Topic:
What is the point of college ?

Directing and conceptualizing in this shoot was a strength, but adjusting the camera to the lighting was definitely a weakness. It was because of that reason that the professor showed me how to use specific functions in Lightroom. Which I love and kind prefer over Photoshop now.

Topic:
8 ways lower Manhattan has changed since 9/11

This was our first and only shoot outside, which was interesting. Looking for different ways to use light to my advantage, while trying to find metaphors around that part of the city, just by observing was fun. Expressing my ideas through the photos I captured turned out to be a little difficult. I quickly remembered that not everyone will always see what you see. So, I need to make sure the message is always readable.

Topic:
Health Care

This shoot was the first time we all used the studio while working with lighting and the background to deliver a message. Understanding that a light background is normally attached to positive feelings and a dark background is gives more of a negative vibe felt natural. Organizing my layout for this shoot was a little difficult, I didn’t think outside the box enough.

Topic:
Two takes on headphones

Product vs social issues, in this shoot I really liked shooting a product, but I didn’t do the best when it came to adjusting the lighting to better show the product. When it came to promoting, turning down the volume while using headphones, my goal was to have the models express pain, something I believe I did well.

Topic:
Social media addiction or empowering

I did better in the addiction version than in the empowering one. I felt that the empowering came of as boring with very lttle too look at. If I could go back I would play with colors during the shoot. The addiction shoot was more successful and working with it in Lightroom was fun. I had something good to work with.

Topic:
Food engineering, Potato’s

Potato, potato, potato’s at first the task seemed a little difficult, but I realized potato photograph really well. I got really comfortable with this shoot and also enjoyed editing.

Topic:
Metaphor;  “She being Brand” & “coming home Detroit”

When it came to editing I didn’t do the best, the way I placed the type and the type I picked didn’t fit well with the photos. When it comes to shooting the cars while delivering the message I think I did a decent job, but looking back now I could have picked a better photo to work with, I definitely had a lot more photos to pick from.

Topic:
Optimism/Pessimism

Glass half empty, glass half full. Shooting glass isn’t easy, after adjusting the camera and lighting I started to get the hang of it. Adding in the fake ice cubes helped a lot. Without ice cubes the photo felt a little boring. It gives people more to look at, along with with the gels I used in some of the photos.

Topic:
Prescription drugs

I really got into this one, probably because I like anti drug campaigns. Working with all the different colors helped me come up with new ideas as I was shooting. I will say that I had a bit of trouble with lighting, one of the light bulbs was acting up. So I decided to use that time to express the dark side of the messed up prescription drug world. I really enjoyed working with these photos ad tried getting creative with them.

Topic:
Hunger in America

A lot of trial and error when it comes to shooting silverware, but once you get the shot it’ll look  beautiful. Reflection on glass became very useful in this shoot, it was perfect for the topic. When I added small details like bits of bread the ideas translates even better.

Topic:
Final Project   (La Yogurt product Shoot)

This was the easiest because by this time we had been shooting ones a week for a while and I had a really good idea of what I wanted to do. The first week working on this shoot went well but I later on realized that my camera lens was a little dirty. Getting the yogurt to show up well on camera took me some time, but after adjusting the F-stop a few times I had a setting I could work with. The second week I shot with models, the best part was adding color to the background with gels. The color matched the products container. I feel that the second shoot was the most successful, but I got the best Ad from the first shoot.

 

– Valery Mejia