Assignment for February 3, 2011

Using your 5 to 15 images that you shot/created as an extension of your single composed image that explored the theme of "Transformation", created a sequence.

Think of the examples we looked as inspiration: collage/montage, handmade book, PowerPoint based animated presentation, iMovie based image sequence. These are just a few types -- feel free to mash these up or innovate another means!

Bring your completed piece to view in class.  Do make a post on the class blog with an image (can be screengrab) of your piece, but bring in any media files (video, for example) into class. We will play those locally.

In our next module we will get into outputting and exporting media content, as well as look at options for where to post.

UPDATE: please label this assignment 'sequence'

Links to what we watched last week

Here are links to the pieces we watched last week:

Superfly pusherman sequence montage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv7AbxqxXag

Rockford Files Opening (on Hulu, pick any Season One episode):
http://www.hulu.com/the-rockford-files

La Jetee (this is lesser quality than the Netflix streaming version we saw):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8796749344506734237#docid=4536409644066983943

Zhang Dingnan's Assignment 2

I followed my ideas from last assignment-- 'The Process of Changing':

I took a pouch of pictures this week. Because the weather changed a lot in the past few days.

Some time it was pretty warm outside, but we've also been through the coldest day this winter. And  the heavy snow just past this early morning...

I have chosen 6 pictures of two nights, one night is calm and peaceful, the other is violent and extreme.

From those pictures, we can feel the differences of the Revere beach from different perspectives。

See if you guys can get more different feelings!

Here is the link:    Revere

On Layer Masks

A couple of links about using layer masks as I spoke about last week:

• from Adobe.com

• video tutorial on layer masks (a few years old)

Bookmaking video tutorials

Using the phrase "Bookmaking" can always set off a red flag! You know what I mean. ;-)

Here are three videos that I thought were informative and varied in style -- all simple means of creating your own books, per the examples and discussion we had last week.

How to Make an Instant Book ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaP3vXiioJk )
DIY Japanese Stab Binding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdwDYVlZK2A )
How to Make a Simple Accordion Book ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rycVITCb4A )

City of Boston as the sun sets

City of Boston as the sun sets
Originally uploaded by Benrajak

In this image to your right, in the center of the image is the Hancock tower, surrounded by city lights coming on just as it starts to get dark. Even though the sun sets the city stays busy. At this hour, people are possibly finishing up with work, leaving, going home to their families. Some are departing on a business trip and some are just probably capturing all those moments from their cameras.. like me. :)

I also wanted to leave a few links that someone could find

useful.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/visualstory/discuss/72157625792829070/

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/layers/layer-masks/

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/blend/blend.html

sequence_watch out

had trouble to make a story. Chosed some pics but still couldnt decided to use which. then last Sat i was in car and driving down a street. i was looking the house cross the street towards to me. thats when i took those pics. while, i couldnt really crash to a house though...-_-..so i searched online after i get back home. too bad i couldnt find any one in winter with snow. i guess i can only say this is a uncompleted story...you can go to check those pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/caosainan/set/72157625789743089/

Looking for a story...

I'm having trouble thinking of what story I can tell with this photo series.

I've experimented with both following Alice (my uncooperative model from last week's assignment, pictured here) around on her adventures outside and being queen of the house, inside. However, I feel like this would end up being a children's book inanely entitled "Alice's Big Day".

I've also done some shots of my living room in various states, but the past week has been rather boring. Other than night vs day and the presence or absence of wine glasses, it wouldn't be an interesting sequence.

Thoughts?

Assignment for January 27, 2011

1. Continue to explore your interpretation of the theme of transformation by extending your single image to multiple images.  You can take as many as you need to, but you should end up with between 5 and 15 images for your next assignment 'sequence'.

2. Don't post your images on the class blog, but make them accessible in class if we want to review (thumb drive, posted to flickr, etc)

3. Please review forthcoming posts on making books and utilizing photoshop (layer masks).

lulu.com

As a resource for publishing your own books (and other types of print publications) have a look at lulu.com

Let the journey begin...

For anyone who was wondering about the Norwegian Birkebeiner ski race. You can find out more at their web site, www.birken.no and my twitter page, www.twitter.com/Dan_Desai

romantic

My transformation

Hi, my dear classmates and this is a photo of my shoes.  Don't be surprised if you see my shoes in a different colors.  I did it on purpose.  What about its transformation?  Most normal people always wear the same shoes on both of their feet.  But it's not a rule, it's just a custom or tradition.  We can choose.  We don't have to do things like other people do or as other people expect us to do.  Otherwise, this world would be boring.  

So I choose to do a difference.  And this is how this photo show its transformation.

5:30 in the morning

even this is not the one i original i want to share, but its still one of my favorite. it was a morning. after i talked with my mom in china. i was looking through my old pictures with my friends in china. now they are on another side of the earth.

Looking for Warmer Pastures

I had some trouble without a good camera and an uncooperative model. Also, I learned just how quickly red hot metal will cool.

My goal was to show the hot metal of the gas fireplace cooling. My dog (Alice), who often naps in front of the stove, usually moves to sleep by a radiator once the fire is turned out. For me, the transition was both the red metal cooling and the inevitable departure of the dog.

Unfortunately, the commotion between me turning off the fire and getting positioned for the shot made Alice think it was time to play. Also, the red hot metal faded very quickly.

What I managed to get, I think, also works. The metal is transitioning between hot and cooler, and whatever was recently on the cushion has already left because of it.

Transition - II

Transition - I

My first transformation photo is based on an idea similar to Darren's. Personal, physical transformation.

Time Based - Composition I

I chose to use a cropped wideshot for this composition assignment. I was thinking about how 'transformation' applies to people on a daily basis, and make-up and attire is definitely one of those things.

We shower, we get dressed, and go thru a personal transformation every day. In this particular case, applying primer and eyeliner before going out for an event. I decided to do it symmetrically because I did not want the audience's focus to wander around. I also chose to crop off some of the facial features to really bring in the focus to the eyes as the main subject.

As you may have noticed, one of the eyes (for each person) is finished, while the other is currently in the works of being finished (hence therefore the brush and the eyeliner pen). By taking a photo of unfinished eyes, it shows the transformation process in one photograph.

Assignment 1: composition II

Hey, this is Yi again. Here is my second of the assignment.

This photo is taken in a snowy day through out my window, the "ice cone" is being transformed dramatically into the shape of a sword. I focused on composition to give it the coldblooded or dangerous feeling. And I waited until a red car passing by for more dramatic elements in the frame.

Here is the link of my flickr page, welcome to check out more photos I uploaded.

Assignment 1: composition I

Hi there, this is Yi Huang. Here is my first assignment, composition in the theme of "transformation." It's kind of difficult for me to choose from the two photos, so I uploaded both in two posts.

The first photo was taken in a parking lot, I felt I was so lucky to have my camera with me to capture this breathtaking scene. I think the transformation comes in the following three aspects.

The sunset itself is a kind of transformation, from day to night, from office hours to family hours, from a busy world to tranquility.
The shapes of the cloud is being transformed to stairs, with an up-going direction.
The stair-shaped cloud also gives a feeling of transforming into the future.

I am going to post another photo of transformation. Thank you for viewing!

Paul's 1st assignment

    I  cannot sleep tight during the night, it seems like jet lag still has some effects on me. When I woke up yesterday in the morning, I decided to go out, and take some pictures. And this picture was one of them, taken by my iPhone when I arrived at Snell library. 

   In my point of view, "transformation" does not only mean the changes in external factors of a given object, it also relates to the changes in observers' feeling. Just like my feeling on this picture.It's very interesting, I keep asking myself one question: can I get a specific meaning from this picture? it is cold or warm? far or close? vague or clear? still or dynamic?...

   I think we can say there are no right answers, or those answers are all reasonable but not so accurate.

      All in all, to me, transformation is a relative concept. It happens from  Past till Now, from 'far' to 'near', from 'frozen' to 'melting'... It is a process of changing rather than a particular state.

Hi,
I decided to take the assignment more literal. So I took a picture of my transformer attached to the fuse box in the basement. The only way to make the image look interesting enough was to get a nice tight shot and use some depth of field. I made sure to get the white wire in there so that the eye has some where to start from even though it is unconventional right to left. Here is a small definition of what a electrical transformer is...got it from Merriam Webster On-line Dictionary "one that transforms; specifically : a device employing the principle of mutual induction to convert variations of current in a primary circuit into variations of voltage and current in a secondary circuit" I wish I had lowered the shutter speed more than I did, I think the copper on the transformer box would have shown better. Thank you Jenn

Sunset No. 4 in the City

On MLK Day I braved the cold and went outside to take pictures of the sunset. Initially I wanted to take pictures of the sunset over Ruggle projects in my neighborhood in Roxbury but when I went to my location I realized the sunset was on the oppostite side, darn. I had to race to a high point to catch the sun. Something lead me to Fisher Ave., on Mission Hill. I was able to get to a high point with a view that wasn't blocked by buildings. I braved the cold for a half hour. I was so excited to capture the sun I forgot to put my gloves on and my hands almost froze off. The worst part was the aching when they were thawing out.

Once I downloaded the pictures I was in awe of how beautiful the colors came out. Wow! The pictures came out much better than I thought. First of all you would think it was summer time and second you would never know I took them in the city. When I look at them all it looks like they were taken in Africa:) It's hard to choose just one to post.

Location: The top of Fisher Hill Ave., Mission Hill, Roxbury.

Time: 5:35 pm

Authour: Nikia Manifold

Boston transforms at sunset..

1/15/2011: I had been meaning to do some images of the Boston city line for sometime now. Braving the cold was part of the battle. Choosing the time to go out there and really do this was the deciding factor. Color in the sky is usually seen either at sunrise or sunset. And being that it was cold, getting up early in the morning was the last thing on my mind. So, doing this in the evening was best. Sunset times are available on google, so after I got the time I went to Cambridge by the Charles river. I was about an hour late because of traffic. I thought I missed the sunset but I think it paid off with this shot, when I was able to really capture the sunset sky in the background of the city. At times you can see the city light's come on and the colors change dramatically. For this shot I used a tripod and instead of using auto white balance I set the camera to "FL" or flourescent balance, which is why the lights in the buildings are white. The image was converted from RAW to jpg format in Lightroom 2. The only thing I touched in this image using the software was calibration. More images can be viewed here..

The Sun goes down, the training goes on...

Back to school!

Hey, it's Dan, trying out posting to this blog.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tree post blizzard

Blizzard 2011
Originally uploaded by ravijain

Getting a little too close for comfort!

Assignment for January 20, 2011

1. Compose a single photographic image with the concept/theme of "transformation". Do not alter the photograph by means of photoshop beyond cropping and any color balancing.

2. Post on our class blog in an original post using the label "composition". If you use flickr.com, please post with the tag: "dgm6125winter_composition"

Course syllabus

You can access the syllabus here.