Photo Journalism

Photo Journalism

Shot with Nikon D3300

f12 Aperture

1/100 Shutter Speed

It is very unusual to see a photo from this angle in Oakville.  You normally do not get a look down on the street from up above and being able to see the roof of buildings and shops you have entered.  The street in the photo is Randall street a road parallel to Lakeshore.  The sun is setting and the sky is starting to turn an orange color.  In the day we went to many places like Gairloch Gardens and the train tracks by the go station and took many shots which can be found below. How we came upon this spot was we were on our way to the park by the lake when we saw the parking garage and decided to go up to the top and take some photos of the streets and buildings below.

This picture was taken a top of a parking garage in downtown Oakville.  Why I chose this photo for the front cover of the newspaper is because the photo has perspective and depth.  The other reason why I chose this photo for the front page is because it gives you a different angle on a familiar street and gives a good example of what the day was like.  Another reason why I chose this photo is because it follows many rules of composition such as Rule of Thirds, and the road draws your eyes down the photo.

Breaking The Rules

Breaking The Rules

The aim of this project was to break the rules of composition while still keeping the photo visually appealing.

Rules of Composition

• Fill The Frame / Cropping.
• Don't Cut Off Limbs.
• Understand The Rule Of Thirds.
• Use Frames.
• Make The Most Of Lead In Lines / Shapes.
• Simplify – Know Your Focus.
• Watch The Background.
• Look For Symmetry/Patterns.

    This photo is of a tree with branches sticking out randomly all over and a squirrel sitting on top of one.  This photo was shot with f5.6 Aperture at a 1/100 shutter speed with the Nikon D3100.  The rules of composition I broke was a Simple Background and Lines.  How I broke the rule of keeping a simple background was by taking the photo under the tree so you can see all of the branches and leaves from other surrounding trees.  How I broke the rule of lines was by having branches poking out in all different directions.  How breaking the rules made this photo better was the messy background gives the effect that you are in a big forest and surrounded by trees.

The Photo above is of a brach with a small swirly twig wrapping itself around the branch.  This photo was shot with a f2.8 Aperture and a 1/60 shutter speed also with the Nikon D3100.  The rules of composition I broke are: The rule of thirds, Lines, and Cutting off limbs.  How I broke the Rule of thirds was by having the main focus (the swirly twig) right in the middle of the photo completely breaking the rule.  How I broke the rule of lines is the branches in the photo do not specifically lead your eye anywhere.  Finally the way I broke the rule of not cutting off limbs was by cropping off the branch so you can not see where it attaches onto.  How i think breaking the rules made this photo better was not having rule of thirds implemented made the twig more emphasized,  Also cropping the branches off made it so your eyes do not get drawn to other objects.

The last photo I shot was a picture of a padlock locking a fence with a rusty chain.  This photo was taken with f4 Aperture and a 1/100 shutter speed with the Nikon D3100.  The rules of composition I broke in this photo was:  The subject is out of focus, and a simple background.  How I broke the rule of not keeping my subject (the padlock) in focus was by focusing on the chain and then your eyes gets lead to the lock.  I broke the rule of a simple background by taking the photo if front of a big object.  How I think breaking the rule of a simple background made the photo look like the lock and chain was keeping something safe and secure and if it didn't have that object behind it it would just be a locked gate. 

All of the photos above were taken with the nikon d3100.  The photo of the Squirrel and Tree were taken with a f16 and f22 aperture and a 1/100 and 1/250 shutter speed while the rest were taken with f5.6 aperture and 1/60 Shutter Speed.

Mixed Lighting

The Point of this Project was to take photos with daylight and an artificial source such as a Flashlight, External Flash, Studio Lights, etc.  These photos were all taken with a f5.6 Aperture, 1/250 for the first 2 and 1/1000 for the last one.  I had a fast shutter speed for the last photo because I wanted to capture the water without any motion blur.

For the first picture how I showed mixed lighting by shining a flashlight down at the lock so it reflected off of the metal rung into the camera making it seem it was very shiny.  The composition rules I used were rule of thirds, a simple background and the lines on the door in the background are strait making it visually pleasing.

The second picture I showed mixed lighting by shining the flashlight on the poles connecting the arm holder to the ground making small highlights in the middle.  The flashlights light is not very big but it makes a big difference.  This photo shows composition with lines the far arm holder in the background lines up perpendicular with the poles in the foreground.

The Third picture I showed Mixed Lighting by using the flash on the camera, the ceiling light and the daylight coming through the nearby window.  What i did was take a picture so the camera flash would illuminate the fountain of water.  One thing i like about this picture is the ripples when the water hits the bowl of the fountain.  This photo uses composition by showing rule of thirds.

The Photo above is my Contact sheet which has an assortment of mixed lighting experiments.  I used the flashlight for all these photos and except for the photo of the Canada flag which used the ceiling lights instead.  All the photos except the flag one used f5.6 aperture and 1/200 shutter speed and the flag had a f12 aperture with a 1/200 shutter speed.

Painting With Light

All of these shots were taken with 15 second
Shutter Speed and a f5.6 Aperture.

These shots were the 4 best ones

The ones below are my experiments




What I was trying to achieve with photos 1 and 3 were i was trying to write words with with flashlight.  I wrote red in the first one because of the red background and I just wrote my name in the 3rd.  In the second photo what i was attempting is the illusion i was holding a ball of light.  The last photo my attempt was to make it look like there was a lightning bolt shooting out of the light above.

                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^      Contact Sheet     ^^^^^^^^^^

All of these shots were also shot with 15 second shutter speed and
f5.6 Aperture.