Emily-P8

Photo Assignment: Flash, Nighttime, or Reflection

Student Name: Emily Smith

Group Name: The Snapshots

Title: The Tangled Web

Tags: spider web, spider, flash, Halloween

I had a few shots to choose from for this assignment. I finally decided on this shot since it uses a flash. I think this fits the requirements for this assignment because I used the flash on my camera to highlight the spider and its web. The web looks out of focus, even though I tried capturing this shot from a couple of different angles. I had to get pretty close to the web for it to show up in the photo.

I tried taking this photo without the flash, but you couldn't really see the web, only the spider. I really like how the flash gives the spider and web a creepy feeling, a sign of the season. I also experimented with the levels in Photoshop. I wanted to be able to see the background through the web, so I adjusted the picture. Since I only had a flash built in to my camera, I could not adjust the flash in that manner. I would like to try a flash attachment with another person's high tech camera to see how the angle of the flash makes a difference.

Self Evaluation n. || (45-50 pts.) || 80 – 89% (40 - 44 pts.) || <80% (<40 pts.) ||
 * Category || Strong || Adequate || Weak ||
 * Concept || Does an outstanding job of communicating the concept. || Does an adequate job communicating the concept. || Does a poor job communicating the concept. ||
 * Composition || Photograph uses composition principles very effectively. || Photograph does a good job using composition principles. || Photograph does a poor job using composition principles. ||
 * Focus || Focus is a perfect match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is an adequate match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is a poor match with the concept of the shot. ||
 * Technical Aspects || Shutter speed and aperture were perfectly chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were adequately chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were poorly chosen and do not match the concept. ||
 * Depth of Field || Excellent use of depth-of-field. || Adequate use of depth-of-field. || Poor use of depth-of-field. ||
 * Title/tags || Title and tags were perfectly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are excellent with no mistakes. || Title and tags were adequately chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are good with only minor errors. || Title and tags were poorly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Contains multiple spelling errors or wrong word choices. ||
 * ** Instructor evaluates this section ** ||
 * Self Critique || Excellent self-assessment. Written comments meet or exceed requirements. || Adequate self-assessment. Written comments meet requirements. || Poor self-assessment. Written comments do not meet requirements. ||
 * Peer Critique || Excellent peer assessment. Written comments meet or exceed requirements. || Adequate peer assessment. Written comments meet requirements. || Poor peer assessment. Written comments do not meet requirements. ||
 * Peer Comments || Peer comments exceed expectations. || Peer comments meet expectations. One or two comments might be missing. || Three or more peer comments were missing, incomplete or poorly writte
 * Total Points || >89%
 * Total Points || >89%

Peer Critique:

__Kevin__- Emily, this is a great concept for a shot- a concept which is very difficult. It must have been very hard to get clarity on a spider web in the dark. To get this picture to work the best, you are working at conflicting elements. You need the flash to get the web, but at the same time, the flash gives too much reflection. I wonder what would happen with a filter or reflector of sorts on top of your flash. (Paper, your hand??) There was discussion of this in the text. Such of an arrangement might give the light you need without providing so much reflection. Still, it is a cool picture.
 * Category || Strong || Adequate || Weak ||
 * Concept || Does an outstanding job of communicating the concept.  || Does an adequate job communicating the concept. || Does a poor job communicating the concept. ||
 * Composition || Photograph uses composition principles very effectively.  || Photograph does a good job using composition principles. || Photograph does a poor job using composition principles. ||
 * Focus || Focus is a perfect match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is an adequate match with the concept of the shot. || Focus is a poor match with the concept of the shot. ||
 * Technical Aspects || Shutter speed and aperture were perfectly chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were adequately chosen to match concept. || Shutter speed and aperture were poorly chosen and do not match the concept. ||
 * Depth of Field || Excellent use of depth-of-field. || Adequate use of depth-of-field. || Poor use of depth-of-field. ||
 * Title/tags || Title and tags were perfectly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are excellent with no mistakes. || Title and tags were adequately chosen and written to express the content and concept. Spelling and word choice are good with only minor errors. || Title and tags were poorly chosen and written to express the content and concept. Contains ||

Critique Comments: Mike - Emily, your photograph does an excellent job of communicating the concept of flash-nighttime photography. I hope you do not have arachnophobia or I know that this photo was extremely difficult for you to make. The only suggestion I might make is the focus. It seems that the leaves were more in focus than the spider. I don't know if your camera has manual focus or not. It is hard to manually focus sometimes, especially in the dark. Maybe you can illuminate the object to be photographed with an external light too. This is a cool photo. Who would have known that spiders are as interesting to photograph as dogs or cats?

Jacki - Emily, I really like this scary photo of the spider and web! It fits perfectly with the Halloween theme. I think you did a great job with the composition on this photo. I love the artistry of the web and the spider right in the middle of its web is awesome. The one think I noticed with my night time photo is that I captured objects in my picture that I didn't even know were there, but I brought them out when I increased the fill light when editing. This might be a way for you to capture the web without have the flash be facing directly at it. Good job!

Donna - This image makes my skin crawl, so you must have done a good job. I like the way light emphasizes the web; it illuminates every strand. I wonder if you could adjust the brightness on the spider itself so that the detail would be more visible (not that I really want to see the detail--Yikes!)