Michael Wojcik Recipe 1: B&WMystery

iphone 4S/VSCOcam

This photo I felt worked the best for the aspect of not being able to tell what it is. To give it away, its the inside of a photo printer. As I was changing the ink I thought it would look interesting because I could only really see the right side of it where the light hits it. The dark creates a strange abyss that makes the photo work. The only editing was to make it B&W which I did with the B5 moody filter.

Kendel Seigler Recipe 1: B&W/Mystery

Phone: iPhone 5s

App used: Fotor

To create this photo, I used the natural light coming in from the blinds on a window. I took this photo when the sun was positioned perfectly to shine through. This was taken as a profile shot of my face, very closely to the blinds so the lines shone on my face. Since I couldn't see myself when I was taking this, I had to crop this photo so you couldn't see the window/blinds. If you could see the blinds, that would obviously take away from the mystery of the photo. I cropped it using the 'edit' feature in my phone's camera roll. I then used the Fotor app to convert this into black and white. This app is great because it creates really rich grayscale photos and has different B&W options depending upon the intensity you want, etc.

Apps used: Fotor, GorillaCam

My kitchen has a partition that blocks off the stairs and it is made out of thick glass blocks that have different patterns on them. I positioned my camera on one side of the glass and myself on the other so my face would be distorted by the pattern. I did this using the GorillaCam app because it allows you to put your camera on a timer. I then used the Fotor app to convert this into black and white. To create the effect of my face being multiplied, I had to stand quite far away from the glass, because if you get too close, your face fills up the block and it just looks a bit blurry.

Ian Watson Recipe 1: B&W Mystery

POW Recipe

Phone: LG G2
Model number: VS980 4G (Verizon)
OS: Android 4.4.2 (KitKat)
Captured in: Default Camera app
Edited in: VSCO cam, Instagram

The main technique I focused on when shooting the original image (which I have attached below this paragraph) was shooting directly into the harsh sunset. When I saw this scene, I was not ready to take the image at all, and rushed my phone out of my pocket to take the shot. I made sure that the angle I was shooting at let me capture a bit of the subject and the entirety of their shadow without including too many other outside details in the piece. To help with this, I also shot it vertically with intent to crop later, as I know that a horizontal shot would also be harder to shoot (I could barely see my screen due to the harsh light), as well as potentially including so many details that the phone's automatic ISO would adjust in such a way to compensate for all the light. Honestly, when I took it originally, I did not know if I would even submit it for the critique.

A day or so later, after editing other images I had taken specifically for the crit, I brought this picture into VSCO cam, to see if I could make something cool from it. From there, I selected filter B5/BW Moody (the deep, dark, rich toned black and white filter). I left it on +12 (the full filter effect), and then dropped the Exposure from 0 to -1. From there, I exported it to Instagram.

(I will have to upload this once my phone syncs with my online album, because I've tried for half an hour and gotten nowhere. I hate technology)

In Instagram, I cropped the image down to a nice square size, as to get rid of all the extra space when I first took the image. I did not add a filter, but I did click on the little sun icon (which I guess is exposure, but it does not work anything like exposure would on other programs) and clicked it up to 100 to make the image even more contrasty. I also straightened it so that the horizon line was a straight line across the screen. This resulted in the image 

Caitlin Serbin Recipe 1: B&W Mystery

Dynamic Lighting

Caitlin Serbin

 

Using:    Phone: Nokia Lumina 928 (Verizon)

App: Camera App

              Software: Windows Phone 8.0

              OS Version: 8.0.10517.150

 

The lighting in this image was created using several techniques and strategies. These include timing, placement, and focal point choice.

 

My recipe for this week to create dynamic lighting is as follows:

1.       Wait until the sun is sinking below the horizon. This is important timing as you need enough time to set up before taking the picture.

2.       Place your subject between you and the sun. This allows the subject to be backlit. (light colored subject matter helps here I.e., blond hair on the girl and a horse with a blonde mane and tail.)

 

3.   Play with the focal point until you finch a combination that fits. Here the focal point was the mountains, which were darker. This allowed the camera to bring the dark areas into focus, creating deep shadows that contrast with the light of the sky.

Garret Foster Topic 1 Recipes 1

The smartphone I use is a Verizon LG Lucid 2 4G LTE. The Os is Android 4.1. These are the camera specs: Resolution: 5+ megapixel, auto-focus, LED flash/ Time Catch, face tracking, panorama, HDR, scene modes, ISO control, and timer. For all of these pictures, I used the apps Photo Editor Pro and Snapseed. Photo Editor Pro has very good enhancement and filter effects. Also, the focus effect allows for a very shallow depth of field. Unfortunately, the app is overrun with advertisements to the point that it's inconvenient. Also, it has no "save to phone" feature, so I would have to share the photos via messaging and text it to myself to load it into Snapseed. 

For my POW, I first put the photo into the app Photo Editor Pro. I used the feature "Enhance: Illuminate" then "Effects: Clyde." Then I put the photo into Snapseed. I used the the "Black & White" feature with these adjustments: "Brightness: -50" and "Contrast: +10." Then I added the "Tilt Shift" effect (to make every thing but the gears in the foreground out of focus) with these adjustments: "Tilt Shift: +50" with "Blur Strength: +100."

This was my second highest voted photo. For this picture, I first put it into the Photo Editor Pro app. I applied the features "Enhance: HD" and "Effects: Clyde." I then added the "Focus" effect and selected the "Rectangle Shape" option and made it so the carving on the tree was in focus, the line between the tree and the background was the transition point from focus to out of focus, and the background was out of focus. Then I put the photo into Snapseed. I used the "Black & White" feature with these adjustments: "Brightness: -47" and "Contrast: +45."

This was my third highest voted photo. For this picture, I first put it into Photo Editor Pro. I applied the feature "Enhance: HD." Then I put the photo into Snapseed. I used the "Black & White" feature with these adjustments: "Brightness: -44" and "Contrast: +5." Then I used the "Straighten" feature and adjusted the picture like so: "Straighten: +1.69 degrees."

Dan Casarella Recipe 1

Device: Apple iPhone 5S iOS7
App: Noir

For my POW I was very compelled to capture the lights on the top of a building next to mine. I wanted to focus on the shape of the lights as well the direction they were going towards so I shot them from a high angle looking down upon them. Given my limited space, I couldn’t get as close to them as I wanted to so this was the best I could do.

For editing I used an app I had found called Noir. My biggest priority was to focus on the lights and take out anything in the background that wasn’t there. The app lets you put the focus of light where ever you’d like, so I put it in the sky because it would darked out everything else except the lights. I blacked out everything in the background then tried to back the lights contrast. Looking at the photo there are still some lights in the background, however I think those add to the atmosphere a bit.

Mariah Frazier Recipe 1

For this photo, I wanted to capture the feeling of the place I was in. I went to visit Fort Delaware, which is an abandoned war fort. You take a ferry over to the island, and you're free to explore the entire area on your own. While exploring, there was an area that had somehow either burnt down or fallen apart. It ended up leaving a door appearing to be floating in the middle of a wall that had once been on the second story. I set up the photo to get as much of an upwards angle as I could on it to really show the strangeness of the setting.
I shot the photo in Os 7 on my iPhone 5s and used the new "Be Funky" photo app.

Mike Bergin B&W Mystery

For this photo I never intended it to never a self portrait but I underestimated the reflective properties of the headlight. it ended up being a very effective Convex mirror creating a unique distortion of my  image within the image itself. I originally planned to take a picture of the headlight close up because all the different reflective angles. At a close range this makes it almost impossible to tell what the actual object is therefore instilling a strong sense of mystery. Apparently my plan worked based upon the comments that the majority of people voted for this photo as the POW due to not being able to interpret what the subject of the image was.

This image was taken on my Samsung Galaxy S4 4.4.2 KitKat and the image was edited using the PixlrExpress app version 1.6.1

Chi Hwan Moon B & W Mystery

I've selected the above photo for the POW. When I was taking this photo, I tried to eliminate negative space between the hats in order to disguise their appearance. In a situation where similarly colored objects are grouped together, it's the negative space that defines the shapes of the individual objects in the group.  When that negative space is eliminated, it is harder to recognize the individual objects. In addition, in order to make the colors of the hats similar, I decreased the overall contrast in the photo.  When I did this, the lines of each hat became grey and the five hats in the frame seemed to turn into one big blob. Some people have commented for this photo that it was hard to figure out exactly what they were looking at.

I used the vsco cam app with the Iphone 5s to post-process the photo and only edited the image with my phone.

Kristen Ciambella's Recipe

All of my photos were taken with an iPhone 4s. The above photo was my POW. To achieve this look, I stood in front of the building and turned my phone sideways to take the picture. I edited this photo with an app called Aviary. The first thing I did was crop and rotate the photo. I started with a simple, black and white filter called Metropolis. I then chose the Enhance option and picked hi-def. From there I went into Adjust and adjusted the the brightness (brought it up slightly), contrast (brought down slightly) and saturation (brought up slightly) to my liking. Once I adjusted the brightness, contrast and saturation I then went into Sharpen and sharpened it ever so slightly.  

Joe Dolinsky B&W Mystery

Hey, all. I thought this sort of assignment was the perfect way to get the ball rolling with taking photos. Admittedly, I'm not anywhere near competent with photography - only in the sense that I assume most of us are, which is just taking pictures on our cell phones when the scenery is right or when I'm drinking a delicious beer I want to share on Instragram. So this assignment, and the class in general, is a great way to get going in the right direction. Here are the photos I want to provide recipes for (as best I can).

This is a photo most classmates said was my best or their favorite. What is it? Well, it's a sort-of strobe light I came across at The Barbary in Fishtown. I took it on my iPhone 4s. Yes, it's old. Anyway, the lighting was pretty much perfect since it was a dark room already. So the little light fixtures within the object showed through perfectly. There were reds, yellows, blues, so I used the VSCO Cam app to render it black and white. I adjusted the tone just a little so it wasn't too fuzzy around the white parts.

The object itself was on the ground so I had to crouch down to capture it. No big deal there.

This is a photo I really like. It was taken at the Fairmount Water Works. I know scenery is cliche, but I really love the way the rapids to the left mesh with the sort-of smooth, flowing water to the right. I love the way the black and white makes it look, also.

Hope you guys enjoyed. Looking forward to sharing more.

Kati Keller B&W Mystery

Hello classmates, this was a fun assignment and I had a few photos that I enjoyed taking for this assignment that I'm going to share with you. The phone I use to take this photo was the Samsung Galaxy S4 with Android version 4.4.2 KitKat. The app I used to capture and edit these photos was Snapseed version 1.6.0.



This is a photo of my jean shorts. They are stripped light blue and white denim. I like this photo because it is very rich with texture. To capture this texture I used the focus that is on my phone. I touched the screen to show where I wanted the focal point to be. I noticed by doing this is really captures texture well. I just used natural light in the room I didn't purposely increase the light in the room. After I found an angle and photo that I really liked I opened it in the app an put on the black and white filter. I then lowered the brightness to -63. I liked this because it dded shadows an emphasized the textures. I also increased the contrast to about +38. This really made the white stand out and shows the details.





The photo is of the carpet in my living room. I enjoy laying on the ground and watching t.v. I really liked how the light shining on the carpet really changed the color. The carpet is normally the color of coffee ice cream and when the light shines on it it becomes a tan color. I felt this would be interesting to use of the assignment. I took the photo laying on the ground with my phone mostly upright and tilted down slightly. I then tapped my screen to make the focus the lower center. This allowed the background to be a little blurry. I opened it in Snapseed and placed the B&W filter on it. Also, I am not really sure what it is, but I am going to assume it is another filter and I chose green because it really made the darker parts darker and the lighter parts grayer. I moved the contrast to +44 and the brightness to -11. This really showed the light shining on the carpet like I had wanted it to.





This photo is on my morning tea. I held my camera over the cup, but not directly. I was particularly inspired to take this photo because you could see the tea and herbs inside the teabag. I also liked the idea of the speckles in the counter top in the background. I didn't use and focus or added light for this photo. I opened the photo in the Snapseed app and once again added the B&W filter. I placed the brightness to +38 to lighten up the photo because there was not too much natural light. I set the contrast to +27 to really make the white from the up and the color of the tea water be more contrasting. This one was fun because it was like I was playing with my food.

Holly Ferguson B&W Mystery Assignment

Hello everyone! Here are a few of my favorite photos from the B&W Mystery Assignment. For some background: I used a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone with an Android 4.4.2 TouchWiz UI operating System, and for the app to create some effects to my pictures I used Snapseed version 1.6.0.  

With this picture, if you could not tell the object is a sneaker. I really like this picture because there is a lot of texture as well as interesting lighting. I did not zoom at all for this picture, I just got very close to my sneaker to take advantage of as much focus as I could. I also took it where light was coming from above me, which created the lighting effect. After taking the picture, I inputted it into Snapseed and changed it to black and white and decreased the brightness and increased the contrast a little. 

This is a picture of my blankets on my bed, as you can tell I do not make my bed often. I was inspired to take this picture one day because I remember not wanting to leave my bed, and thinking I had to take some pictures today, so I might as well get some work done if I wasn't getting up to do anything else productive. This picture just reminds me of comfort and relaxation. I did not alter this picture much, but I did use the Snapseed app to change the picture into black and white. 

This object is actually a picture of a empty glass placed in front of a window. I really like this picture, and I am glad everyone else did too because it won the POW. For the technique I again did not use the zoom to get the best focus possible, and I also tried to grab the focus of the glass that was closest to me and have the other parts of the glass out of focus some. I also really like how the lighting came out shining through the glass and hitting off the letters like it is. TO change the picture to black and white I used the Snapseed app again, and I increased the brightness a little and also increased the contrast some too.