Final Paper

300 Word Paper on Final Project

For my final project I chose to capture laughter.  Not fake or staged laughter, but actual, real, whole-hearted laughter.  I chose this as my topic because laughter is was gets me through life.  It's contagious, fun, and can help you let go of any stress or pain you’re feeling.  I laugh everyday and I feel that it is important to laugh and to make others laugh to help remember to not take life so seriously.  One of my favorite quotes from the movie Garden State is, “If you can’t laugh at yourself, life’s gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like.”  I live by this quote, and am so happy that I now have pictures of some of my very close friends laughing and enjoying life.  Now, when I look at these pictures I can laugh in memory of that funny joke, or video, or conversation that made my friends burst out in laughter. 

Everyone’s laughter is unique, special, and beautiful and is also universal.  It is impossible to be in a room filled with laughter and not laugh yourself. It is also impossible to look at a person laughing and not smile or laugh yourself.  The sound of laughter and the faces people make when they laugh can also cause even more laughter, and that is definitely something I learned while working on this project.  It’s interesting when you look at all the photos and you really can see how each laugh is unique and different.  Some people use their hands to cover their face when they laugh, others squeeze their eyes shut, some crinkle their nose all up, and some have the biggest smile you have ever seen.

Again, the idea behind this project was just to make people laugh.  There is so much stress in this world and in people’s lives, I really wanted to create something that they can look at to remember to have fun and not take life so seriously.  I wanted something to share with people so they can just take a minute to smile, laugh, and be happy, and I feel like these photos do just that.

Curves & Spotting

Curves

I changed the curves in the midtone gray and the white to lighten up the image a little and really show the sunlight hitting the mossy rock.

I changed the curves for the black to really bring out the intensity of the shadows and boost the colors.  I then played around with the midtone and white curves to balance the image and take the overly bright glow out of the sky.

Here I moved the curves for both black and white just slightly to really pick up the lights and darks of the photo and add contrast.  Now you can really see the the sunlight sneaking onto some of the leaves.

Spotting

Here I removed all the white spots and marks in the shadow area of the mushroom.

Here I removed all the spots and holes on the leaves.

Here I removed all the spotty bubbles on top of the pond.

Final Project Revision

For my final project I would like to capture laughter.  Not fake or staged laughter, but actual, real, whole-hearted laughter.  Laughter is was gets me through life, it's contagious, fun, and can help you just let go of any stress or pain your'e feeling.  Everyones laughter is unique, special, and beautiful. I plan to sit down with some close friends and family and I will sit with them for hours if I have to until I can capture their real, uncut, untamed laughter.  I think this idea because laughter is universal.  It is impossible to look at a person laughing and not smile.  There is so much stress in this world today and in peoples lives, I want to give them something to look at where they can take a minute to smile, laugh, and be happy, and I feel like these photos will do just that.

6 Adjusted Images

Final Project

I have two ideas that I really like for my final project.  I would like to try and execute both if I am feeling ambitious enough and have the time.  My first idea is capturing laughter.  Not fake or staged laughter, but actual, real, whole-hearted laughter.  Laughter is was gets me through life, it's contagious, fun, and can help you just let go of any stress or pain your'e feeling.  Everyones laughter is unique, special, and beautiful. I plan to sit down with some close friends and family and I will sit with them for hours if I have to until I can capture their real, uncut, untamed laughter.  I think this idea because laughter is universal.  It is impossible to look at a person laughing and not smile.  There is so much stress in this world today and in peoples lives, I want to give them something to look at where they can take a minute to smile, laugh, and be happy, and I feel like these photos will do just that.

My second idea is to take photos of people shoes.  People I know, people I don't know, old people, young people, etc.  The whole reason behind this comes from the saying, "you can tell a lot about a person from their shoes."  Shoes are so interesting and I believe that people wear most of their personality on their feet.  I think this could be really fun and interesting.  I think the idea that people will only see shoes will intrigue them and make the photos interactive because they will be able to generate an idea in their head what they think the person looks like.

Burning & Dodging

Burning

Dodging

Six Adjusted Pictures - Before & After

Scavenger Hunt Progress - Before & After