ATPI contest photographs

Hello guys! There's a photography contest that my teacher introduce to the class and I wanted to participate for the experience. I learned that it requires a lot of time and effort to decide on a picture to submit and make that specific picture the best it can  be. I do not know how long I spent on my pictures, but overall I enjoyed it and I hope you guys enjoyed it too. If you guys are interested in this contest, the url is http://www.atpi.org/

Architecture-Cityscape    (in Salt Lake City, Utah)

 Landscape    (Whistler, Canada)

 Animals     (California)

Landscape     (British Columbia, Canada) 

Formal (Studio) Portrait     (California) 

Nature       (California)

Which one you like the best?

From the Nature Walk with My Mother

From my previously mentioned post, this one has majority of the pictures I took.
 Enjoy!

Where's the end?

Follow wherever the railway may lead you.

Tribute to Nature's little creatures and my cat Willow

Hello guys!
          I know I have not posted a blog about flowers yet but that will come soon. Right now, I want to dedicate this post for my beloved cat who passed away on October 24, 2014 sometime around 4-5pm. Willow was unfortunately hit by a car, so my dad buried him in our backyard. Willow is an absolutely beautiful cat and I enjoyed watching him jumping on my dad's car and running around on the driveway at night. I do hope my other two cats, Chary(or Charry) and Avery, will stay safe and away from moving motor vehicles. Sigh, life is too short.

          To cheer me up, my mother took me out on a walk after it rained (Praise the Lord for the morning rain!) and I was stunned by the beauty of life. Even though Willow has passed away, there is still life in this world to always bring comfort to us. And I hope these pictures I show to you will help you see the wonder and awe of God's breathtaking nature. I highly encourage you to just go outside and enjoy the nature around us because hey, who knows when it may be gone one day. Just embrace it and cherish it. You'll won't regret it.
-DC

Willow!

Chary(Charry)

And from my walk with my mother.... 

( there'll be another post concerning scenic pictures)

 The Great Egret or Ardea alba

  The Mallard or Anas platyrhynchos

Second Portrait

Hello guys! During our school's energetic week called HOMECOMING, my friends all dressed up to show their class spirit. In this picture, we have Sam and Michael acting as super spies for the camera. I cropped the image so that it will be level to the them. I also adjusted the exposure level, highlights, shadow, contrast and white/black levels of the image in Camera Raw. i hope you guys enjoy the image and Homecoming week! Go Juniors! ( and freshmen, sophomores, and seniors!)

F-stop: f/4.4

Exposure 1/250 sec

ISO-140

Composition Review - 3 Rules

Today is a special day. Not only is it my birthday, but also we did an in-class activity of taking Mr. Farley's picture and adjusting it for our three rules of composition. As a recap, my three rules are...
1. a background that doesn't blend in with the subject
2. depth of field
3. rule of thirds

This is the original image my teacher took:

And this is mine.

I just cropped the image, changed the white, shadows, clarity, vibrancy and highlights level on Camera Raw. Enjoy autumn!

Here are the URLs where from I got my rules of composition from:
depth of field

rule of thirds

a background that doesn't blend in with the subject

Portrait

Hello Guys! My class's assignment is to take portrait of our fellow group members. This picture is of Amandi K. when she's hanging off the railing of our two-story building's ramp. Don't worry she was a few inches above the floor, so she's not in danger. What I adjust to this picture is cropping it so that the lines are parallel to each other. I also changed the vibrancy level and highlights of the picture. There wasn't much to adjust because I felt that the picture itself was well-taken.

Enjoy the cliffhanger shot!

Shallow Depth and Field

Hi guys, as you know is this my photography blog and I was assigned to take a picture full of depth. This particular picture shows Samuel's hands and his camera as he was taking pictures. Meanwhile, some students played soccer in the field slightly blurred background. This picture shows depth by clearly focusing on the hands using the camera and phone: the tools that help capture moments cherish later on. This is the power of photography, so use it well.

Some technical info: F-stop: f/4.3

                                   ISO:125   

                                  Exposure: 1/640sec

Self Portrait Project

Hello guys! Since it's my project to take a self-portrait of myself, enjoy this one of me pondering as some students played soccer in the background. I took this shot using a handrail and my camera with a timer setting. I chose this position because I want to depict my behavior of daydreaming. What do you think is on my mind?

Some technical info: F-stop: f/3.9

                                   ISO:125   

                                  Exposure: 1/1250sec