I have always loved photography and would call it one of my hobbies.  I enjoy capturing a moment and framing photos that draw the eye into the image.  Naturally, this assignment sounded exciting to me as we are to explore various tools and websites for editing photos.   

I first started searching for images on Pixabay.  I chose one from Antigua, Guatemala as I have traveled and lived in Guatemala.  I probably took a similar photo as I was in the same place this photo was taken, yet I wanted to make some edits to the photo based on my memory.  I felt the colors were too muted, so I played around with the saturation, brightness and contrast levels in Tuxpi.  I attempted to adjust the Hue, but realized it was very sensitive and changed the yellow building rapidly to another color, so I kept that at the original settings.  The composition wasn’t exactly how I would frame it, so I cropped the image a little tighter to eliminate unnecessary visuals at the border.  Now my eye is drawn to the reflection in the puddle and then down the cobblestone road.    

   Weidner, E. (2018).  Christmas Day in Sayulita [photograph].  Retrieved from Personal Collection.  CC BY-NC

For the second photo, I used Pixler to edit a personal photo of mine that I took in Sayulita, Mexico.  I love the colorful papel picado hanging across the street at sunset.  I played around with multiple tools to get the desired effects.  I wanted the edges of the photo to be darker than the rest which is using the Vignette feature.  I played around with other filters and applied one called the Outer Glow, but honestly I couldn’t see a difference.  I changed the brightness and contrast as I wanted the flags to be more brilliant in color to contrast the light blue sky behind it.  I also adjusted the levels of Temperature and Tint to make the sunset appear more intense with warm tones.  As Reynolds references in Chapter 3, colors induce emotions and certain feelings, and my hope for this photo was a romantic sunset.  I also wanted to capture the vibrancy of this whimsical and enchanting beach town in Sayulita, Mexico on Christmas Day.  As any artist would do, I signed my photograph with my signature and the year it was taken with the Pen tool and using the Zoom in features for more accuracy.

Pixler feels more advanced, but I like the idea of using these tools in a classroom. Students could pick or create an image to tell the story and edit it as necessary to convey the emotions through color and various effects.  This could be used for a book talk, or a specific chapter they just read.  Students would have a creative outlet to explore content through visual means.  They could then share it in small groups or to the class where a summary of learning would happen. 

Zuniga, R. (2020).  Guardabarranco (Eumomota superciliosa) Ave Nacional de Nicaragua [photograph].  Unsplash.  Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/LsFEm2xLTRk  CC Zero

This photo of Nicaragua’s national bird, the turquoise-browed motmot, was my favorite bird I saw while living in Nicaragua. I did not make any edits to this photo other than I cropped it a little. Sadly, I was never fortunate enough to capture its photo as this wonderful photographer did.

References

Garcia, O. (2017).  Antigua, Guatemala Sunrise Guatemala Agua Volcano [photograph].  Pixabay.  Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/photos/antigua-guatemala-sunrise-guatemala-2652478/  CC Zero

Reynolds, G. (2014).  Presentation Zen Design.  A simple visual approach to presenting in today’s world.  2^nd ed.  New Rider/Pearson.  

Weidner, E. (2018).  Christmas Day in Sayulita [photograph].  Retrieved from Personal Collection.  CC BY-NC

Zuniga, R. (2020).  Guardabarranco (Eumomota superciliosa) Ave Nacional de Nicaragua [photograph].  Unsplash.  Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/LsFEm2xLTRk  CC Zero