Nail Polish

The set up:

ISO: 100  f/5.6  shutter speed: 1/200

The doesn't want to drip except green shot:

ISO: 100  f/5.6  shutter speed: 1/200

The accidental advertisement shot:

ISO: 100  f/5.6  shutter speed: 1/200

The of course the ugly color would drip all over shot:

ISO: 100  f/5.6  shutter speed: 1/200

          So I was on Pinterest the other day looking at still life images since we had been questioning what exactly still life is during class. I came across an image of nail polish stacked with drips coming out that I really liked so I decided to try and re-create it. What Pinterest neglected to tell me, though, was that getting bottles to stack is not easy and getting them to drip how you want is even harder. The photography part of this was the easiest. The first picture is zoomed out and my set up. I stacked books and taped white paper to them and set the nail polish up on that. I didn't have a lot of time, so the paper taping is not perfect and that shows especially in the last picture where you can see the shadow of overlapping paper easily. That really bothers me. Ugh. Anyways, one of the first major problems I came across was getting the nail polish to stack. I tried and tried and tried and they just wouldn't stay until Smith finally found sticky-tack. That stuff works miracles. Except for the fact that it is blue and you can see it in some of the pictures. Once I finally got them to stack I got my settings on my camera and was all ready and took of the lids and crap. They all had different amounts in them meaning some bottles weren't dripping or even close to dripping and others were flowing profusely. Example: 2nd picture. The green came flowing out and there was no stopping it. Well great. I'm no expert with nail polish and it didn't want to cooperate with me whatsoever. Woodsies helped me try to clean up and tip over at the right time to get a better image and thank goodness for her help. The third picture was kind of an accident shot. I was taking the picture, Woods just wasn't ready to flip the green back over, but I ended up liking it. If that was done a little better it could be an advertisement picture. Ok, well I guess if it was done a lot better but you get the idea. I just like how you can see Essie (the brand name) and then there is other nail polish all around it and there just so happens to be a puddle of green. 

         Anyways, I had fun taking these pictures, but they are by no means anywhere close to perfect. I was using a 5D with a 24-105mm lens and I had a flash off to the right angling down. If I were to do this again, I would move the flash to change the shadows (they bother me) and I would have to get some different bottles of nail polish that might be a little more cooperative with me so I could get the drips how I wanted.

TTDSD last picture scramble

ISO: 1600  f/8.0  shutter speed: 1/200

          So our TOP pictures were due Monday and we had 2 left to take Sunday night. Why doesn't this surprise me? haha, anyways, Claire, Rush, and Woods all came over to my house because we were planning on using a screed door for a picture which I happen to have and I also had all the gear. They got over and we didn't really know/have a plan for this screen door image so we decided to try a staircase picture while we waited. This picture literally took ALL of us. If there was one less person this image wouldn't have happened. We even had to get my brother to be a subject because we didn't have enough people. Rush was our creeper, Claire was holding the flash that was hitting Matt, Woods was holding the other flash and I was taking the picture. We were in a very small vicinity, however, and all very crowded and uncomfortable. It took us forever to get Rush's shadow right. We started off with the flash very close to her but that didn't work and we kept getting closer and her shadow just was way too big until we finally realized that the flash needed to be moved back-farther away from her. I don't know why we were so confused, but when we finally figured it out it was glorious.

What is still life?

multiple settings (this is a composite)

          So for TOP we are entering 4 categories. Sports, photojournalism, thematic, and still life. We were on teams for thematic and still life and I was a part of the thematic team which we did Town That Dreaded Sundown for that. On Saturday, we realized that the still life still was in need of 3 pictures and our deadline was Monday. So, I went home and decided to attempt a still life. The big debate/discussion is what exactly is a still life image? These are candles. They do not move. I consider this picture still life. But if you are being really picky, they are lit, and fire is not still. So technically I guess you could say it is moving and not still. But I am calling this image a still life image, even if you disagree with me. (I feel like I just argued with myself. I am a strange child.)

         We had a wedding shower at my house like a week ago and used these candles. Except they started off tall and not melted and by the end of the shower this is what they looked like. I thought it was really cool so I decided to get a picture of it. I did a composite/HDR and combined like 3-5 different pictures. One was really dark-to get the flames to look right. On another I used a secondish exposure and used a 430 flash and pressed the pilot button (I didn't have a pocket wizard or sync or anything) on the tray and candles coming at an angle back toward the camera. The third image, I used another long exposure and used the pilot button on the flash again but this time flashed the ferns in the background so there was some depth to this photo. My ISO was 100 and my f-stop was f/4.0. I started with a smaller (bigger number [f/80.0]) aperture but the background was rather clear and I didn't like that so I kept changing it until I got to f/4.0 so it wasn't so clear. With a smaller aperture it was too distracting, and I like it like this better. So this is my still life image that I created for TOP. 

TTDSD Portrait

ISO: 100  f/11.0  shutter speed: 1/200

         This was taken for our TOP thematic category. We are doing the Town That Dreaded Sundown for our theme. So, we are recreating scenes that actually happened way back when when all this happened. We have 9 scenes and then a portrait of the killer hence the image pictured above. This was taken in the studio against the white background. Claire was a human light stand for me holding an alien bee underneath him angled up to the left, and there was another light stand behind Josh to get a rim light so it wasn't a floating head. Then Woodsies was holding a reflector above him to get a little light back on the top of his head. I was really pleases with how it turned out. At first we were cross-lighting him but that didn't look very creepy. We finally decided that creepy lighting usually comes from underneath so we completely changed our lighting set up. I like that you can really see one of his eyes. For TOP we added grain (not in this image) to go along with all the other pictures we have for our theme.

Orange Chair Awarded

ISO: 800  f/2.8  shutter speed: 1/80

           They were announcing teacher of the year and Potter told me to grab a camera and go shoot it, so that is what I did. I had a 7D and a 17-50mm with no flash. I actually grabbed a flash but was in such a hurry I forgot to get batteries. Luckily, I didn't need the flash and ended up being just fine without one. This is the picture that went on the top of online newspaper. The chair is what's in focus and that bothers me, but besides that I like this picture, especially since she is all smiling and happy. I had to have my shutter speed so low since I didn't have a flash and I was inside and yea. In Lightroom I brought the clarity up a little bit and the blacks up (in the negatives so down? [golly there are so many things like this in photography like f/stop whether to say up or down and yea I always get my wording mixed up]) So I don't know whether I brought the blacks up or down, but I brought more blacks into the picture.

Emma Edwards

Emma Edwards

ISO: 800  f/4.0  shutter speed: 1/80

          I was assigned to take a picture of Emma communicating with her family in South America. I was originally told to get her writing a letter and when I talked to her she said she doesn't write letters, she just skypes with her family. Well duh, that's what she does, with technology these days that should be a no brainer, haha. Anyways, she had her iPad with her so we went to the library to make it look more homey. She was being very stiff and I kept telling her to relax, but that didn't work very well. It bothers me that her hand is cut off but that's because it is under the table not how I shot it. However, I should have noticed that and asked her to move how she was sitting. 

Gabby's Independent Research Presentation

ISO: 800 f/4.0 shutter speed: 1/200

ISO: 800  f/4.0  shutter speed: 1/80

          So I went to shoot this presentation that was at a church. It was about some multi-generational housing something, I don't really know but I got out of class to shoot it so that was nice. I like the angle of the first picture, but it is kind of dark. I don't know why my shutter speed is so fast. I definitely should have slowed it down. I think the light coming through window and door was making my meter not be quite accurate. (I turned the recovery down in Lightroom so you can't tell now, but it was really bright I promise I'm not just making this up.) For the second picture, I wish Gabby was making a different face-but that is kind of out of my control. I was using a 7D and a 17-50mm lens and was zoomed in to 41.0mm. I didn't use flash, even though for the first one I should have.

Miss THS

ISO: 1250 f/4.0 shutter speed: 1/125

ISO: 1250  f/4.0  shutter speed: 1/125

ISO: 1250  f/4.0  shutter speed: 1/400

         Woodsies and I got to shoot THS (so fun). This was actually way back in February I just realized I never blogged about it so I am now.  I used a 7D and a 70-200mm so I only got f/4.0 but it ended up being okay. I really like the first picture of the judges. I don't know why, probably just because it's clear and in sharp focus. I also like the colors of the popcorn. The 2nd picture is right before they announced the winner. I really wish I was on the other side so I could see their faces better cause they are both looking off in the other direction. I really like the last picture except for they need a little more foot room. This was used as a full bleed for the yearbook (that's always exciting!). It worked really well for that since you have the dead space to the right easy for design and text.