Hot To Tuesday: Shoot Glass

No, no not that kind of shooting – this month’s How-To Tuesday is all about photographing glass.

Glass can be a little complicated when photographing because it takes on the colour of your background. The easiest way to deal with this is to place reflector of the opposite colour on either side of your object.

For example, if you are shooting on a white background, place black reflectors (or pieces of paper) just outside of your frame. This will make the edges distinguishable from the actual background.

The above photo has a reflector on the left side of the image and above it as well to reduce glare from the soft boxes that are lighting the subject. Another trick that helps is to put something in the glass itself (e.g. water).

The above photo has coloured water in the glasses and black cards on either side of the image.

Techno-Drama

About two weeks ago I downloaded Lightroom 3 Beta from the Adobe website. Normally this wouldn't cause people any problems whatsoever, but considering that I had not so legal software on my computer, it caused havoc to my system when I decided to uninstall the program a few days ago. When I attempted to complete my assignment on Friday, I learned that I no longer had any access to Photoshop or any other Adobe program. Not a problem, that is why I have a backup computer right - WRONG!
Upon turning on the backup computer, it froze and Dave had to restart it. It now just beeps when you attempt to turn it on. No screen to inform us of an error - just the tower itself beeping away - like it is mocking me. So no backup computer. We tried to install the software again and again (differently each time of course) and failed every time. Eventually we decided Dave's crappy computer was going to have to take the hit and get over 7GB worth of software installed on it so I could finish my assignment on time.
A few hours later, the assignment was completed (after realizing that Dave's monitor is not colour corrected and having to do it twice as the first round was so weak I couldn't bare to submit it). I submitted the not so great assignment with no signatures on it as my brush files are all on this computer - and quite possibly deleted.
The stress levels of the day resulted in me working out a lot with the Wii Fit Plus to counteract the copious amounts of chocolate covered almonds I ate.

Millennium Park

Millennium Park is located along Michigan Avenue in Chicago and is the spot I spent the most time taking photos during my visit. It was only about a 15 minute walk from my hotel room and I was able to go there 4 times both during the day and at night.According to the website, it is an award winning centre for art, music, architecture and landscape design. I can vouch for the art, architecture and landscape design, but unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to listen to any of the concerts which take place in the large amphitheatre.It also happens to be the place where I completed my first assignment for my Composition and Design course. The below image is the large mercury orb, which is actually called the Cloud Gate, that was the primary subject for my urban landscape photos. I am unsure as to what the 10 means on the building in the background. The next night, it displayed a 9 so obviously it was some sort of countdown, but I don't know what it was counting down to. I can't seem to find any information about it online either. I think this was my favourite spot in Chicago. It was free and opened most hours and was of course beautiful. Even with the large number of people walking about the park, I was still able to get a great deal of shots with little to no people in them, which is always a big plus in my books. Returning to this location again and again during my trip did limit the number of other locations I was able to go to, but I thought it was worth it.

Landscape Poll

I have been given my first assignment in my current photography course - Night and Day Landscape Photography. We have to take two sets of photographs (night and day) in both a rural and urban setting. The assignment isn't hard, but finding a scene that will look just as good during the day as at night (at the same viewpoint) is proving to be troublesome. So I am wondering if a Cemetery Landscape scene could be considered rural. Please give your opinion on the poll on my photography blog. I need as many opinions as possible as quickly as possible - the assignment is due on the 25th. Thanks everyone.

One Minute Writer #21

Think of the biggest goal or dream you have. Is life giving you a red, yellow, or green light?

I think everyone who reads this knows one of my biggest dreams and career goals is to be a photographer. I believe life is giving me a yellow (amber) light right now. I am taking the night courses at Algonquin to advance my skills but at the same time could never really go after my dream right now as I need the money from my engineering job (and the experience to be able to get my P.Eng in a few years). So I am moving forwards but not nearly as quickly as I would like. But hey, at least I am moving faster than I was a few years ago and am actually doing something to get closer to my dreams.

Perpetual Learner

The dictionary defines the word perpetual as "a feeling, state or quality that never ends or changes". Earlier this evening my Aunt told me that I seemed to be a perpetual learner and I begun to think about this comment.

I have been in school since I was 4 years old, about 20 years in total; 10 years in elementary school (8 years plus both junior and senior kindergarten), 5 years in high school (including OAC) and 4 and a half years in university (mind you I also took two summers worth of courses). I know that when I was not old enough to go to school I would pretend that I was going when my older brother went. I would try and suck as much information from him as I possibly could when he got home - I just couldn't get enough of it. Throughout my 20 years in school, I excelled. Not because I was inherently smart or anything like that, but because I enjoyed doing well. For the most part I enjoyed the schoolwork and what I was learning - though there were a few physics, thermodynamics and fluid courses in there I could have done without.

Now that I have officially graduated and completed the path that we are 'supposed' to take these days (elementary, secondary and post secondary) I have found that I am still hungry for information. I am done - and yet I continue. I have taken so far one term worth (one course) of photography courses at Algonquin College. I loved that first course. It ended mid-December and until today I was not taking any courses - I felt a little deprived. I have been lacking new information. I have come to the realization that I like to learn.

I have a hypothesis for this: I know how to learn. I have essentially been a professional student for about 20 years. I only started to work in the last 5 years of this time frame and even then, only for about 4 months at a time. At any significant point in my life I can pretty much guarantee that I was in school and was learning something. It is a staple in my life and in some weird way, I think it is a comfort.

My life post-graduation has been a little uncertain. I only recently became employed in my field and before this I was very stressed and generally concerned about never being able to find something. Throughout that time, I would surf the net and research certificate programs for different fields such as photography or web-design, etc. I would plan out the path I may or may not want to take to achieve the program requirements and try and figure out every aspect of that process (costing, timing, etc). It gave me some weird feeling of security to know that I could always go back to school. Perhaps this is why so many people get masters and PhDs in many areas - learning is enjoyable and comforting for them in a similar way that it is to me.

I am currently on the road to obtaining a Certificate in Digital Photography. I do not believe I will stop there - whether the future courses lead to more certificates or not, I do not know, but I believe I will keep trying to find new ways to learn.

Blog Plug

As I am sure you know by now, I am taking a photography course at night at Algonquin College. It has been really great so far and I am so happy that I decided to take it. I am definitely going to look into taking more too, I already know it! Anyway, I will be posting about this class on my photography blog and I hope you will venture over there to learn all about it (there are also some tips from things I have learned in the class so far).

Basic Digital Photography

I started my course two weeks ago and have already learned a few things from it - such as what a couple of the advanced buttons do on my camera and how to use the histogram (that's what I am learned in the ways of the histogram!). It is the latter that I am using the most so far as it lets me know right away whether or not my photograph needs more or less exposure - so neat!

The class is scheduled to use the portrait studio, go on at least one field trip and of course, have several assignments. I actually wanted to take this course (if not to take later courses for which this is a prerequisite) so that I could get some assignments and hopefully have to leave my comfort zone to take them. I want to take photos of things I don't normally take. I am thinking of it as shooting outside my 'photo-box'.

Back to School

I just registered in a night course at Algonquin College!

I have been wanting to take night courses in photography for quite some time now - well really since I took a traditional film course in high school through St. Lawrence College in Brockville. Well, now that I am have graduated from the Environmental Engineering program at Carleton University, I will finally have the time to devote to my passion - photography. I really want to advance my skills and just have fun with it all. I can't wait until classes start September 10th!