Final Project!!! Woot woot!!!!

The Blake Family Conquers Observation Point Trail!

In this photo story I portray the journey of my family to Observation Point, a promontory 2,148' above the floor of Zion Canyon. I use my candid photography skills, leading lines, principles of portraits, balance, and a lot of the Rule of Thirds! :)

The biggest challenge was lighting. Our assent was between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm, which is a bad time for any photography, as the sunlight is very harsh, causing unwanted shadows in weird places. But I get around this issue as best I can.

All pictures taken in Zion National Park, UT.

Entering the Park

Taken: Near entrance to Zion National Park

Photography concepts used: Rule of Thirds, framing, lighting.

Photo-editing: I brightened the dashboard of the car, and pasted in a rear view mirror from another photo, as it had better lighting on our driver (my dad). this helped make the frame given by the car interesting, instead of just under-exposed. I also used the Healing and Cloning brushes to clear out blemishes on our windshield.

Unpacking

Taken: In Visitor Center parking lot

Photography concepts used: Rule of Thirds, good backgrounds.

Photo-editing: I brightened the car's outside and inside, and the parts of my family that were in deep shadow, making everything visible. I also dimmed some of the glaring highlights, like my sister's white shirt.

On Our Way!

Taken: At the Visitor Center shuttle stop

Photography concepts used: Rule of Thirds, good backgrounds, exposure.

And So It Begins

Taken: At Observation Point trailhead

Photography concepts: Rule of Thirds, leading lines, exposure, symbolism (crossing the bridge).

Hiking Along

Taken: On trail

Photography concepts: vertical balance, mid-body portrait shot, backgrounds, exposure, framing, candid.

Photo-editing: Flipped horizontally

Goofing Around

Taken: On trail

Photography concepts: Candid, Rule of Thirds, exposure.

Just Keep Walking

Taken: On trail.

Photography concepts: Rule of Thirds, backgrounds, leading lines

Photo-editing: Horizontally flipped.

"Are We There Yet?"

Taken: On trail.

Photography concepts: Rule of Thirds (I told you I used a lot of it), exposure, candid.

Photo-editing: Cropped.

Take a Breather

Taken: On trail.

Photography concepts: Candid, lighting, Rule of Thirds, backgrounds.

The Beating Sun

Taken: On trail.

Photography concepts: Perspective angle, candid, lighting, Rule of Thirds, background.

Keeping a Good Attitude

Taken: On trail.

Photography concepts: Mid-shot portrait, Rule of Thirds, backgrounds, candid, exposure.

"See Where We're Going?"

Taken: On trail, near end.

Photography concepts: Leading lines, candid, lighting, Rule of Thirds.

Photo-editing: I darkened the far background, and enhanced the color of the mid-ground, to make the latter more discernable as what Dad is pointing to.

Conquerors

Taken: At Observation Point

Photography concepts used: Depth, Rule of Thirds, exposure (as best I could).

Project: Photo-manipulation!!!

*"I Have a Dream Too!"

Obviously, none of these pictures are originally mine. I had to horizontally flip the Hook Hand Thug from Tangled, copy and paste a full hook on him (since the other is cut off by Rapunzel), make him B&W, add some noise to match that in the MLK photo, and finally, make him part of the crowd.

 

 *Morning Flight
Taken in Henderson, NV, looking East-North-East. I adjusted the colors, and made the com trail of the airplane larger, more noticeable.

*The Colorless

This. photo. took. FOREVER.

All of  these rose petals had fallen from the dying flower, and had received added color (by adjusting the hue and/or color balance in GIMP), except for two.

Taken in my front yard.

The original rose petals are gorgeous too, and oh, so soft.

My Best Pictures

Taken at Monticello, VA, on the path down Mulberry Row.
Subjects: Mother and sister.

Taken from a hill southeast of Vegas.

Project: Candid photography!

So, here they are!

 *Playing with the Zoom
Taken of my sister, Lizzie, in our home. It's just easier to capture emotion that is already being felt, or a moment that is in the process of being lived, than it is to replicate a moment or feeling, then capture it on film.

*Sip o' Water

Taken in our house. Liz is looking at the camera, but I think that is fine because she is still captured in the moment, and not posing.

*Say Cheese!

The tables have turned! Now my subject is taking a picture of the photographer. Again, in our house.

Project: Still Life and Movement

*Emptied Pockets

These items are all mine, and the picture was taken in my house (see Set Up for "Emptied Pockets" below).

The light blue bed sheet upon which the articles were set turned out to be a very good reflector of the natural and artificial light shining on the area; I did also do some post-production editing to decrease the intensity of the shadows, but I left enough to retain some definition. I think I should've ironed the bed sheet to make it less distracting, but it's pretty good.

*Parkour

If you don't know, parkour (also known as free running) is a very active sport. I like to think of it as what you get when you cross gymnastics with running. Dabbling in parkour is something I enjoy doing to add variety to my daily exercise, and in this self-portrait I am doing a sort of front handspring over the green rail. The fast shutter speed negates motion blur, but, if you look closely, captures my hair flying wildly :)

*Wintery Waterfall
Taken with a slower shutter speed near the Natural Bridge, a natural landmark in Virginia, this picture demonstrates mild motion blur of the falling water. Miraculously, I did not capture streaks of white - the blurry trails of the ever-falling snow.

Setting Up for "Emptied Pockets"

Project: Portraits and Landscaping

Well, hi!

Hehe, anyway, here be my pictures (see below; because if you don't see below where it says to see below, you won't see what's below, which is worth seeing)

*Red Rock Heights

Yesterday I hiked and had dinner at Red Rock Canyon, NV on a triple date. It was really fun. And the landscape, as you can see, is gorgeous. Red Rock Heights is a good landscape photo because there are things to see in the fore-, mid-, and back-ground. 

*Bright-Eyed Smile

This is my wonderful, talented, beautiful little sister. She was so great to give up her morning to model for me in this photography project. The background is a tree-shaded road in our neighborhood in Henderson, NV.  Her upper body nearly fills the frame, and her green eyes rest just below a Rule of Thirds line, making this a good portrait photo.

*In Bleakness

Taken on the edge of Pittman Wash, in Henderson, NV. Good fore-ground with my sister's upper body, making her the obvious subject, while the scraggly scrub bush just past her makes an interesting and sombre middle ground that helped inspire me to make this photo B&W. And then there are the mountains, clearly visible, in the background.

Project: Lighting

Hey, y'all!

*Stalking the Innocent (and Cute) part 1
In my backyard there exists an exceptionally rare leopard - felinis stuffidous (The Stuffed Leopard). This fantastic feline, though hardly ever captured on film, is known worldwide for its patience. it carefully stalks the cute, innocent, ribbon-necked sheep (smellifur-ous ribbonous) from the early rays of morning...

*part 2

...through the blistering heat of the backyard savannah day...

*part 3

...and into the dreary night. 

Perhaps he is too patient.

    *"What Are YOU Looking At?"
I got a close-up of the felinis stuffidous on my couch - unheard of luck! Unfortunately, I fudged the light settings, and this is the only picture I snagged before he disappeared behind the pillows fluffier than himself.

A Shadow of Disco

(Do not grade this picture.) Midday can provide some interesting photos using shadows, although I guess morning or late afternoon/sunset might be better. It depends on the kind of picture you want, and how long the shadows need to be.

*Napoleon

Napoleon was a rather short guy, yet he ruled over France. I found this similarity fitting the smallest of my sister's stuffed animals. The lighting is good. I used that of my ceiling fan, and two standing lamps with the shades off.

Have a great day!