When Robots Attack! (or get photographed)

After doing that editing assignment with my first two robot shots, I figured I could follow up with a little series of shots of the everyday life of a robot.

Editing #1

This is my first shot at editing using Adobe Camera Raw. I started with two different pictures of my favorite little robot friend, because I honestly couldn't decide which one I liked more. One tells a more interesting story, and one is more visually interesting.

For the first photo, I feel like I have a good story in the image, but I think it started out a little boring. When I edited it, I increased the contrast and saturation, and also brought out the darker shades, so that the image really popped.  The only thing I have a problem with is that I think I over-sharpened the image. It didn't look that dramatic when i was previewing it, but looking at this thumbnail, I think you can see how it made the image a little too gritty. I took this into consideration while editing the second image.

Before Editing

After Editing

For my second image, I felt like I had good lighting on the subject, and I just wanted to even things out. I increased the saturation and contrast again, and I also lightened the exposure. I then cropped a shadow out of the upper right hand corner of the image. I think the editing turned out better on this image, and I like how much color there is in it.

Before Editing

After Editing

After doing this little project of shooting the same subject 20 different ways, I think I will work on editing my best shots from that series and post them here later. I think this could be a fun story line to work on! 

Hasta luego, comrades, and thanks for stopping by.

Auto-biblio-bio-graphic-graphy

Yo yo yo home skillets! My name is Catie, and I'm an Art/Anthropology/Spanish student at Pacific University. Art-wise, my main interest is people and portraiture, hence my interest in anthropology. I love taking photos, drawing, printmaking, jewelry-making, etc.- anything creative. I also play the cello, and enjoy bike riding, frisbee, star gazing, and traveling.

I feel like photography is often the most powerful medium, because there's always a greater element of believability to a photograph than there might be in a drawing that's been idealized and/or romanticized. I think that "JR," a French artist who's currently working on a global art project with a TED grant, has definitely figured out how to use the honest power of photography to change the world. He would definitely be my photographic hero, because his images are not only crisp, dramatic and interesting- they're also inspirational to people. He started his current project by pasting larger-than-life posters of peoples' faces all over the world in an attempt to make people think, and to bring awareness to social issues. His "Inside Out" Project (http://www.insideoutproject.net/) is all about encouraging people around the world to do what he's done. On his website, people can upload their own photographic portraits, and he sends each a large poster with that image so that they can then put that poster up in a public place for all to see. In fact, I've already sent in my own photo to him, and I now have a poster roughly 3 by 4 feet tall (see image), that I am looking to post sometime in the near future. JR is my hero because his art is both beautiful and inspirational- it actually encourages people to get involved and feel like they can make a difference. I want to be able to make art that makes people think, and I think JR's project will be a good guiding example for me.