Black and White Color

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Natural Light Still Life

Before we started using the view camera we had one last chance to use our cameras for a natural light still life assignment. I literally shot this two hours before class and grabbed the first thing I saw in my kitchen.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. I am always available for any professional photography for any occasion, and photos are also available for purchase. Please leave comments and suggestions. Thank you for you continuous support. -Deanna C. Sakal

Eggs!

Well, I'm back in school and this quarter my photography class focuses on still life! Yay! I really enjoy still life so I'm excited about this class, but I know it will be very detail oriented and stressful. For this class I am not using my digital DSLR camera, but instead we have to use a view camera. A view camera looks very old school but the ones we use have been modified to shoot straight to the computer. Its so technical and difficult learning this new monster but it's exciting at the same time.
For our first assignment we had to photograph and egg. The only rules were it had to be in black and white and there could only be three objects in the frame. I decided to hard boil my egg and then drop it on the table... This is what I shot!

I used a technique known as rise and fall.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Bewitched Fashion, The Series

I did it! I survived my fashion photography class. For the final we had to do a six image series. The idea has been in my head for a while but I had to find the opportunity, the models , and the location (which fell into my lap). I shoot my final with four lovely models who I went to Italy with. The location was the creepy basement of my friend/model Alex...she has a crematorium in her basement (creepy=PERFECT!) Here are the seven images I chose (I did one extra picture so tell the story)
You have to understand this shoot is completely different than the usual in studio I go for. Im usually about the simple clean image, but I really wanted to challenge myself, which I did in more than one way.

This is one of the rooms where I shot...I got over my fear of spiders during this shoot!

Crematorium room with a tea party

Beautiful model Devin played the innocent tea party guest

Gorgeous models Alex, Emily H., and Emily B. played the creepy tea party guests, Alex was the host it was her basement so I thought it was a good fit!

This is my favorite image!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Bewitched Fashion (Behind the Scenes)

I have been working on my final but i have had the idea in my head for the least couple of months. My roommate Mary Hautman shot a behind the scenes video of my shoot...so here is a sneak peek of what is to come soon!

Go to this link to see it!!!
Bewitched Fashion- Sneak Peek of a Photo Shoot

Hope you enjoyed my photos. I am always available for any professional photography for any occasion, and photos are also available for purchase. Please leave comments and suggestions. Thank you for you continuous support. -Deanna C. Sakal

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Beauty/Glamour

This past week our assignment was Glamour/Beauty. I decided to base my photos off of peacock feathers. I styled the makeup myself taking the colors from the feathers and here is what I came up with this week.

This is the photo I used for my assignment.

But this was my favorite picture from the shoot!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

October Issue of Thread!

Introducing the October Issue of Thread!!! This is the 7th issue I have worked on. Can you believe it! My work is on pages 32-36 for the cosmetics page (again, apparently I'm good at cosmetics, because I've shoot it four or five times.) Check it out at the link below and tell me what you think!!! Also towards the bottom are a few photos that I shot for the story that I liked and they were not put into the magazine!

http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/thread-magazine/thread-magazine-october-2011/2011101301#0

The cover photo was shot by my roommate and friend Mary Hautman! Very exciting I think!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Drama!

For class we had to do a concept photo shoot and the concept was a new perfume called Drama. It was an interpretation assignment. My shoot was in the studio and it was a challenge. I put up two poles and then attached a pole horizontally to hang the curtains on. I had one light on a boom with a 20 degree grid spot to have a narrow light on my model (the amazing Emily Burns), and then I had two lights behind the curtains and they both had red gels on them. Here is what I came up with.

This is the photo I turned in for the assignment!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Moving towards Professional!

I have been trying to get my professional photography up and running and I was recently asked to take some engagement pictures for a couple friends, Emily (my roommate in Italy) and Kenneth. Here are just a few shots. As always I ask to spread the word that I am always available to do any type of photography, my professional website is www.deannasakalphotography.zenfolio.com

It's all about the Texture

So I have returned from Italy and dived back into my photography classes at Ohio University. The class I am taking this quarter is Fashion Photography! Here are some photos from my first assignment "texture". It had to be black and white and show texture through shadows. Enjoy!

Thank you to my fantastic model Becca Romano! I put in one color photo for fun!

This is the photo I turned in for my assignment.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. Please leave comments, or suggestions of photos you want to see posted as well as ideas for photos I can take. Thank You.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Pasta and Vino (the perfect meal in Italia)

While in Italy we went to a place where they produce pasta and then we had a wine tasting. The pasta was produce by a family business and was made and packaged fresh. We had the chance to tour the facility and see how they made their pasta, then we had the chance to buy it. Following the pasta factory we headed to a vineyard for a tour and a wine tasting. We saw how wine is made and then tasted three different wines produced by the vineyard. It was the ultimate italian experience. When my program was over my parents cam over and we went to two more vineyards on a private wine tasting tour. My favorite wine was the dessert wine and white wine from the vineyard I went to with the OU program.

My favorite out of the three was the white wine.

This is the dessert wine, It was made from dried grapes and should be served with a sour dessert.

Chianti is known for its red wine. The vineyards have to use 80 percent merlot grapes to be a D.O.C.G wine and 20 percent any other red grape. The black rooster is the symbol of a D.O.C.G. wine. The wines are colored red by the grape skins. If any bacteria gets into the containers holding the wine, it will ruin and become vinegar. The wine is stored in containers or barrels for 12 - 18 months.

The proper way to taste (red) wine. ( is it sad I'm under 21 and I am experienced at wine tasting?)
1. Pour the wine into the glass and let it breath
2. When holding your wine glass hold it by the stem so the heat from your hands do not mess with the temperature of the wine.
3. Tilt the glass over a white surface to observe the color. Some wines look red while others look like a deep red color.
4. Swirl the wine in the glass and look at the liquid running down the sides. The streaks going down the sides are called leggs. The leggs indicate the alcohol content in the wine. The more leggs the more alcohol.

5. Smell the wine. Don't be shy place your nose deep into the glass.
6. Take a sip of wine and swish it all around your mouth to get the full taste of the wine. Different parts of the tongue can sense different tastes.
7. You can spit out the wine or swallow it, your choice

Eat cheese (pecorino is my favorite) or bread while tasting your wine.

Hope you enjoyed my photos. Please leave comments, or suggestions of photos you want to see posted as well as ideas for photos I can take. Thank You.