Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Critique of Michelle's "Humans of UTSA"

       Overall, Michelle's photographs were awesome; they displayed great compositional strategies with a few exceptions. On her first photo, the first thing that brought my attention was the person's smile. She gave off a great vibe, as if I went up to her, she would respond being friendly. The tree on the right-hand side balances the image and gave it a perfect rule-of-thirds; in addition, her UTSA symbol just made it even better. 
       Her second picture had a dark background, which made the person look dim. Her picture in general was a tad bit underexposed. Like her jeans were too dark towards the bottom and her eyes too; therefore, I could not see much detail on it, but the way she posed, plus the skateboard gave it a more "athletic" feel.  
       The third image was simple, but still good. I like how she captured a close-up image of this person. His hat, shirt, and especially the background had a distinct pattern that made the image unique. For example, if the image had a plain, white background, then it would look boring.
       The fourth picture would be my favorite, due to the fact that the person stands out from the background. The background was brighter than the person, which to me was an excellent balance overall. I would suggest if Michelle could have moved the person to the right so that the statue in the middle of the fountain could have been balanced to the guy. On the top part, there was a portion that was overexposed. On the area where the building meets the ceiling has too much light where you can barely see the outline of the building. I noticed there are people in the background, but that does not affect me because they are blurred, which focuses more on the person.
        Last, but not least, her fifth photograph was another picture that I liked. First of all, I love the person's backpack and she definitely stands out compared to the background. I like the placement of her in the image and the shallow depth of field. One thing that should have been done in order for it to look even better, is to crop out the top left-hand side where the sun comes out. That little section is the only part that distracts me from paying attention to the person. I think Michelle could have moved the person to the left to make it look like the person was centered between the two trees, but not centered in the image. Also, if her legs and feet could have been shown with a vertical landscape, the photo would have looked totally different, but in a good way. Her backpack has a lot of color which balances with what the person is wearing, since she is wearing somewhat dull colors. The person looked engaged with the camera, and felt comfortable, and confident. 
       I like how the majority of Michelle's photos had a great shallow depth of field and has a different background for each photograph.

Assignment #3 Street Photography

What experience in life has taught you the most?
"Being a big sister through Big Brothers and Big Sisters."

What would you like to see change in at UTSA?
"Definately, the parking. It is really hard to find aparking spot like anywhere I guess and I guess for the Downtown campus to have more organizations over here and not just at the main one."

Is there anything cuurently in your life that you are excited about?
"Graduation in May."

If you were asked to give advice to a large group of people, what would you say?
"Live your life."

What is your greatest achievement?
Twin on left-hand side: "Getting into college and having a 3.5 GPA"
Twin on right-hand side: "Ooo getting into college and making it with almost my degree."