Past Week and a Half

Hey everybody!  So the past week or so has flown by!  I'll update you on what we have been working on.
Last week we were working in photoshop again on Panoramas and HDR shots.  HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  This means that if you were shooting in a room with windows instead of just either the room being properly exposed or the windows being properly exposed, they both are.  This is achieved by making 5-7 exposures, all with different shutter speeds, so some are under exposed, and some are over exposed.  Then you put them through a program called Photomatix Pro and it compiles them.

When doing Panoramas it is important to keep the camera completely level.  You also have to have several pictures, all with overlapping elements.  Finally, in photoshop, you can stitch them together.  This week we are working on Architecture Photography.  This includes working with a special type of lens called a tilt and shift lens. These help keep the lines of building parallel.  We are also working with lighting interior spaces and learning how to color balance multiple light sources, all which have different "temperatures"

Well, thats all for now!  Here are some pictures from last week and this week.

Still Here

Hi everyone! :)  It's been a while since my last post, but I was on vacation and this week was CRAZY busy (but in a good way!)  This week we continued shooting still life products in the studio.  However, all this week we were paired with a class of graphic designers.  Together we collaborated to make a poster and a cook book page.  The designers came to us with ideas and sketches of what they wanted, and together we worked in the studio to get the images that they wanted.  It was definitely interesting working with them to say the least.  Also, as "extra credit" we could work on building a catalog spread.  We were allowed to choose the subject of the catalog, then had to photograph lots of images to fill the pages.  We were then given a template to put the images into.  I think mine came out pretty well!  Here are some photos from the past week.


Enjoy!

Back in the Studio

This week for class we are doing still life and product shooting.  Monday we focused on things with texture, while today we worked with metal objects.  Today was A LOT harder haha!  Especially the object that I chose.  With out intending it the metal objects would reflect something going on on the other side of the room.  Needless to say this developed into a headache quite quickly.  Not to mention learning how to shoot without getting a bunch of hot spots on the image! (parts that are blown out and to bright.)  After talking with my instructor I learned that if a professional was shooting what I brought to class that day they would use a special light box to light it evenly.  Because I did not have one of these I ended up having to improvise.  What I came up with I thought was pretty good and as close as I could get it without having the proper equipment.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll reshoot something else!  Our focus for tomorrow, however, is glass things.  Finally, on Thursday, we will put all these things together into a more elaborate scene!

Hope that everyone is having a fantastic week!

Here are some of the shots from today and yesterday :)

B

Pimp My Pug!

This past weekend I volunteered at an event called Pimp My Pug.  It was a fundraiser for a pug rescue program.  We invited people to come have their dog's portrait taken professionally for a small fee.  They could then order prints and enter their dog's photo into the calender contest.  The top 12 dogs that get the most votes online will appear in a 2011 calender and all the funds raise will go to the pug rescue.  It was so much fun getting to play with dogs all day and take their pictures!  And even though there were a few accidents, it was totally worth it to see a little 3 month old pug running around in a tutu!  I think the day was a great success and we raised a lot of money!  Thanks to Cheryl for putting this day together.  (check out her dog photography site at: http://www.bostondogphotography.com/  )  Here are a few snapshots I took of the day on my point and shoot.

Hope everyone has a great week!

B

Boston and Moore

Yesterday we went to downtown Boston to shoot all day.  We had specific things that we were supposed to be looking for, but for the most part we were just set lose in Boston.  We spent the morning in Chinatown and the afternoon in the North End.  I'm also including a shot from Halibut Point that I worked on today.  This weekend I'm volunteering at an event called Pimp My Pug, which is a photo shoot to raise money for a pug shelter.  People can bring their dogs in and, for a small fee, have their pet's portrait taken.  I'll try and snap some pictures of the event to post!

Hope everybody has been having a good week!

B

Halibut Point

Yesterday we took a class field trip to Halibut Point State Park.  It was a beautiful park with a quarry leading right into the ocean!  We spent the morning climbing around on the rocks taking photos.  Then in the afternoon we ate lunch at a little diner (which was not good lol)  It was FREEZING out but with enough layers you don't notice :)  I had such a fun time, especially the ride up with the crazy girls in my car!  Major thanks to Tanya for driving!  Today we are heading into downtown to take photos so I'll post again soon!

Here are some pictures from yesterday :)

Photographic Seeing

This week is going to be really exciting.  We are going on two field trips to take photographs.  Tomorrow we are going to Halibut Point State Park for the day and Wednesday we are going down town Boston.  No photos today but just wanted to let everyone know to stay tuned this week!

B

Studio Lighting

At the end of last week we took a trip, as a class, to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to see the Avedon exhibit.  It was an amazing show, and I highly recommend that you go a see it if possible!  Here are a few pictures from the night.

All this week we are working with light.  Today we set up studio lighting and a table top seamless backdrop.  We then took pictures of shoes as if we were trying to sell the product.  I really enjoyed shooting all day!  Tomorrow we are doing a "bag shot".  We have to set up a scene to look like someone just dropped their bag.  The contents of the bag need to tell a story as well.  

Thats all for tonight, but I'll leave you with a picture from the shoe shoot!

B

Going Big

More printing all day today.  We finished up our color test prints and printed a final version on a 13x19 sheet, that we have the option to matte if we like.  Now we are working on creating a black and white image.  However there are a thousand different ways you can create a black and white image, so it is not as simple as you would think it would be.

Tonight after school some of the people from class are heading to the Museum of Fine Arts to see a photography exhibit  showcasing some of the work by the famous fashion photographer, Avedon.  I'm really excited to see this and will definitely post some pictures!

I'm leaving you with an image of the printing room where everyone is crowded around the printer, waiting for their prints.

Printing

All this week we are learning the correct way to print photographs.  Its a lot of printing an image, running down the hallway to a room filled with about 10 HUGE printers, sticking the print under a special light that is neutral in color, and running back down the hall to tweak a tiny bit of the image and repeating the whole process.  But in the end you have really beautiful images to show for it.  By Thursday we will have two 13x19 prints, matted, one color and one black and white.

No images today since we aren't shooting at all this week in class.  I might venture out after class sometime, but tomorrow we are heading to the MFA after class to look at an exhibit.  I'll post images of the final prints on thursday.   :)

To the Zoo!

This past weekend two of my classmates and I went to the Stoneham Zoo.  It was terribly cold, but we still had a lot of fun.  The only sad thing was that the snow leopard wasn't out.  There were plenty of other big animals though and many that I had never seen or knew they existed.  It was a smaller zoo but definitely worth the visit.

Here is a picture I caught of these cute little goats with pot bellies :)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Today in class we worked on using masking layers in photoshop.  As an exercise we were told to go out and photograph two of our classmates standing next to each other.  We then took each person and switched their heads.  This, of course, quickly deteriorated into everyone putting each other's heads into funny situations, combining facial features of two people to make their "baby", and by the end of class most everyone was laughing their heads off (haha no pun intended...)


No photo in today's post tho... while they are funny they don't exactly exemplify my best work haha.

Instead I'll leave you with a picture I took last night using the fish eye lens (15mm 2.8) that I borrow from school.  I love the extreme distortion!

Tah!

Back to School

Back at school after a long weekend :)  It was so nice out today, but by the time school got out and I got back from the store it was almost dark ><

All this week we are pretty much sitting in the computer room working in Photoshop so might not upload as many pictures.  But here is a photo from my the trip my sister and I went on to the Caribbean. It was AMAZING.

B

Drying Jeans

Went out walking around today to take photos and ran into this porch.  Someone had washed their jeans but didn't have a dryer apparently.  I like the old school method of drying, made for a great picture!

New Website

Hey everybody!  I have a new website via Livebooks that I really like.

Its http://breannamoore.sites.livebooks.com

in a few days that should change to Breannamoorephotography.com!  I'll be posting updates on shoots that I'm doing in and out of school, along with projects that I'm working on.

However, no shots today, its been raining all day!