I Love Food!

Thanksgiving has officially become my favorite holiday, for multiple reasons.
A) Food
B) Family
C) Food
D) FOOD.


Here are some photos I took!!







Yeah I know, there are some random foods in there... It's thanksgiving LUNCH as well!!! :)

(P.s, I wasn't here for the movie Baraka... but I heard it was good!!!)

-Babs

One shot at One shot

For today's in class assignment, we had to take as many pictures as we could, but then only upload ONE. Meaning we couldn't choose, we couldn't change our mind, we couldn't even photoshop. We had one chance to pick the best photo. This is mine!



I thought it was pretty cool... of course, I had a hard time deciding.... but that's just me!

-Babs

The Philadelphia Story!

I was recently in a production of "The Philadelphia Story" where I starred as the lead, Tracy Lord (a.k.a Katherine Hepburn's role) Here are some photos from the show... enjoy!









-Babs

I GOT A PHOTO OF THE DAY!

I think that is quite an accomplishment! One thing off my bucketlist! :)

Here's the winning photo:




Yay me!
-Babs

NOTES!

These notes are on a movie we watched in class.

Brownie:

• first camera that was affordable enough for anyone to get.
• Was a small box (portable)
• Before that, photos took long amounts of time, and they were extremely formal

National Geographic (at the time, a failing science magazine) began the movement to reproduction of photos in magazines/newspapers.

• Made photography very popular
• Took pictures of places people wouldn’t normally see (Tibet, etc)\
• They also pioneered the color photo

Edward Curtis: Took photos of Native Americans

• Thought they were a “dying breed”
• Romanced the photos (Some were staged or costumed)

Pictorialists: Made photos look like art (paintings). They did a lot of work while developing them (like using different chemicals and such)
Straight Photography: Replaced the romantic pictorialists and their doctoring of photos with something more true and real. (Around time of Picasso) Many aspects of photography (like framing) came from this era.

WWI and its effect:

• Photos were now of people (not shapes)
• They portrayed American Soldiers as Valiant
• ALL of them were staged or taken from great distances
• NO DEAD PEOPLE IN PHOTOS!
• After the war though….
• Photos of dead soldiers appeared in magazines in such in an attempt to keep America out of the Second World War.

Tabloids!

• Took outrageous photos to try and get the most readers
• Most were staged, and some were even doctored.

-Babs

My Blog Notes!

How to shoot a formal portrait:
· Place a background for the photo close to a wall. There should be 10-20 feet of clear space around it.
· Place a light at 45° to the right of the model, reflector can be adjusted according to what light works best
· Place camera 6-10 feet away
· The background should be blurry to put focus on model
Outdoor
· Watch out for direct sunlight!
· Look for open shade, like the shadow of the building, but make it’s not too dark
· Use a reflector for any bad shadows
Candid
· Be sure to include surroundings
· Try to capture a mood with the photo
Environmental
· Use a subjects surrounding to better explain the person
· You must balance the background with the subject of else they might get drowned out, or drown out the background
Retouching
· Use the clone or heal button
· To completely get rid of something, use 100% opacity, to fade something, use less
Self-portraits
· You should show who you are through the photo

Pumpkin Festival!

This weekend, I had to take pictures of what I did, which just happen to be my first ever trip to see the Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay. I hope you enjoy!







Crowded, pumpkin-y, and loads of fun, I'm glad I finally went!

-Babs

Self-Portraits!

For this homework project, we had to take pictures of ourselves in different environments, like what we feel like when we're around our friends, at home, at school, and just ourselves. Here are my pictures:

-Babs

My Photo Essay

Here is the Power Point Presentation on my Photo Essay called "Hurry Up and Wait", which is about the "backside" of the life of an Actor and what happens when one is not on stage. It goes through the process of following the "Techies" or people who put the show together, to getting ready for the show by putting on costumes and doing hair, and also the process of going through Rehearsals. Enjoy!

Hurry Up and Wait

View more presentations from Babsie Del Castello.

And also, here is a photo that accidentally got taken off the power point:
-Babs

A Famous Photojournalist

For homework, I had to look up a famous photographer, and I choose Steve McCurry.

He is well-known for his work for the Magazine National Geographic. His most famous photograph was a picture of a young Afghan girl with vivid green eyes, which he took in the 1980's. He is also known for winning the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad. He won this award by dressing as a native, and crossing the border from Pakistan to Rebel-Controlled Afghanistan. He then snuck the film back across the border by sewing it into the clothing he was wearing. He's know for his war photography, but rather than shooting battles and destruction, he shoots pictures of real people, and the human condition.

What an interesting life, right?

-Babs

My Notes!

For today's class assignment, we learned about the different fields a photographer might go into. These are my notes for Sports Photographers:

Location:
•Get as close as you can to what you are shooting
•Be familiar with the sport→ know where to position yourself for the best action
• Position yourself where the background is most pleasing

The Decisive Moment:
• Sports and action photography is all about timing
• Each sport has predictable and unpredictable moments→ understand this timing to capture the peak moment
• By knowing the predictable moments, you can anticipate the action→ helps with focus and helps you snap the shutter at the right time

Required Equipment:
• Having the wrong equipment means not getting the shots you want/need
• Most sports photographers use 35mm cameras
• For a 35mm camera, each 100mm in lens focal length gets you about 10 yards
• Lens speed is a critical factor
• Auto focus helps
• You may need a flash with a high output
• Remote triggers allow you to mount a camera where you cannot be during a game

Depth of Field- Isolating the Subject:
• Most all dramatic sports photos are shot with the lens wide open or one stop from with open because you need all the shutter speed you can get and it has to do with isolating the subject
• If you use a long lens, the subject will stand out and the background will have a smaller impact on the subject

I'm not sure I care for Sports photography, but I do respect their work, it takes some skill to catch moments when they are as fast as a blink of an eye.
...I just don't think it's to me!

-Babs

Mercy Week!

Here are some photos I took at our spirit week!







-Babs

Photojournalism

This Picture was taken during the 1960's and the civil rights movement for Blacks. It was a very frightening time, and I think that is expressed in this photo. The fact that the fire is truly the focus, but you also see the chaos of the background really moves me.

I wish I knew more about this photo. The framing is amazing, and it really draws me in.

This photo is from the early 1900's of "Newsies" or paper boys. I love the line and value of this picture.
This is a picture of a house fire. The dominance of the couple really shows strong emotion.

This is a picture of some impoverished boys bathing in a river. I love the texture and rule of thirds.

NONE OF THESE PHOTOS ARE MINE! These are just pictures I like that are photojournalism.
-Babs

Same Place, Different Photographers.

This week, we're focusing on photojournalism. As an introduction, we were put in groups and told to take a picture of a certain place. Here are my photos:






-Babs

My Elements and Principles

These are the pictures I took last week of different principles of photography! I had a lot of fun photoshopping the few I was allowed to! These are my favorite:




-Babs

My Newest Art

Here's some pictures I had to take for a quiz, in which I had 30 minutes to get a picture of Color, Pattern, Symmetrical Balance, The Rule of Thirds, and Texture.
Here there are in the order stated above.







- Babs

My (Edited) Sunprint

I decided to go very simplistic in my design for my sunprint in photoshop. I went for gradients of two complimentry colors, then put a filter over it to make the shapes seem like they had a neon glow. Here's my final Product:


Told you it would look, different, didn't I?

By the way, here's the link to the original:
http://lifeaccordingtobabs.blogspot.com/2010/08/my-sun-print.html

-Babs

Line, Shape, and Form

Our Assignment this time was to take pictures of different shapes. I had some fun with this, but I think I was drawn more toward lines. :) Now that our class is getting artsy, I'm feeling more excitement. My goal right now is to get one of my pictures to be the picture of the day and get it posted to our class' main page.
Here are three of the photos I've chosen:




-Babs