The Art of Photography With James Mikaelian

I captured a wonderful image of a pinecone against pine needles and dirt. I learned that you can find magnificent designs all throughout nature. I also realized how easy it is to take pictures if you put a little thought into them. This image was simple to create, and only took me about 30 seconds to set up.

As one of the first pieces I have taken, this is a simple, yet wonderous image of a purple flower among the mulch. I love this dark purple color that fades into the white on this flower. Nature is really fun to photograph, and it is super beautiful.

Dew is a magnificently beautiful thing in nature, and contrasted against the vibrance of the wildflower it makes it truly stand out. I learned how important it is to stabilize your camera with this piece, since the flower is slightly blurry.

Here is an image of a very intricately carved bronze sword. From this piece, I learned the importance of natural lighting in photography, since pictures without natural lighting turn very yellow.

This photograph shows how even the simplest things can become works of art, such as a bowl of popcorn. I really like the texture of the popcorn kernels, as well as the writing on the bowl. it's as if you can almost taste the sweet, buttery popcorn when glancing at this photograph.

This image is a simple shot of the neck on a guitar, and the rich colors of the wood and the strings. I learned the importance of things like using the flash on a camera, otherwise this image would be extremely dark and hard to see. The strings reflect the flash quite well and it makes them pop.

This picture was extremely fun to create. It depicts a spoon stuck in the grass, with the reflection of me and my friend taking it. The whole image was turned black and white, and I then proceeded to hand color the grass.

This duotone image shows a strange wine glass outside, and how water can refract light. I placed the glass with water outside around sunset, and the refractions were truly breathtaking. In order to make the duotone, I went through a strict editing process to create this work of art.

This photograph was simply taken of a pine tree in my backyard. I sprayed the tree with a hose to create the effect of dew on the needles. The water droplets refract the light in a spectacular fashion. For the black and white effect, I applied a gray scale filter to it.

This image is a tryptic I created of different automobile parts. The bottom two are of cars, and the top image is of a motorcycle exhaust pipe. This motorcycle had just crashed, and the roughed up texture of the carbon fiber and metal was extremely fun to capture. I applied a slight blue glow effect to the outside of the images, to add a bit more pop to them. Effects like these can really make your piece stand out.

Out of all the pictures I have ever taken, this is by far my favorite. This piece shows how you can create a surreal feeling through photography. I used five different images to create this piece, and it came out truly magnificent. I learned all about different editing styles while making this. It took several weeks to make, due to the complexity of the project.

Oil has magnificent properties when put in water, due to it being hydrophobic. To capture these images, I poured water into a bowl and used my phone to make really cool designs. I learned how you can make awesome designs like these with nothing but a camera and a few household cooking items. This collage of oil in water pictures is all comprised of "cool" colors, such as blues and purples.

This oil in water collage is very similar to the first one, but has the theme "warm". This is because it is comprised entirely of warm colors, such as reds, yellows, and pinks. Yet again this piece helped me learn different editing styles, as well as ways to take pictures and designs you can create.

I am proud to present my Adobe Photoshop Certification. I earned this on November 14, 2024. This was a huge accomplishment for me and it proves my skill in the photoshop editing world. I am excited to attain more certifications as I continue my photography passion.