Final Project Images Critique

Image 1:
Amount of subject to show in frame:  For this image, I only chose to show a small portion of the face. I did this because I did not want the image to be about the face, but rather the hands on the face.  I like the composition of it and I think it really shows the emotion of despair, or at least sadness.

Background elements:  Although this seems minimal, there was a light in the background of the subject.  I chose to include the light because I wanted there to be a sort of "light at the end of the tunnel" so that although she is in a dark place, there is hope.  I hope it doesn't look distracting but I don't think it does.  I also blacked out a lot of the background.

Lighting:  Lighting is important in all of my images but in this image specifically it brings out the hands and the shadows created on the hands which furthermore show a dark emotion

Aboutness/motivation/context:  This image was meant to display despair.  I wanted the contrast and lighting to bring out the shadows.

Image 2:
Focus:  I took a lot of pictures of this position, and I almost chose a blurrier version.  In the end though, I am glad I chose this very detailed composition.  I think it is necessary because the image is a little hard to identify now, and if the legs are blurry, it's even harder to see.  Though having abstract photos is a cool idea, it's not necessarily what I am going for.

Contrast:  I really bumped up the contrast on this photo.  I also blackened (nearly completely, though if you look close you can see her shirt) the background.  The contrast makes a very nice effect on the hands and the arms almost look like they are from different people.

Framing: I really wanted this image to be about the arms and specifically the hands.  I was trying to show a sense of tension, like when you are waiting to do something and it is taking a long time.  The strain in the hands portrays this and I cropped out the top of the shirt because it was too distracting.

Aboutness/motivation/context:   This image was meant to be a tense moment experienced and how the hands were to interact with the body to express the emotion.  The hands are very wide and not bent which i think shows this well.

Image 3:
Cropping: Cropping is important in this image because there was more of her at first.  I chose to crop some off the bottom because again, I wanted the image to be about the hand and not about the girl's face.  I did want to show that it was a face, and I like the strange and unique angle of the way her head is tilted back.

Distracting elements:  I chose to keep in the light at the back of the image.  I don't know if everyone would find it distracting, but now that I am seeing it maybe it is.  I blacked out a lot of the background and I intentionally kept that light though now I don't know how I feel about it.

Orientation:  Orientation was important in this image, in particular because of the strange angle of the tilt of the head.  I think having the image portrait makes it more about the hand and it gives that feeling of struggling, almost choking.

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was supposed to be about struggle.  You don't know whose hand this is whether it is the subjects or someone else's.  This gives an eerie feel to the picture overall.

Image 4:
Sharpness/Blur:  The pointer finger is blurry, and then the third finger is most in focus.  I had a bunch of images like this with different parts in focus, but for some reason I liked this most.  I did bump up the sharpness a bit, but I really like how the focus is on the three fingers furthest from the viewer.  This makes for an interesting feel.

Visual Elements:  I like the shapes created in the bottom of this image.  It was her legs that were tucked under her.  When I bumped the contrast though, I got those interesting cool shapes in the bottom.  I am really happy with them!  They are blurry but kind of bring the attention to the fingers and it makes the viewer wonder what is going on below.

Photographers proximity to subject: I was standing above her, and the camera was fully zoomed in.  I focused on the pointer finger and then accidentally moved the camera.  It was an accident but I like it.  My angle is nice and I like how close I was because you really can see detail.

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was meant to show someone waiting.  The shadows and contrast were meant to show the fingers sort of ticking on the body.  The angle was meant to be unsual.

Image 5:
Lighting:  Lighting is very important in this image.  It makes the hand almost look old and wrinkled though it was not.  Also, it is important because of how lit up the left side of the subject is which I really like.  The hand underneath almost gets hidden and I like that feel.

Contrast:  I bumped the contrast in this image a lot.  I really wanted the viewer to see that the subject was actually kind of clenching her skin.  I don't know if this really comes across, but once you know you can tell by the shadows created.  The contrast helps to emphasize these shadows.

Focus:  The subject is completely in focus, even her shirt is.  I really like this because you can see the detail in her hand, and you know where her hand is placed with minimal information due to the cropping.

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was meant to show a kind of sadness but the hands are clenching the body so it's almost like a helpless feeling.

Image 6:
Lighting and sharpness/blur:  This image is my favorite!! For some strange reason I feel like the hands remind me of birds and are kind of spiritual.  The hands were actually holding onto her ankles and she was wearing black pants, but with the shutter speed I chose, the pants blended int the background.  I like how you don't know what she is holding and I think the lighting is so interesting because her left hand is in focus and bright and right is blurrier and out of focus.  

Cropping:  I did not crop anything out of this image.  I thought about leaving less of a frame around the hands.  I am happy at the amount I chose though because it is confusing to look at and the hands take on a shape of their own in the dark deep black background

Aboutness/motivation/context: I am not exactly sure what I wanted to show in this picture.  The overall figure before I cropped showed an insecure feel but I don't think this does anymore though I like the shapes the hands take.

Image 7:
Contrast: I actually think I increased the contrast too much in this picture.  Although it is important to the images (and all of the images), detail was lost in the hand.  I do however like how dark the right side of the image is in comparison to the left, because you can't tell what is being held.

Orientation:  I chose to orient this picture landscape.  To be honest, I don't know why exactly but I am glad that I did because it is harder to tell what the elbow is.

Amount of subject in frame:  I chose to only include this much to give a sort of ambiguous feel to the picture.  Not often do you see this angle portrayed and I think it is interesting especially because you can see detail on the arm. 

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was meant to be relaxed.  I think that the amount of the subject I showed though kind of distracts from this meaning because the arm was resting but it does not look like it is.

Image 8:
Distracting elements:  Now that I am looking at this image, I think that the carpet is a bit distracting.  I don't know exactly if it is or not but it had a big pattern on it and you are unable to see the pattern in the rest of them so I think I should have either shown it more in other images or not in this one at all.

Perspective and point of view:  I shot this image from on the ground looking up.  I think this gives the overall image a weird abstraction.  To be it kind of could look like mountains from a different angle.  Also, you rarely see the hands in this position so I like how that turned out.  I like that you are looking up not down.

Visual design elements:  This image has a lot of vertical elements.  Though they are not perfect, the shadows make the image seem very long up and down.  The lines on the hand also draw you towards it.

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was also meant to be a relaxing pose.  I was more trying to find an interesting angle, an unusual one that you usually do not see.

Image 9:
Focus:  I chose to have this entire image in focus.  I really wanted the hair especially to be in focus and the hands less, though in the end everything is in focus.  The image can actually make sense from whatever angle you choose to present it in.

Orientation:  This image's orientation is landscape.  I like that because you are able to see more of where the hands are coming from and less of the hair which is nice because then you see less of the head so you don't exactly know where the hair is coming from.

Contrast:  I increased the contrast in this image and also the sharpness.  I like the high contrast but I wish it were a bit lower to be honest because you lose some detail in the left hand, in particular in the printed image.

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was just someone trying to do their hair but I think it turned into something more complex.  It almost has a sense of confusion or of being lost.  After thinking about hands, I noticed I tended to touch my hair at times when I was bored or uncomfortable so I was thinking about that while taking this image.

Image 10:
Focus:  This image was really really dark when I took it.  When I increased the exposure, I realized that it was very out of focus.  I ended up really liking the image however because of that quality.  The image kind of looks old and the hands look really creepy.

Framing: I cropped a bit of the top out of the image because I wanted the image to be about the hand and the back and not about the form of the whole body as much.

Background elements:  I darkened the background, and now that I am looking at it, I wish that I had not darkened it as much.  The back kind of blends into the background which is disappointing.

Aboutness/motivation/context: This image was meant to be just a natural position.  The image was actually candid and the subject was stretching and I captured it.  I really like how the hands are casually placed.

Image 11: I liked this image but the hands were a little out of focus.

Blog Entry #25

Write a detailed description of your “motivations” for your final self-proposed project. Why are you interested in this subject? What do you want to convey? How do you want viewers to respond? Why are you inspired to make these images/this project? Do you want to evoke emotions in viewers? Shock viewers? Make them laugh? Make them think? Inform them? Reveal something about how you see the world? Reveal something about yourself, a person, a place, a feeling, a memory, a moment in time?


After a lot of time of not knowing what to do, the idea sort of came up by accident.  I was going to do a series of functions of hands.  Sarah and I realized that it was too generic and the idea did not say anything about myself.  I was uninspired while taking the pics.  In the end of my series though, when I was really frustrated, I just told my model to place her hands on her arm and legs etc.  In the end the frustrated results turned out to be interesting.  This made me think of the idea of using hands on the body to represent emotion.  


Hands can say so much about what a person is feeling, whether it be stressed, nervous, tired, or happy.  Once I got going with my final shoot, it was so easy.  I loved doing it and thought of so many interesting ideas. I have always liked intense lighting from one side in order to have high contrast and to give a mysterious look to the pictures. All that I used was a desk lamp and just angled it several ways.  I edited them a bit by increasing the contrast even more and at times darkening parts of the distracting background. 


I want these images to work well as a series, but also individually.  A few of the images have abstract qualities, and if you were to flip them in a different way, can look like completely different things.  I want the emotions people feel upon viewing them to be up to them.  When I was taking the pictures, I was thinking of certain emotions, but not everyone does the same things with their hands when they are feeling a certain way.  The hands interactions with the body and the angels I chose to shoot at, along with the light, all make very high contrast very ambiguous pictures.  I have always been interested in hands, the shapes, the shapes they can make, the expressiveness, the way they can tell ones age, the way they move.  I really tried to explore these concepts in this series.

Assignment 5 Critique Part 2

Images 1, 2, and 3:

Interpretation:  The class really seemed to like the images.  They understood that the subject was blending into the background.  They said that the images worked nice together, some liked one more than others, and some liked them all together.

Evaluation:  They thought I could have cropped out the hair in the second image because the ponytail is distracting and it did not really contribute towards the meaning I was going for.  The third image seemed to be the most popular because of the expression and the cropping, which was what I initially thought.  Some people also thought I didn't need the three images all together but I liked how they looked.

Extension:  I could so a lot more with this!  I really enjoyed taking these pictures.  I like the concept of blending ones face (what one is known for) into an environment.  Maybe I could make the environment more meaningful to the subject thought.


Images 4, 5, and 6:

Interpretation:  At first, a lot of people did not understand what was going on, which I understand.  It was very difficult to photoshop the images together exactly right.  The color in the rectangle and the color of the background seems to be off. I also had issues with how much of the background to include and how much to leave out in order for the viewer to understand what I was trying to achieve.  They thought the three worked well together.

Evaluation:  I could do even more, like 20 or so.  In that case I could make the images smaller.  But with just three, I think it would have been more beneficial and people might have understood better if I had made the images larger.

Extension:  I could just include a lot more of these picture.  I liked the idea a lot, although it is not something I would usually enjoy doing, it was fun to do.  I prefer posed pictures honestly, with interesting lighting and posed expressions.

Assignment 5 Critique

Concept/aboutness/idea/context: The top three images could work as a series or individually I thought.  I couldn't pick one image by itself though so I chose these three.  I like how the eyes are so different in all of them.  The first one looks innocent, the second she is not looking at the camera but you get a strong feel from the squinty sense, and the last is a very powerful look.  I think that is what makes them go along so well together.  The main idea of all of my images was people blending into their surroundings. I also think the three go together well because they are all placed on the right of the frame.

 The top three are more of an optical allusion, whereas the bottom three are more about how people blend into their comfort.  I took the bottom three pictures candid with people just in their natural environment and I said they could pose as they chose, that is why I think it works well.

Image 1:

Cropping: For this image, I chose to zoom in on the crop a bit.  Now that I look at the image I wish I had cropped even more of the top off so the hair was not as visible. However, the hair is dark like the images behind her so I think it works.  

Sharpness and blur: I really wanted to have the entire image in focus.  If the subject was in focus and the background was blurry it would take away from the meaning entirely.  I wanted the subject to blend into her environment so I used a fast shutter speed.  The image was dark but I was able to lighten it in photoshop.

Lighting:  The lighting was also important for this image.  I wanted to have the least amount of shadows possible but I only had one lamp to use so this was difficult.  I placed the lamp right in front of the subject's face. There are a few shadows but I do not think this is too distracting, though it makes the subject stand out more than her surroundings.

Image 2:

Placement of subject in frame:  I chose to include a lot of the subject.  I even included the hair but mostly only people I liked how this image worked in the series of three.  Individually, I think this image is weakest when it come to what I wanted my meaning to be.  I also chose to include the hand because I felt it helped with the powerful expression.

Contrast:  I really increased the contrast for this image, and for all of them.  Increasing the contrast was very important for this image because without increasing the contrast, the subject looked a lot more gray than the background.  This made the subject pop out too much, and this was not my intent.  The subject is still more gray than the background in all the pictures, but I don't find it too distracting.

Background elements: The background elements are what makes this picture, and all of the pictures.  The attention is supposed to be divided evenly between the background and subject, though this was difficult to do.  I really tried to use a slow shutter speed and high aperture so that all of the image was in focus but it was difficult because of the lighting I used.

Image 3:

Orientation:  I chose to portray this image horizontally, as well as all of the other images.  I think this works in this situation because you are able to see a lot of the background, and the background is the most important aspect overall.  

Focus/shadows:  Just about everything is in focus in this picture which really works.  Individually, I think this is the most successful image by itself.  Though the shadows make the subject pop out more than I would like, the placement of the subject, the amount I chose to crop, and the contrast, all work pretty well.

Images 4, 5, and 6:

Shape/pattern:  The shapes in all of these images are very significant.  the rectangle itself is important.  I chose to make it a rectangle because I thought it would cut out a good portion of the stomach so that you would be able to see what is going on.  In retrospect, I would have had a larger rectangle because it kind of just looks like the subjects are holding up a picture.  All of the shapes are significant because it helps in showing that the people are blending into their natural environments.  

Background: In the second image, shapes are important because of the door shapes.  Also, I think this image, of the three, is the most successful because of the background image.  It has very definite lines and shapes, and therefore you can tell that the picture is of the background.  The other two you can, but you have to look hard and naturally you don't think that the picture is the background.

Distracting elements:  This is one of the only times, I have found, that I was not afraid to just take a picture regardless of lighting and distracting elements.  Although some of this image could have said to be distracting, I really don't think they are because they add the meaning.  If I had staged everything, everyone would have looked more posed, and this would not have been what I wanted.  

Blog Entry #24

A. Pick two images from any of the “constructed reality” photographers presented in class or linked on the assignment sheet. Describe how you could recreate these two images on a “smaller scale”.

I really liked the images by Steph Goralnick.  I thought that his idea of having the subjects laying on the ground and then spinning the image was very creative!  At first, I did not realize what was going on because it looks as if the subjects were hanging on a pole from a building.  Their expressions are what makes the pictures believable.  I do not think that something like this would be too hard to create.  You would just have to find a pole, have the subject lay on the ground and then later flip the image.  I would love to try something like this!

The second image I liked was by Jan Kriwol.  I liked the image of the man ripping through the parking garage the best.  I know it was done using photoshop but the result is so interesting.  I like how near the tear you are able to see a bit of shine so it looks like a magazine advertisement, but yet the rest of the background looks very realistic.  The only way I can think of doing this is tearing an actual page of a magazine and then photoshopping a person into it.

B. Describe your plans for your self-proposed final project (if the plan is the same as before, paste it here again and give a bit more detail). During the final critique for Assignment #5, you will discuss/present these ideas to the class.

I was thinking of doing a shoot with black lights and neon colors.  But I have realized that I do not know much about color yet and my result might not turn out as I want it.  Instead I would like to do something black and white.  I liked the advertising assignment most, but I am not sure exactly what I want to do yet.  I usually end up taking pictures and then deciding later anyways.  I need to put more thought into exactly what I want to do.

Work in Progress Project 6

Blog Entry #23

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?


I think every day you construct your identity by what you wear, and who you are or who you choose to be whether is it subconscious or not.  You perform everything whether you mean to or not and as soon as you know you are being watched or in public, mannerisms change.

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.


I think a lot of environments today are constructed.  We do not even realize what is constructed and what isn't because sometimes it is hard to tell.  You can also argue that everything is in some way constructed because everything requires some sort of though before it happens and therefore could be arguably constructed. Personal culture based on history and history and history is somewhat constructed. Social environments are usually always constructed because everyone is trying to be someone else. 

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.


Physical spaces are constructed in order to appeal to people.  For example, I am in the library right now, and the library is constructed in such a way to allow for peace but also for organization and in a systematic way.  Even nature these days has become constructed because trees are taken down in areas of construction, and also trees are planted in certain ways to look "nice" and organized.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?


In general, untouched nature is real.  How I spend my time alone is as real as it gets because no one is watching and I do not have the pressure from others around me.  Social settings are constructed and any building I go to is constructed.  Classes are very constructed, and so is my schedule.

5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).


A narrative tableaux that can be captured by a photograph is something that was constructed.  It can be an image that tells a story straightforward, or one that you have to think about and that each person can interpret differently (although every photo can tell a story).  It is easiest to tell a story over a series of images, and more difficult within just one image alone.

6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).


It would be cool to construct something out of cardboard just like the artist I researched did.  He was interested in the difference between reality and constructed reality, and was trying to show that the gap between the two is very small and even non existent.  Although it would take far too long to construct life-sized cardboard images, smaller ones would be very interesting if I could make the object look real or as if they were trying to be real.