17 December 2015

BEST OF 2015

BEST OF 2015:
CNN The Year In Pictures 2015.
PDN 2015.
Nat Geo best Travel Photos 2015.
SONY World Photography Galleries (the page lists all the categories and galleries).
World Press Photo 2015.
International Photo Awards 2015.
Outside Best Adventure Photos 2015.
iPhone Awards 2015.
Wildlife Photographers of the year 2015.
POTY 2015.
AP Top Sports Photos 2015.
Reuters Sports Pictures of the Year 2015.
Reuters Photos page.
ESPN Sports Photos.
UPOTY 2015.
Time's Top 100 Photos 2015.
Instagram Photographer OTY 2015.
The Atlantic.
Boston Globe Best of 2015.
International Landscape Photos OTY 2015.
76 FAKE Viral Images of 2015.
Astronomy POTY 2015.

BEST OF 2014:
National Geographic Winners, Part 1. CLICK HERE.
National Geographic Winners, Part II. CLICK HERE.
National Geographic Winners, Part III. CLICK HERE.
World Press Photo 2014. CLICK HERE.
iPhone Photography Awards 2014. CLICK HERE.
AP (Associated Press) Images of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Wildlife Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Pictures of The Year International. CLICK HERE.
ESPN Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
European Press Agency Best Photos. CLICK HERE.
PDN's Photographers To Watch. CLICK HERE.
Global Sports Best Of. CLICK HERE.
Reuters Sports of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Best World Cup Photos. CLICK HERE.
AP Best Sports Photos. CLICK HERE.
Urban Photographers of the Year. CLICK HERE.
National Headliners Awards. CLICK HERE.
National Press Photographers Association Best Of. CLICK HERE.
Atlanta Photojournalism Awards. CLICK HERE.
Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (Boston Marathon Bombing). CLICK HERE.
Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. CLICK HERE.
Pulitzer Feature Past Winners & Runners Up. CLICK HERE.
BBC Wildlife Magazine Best Of. CLICK HERE.
Sony World Photo Contest. CLICK HERE.
Sony World Photo 2014 Winners. CLICK HERE.
Reuters Best of 2014. CLICK HERE.
CNN photos of the year. CLICK HERE.
The 41 Best Perfectly Timed Photos Of 2014. CLICK HERE.
National Geographic Traveler. CLICK HERE.
Fubiz. CLICK HERE.
OUT's Best of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Photo.net Ranked Photos. CLICK HERE.
Wildlife Photos. CLICK HERE.
Satellite Images. CLICK HERE.
Sports Photos. CLICK HERE.
iPhone Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Boston Globe News. CLICK HERE.
Telegraph Landscape of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Wired Space Photos. CLICK HERE.
Astronomy Photo of the Year. CLICK HERE.
American Photo Magazine Journalism of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Best Biology Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Wall Street Journal Best Photos. CLICK HERE.
International Landscape Photo of the Year. CLICK HERE.
One Big Photo Best of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Best Viral Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Mashable Best Drone Photos. CLICK HERE.
Best New Jersey Prom Photos. CLICK HERE.
Curious Animal Best Photos. CLICK HERE.
Smarter Travel Instragrams of the Year. CLICK HERE.
The Atlantic Best, January through April 2014. CLICK HERE.
The Atlantic Best, May through August 2014. CLICK HERE.
The Atlantic Best, September through December 2014. CLICK HERE.
Buzzfeed's Best News Photos. CLICK HERE.
AP slideshow. CLICK HERE.


BEST OF 2013:
NatGeo best travel photos. CLICK HERE.
Rolling Stone 40 best live photos 2013. CLICK HERE.
Top concert & crowd shots of 2013. CLICK HERE.
Best Concert Photos 2013. CLICK HERE.
Consequence of Sound Concert photo of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
I Shoot Shows.com. CLICK HERE.
Aesthetic Magazine Best Concert Photos 2013. CLICK HERE.
Crave Online Best music photos 2013. CLICK HERE.
SkaPunk Photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Flickr Best Concert Photos. CLICK HERE.
Best Viral Photos & Memes of 2013. CLICK HERE.
People & Nature Photos of 2013. CLICK HERE.
Top 100 Pictures of the Day 2013. CLICK HERE.
Engagement & Wedding photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
One Big Photo's photographs of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
10 News photos of the year. CLICK HERE.
Pitchfork Best of Music Photos 2013. CLICK HERE.
REUTERS Best Photos of the Year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Associated Press Best Images of 2013. CLICK HERE.
SPORTS Photos of the Year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Astronomy photos of the year. CLICK HERE.
Instagram Photographer of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Most Surprising Photos of the Year 2013. CLICK HERE.
TIME’s Best Photojournalism of 2013. CLICK HERE.
Best Music Instagrams of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Science photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Animal Photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
500px Photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
TIME’s Best Portraits of 2013. CLICK HERE.
REUTERS photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Vanity Fair Year In Photos 2013. CLICK HERE.
Daily Mail astonishing photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Buzzfeed best sports photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
The Atlantic best photos of 2013. CLICK HERE.
Yahoo photos of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Wall Street Journal Best Photos of 2013. CLICK HERE.
Wildlife photographs of the year 2013. CLICK HERE.
Time Lightbox Year In Pictures 2013. CLICK HERE.
The Year in 365 Photos. CLICK HERE.
More lists.CLICK HERE.

BEST OF 2012:
Reuters' 30 best photos of the year. CLICK HERE.
Big Picture Best of the Year, Pt. 1. CLICK HERE.
Big Picture Best of the Year, Pt. 2. CLICK HERE.
Big Picture Best of the Year, Pt. 3. CLICK HERE.
ABC Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
International Garden Photography 2012. CLICK HERE.
Astronomy Photographers of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Military Photography of the Year. CLICK HERE.
GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012. CLICK HERE.
Landscape Photography of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Sports Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Best Satellite Images 2012. CLICK HERE.
Travel Photography of the Year. CLICK HERE.
50 Best Animal Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Most Powerful Images of 2012. CLICK HERE.
Best Surfing Photo of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Urban Photography of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Wildlife Photography of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Sports Photo Highlights. CLICK HERE.
Time's Top 10 Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Time's Best Portraits of the Year. CLICK HERE.
National Geographic Photo Contest 2012. CLICK HERE.
WSJ Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
Agence France-Presse's Best Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
The Mail's Best. CLICK HERE.
Huff Po Amazing Photos From Around the World. CLICK HERE.
The Atlantic's Year In Picture. CLICK HERE.
Associated Press' Best Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
CNN's The Year In Pictures. CLICK HERE.
2012 London Olympics photos. CLICK HERE.
Toronto Sun's Sports Images of the Year. CLICK HERE.
CNN's 75 Amazing Sports Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.
ITV's Best Football Photos of the Year. CLICK HERE.


BEST OF 2011:
50 best photos from The Natural World
The Big Picture Part 1
The Big Picture Part 2
The Big Picture Part 3
The Atlantic HERE.
Reuters HERE.
Life HERE.
Getty HERE.
The Daily Beast HERE.
B.O.P. HERE.
Time Magazine HERE.
Astronomy Picture of the Year HERE.
Denver Post HERE.
SI's sports photos of the year HERE.
National Geographic 2011 Photo Contest (winners announced soon) HERE.
The year in Legos HERE.
Denver Pose HERE.
45 powerful photos from 2011 HERE.
TIME Picks the Most Surprising Photos of 2011 HERE.

16 December 2015

PROJECT #19: THE PORTRAIT

DIRECTIONS:
Make TEN (minimum) photographs of THREE different people (subjects): 
1. Only one human under 21 years old.
2. No solo babies under 6 years old. (Yes, a parent with a baby is fine, but no solo babies!)
3. Anyone over 60 years old will earn you extra credit (Why? Because we revere our elders, and they deserve our attention. They have stories to tell).
NOTE:  This is not a "glamour shot" project, so do not have your subject "smile" or "say cheese" for the photo. If your photographs are of people "smiling," the photos will not score well.

MUST INCLUDE TO REACH A SCORE OF 4/4:
(These must be included in the pictures for your score to reach a 4)
1. Use of DIRECT/CHIAROSCURO light.
2. Some sort of creatively unusual/unexpected composition.
3. Your subject in an environment/place, or with objects/materials that describes him/her. (For instance, if your Grandma works on cars, photograph that person in the shop. Or if your Grandpa needlepoints, make that equipment part of the photograph.)


OBJECTIVE:
To practice composition and to record the expression and nuance in the subject’s face. Think of it as trying to capture, in a still image,  the essence of your subject.  What is essence?  Maybe this is captured in a slight (or dramatic) facial expression, a body gesture, body language, or the setting for the photograph in relation to the person.




HOW-TO ENGAGE YOUR SUBJECT:
Schedule a couple different times to photograph your subjects, as this will possibly allow for different moods, energy levels, etc.  Engage your subject in conversation as you take the pictures.   Talk to your subject about his/her life.  Ask about a favorite vacation, best friend, most embarrassing moment, special event, proudest moment, greatest accomplishment, a moment of surprise, grief, etc.  Be respectful of your subject's sensitivity, and that perhaps he/she may not want to share certain details.  It is your responsibility to make your subject feel at ease.  Share some of your own information to start the process.


CHIAROSCURO/DIRECT LIGHT: (In a sense, we've already talked about this earlier in the semester)
chiaroscuro is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. 

Chiaroscuro explained. CLICK HERE.

Note: be careful to keep at least one eye visible in the photograph. We want to be able to connect with your subject, and that will not happen if the eyes are both hidden in shadow.






STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHS FROM PAST YEARS:



BE MINDFUL OF THE FOLLOWING:

SHUTTER SPEED.
If you are photographing indoors (or in low light), you will most likely need to place your camera on a sturdy surface or tripod.  Remember the sock filled with rice that we talked about in class?  This 'beanbag' will be an excellent device to use now if your shutter speed is going to be below 1/60.
Shutter speeds explained (click here)
More shutter speeds (click here)
Avoid 'camera shake' (click here)

LIGHTING
Make sure that the light is BEHIND YOU, NOT THE SUBJECT.  Do not make silhouettes for this project.
Lighting (click here)

OTHER SITES TO REMIND YOU:
Photography Tips (click here)
Photo.net (click here)

Here's a blog with some ideas for your portraits:
(CLICK HERE)
























IDEAS:
Lens Culture Portrait Awards. CLICK HERE.
Portraits in India (CLICK HERE).
Tom Carter (CLICK HERE).
Martin Schoeller (CLICK HERE).



09 December 2015

PLANET DIRECTIONS

THE ORIGINAL DIRECTIONS WERE TO TAKE YOUR PHOTOS IN A WIDE-OPEN SPACE (FIELD, PARKING LOT, ETC.)  THE CLOSER YOU ARE TO BUILDINGS/TREES/ETC., THE HARDER IT WILL BE FOR YOU TO PATCH/FIX THE EMPTY PARTS OF THE PLANET. DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH INDOORS UNLESS YOU WANT A MASSIVE CHALLENGE THAT YOU WON'T HAVE TIME TO PATCH/FIX.

STEP 1
Select/Highlight the appropriate images in the content window in Bridge.

STEP 2
With all appropriate images selected in Bridge, go to TOOLS + PHOTOSHOP + PHOTOMERGE.
This will begin the process of stitching together all the photos.

STEP 3
Make sure “Blend Images Together” is checked.
Make sure you can see .jpg files listed in the “Source Files” column.  Click “OK.”

STEP 4
If you have correctly overlapped the taking of the photos, Photoshop will be able to create the panorama. If you have not photographed correctly, the resulted image will be fragmented.

A.    Once the blending process is complete, you should have a left-to-right panorama like this:

B. Flatten all the layers in the Layers palette.

C.  Now, crop each side to the point where they will line-up when joined together:

STEP 5
“SQUARE” the image (IMAGE + IMAGE SIZE + make the dimensions square)

This will distort the image like this:


STEP 6
Flip the image 180° upside-down (IMAGE + IMAGE ROTATION + 180°)

      

STEP 7
Create the planet. (FILTER + DISTORT + POLAR COORDINATES)

      

STEP 8
Now that your planet is created, the patching can begin.

Use tools (CLONE STAMP, CUT/PASTE from texture images, etc.) to cover empty areas, extend sky/ground to the edges of the composition, etc.

For TRANSFORMING and “curving” elements, use the “WARP” function to bend elements together.
(EDIT + TRANSFORM + WARP)