"How to: Take Exceptional Photos Using a Phone" by Jonathan L

 

With the holidays around the corner and the many decorations coming up around neighborhoods and in shopping centers the amount of people we will see posing and forcing their siblings to take them photos increases as well. As a result however when scrolling through any form of social media everyone's poses, angles, and colors look identical and is as if a singular photographer was in charge of taking photos. Contrary to what many people say you do not need an actual camera to obtain great photos that can be shared and in this tutorial new techniques and ways to frame a shot will be discussed through two methods, an external app that can be downloaded, or the stock camera app on your phone. Let’s get to it!

 

Stock Camera App (This will be the easiest to learn will be able to be used within a day of practice)

 

Settings:

 

1.     Step one would be to turn on your HDR which gives the user the ability to work with the colors in post post production.

2.     Shoot in the normal shooting mode, many phones such as iPhones use what is called portrait mode to give an illusion of depth. This is basically the blurry effect you see in photos, in this case keeping this off as during the time of day we are working with does not have good enough light to provide enough information for the camera to work with. What will happen is a “tango” between the camera stating “move back” and “move closer”.

 

Downloaded apps (Halide will be my example) please note these apps are designed to be more extensive and will take some practice to get used to the settings.

Settings

1.     Use gridlines. Using grid lines will help to frame photos such as when using the rule of thirds

2.     Set focus “coloring” this will help to figure out what is in focus and what is not in focus, such as when shooting close up shots and wanting to get a certain part of the foreground being focused.

3.     If possible shoot in a flat color profile which helps in post to color grade

 

4.     Shoot in RAW this will help get the most information from a photo as possible since the sensors on a phone are not as perfect as the ones found on mirrorless, DSLR, and full frame cameras.

5.     Set your white balance, whether this means using a preset in the app or adjusting it manually, shooting on auto can wreck the colors of the image drastically and is not worth dealing with.

 

Tips for shooting photos

 

1.     You are in control of the camera which means you can dictate what positions the subject will be in! Do not be afraid to change up a position as you see fit.

2.     Get creative with shots! One great idea I use to spice up some photoshoots is to bring some water and spill a bit onto the pavement to create some great reflective photography!

Other ideas include using props such as fairy lights to create an “angelic effect”, or use some foam to recreate snow!

 

3.     Use burst mode. To use burst mode simply hold down the shutter button “button to take a photo” down and it will begin taking a burst. What this will do is help reduce the amount of times a person says “I blinked in this one”.

4.     Lock your focus. By locking focus this will avoid the amount of times a person or subject is no longer in focus. To do this simply press and hold where you want the camera to focus on and what it will do is lock the focus on that one spot, do make sure to lock the focus whenever you switch positions.

 

5.     DO NOT ZOOM IN!!!!! Unless you are using an actual camera with a true lens zooming in will degrade the photo quality. What happens is the phone is doing a digital zoom which will induce photo grain or noise which will degrade the photo quality.

6.     Just practice! Practice may never make perfect but it will make everyone better, take photos of daily life and over time you will develop that eye for taking photos.

 

Finally Post Editing!

 

When editing photos in post means is adjusting colors, exposure, and other things to help create the best photo possible. With most phones this can be achieved using the photos app or downloading an app to help get that aesthetic or look one may want. In this case I will be going over a fairly crude and rudimentary way of color grading a photo using basic tools found in the photos app.

 

Photos App (iPhone)

 

1.     Open the photos app and click on the photo you want to edit

2.     A good rule of thumb would be to make sure your shadows (areas in the dark) are not being crushed or just blobs, as well making sure things are not overexposed.

3.     Do not oversaturate photos, a good way to tell if this is the case is to look at objects near or around a subject, if colors become very unrealistic it is most likely oversaturated and should be brought down.

4.     Finally make sure to make your photo your own! It does not need to follow the normal of being perfectly tuned but rather some photographers and editors like the underexposed grunge or undersaturated look to give a different feeling and look to photos. After all it is YOUR photo and only you know what to look for/.

 

I hope this short piece can help many people taking photos over the holidays get the photos they want, though it may take a few times to get write it will improve your skill overtime. Who knows maybe you will be the next photographer who gets called to take photos for family events! Either way there is one thing that will remain constant, the setting will be correct!

"Life is Okay" by Isaac I.

To Ethan,

 

It’s been over half a year since you were taken from us. Everyday, you have always been on my mind and you have been my inspiration to push through all of my tough obstacles. I remember the night of May 7th, when I heard the news that would change my whole perspective on life. It was about 11 o’clock, and I was in bed on my computer while talking to a friend on the phone until I heard a knock on my door. It was my brother, and he asked me, “Have you spoken or heard from Ethan at all today”, and I said no and as I said that, he had this really curious and confused look upon his face and he said, “Ok, well let me get more information and I will update you”, and I just said ok in a confused way. After this happened, a lot of things started to pop up into my head, and I felt my heart start to rapidly beat and I kept mumbling over and over again, “Please don’t be gone E.” As I came out of my room, I saw my brother talking to my other brother and as they both looked at me, my brother said, “They found Ethan in his room.”

 

As I heard the news, I immediately fell back to the wall and started to cry and I ran to my room and slammed my door because of how upset I was. I didn’t know what to do, like do I call the guys because some of the guys knew about what happened to you way earlier than I did. I eventually called three guys that I knew when the news first dropped out, they would’ve been told earlier than everybody else. One of them answered and he seemed like he just wanted to be by himself so I let him be on his own, and when I tried to call another guy, he wasn’t avaliable to talk because he was there at your house to be with your family. Unfortunately, the last guy I called did not know about you and I was the one to break the news to him, which I did not want to do. The next day, I went to our church is and I went inside and I started to cry because I knew that I wasn’t gonna see you there anymore and I kept looking around and seeing spots where you, me and the boys would hang out.

 

I could have never imagined in a thousand years that I would get news like this about you, and I never thought it would be so early. Life before this wasn’t that good because we were just put on lockdown due to COVID, and then for this to happen along with being locked in my house and not being able to go out and hang out with you was unreal and horrible. Even though you’re 3 years older than me and grew up in a different household, it still felt like me and you were brothers and on the day of your funeral I found out through my sister that you and me had the same godmother, which would make us godbrothers. I remember like it was yesterday when we played in a pee-wee basketball league for our church and after our games, you, me and a couple of our friends would go to the concession stand and always ask to see if they had snow cones and then after, we would mix our flavors. After those small and interactive moments as kids, we all grew

into young men and started to hang out more and have serious conversations about each other and check on how we were doing and what was going on in our daily lives. The connection and brotherhood between you and me and the rest of our guy friends at church is something that can never be broken and I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

 

Ethan, I know that you were sad that you were leaving your friends and family behind, but I know that you’re happy in Heaven with your grandpa and you both are watching over your family. This is not a goodbye because I know that the next time I will see you is when we meet again in Heaven. I do have to accept the fact that you’re gone and I won’t be able to see you physically. It hurts to think about that, but then again I know that you’re in Heaven with your grandpa and playing basketball with Kobe and telling him many times that you could beat him in a one on one. What I can take from your passing is to don’t take like for granted and don’t wait for the right time to come because we don’t know when our time is up and we are called home to Heaven. I know you had projects on your own and you weren’t able to finish them, but I know that people are gonna continue your legacy and help you finish your projects. I always think of what you always said to your friends and family, “Life is Okay.” That is a saying that I will always look to for inspiration whenever I’m in need of help or when I am ever feeling down. Forever until my time comes, I will tell everyone your story and how you became an inspiration to not only me, but for everyone and hopefully, your story will carry on to each generation. I love you Ethan, I miss you Ethan, and I know one day, me and the boys will reunite with you and we’ll just talk and play basketball and listen to some music and have the best time of our lives.

"My Past, My Image, and My Future" by Jesse O.

 

*Trigger Warning* - thoughts of self-h*rm, and su*c*de

~~Before I begin, I appreciate all and every single one of you who have chosen to read or comment on this blog post, thank you from the bottom of my heart. ~~

It's dark. Very dark. The silence is deafening, but my heart beating is all that can be heard. The words that might emerge from my mouth, can change my life forever. Am I not good enough, what am I doing wrong? Why does this hurt, words shouldn’t hurt, right? The weight that I carry, around, my shoulders every single day of my life. My past, it beckons, calling back to me, weighing me down. Past lies, past mistakes, a fake personality, a mask. The pain of never being able to be your true self, is not visible, but is felt with unimaginable pain.

What lies led me there, what words did I say, to gain that image? The questions I could never stop thinking, and the actions that I will never forget, and the words that were forever burned into my memory. Middle school, the days that I was not myself, and the actions I did out of impulse, the lies that were spoken, and said as if they were the truth, and the reputation I gained that still remains in people’s mind. At school, I was someone I thought I was, and someone who was lost, and confused, only seeking to gain some form of approval from my peers, but ultimately was perceived as an outcast, and someone who said things that should not have been said. Acts, words, sentences, things that I will never forget, that defined the image that was perceived by everyone.

The nights, the tears, the thoughts, the feeling of not being enough, the feeling of giving up, and the feeling of regret. All of the friends, all of the bonds, and the possibilities, all gone. Was it worth it, more importantly, was I worth it? The question, why don’t people like me, why did people hate me, why did I do the things I did? Two contradictory questions, that would eventually be answered. What was my purpose, what was it? A question that kept running through my mind, and lived in my mind. The most defining question, and the one that caused this: “Who am I?” What would people think if I were to suddenly die? It wouldn’t be relevant, right? People wouldn’t bat an eye or care. So many questions, so many inquiries, so many thoughts, but no answers. The silence of my brain, and the actions that carried on into my freshman year of high school. The dangerous mentalities, and the unanswered questions, and the impulsive acts, irrational and spontaneous, remained.

The days, the days I spent doing all of my work, earning good grades, but not in honors classes, out of the fear of knowing who is in those classes, those who know my mistakes, those who know my past. My image and my reputation was wrapped around my body, like a serpent awaiting to eliminate its prey, constricting my every move, and slowly suffocating me. I remember it, I remember it well. My older brother, a senior when I was a freshman, was never

there to guide me in this once scary place we know as the first year of high school. I was on my own. My past, my past remained, and it still hung onto me. I had no guide, but I had a motive. A motive that will forever change my life, and how I perceive how precious life really is: I want to be myself, I want to do what I love, and I want to be who I really am.

The thoughts, the thoughts of the question that kept running through my mind: “How?” All of my passions, all of my interests, seen as odd, seen as abnormal, and worthy enough to disassociate from me. The one passion that I had never truly pursued, ended up being what helped me escape from my past reputation. Music. Music essentially saved my life. It was something I never thought I could pursue, but I tried it. I began to create a new image, people from the past, still perceived me as how I was back then. It was still freshman year, almost sophomore year, and I hardly spoke. I wore the same clothes, and didn’t try to speak to anyone from my middle school. My one purpose in school was to go, do work, and get good grades. I did those tasks, but I did them silently. The times I did attempt to speak, create friendships, and talk to others I did not know, I failed. I was being the same person that people from middle school perceived me as. My image remained, but I was struggling, begging, and pleading to leave the darkness, and be who I really was.

Eventually, it did happen. My passion for music, a student who was in the school’s piano program for 4 years, and co-taught for my junior year. I became myself, I became the person I wanted to be. I found my purpose and my reason to remain here on Earth. People remembered my past, but little did I know, things would change. Friendships would be healed, and created from peers who looked at me as an outcast, and not as a friend. And to all of those who still perceive me and know me from my past, there’s really nothing I can do about it, but I can be who I am now, in the moment, and now that I have crossed paths with some of those people, I hope they can see that I am not the person that they think I am, and I am not an enemy, but wanting to be a friend and fellow peer. I enrolled in AP U.S. History my Junior year, knowing darn well exactly the kind of people who could be in that class. Sure enough, I was correct. I made new friends, with people who looked down on me, and people who I was isolated from. I realized that no matter how you acted in the past, it is never too late to change your future.

No one’s future has been written yet, not even in times where things seem so definite, there is always another path that can be explored. It is only up to us, to change how we are seen and how we are perceived to others. I know that it is never too late to change things. I found my true self, and I found friendships that I thought I could have never had. I found my reason. I am so grateful for the friends I now have, and those who were willing to talk to me again, even after they have witnessed my past that I so desperately tried to escape, and break free from. If you have a passion for something, pursue it. To all of my classmates and peers, both past and present, I appreciate you all, even if we have never talked, I am grateful for everything I have received, and look forward to joyous times in the future.

"On the Strength of Community" by Jonathan R.

I recall waking up crusty-eyed at 6:45 in the morning and getting in the car with my likewise tired mother for an hour-long drive to the city of Orange. Awaiting me there was the first rehearsal of three ending in an eventual concert that would take up a three day period. Surely a short experience, but one of the most profound in my life.

 

Arriving at the hotel lobby and being led away to a cozy, warm conference room amid the cold rain of late January had most assuredly made me feel as if I was some noble or member of royalty. Such indulgent thoughts were especially bound to occur considering I was only in the eighth grade at this point. The most shocking of sights to behold was the sheer amount of musicians gathering together in this single area. This collective ensemble was by far the largest that I had ever performed with, totaling at around 150 players. Most of the other musicians there had appeared either quite laid-back or indifferent, but I was bright-eyed in anticipation for this was my first time to participate in an “honor” ensemble. From the moment I had first set up my instrument to the instant I set the reed upon my lower lip, I was overwhelmed by a grand sense of awe and intimidation. Yet all of these worrying fears and anxieties would instantly wither away the moment I and those 149 other musicians played but a single note together. Never before had I been so emotionally moved and transfixed playing with an ensemble, let alone simply warming

up with one. It was the combination of pure joy in collaborating with all these wonderful, passionate, and extraordinarily talented people with the immense feeling of appreciation I had in being accepted that had truly demonstrated to me what an “honor” ensemble meant.

Far beyond the consolidated idea that it was simply a big band with good players in it, the idea of an “honor” ensemble represented to me the great luxury that is celebrating your love for something with a collective of like-minded individuals. To have been able to immerse myself in a love for an art and to have the opportunity to do so with a large community of equally determined people was the highest privilege I could have ever received. How beautiful it was to experience this near divine feeling of belonging and home performing with these musicians. Perhaps they had felt the same, perhaps they had not. The only established fact was that the same individuals whom I witnessed in that ensemble on that chilly January day in 2017 had appeared every year thereafter in similar ensembles at the beginning of each year. It would be most reasonable to assume that a very similar sense of community and welcome was what guided them back to those rehearsal rooms. Although I had only ever experienced this intense feeling of togetherness playing in an ensemble, I do not doubt the significance of this drive in every other realm of artistry or hobby. Of course this is not without consideration to the personal side of such interests. Men and women are forever welcome to learn the piano only to ever perform for oneself in the solidarity of their household or to play basketball alone on their backyard half-court, but none of these partakings in crafts will triumph the sense of inclusivity that accompanies sharing the love of something with others.

The impact of this event still ripples throughout my consciousness to this day. It has been especially noticeable during this quarantine and social isolation. I long for that sense ofcommunity and family even more desperately in these trying times. The blissful sensation of being completely consumed by my music and communicating with peers how we could further enhance it was essential to my getting through the school year. However, there is no doubt that I will temper such a minute struggle of “belonging” with the painful hardships of financial instability and lossed loved ones which other families have experienced. I am no stranger to these hardships. My grandmother passed away this summer from COVID-19, a tragic passing that shook my family. It was difficult attempting to gather a family together that was geographically scattered. It was difficult not being able to be with my grandmother in those last moments. It was difficult seeing my dad so melancholy and empty in his mourning. Without surprise the few moments of solace came when my family nostalgically reminisced over long ago events. We’d share fragments of joy recollected from the farthest reaches of our memory, so minute in occurrence yet so heartwarming and fulfilling to think about. Surely this was no gathering of musicians nor any collaboration of hobbyists, but the togetherness we had as a family, regardless of political or ideological differences, allowed us to celebrate the life of a loved one and find comfort in one another. We have all struggled through this year and the struggles endured today will be the struggles endured for months to come, but when all the vigor of positivity and hope is lost amid a sea of troubles, find the community, no matter how big or small, no matter if it is of family or of friends or strangers, that allows you to undeniably and unapologetically be you. You can place all your trust in the knowledge that something will be rekindled from it that will allow you to continue on your journey once again.