MJ Journey MJ Journey In this months issue we highlight Class Groups, Family Groups

(Grandparents Day) and Cap&Gown photography. Contributing to the month’s Journey……..

Tom Flanders Angela Jacobs Thomas Farr Dennis Mullin Jackie Bond Betsy Schwartz Jerry Brown Brenda Harris Donnell Jones Mike Cummins Jessie Smith Tim Conner Delloney Ware Mike Gore Cliff Stafford Emely Ibanez David Gross Marvin Edwards Karen Hodges Kirian Lowman Nicole Kim Rachael Spence Patty Geiman Nicole Ferrara Devin Jordan Stacey Lusby Donna Werner Rick Walker Larry Sanders Phillip Ajayi Denise Brooks

MJ Journey MJ Journey This is unfortunate in my view. As I see it, even a quality film like Avatar, comes off rather gimmicky after a few scenes. Still photographers and conventional cinema photographers utilize techniques to create the illusion of 3-D in more subtle yet convincing ways. With some tech-niques, such as selective focus, the goal is to reduce depth in order to force attention on the subject and off the background. In the real world the background can be dis-tracting, so minimizing it can actually improve the photo-graph. Some of us employ these techniques without even knowing it. My goal in this issue, is to show the cause and effect of these techniques, so we can make educated photographic decisions on how to approach a given sub-ject or scene. The following pages contain images from our staff showing these techniques.

Tom Flanders Director of Senior Portrait Photography

Stereoscopic Image of Boston circa 1860

-D, an old but new trend in film making has taken on great momentum following the re-lease of James Camerons’ “Avatar” in 2009.

3D or “stereoscopic imagery” was first developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1838. His “Stereoscope” created the illusion of depth by viewing two identical drawings or photographs taken at angles similar to those of the human eye. Our own two eyes are what allows us to see the world around us in 3 dimensions. To prove this, try covering one eye while walking to-ward a nearby object. The stereoscope became a very popular form of entertainment throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Wheatstone’s original de-sign was improved by Oliver Wendell Holmes who created the popular version shown below. The View-Master was developed in the late 1930’s. It came with a circular disk that contained 7 pairs of Ko-dachrome slides. The disks were sold as post cards depicting documentary pictures of the most popular tourist attractions. Growing up in the 1960’s, it seemed like every family had one. The View-Master is still available today in the children’s toy department. Hollywood bought-in to 3-D in the 1950’s when some minor motion pictures were filmed in 3-D. The tech-nique was utilized mostly in horror films such as “House of Wax” starring Vincent Price, but faded rather quickly. One of the reasons for its demise was the need for expensive custom made cameras, cum-bersome dual projectors, and the fact that the audi-ence had to wear 3-D glasses to view the films. Com-puter technology has made 3-D production more practical in today’s world. With more and more mov-ies being viewed at home even big screen TV’s are being produced for 3-D viewing.

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1962 Model View-Master

Oliver Wendell Holmes Model Stereoscope Early 1900’s

Selective Focus Selecting a large aperture with a telephoto lens helps the subject stand out from the background and force attention in the area of sharp focus.

Tom Flanders

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Selective Focus Selecting a large aperture and including a foreground object helps to isolate and lead the eye toward the sub-ject.

Tom Flanders

Photographic Techniques

Framing By placing the subject in the doorway the photographer has focused the viewers attention

John Bidlack

Leading Lines The baseball bat and extended arms draw the viewer right to the face in this dynamic portrait.

Tim Conner

Perspective Using an extreme wide angle lens the photogra-pher has created depth by expanding and enlarg-ing the body of the guitar while allowing the face to seem more distant and small.

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Perspective and Selective Focus By placing the football forward and out of focus the photog-rapher has created depth while forcing attention on the player.

Thomas Farr

Leading Lines The fence here acts as a leading line, drawing the viewer into the scene and onto the subject.

Tom Flanders

Leading Lines The hand in this scene draws the eye directly into this photograph. The small aperture and wide lens provide depth of field.; rendering sharp focus from near to far.

Jackie Bond

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Jerry Brown

Delloney Ware

Jessie Smith

Donnell Jones

Perspective-Light Control The high camera angle along with the distant background has isolated the subject while allowing the cloud cover from above to fill the eyes with natural soft light.

Perspective Utilizing “rule of thirds” composition with a medium telephoto lens, the photographer has created added interest while timing the oncom-ing train.

Perspective With a long telephoto lens and wide aperture, the photogra-pher has forced attention on the subject and away from the background.

Framing Finding a natural frame, the photographer has isolated the sub-ject and created a significant 3-dimensional effect.

MJ Journey MJ Journey Class Groups

Cliff Stafford David Gross

Denise Brooks Karen Hodges

Nicole Kim Patty Geiman

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Devin Jordan

Grandparents Day

Donna Werner

Larry Sanders

Jessie Smith

Ja

ck

ie B

on

d

Tom Flanders

MJ Journey MJ Journey

Angela Jacobs

Dennis Mullin

Brenda Harris

Mike Cummins

Tim Conner

Mike Gore

Dennis Mullin

Betsy Schwartz

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Emely Ibanez

Marvin Edwards

Kirean Lowman

Nicole Ferrara

Phillip Ajayi Rick Walker Stacey Lusby

Rachel Kalin Jerry Brown