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CRP: Session Two Design

Real Successes

There were a few photos that I fell in love with and in regards to creativity consider those successful.  My ball that was used for variety, the shoe used for flowing movement, and the lunch scene for scale were among my favorites.  I was also pleasantly surprised at the musical/visual combination that occurred at the end of the video.  The way the music faded and the words “The End” were perfectly synched brought the movie to a grand close.  My video construction was cohesive and consistent with my theme.  I also succeeded at making the narration slightly humorous, which ended up being a little twist on the captions.

Real Challenges

Capturing the photos I composed in my head with conflicting light and props and my limited camera

photograph labeled emphasis-isolation with a nail in a wall by itself
screenshot of video after correction; lighting was poor

knowledge challenged me most.  I had a hard time getting a concrete idea for informal balance.  I wanted this photo to look more native to its environment than the ones that were indeed posed (which was most of them).  The image that I settled for had the bottles and lamp in the correct position, but the lamp in the background was light in value compared to the bottles in the foreground and

close-up photo labeled informal balance of an upright ginger ale bottle to the left of a white cranberry juice bottle (both filled), and a lampshade in the background above the shorter juice bottle
screenshot of slide before correction

took away from the balancing act I wanted to achieve.  Then, iMovie did something that was not in my plan and zoomed in making things less obvious.  My indecisiveness extends my work time significantly and I often have to force myself to move things along.  A major difficulty for me was deciding the best way to present my images without my movie seeming too much like an instructional video.  I attempted to balance this by removing the labels of the design principles before introducing the narrative text.  Musical composition was and always is a battle for me because of my indecision when trying to create the ideal and corresponding mood.  Then, the errors I saw after sharing my video were disconcerting since I had obviously gotten “viewer’s mirage” after multiple proofing plays.  Finally, the limited selections of iMovie fonts and font colors detracted from what I would have done to create more contrast between background and text.

Ambition in Relation to Edge of My Incompetence

I have only been randomly successful at taking good photos and I think it is because of the artist in me rather than camera expert.  With very little experiential camera knowledge in comparison to other media I feel comfortable with, I was coasting the very edge of my incompetence.  Still time-consuming, this medium was much quicker for me than others and subsequently a challenge.  I am also impatient with trying to figure out the variations in digital cameras so I took a few more minutes than usual to try to make some useful adjustments.  I tried to balance the inadequacies of my completed photos by camouflaging the less appealing components with techniques in iMovie, where I have more competency.

How Successful I Feel 

The composition of my video visually and auditorily gives me a feeling of great success.  Based on my videography experience, I was able to compensate for my lower level photography skills and was less disturbed by my images’ flaws.

What I Would Like to Improve Upon

My photographic compositions left some things to be desired and more picture-taking is the solution.   What I would mostly like to improve, however, is my planning process leading up to photography.  I had a grand plan for my new journal and ended up doing some impromptu photos instead.  I started out writing my thoughts and never did sketch the visuals I intended to.  I also did a little Photoshopping (that went sour) on my triangular movement image and would probably spend more time refining it for aesthetics.  It is not the best example of triangular movement either with the heavy visual weight of the portrait.  Again, this was an experiment that I never concluded in Baby #1′s bedroom.  There were a

shot that shows whole bottles and lampshade instead of close-up in the before image shown previously
screenshot of video slide showing informal balance after correction

few small details that I have repaired in my video as they did not alter the original content.  I added my name, moved a label to the left for consistency, and adjusted the view on my informal balance image to reveal the objects being balanced.  Although the first was more compositionally interesting, the second revealed the principle of design better.

How Dr. C Might Help

Other than suggesting more photography resources, I would not expect any assistance from Dr. Crissman on my specific issues this particular time.  I had more internal processing conflicts than anything else. =^)


Source: mspevans » Conversations Source URL: http://mspevans.wordpress.com

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