Photography - Flash Assignment

In this assignment we finally get to use a flash.  Not the little rinky dink pop-up flash on our cameras but one of the big attachable flashes borrowed from the Journalism department.  Oooh, a Vivitar 285.  Impressive, no.  This is a fully  manual flash where i have to dial in my own ISO settings and aperture depending on the distance between me and my subject.  Not too difficult once i got the hang of it.  The tricky part is remembering to change the settings whenever i change distance.  Ugh.

The assignment is to show case my attempts at several different styles of flash: direct (harsh), bounce (non-direct), and fill (slow shutter speed to let in ambient light).  We were also allowed to use the light box flash in the studio.  I had the most fun and frustrations with the studio and my daughter, Morgan.

The photos below are the ones i edited and turned in for my assignment.  They are also my favorites. 

The photos below were taken in the studio at UAF.  In these photos, i had a direct flash on the right with a fill behind me, to the left:

Lucky first shot.  Morgan was turned toward the flash.

After approximately 15-20 minutes in the studio, Morgan was no longer having fun.  I love this photo because of the use of reflection and her sad face.  Terrible i know but i do love this picture of her.  The light set up was the same with some tweaking so the fill light would not reflect in the mirror.

Another reflection photo but with Morgan in her Halloween costume.  She started having more fun once i gave her the freedom to play more with her movements.  Lighting was not changed in this photograph.

I decided to do a more traditional style portrait of her in her costume.  I just happened to catch her with her face turned toward the flash with her eyes closed. 

 Using my antiquated flash, i did a comparison of direct (first photo) flash versus bounce (second photo).  These photos were taken in my very, very dark kitchen.  Jeff seems a little washed out in the direct flash.  I love the contrasts in the second photo. I bounced the flash off my white ceiling:

 These next two photos were taken at Wescott Pool in North Pole.  The lighting is quite horrible so i was pretty excited to be able to use my borrowed flash to take pictures of Morgan and her friend, Katie, during their last week of summer swimming lessons.

Morgan and Katie in their matching swimsuits and goggles.  Twins.

Photography - Archiving

Another aspect of photography is archiving old negatives and photographs.  I used an advance flat bed scanner to scan in old black and white negatives that my mom had given me.  It was wonderful to see these old photographs on my computer screen.  Many of the negatives were in bad shape but with editing software (Photo Shop) and a lot of patience, i was able to clean up many of the photographs. 

Below i have posted both the unedited and edited versions of the photographs i turned in for this assignment.   I hope to be able to scan most of my negative collection before the end of class to get my moneys worth in the fees/tuition i paid.  Easier said then done.  Enjoy.

 The above photograph was one of my favorite edits.  It is a picture of my mom and brother, Gene, approximately 1 year old.  I believe they are in front of a church in Masinloc, Philippines.  As you can see the negative was badly damaged on the left side.  I was able to edit and crop a lot of the damage out. 

 Before and after edits of my Uncle Junior, age 8 or 9.

 

My Grandmother Tomasa is sitting down holding my Uncle Rogelio ~ age 6.  The lady standing next to her is her sister-in-law, Juahan, and her daughter, Florinda.

L-R) My Grandmother Tomasa, a maid hold my brother, Salvador aka Buddy (~1yr), my mom, Lolita, and her brother (man in black), Rogelio.  They are standing in front of statue of Dr. Rizal, a war hero of the Philippines, at Luneta Park, Philippines

Siblings.  My brother, Jon, myself, and my sister, Malen or Maria Elena in Denison, Texas, ~1977.

A wonderful photo of two sisters, my sister, Malen or Maria Elena, and myself in Denison, Texas, ~1978.  Check the ultra cool retro green station wagon and the snazzy outfits.  I want to point out my gorgeous red purse and how well it matches my dress.  Woo hoo.  I am kinda wondering what happened to my great fashion sense.