Lisa Angella Portfolio Photo120

In the pages of this book, I have presented the best of my work for the Spring 2013 Photo 120 class. Within these pages I began the exciting journey into photography and the art of seeing life in all that I photograph. Though elementary, I am so pleased with the new foundation I’ve been given and cannot wait to take this new found knowledge into my future. Thankyou John.

Portfolio Photo 120

Napa Valley CollegeSpring 2013

Bracketing is technique in photography that is used to find the best exposure for an image, by taking images of the same scene using differant settings on your camera. On your camera is an exposure compensation meter. This meter sees 18% grey or 18% of light reflected back. In every scene color is reflected at this 18%. If you take all the colors with all ther percenteges of exposure, then divide it by the number of colors it will almost always average out to 18%. This meter expressed on the camer as +/- 1,2 etc. tells you how much your photo will be exposed. So in the images here, there is more light exposure with the first photo and the exposure is decreased as the photo’s progress. This is acheived by shortening the shutter speed as the pictures move on.

Bracketing

Light is one of the most fundamentally important components to an image. Without it, we don’t have them. Not only is the amount of light you allow into your camera vital to the photo, but artistically it is an important part of the composistion of the photo aesthetically. This can be utilized and expressed by using light at differant times of day. In the morning for instance, as the light is coming up over the horizon, the direction and position of the sun cause a side shadow on all objects it hits. These shadows create depth and creativity and mood to your images. Here, Riley’s body and ball are casting shadows on the ground creating leading lines, and the direct sun to the side of his face allows his other eye to remain hidden.

Light

Shutter speed is the time exposure to get the image you want, or the amount of time that the shutter opens and lets in light. This is expressed in f-stops. Using the shutter speed creatively is another fundamentally important element to creating effective images. The faster the shutter speed, the less movement you will see. The more it will appear frozen. Here I have used a technique called panning. This technique is produced by moving the camera with the subject at a slow shutter speed. This creates the blurred backround while the subject stays in focus.

Shutter Speed

A well exposed image has good overall density. Both shadow and highlights retain some detail. Depth of field is controlled by three things; lens opening, distance and focal length. The smaller the aperature the greatest the depth of field is going to be. Here, I have put my son Ethan in focus. Everything around him is a little bit blurry for a reason. He is the focal point and this creates a shallow depth of field.

Depth of Field

Composition pulls together many elements in the image to create it”s uniformity. Here there are lots of design principles such as unity, variety, proportion, leading lines, rule of thirds and scale for example. In this photo, I used the leading lines of the gravesight and the color of the flowers popping out to create composition.

Comp and Design

Use of color is also a way to unify composition. There are two types of color systems; additive color system (red, green, and blue) and subtractive color system(ceyanne, magenta, yellow and black). The Color Wheel is comprised of primary and secondary colors. Primary colors cannot be created (red, yellow and blue). Secondary colors are a mixture of two or more of those colors. (orange, green and magenta) The art of color is combining two or more of those elements into contrast of hue, light and dark and complimentary contrast for instance. Here, in this image, are contrasting colors with the red and blue and yellow.

Color

There are some key elements to achieving a good black and white image. One of the most important elements is looking for contrast. Because you can’t use color, it can be easy to wash a photo out with similar shades. It is also important to wait for the right lighting. In this image I found a beautiful old bridge in downtown Winters. The black of the draped netting contrasted the grey of the bridde and the shadows dancing on the bridge walls created detail and depth.

Black and White

Directorial is a style of photography. It tells a story with in an image. Using composition and an image is staged by placing items into the scene to portray the story you want to create. Here I desired to create the scene of the life of having a horse. With most of the elements I enjoy within that world, including my dog who rides in the saddle with me.

Directorial

Landscape photography causes you to be a participant in it, rather than an observer. It is designed to have you interact with the landscape. This can be expressed either through the medium of romantasizm such as Ansel Adams, or New Topographic, or post war imagery. Here in a new topographic setting, I took a photo of a lanscape company and it’s runnoff. The idea of man made greenery for the purpose of making money opitimized the idea of new topography to me and so I wanted to express it in my imange.

New Topographic - Landscape

Like Directorial, Diptych tells a story. But it does it by using two or more photos that tell a story relating to one another, that with the photo alone, would not tell that story. Here I took an image of an apple and a matching pill. My desire was to portray an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I wanted to express our movement away from healthy foods and into pills to keep us alive.

Diptych

My Name is Lisa Angella, and this is my Portfolio for Photo 120, spring session. I am a mother of two teenage boys and enjoy life on my farm. I loved this class and am so thankful for the opportunity to learn.