robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

This is from another post on PM that I put up, and used your "First Day of School" as the example for a collage.

Well collage is more or less "an art" so no real definite rules - but a few things/techniques can be learned.

Just like with those who want to be writers - the advice READ everything in the genre you want to write so you can to build up a store of examples on how to do it.
Find, look at and study collages. Then experiment with some yourself.

My formula for classroom posting was usually separate images surrounding a central theme, either image or words/poem etc. I did a lot of seasons of the year for my So Cal-two season students, HOT and dry, not so hot and damp. Those who had never traveled were fascinated by the fall colors and the snowscapes. And I often built them around J R R Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books such as his "walking songs"

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can.”

Or:
Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.

Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.

Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!

[edit] Frodo's version
Another version of this poem is sung by Frodo, in part, as he departs from the Shire with Sam, on their way to the Grey Havens.


Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate
And though I oft have passed them by
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon and East of the Sun


For images, photo essays like "First day of school" it might be a central image of the child surrounded by smaller images (vary the sizes and placement) of details of the first day experience. Not all need to have the child in them, one or two might be the school and school supplies or if you can get in the classroom with or without students. And maybe throw in a shot of the K or 1st Grade teacher greeting the new students as they enter the room.

That first stanza or the one that starts: Home is behind, the world ahead would be good for the new life started by the first day of school.
Take a few pictures, not necessarily of the first day since that is past but which can fit into the idea. Years from now she won't care if all the images really were the first day. They are that start of a life's journey. If the school allows it get her an inexpensive little camera ("things" can happen to them at school) and encourage her to contribute pictures as the years go by. She may even want to get in on doing the same things for younger siblings, cousins, friends etc.

Pysanka Artist Loc: Rochester, NY

Fantastic ideas!!! We are Lord of the Rings/Hobbit fanatics!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Middle Earth Forever!!!!!

It is about time for me to reread all 4 books again. I count the Hobbit and the 3 volumes as one long saga of Middle Earth and the RING.

My oldest son did Elvish Rune Calligraphy in HS and was the student council calligrapher doing things in rune style letters. Between us we owned or still own everything Tolkien ever wrote and he is 45 this year.

I got introduced to Tolkien in Jan 1967 when I came home from Nam on Emergency Leave to be with my mother when my stepfather died. A friend handed me vol 1 of the trilogy as I was packing to leave for home. I took back a paperback set of the trilogy and The Hobbit. They basically got worn out being passed around our HQ unit as part of a sort of co-op library in the HQ Company. Even some of the officers were part of it. Slow nights at the HQ you could get a lot of reading done to stay awake on night shift. Sitting listening to the hum and crackle of a radio net waiting for a call could put you to sleep at 2 AM if you didn't have something to do.

Bill Gordon

This little sweetheart is so adorable I can't even pay attention to the technical substance of this thread. With such a range of facial expressiveness, I see a performing arts career ahead for her. Hope she loves school.

Pysanka Artist Loc: Rochester, NY

She couldn't wait to hop on the bus Bill! And by the way, she does love to perform for family!!

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

My daughter has taken first-day pictures of her three kids starting in kindergarten and they are now in high school. A family tradition. I hope you will do so for years. Creates quite a record.

Now, to the photograph. You know I was going to take this into LR. The picture bothered me a lot because of the lack of contrast and off-color. I thought they would be easy to fix but I was wrong. Here is what I found. Applying your lens profile did not matter as you would expect from longer lenses. The profiles are most effective in fixing perspective problems of shorter lenses. I then worked on the visual contrast and still could only get a soft look. I know this was in the open shade but I thought I could get more snap.

My next step was in PS. I applied the shake reduction filter which made the picture just a little sharper. I do not know if this is the lens quality or a auto-focus problem. You might have to adjust the auto-focus. Finally, I got to what I really wanted to do and that was to fix the color balance. I did this by adjusting the levels of the separate RGB channels. In all cases, both the minimum and maximum values were out of range. In other words, each color was clipped. The result was the same color cast as in the original. In other words, the histogram does not lie and overexposure was the culprit. Fortunately, you shot in raw so you could edit to the color balance and appearance not possible with jpg. Unfortunately, the exposure was off slightly. As have some have done already, you can certainly make the image warmer which is certainly appropriate for the skin tones.

You might want to go back out there with the same lighting and bracket some exposures to see how they affect processing. I do not this the ISO of 1000 was an issue. The noise was pretty low.

Shooting kids, especially one eager to jump on to bus for her first day, can be challenging enough to make you forget to check the settings. I get around this by taking a few test shots before the subject comes. You still have a cute picture for a lifetime. And a lesson learned.

Papa j Loc: Cary NC

Cute kid

Joe

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

My take. Not completely satisfied but in the right direction. Skin still off.

(Download)

Pysanka Artist Loc: Rochester, NY

Yes, this is a used lens I just acquired, and I do want to check for auto-focus to see if things need to be adjusted . . . . . just add that to my list of things to do why don't cha? It was an overcast day with threatening rain. Every shoot is a lesson learned!