Conceptual Self Portrait

Weekly Flickr Artist

You'd think that an "unschooling" situation, where the student dropped out of school when she was eight would just make her more dumb than the rest of society. But this approach on the world sort of makes people more creative, if you think about it. Her parents didn't care what she did as long as she was happy, so I'm sure she could've stayed in school if she wanted to and if she felt like she needed to.  But since she had all day to pursue her passion, photography, she got more and more creative as she went on. These sort of life experience's prove that we all don't need to be the same. I admire people who drop out of school to do what they love and ACTUALLY succeed, that takes a lot of skill and effort. Even more so skill than the skill it takes to get into a college and get a successful career after school. It isn't necessarily set up for you, but it's a lot easier to follow your dreams if you could go to school for it and it's one of the basic things that everyone will go for. Since a lot of people pursue careers that involve going to college there are a lot more of them, since there is a higher demand. An artistic career takes a ton of school, you need to stand out from the rest to succeed in a career like this. I will forever be jealous of all those successful artsy people because they're doing exactly what they want for the rest of their lives.

Raw Images VS. JPEGs

RAW doesn't stand for anything, while a JPEG is "Joint Photographic Experts Group." There is no difference between a Raw file and a JPEG when the picture is first taken. But once a photo is saved then the camera converts it to JPEG. This meaning that all of the settings of the image are "baked" into the JPEG. When a raw file is saved the image setting information is saved alongside it, rather than being permanently applied to it. JPEGs are only 8-bit files, which just means that they hold less color information than a 12-bit or a 14-bit. This makes a raw file easier to edit because when you edit a JPEG you'll see colors start to break more quickly. In order to share or print a raw file you'll need to convert it to either a JPEG or a TIFF.

The only reason that people deal with JPEGs is because raw files take up more memory card. Raw files also reduce the burst rate, the speed at which you can take photos, due to it buffering the picture taken. Some cameras do offer raw photos that will offer the ability to shoot smaller raw files, that'll take less time to buffer, therefore increasing the burst rate. When you take raw photos it takes longer to process the photo as well, when you could be outside taking more photos, but the end result is usually a higher quality photo. JPEGs generally are 22MP's, the same as RAW files. The file size for a JPEG is 7MB's, while the file size for a raw file is 27.1MB's. The Maximum Burst (UDMA7 Card) for a JPEG is 16,270 shots and for the raw file its a slim, 18 shots. Approximate Shots (8GB Card) for a JPEG is 1,010 and for a raw file it's only 260 shots. So, clearly, both raw image files and JPEGs both have their benefits and weaknesses. For a higher quality photo choose a raw file and for more photos choose a JPEG.

Jump Start Your Photography

1. Go Through Your CD Collection: Not only will listening to some great music inspire you, but you'll also be able to take notice of the great photography on the cover and within the pages. Sometimes, recreating an old CD cover is a great project. 
2. Take On a Photo-A-Day Project: A photo-a-day project can be a great push towards getting your inspiration going. No matter which time period you go for, the need to have to create something on a deadline could be the push that you need. 
3. Read an Art Magazine: Art/Fashion/Fun magazines are likely to trigger new ideas because they are so packed with great, inspirational, stuff. Fashion magazines have a lot of great photos that one can spend time trying to analyze technique and composition. 
4. Look 360: When you're walking down the street you tend to only look forward, but if you looked sideways, up and down you'd be amazed at the amount of photo opportunities. 
5. Shoot For a Holiday Theme: If there is a holiday coming up then get into the holiday spirit. Take some pictures of an item related to a holiday!
6. Tell a Story in 5 Pictures: Telling a story with just five photos is a challenging task, but is a great way to tap into your creativity.
7. Shoot a Sporting Event: Sporting events tend to be location everywhere, they are great opportunities to take action shots and even portraits. 
8. See an Art Show: Art shows can help you understand a new technique or take a new techniques. But art shows are also a great source of inspiration. 
9. Shoot Your Family: Your family is always there, no need to schedule anythings. Just decided that you want to make the shot and then shoot. 
10. Shoot a Family Event: This is another great opportunity to take a bunch of photos, it's also great because everyone is having fun. 

Definitions

Pixels- The smallest element of an image, can be individually processed in a video display system

 Image resolution- The detail an image holds, the higher resolution means more image detail

Megabyte- 1,000,000 bytes, and a byte a is a unit of measurement used to measure data

Megapixel- One Million Pixels

 Gigabyte- 1,000,000,000

 Jpeg- Stands for “Joint Photographic Experts Group,” only because it is the name of the committee that developed it. A JPEG is a compressed image file format

 Raw- A raw file is a collection of unprocessed data

 Tiff- “Tagged Image File Format,” a graphics file format created in the 1980s

 PNG- A compressed raster graphic format

 White balance- A feature most digital and video cameras use to balance color

 Histogram- A graphical representation of the distribution of numerical data

 Aperture- A device that controls the amount of light admitted through an opening

 Shutter Speed- The length of time when the film of digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light

 Depth of Field- The distance between the nearest and farthest objects in the photo

 Aperture Priority- The photographer presets the aperture and the camera selects the shutter speed

 Shutter Priority- The camera lets the user choose the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the aperture

 Bitmap- A digital image composed of matrix dots

 Exposure- The amount of light per unit area

Watermarking- A translucent design impressed onto a paper, that can be seen when the paper is held into the light

Optical Zoom- Refers to a lens that can change its focal length

Digital zoom- A function of a digital camera that is used to make the image seem closer

 Bracketing- The technique of taking several shots of the same subject using different camera settings

Light Meter- Allows the photographer to determine which shutter speed and f-number should be used for optimum exposure

Image Stabilization- A mechanism used in a still camera or video camera that stabilizes the recorded image by varying the optical path to the sensor

Noise- Is random (not present in the object imaged) variation of brightness or color information in images

Lag Time- Shutter lag is the delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph is actually taken

Hot Shoe- A bracket on a camera body that provides support and electrical contact for an electrical falsh attachment

Fisheye- A fisheye lens is an ultra-wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image

Macro- Is about photographing objects that are very close to the lens, the film or the sensor

Telephoto- A telephoto lens is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length

Wide angle- A wide-angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane

DSLR- A digital single-lens reflex camera is a digital camera combining the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor, as opposed to photographic film

Dynamic Range- It's because the difference between the brightest and darkest areas, or 'dynamic range', is so great that you can't find a single exposure that can capture them both

Digital Negative- (DNG) is an open lossless raw image format written by Adobe used for digital photography

Exposure Compensation- a technique for adjusting the exposure indicated by a photographic exposure meter