Photojournalism-swim team

Assignment #4

Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California, 1944 by Ansel Adams

I chose this landscape photo because I like the contrast, especially the mountain's shadow in contrast with mountains themselves, and i like the angle. I haven't been to California but I would like to go there. My favorite parts are the shadows in the different ridges of the mountain and the shadow cast by the overall mountain. This photo is in black and white and I think it adds to the composition because it makes the shadows really strong and they stand out more because they are in black and white. I like the composition because the mountain is balanced really well with the sky and the clouds in the photo add to the contrast a little too so the sky isn't plain and boring. The mountains aren't exactly centered between the sky and the ground in front of the mountains which I think adds to the composition too because it gives it a good angle and it sort of gives it depth of field. I don't think I would change anything because I think changing the angle or the contrast or something else would give this photo a different feeling about it which would make it a different photo altogether. If I was there right now I would lay on the ground and look up at the sun rising over the mountains, and watch as the shadows change and the mountains come to life as the day begins. If I could put myself in the photo, I would put myself at the top of the mountain so it would look like one small person on top of one huge mountain and it would drag your eye through the picture so you would feel pulled into the picture.

Assignment #3

Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France By Jacques Henri Lartigue

In this photo movement is shown because the car in the foreground is slanted a little and the background is blurry which portrays movement. The car is in focus mostly but there is some blur around the tires and the ground is blurry so this also helps portray that the car is moving. Movement is important in this photo because it adds to the composition. If the photo didn't convey movement there would just be a car and people looking at it. The composition would change completely and it wouldn't have the same feeling and you wouldn't be as drawn to it as you are when movement is conveyed. When movement is conveyed you want to know why the car is racing, where it's going, and what's going to happen next. If there wasn't any movement you wouldn't have any of these questions and it would make it kind of boring. The set up of the picture adds to the composition because since the car isn't in the middle of the picture, it draws your eye through the picture to the car so you can tell it's moving and you wonder where it's going. The people in the background also add to the picture because they add another clue to the picture, so you wonder why people are watching this car race by. I want to be able to show movement while still having a good quality photograph so i want to work on adjusting the iso so i can get the best quality photo possible.

Secondary Colors

Primary Colors

Assignment #2 Color

The Blues Brothers, 1979, Rolling Stone cover

By Annie Leibovitz

This photograph shows the Blues Brothers with their faces painted blue. The blue color in the photo brings out the subjects' attitude by giving the photo a calm, intelligent, contemplative atmosphere but it also has a comedic effect. It has a comedic effect because, obviously, blue isn't their natural skin color, and because they are called the Blues Brothers. The blue makes the image feel cool and the black sunglasses and business suits really brings this out. The blue color also gives the photo a little mystery and brings some questions to your mind, like why the subjects' faces are painted blue (because of their name or is their another reason?). The black sunglasses and the suits also bring out the blues so that your eye is really drawn to the overall contrast of blue to black. One of the Blues Brothers has a cocked eyebrow and the other looks like he is trying to look serious and stern which adds to the mood of the photo by increasing the comedic effect and decreasing the seriousness the business suits give the photo. Their mouths aren't painted blue and one of them has a cigarette in his mouth which helps give the photo some more contrast because these things help define the blue and you are able to distinguish their features more.
If the colors were changed the idea would be different and it wouldn't have the same affect that it does now. If it was some other color it wouldn't have the comedic effect of them having blue faces and their name being the Blues Brothers. Any other color wouldn't give it the same cool collected feeling that blue does. For example, if it was red their expression would look more serious and they would have a harsher look than they do now because the suits would no longer make the subjects look intelligent and cool, it would give them a serious don't mess with us look. Blue gives this photo an individual, unique feeling because of the way the color is connected to the subject and the emotions you perceive when you see all of the elements in the photo together.

Hands

Grade the middle photo

Veterans Day

Depth of Field

Class Object

Shoebox

Texture

Reflection

Critical Response-Motion

1. Both of the photos show their subjects in motion.
2. Each photo shows different steps of motion slowly so that you can see the movement, as a whole, of the subject.
3. The purpose of these photos is to use different shutter speeds to show movement. In the first photo the purpose is to show the individual movements of the horse pulling the carriage because you can see the different photos of movement that together show the horse pulling the carriage. The second photo's purpose is to show a series of movements that make up one whole picture because they show a man running down the stairs and the shutter speed allows you to capture the motion.

Movement

Extreme Angles

Shadow Photos