Day Eight

Today was another inside day, getting some portraits ready to show parents tomorrow. In many ways, simple is best and that seemed to be the case today. A very simple setup with just a single light from in front and slightly to the right of the model, with a very simple background. Great results from the kids once again.

Ian by Celine

Nyo-Nyo by Albert

Julian by Benjamin

Wish by Abel

Albert by Elaine

Viola by Hank

Hank by Hugo

Elaine by Ian

Benjamin by Jason

Hugo by Julian

Celine by Lauren

Jason by Nyo-Nyo

Lauren by Susana

Abel by Viola

Susana by Wish

Tomorrow is a big day! Parents will be visiting and the kids will be putting together a bit of a show to explain just what they have learned in the past two weeks. We certainly hope they will be very impressed.

Day Seven

Today's task was for the students to use any of a number of different methods so that they isolate their subject and make sure not to allow something that would distract our attention from what they want us to look at. Somewhat difficult in concept, but the students did well right from the beginning.

 

Celine
Celine shows us a beautiful, classic photo of a black-crowned Night Heron.

Ian
Ian also had a great, but more colorful photo of a black-crowned night heron.

Other nature photographers decided to capture flowers.

Lauren
Lauren gives us a bold, brilliant flower photo.

Wish
Wish gets up close and personal with an interesting looking flower.

 As a group,we decided to go up and see the ceremonial guards who protect the huge Chiang KaiShek stature. Some great photos of those guards.

Albert

Abel

Elaine

Hank

Viola

Susana

Nyo-Nyo

Julian

Jason

 Hard to believe that the class is closing in on the end. Great to see the progress that all the students have made.

Day Six

Today was landscape/cityscape day. Everyone loves to take landscapes and today the kids were given some ideas about how to take better ones. Today, the kids used not only the lessons of previous classes, such as the rule of thirds, perspective, leading lines and "S" curves, but they were also given ideas such as using a foreground object to make a scene more interesting, using natural framing devices and trying to have focal points in the foreground, background and mid range of the photo. Things are getting more and more complex, but the students continue to knock things out of the ballpark Great work!

Nyo-Nyo
A nicely balanced photo from Nyo-Nyo that has a rock to anchor the foreground,
bridge in the middle and the roof of the National Concert Hall in the background.
A nice bonus is seeing the people under the bridge.

Albert
Albert also uses rocks for his foreground and nicely adds the bridge in the background.

Abel
Abel did a really nice job of giving us something interesting with the sign in the foreground
and the National Concert Hall in the background.

Benjamin
Ben captures a lovely shot of the gracefully arching bridge.

Celine
Most people would use a stationary object such as a rock for the foreground;
Celine took it up a level and used a pigeon.

Elaine
A very colorful, contrasty capture of the National Concert Hall from Elaine.

Hank
Hank uses the edge of the bridge here to frame the left side of his pond photo.

Ian
Natural framing of the Concert Hall from Ian.

Lauren
The bridge and the National Theater balance each other very nicely in Lauren's photo.

Susana
Susana gives us a classic looking black and white composition here.

Viola
Very nice use of trees and rocks here to frame Viola's photo of the National Concert Hall.

Wish
Wish gives a dramatic, close up look at the CKS Memorial Hall, using trees to frame the entrance.

Hugo
Nice clouds and just a hint of the blue roof of the CKS Memorial Hall in Hugo's photo.

Jason
Jason uses the strong lines of the bridge to make a very interesting photo.

Julian
Julian clearly understood the importance of having something in the foreground, mid range and the background as well in his photo.

Well, that's it for today, once again, let's all hope for good weather tomorrow.

Day Five

Today, the lesson was all about how you can use lines to make your photos better. After a discussion, it was out to the park to see what they could come up with with that theme in mind. The students were also encouraged to experiment a bit more with post processing; I am sure you will notice the much bolder look to many of today's photos.

Viola
Viola has done a great job here of using the simple,empty benches at the
Da'an Park Amphitheater to really move our eyes through the photo to the right.

Benjamin
A natural looking statue, which has both the vertical lines from the timbers,
as well as some nice diagonals was caught by Benjamin.

Albert
Albert has used the lines of the walkway to bring the attention to his teacher very well.

Celine
All these lines leading us straight to the bright triangle at the top here in Celine's photo.

Elaine
Elaine follows the path, right to a photographic discussion.

HankConvergence, leading lines, intersections and a vanishing point
are all well illustrated in this photo by Hank.

Ian
The look down the pathway, straight at an oncoming
Teacher Darren makes Ian's photo really come alive.

Jason
Lots of lines receding away, and an interesting overlay
applied in post processing here from Jason.

Lauren
Similar to Celine's, yet quite different at the same time.
Lauren has really tamed all the tubing here to make an excellent photo.

Nyo-Nyo
A very nice look at how the pathway leads to the seats and the stage.
Clearly, Nyo-Nyo was thinking about lines, but also remembered her lesson on perspective.

Susana
It is a very pleasant path Susana takes your eyes on, down this row of flowers.

Wish
A nice take on black and white as well as  an interesting line of  flowers
flowing away from our eyes in Wish's photo.

Abel
Abel really hit the nail on the head when it came to using lines here.
One leading us right to Viola, while the other bends our eyes over to Hugo.

Hugo
Terrific lines, a nice triangular arrow pointing to the unknown and a creative use
of selective blur all work well together in Hugo's photo.

Julian
With Julian's use of lines in this photo, you can't help but want to walk up the path;
everything just seems to point that way.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be a landscape day, so let's everyone hope the rain holds off. Hope to see you back soon.