portrait lighting.

broad lighting:

short lighting:

rembrandt lighting:

loop lighting:

butterfly lighting:

split (or side) lighting:

additional:

2d & 3D objects

uvu art show baby.

i got in! this was my first time ever entering the uvu art show and i made it. i was shocked to say the least. i entered because we get extra credit in one of my art classes & if we made it we didn't have to do one of the projects. needless to say, i was super excited when i saw my name on the list!

this series of photos is from the opening reception of the show. there were AMAZING pieces in this show and i would highly recommend checking it out.

ps. i got in the top 10 & won myself $75. holla!

two cool guys.

this week we did portraits. trying to capture someone's personality is really hard to do when they think they should be posing and getting "ready" for a picture. i don't like taking posed photos because i feel like it loses a lot of personality. but here's what i got:

{my handsome brother}

{a studly stranger}

photo challenge.

i'm not very good with this photo challenge obviously. but here is #12:

inside my closet.

{some coats & dresses}

portraits of me.

i usually am not awkward in front of a camera. people usually tell me how i am super photogenic and stuff like that. not this time around folks. i'm more of a candid person and having to do planned photos of myself was really really really difficult. anyways, here are my top picks for my self-portrait (this weeks photo assignment).

tips of the day.

have you ever opened your mascara and it is sorta dry? or your favorite nail polish is getting a little to thick to go on smoothly? here are a couple really useful tips that i find myself turning to now and again to help me out with those two little irritating facts of life.

the other day i bought a new mascara. it was fine for a few days and then it started going on really clumpy and would dry all crumbly and wouldn't look good. stupid right? i had JUST bought it. well i remembered haylie, my cute former roomie {who knows her makeup}, telling me that you can add a couple drops of water and it will thin it right out. who knew!? i tried it out yesterday and it was pure magic i tell you.

you know how when you're really excited to paint your nails your favorite polish color? and then you open it and it is super thick and gooey? a little trick i learned is to put a few drops of your nail polish remover into the nail polish and shake it up really well. this will break down the polish and make it go on smoothly. ask my old roomies, we did it all the time and it works.

*these may not be the most orthodox solutions, but they work for me in real life. also, i have been reading up on adding water to mascara and some say it's not such a great idea for everyday, but if you are in need of "like-new" mascara right away and you don't have the time or money to go grab a new one, you should be fine with this method. it works for me & i'm still alive. {all images are from google}

exposed.

our photo assignment this week had to do with exposure. more specifically we had to get at least one "high key" photo and one "low key" photo. i had no clue what either of these were so i turned to my good friend google. the way i understand it is high key photos are when the photo is overexposed and the subject slightly fades into the background. and a low key photo is taken in a dark(ish) setting with one light source to give a sort of eerie feeling.

these are a few of my highs & lows:

neither of my low key photos were taken in the dark or even in really dim lighting with a single light source, but i chose them because they had a lot of contrast between the darks and lights.

i'm a photographer now!

one of the main reasons i haven't blogged for a while is that school started about a month ago. i love it. i am super busy with work and/or school just about everyday. also i haven't had much to post about--until now. i am taking photography this semester which should be right up alley, but honestly i have been struggling with it. dslr {digital single-lens reflex, or those really fancy cameras} have so many different settings that i just cannot keep straight. luckily i have a super cute/amazing photog for a teacher. she is encouraging each of us to take a photo a day for a month using this list of items {also seen on pinterest or instagram}:

i'm a little behind seeing as how it is the 6th today but that just means i will need to play a little catch up, and i may go out of order. sue me.

#2: words

wish me luck in my class!