Student Work at Brigham Young University-Idaho
I was given a couple hours to complete a task to prove I could deliver a quality product with little preparation time. This is a great way for you to test your skills. I needed to make a new ad banner based on the following dresses one provided. The new ad was to be about socks and shoes instead, but maintain the same look as the original. I improvised a studio in my bedroom. I was the photographer and the model. Here is the result:
This is a photo book PDF I designed for the work done in this COMM 300 course, and I had a physical copy printed by blurb. I implemented principles in typography and layout that I’ve learned in previous art classes. Although I admit that I may have committed one small typography sin knowingly… I think I pulled off quite a professional piece of book, I might say.
From the introduction:
“I purchased my current camera, the Sony α6000, at the beginning of 2018. During this course I passed the ten thousandth photograph taken with it. The photos in this book to me are worth over ten thousand moments of careful practice, learning, and dedication to my art.”
The dimensions of photos taken on my APS-C sensor are 6000 by 4000 pixels. 300 pixels per inch is the common standard for high quality printing. At 250 pixels per inch we can print an image that is 16X24 inches. To prep my image for printing at this size, I brightened the dark levels of the image and sharpened the areas of focus. In photoshop, I used a mask to sharpen only the areas of focus and not the soft background. I removed any spots in the image that would look like they could be dust specks sitting on the print. Here is my progress from raw, to screen edit, to print edit.
This semester was a great opportunity to push my skills in photography. I acquired my α6000 at the beginning of 2018 and started taking classes towards a minor in photography that April. This class, COMM 300: Digital Imaging, seemed to cover much of what I had practiced in the past year. Because of this, I had a high expectation for myself to deliver excellent work. I am pleased with what I have produced and found that I still have plenty of room for growth and experience.
I have selected images from past assignments that I personally like the most. These are the types of photos that get my attention. I consider these as; print worthy, desktop wallpaper worthy, portfolio worthy photographs. They each demonstrate proper technique in exposure, focus, and composition. All those things combine to provide a canvas for their creative subject. But I think what makes me love these the most, is the work that goes into them in post. The happiest part of the whole process for me is seeing what I can make of a raw-file.
Macro photography is just getting a magnified shot of something really small. It is so fascinating to see tiny things with such great detail. There are three basic ways to get macro photos. The expensive way of buying a nice lens dedicated to it. And the really cheap way of putting on a lens filter that basically works as a magnifying glass. The third way involves Pym Particles, but we won’t get into that. I used my cheap magnifying filter for this project. The filter is less sharp at higher focal lengths and adds a bit of chromatic aberration. That isn’t much a sacrifice for gaining the ability to stay in focus at just inches away from your subject. Here are six incredibly amazing examples I have produced.
This is the fourth set of images from the Bannack trip. This task was to make five photos of fine art quality. There are a couple of things I think make a photo stand out from the rest to earn the title “fine art.” Beyond having perfect focus, correct exposure, and proper settings for the desired effect, the photo must have: excellent composition, creative elements and perspective, provoke feeling or emotion, and be overall captivating. Fine art is something you would print, hang on your wall, and take great pride in.
Making true fine art is a difficult accomplishment and I don’t believe that all of my work has reached such a level. But I do hope and aim to achieve such quality. Each of these photos are at least an attempt at that.
This is the third set of images from the Bannack trip. The first task was to take five portraits with different lighting conditions. Three of these needed to use auxiliary lights. This included options such as speed lights, strobes, LEDs, and reflectors.
We were then to take some before and after photos to demonstrate the difference that can be made with lights and reflectors. For the fifth photo of this set, we were supposed to show the difference between a silver reflector and white. I forgot to use a silver reflector, so, I included a bonus fifth photo of all our models for a total of ten images in this post. Because it just feels wrong leaving it at nine. No one likes you, number nine.
This is the second set of images from the Bannack trip. This set included five separate challenges. The first was to create an image of a person that appears to be levitating. The second was to make an image of a person who appears to be a ghost. The third was to create an abstract image such as a composite. The fourth was to make a commercial image of a product. The last was to make a conceptual image that tells a story. These are my five creative images that I have made.
On May 28, 2019, I went with my class to Bannack, Montana. Our objective was to take over a thousand photos hoping that at least 20 of them were actually good…
We had the whole day to accomplish four specific goals. This involved getting lots of landscapes, portraits, and trying some new artistic techniques. The first task was to get a series of five photos with the same theme. To accomplish this, I took many close up photos of interesting textures all at f1.8 for a shallow depth of field. These are the five I have chosen to represent this theme.
I mostly just wanted some green photographs when I selected my subject. It’s spring time, and nature is looking real pretty right now. I went to this park and found this tree with a lot of empty space around it. I later learned this excess space is to provide a room for the disk golf disks to fly through. I captured different angles of the tree; up close, far away, and even one from the reflection of a puddle. All while keeping my head down avoiding being the next golf… basket-thing. The last image combines texture from the fourth one. I took the color a variety of directions while in post to add more perspective as well.
Wilson Christensen 