Critique of Esraa's Work

Photo #1 - Sad Girl -  While there isn't a whole lot going on in the background, I still really enjoyed this image.  The little girl's expression is just great.  I like how the text is stating the obvious.  The photo itself follows the rule of thirds.  I almost feel like this image wants to be cropped, because of the small amount of information in the background.  All in all, I would say that she did what she was trying to do with this photo.

Photo #2 - Girl Reading - This photo has lots of information in the background.  The girl is center framed but it feels like she is leaning to the right.  I really like the reflections in the windows.  Through the reflection you can tell that the image is well exposed.  I feel like the book may have been the subject in this photo, which is good because that was the project.  There are lots of rectangles in this photo, along with a few triangles.

Photo #3 - Girl Playing - The color in this photo is very vivid, lots of red and yellow.  I like how the colors take you through the photo, red foreground, yellow mid-ground and green in the background.  I also like how the border of the playground seems to connect to the floor of the playhouse behind her.  The photo is well exposed.  I feel like the girl is right in the middle of the picture and the photo is heavily weighted to the left.  Maybe a different angle would have been better.  I really like the text that she edited in her photos, they are very funny.

Image w/ Text

Written Assignment #2 - Critiquing Aaron's Sequence and Motion

1.  It's a Tic-Tac-Toe board made out of photos, which does make it a sequence.  It is blur motion, but visually it almost looks like stop motion.  Each image is centered within its own frame, but because they are in sequence it doesn't violate the rule of thirds.  I feel each photo is well exposed, but it would be hard to tell otherwise.  I like how the motion itself provides converging lines.  I think it is an interesting idea and that he pulled it off. 

2. Not a sequence.  Though it is overexposed, it doesn't take much away from the visual style of the image.  It is clearly blur motion.  I like that you can basically see the design on the shirt even though he is clearly spinning around.  He is in the middle of the frame, but the spinning motion pulls your view to either side, thus following the rule of thirds.

3. Definitely a sequence.  It is stop motion.  I like that in the first image the rule of thirds is followed and then in the second one all you can see is the hand.  It gives it a very candid feel, as if the woman is camera shy.  Both images are well exposed.  I wish that the hand was in focus in the first image, but I feel that it still works.

Motion Project

Portrait Project

This photo is of a Tibetan monk, in 1963, immolating himself in protest against the repression of the Tibetan religion and culture by a totalitarian regime.  I think it shows the strength that human beings are capable of.  The sheer force of will it would take to not to cry out or move around is astounding.  Even better, it is a nonviolent form of protest.  The photo is of man who believes, almost above any other belief, that violence is never okay.  Whether that is true or not doesn't matter because this photo opened the eyes of the western world to the tyranny in Tibet.  Therefore, maybe in a roundabout way, he accomplished what he set out to do.

This picture invokes a sense of sadness, but also one of hope.  It reminds me that no matter how screwed up life can get, it could always be much worse.  It also makes me feel that if I can muster even a fraction of the willpower that this man had, I could change my life and maybe even the world.

This is my color photo project.  Manual ISO is frustrating at times because you have to change it constantly every time the sun gets obscured by a cloud or you are underneath a tree or pagoda.

Old Tower
I thought this was a cool image.  Unfortunately the bridge was closed.  Would have been interesting to take some shots over there.

 

Stone Bridge

Took awhile to get the angle on this shot right.  I love the colors and the symmetry.

 

 Viewpoint

Alternate view of a path, through a fence.  There is a nice shock of red provided by the flowers.

Flowers

Very cool colored flowers.  Taken with a wide aperture to get the blur right after the lead flower. 

 

Thirsty Duck 

Stop motion baby!  It's a duck drinking water.  What's not to love?