The Pixels in Pete's World

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By

Peter P

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Thanksgiving

As we enter the holiday season I want to take a moment to be thankful that

Mr. Jorge Rodriguez, runs excitedly while cheering athletes in the gym during the Fall Sports rally. The light levels in the gym were so low I could not capture him stopped completely so I used a technique called ‘panning’ to intentionally blur the background but keep him relatively sharp and in focus.
  • I have a wonderful interesting job where I can share my passion for photography
  • I have a short commute,15 minutes compared to 75 minutes when I worked at El Modena High in Orange.
  • I live in a country where my children can choose their career. They only have to work hard for it.
  • I work at a school where the staff care to do their best for the students

After our recent election, I am relieved and glad to see, despite its faults, the US under its present political system of a constitutional republic, keeps the government in check by not allowing the majority to impose its will on the minority.

Below are some of my recent images that I had fun making this year.

After removing the stool and chair, I am left as if levitating.

For my Photo 2 students I wanted a fresh image to teach them how to create the illusion of Levitation.

My biggest hurdle was the size of room D25. There were only a few options for a good camera angle and background.

Once I settled on this vantage point, I also did a time lapse so my students could see how I shot this.

I used Layers and masking in Photoshop to remove the chair and the step stool that supported me to create the illusion that I was levitating.

For the picture above of our Spanish teachers, which is often referred to as “Tiny Planet“, I photographed each of them individually as they stood on a greenscreen. By the way, I am thankful for having such nice teachers closeby to me especially since it’s my first year at Jurupa Valley High.

The camera was placed on a 13′ light stand looking down. I asked them to smile and look up.

Then I went outside to our quad area and photographed it as a panorama. In Photoshop I created the illusion of the quad area as a tiny planet and added the words “Buenos Dias”

This is a wonderful image by Itzel Palomarez for her assignment about using Patterns in composition. The simplicity and the good use of a repeating pattern makes this image outstanding. There are actually multiple composition devices at play in this image. Leading lines is also a key to what makes this image successful.

Another image which I enjoyed seeing was by Melanie Balderas who photographed her classmate Valerie using the Repetition of the tiles & Rule of Thirds as a device for composition.

The lighting that in front of the colorful mural was perfect because the tiny sliver of light on her subject’s face is balanced against the larger area of light falling on the background on the left.

Eye contact between the subject and the camera isn’t always mandatory. It depends on the vibe you are trying to create. Here, we can imagine how Valerie might be enjoying the warmth of the sun as we get into the colder months of the year in November.