forced Perspective

I used a fill layer to make the "walls" look different from the "Floor". I think it was a bit messy and hard to make that look natural. Then in the head stand one i think the door way in the back gives it away but i think it looks better and you get the effect when you first look at it.

Color

I made a green monochromatic color based photo and a blue/orange complimentary color photo. I added a few fill layers to alter the colors. I also used a gausian blur in the green photo to have a shallow depth of field effect.

Color Meaning and Mood

Color meanings found here

Green: Aspiring, comfortable, harmonizing, relaxed, natural etc...

Blue: caring, contemplative, deep, good, intelligent, perceptive, reflective etc...

I used these colors because it helped symbolize the setting and the subject. Althoght there is not a lot of blue in the image, it symbolizes things that represent the subject so i decided to emphasize the eyes in blue.

Double imaged gradient map photos

I used the gradient map in my layer mask to only show part of the photo that was layed on top of an original photo. I think this is a fun concept and it can show consecutive ideas through multiple pictures.

Gradient Map

In the less saturated picture I used a gradient map with a decreased opacity and a blending mode change. In the more saturated picture I used a different gradient map with a higher opacity. I think gradient maps are a good way to alter colors and make pictures look more interesting.

Solarization

Black and White Solarization, Possitive Solarization, and negative solarization with a layer mask

High contrast color, Vintage, & Pictorialism

I altered the same photo in 3 different ways; Hight contrast color, vintage, and pictorialism. My favorite is Vintage, probably because that is how i have edited my photos more in the past.

Text+Image

I edited my photo on adobe photoshop first to make some general changes. Then I opened my edited photo in Adobe Illustrator where I added the text to my image. I used the work light repeated all throughout the picture because it goes along with my photo and my theme. (the grey box in the bottom of the photo is a flaw in the blogger post, I don't know what happened but the real photo has been matted and turned in and you can see what it looks like there.)

Sharpened

This photo is from my new theme of "Light, what brightens my life". In this photo the subjects are my mom and my dog Henry. I sharpened this photo on photoshop by doing filter>Other>High Pass>Overlay. I also made a few adjustments with brightness, contrast, vibrance, and i used a warming color filter. I like the sky and the contrast with the trees but I wish the houses were'nt so distracting. I thought it was great for my theme that it was a gloomy day becuase a.)the lighting is usually pretty interesting on rainy days, and b.)I thought it was a good contrast that my mom and dog are light in a gloomy day. I think the steeping stones help guide the eye to the subjects and I really like the color of the grass, it does a good job of showing the time of year. I think the rain on the street makes it have an almost silver look to it that I also like. I am happy with the final outcome of this photo.

Rhythm

In the top picture I added 4 additional layer mask selections using the magnetic lasso and altered the selections with the layer mask black and white functions. I also duplicated the background layer and brightened, added contrast, used curves, increased vibrance slightly, and croped the photo.
In the bottom photo I also added 4 additional layer mask selections using the magnetic lasso and altering my selection with the layer mask black and white brush tool. Again, I duplicated the background layer and brightened, added contrast, slightly croped, increased vibrance and used curves to make the photo more visually pleasing.

Stagecoach-Unforgiven-True Grit Comparison

Stagecoach is the most classic styled westerns out of all of the three movies we watched in class. In comparison with True Grit, Stagecoach had less gore and the main characters were male cowboys and a side kick; promiscuous woman, where True Grit changed things a bit, putting it in the middle of the classic vs. revisionist continuum. In True Grit the main character is Maddy, a young innocent girl. I also noticed that there was more gore in True Grit than was seen in Stagecoach, possibly making that a less prevalent characteristic of a classic western.
Unforgiven on the other hand is on the revisionist side of the classic vs. revisionist continuum, while still having True Grit in the middle. I think the thing that makes Unforgiven a revisionist western the most is also the main character, Will. He not a typical cowboy. He has a conscience and is still faithful to his wife even after she is gone. He has kids that he wants to take care of etc... But, he still wants to try to put justice into his own hands. Another sign of why this was a revisionist western is because the young boy also has a conscience and deep down inside sees pain in killing others. Also, Will is not a lone cowboy for long, he has his friend Ned for most of the film and the young boy.
After seeing all three movies I would say that True Grit is more Revisionist than Classic. First, Maddy was definitely not a lone cowboy, although she was very independent for her age, she was reliant on others. Also, she did not portray the typical female role of either sidekick for a man or promiscuous nuisance. She more of an equal or almost superior to the people she surrounded herself with on a educated and strong mental level. The main character says a lot about a movie and I would say since she was such a different atypical western character that this movie is more Revisionist than Classic.

Picture on the left:

I used the magnetic lasso tool to select the plant part of this image. Then I used the layer mask to make some final touches. I got the background black and white by doing the inverse selection function. I think this helps the subject pop in this picture and I am pleased with the final product.

Picture on the right:

I also used the magnetic lasso tool to select the lamp in this picture. I did not do the inverse function because I wanted to apply the black and white to the lamp, not the background. Then, I used the layer mask to make some fine adjustments and the photo was complete after some color balance adjustments. I am pleased with the final product of this picture.

Portraits

In this photo I used natural lighting and a 3/4ths angle. I also used a surface blur minimal spot healing. I brightened the photo slighting but increased the contrast, making the background darker. I increased the coloring of the blue eyes and red lips using the 50% overlay function. Finally, I croped the photo to focus in more on the face and the expression, taking distractions away from the composition of the photo. I was pleased with the outcome of this photo.

I used a photo filter for this photo to make it slightly more blue. This picture originally had a lot of orange in it so i thought the blue would help give a sence of the cold and neutralise the orange. This would also emphasize the orange that remained in the photo. I brightened this photo as well and added contrast. I croped it because the background was very distracting. I was pleased with the final outcome of this photo.

I used a lens flare for this photo to emphasize the light source. I wanted to make this photo black and white so the lense flare would be more obvious to the picture and color wouldn't take away from the effect. I played with color balance in this photo also to try to increase contrast where I wanted, to make the black and white look more extreme. I was pleased with the outcome of this photo.

Film Analysis

A) In the clip from Ocean's 11 something that stood out to me was the duration of each camera change. It started out with a fast pace as it quickly changed from naive friend to naive friend. This changed when George Clooney's character appeared. He meant business, and was more "stable" if you will, it the game. Also, the eyeline match also made the poker game seem more intense as well. Part of poker is to not show your expression, however, part of the fun is to try to analyse as much expression as you can get to try to help improve your game. The eyeline match helped the viewer with that. Finally, going along with the poker theme, the close-up framing seemed appropriate for the game that was filmed.
B) In the clip from Strangers on a Train first of all I wondered if the carousel was actually speeding up in some of those shots, or if they altered the rate of shooting during filming. Also, I think the night setting really added to the setting and the mood of the clip/event. It made the carousel seem more interesting with all of its lights in contrast with the dark sky. Finally, the composition helped the men talking seem more powerful because their bodies took up almost all of the frame. The shot was taken from down below so they looked larger in the frame than they really are in relation to the way we normally see things on an every day basis.
E) In the clip from Amadeus something that really stuck out to me was shift between diegetic to nondiegetic sound when he was looking back to his memory as a younger man. The priest's expression also signified that the song was truly not playing in the room even if there was a speck of hope that the song was maybe playing there. Also, it was interesting that when they were filming the opera singer from his memory, they filmed it from down low, in relation to were he would be recalling the event. Finally, the long shot of the opera singer really emphasised the extrodinance of the event. The whole outfit, stairs, hair, makeup and everything in that scene had to be incorporated and captured to get the full effect and reaction that only an opera singer deserves.
F) In the clip from Zerkalo the extreme long shot capturing the fire helped to establish the setting where the fire was taking place. Also, the children leaving the room then with the vase falling on the ground caused an uneasy mood, especially with the quiet and empty space in the room. Finally, I thought it was interesting that the scene was so visual because this is a foreign film so the perceptual subjectivity was all that I could appreciate due to the language barrier.

White Balance

In the tea cup picture I used a few different editing techniques. I croped my photo to put the tea cup in the bottom right courner. I also used curves and increased the contrast slightly. I decreased the vibrance and added a dark brown vignette to the edges. Finally, I used a clone stamp to tak away a clay bear sculpture in the background. I thought it made the image too busy. These few edits made my photo pop in a still realistic way.





The gardenia leaf photo is interesting because it is taken from a worm's eye angle. I also liked the leading lines from the window and the interesting bright light from the lamp. I used curves and color balance. I also increased the exposure. I added a subtle dark olive vignette to the outter courners of the picture. I also used the photoshop clone stamp tool to remove a few leaves from the middle. I wanted the leaves to get heavier from left to right. I croped the photo to better place the leaves in the photo. I think these edits helped the colors pop and the composition strengthen.

Best Picture Nominee

Pre-Writing



The King's Speech:

1. Literary-Developed a believable and understandable progress and friendship




2. Theatrical-Strong cast




3. Cinematic-Composition of shots strengthened performance




4. Why where it is- Best overall "score"




5. Writing- Based on true story

The Social Network:

1. Literary-Interesting back and forth that starts to make more and more sense




2. Theatrical-Main character perfect part




3. Cinematic-Effective use of lighting to show location




4. Why where it is- Fairly good overall rating and not as depressing as other movies




5. Writing- A bit confusing but used to their advantage

Winter's Bone:

1. Literary-A bit too simple, used "depressed and emotionless" in an almost lazy way




2. Theatrical-I applaud the neighbors more than the main character




3. Cinematic-Good setting, felt real




4. Why where it is- I enjoyed it but it was probably my least favorite of the ones that I enjoyed




5. Writing-Clear but uncreative

Ranked Reviews

1. The King's Speech-This is my favorite movie out of all of the Best Picture Nominees because this movie topped all the other movies in every way possible. To start, the literary elements were wonderful, slowly building his friendship and success with speech. Starting from blindly seeking help via his wife, to become life long friends, supporting each other through it all. Next, the theatrical cast was excellent. The king was great at stuttering and the frustration and anxiety seemed so prevalent. The King's wife had the perfect mix of stuck up and charm, and Lionel was genuinely caring, wanting to help. Also, the cinematic elements were very strong. I love art and was very impressed with the compositions of each scene and the way they used composition to help express themselves better. An example of this was the long hallways that would help build anticipation and suspense, especially before the final speech toward the end of the film. I thought the writing was excellent and did a good job of expressing this true story in an inspirational way. A comparison that I could make with another film to show that this film deserves to be the best would be comparing to the Social Network. That movie was criticized for not being authentic and The King's Speech's writing simple seemed less dramatic and more realistic. This was a great movie overall and I highly recommend it.

2. Toy Story 3- This movie made it higher on my list as well because I respect a well put together non-depressing movie. It is so easy to be taken seriously in a serious movie, but a fun childhood classic is one in a million. This literary elements were strong. Pixar always has a creative way to tell a cute childhood story about toys. I liked the more current element in the writing by making the kid grow up, just about at the same time where the kids that fell in love with that movie in childhood, were getting ready to go off to college. At the same time, even after all those years, the writing style seemed to stay fairly consistent. The theatrical elements were great, but that kind of comes with the animated territory. Not surprising for animation. The cinematic elements were also nice, for an animated film. The different visual perspectives were unique to the small toys which added to the authenticity of the story. In comparison to True Grit, this "western" (I say that lightly) was much less dramatic in an annoying way, in contradiction to what I felt about True Grit. This was a fun movie and I would also recommend seeing this movie.

3. The Social Network- This movie was impressive but was seemed a bit unrealistic which is why it made it lower on the list. The literary elements were unique. For example, changing the scenes depending on what was said in the law meetings or just making things confusing in this way, then gradually having things make sense as the movie went on. That was unlike anything I have ever seen before. The theatrical elements were probably some of the best qualities. The man who played Mark was completely believable and the twins were great. Also, Mark's friend could make you feel for him when they were bringing him down and taking advantage of him. On a negative note however, I think Justin Timberlake's roll was a bit lame, and could have been played much better by someone else who wasn't a former N'SYNC member, and maybe a real actor. I felt his power was coming from his real life, and not his acting. The cinematic elements were strong. They definitely played with some things to make people feel a certain way about a scene or give you subliminal information. For example, in the chicken scene, you do not see the chicken until after you have heard it clucking in the background. The writing was a bit lacking in the sense that it has been criticized to be over dramatized from the true story. However, going back to the back-and-forth scenes, that was fairly impressive writing to keep all of that straight, and clear, gradually getting clearer and clearer as the film proceeded. This movie is above winter's bone because you can tell there was a lot more thought but into the outer environment that the characters were living in. I would not tell you that you have to see this movie, but if you are curious, then it would probably be worth watching.

4. Winter's Bone- I found myself feeling more bad for the character's environment that she was living in than admiring the work that the filmmakers put into this movie. The literary elements were a bit slow and I thought the ending ended quite abruptly. Also, I thought it was not very adventurous to be walking up to different neighbors houses to see if they knew were her father was. I would prefer more of an out of normal culture journey. The theatrical elements were strong for some and not so much for others. I thought the main girl could keep a straight face, but she seemed a bit too emotionless for the extremely emotional journey she was going threw. The cinematic elements were cool. The town they were based in was very authentic which I highly admire. The different scenes of chaos really spread through the movie screen and into the viewer's laps. The overall writing was organized and clear but it seemed a bit anticlimactic. I would place this movie above True Grit because its "real" factor was very impressive to me. I would recomend this movie if you were interested for a light thriller.

5. True Grit- This was a sweet movie and it was fun to see a modern day western. The literary elements were very close to a typical western, although there were a few modern day adjustments that were made. An example of this would be that the main character was a girl which is not typical to an original western. Usually, in westerns, women are either a supportive sidekick or a fallen distraction. The theatrical elements were very good. Mattie was perfect for the roll and you could tell that she was older emotionally for her age. The cinematic elements were typical to a western as well. There were many open landscape scenes with one single person in it. The writing was also consistent with a western. For example, the good guy wins, he faces many obstacles, there are gun fights etc... I ranked this movie lower on my scale of best picture nominees soley because I'm not the biggest fan of the western style in general. However, at least this movie was worth watching, unlike my view of inception. If you like westerns, I would highly recomend this movie for you, because I'm sure you would appreciate everything that I did about this movie and more.

6. Inception-When I watched this movie, I personally believe that if I were to fall asleep for the middle hour of this movie, I would still have a perfect understanding of the movie as a whole. To say the least, it was a bit excessive. The literary elements in this movie were confusing, but not in an interesting way, in a frustrating way. The theatrical elements were pretty good. The acting was dramatic and intence. The scene where he goes down to the bottom "floor" of his dreams, I have got to say I was a little scared. The cinematic elements were strong. The graphics and all the effects that were put into it were interesting. The redundancey fo this movie really ruined it for me. It was just simply unneccessarily too long. The writing was not clear, and the style was just too much. I think there is a very small group of people who would appreciate this movie.

A day in the Life of a Tea Cup

    When taking the photo I changed my ISO to 100.  I did this because it was pretty light but the angle was difficult to take without shaking.  So, instead of using an 80 ISO I decided to use an 100 ISO.

    When editing this photo I brightened the photo and decreased the exposure time.  I also increased the contrast and slightly increased the vibrancy of the colors.

   A strength that this photo has is I think it guides your eye from the bottom left corner to the top right corner.  I also like how light and white it looks and the clarity and light reflections in the spoon.

    A weakness that this photo has is that the flowers are not as completely focused as they could be. Also, the spoon is pretty centered but I think that is okay because there is a lot of movement in this photo.



Digital Photography Artist Statement

    I create art because I want to share with others how I see the world.  Almost anything can inspire me in some way.  Minnesota, beauty, nature, seasons, and life are all things that inspire me.  I express my inspirations in both obvious and subtle ways.  I have done quite a bit of art work in the mediums of oil paint, acrylic paint, charcoal drawing, oil pastel drawing, print making, manual (film) photography and digital photography.  This semester I would like to explore artistic expression through digital photography.

    C.J Feng is a Photographer that inspires me.  He has photos on the National Geographic website.  His photos capture new and interesting places of the world.  The picture on the right is from Santorini, Greece.  This is a digital image and there was most likely some form of photo editing used to alter this picture.  I think it would be amazing to travel all around the world and be able to see different places just for my job!

Find more C. T Feng Photos here

My First Movie Review

BRAINSTORMING
1.Funny
2.Good writing
3.Interesting plot
4.Keeps me engaged
5.Action and love story
6.Good cast
7.Creative and funny character descriptions
8.Humorous setting
9.Favorite movie
10.DVD and VHS
11.Sister sick
12.Not old enough
13.view commentary
14.Pageant quiz
15.Doughnuts

REVIEW OF MISS CONGENIALITY
When I first saw the commercial for this movie I knew I would love it.  It was PG-13 and I was too young at the time to see it but I knew that somehow I would see it.  That day came when my sister became ill with a cold.  My dad thought it would be nice to get her some movies to pass the time.  Miss Congeniality was in the beautiful stack of movies.  I was so excited!  The first scene was fairly dark and my mom was not sure if I should watch it.  After that though it was light and hilarious.  The cast was perfect and the character descriptions were priceless.  This has been my favorite movie for a very long time.  Sandra Bullock has always been my favorite actress and I currently own this movie on both DVD and VHS.  A few years later when I was sick I watched the whole movie and then again with the voice over commentary by Sandra and the Director.  After that I took the DVDs special pageant quiz to see if I was suitable for a pageant.  I was not.  Then I took the quiz again trying to be the meanest person possible in my answers to the questions, and that time ironically enough, I was suitable for a pageant...interesting.  I highly recommend this movie to anyone with any scene of humor at all.  It will be worth your time and your life will be a happier one after you watch this movie.