Fill and Balance Flash

Steven Sapp (bottom), owner of Strawberry Hill Farms, and Doug Hurt put new plastic on nursery greenhouses Thursday October 27, 2016. Strawberry Hill Farms generally changes their plastic every four years. They have custom made wooden greenhouses designed by the founder of Strawberry Hill, Gary Sapp. It takes two rolls of plastic (approximately 60x100 feet each) to cover one greenhouse. They have a total of 24 greenhouses and have been open since 1980. 

Analysis: The struggle with this assignment was when shooting in full sun the flash needs to be on full power and it takes a long time to recharge in between shoots. Sometimes my flash didn’t fire so I had to wait for the perfect shot and then get one picture. Another issue was I was so far below the subject and I had to get really close to their equipment to get a good shot. I like how my final select came out and I think if I would have had more time I could have found something to stand on or used a ladder to get some other angles. 

Metal

The Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year was "selfie" in 2013. According to PewResearch.com, cell phone ownership increased to 91% of adults in 2013 making it even easier to take a picture of oneself. Even though pictures like these were taken before 2013, "suddenly, everybody around the world was using the word, as they self-snapped away," CNN says. With over 57 millin photos bearing the #selfie on instagram even though this term is 3 years old its use has continued throughout many social media platforms. 

Lighting Diagram

Analysis: This project was very challenging because of the amount of reflections in round metal objects. My first attempt at the project was on a chrome piggy bank. Even when switching to the selfie concept the area of angles seen by the metal was difficult to cover. I used a big tent of white to reflect light from all angles. The most difficult part was getting the tent smooth enough so wrinkles would not show up in the reflection. Overall I think the concept is easily understood and even though it took a long time to build the tent the results were very nice. 

Single Flash

Direct Flash

Rebecca Golden digs in her bag during an early morning study session, October 10, 2016. Golden is a Mizzou sophomore who loves cows. Golden says her apartment is full of cow decorations including pillows, blankets, bowls, silverware and more. Golden plans to dress up as a cow for Halloween this year. 

Bounce Flash

Bounce Flash

Rebecca golden studies her psychology textbook before class. Golden transferred from Kansas University to Mizzou this fall and is now a sophomore studying Communication Science Disorders. She says going to KU was a big mistake because she didn't make any new friends there but here she is thriving and finding her true self. 

Analysis:

I met Rebecca a few days ago and found her very interesting because of her abundance of cow stuff. I went to her house and photographed her with her cow stuffed animals etc. but then soon realized we were supposed to be shooting candid pictures. AHH! The pictures I had taken I thought were journalistic because her being surrounded by cow trinkets was visually appealing and catches readers interests. I was very disappointed that it needed to be that person in their daily lives. I decided to photograph her reading because she loves to read but at this point in the semester she is mostly reading textbooks which is why she is studying in the bounce flash shot. The other photo I wanted to capture something "cow" so I had her backpack in the shot while she was studying outside the coffee shop. I dislike the first photo because it is direct flash and looks ugly and harsh on her. I prefer the bounce flash which is more natural and comes from above. One of the most challenging things was the direct flash because it looks very unnatural and produces ugly shadows.