My Photographic Experience: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
First week of school we were warned this class wasn’t going to be easy and if that was what we we’re expecting then we should change classes. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting this quarter, but I was up for the challenge. The only knowledge I had with a camera was to get good lighting and make sure the pictures weren’t blurry. I had always noticed the dials at the top with other buttons, but it was beyond my knowledge. In the beginning my photos were coming out less then decent I would say, but not the worst. Majority of my pictures came from my phone, so I had at least some knowledge of how to take a good photo. My challenges occurred when I had to use all the new tools my camera had to offer in our assignments. At some points I was so overwhelmed I wanted to quit and others where it seemed too easy to be true, or just maybe that I was learning and getting a hang of things. Although I came across some challenges it was a learning experience, and I can see myself growing after each assignment. Even now I can see where I need to improve, whether it be that I should have angled the camera a certain way or edited the image differently in Lightroom. I’m still no expert but I can see how my images have improved from the first week of class to now.
Now getting more into detail about my experience with color, tone, and light. I always understood when a picture was over exposed but never actually knew when it was underexposed. I also didn’t know that you could make different adjustments to get details back into an image, like the image with fog, that could have saved a lot of photos in the past. When I was first introduced to a histogram, I had no clue how it worked other than when I adjusted a level below it moved left or right. Now that I do understand it, it has made editing images easier. In our previous assignments I really liked following along and learning how to use color. Editing with color I feel like it brings my pictures back to life sometimes, it’s pretty neat to watch. It was nice getting hands on making adjustment and seeing the outcome of it. I am still learning but I personally feel I have a good understanding of it.
Since we have been using Lightroom, I have noticed how light effect the tone of an image. Now taking pictures I have been more aware of light. With the current project, I will definitely be looking for better light. This project was a good experience and although I had a bright light, I found natural light is just so much better. That is just another personal learning experience I am taking with me. With the reading about light, I understood all the ways objects could affect light and how it reflects in different angles. It was just one of those had to experience it to understand it for me. I found in my images that some sections were brighter/darker than others were because of the objects in the image. I learned that there is so much to learn about light and it’s fascinating to me. Even just from looking at my peer’s work, all given the same learning materials, but seeing all their work and how much it differs from mine was so cool.
