"Warped Perception" Daniel Lucas
Semester 1 Portfolio
Creative 1 | Daniel Lucas
Creative 1 | Daniel Lucas
A small collection of some of my best work shot throughout Semester 1 at Algonquin College's Photography program presented for your viewing pleasure.
"Floating Mirage" Daniel Lucas
Taken at the Portsmouth Harbor in Kingston, this is one of my first serious shots after realizing I wanted to pursue photography. The time of day it was taken at allowed the sky and the water to blend together creating a cool mirage illusion. I like how the shot ended up feeling very cinematic which is a style I would continue to shoot a lot.
"Aquatic Cotton Candy" Daniel Lucas
I took this shot at the Toronto Aquarium, the jellyfish tank provided great photo opportunities and this one turned out to be my best. It ended up having an analogous color scheme of red-violet, violet and blue-violet which really makes it pop, I also added a vignette during the editing process to further emphasize focus on the jellyfish.
"The Fog" Daniel Lucas
During an extremely foggy night I went out for a walk with my camera to get some shots to capture the intense and surreal atmosphere. In this shot I used the streetlight on the left to create a composition of rule of thirds, and used the sidewalk to serve as a way to guide your eye through the image into the void of fog. It was a very difficult setting to shoot in with the low light and heavy fog but I feel the end result is very strong with a great surreal look.
"Hidden Track" Daniel Lucas
Taken at the abandon "Family Fun World" outside of Kingston, what used to be a go-kart track now lays hidden behind the heavily overgrown foliage. I wanted the image to have a lot of depth and showcase just how tall the foliage has become, as well as show the vibrant colours of the scene. I tried to use the track to guide your eye around the image almost like a leading line s-curve. The end result turned out really good and has many layers which makes it a very interesting image to look at as its very unique location.
"Red Sun" Daniel Lucas
On a walk home I was lucky enough to witness this beautiful sunset while also having my camera with me so I was able to take this incredible shot. I managed to align everything in the shot perfectly, getting the sun centred as well as showing the clouds slowly spread out into the sky creating a very strong composition. The contrast between the bright red reflections from the sun on the dark blue sky and water work to create a truly stunning shot.
"Mission of the Pollinator" Daniel Lucas
While out on campus during an exercise for my Creative class I was looking at some flower beds and noticed there was a group of bees so I used my 55-250mm lense to quickly get some close up macro shots. The result is what I consider to be my best photo to date. I love how the foreground of the flowers seperates from the background of black to make the image really stand out and catch your eye all the while the bee is in focus so you can see all its details. The quality turned out excellent and it looks like a professional shot, Its an image I am very proud of.
Reflection
Before starting the program I was doing a lot of things wrong as a photographer. From shooting in auto, shooting as jpgs, doing destructive edits to my photos and many other things that looking back on I cant help but cringe at. Though this semester felt like it flew by, I now realize just how much I am already learning. When taking my shots I now actually consider things like whats in my frame, composition, what settings I should be using, and overall what I can do to make my shot as good as possible rather then just blindly taking photos and hoping for the best. To think I still have 3 semester left to learn and grow as a photographer makes it exciting and hard to imagine the level of photos I will be taking by the end of the program.
I still have many things to improve on and ways to grow. Concepts like aperture and shutter speed are something I have a lot of struggles with especially when trying to balance them all together with ISO to get the right settings for the shots I'm taking. Combine this with working in the studio using different lighting and with other photographers its something I find very challenging. However I feel that each time I tackle these things and have to work with it all I slowly gain a better understanding and that with time and practive I will overcome these challenges.
Working in the print lab over the semester and getting to see my images as physical copies has given me a deeper appreciation for what I am doing and motivates me to work harder to get even better shots. The process of taking a raw image and editing it with all the skills I've learned throughout my classes, to then printing it off is something I greatly enjoy.
Despite not knowing entirely what I want to do in the industry after I graduate from the program yet I can feel myself slowling developing my style and own artistic vision. I love being able to capture the feelings and atmopshere of what I'm photographing. Using compositions like rule of thirds alongside this to create really visually stunning images is something I wish to further improve on.
I still have many things to improve on and ways to grow. Concepts like aperture and shutter speed are something I have a lot of struggles with especially when trying to balance them all together with ISO to get the right settings for the shots I'm taking. Combine this with working in the studio using different lighting and with other photographers its something I find very challenging. However I feel that each time I tackle these things and have to work with it all I slowly gain a better understanding and that with time and practive I will overcome these challenges.
Working in the print lab over the semester and getting to see my images as physical copies has given me a deeper appreciation for what I am doing and motivates me to work harder to get even better shots. The process of taking a raw image and editing it with all the skills I've learned throughout my classes, to then printing it off is something I greatly enjoy.
Despite not knowing entirely what I want to do in the industry after I graduate from the program yet I can feel myself slowling developing my style and own artistic vision. I love being able to capture the feelings and atmopshere of what I'm photographing. Using compositions like rule of thirds alongside this to create really visually stunning images is something I wish to further improve on.
