Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in photography? Well, you're in luck! On this page, you can find basic explanations for taking a good photo and part of the process that went into the Personal Project section of the website.

locations

First, I had to pick the locations for the photos. For this project, I had to pick places that were local (in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area and within driving distance) and that had some sort of meaning to me. For instance, I took pictures of Michigan Theater instead of State Theater (even though they're right next to each other) because I've never been to State Theater, but I've been to Michigan Theater numerous times (mostly for Christmas movies).

learning

Next, I had to know how to use the camera. I met with my mentor (who also happens to be my dad) to practice taking pictures on the camera and learn what makes a good photo, especially for the specific type of photography I was focusing on. Landscape photography is very different from portrait photography, which is different from action photography, which is different from architectural photography, and so on. I focused on landscape and architectural photography, which I also thought was cool because it represented me and my mentor. I love being outdoors, and my dad is an architect at the University of Michigan.

taking photos

My favorite part of the project was going out and actually taking the photos. I had to go out at some point almost every week from October 2nd to November 8th (I had planned to start earlier, but the rainy weather wasn't good for the camera or the shots I had planned) to take photos around town. Some places had a lot more photos taken than others, and some weren't the exact shots I wanted due to various limitations. For instance, I really wanted to get the famous front shot of Michigan Stadium, but I had to settle for a side view because of parking and things going on that day.

editing

For this project, the editing was very minimal. There were a lot of photos I took (like the one on the top right) that I didn't edit at all. The ones I did edit were mostly brightened in the shadows because I was unable to get good lighting without boosting the exposure so much that the sky appeared blindingly white. This happened a lot in forests on cloudy days (like the one on the bottom right) where the sun was blocked. I tried not to make any edits that were unnecessary because I wanted to capture the true images of these locations. This is the final step before the photos are published here or sent to the client.

One of the first things I learned in this project is that there are 3 key components to a good photo: ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. They work together to make the lighting and motion in a photo adapt according to the situation and end goal of the photographer.

  • ISO

    • Deals with the camera's sensitivity to light (a higher ISO increases sensitivity, so less light is needed for the exposure to be correct, and vice versa)

  • Shutter speed

    • Deals with how long the camera shutter is open when taking the picture (slower shutter speed means more light, and vice versa)

      • Can also affect blur due to motion (a slower shutter speed will allow for more motion blur as the camera shutter has more time to sense that motion)

  • Aperture

    • The opening of the camera lens

    • Deals with the amount of light passing through the lens (lower aperture means a larger opening and more light, higher aperture means a smaller opening and less light)

      • Also affects depth of field (DOF) - a lower aperture will lead to a shallow DOF, which results in the things closer to the camera being more in focus and the background being blurred (better for portrait photography), whereas a higher aperture results in the entire photo being in focus (preferable for landscape photography like this project)

Go Blue barn - low aperture (same ISO and shutter speed)

Go Blue barn - high aperture (same ISO and shutter speed)

Photos can be laid out in a variety of different ways. It all depends on your end goal and the style of photography you're doing. For instance, if you have one specific subject (like portrait photography), you'll focus on them in the picture somehow. However, if you're shooting a landscape, you'll want to center the important things in your eye because there isn't one clear-cut subject to focus on.

Hill Auditorium

Lloyd Carr Tunnel

Architectural photography (like the pictures shown above) is typically shot by getting directly in front of the building and shooting it straight-on, with no angles. This is done to focus on the architecture itself and show every detail originally intended by the person or people who designed the building.

Landscape photography is more suited to the rule of thirds, where focal points are centered around the intersections of the lines that divide a photo into thirds. In this photo, the bridge is centered on the intersection of the bottom and left third lines, while the tree is near the right third line, with its leaves near the intersection of the top and right third lines. This helps draw attention to the key aspects of this photo.