Portraits and self-portraits

Self-Portrait

Professional Portrait

I think what makes a good photo is one that fulfills the rules of photo compositions because they are the main components that are consisted in a picture. Color is also an important part of a picture because certain subjects would look better or worse in certain type of colors. What also makes a good photo is it should bring out somewhat of a story when you look at the picture. It makes the picture meaningful and mysterious. There's also a lot of other factors that a picture should contain such as feeling, emotion, or inspiration. 

The style that I might consider for our next time shoot would probably be emotional because I think it would be interesting what kind of feelings will be developed when the audience look at the picture.

Ethics in fashion photography

1. Her lips, neck, eyes, hair, eyebrows, and her face.

2. Yes, because as a model they are supposed to look flawless. In this case, it doesn't harm or offend anybody because

3. When they complete change something that people can't even recognize.

4. If some of the facial features are being changed that could still be recognizable then it would be OK but if they completely change or replace with something that could not be recognized then that's not OK because that's lying.

5. The concept of fashion photography is its unique beauty. In most magazines, TV shows or commercials, actors want to look beautiful and flawless in order to catch the audience's attention. They want to show their attractive features toward the people. No one would want to look at a magazine if the image they're looking at is ugly. Models and actors that are appeared on magazines for example, would need the Photoshop manipulation technique in order to enhance their beautifulness.
Photojournalism is when photographers capture information and deliver it to the people in the society. They are delivering the news which have to be facts to let the world know what's going on here and there. They can't provide such lies because once it is published, everything else goes wrong. More dramas will happen.


6. The relationship of fashion photography would be impression toward people because their flawless appearance would capture the attention of the audience despite the fact that they look totally different in person. The common perception is that people would always assume that celebrities are pretty and beautiful no matter what. It doesn't quite affect the ethical practice in a way because usually people don't care if a model looks beautiful on magazines or ugly in real life. Having to look beautiful is just a part of being popular.
As for photojournalism, my own perception is it involves with newspapers. Photojournalists take pictures and write down significant information to keep as history. And speaking of history, it can't be lies because it's being carried onto generations and generations. And also photojournalists are responsible for carrying out news to let the people know what is going on in different places.

Negatives Evaluation

1. 7 and the rest of them look a little bit darker 

2. 5 because they appear to look darker than other ones. The main subjects aren't appeared to be noticeable. 

3. I think the picture that I picked out will turn out well because it looks very defined and you can literally see the objects and details in the picture. It looks really neat and not overwhelmed by the details or background subjects.

4. One of the technical aspects of photography that is present in my best negative has to be the focus because I can clearly see the details and the main subject.

5. One of the advanced composition techniques that is present in my negative would be rule of thirds.  

Photo manipulation and ethics

 1)

A. The story basically talks about how photographers were fired from their companies due to image manipulation by using software such as Adobe Photoshop to alter the photos. The message that the story is trying to convey is that it is not acceptable to use softwares to alter photos because that's hiding the truth from everybody. Being a photographer, it could ruin your whole career if you do something illegal and unethical.

B. I think this type of photo editing is unethical or acceptable because it ruins a photographer's reputation and their professionalism. By altering the photos, they are offending the people or the object being altered. When the audience look at the pictures, they want to see the reality in it because nobody wants to see lies in it. It also ruins the credibility of the photographer. If their action is exposed, then their whole career is gone. All the efforts they had put in become nothing. It's the honesty and sincerity that the photographers should show their audience and deliver the truth to the world.

2)

A. I think this picture is the most unethical because it offends Oprah. It is definitely an insult toward Oprah in a way by telling the audience that Oprah's body is not good enough to be on the newspaper so they replaced it with Ann Margaret's body.

B. I think this picture is the least unethical because it's basically just a picture, a cover. It doesn't contain people or anything that would make it offensive. They manipulated this picture by moving the pyramids closer together to accommodate this vertical National Geographic cover. I think it doesn't hurt anything by doing that. They just want it to look better the way they think it would.

Drug Cartels in Mexico

According to the story, I have learned that Juarez is a very dangerous place to be in. Many people are having a hard time trying to get through the day just because of the fear that they might get killed. It is very sad that people are trying to live in peace but their lives are threatened everyday by the cartels. Many Mexican people have been killed after the Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels. It was estimated 28,000 people. It is such a tragedy to even think about that much innocent people have died. Everybody wants to live in a place where they feel safe and secure but unfortunately they have to live their everyday life worrying about if they'll survive.

This picture consists of the rule of thirds and simplicity. The picture isn't complex because the background doesn't contain quite many details. It basically just a solid background of 2 colors which creates simplicity.
The reason why I picked this picture as my favorite is because it is very emotional. You can see the expression on the girl's face and guess that she's dealing with something very sad. She shows the worrying face that people would empathize and share her sadness.

Making a Black and White print

1.) Materials necessary to make a black and white print

• Timer
• Focusing Aids
• Safelights
• Developer
• Fix
• Stop bath
• Enlarger
• Photo paper
• Film
• Scissors
• Water
• 4 large containers
• 3 pairs of tongs

2.) List of chemicals

• Developer
• Fix
• Stop bath 

 3.) Summary

First of all, you need to have all your equipments ready to go in the dark room then turn the light off except for the orange dark light on. The next step is pour the chemicals and water into 4 different containers about 1 inch deep then follow the instructions on how to mix them. After that, you place the test strip underneath the enlarger and cover all but 1 inch of it with a dark solid material. Press the button on your enlarger to expose the film for ½ a second to 1 full second. Then continuously move the paper down 1 inch and expose the film until you run out of room. Now your going to develop your test strip photo using the chemicals prepared. First you sink it in the developer and agitate with the tongs until you see the image. Then take it out to the stop bath  for 1 minute then rinse it with water for a few second before you drop it into the fix solution for 3-5minutes. After that you rinse it with water again then look at the test strip in normal light in order to choose the exposure you like best for your print. Come back to the darkroom and repeat all the steps above for your actual photo print then your done.
4.)

Words Definitions

1. emulsion - A light sensitive coating on photographic film and paper. An emulsion is made up of silver halides and gelatin.
2. aperture - the camera allows you to select the aperture over the available range and have the camera calculate the best shutter speed to expose the image correctly.
3. masking easel - A darkroom device used to hold paper flat while exposing it to light from an enlarger. An easel creates a white border surrounding a print because its "arms" block light from striking the print paper's edges.
4. exposure - the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium or during the process of taking a photograph.
5. safe light - A filtered light thats used in a darkroom to allow you to see while handling light sensitive material.
6. dodging - used in photography for a technique used during the printing process to manipulate the exposure of a selected area(s) on a photographic print, deviating from the rest of the image's exposure.
7. burning - used in photography for a technique used during the printing process to manipulate the exposure of a selected area(s) on a photographic print, deviating from the rest of the image's exposure.

Post Shoot Reflection

1.
One of the challenges that I encountered was trying to take a picture of someone doing their work. People started posing when I pointed the camera at them so I had to tell them that they can keep doing what they're supposed to.

2.
The technical aspect of photography that I think about the most is focus because I think focus is important for every picture that you take. When I was taking pictures, I didn't think about the focus at first then after that, I realized that what I was seeing through the camera was very blurry. So I had to keep reminding myself to set the focus when I take the pictures.

3.
Some of the advanced composition techniques that I considered while shooting were simplicity, viewpoint, background, and cropping. I thought that it was important to include these techniques in your picture to enhance its significance so I tried taking pictures at different angles, a close up of one person doing something, and not include too much details to keep its simplicity.


4.
I would take pictures of different subjects and backgrounds. I should also include various details in my pictures to fulfill different photo compositions.