this game was a lot slower pace than the other varsity and JV games that I have shot. I liked this picture just because of how our guy with the ball is surrounded by the other team. The only thing I wish is that I somehow could have gotten the net in the picture. This game was alright to shoot, but I like to shoot varsity games better. They jump higher and the varsity games are a lot more intense.

College Acceptance

ISO: 100 Aperture: 40 Shutter Speed: 1/800 Lens: 70-200mm

This was another assignment for the yearbook. They were wanting pictures of people holding their acceptance letters, so that is what I did. This picture was slightly irritating to take because it was extremely bright outside when I went to go take the picture. Also, it was kind of difficult to position the subject so that the background wasn't distracting. Overall, it was a pretty basic photo.

AP vs. NO AP

ISO: 100 Aperture: 5.0 Shutter Speed: 1/60 Lens: 24-105mm

This was a picture that  took for the yearbook. They were doing a story about which was better, AP or not AP classes. Technically the picture wasn't difficult to take. However, working with the subjects was a little different. They needed to be leaning against each other, and these two people had no idea who each other was. Therefore, I introduced them to each other and tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible. This turned out well because they ended up needing to cut the picture out. Having to take the picture was kinda fun since it was random for both of the subjects. OOOHHH! and the other thing that was really irritating was the fact that the guy was black and the girl was white... MEHHHH!!!

Bryant Girls Varsity Basketball

ISO: 800 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 24-105mm

ISO: 800 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Lens: 24-105mm

Sooo these were some pictures that I took at the last basketball game I shot. In my opinion, these aren't the best photos that I have taken, but they were ok and could probably be used for something. I fee like these photos kinda went in a sequence the second one coming first and then the first one coming next as the girl goes for a shot. I particularly enjoyed the first picture because of the emotion on the girls' faces. They were kinda intense. I liked the second picture because of the lighting on the left side of the girl from Bryant. When going to shoot this game, we were missing a pocket wizard and therefore could not use the third light. I really enjoy using the third light off to the side. Although, I really like the cross lighting that we are using this year instead of the lighting we used last year which we attached to the stands. I'll be shooting another game soon, so I'm hoping that everything will be there and in place.

AP Books

ISO: 100 Aperture: 8.0 Shutter Speed: 1/60 Lens: 24-105mm

These were some pictures that I took for the yearbook. The assignment was to take a picture of a stack of AP text books, so it was pretty straight forward. However the only thing that I had issues with was getting the books to be straight when taking the picture. It seemed to me that at every angle I tried to take the picture from, it was still crooked. What I ended up doing was laying flat on the ground, and taking the picture straight forward. In order to get the background really bright and pretty much gone, I set up two stobes, one on each side of the books hitting the background, and then I had another flash on the front of the books. So overall, it was a pretty easy assignment.