Christmas Already?

It is 11:30 PM the day after Thanksgiving and the infamous opening jingle of Mariah Carey's 1994 hit "All I want for Christmas Is You" is all ready playing on infinite loop until years end. I don't hate the song until its on the 5th loop then I will need hearing protection. I snuck out the house for another improv shot for my final portfolio and I tried my hand at Bellagio again. The results were quite good. I am definitely going to use the nutcracker photo in the portfolio I just need to get a better angle. All of the photos were taken at the Bellagio Gardens for this Christmas themed event.

Is anyone who celebrates Christmas ready for the gift giving?

The polar bears bring back nostalgic memories of the 1990s when I first remembered the first few Coca Cola commercials involving the polar bears

Future Endeavors

 As this week winds down and the population is getting ready for the big family event of the year Thanksgiving. We need to be thankful for the things we have and what they will lead too.

• I am thankful for my unwavering dedication to college while maintaining a full time job. 
• I am thankful for my service to this country USN Veteran (2011-2016).
• I am thankful for this class providing the edification I needed to achieve the MOS certifications.

At points I wanted to stop college because of the immense college level workload plus the job made for some 18 hours days into another full 8 hours of work put a enormous strain on my mental ability. I kept preserving at my endeavors at CSN and the fruits of my labours have resulted in being accepted into UNLV. 

Now, What are you thankful for this holiday season?

Portfolio Work Critique

We are approaching the last few weeks of this Fall 2022 semester and final assignments are right on the horizon. Subtracting thanksgiving week and the subsequent weeklong resting period after all of that food. If your a major procrastinator then finals assignments are right around the corner. I have to make professional portfolio quality work and I need honest critiques on my shots. 

What do you like about the image?

What could be improved on?

Should I reshoot this from another angle?

Would you buy this and hang it up on a wall?

Composition - Clarity - Contrast

If the image needs additional post processing provide feedback.

 

I want feedback on my photos because I am actuslly going to print a 7-10 of them for the Photography 101 Final assignment.

The Strat during the total  lunar eclipse. "Next total lunar eclipse is 2025 March 14"

 

Las Vegas city scape taken from Los Feliz St

Las Vegas City Hall

Fall Bokeh

Las Vegas Sign The Strat

ISO

ISO stands for "International Organization for Standardization"

This term generally gets shorted to ISO which applies the sensitivity of the cameras sensor to light. On most professional cameras ISO can be low as 50 with an upper expanded limit of 204,800. The camera I have the Sony Alpha 7 IV has an ISO range of 100-51,200, with an expanded range of ISO 50-204,800. On most newer model phones the smaller camera sensor has a ISO range of 50-3200 which is more than enough.

Referring to my previous post the exposure triangle is very relevant in exposing an image. Light is measured in stops A stop of light is not a fundamental unit, but a method of measuring the increase or decrease of light in a photographic exposure. 

When you increase the ISO value by one step (e.g. 100 to 200, or 800 to 1600) you make the camera’s sensor twice as sensitive to light. To keep the exposure balanced the camera needs to halve the amount of light reaching the sensor. It does this by increasing the shutter speed by one stop (e.g. increasing from 1/400 to 1/800), or decreasing the aperture size by one f-stop (e.g. changing from f/8 to f/11).

Once you begin to increase the ISO past "3200" on most professional cameras you introduce noise to an image. Now this noise is not referring to sound so your photo will not have a music track playing but it will display grainy spots to the image. Some photographers like this grainy noise on their images and keep it visible while others use Adobe Lightroom to remove it. Don't be afraid of pumping the ISO for those low light shots because the shutter speed and aperture will adjust to compensate.