Assignment 1/Tutorial 2

Arriving at Changi Airport, I was a little disappointed to see that it was more crowded than I had hoped it would be. The last time I was there taking photos, Terminal 3 was not yet open, so it was relatively deserted, and made photo-taking much more enjoyable. People's movements hindered the overall capture of the interior patterns of the terminals, giving less texture to the photo taken. But by the end of the day, after much experimenting with different shutter speeds and aperture values, I got the shots I wanted.

The process of editing the photos were fun, as well. I did not have much experience with Photoshop, so there was much experimentation with the different adjustments I could have with the photos. I prefer photos that speak the word "desolation" to me, so I always prefer my photos to be black and white or in monochrome colours. I believe that colours are often taken for granted by the human eye, so I purposely alter the colours of each shot, in hopes that my photos would sensitize people, forcing them to take into account and pay attention to every detail of the photos. I played around with the Colour Balance, Level of Exposure, Brightness and Contrast, Shadows and Highlights, and even the Hue and Saturation functions of Photoshop to end up with these:

1.

Deep Depth of Field (DDOF): I like how the patterns of the ceiling, floor, and each check-in stall stretch towards a common horizon. I still wished this shot did not have people in it, but I was still satisfied with the overall effect. I desaturated the original photo, edited the contrast, and played around with the colour balance.

Critique: During tutorial 2, we brought our photos to class and had some of our fellow tutorial classmates critique our work. For this photo, the feedback given was that it would have been better if the two black boards were not there on the left side of the photo, and that the photo was not tilted (albeit slightly) to one side. But they liked the composition, and how the "layers" of the photo were very distinct.

2.

Shallow Depth of Field (SDOF): Again, I like how the lines and patterns stretch towards a common point in the photo. There is also a successful balance of blur in the background and focus in the foreground, by putting the clock as the point of reference. I edited the photo by altering its colour balance and contrast.

Critique: It is not obvious that the clock was the point of reference. Also, the background could afford to be more out of focus, to emphasize on the foreground.

3.

Blur Motion: I was stuck on the concept of this photo, unable to find inspiration for a satisfying Blur Motion shot, until I remembered the shot Lionel said he took in Orchard Ion. So, taking inspiration from him, I rode the escalator up and down, with minimal shutter speed, taking photos and trying not to move much, until I got this shot. Aesthetics-wise, I edited the colour balance, shadow and highlight colours, having contrasting colours like blue and red to make the photo jarring and more dynamic.

Critique: They liked the colours and effect, but felt that perhaps having a clear subject somewhere in the photo would make the it seem less flat, because having an entirely blur photo would make the photo appear somewhat flat.

4.

Freeze Action: This was the trickiest shot of them all. I tried taking shots of water dripping onto a plant, but it failed terribly because my camera could not capture the droplets (they were too inconsistent) at the right time, and the background was not flattering for the photo settings. So I resorted to taking water sprouting out from a water cooler, trying to capture the frozen movement of the water.

Critique: The composition is nice, but the subject matter could be better (and I agree). The water movement is also not that in focus.

Reflections for Assignment 1: Definitely had fun playing with the effects of the photos and the overall experience of photo-taking, but it seems I need to re-take some of the photos, especially the one of Freeze Action.