FINAL PROJECT: STOP MOTION VIDEO

This stop motion video project was created by combining 364 photographs in Apple's iMovie software. 

"Metroscape"

a film by

Mathew Foulidis & Matteo Agostinelli

 

Stop Motion Video: In Class Assessment

The purpose of this in-class assessment was to create a short film from a series of  photographs. The short movie below entitled "The Rise of PlayDoh" was created with a total of 55 individual exposures. In Windows Movie Maker, I set the duration of each indivual slide to 0.08 (1/12th of a second). This means that every second twelve images are played. What I learned from this assignment is that, in general, the more pictures one takes the better the final movie will be (in terms of smootheness). However, in order for the final video not to be choppy, one must make gradual and slight changes from one exposure onto the next.

 

" The Rise of PlayDoh "

Panoramic Photos

The aim of this assignment was to create a panorama by taking several photographs and stitching them together through the use of Adobe's PhotoMerge technology. In short, panoramic photos enable us to go far beyond what a wide-angle lens is capable of capturing ... enabling breathtaking views with 180 degrees or more to be captured.



Panoramic photograph taken from Pierre de Coubertin Park hilltop in St. Leonard, Montreal.
Photograph was created by stitching together 5 exposures.

A black and white version of the previous picture.

Quality of Light Portrait Series: Part Two

This is the second part of the quality of light portrait series assignment. The first image was taken in a studio environment whereas the second was taken outdoors and serves as an environmental portrait showing my grandfather in his natural environment, the garden!

"The Convict"


Taken in a studio environment using 3/4 lighting style.

"The Good Old Days... "

My grandfather, Mario, posing in his garden at sunset.  

Quality of Light Portrait Series

The following are a series of portraits that were created with the use of studio lighting.

3/4 Ligting

 Split Lighting

Butterfly Lighting

Profile Portrait Shot

Manipulating an Image

The aim of this assignment was to take one of the images captured in the previous assignment and manipulate it with the use of Adobe Photoshop Elements. The first photo is simply a touched-up version of the original whereas the other four have had special effects added to them. The role of this assignment was to help us get more accustomed to Adobe PhotoShop Elements and explore how versatile the program really is. 

ORIGINAL IMAGE (EDITED)

This is an edit of the original photograph taken in the previous assignment. The color temperature
and contrast were increased slightly increased slightly. Using the "clone stamp tool"
 located in the utilities panel, skin blemished were removed. 

PICTURES CREATED WITH PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS' EFFECTS

This cartoon-like version was created by using the "CUTOUT" effect.
The contrast and brightness were also increased to compensate for the
cutout effect's darkening of the image.

This photo was creating by adding the "STAMP" effect to the original picture.

This photo was creating by adding the effect called "WATERCOLOR" to the original
 image and hitting "Apply" several times to increase the effect.

This photo was created simply by adding the "PHOTOCOPY" effect to the original image.

How a Camera Sees: In-Class Assessment

Part One: Focal Length

The following pictures were taken with a similar composition at different focal lengths i.e. one was taken at a wide-angle setting and the other at a telephoto setting. What can be seen in both images is a difference in the depth of field. Despite the fact that both images were taken with an aperture setting of f/2.8, the background is more out of focus in the second ... The transition between the subject (Matteo) and the background is more prounounced in the second photograph. This proves that a longer focal length will result in a shallower depth of field and thus one should use a telephoto lens when photographing portraits.

Wide Angle Shot

Taken with a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm lens @ 24mm setting.

Telephoto Shot

Taken with a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm lens @ 70mm setting.

Part Two: White Balance

The second part of this in-class assignment was to play around with our camera's white balance settings. Although the following pictures were taken in the same location with similar camera settings (apart from white balance), their is a clear difference between the two. The first picture was taken with a white balance set to shade while the second was taken with the white balance set to tungsten. One can see that the first image seems more neutral. On the other hand, the second image appears to have a blue color cast throughout. It seems that while balance affects the temperature of a photograph. The first image looks warmer than the second. In this way, one may say that white balance plays with the temperature of a photo by adding a specific color cast. This can be manipulated by photographers in order to make a photo either look neutral, warm or cold.



Taken with a Sony Alpha a900 with White Balance set to SHADE.



Taken with a Sony Alpha a900 with White Balance set to TUNGSTEN.

Part Three: The Camera's Light Meter

The last part of this in-class assesment was designed to make us better understand how a camera's light meter works. In the first image, a wide-angle setting was used to capture a larger portion of the window. On the other hand, the second image shows a narrower scene with Matteo occupying most of the frame.

In the first image the camera seems to have metered a correct exposure based on the light information it gathered from the window. Since the window is a strong light source it took a photo with a shutter speed that would have provided a proper exposure for that scene. However that shutter speed was to fast for the rest of the image resulting in a lack of light ... this is why Matteo and the curtains are under-exposed.

Image is under-exposed with the exception of the scene in the window.

In the second image, the camera seems to have metered a correct exposure based on the light information it gathered off the subject, in this case Matteo. Since Matteo required a longer exposure than the window in the background which had plenty of light ... the window is over-exposed in the final exposure.



In this image, Matteo is exposed well. However, the background is over-exposed.

It seems that despite the progress made in photgraphy over all these years, light meters found in cameras struggle to provide an-overall well-exposed image when there is a bounty of light sources in a single exposure ...  such as a person with a window behind them.

Depth of Field

Depth of field is a photographic term that refers to how in or out of focus the subject is in a picture with regard to its background. Depth of field is controlled by three things: the aperture of the lens, the focal length of the lens used and the distance to the subject being photographed. DSLR cameras have the ability to play around with depth of field. This in-class activity was aimed at getting us to better understand how depth of field is affected by the above mentioned factors (aperture, focal length and distance to subject).

Shallow Depth of Field

As one can see the background of this photo was blown out of focus putting an emphasis on the subject, in this case, Matteo. This was done by controlling certain aspects of the photograph. Firstly, a long focal length of 70mm was used to provide shallower depth of field. Secondly, a large aperture of f/2.8 was used to provide a shallow depth of field in the photograph.

Camera Model: Sony Alpha DSLR a900
Lens: Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 100

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Large (Deep) Depth of Field

Contrary to the last photo, a smaller aperture was used in this photo to provide a larger depth of field. This is why both Matteo and the background are in focus. Although the focal length was kept the same as in  the last at the 70mm setting, the aperture in this picture was changed to f/14.

Camera Model: Sony Alpha DSLR a900

Lens: Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm

Aperture: f/14

Shutter Speed: 1/60

ISO: 100

On a personal note, it is clear that the first photo is more appealing than the second. This is due to the fact that the subject in the second photo seems lost in a "busy" background. The trees in the first photo are blown out of focus and thus prove to be less distracting.

Assignment 5: Motion

Part One: Experimenting with Motion

This third in-class assignment was aimed at getting students more acquainted with how to capture motion. Digital SLR cameras like the Alpha a900 that I have come equipped with  Shutter Speed Priority and Manual Modes which allow users to play around with exposure time to either freeze motion or slow it down. 

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The following is a collage I put together in Picasa with the ten pictures I took in which a fast shutter speed was used to freeze motion and ultimately freeze the subjects and the actions they were doing at that precise moment.

"FREEZING THE MOMENT" ALBUM

To view the individual pictures on Picasa web albums click here.

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These images, on the other hand, were taken with a long shutter speed allowing the motion in each picture to be slowed down hence why some of the pictures have some blur in them.

"SLOWING THINGS DOWN A LITTLE" ALBUM

To view the individual pictures on Picasa web albums click here.



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PART TWO: SHUTTER SPEED EXPERIMENT


Frozen Action Shot of Coin Hitting Water


I really like this shot because it really was captured at the right moment when the coin had just hit the water's surface thanks to the fast shutter speed that was used.

The following picture was taken with the following settings:

Camera Model: Sony Alpha DSLR A900

Lens: Sony 50mm Macro

Aperture: f/3.2

Shutter Speed: 1/160 

ISO: 1600

Blurred shot of penny hitting the water

As opposed to the previous image, it is clear that the splash in the this one is blurred which is easy to understand since there was a rather long shutter speed used. 

The following picture was taken with the following settings:

Camera Model: Sony Alpha DSLR A900

Lens: Sony 50mm Macro 

Aperture: f/3.5

Shutter Speed: 1/20

ISO: 200

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Assignment 2: Self-Portrait & Camera Procedures

This second photography assignment was intended to make us tap into our creative abilities by charging us with the task of taking self-portraits of ourselves with a digital camera. 

This is my favorite amongst the group of self-portraits I took as I believe it is is the most representative of me: a true food lover who adores not only eating but the art of cooking as well. I took this picture using my DSLR with a ten second timer giving me just enough time to position myself for the shot. Although most of the portraits were taken with the use of a tripod, this photograph was taken with the camera at rest on the table. 

The following are the list of steps I took in order to get my photos from my camera onto a Picasa web album:

1. I began by taking my self-portraits with my Sony Alpha DSLR.


2. Next, I connected my camera to my Mac computer via a USB cable.


3. As always, when I turned my camera on,my Mac detected that a camera was connected and it launched the iPhoto application that then prompted me with a message asking me which I photos I wished to import.


4. I selected the batch of 100 photos or so that I had taken earlier that day and hit the "import" button.


5. Once the pictures were imported, I sorted through them and chose my favorites. After doing so, I exported my top picks onto a USB stick into a designated folder entitled "Self-portraits".


6. The next step required getting my photos onto Picasa so that I could upload them onto Picasa web albums. 


7. I launched the Picasa application from my desktop and it immediately recognized the pictures that were on my USB stick and imported them into the program.


8. I retouched my images slightly in Picasa until they were to my liking. I then proceeded to create a new album entitled "Self-Portraits" by hitting the small button that looks like a book with an addition sign (located near the top menu). After creating my album I dragged and dropped my ten photos into it.


9. Next I right-clicked on the album I had just created and chose "Upload to Picasa Web Albums" at which point I was prompted with a message to provide my Google account ID. I did so and then simply hit the "Upload" button. The process was rather quick: taking no longer than a minute to complete the upload.


10. Finally I logged onto Picasa on the Internet and just as expected my newly created album had been posted to my account. 


All of my self-portraits can be viewed simply by clicking here. 

Assignment 1: Light Sensitive Material

This class assignment was intended to introduce us to light sensitive materials: the very materials which led to the invention of photography and to make us develop a sense of obtaining a correct exposure. The goal of this experiment was to create our own photograms using a simple light source, carefully chosen objects and a light-sensitive material: in this case photographic paper measuring half of a 8.5” X 11” paper.  My decision was to create a smiley face using simple objects such as sea shells, keys and sunglasses.

My first attempt at completing a photogram ended in failure. Using my iPhone 4’s screen as a light source I exposed my image for a total of six seconds at maximum brightness. What resulted was an image that was over exposed; the image was almost entirely black. The problem of over-exposure seemed recurrent in my group especially amongst members who were using an iPhone as a light source ... It seems the iPhone's screen is too strong as a light source and thus one must use a shorter exposure.

Following the instructor’s advice, on my second attempt, I covered half the screen of my iPhone (in essence to halve the amount of light). Fearing an over-exposed image, I exposed my light sensitive paper for only three seconds, thinking that this would result in a correct exposure. However, my calculations were wrong. The photo that resulted was faded and dull-gray color indicating that it was under-exposed.

2ND ATTEMPT (UNSUCCESSFUL)

On my third attempt, I decided to expose my image for a total of six seconds with my iPhone’s screen always covered half-way with a piece of paper towel. I kept my phone at the the same distance as the first two attempts. The image that resulted on the photographic paper was correctly exposed i.e. the smiling face was much easier to see and distinguish against the black background. They say that the “third time’s the charm”… and in this instance the saying held true.

THIRD ATEMPT (THE KEEPER)