Week 8--Reflection

Shot at Arches National Park, at dusk. I actually took two photographs. One where the exposure was darker, to better allow the sunset's soft colors though; and a second with an exposure a few steps higher to achieve the little lighting that there was on the rock face.  The person hiking was an added bonus!

 These past 8 weeks have been very beneficial to me. I started off with very little and limited knowledge about landscape photography. Living where I live, in rural Utah, there was so much around that I had wished I could photograph, and now, I know I can!

I am by no means an expert in this area (especially after defining expertise and studying what makes an expert and expert), but I have been able to become expert in certain concepts of landscape photography. I have learned the camera functions that are needed to set up a well-shot landscape photograph. I have learned about the importance of light--but also, I have learned that any light can be good light if you know what to do. I have learned the importance of knowing an area, and looking for dramatic vistas, but also, knowing how to create one. Photography, especially landscape photography, seems to pose rules but then allows those rules to be broken--if need be. Now that I know the rules, I feel as though I can experiment more, and branch out my now made schemas and scripts.

As a learner, I have seen myself evolve. I never realized how much of a tactile learner I am. As I do things, try things (and at times, suffer much trial and even more error), my long-term and working memories are kicked into play and I am able to form scripts, steps to replicate for a desired outcome. If I wanted to take another starry sky picture again, I know now where to set up my camera, the settings my camera needs to be set to, and how to best take, process, and edit that picture. I learned all of that by experimenting with scripts. I also learned that I have a behavioral side as well. Good looking pictures ("Wife approved", I call them) are a positive reinforcement for me that motivate me to continue shooting and trying.

I have enjoyed talking to "old timers" in the landscape photography community and as I read their articles and view their work, study their process, through a peripheral-sort-of-way, I have been an apprentice-of-sorts to them.

This course has not only opened my mind to how learning takes place in the world, but most importantly, how it takes place in me. By studying theories, then reinforced through experience, I have learned how I learn, from here I know how I can gain more insight and knowledge, where I can improve and how I can better myself.

Week 7--By Necessity: Night Photography

I had a horrible realization with the change of daylight saving time ... nights come quicker. Which means days are shorter. Which means light (good, bad, just in general) is gone as quickly as it comes. Which means my recent feelings of success were about to come to an end.

If was to continue shooting, it would have to be at night. Which means one thing: Star photography. Which, wouldn't you guess it, was the one thing I was trying to avoid. Why, you might ask? Well, my first attempts at star photography failed. And I mean failed in a delete-the-photos-burn-the-memory-card-and-bury-the-ashes sort of way.

But, I was uneducated, unstudied in that concept. I called a couple of my old photography teachers, and asked for their input. I read article after article, and wrote down tips after tips. All throughout these past 6 weeks I have tried this type of photography. And I tried, tried and tried again.

Then, I decided to try it out on a bigger scale. And with this whole new way of shooting, with new settings and new locations, new lighting, and new creative ideas it was a bit intense. You are literally shooting in the dark--you look through your lens and you see nothing. And then, somehow, you click and a semi-decent picture comes out! I could see myself throughout this week, building schemas, running and re-writing scripts and relying on mentors and then, much like an apprentice, taking that first blind, yet confident, step. These the only two survivors of these process:

This one was interesting to shoot. I left the shutter open for 30 seconds, and the camera was so sensitive to light, that it picked up a street lamp across the road and highlighted the summit orange.

I wanted to capture a contrast of lights--lights below and lights above sort of feel. The joys of small towns. There is a milky way every night, and stars to behold!

Needless, to say, I am getting better at this, and trying harder. In fact ... this may just be my new favorite way of photographing landscapes!

Week 6--Editing

This week has been a hectic one. But it allowed for some reading on editing. This is an area where schemas and scripts and tools and expertise all collide and form a program called Photoshop.

Previously, in my undergrad years, I had (what was then) the latest and greatest version of Photoshop.  Whew baby ... it was something. Even the bells had whistles. But then, sadly, technology does what it always does as 5 turned to 5.5, and 5.5 turned to 6, and 6 turned into money that I didn't have. Then, that computer died. Goodbye money.

We saved and got another computer, and with it, another Photoshop program. This one however, lacks all the bells, and the whistles, in fact, it's symphony is more like a middle school one: a couple flutes and a few acne-ridden tuba players.

I've always believed that an expert isn't someone who has lots of tools, an expert is someone who can do a lot with a few tools. Think of the Apollo 13 mission mentioned in Martinez's text--what made those NASA control guys experts? Knowing everything about everything? Sure. But also, being able to use lesser tools to do harder things.

I'm no NASA anything ... and I am certainly not a Photoshop expert ... but I tried this week with the lesser tools I had, and I think I did okay. Let me take you step by step for how to edit a normal landscape photograph.

The original: Flat, washed out colors, taken at late afternoon light. Composition is fine, but what should shout from this photograph are the colors, and they are just whispering.

Step one: I pull up the levels tool. This tool adjusts the levels of exposure in a photo. Shadows become darker, highlights become brighter, and midtones ... oh the midtones ... they really punch up colors (or flatten them) depending on where you take them. As you move the midtones toward the shadowy place (not the Simba-don't-go-there-Mufasa-said-so-place, but rather the darker side of the spectrum), the colors become darker and richer.

Step two: Now that things are really popping, you might be tempted to say, "Oh! That looks so much better! I'll call that good." But wait! In any photograph, some things are lost in the camera, and a photo may not look like the eye originally perceived it. I like editing that looks natural, and there is still much to do! I use the contrast and brightness tool to brighten a few darker regions of the photo, and make the lines in the rock and the stairs to be a little more defined. (Not too much, you want a that just-rolled-out-of-bed natural look!)

Step three: Saturation. Sponges do it. Why can't we? What the saturation tool does is boost colors of all hues and spectrums up a notch, or two, or five. This tool is a tricky one ... too much and it looks very, very, very unnatural. So, just adjust it slightly. Remember, you are going for natural!

Viola! What went from a seemingly okay photograph, has now, thanks to tools, knowledge (and a, one might say "expertly", combination of the two) this photograph has transformed!