More School Projects

Project: Depth of Field. You had to take one picture that demonstrates shallow depth of field(only the main subject in sharp focus) and one that demonstrates deep depth of field (the main subject and everything else in sharp focus as well)

Critique:

Grade: A

Images have strong impact

Instructor's Comments: Melody - What a crack up! Usually I warn against mixed lighting (sun & shadow) but somehow you made it work. Clever use of a high ISO to stay inside the camera-stability zone and ward off camera shake. Congrats!!

Project: Motion (Submit two photos in one document of the same or different subjects: One that demonstrates "stop- Action" with a fast shutter speed and One that demonstrates "motion Blur" with a slow shutter speed)

Grade: A-

Stop Action image has moderate impact

Blur image has moderate impact

Instructor's Comments:

Melody - Generally a good project; you did a lot of things right. A couple of comments: your runners aren't in precise focus in the first shot (tough to achieve when they're coming right at you). Also, I think a lower camera angle would help emphasize the running motion. And although it was smart to switch ISO speeds, you ended up with exposures that were slightly different. All in all, some technical issues could use a bit more finesse, although your overall results are definitely in the ballpark.

Project: Light

Take head-and-shoulders shots of one adult human subject in the four types of light (front, side, back and shade).

Grade: A

Instructor's Comments: Melody - Great choice of modeling and handling of her position with respect to the background - Superb job all around!

Project: Fill Flash

Take a head shot of a person outdoors in bright sun, with part of the face in deep shadow. Take a second shot, using your camera's flash to lighten the shadows. Then take the original (with the dark shadows) into Photoshop and use the Shadow/Highlight feature to lighten the shadows. 

Grade: C-

Presentation is quite good!

Instructor's Comments: Your corrections here aren't having the right effect because you started out with soft lighting, not contrasty lighting as the assignment calls for. Your flash does have a nice effect but its very very subtle. You need to start with strong direct sun; check the samples again. Then your corrections will be much more meaningful.

On the Fill Flash assignment I didn't expect a good grade at all. I wasn't prepared for it. I had forgotten to take the pictures that week thinking that the project wasn't due for another week. I remembered I had these pictures on my home computer and knew they would sort of work. At least I would have something to turn in then I could redo the project and still get full credit. (If you turn it in late you can't get full credit for it. But if you turn it in on time you can redo it and he will take the better of the two grades) I called Hubby and asked him to email me the pictures. I plan to redo it this week and hopefully get a better grade.