Assignment 2 - Exposure

Assignment 2: Exposure - light, colour, texture and patterns. Observe how light interacts with object creating shadow and sense of depth. How colours change their saturation through dawn to dusk. How light create patterns and how shadows make texture feel tactile. Explore image capture techniques to create sense of space and time of real world in your prints. This assignment is primarily for you to get familiar with image capture equipment, to understand limitations of image capture devices, and to understanding basic limitations of capturing real life in a print.

My first experience with a digital SLR camera! :) It was really exciting for me and I had a few interesting encounters. The first one was when I came across a big lizard, I think it's an iguana.... Scared me coz I was walking along some bushes just 5 mins after I stepped out of my house all excited when I heard some noises. When I saw the lizard I was so disgusted because I am very scared of lizards, even those small ones..... Yuck.... With my photographic instincts, I immediately took out the camera and took a picture of it... Another encounter was being chased out of the zouk compound because the person said I was trespassing... I didn't see any no entry sign that's why I entered the carpark... :( Alright enough of my encounters, time to look at the pictures I have taken and presented in class! The 2 pictures that I chose were 'Three's a crowd' and 'Barbed wings'.

----------------------- 'Three's a crowd'-----------------------

Venue: Chinatown
F18, 1/800sec, Iso400

I like this picture because of the contrast the blue sky has with the building. The picture was slightly underexposed. I took another shot whereby both the sky and building were bright and clear but the mood of this appeals more to me. And I like how the bird on the extreme left tilted its head to the left. :)

----------------------- 'Barbed Wings'-----------------------

Venue: Zion Road
F14, 1/100sec, Iso 400

This is another fav picture of mine. I took it at the balcony of my house in the evening at about 7. I like the texture of the clouds and the light that peeked from the clouds. Against the cloudy sky, the barbed wire looked very vivid and it looks like the wings of some insect.

-----------------------Other Pictures I have Taken-----------------------

'Y'

Another picture I took and I like the texture and colours of the sky and the Y silhoutte.

'Sunny Afternoon Date on a wire'

These metal containers were taken at the zouk compound where I was chased out.

Took them from outside after that.

Encounter with the big lizard... For obvious reasons I didn't dare to go nearer and this was the most I could zoom in :)

The 3 blue pictures were taken at this blue building at chinatown. I like the distinct blue colour of the building as well as the shadow of a row of latterns hung above that was cast on the ground. Coincidentally, a blue mini cooper drove past and they looked so matching :)

A picture taken near clarke quay. Thought the colours and the details looked very nice, but my skills probably weren't good enough to bring out the essence of the picture. Will try harder next time :)

Clothes pegs taken in the balcony of my house at night.

----------------------- Peer Evaluation`-----------------------

That's all for the pictures for assignment 2 :) For this assignment, there were many good works in class. Paul's picture of the orange hut looks so nice, it's almost like an installation. I feel that making pictures look good from the front angle is more difficult because details like the composition of the things have to be perfect. I think the picture is very well taken for that reason. I actually thought it has depth because the left window has a small gap to peep through and makes a lot of difference if the gap wasn't there. I give him 10/10.

I particularly like Jialin's picture of the flower garlands because the colours were so vivacious, looks like a picture taken in the evening with the nice hues of sunlight and the shadow of a person walking past adds a lot to the atmosphere of the picture. Very nice :) I give it 10/10.

Mike's Fire in the night sky was beautiful because the clouds look fierce due to the orange tones and the sharp edges yet gentle because of the feathery texture.I also like Meimei's picture of the red car because the car against the grey cement floor matched with the aged wall displays a very retro mood which is very appealing. Another picture I like that wasn't presented in class was Qiyi's picture of the parrots in the cage. It would hv been good if the parrot in front was in better focus but what I like was the delightful colours and position of the birds. Very appealing to me too.

----------------------- Self Assessment`-----------------------

As compared to the many good works in class, I would give myself a total of: 8.5/10.

The 1.5 marks left for improvement would be for brushing up on my techniques.

I would love to explore the 2 pictures more and to enhance them but the birds eventually flew away and I couldn't get the same effects of clouds on other days. In any case, I will appreciate these 2 pictures because it is highly impossible for me to get exact similar pictures. Really says a lot about capturing the moment :)

Assignment 1 : Photogram or Photogenic Drawing

Assignment: You’ll make your first photogram using flat bed scanner instead of photosensitive paper. The theory is similar. By placing objects directly on the scanner bed in an interesting composition you can create an image without a camera.

The first assignment already made me think so hard, to create an image using a scanner! Other than scanning papers, I have never been adventurous to scan other objects haha... I scanned crumpled aluminium foil just to experiment with textures and it looked like mountains/many birds from a top-down view. I scanned chillies, mask, yin and yang sign with mnms, all of them (other than the foil) with the scanner head open and lights off because I couldn't close it fully and it looked really ugly with a little light exposed.... and I didn't know that there is a function with the scanner to achieve a pure white background. Otherwise I would have experimented with that :(

-----------------------'Teabag'-----------------------

The many pictures that I scanned looked quite flat so I decided to turn the scanner upright after all the frustration that I couldn't achieve something I liked... Then I scanned the teabag. (On a side note, I enjoy drinking tea especially the fruity flavoured ones!) I chose the lipton teabag becauseI think the yellow really stood out from the background. I scanned a few times with just the tea bag alone, with my hand and with a cup. I spent a really long time scanning the one with my hands because positioning my hands was a big problem. Plus i was trying not to shake.... This was my most satisfied one.

-----------------------'Roots'-----------------------

I finally scanned the good luck bamboos in my house and was quite surprised how the roots appeared alive in the picture that it was scary.... The white distorted lines were actually caused by a flash light, it looks like some waves that the bamboo emit....

-----------------------Other Scans`-----------------------

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----------------------- Peer Evaluation`-----------------------

I was actually very impressed by the works of many people in class. I liked Paul's harmony of music the best because I feel that it was really natural and wasn't trying too hard to express his likes. Something I really hope to achieve in future.... I give it 10/10. I thought Jialin's works were very creative, (using wax and paint on transparency) and the colours are so strong and beautiful. Other likes were the colours of Jasmine's onion rings scan, the composition of meimei's scan - nets capturing the stars and Mike's Stasis .

Thank you for the comments on the scans especially the interpretation of "roots" as going back to our traditional roots and for interesting ideas such as putting dry ice in the cup for it to look like steam from the teabag.

----------------------- Self Assessment`-----------------------

I would give myself 9 for creativity and 7 for scanning techniques. A total of 8/10.

To see things beautiful

Hello everyone... :) This is my first photo blog just like many others taking the photography module. As excited as I am about taking this module, I feel some jitters maybe because photography is pretty new to me, with the exceptions of taking fun pictures with friends. But I'll really treat it as a good opportunity to learn all I can during this few months, definitely looking forward to each week and most importantly learning from others.

I always enjoy looking at other people's beautiful pictures and wish I could do the same. Now, I finally have the chance to do so and the excitement is more than I can describe, hopefully you can feel it through the pictures I have taken and will be taking. To me, organic means the most fundamental, simplest and natural form. Through photography, I hope I can see all things beautiful. Feel free to give any comments, I believe I can benefit from every simple comment that you make!