Critiques Received

I received my Unit 2 photo assignment critiques yesterday, and they weren't too bad. Phillip had some more good recommendations as to how I could improve my images, such as cropping in further on one of them, dodging one of the corners on another one, etc. He wasn't as happy with with the "framing" picture that I submitted, and I have to agree with him on that. I didn't really have a submission that I liked for that particular assignment, but I had to submit something. I had another stronger image that I COULD have submitted for the "framing" assignment, but I liked it better for the "leading lines" submission. Apparently I SHOULD have submitted it for the framing assignment. Oh well. :-)  I sent him more than the required 3 images, per his suggestion, so he could start to get a better idea of the type of pictures I took, and get a better idea of where my strengths and weaknesses are. He really liked the picture of the sun in the clouds over the dock that I submitted, stating that he wouldn't make any changes to that picture; that it was good just how it was. That was nice to hear. :-)

So now it's on to Unit 3, which isn't quite as exciting, but starts to make use of lighting, which is one of the most important aspects of photography. Hopefully I won't take as long to submit this assignment. *fingers crossed*

Unit 2 Submissions Ready To Go

I received my 8x10 prints from MPix.com in the mail today, and I have filled out the paperwork that goes along with the Unit submissions. Now all I have to do is try and find time to get to the post office so I can send my Unit 2 photo projects to Philip for critique.

I have been subconsciously delaying this whole process, possibly due to the fact that I'm usually not completely satisfied with the images I have taken, for one reason or another. But I am fairly happy with the way the prints turned out, so hopefully my submissions will be received well. I'll post again once I've had a chance to review my critique. :)

Getting Unit 2 Submissions Ready

I got off to such an amazing start with this program, blasting through the first 4 units of material, and then I sort of hit a wall. I'm working my way slowly through Unit 5 at the moment, but I've still only submitted photo projects for Unit 1. That being said, here are some of the candidates for Unit 2 submissions. And yes, some of you have probably seen most of these pictures before, one way or another.

Photograph #1: Emphasizing the subject by its size and off-center placement.

Photograph #2: Using framing to focus attention on your subject.

Project #3: Using leading lines to draw attention to your subject.

I need to shoot a few more images, especially for project #2 (although I COULD use the first picture under project #3 as one of my framing photos,) but I am fairly happy with most of these pictures. Provided they print out well, I think they will make decent submissions.

Fellow NYIP students (and anyone else who would care to take a look,) please offer any helpful critiques, opinions, or ideas that you may have, as long as they're not overly negative or derogatory. Constructive criticism and feedback is welcome. Just remember, I am NOT a professional photographer (which should be fairly obvious by now!

Thanks, and I look forward to reading your comments.

A Missed Opportunity

Well, with all the hype surrounding Clint Eastwood, Justin Timberlake, Amy Adams, et al, filming scenes from the upcoming movie "Trouble With The Curve" here in Athens, I decided to use my NYIP news card/press pass for the first time, to see if I could get close to the action. Sadly there wasn't an actual "press area" that I could use it to gain access to, and they were filming a night scene the day we were on location so we missed Eastwood and Timberlake, but it was still cool to be on a live movie set, and watch some of what goes on behind the scenes. This is one of my favorite shots from that day. I'm not sure who he is, but he seemed to be well connected to the production.

Naturally, I Couldn't Stay Away For Long

Well, I knew I couldn't stay away for too long. I've started reading the first booklet in Unit 5, "Photojournalism 1." I may never cut it as a full time, professional portrait or wedding photographer, but photojournalism is something that has always fascinated me, and it's a career path I've thought about pursuing, off and on, throughout my life; especially since I love to write in addition to taking pictures. There's just something about the spontaneity and "in the moment" nature of photojournalism that has always appealed to me. To be the first person on the scene, or the first to capture a critical or pivotal moment in time...THAT is something I've always dreamed about!

So I'm reading my way through the material, absorbing all the information and taking the suggestions they make into strong consideration. I'm going to compile a list of phone numbers and addresses for all the local newspapers and TV stations, and the local wire service if there is one, and I'm going to keep the information in my phone. That way, if I'm ever out and about with my camera, and I happen to come upon a scene that I think is news worthy, I'll be able to contact those organizations that might be able to use (and will probably pay for) my photos. Maybe one day, if I get enough of my material into some of the local publications, I can serve as a stringer for one or more of them, or maybe even get hired as a staff photographer. That would be pretty cool.

To that end, I need to get a small "ID picture" made for my NYIP PhotoWorld press pass, and I need to acquire another compact, high quality point-and-shoot camera, so I ALWAYS have a camera with me, no matter where I am. Because you never know when breaking news is going to happen. I'm also going to add the "Photographer's Rights Gray Card Set" to my gear, in the event that my presence at a scene is ever questioned, or my right to photograph something is ever denied.

So here's to the exciting world of photojournalism. If you see something important happening, photograph and/or video record it, so that others may know what's going on in the world around them. Who knows, maybe your photo or video will be tomorrow's headlines. You never know what's going to happen, so always be on the lookout for news worthy stories, and always make sure to have your camera nearby!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by.

Unit Six Has Arrived

Unit 6 arrived today. Now I have all of the materials from the Complete Course in Professional Photography, and I have to start working through it from where I left off. Before I get to that point though, it's time to get some of my photo projects out of the way!

PPA Membership

My PPA (Professional Photographers of America) membership packet arrived in the mail today. I joined as an "Aspiring Photographer," which I can do for a maximum of 2 years, before I have to enroll as an "Active Professional," something which I hope I will be much closer to being after 2 years of experience. I think the PPA membership will compliment my NYIP training nicely, offering me access to additional training materials, industry incites, and professional certifications.

Much of this is still new to me, and I have a lot to explore and learn about; but I hope this additional level of involvement will help expand my skill base, and enhance my studies as I journey along the path to becoming a Professional Photographer.

Unit 6 On The Way

I should be receiving Unit 6, the final unit in the program, within a week or so. Of course I'm currently stopped at Unit 5 because it contains subjects that I have a stronger interest in, and I didn't want to rush into them yet, as I still have to catch up with my photo projects. I'm rather behind in that area, since I've only submitted my pictures for Unit 1 so far.

I've been taking a fair amount of pictures lately, but most of them have been more of the snapshot variety, in my continuing 365 Day project (366 days with the leap year.) I've taken a few pictures that could probably be used for my Unit 2 submissions, but none that I'm really happy with. I need to go out one day with the focus of SPECIFICALLY shooting images for Unit 2. Then I have to work on the portrait/lighting projects for Units 3 and 4. That last two units will be more challenging, so I want to make sure I'm caught up with everything else before I start on them, and the photo projects for Units 2-4 will get me in "better shape," photography-wise, to embark on the last two Units of the program.

So now I just need to find my focus (no pun intended,) and get on the ball. I have a lot of pictures to take and have printed, and I want to concentrate I'm producing prints that I'm happy with, and that I will be proud to submit. As always, once I've submitted pictures for review, I will post some of them on here for additional critique.

That's about it for now. Good luck to all of you who are working your own way through any of the NYIP photography courses. Feel free to share any questions, comments or experiences that you have had on your own photographic journey!

A Less Than Satisfactory End To Unit 4

Well, I'm not overly happy with my test results for Unit 4 (I got my first B,) and there are 1 or two of them which I definitely shouldn't have missed. Apparently there was at least one "not" that I somehow missed, as in "Which one of these is NOT an advantage?" I swear I read all the questions correctly, but that's not how my test score came out. Oh well, it's been submitted now, and I can't take it back. This is a section I'll have to study more though, because lighting is one of the most important aspects of photography. I'm sure I'll have a better grasp of it once I actually start to shoot my photo projects for Unit 4.

That being said, I still have to shoot my pictures for Unit 2, and all of this rain is not making that very easy. True, I COULD shoot the pictures indoors, but that would be rather boring, and wouldn't have the best lighting, especially since we're not supposed to be adding any additional lighting (other than the camera's pop-up flash) at this point. So I'm having to wait for this lousy weather to clear up. I guess I can't complain too much though. It is the middle of winter, and the temperatures have been in the 50s and 60s for the most part.

I think I'm going to hold off on starting the Unit 5 training materials, and focus on getting my photo assignments for Units 2-4 submitted first. I LOVE learning new material, but I'm getting too far ahead of myself. And Unit 5 covers some things I'm really interested in (i.e. - Photojournalism,) so I want to take my time with that material and fully absorb it. (I can hear some of you out there saying, "You probably should have done the same thing with the lighting material from Unit 4!") All I can say to that is...yes, I probably should have. But it's a journey, and the important part isn't the destination, it's the path you take along the way. I will absorb the information more readily as I put the techniques into practice.

So I guess that's about it for now. I have to submit a couple of payment to NYIP, and then they will send me my final Unit of study, Unit 6. Then I should have all the materials, and will be able to work through them at my own pace. Now, if I can just get things rolling with all these photo projects I have to do! :-)

Winter Update

Well, on one of the few days that have actually felt somewhat like winter here in Georgia, I'm back on my computer again, and back editing pictures. I've also almost wrapped up Unit 4 of my training, at least the reading part. I have the "Location Portraiture" booklet to read, and then I have to watch and listen to all of the audio/visual materials and take the Unit test online, but then I will be ready to move onto Unit 5, which I'm really excited about. I still need to get caught up on my photo projects though, since I've only submitted my pictures for Unit 1 so far.

This time, at the suggestion of my advisor, I'm going to submit multiple pictures for each project. This will allow me to get more practice with the given elements of the assignment, and experiment a bit more in the process. When I have pictures ready to submit, I will post some of them here for you to see, and provide feedback on if you so desire. Any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome.

I hope everyone is staying warm as the temperatures finally start to drop, and if you're an NYIP student yourself, feel free to post your experiences with the course in the comments section. Also, stop by my main photography page and check out the progress of my 366 day project. I'll be posting Friday the 13th's picture later today!

Photo Challenge - "Analog" In A Digital World

Okay, I am not the first to come up with this idea, but it is the first time I'm going to try it. I am going to limit my D90 to shooting like a 35mm film camera (I'd USE my 35mm film camera, but the battery is dead.) At any rate, I'm going to pretend like I have a single roll of 36 exposure, ISO 400 film, a fairly standard, all-purpose roll of film. I'm going to set my camera's ISO at 400 and leave it there (you can't change the ISO of film in mid-roll,) and use Aperture Priority mode (or Shutter Priority and/or Manual if I'm feeling punchy,) with my 35mm lens. I'm also going to limit myself to the on-camera, popup flash. The only settings I'll be able to change will be the aperture and shutter speed.

I'm going to shoot 36 "frames," and I'm not going to delete any of them. I'm also going to try and shoot without looking at the LCD screen to see what the shot looks like. Finally, I'll be shooting in JPEG mode, and other than possibly cropping, I'm going to avoid making any alterations to the image in an editing program (this will be greatly aided by the fact that my computer is currently dead, and I don't have ACCESS to said programs.)

When I've shot my 36 exposures, I'll wait a bit for "processing time," and then I'll post the resulting images on my blog and on the Matt Fulkes Photography Facebook page.

If this sounds like an interesting idea to any of my photography friends out there, feel free to join in, and post your own images. Just send me a link so I can look at them too!

Happy New Year everyone, and I wish you all a great and exciting new year of photography! :)

Major Computer Problems

My studying has been put on hold temporarily, as I've been trying to deal with some major computer problems. My computer was hit with a nasty virus about a week ago, and currently I'm locked out of the system, as the mouse and keyboard cease to function as soon as the Windows login screen pops up. I've been trying all sorts of things to get it to work, and have had the help of some friends, but so far nothing has worked and my computer is basically a giant paperweight at the moment.

I CAN restore my computer to its original factory settings (at least I think I can,) but if I do that, I loose thousands of dollars worth of software that I have installed over the past couple years. This is something I CAN'T afford to do! So I continue to work on the computer, hoping I'll find something that can at least get me back into the system so I can try to repair it once and for all.

To that end, if anyone in the Athens, GA area has a Windows Vista repair/install CD, would it be possible to borrow it? If I can reinstall Windows Vista, I might be able to get back onto the computer again. It's one of the last things I can try before doing a system restore and losing everything I've installed on my computer.

Thanks in advance for any assistance, and I hope to resolve this matter ASAP and get back on course with my training. *fingers crossed*

Current Study Materials

I finished the "Studio Portraiture" module last night, and I'm currently reading my way through "Wedding Photography." This might have been nice to have a few months ago... Oh well, there's nothing quite like trial by fire! At least this way I'll have a better idea of what to expect and what to do the next time I find myself as the primary or secondary shooter in a wedding. :-)

Current Course Update

Although I have just recently submitted my pictures for the Unit 1 photo projects, I'm actually studying in Unit 4 currently. At the present time, I am reading through the "Studio Portraiture" module. This was preceded by "Basic Portrait Lighting," and is followed by sections on "Wedding Photography," "Child Photography and Pet Photography," and finally "Location Portraiture."

This was the first Unit to include a booklet of "Updates." Since the overall concepts of photography haven't changed much over the years, some of the training modules are a little dated (at least in appearance,) containing material from the 70s, 80s and 90s. While it would be nice to have up-to-date/modern training materials, I realize the cost of production would be fairly substantial, and I'm satisfied with the materials I have received thus far. Starting with Unit 4 however, there have been some updates and/or additional information presented, and a separate booklet containing those updates has been included as a supplement to the original training materials. It's the same for the Unit 5 training materials which I have already, and I would imagine the same holds true for Unit 6, the last set of training materials in the course.

One of the things I like best about the current training booklet I'm reading through ("Studio Portraiture,") is that it has sections covering basic posing problems like "What To Do With Hands," and techniques to use if your subject is wearing glasses. On the back of the booklet they have also included a handy chart of "Corrective Techniques" to deal with issues such as double chins, prominent foreheads, facial blemishes, and multiple other "problems" which can make or break the perfect portrait image you're trying to create. The chart suggests head positions, camera heights (higher/lower,) and lighting setups that will be very beneficial as I learn the art of studio portrait photography.

The booklet also covers basic lighting setups, and shows how you can easily create your own simple "portrait studio" right in your own home, using the corner of a room, and a few essentials (a backdrop, some basic lights, and a reflector of some sort.) A fair amount of information is covered, and this material is the basis for starting a career (or hobby) in Portrait Photography. It will be fun to put these concepts into practice, and work more in a studio environment, because up until now most of the work I have done has been on location using natural and/or available light, and a single on-camera flash at most.

Stay tuned for further updates as I progress through the training materials, and if you'd like to know anything about the prior Units (1-3) just let me know, and I'd be glad to tell you. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing more with you soon.

Unit 1 Photo Project Submissions

I finally submitted my first 3 pictures for review. I'm over halfway through the training material, but I still hadn't submitted a single image! So I had 8x10 sized pictures printed of the 3 images I chose to submit, and sent them off for review.

My NYIP instructor is Philip Mauro, and he will be reviewing all of the pictures that I submit for my projects. Overall he liked the 3 images I sent in, but he pointed out several things with each one that would improve the overall impact of the image. I'm not sure how I missed some of these things, since they seemed so obvious once he mentioned them, but I think I was focusing more on the creative side of things at the time, and less on the technical; something which is probably common with most photographers who have decided to turn their hobby into a business. I still have a LOT to learn, so his suggestion were, and will continue to be, very helpful in my development.

At any rate, without boring you with more inane blather, here are the 3 images I submitted for the Unit 1 photo projects.

Photo #1 - Stopped Motion
Project Criteria - Freeze motion with a fast shutter speed, imply a sense of motion with a slow shutter speed, or capture a sharp object in motion using panning. I chose to use a fast shutter speed and freeze the motion.

 

Photo #2 - Shallow depth of field.
Project Criteria - Use a large aperture to blur the background of the image, and make the subject stand out.

 

Photo #3 - Extreme depth of field
Project Criteria - Use a small aperture to imply distance and a greater depth of field within your image.

The main thing my instructor commented on was my tight use of cropping. He suggested that I crop the images a bit further out, and that I zoom out more when capturing my images digitally, in order to include more of the scene. Then I can adjust the crop when I bring the images into my editing program.

In the first picture the crop is definitely rather tight, and it was necessary to cut out some extraneous elements that I didn't want to appear in the image. But with a little more thought I could have framed the image a bit better, and achieved a more pleasing composition. He did like the overall look of the image though, and the elements that were contained within, and commented that I captured the pouring liquid at "just the right moment."

The second picture could have actually benefited from a slightly tighter crop, as the black line down the right side of the image (the dividing line between the window panes,) is rather distracting. I'm not sure how I missed this, since it seems to obvious, but then again I'm still an amateur, and I'm learning. Also, he commented on the fact that her hair was too dark, fading almost to solid black, and that I should have found a way to light her hair while I was shooting the image, or edit that area of the picture within my editing program, to lighten it up, and bring some detail back into her hair. I definitely agree, and that is just one of the many things I'll work on as I progress through the course.

In the final picture, he once again suggested that I shouldn't have cropped the image as tightly as I did. It almost seems like I'm cutting something off the top of one of the masts, and he mentioned that he might have cropped further out on the right side of the image, to show more of the dock (my leading line,) coming in from the bottom and right side of the picture. Again, an excellent point, and something to think about in the future.

Overall, he said I was "three for three" with the images, and he looks forward to my next submissions. He also mentioned that I don't have to merely submitted the minimum number of required images for each project, and suggested that I submit additional images for review, as this would give me more practice with the techniques presented in each lesson. I have taken all his comments and suggestions to heart, and I look forward to applying some of them to the next series of pictures I submit for my Unit 2 photo projects. I will post those pictures, along with any pertinent comments from my instructor that I think are insightful, as soon as I receive my next critique.

In the meantime I will post information about what I'm currently working on, and what I've learned during my progress though the New York Institute of Photography's Complete Course In Professional Photography. So stay tuned!

Charting My Course

Here I am again, with yet ANOTHER blog. In an effort to push myself, and get back in touch with my creative side, I've decided to start chronicling the progress of my photography training with the New York Institute of Photography. I will be posting discussions, insights into the course, and pictures I have submitted to be reviewed. Along the way I hope to interact with other NYIP students, or anyone else who shares my love of and interest in photography.

I want to go on record and state that I am not by any means a professional photographer. Photography is a hobby of mine, and I decided this year that I wanted to take it more seriously. I have been enrolled with the NYIP since January of this year, and I am just over half-way through the training. I'm still way behind in actually submitting the photo projects though, so I still have a lot of work to do!

If you have any questions about the New York Institute of Photography, or photography in general, feel free to ask, and I will do my best to answer them. If I don't know the answer myself, I will try to point you in the direction of a person or Web site that does.

Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to sharing my progress and photographs with all of you.