Assignment
MMS 173
MMS 173 Assignment 1: Knowing Where I'm At (Part 1)
As an artist, my knowledge to photography isn't completely zero as I use the images that I capture as reference to my art and creative writing. However, I haven't had the chance to invest on a good camera yet especially since my focus is on digital illustration. Looking over my previous shots with my iPhone 6s, it is evident that it lacks the quality and proper composition compared to others, but for me, these images hold a lot more than just the technicalities. For me, a photo is considered great when it captures not only the subject but also the hearts of those who sees it.
A Walk for Talk
Location: University of the Philippines - Diliman
This photo was taken during October 2023 in UP Diliman along the road towards the Oblation. We we're walking for so long that I vividly remember just how many stories and life experiences we've exchanged with the classmates who I once just see on the other side of the screen. I consider this a great photo not really because it's perfectly centered nor it focused on a single subject, but instead, it shows the long path ahead. An illusion of a never-ending road, perfectly encompassing the feelings we had by that time, however, standing alongside each other made all the fatigue fade away. We never felt just how much tired we were until we all separated and went to our own ways.
Sky Surveillants
Location: Shibuya Scramble Crossing, Tokyo
I know the composition, the quality, and the overall balance of this photo is all over the place, but I rarely capture a flying bird as clear as this—especially with an iPhone 6s at that! This photo was taken during our trip in Japan and one of the things that really caught my eye there were the birds. They were different from the usual Maya birds in the Philippines and they were definitely larger! I have tons of pigeon and crow pics during the trip but most of them were either blurred or really incomprehensible (it was sad, for real). I feel like I had such an amazing concept for this photo in my brain too, like—making the lights from the buildings or the movement of the birds motion blurred so I can give more emphasis on what was happening—but I didn't really have the equipment nor the proper knowledge in photo manipulation by the time this photo was taken last year so I was left just staring into the flying bird.
Steel and Sturdy
Location: Sumida Park, Tokyo
This was one of the best photos I've taken so far. Truly a hidden gem where I can capture the whole panoramic view of Tokyo Skytree from Sumida Park. Usually, most photogenic spots in Tokyo are almost always brimming with tourists but there were only locals in this place. I really liked this photo because of the way everything feels so centered and identical, especially the buildings from both sides of the road. This is also only the raw photo! I've tried lowering the exposure, decreasing the brightness, and increasing the contrast for this one before but the original still gives me goosebumps. Like, how can a place be this photogenic from every angle/side? Truly mind-boggling and amazing at the same time.
Divergence
Height
This was a photo I took when we were in Seoul, South Korea recently this March. There’s not much of a story behind this picture but it inspired me to take the shot because of my dad who was looking in awe on the mountains from afar. Seeing this photo once again, I realized there were depths visible in the picture —the closer the subject was from the camera, the darker it was, and the farther and higher it is, the lighter it gets. Although I know that a lower ISO is recommended to use in brighter areas, I used a higher ISO to fill up the darker gap from using a higher shutter speed (I was experimenting with my camera settings by this time, and I had little time to change to lower shutter speed). Moreover, I also noticed that I had my aperture at a higher number, so the lens is letting in smaller bits of light. I had to do this; else the photo will be brighter due to higher ISO.
Date & Image Details
It took me too late to realize that the camera's time wasn't properly set. This photo was taken during morning (around 8 AM) according to the similar photos I had on my phone.
Hall from the Sky
Pattern
The symmetrical pattern of the lamp and the windows on the ceiling of this hall was majestic, especially in person. This photo was taken inside the Tower Condominium of Mona Yongpyong (Pyeongchang, South Korea) while we were walking towards the front desk lobby of the hotel. There was enough light inside the hall so I used a bigger aperture in order to let the natural light into the camera while lowering the light sensitivity of the camera (ISO). Moreover, we were walking while I was taking this shot so I had to make the shutter speed faster in order to keep the photo clear without blurring the background.
Real Time Taken: 11 AM
Here is another extra photo which I really liked while I was capturing anything with patterns during our Baguio trip. The way that the strawberries were symmetrically aligned was so satisfying to see. Though, I had to modify it a bit with Photopea in order to highlight the theme.
Baguio Cathedral
Night
Seeing the Baguio Cathedral’s structural composition and lighting during the night was something else. Though, I wish I had more control over my camera in order to shoot good photos even if it’s dark because it was still a bit of a challenge for me to find the right recipe and combination of the 3 camera settings in order to show the lights from the cathedral properly while still keeping them aligned and steady. Since it was dark, I had to use higher ISO and lower shutter speed since my subject wasn’t moving. I also tried to use a smaller number for aperture in order to allow more light into the camera since I needed all the brightness I could get. Without it, the photo will just turn dark with small particles of light or none at all. After countless trials and errors, this is the best night photo I could get from the cathedral. I edited it using photopea in order to crop unnecessary objects in sight and level the angle accordingly.
Camera Settings
Real time taken: 6:43 PM
This is another photo I took during a night walk with my grandparents. They were holding hands while looking over the view from the terrace. It was a really sweet moment so I'm glad I managed to capture it.
We were resting by a bench nearby when I saw this scene from my grandparents. It really looked like a scene from k-drama, erasing the fact that my grandfather awkwardly hung his arms to my grandmother's shoulder. They were really funny and cute. Truly, a night to remember.
In The Midst of the Crowd
Flower
This was also a photo that I took during our recent Baguio trip. It piqued my interest because it was the first time I saw a flower that looked like dandelions but much thicker and bigger in comparison. These flowers were decorated on the very top floor of SM Baguio. I managed to capture this flower in focus using my 50mm lens and since there was enough light from the mall, I just used the usual ISO speed of 200. I was also experimenting with camera settings this time around so I was using a bigger aperture than recommended in order to allow better separation between my subject and the background. Since my subject isn’t moving for this photo, I set a slower shutter speed so it can capture the details without sacrificing the brightness of the photo.
Real time taken: 8:46 PM
An extra photo of flowers I took near the Baguio Cathedral. I loved how the branches looked like it was aiming something above from this angle.
Man-Made Falls
Motion
This was my first time trying motion photography with moving water. The very moment I saw this man-made falls near a cafe in Seoul, I knew I had to capture this magnificent view. It was really hard for me to import this specific photo because of how large it is, so it might be a bit grainy and pixelated viewing through this site alone (well, I think most of the photos I uploaded here significantly lost their quality due to uploading restrictions) but I suppose the overall composition and movement is still noticeable. Due to shutter speed constraints, I was only able to shoot at 1/250th of a second in order to catch the movement of the water without completely blurring everything. I tried making it lower but it was hard for me to balance the camera without a tripod so my only option was to make a clear shot. Since there was enough room for sunlight from the back, I set my ISO to 200 and allowed mid-light to enter the camera.
Real Time Taken: 5:24 PM
