Untitled is The Best Titile for This Blog

So this is the last blog for my English class...
 
I took a look at entire my blog before working on this post. That surprised me a lot. I felt good. I felt weird or maybe sad. I really learned a lot of from my English class. I remember back when I was blogging the first blog, I was so afraid of this class. Now I am confident  to say that blogging is an amazing thing I have done this semester. Especially blogging about photography also gives me a chance to learn more knowledge about my hobby. But most importantly,my writing skill has been improved a lot from blogging every week.

Blogging also requires me to do a lot of research. I am glad that I have done so. Researching is very helpful for me not only in this class but also in my life. Now when I need to find anything, I can find it very fast with a scientific method, one thing I learned from this class.

Blogging every week help me improving my English writing skill. I don't have a hard time to write in English like before. I also improve my vocabulary, spelling as well as reading skill. I used to have a lot of grammar errors but now I can write clear and correct English.

Photography is my hobby but I never have a chance to learn it with a serious way. This class also brings me a chance to do so. I really learned a lot of knowledge of photography during researching and blogging about photography. I got into the photography community on Blogspot. There I can get to know tons of things as well as sharing my experience to the community.

I have had a good time this semester. I will remember my blog, my teacher, my classmates. I can't tell anything now, but maybe in the next post. I am thinking about that what I will do with this blog after this semester. I think I should keep blogging frequently but I am not sure about that. Finally I feel sad now. It's sad because it's the last one.

The photography gallery - Photobucket

Today, I will blog about a photo sharing social network. We are living in the environment where the Internet and its services are immediate and on the top of its developing. The Internet also has effects on photography in many ways. As along time ago, photographers didn't have a chance to show their art works to people with a large range. But now, it's much easier to share photographs from
There are so many websites that allow people sharing photographs. I am going to talk about one of the most popular website that is Photobucket. 

Photobucket is knows as an image hosting website which is very useful for photographers and people who like sharing photographs. Photographers can upload photos in order to share with other people.  Photobucket is organized very well with many categories depending on different topics. It helps photographers have a chance to connect to others who are interested in the same photography styles. Photographers also can write captions for photos so they can write down their emotions and feelings about the photos. 


During the evolution of smart phones, Photobucket is also available for cell phone photographers. They created an application and install it to the cell phones. It's totally free and very easy to use. Photographers don't have to worry about wherever they go, they can backup life's moments anytime.

Some of photographers transform the act of photo sharing into the art of storytelling. With the photos they upload to Photobucket, they include their stories to these photos. When viewers look at the photos and read the stories, they can imagine what the photographers wanted to share. Photobucket also allows photographers to edit their works with an online photo editor. With many pre-made effects and filters that allows photographers edit their photos in professional way but very simple.

My Favorite Photographer

In this blog, I am going to blog about my favorite photographer.  As I mentioned a little bit about him in the previous blog, he was the person that my friend and I met when we came to the mountain to take photos.
 

Almost of people in my hometown know him because of his fame. His nickname is MPK which stands for Michel Phuoc Khung in Vietnamese language and it means crazy Michel Phuoc. People call him crazy because of the way he is. He has a long hair and dresses in street style. He doesn’t have a house, because he never stays in one place. Sometimes he stays on his friends’ house, sometimes in a hotel. He spends almost of his times to walk around and find subjects to take photos of them. People know him because of his craziness. He just does whatever he wants and doesn’t care what other thinks about that. Sometimes, he stays all night long in the mountains to wait the movement of the sun rising in the morning. Sometimes, he sleeps in the forest and waits for the appearance of small bugs coming out their cave to eat or drink fog water.
 

Even though he has an old camera, and the lens he made by himself, but he took a lot of wonderful photos. The best thing at him that I admire a lot is that he makes the lens by himself. He collects pieces of glasses and put them into a tube and uses it like a lens. Every two or three years, he uses all the money that he saves to open the gallery to show his photos. His photos contain a lot of emotions that impress the viewers. The topics of his photos are close to the normal life. When I look at his photos, I have a special feeling and I don’t know how to explain that. Now, I’d like to share some photos in his latest album. The subjects in the album were the resin from the pine trees. The name of the topic is bleeding. He gave the title of the topic like that because people keep cutting down the trees to get more spaces to build houses, and bleeding means that people hurt the trees, and the forest.
 

MPK and a photo in the "Bleeding" Gallerry

                                          

 Photos Credits: MPK

The Sources

In this blog, I'd like to talk about some sources that I will use for the final papers. As we know, the photography field is very large and wide. It also covers other fields depending on the purpose of every people. When I got started writing this blog, I usually went to other blogger's blog and update a lot of photography information. The sources have different topics but they are all related to photography. Each source has different specialties and each of them attract me a lot. Each sources give me different feelings and lessons. Some of them share their experiences on photography field such as the technique. And also from each of them, I learn tons of things related to photography.

The first source is Ken Rockwell Photography. It is not on blogspot.com but it is still a good source. He blogs directly on his website. He calls his website is a work of fiction, entirely the product of his own imagination. When he got started the website, he copied his personal notes about which cameras, lenses,  and settings worked best under various conditions onto his website. One thing that I like in his website is the cameras review articles. He has been using so many types of cameras and he shares his experiences from each kind of camera. He is a big returner, whenever he buys a new camera, he write it up. This is also my favorite website, it contains a lot of beautiful photos with the tutorials how to take them.

Next, I come with a blog named Story of My Life is running by Ms. Jenni, a writer from Austin, Texas. She writes about her life and the title sums up what this blog is about. She is currently studying photography and it is also her passion. In every story in her blog, she includes a lot of photos and they are very beautiful, lovely, and attractive. I am sure that when you click on the link above, you will get into a new world which attracts all of your attention. I like her photos and the stories she tells.

500 Photographers blog is running by Pieter Wisse. I really like this blog for many reasons. 500 photographers are listed in numerical order. He sets up the links to 500 photographers coming from everywhere in the world. He said the target of his website is embedded in its name; to post active image-makers until he reach 500 photographers, he is at 455 so far. Once his website reaches photographer #500, it will be finished and done.  I also like his blog because I have a chance to know a lot of famous photographers from his blog. This source will help me to link to other photographers

Another the source that I choose is Dcemmy blog on Webstagram community. The blog is running by Emily Reid. I mentioned about this blog in previous blog, The Cellphone Photography.  She uses her cellphone to take photos of the buildings around where she works. It sounds simple but not every one can do it.  Her blog becomes famous with a lot of followers. I believe that her photos are very outstanding and art. I used to think photos of the high building are very normal, they are nothing interesting. But I changed my mind when I got into her blog.

There are 6 sources I come up with until this time, including 2 old sources from the previous blog. I am trying to get more sources for the final paper. I also keep going to these sources more often to get the updates.

The Photography Without Photoshop

Photoshop is a very large graphic design software program. It has a lot of functions but in photography field, it mainly allows photographers to edit their recent photos. However, there is also an issue between two sides. People in the first side are using the Photoshop program as it is a blessing to them. They agree that Photoshop can perform powerful functions that give wonderful results. People on other side are not using Photoshop. And they also believe that they can make fantastic photos without Photoshop. In this blog, I am going to talk about opinions of photographers who don’t want to use Photoshop.

 

As I research, some people never use Photoshop because they don’t want a third party has any effects on their photos. In order words, they want to keep their photos pure and original. According to Matt Suess in his article “Real photographers Don’t Use Photoshop Plugins, Right?” on his website, he said:

If you are guilty of using such Photoshop plugins, be warned that the end result is not your style – it is the style of the software programmers. You have no style, no creativity, no voice and no vision in this Real Photographers Club if you are using Photoshop plugins.

Other people don’t use Photoshop because of the photography type they are working on. Galen Leeds is a photographer who used to use Photoshop but he stops using it anymore. He really doesn’t feel much of a need for it. When he used Photoshop, he just used it for making signs and business cards. In his article, he pointed out that Photoshop is not part of his photographic view, he said:

I consider myself a documentary photographer. That is, I am documenting the world around me. Be it an animal, a landscape, an event, or a person- I will try to give my most honest interpretation of what I see through the lens, nothing added, nothing taken away. I might pull a few blades of grass that will interfere with my image, but I do that before the shutter clicks.

Moreover, there is a group of photographers who say “The Death of Photoshop”. They have three rules for any photographers who want to join their group:

1- No edited photographs
2- No edited photographs
3- No edited photographs

They are just looking for the most creative, weird, scary, mesmerizing, eye blinding, and inspirational pieces of photography that are done in-camera without any after effects or editing software. They want to see what can be done without Photoshop. 

 

We can’t conclude that there is right or wrong when using Photoshop. Using or not using Photoshop depends on individual’s thoughts. However, either one of two sides have a large amount of art works created every day. 

Work Cited:

Suess, Matt. "Real photographers Don’t Use Photoshop Plugins, Right?” www.mattsuess.com. Suess Fine Art Photography, 27 Apr 2011. Web. 24 Oct 2012.

 

Leeds, Galen. "Why I don’t use Photoshop?”. www.galenleeds.com. Galen Leeds Photography, 23 Apr 2011. Web. 24 Oct 2012.

 

Wood, Thomas. "We Say, Death of Photoshop”. www.deathofphotoshop.com. Death of Photoshop, 2012. Web. 24 Oct 2012.

The Film Photography

As I research, since the photography goes digital, more and more people are going to use digital cameras because of the easiness and convenience. However, the film photography still has a place in the arts and many hearts because of many reasons. Have you ever though about why people keep using film photography while the digital cameras are very popular with the economic prices? In this blog, I am trying to answer the question "Why film cameras or the film photography in general still exist up to now?"

Everything happens for a reason and the existence of film photography does too. The first reason I'd like to say is film photography has the history of over hundreds years. So, the photo quality has been tested and developed a lot of times. I found an article "What are Some Benefits of Using Film Cameras" on the site WiseGEEK.com, a professor said

The main benefit of choosing film cameras is photo quality. While digital photography has come a long way in the past decade, it's still far behind film when it comes to definition. If you intend on printing wall-sized prints or playing around with larger sizes, film prints offer the best quality. In the last few years, new digital cameras with high-definition clarity have come into the market, but hey are still no match for much simpler film cameras.

When I get into this topic, I do research a lot because I don't have much experience in film photography. The second important reason is that using film cameras makes a better photographer because they can't delete any photos. I think about when using digital cameras, we can take several photos and then pick the best one to keep. But with film cameras, we can't delete, we keep all photos. From the failed photos, photographers gain experience to avoid the mistakes for the next time.
 
With film cameras, photographers have to use the viewfinder on the camera. I used to take photos from a film camera a couple times before and I'd say it's not easy to frame a photo from the viewfinder. Almost digital cameras have a LCD screen the back, photographers may depend too much on it. In the other words, with film cameras, photographers can develop framing skills better than digital cameras. In addition, the framing skills may determine a level of a photographer (Charlie Sorrel)

I see that almost of art photographers are using film cameras. I think it's because using a film cameras requires more skills than a digital one. That means taking a photo by a film camera is much harder. However, in my opinion, it's hard to conclude which one is better. On my favorite photographer's site, Ken Rockwell Photograph, in the "Film vs. Digital" article, he said

Neither is better on an absolute basis. The choice depends on your application.Once you know your application the debate goes away. The debate only exists when people presume erroneously that someone else's needs mirror their own.

From this short blog spot, I think it's clear enough to understand why the film photography still exist up to now. It remains for many reasons.

Work Cited:
"Why film cameras or the film photography in general still exist up to now?" www.wisegeek.com. WiseGEEK, nd Web. 17 Oct 2012.
 
Sorrel, Charlie. "Five Reason Film Cameras Are Still Better Than Digital Camera?" www.wired.com. WIRED, 30 Nov 2007. Web. 17 Oct 2012.

Rockwell, Ken. "Film vs. Digital" www.kenrockwell.com. Ken Rockwell Photography. 2006. Web. 17 Oct 2012.

The Black and White Photography

__THE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY__

Sometimes, we have seen a photo that had no colors on it? So, what kind of photography is it? And why did photographers take the picture like that? (Photo credit: Digitalphotographyschool)

Along time ago in the history of photography, black and white photography was the most choice of photographers because it was less expensive than the color photography. A couple years later, the color photography became more popular with the quality improved and the price also reduced. The effect of color photography was that an amount of photographers who chose the black and white photography decreased. However, the black and white photography still survives in this decade.The reason of the black and white photography's survival was stated in an article on the site www.photography.com, the author said

The vibrancy of color can, at times, actually detract from the desired photographic effect. Subtle effects of texture and lighting that can be lost in color photographs will stand out in black and white photography... Black and white photos can add an air of romance, class, timelessness and mystery to otherwise ordinary photographs. A run-of-the-mill color photo may look entirely different when seen in black and white

For the reason, photographers take an advantage to give a photo a timeless. Everything such as architectures, cars, telephones, clothes, and especially colors in a photo may date the photo. In some specific photography, I choose wedding photography is an example. Wedding photos often work well with black and white photography, as wedding dresses and tuxedos don’t suggest a specific time period when color isn’t a factor (Photography Office )

Due to the absence of colors, the black and white photography mainly aims to the play of light and shadow instead of colors. According to Vitaly Friedman in his article on the Smashing Magazine, he said

This is both a strength and weakness for black and white photos. In the right lighting conditions, black and white photographs are beautiful. However, when taken in the wrong light, black and white images may look washed out or too dark...Because shadow and light play such a key role in the effect of black and white photography, two pictures of the same subject can create very different looks at different times of the day

When we look at a black and white photograph, we usually think about how classic and elegant it looks. The reason is that a lot of photographers use black and white photography for their artistic purpose. The absence of colors expresses the mystery of a photo and brings special emotions, especially sadness and loneliness to viewers. I will post a couple white and black photos taken by professional photographers. 

Photo Credit: Adrian Sommeling

Photo Credit: Dan Barham

Photo Credit: Mario Mencacci

Work Cited:

"Black and White Photography " www.photography.com. Your Online Source for Photography, np. Web. 08 Oct 2012

 

"The Art of Black and White Photography" www. photographyoffice.com. Photography Office, 18 June 2011. Web. 08 Oct 2012

 

Friedman, Vitaly. "Beautiful Black and White Photography" www. smashingmagazine.com. Smashing Magazine, 9 June 2008 Web. 08 Oct 2012