wide angle photos

 In this shot, my friend is driving our boat from our cabin in the background to the other side of the lake to pick up supplies for our cabin. The cabin is on an island, and we have to get to it by boat or snowmobile. I shot this wide so we could see the cabin in the background. Also the beer in the cup holder is viewable, which is crucial to the story. We like to have fun while we're working. That's probably why the cabin is crooked? If the beer is not in this shot, one might not question whether this man is drinking and driving. This was shot with a Canon 7D at 17mm.

This photo was shot on the Kenai river on a record day as far as fishing goes. Just on this day a state record of 260,000 Sockeye salmon swam past the fish counter. This was last summer, and it is possible we had such a record year because the Japanese fishing fleet got wiped out from the Tsunami. It was important to shoot this not only wide but vertical as well, because we can see all the fish on the bottom of the boat, and you can see down the length of the handle which leads the eye right up to the fish in the net. I wish i could now take this shot again and maybe get more of my uncles arm in this photo. The width of this photo gives us perspective as to what's happening in this story. It is not just one boat out there fishing, their are a whole bunch of boats out fishing on this day, which tells the viewer that this might be a big deal. Also taken at 17mm

Social Media Impact on Egypt

There are approximately five million Egyptians on Facebook (http://heidicohen .com/social-media-egyptian-revolution/). I have never been to Egypt, nor do I know much at all about their culture, but I would assume that Egyptians use Facebook and other social media at least somewhat similar to the way Americans do. I check Facebook a few times a day, so if there is a big event happening near me that one of my friends knows about then I am probably going to find out about it on my Facebook. It is said that many Egyptian Facebook groups started to promote early protests (http://mashable.com /2011/02/11 /egyptian-president-steps-down/). In America it is sad to say that not everyone knows much about what is going on in our country, and that may be able to be said about Egyptians as well. However, if at least one of my Facebook friends finds out about something major going on with our country or government or state, they’ll usually post something about it on Facebook, and I will probably read about it there. That’s kind of how social media works. It is taking news, information, media etc., and making it social and personal. I believe this may be how many of the people of Egypt found out about what was happening in their country, and it probably influenced how they felt about it. If their friends on Facebook say that they are going out to protest, that will probably convince some of their other friends to spread the word and come out and protest as well. A benefit of Social Media is that instead of some president or a publisher or an editor or director of a news station being a gatekeeper as to what is broadcasted, the people you know, your friends, your acquaintances, and yourself become the gatekeepers on your social media applications. I think it is for that reason how Egypt was able to organize and come together on much more of an intimate level. Knowing that you’re friends and your fellow countrymen and women are taking a stand and coming together to protest the government, and learning this information from your friends and family through your own social network of people rather than through a news network helped make this a peaceful organization.

“We are all Khaled Said” is a Facebook group that was started some six months ago. The group was created anonymously after Egyptian authorities brutally beat an Egyptian blogger to death. This group slowly grew into the online version of Tahrir Square (http:/ /www.good.is/post/amazing-photos-from-the-facebook-group-behind-egypt-s-revolution/ ). This page had an estimated 600,000 followers, which turned into a news hub for Egyptian protesters. Disturbing photos and videos were posted on the page to help fuel Egyptian citizens to come out and protest. The maker of this page, who was later revealed to be an activist and a Google executive, definitely had an agenda on his mind while creating this page. By posting photos and videos of police brutality on harmless citizens for example, was a good way to frame his agenda and to get other Egyptian citizens concerned about their well-being.   

      Like Erik said how the automobile had changed the way we make, serve, and eat food, social media has and is changing the way we communicate. Instead of people going around from house to house and gathering people to go down to protest, Egyptians could arrange these protests in advance from the safety and privacy of their own home. Face to face communication is almost becoming a thing of the past, and to see hundreds of thousands of people come together face to face in Tahrir Square says something major. The events in Egypt have shown the strength of these social media tools for both organizing and informing people (http://mashable.com/2011/02/11/ egyptian-president-steps-down/). After the events in Egypt, and maybe in a few years down the road, I think America might see some kind of similar social media organized protests to help check the power of our own government. I think with this new social media the technology helped determine the overall attitude and decision by the Egyptian people to come together and protest until a change was made.

Comm 3530 Photo post

I chose this photo for a shallow depth of field. It isn't super shallow, but the tip of the sheep's nose is a little out of focus, and then the background is out of focus while my our faces are in focus.

I chose this photo as a deeper depth of field, where the gun and the tent are in focus as well as the mountain in the background.

This photo represents a fast shutter speed because we can see the welding sparks frozen in midair. I changed the white balance setting on my camera to tungsten to get this almost green type of look.

 This photo represents a slow shutter speed. I didnt have a tripod and that is why some of the foliage is a little blurred as well.

All photos taken with a Canon 7D and a Canon EF 17-55mm f2.8 lens.

Describing Beauty

http://www.cucirca.com/2008/06/03/how-i-met-your-mother-season-4-episode-2-the-best-burger-in-new-york/

If you skip ahead to 12:15 of this episode of "How I Met Your Mother" Marshall describes the best burger he has ever had. He deems it "the best burger in new york." The way he describes this burger relates to me as something truly beautiful. This burger, for Marshall, is something of pure beauty. This description is a good example of how beauty can feel to somebody.

October 17th Assignment

I feel that this photo represents the diagonal rule pretty well. The fence in this photo going diagonally into the background is much more dynamic if say the fence just went straight back or straight across. 

This photo represents the rule of thirds obviously because the subject in focus is in the right third of the frame. 

I chose this photo to represent a graphic vector because this trail is relatively straight and leads the eye from the bottom to the top of the frame. 

This photo i chose to represent an indext vector. The pointed metal leaf at the top of the vertical bar leads the eye up and out of the frame. 

I chose this photo again to represent a motion vector. The trail here is the motion vector. The trail leads us across the field back towards the hill. It gives the viewer balance because the trail gives us somewhere to go. The photo below represents the same thing except in this one the trail sort of becomes lost and that may give us a sense of unbalance. 

bad webpage design

http://www.arngren.net/ is a poorly designed website

It is a German website that sells stuff. Well, I think thats what they do anyways. Almost all of it is in German so I can't understand most of it.

There is no order to this site whatsoever. Everything is so cluttered it is unreal.
The text is completely random. Some of it is different color, different sizes, and some of them are even underlined or highlighted. The color scheme is also completely random. Every color on the planet is found on this page, which is extremely mind boggling.

I think this page falls into the asymmetrical/all over balance category because their is an underlying grid pattern to this site, which is the only thing is keeping this site hardly organized.

Good webpage design

http://www.wonder-wall.com/  is a japanese interior design firm. Their neat, new, stylish and organized interior design work really coincides with their website.

First I want to discuss the contrast this page has.

-great color contrast from the rich, white background with the intense bright thumbnails
-interesting positional and orientational contrast with the thumbnails when you move your mouse over them. They aren't just sitting on the page anymore, they actually jump out at you and push the ones that your mouse isnt on top of behind and to the side, as if saying that the thumbnail your mouse is on top of is the most important.

Second I'll talk about symmetry

Symmetry usually suggests formal and orderly lay-outs. This web-site isn't symmetrical, and it isn't strictly formal and orderly either.
- This website may have an asymmetrical/all over balance, because of the underlying grid pattern that this webpage has. And since most of the square thumbnails arent that much different from each other it still keeps that grid lay-out, and it is still balanced.

Gestalt Principles 

Law of Pragnaz: States that reality is reduced to the simplest form possible
At first glance we see all the thumbnails as a whole grid.
At a second glance, the shade changes of the colors of each thumbnail along with the unsquare corners tells us that it might not be just an ordinary grid lay-out. Then once you move your mouse over a thumbnail it confirms that it is not just an ordinary 2d grid lay-out.

Law of Closures: States that objects grouped together are seen as a whole. 

All of the thumbnails are grouped together, which makes one look at it as an entire unit rather than as individual thumbnails.

Conclusion

If you look at this web-site without moving your mouse on top of the thumbnails I think this website doesnt work. When you do move your mouse over the thumbnails the page comes alive. It brings so much more to the page. I think the key to this website is that going through the thumbnails and having them jump out at you actually makes it fun to browse through. That is what makes you keep browsing through all of their different projects which is a great way that they advertise their work.