Welcome to Caden Yang Portfolio
Photographer's Bio
Who are you and why did you take this course?
I am Caden Yang, I am a student at Riverside and I took the photography course. I took this course because I wanted to learn how to use cameras and take nicer photos. I also took this course because I thought it would be fun and it interested me more than other courses did.
What did you learn in the course?
In this course I learned how to use a camera, and how to take photos with it, I also learned about different settings in a camera. In this course I also learned how to edit my photos in Photoshop, which I didn't know how to before.
How do you feel about photography? About your photography?
I think that photography is a very fun thing to do and I enjoy taking photos with a camera, and about my photography I think that it is not bad but not that good either.
What were some major challenges you overcame during this class?
Some major challenges that I overcame during this class was, at first I didn't know or understand how to use a camera properly, but overtime I learned how to do it better. Another challenge is that I had troubles editing my photos the way I wanted to in Photoshop, but eventually I learned how to like I did with taking photos.
How will you use photography in the future?
In the future I could use photography when I want to take photos of things in higher quality, because now that I know how to use a camera with more understanding I can take photos of things that I wanted to before but in a much better quality, than I did if I just took photos with my phone.
Scrapbook Photo Collage
My best photos of each major project
Project 1
In this project I took photos of things that represented the season changing.
Photo 1: Leaf with Water
This was one of my best photos from that project, it's a photo of water droplets on a leaf. I took the photo because it showed how it rains more as the seasons change, when I took this photo I learned more how to take shots closer up. It was a little challenging to find the right leaves to take a photo of, but I like how the leaves are in focus but the background isn't, but something that could be improved is the quality, because it looks a little blurry at the front.
Photo 2: Shiny Leaf
This photo was also one of my favorite photos that I took for project 1. I took a photo of an orange leaf and in photo shop I edited it to be brighter and it made it shiny. The reason I took the photo was to show how when the seasons change the leaves change color too. When I took this photo I learned more about how to edit things in Photoshop. Something challenging about it was that the photo was too dark so I had to edit it. Something I liked was the quality of the leaves, but something that could be improved was that the middle leaf was too bright, so it could be better.
Project 2
In this project we learned how to take photos of things that are in motion.
Photo 1: Blurry Nicanor
This photo was one of my best photos for project 2. It is a photo I took of my friend running, which resulted in him being blurry. I took the photo to show one of the ways you can show motion in photos. When taking this photo I learned how to take photos of objects in motion. Something challenging was figuring out how to take the photo with the thing moving being blurry. I like how you can see that my friend is running and how you can see the movement through the blurriness. Something that I could have improved on was that the photo didn't really have anything else going on and I think the background could be better.
Photo 2: Caden Running
This photo was a picture of me running. I took this photo to show another way that you could take photos of things in motion without having anything be blurry like it was in the other photos. Something that I learned taking this photo was how to take photos of objects in motion but it look like it isn't blurry. The most challenging part of taking this photo was learning how to take the photo in this way. Something I liked about this photo was how it wasn't blurry but it still looked like I was running, and something I could improve on this image was have the positioning of things be a little bit better, because I am just running in a random place in the photo.
Project 3
In this project we made a movie poster.
Fabulous Creature
In this project we only had one photo, which was the movie poster. My poster was a movie about a fabulous creature. The photo was of my friend and a monster behind him. Something that I learned in this project was how to do more things in Photoshop, like editing the background, adding text, and adding special effects. The most challenging part was editing the poster to get it how I wanted it to be, but the editing was also my favorite part about the photo. Something I could have improved in the photo was having the actual photo that I took be better quality than it was.
Project 4
In this project we edited photos we took to be similar to the style of Julie Cockburn.
Photo 1: Julie Cockburn 1
This photo was my best one out of the two photos I had in this project. The photo is of my friend with his face edited with shapes to be similar how Julie Cockburn does some of her photos. Something I learned while taking this photo was new techniques in Photoshop like making the photo more vintage and also how I edited his face. The most challenging part was learning how to learn the techniques to edit it, but in this photo I like how I edited it because I think it looks nice, but I still think I could have improved on the editing.
Photo 2: Julie Cockburn 2
This photo was of a tree with shapes edited onto it. In this photo I learned how to add shapes onto photos. I do not like any part of this photo, I think every part of it can be improved because it just does not look good at all.
Project 6
We had to edit photos to only have one object with color.
Photo 1: Big Red Truck
My favorite photo from this project was this red truck, when I took this I learned one method on how to edit my photos this way where only the truck has any colors, the biggest challenge was actually learning how to edit it, but I like how it turned out. I think that the quality could be improved though.
Photo 2: Christmas Tree
My second best photo was a photo of a Christmas Tree, when I was editing it I learned another way to edit it so only the tree has color, the biggest challenge was trying to edit it because it was hard to select only the tree, my favorite part of the photo is the editing because it was difficult and I think it turned out well, but I think I could have improved by having a better background.
Project 7
We could choose our own themes.
Red Brick Wall
My favorite photo from this project was this a photo of a brick wall because I like how you can see the texture very well on it. I learned how to take close up photos of things in this photo, but the most challenging part was editing it to be red because it was originally blue. I think I could improve on the quality of the photo because I think it's not the best.
Photo 2: Houses
My second favorite photo was a photo of a house that I edited to be black and white, I like how it looks without color, and I also learned how to make it look better without color. The most challenging part was to get a good quality photo of a house without going outside for too long since it was raining, but I still think the quality could be improved because it was zoomed in a lot.
Photography Guide
Manuel Mode Settings:
The three most important settings in a camera are the aperture, the shutter speed, and the ISO.
Aperture – Aperture is a hole inside of your lens, aperture controls how much light you let into your camera. The aperture can change your photos depth of field, if you have a lower aperture it lets in more light than if you have a higher aperture. A low aperture makes you have a shallow depth of field meaning the background is blurrier.
Shutter Speed – On your camera there is a shutter, which when you take a photo it opens. The shutter is what controls how much light will hit the camera’s sensor, the shutter speed determines how long your shutter stays open. A fast shutter speed means that the shutter will close faster, which lets less light into your camera, which will make it darker, and a slow shutter speed makes it close slower which will make your photos brighter.
ISO – ISO is what controls your camera’s sensitivity to light.
When you should use aperture priority mode vs shutter speed priority mode, if you are in lighting that changes a lot you should use aperture priority mode because it will change the shutter speed according to the lighting which means you can focus on other settings like aperture, and if you are taking a photo of something in motion like people playing sports then you should use shutter speed priority mode so that you can focus on getting the right shutter speed.
Future Goals
1. How do you hope to integrate these photography skills into your day to day life?
In the future I hope to use these new skills to take better photos because it is good to have photos to look back on memories for and I hope to be able to do that, I also hope to use Photoshop skills to edit photos for fun as well.
2. How do you plan to keep challenging yourself creatively through your photography?
I want to continue challenging myself creatively through photography by thinking of different ways to take a photo when I am taking pictures of things.
3. Set a minimum of 3 goals for you in relation to anything creative or photography related that you hope to continue fostering as you move on from this course.
1- I hope to take photos of things I want to remember in the future and make the photos better than I could before.
2- I hope to continue learning different ways to edit things in Photoshop.
3- Learn how to use different settings in a camera better.