Final Project revised: A view of Haiti in Photographs

This is my revised final project.  This is a view of Haiti in photographs.  This was an amazing experience spending a week working in Haiti this past January with both of my sisters.  A humbling experience that made me realize how much we have in this country, and how much we continue to misuse what we have.  Haitians have nothing, and are proud of what they do have and keep it very clean and neat.

Haitians want to work, but there is no work to be had.  They are also very appreciative for what others do for them, but never expect it.  I will continue to pray for Haiti and their government, that people will now be able to see the beauty Haiti has to offer.

Week 13 Portraits

This week was amazing for me!  I have often wanted to take better portrait shots, especially of my family.  I really enjoyed looking at, and utilizing all of the tips that were given to us!  There were so many ideas!

So, I used multiple tips that were talked about.  first of all, I found interesting subjects: my daughters of course!  I also took multiple shots, used many different angles, kept all of the shots simple, set up the shots before I introduced the subjects, and experimented with expressions.

I was kind of sad that I could only post 4!  I had so many that came out the way I had hoped!

 First, is Kira.  She is my 8 year-old.  I introduced a prop for her, in this case a pacasandra bundle.  I also angled her shoulders, and shot from above her eyeline.






Next is Haley.  I had her looking off camera, giving her space to look into.  I also angled the shoulders.

Last is Tylynn.  For this first photo of her, I dot down on my hands and knees.  I used a different angle, and also gave her space to look into.

This one is my favorite.  I used a different viewpoint for her, trying to create an interesting angle.  I stood over her, while altering my depth of field as well.

So much fun!  It is easy when you enjoy the subjects you are photographing!

Final Project - A View of Haiti

Here is my video of my photo story.  I added 30 images, because it was very hard for me to narrow my 285 images down to only 10!  Many photos in this story are of the pre-school where I worked for the week.  I did physicals on all 30 children, and we did home assessments to see where many of them lived.  Most of the children live in a cinder block 1-room home without running water, or in tents with many other family members. 

I had a lot of fun manipulating my photos, and used a lot of the quick select tool and clone stamp removing cinder blocks, power lines, car mirrors, and furniture out of pictures.  I cropped most of them, and added a lot of text as well.  I used artistic filters in 3 of the photos, and fixed a few with lighting, shadows, and saturation.

This was such a humbling experience, and I am truly blessed to realize how much we really have in this country.

I hope you enjoy!

Week 10 Clone, brush and watermark

This week has been a little difficult for me.  My computer is having major issues, and I am away at a dance competition for 4 days.  So, it is taking me MUCH longer time than I have to spend on it of course. 

I really did like getting to know how to use these tools, and I think I am OK with how they came out.

First, I am showing you a area of rubble in Haiti.  This is the before picture.

I decided I wanted to add a more pleasing view.  I used the clone stamp to add more greenery to this photo.  There is not a lot that is green in Haiti.

Next is the watermark project.  First, the before pic:

Next, I added the word "Dancer" by selecting the text tool, changing the font to 72 pts, making it bold, and decreased the opacity.  I was a little frustrated with this, as I really wanted to manipulate where the wording was, and also wanted to make it bigger than the maximum 72 pts allowed.  I am sure there is a way to do this, but I could not figure it out.

For the next project, I had a bit more fun playing around with.  It took a while to achieve the look I wanted, but this is a tool I will be using in the future!
First, the before pic:

Now for the colored version.  I selected the natural brush, and color hue was a periwinkle color.  I wanted to color just the pink leaves of the poinsettia.  I painted the blossoms, and had to use the eraser tool when I accidentally went outside the lines.  Then I used the paint bucket tool to fill in all the white background color.

Pretty cool!