Digital Photos Manipulation

For this assignment that is nearly approaching the semester exams, Mr. Ubl decided to have the class use digital photos instead of the normal film camera therefore we had to work with photoshop as the assignment included manipulation of photos. The two assignments were panorama's and assembled shots where there is more than one of the same subject. In my opinion, this was probably one of the most assignments in the class because I had to reshoot for both tasks as I had such a difficulty with using photoshop. I've used photoshop in my old school but it wasn't as complicated as the ones we had to do for Mr. Ubl's class. I was used with filter effects and cropping images but I had never done cropping a specific subject to another photo and try to make it look as real as possible. Naturally, I had trouble when I tried to photoshop the photos to one. Although, it shouldn't have been difficult for me to re-shoot photos for the assignment because a digital camera was used therefore I can delete and keep or retake as many photos as the SD card could take. Unlike film which is limited to only 37 snaps of photos, digital cameras are unlimited making it one of the advantages of the new technologies compared to the old ones.

 With the panorama, I had an idea of trying to show the landscape of ISKL including the Astro Field. I had to reshoot panorama at least twice because for some reason, the pictures wouldn't align next to each other when merged into photoshop. I found the solution from a friend who said that she was an expert in panoramas and told me that when taking the photos horizontally, the pictures should literally be on top of each other if they were to be layered. This way, it would be much easier for photoshop to merge and make them as one long photo.

 I decided to put two pictures for this assignment because of how cool I thought it turned out where the subject is in more than one spot. The two photos were fairly done as they were some empty spaces that could have been filled up and that was what I was struggling with for this assignment. When I was shooting the photo, I wasn't sure where to place the subject as I feared that it might interfere with each other. For example, if I were to put an apple on the back of a table, I wouldn't be able to put it in the front of the apple because it would block the apple in the previous spot. An advice I got from this was to just shoot the subject in all areas because when I would photoshop them together, I can choose and sometimes the placement of the subjects don't even affect each other. It's better to have more and reduce them later then to have less and having to reshoot it all over again. 

The most important lesson I learned from this assignment is that technique is very crucial when taking photos because it will affect how much photoshop you need to apply when you import it. If you have good technique and experience with the media (which is what I was lacking for this task), the more skilled and professional you would be in this aspect.

My Grandmother's Story

For the October break, I brought my camera to my grandmother's place and her house is very important to me because I basically grew up there and I have fond memories of it which makes me feel like as if it's my second home. With the story assignment, I wanted to show the every day life of my grandmother and her character traits through the objects around the house. I had a lot of fun shooting there because it was a new place for me to explore and reconnect with my family after being away for 2 years in South Africa.

The pictures I took where all basically objects in the house and things around the place that somehow shows the story of my grandmother. I wanted to show that my grandmother is a caring person like all the others in the world and I did that by showing how she had pictures of her children and grandchildren around the house. I loved how my baby pictures were there because it gave me the feeling of being loved and nostalgia. This is who my grandmother is; a loving and caring person.

The neighbourhood of my grandmother's house is very peaceful as it is in the village, however, a lot of my cousins live with her which makes the place alive and youthful. I really tried to show the contrast between the youth and the adulthood because that's what the house feels like whenever I'm there and I can feel the difference between the generations. The time I spend to reconnect with my cousins were not wasted as I had a lot of fun with them.

I also found some new things about my grandmother from this assignment. I never knew my grandmother was a bright person and she expresses that through the colours of her clothing. Something that made me really peculiar was a cabinet full of colourful lunch containers and it made me think why a woman like her would need that amount of containers. The cabinet was full of bright colours which made me attracted to it and it adds the peaceful place.

In the end of the story, it hurts that I have to leave my grandmother to come back to school because we connect easily since I grew up with her and I love being with her. So the thought of not having her makes me sad and empty because losing your loved ones is always inevitable. It's the harsh cycle of life where the old generations die to make way for the new ones. It teaches me that I should make the best of the time that I have with my family and to always be grateful for what I have.

More prints from GAP trip