TED Talks Ft. Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian photographer who specializes in landscape photos. He has created a project of images depicting humanity's impact on the world, with the hopes that his photos will help persuade millions of people to become more sustainable.

I have chosen the above photo because I like how it looks, and for some reason it stood out to me. Upon further examination, I realized that it's actually a really ugly scene. It shows how people are going to far with urbanization, and it is affecting our planet in many ways, including pollution.

These images make me think about what we can do to try and solve our worldwide pullution problem. If we all just incorporated little everyday changes into our lifestyle, it could help in the long run. People can stop buying bottled water, or try car pooling. For me, I want to stop buying items that contain palm oil; the worlds rainforests are being clearcut and replaced with factories, destroying the ecosystems and lives of the organisms living there.

I appreciate the fact that Burtynsky has taken the task of trying to convey this message to everyone who views his photos. His photos are visually appealing, yet shocking in so many ways.

TED Talks Ft. Paul Nicklen

In this project, photographer Paul Nicklen is depicting the Arctic through the pictures of the animals who live there.

In the first photo, Nicklen dived under water to confront a leopard seal in order to get this shot. People seem to have the perspective that these animals are viscous because they have to kill to get food, when really it's just their nature.

The second photo is of a mother polar bear and her 2-year old cub drifting on a piece of ice. This is just one example of the effects global warming has on animals, like polar bears, who need the ice in the Arctic to survive

I think these photographs are great because they are visually appealing and they get the point across. These photos make me think about what we, as humans, are doing to the environment, and how it is affecting these animals. I admire that Nicklen has so much passion in doing this.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is a photographer who takes self portraits, each from a different approach. She has a large collection of wigs, make-up, costumes, etc. which she uses to create different characters of herself.

Sherman does not title her work because she wants the viewer to have their own perspective on the situation occurring in each photo, which I really admire.

I think she has great photography skills and the way she takes her photos is interesting; It's like she's capturing the before/after affect of the characters emotion (ex.: just screamed, going to cry).

Aperture Definitions

Aperture/F-stop
- The setting of an adjustable lens aperture, indicated by an f number
- Aperture is expressed as an f-stop

Aperture Priority
- Digital camera setting
- You chose the aperture size, camera choses shutter speed

Ambient Light
- Light surrounding environment or subject
- Soft, indirect, fills room

Artificial Light
- Man made lighting or illumination to achieve practical or aesthetic effect
- Lamps, light fixtures

ASA/ISO/Film Speed
- Measure of camera sensor's sensitivity to light
- ISO/ASA describes how quickly it reacts

Bracket
- Shooting various photos of the same subject and viewpoint at different exposure (aperture) levels

Depth of Field
- The range in distance in front and behind an object focused by the camera

Exposure Triangle
- Three aspects that relate to how light enters and interacts with the camera
- Aperture, ISO, shutter speed


How to Control Depth of Field
Aperture Size:
- Smaller lens aperture size (f-number), greater depth of field
- Larger lens aperture size, shallower depth of field
Camera to Subject Distance:
- Farther away from focused subject, increased depth of field
- Closer to focused subject, decreased depth of field
Lens Focal Length:
- Zoom out, increased depth of field
- Zoom in, decreased depth of field

Light Meter
- An instrument used to measure the amount of light in a certain place or upon a certain object
- Equipped to convert these measurements into usable info (ex: Shutter speed and aperture size required)

Depth of Field Examples

Short Depth of Field



Medium Depth of Field

 

Long Depth of Field



 

Unusual Focusing





 

Ambient Light

 

Chuck Close

Mark, 1979. acrylic on canvas

 

Although I have seen his work, I had never known who the photographer Chuck Close was untill now. I admire his style and the approach he takes when taking portraits of people; They're raw, and they depict each person in a very real way. I chose this photo because I was drawn to the quirky, unique look of it.

Hockney Collage