Final Artist Statement

In the following portfolio you will be able to see photography, photo manipulation and Photoshop project that I created during the school year of 2009-2010.

This year in digital photography we went over Photoshop techniques as well as camera functions. To start the year we learned how to take photographs with good composition, this included color balance, good shadows and good emphasis. Once we got the basics of taking an effective photograph we were able to turn pictures into black and white with Photoshop.

We progresses throughout the year, we learned how to manipulate pictures we practiced by turning our pictures into vampires and aliens. We also learned how to add photographic effects; we played with the hue in our pictures, added gradients and blurred the background. This is we began to learn about blending styles. This is the most useful information I learned because this is one of the tools I use to Photoshop in almost every project or picture is have.

Blow Out and Panning

Aperture

The aperture mode acts as a human eye; the darker it is our pupil gets bigger and vice versa. This is also true for aperture. This may seem like a simple trick to remember, but on the contrary, an F22 aperture is smaller than an F2 aperture this means that F2 has a bigger hole and more light comes in, as for F22 which is a smaller whole less light goes in.

Flash

ISO 50

ISO 400

ISO 5000

ISO comes in handy when you want to take pictures of Christmas lights, or other lights that would fade when using flash. In other words ISO is used when there is need of extra lighting but not with the use of flash. In the photographs I took when flashed was used you can see my object fairly clear, but with a dark background and I disturbing reflection of the flash. When I used an ISO of 50 the picture was very dark and was hard to see my subject in focus, although the Christmas lights were very bright. When I used ISO of 400 the picture came out with a good amount of lighting but it was scrawny. When an ISO of 5000 was used the picture came out pixilated and scrawny and had a bad resolution.

Flash

Flash can be good when extra lighting is needed or it can be use to eliminate blur. Flash is also bad it creates red eye, bad lighting, and plain pictures. The use of flash can be used in the dark when taking a picture of a specific object, for example a person or when the background of the pictures does not matter. Flash in the dark is not good to use when taking pictures of, or scenery with light.

Surrealism: Trapped

It’s like your trapped inside a dream and nothing you can do will lead you to escape.The icily clouds leave you with a frozen sensation.

Surreal Practice Tutorials

In both of these Photoshop tutorials we used tools such as drop shadow, dodge and burn tools to create realistic images. The levels in our objects were also very important because it is necessary for the colors to blend together with the whole picture some objects may have to be darker and other may have to be lighter. Gradients were also used in both tutorials, for the eye we used colorful and bright colors to make our eye look surreal but for the dessert tutorial we used natural bright colors to make our picture look realistic and surreal. Both tutorials were helpful and reminders of tools in Photoshop we must use to create our surreal work.

I C ME

This is one of my favorite artworks that I have created, it depicts the feelings I have inside. It also represents how I view myself, as a calmly and friendly person. The colors are very dark but the colorful swirls represent the confusing aspect of my personality that usually lead me to happiness.

Graduation Programs

I think that mine is strong because it’s simple and does not have too much going on, but yet I believe that some stuff does not look right, it is out of balanced. I think it looks more like an invitation that a program cover yet I like the final project. I think I could have but more thought to it, it looks a little plain and others used to color purple just enough to make there’s look nice but mine has purple all over the program. Graphic design is tough because we need to please our customers and not our selves. Graphic Designers play a big role in society especially in advertising, they are the ones that encourage us what to buy, think and act because it is all around us.

Senior Portfolio Show

For both that i did they have the same basic layout. After looking at other students work I would have definitely been more creative. Graphic Design was really boring because we didn't focus on what we wanted but on what our client wanted. I think that mine are decesnt looking they are plain and simple yet elegant.

My Quilt

Inside Quilt

Future Quilt

Past Quilt

Outside Quilt

My first idea was to have all my pictures unite with a zipper, I liked my idea but I couldn’t get it accomplish it was difficult to decide were the zippers were going to be located. I have no favorite square because I did not get to finish them, I feel like they all need to be improve and I will keep working on them until I feel that they are done. Although I have no favorite one I have one that I feel I did the worst which is my future, that’s the one I need to work on the most. I also struggled with my past square because I had a complete idea but I realized it wasn’t what I was trying to express so I decided to start a whole new one which took a lot of time. I struggled most to set my ideas I was lost the first couple of days and I did not try hard enough to meet the deadlines.

I feel that for my outside and inside I used the basic content I feel that they were both the same people it was all me, I had no surprise in what people said of me they all said that I was a friendly person which I believe I am. Like many great artist the symbols I used are deep inside my art, and I will be the only one that truly understands them. I like the collage of pictures I used; I also think they are the strongest part of them they all unite to tell a different story. My favorite tool to use was the blending tool I had fun deciding the different kinds of blend I had to use for each picture. Finally, the experience was great I learned to see myself in a different way; this has been my favorite project so far because all of my classmates had a different and unique idea. If I had to this project again I would definitely work on time management.

Lyrics

"When ever I’m around you, you’re all I can see. You don’t even know how much you mean to me. You make me so happy and glad, seeing your smile I can never be mad.
You the best thing that happen to my life. You’re my beautiful baby and I can’t wait for you to be my wife."

"Family is my strength. Love is my power. Art is my passion."

The reason I choose this lyrics is because I thought it was a beautiful poem. I chose this poem instead of a song because these words mean more to me than any song. I also used a quote from the tattoo artist Kat Von D, because as I was reading her bibliography these words stood out the most! I love art I just can’t draw but I can create beautiful artwork through my pictures like she can with her tattoos.

Scary Effects

The Scary Effects project has been the best so far because we were able to transform our pictures into a scary creation. My favorite one was the Alien picture because we used new tools in Photoshop that allowed our imagination to grow. A new tool I used was the Pen tool; this was a new tool for me that allowed me to discover new creations in Photoshop. There was one difficulty I had, due to the fact that I was absent I missed some procedures we did in class, but luckily I was able to make up my work. I believe I did well on most of the effects because I had already used most of them before on other projects, I will be able to use this new tools like the Pen Tool in my Job, it will create artistic creations.

Critique: Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison

In the lonesome ocean of hope, the man struggles to survive. He is on his way to the island of freedom taking nothing with him but his soul and struggle with nothing around him just the sound of water. He builds a bridge with all that he has left; an old hammer and pieces of woods; this is all he has to build his road of survival.

Photographic Effects

The photographic effect that I enjoy using the most is the Gradient Mask tool because it can add extreme colors to our photographs. I would like to work more with Cross Process only because it has many steps that we need to learn and I like the way it brings out the color. Photoshoping is always fun my favorite things that I learned were the shortcut keys they make Photoshop much easier.

Portraits

Compositional Trick #6 Framing

Compositional Trick #4 Simplicity

Compositional Trick #3 Macro

Macro is a unique trick that helps us look at the world with different eyes, the trick is designed to take pictures at a close up view, and is highly used when photographing small objects. When using macro the background usually blurs and the empahisize is clear.

Compositional Trick #2 Leading Lines

Leading Lines are lines in the picture that take u to the emphasize of the picture, anything can act as a leading line, in my picture the lights act as leading lines and so does the line in the walls that take you straight to the apple. Some leading lines make one's eye wonder around the whole picture but still have a strong emphasize.

Compostional Trick #1 Rule Of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a rule that helps the photographer focus on the subject with out the picture looking like a typical photograph. To use the rule of thirds one needs to make a tic tac toe board on the screen, either using the camera's function or imaginating the tic tac toe board on the screen. Next, the photographer places the subject where the lines intercept.