Web 2.0

What is web 2.0
There are many definitions out there about what it is and how it works, but there isn't much about what it has done.  To define Web 2.0, there needs to be and understanding of what has made these simple internet sites better.  The first major difference is the ability for viewers to interact with the websites.  Social Networking over the internet has caused a majority of the massive growth of how the internet is being used today.  Before Web 2.0,  websites were basically used to output information, to inform the viewers.  Today, the internet informs the viewers, but it also get responses and opinions from them too.  It has created a two way conversation with the people running the webpages.  Looking at the design of webpages during the first era of web design to today, there is a dramatic difference on how sites are even being created.  Web pages today are being made to appeal to the viewers eye.  People pick web sites, not only for their information, but for the way they look.  Web 2.0 has aloud people to create a site that is not only filled with information and has a two way social communication, is has allowed people to create more dynamic sites.  The last major effect worth talking about is the marketing capabilities that have come from Web 2.0.  Social media, comment boxes, and much more has helped marketing over the internet become more effective.  By allowing the consumers to give feedback on there time in the companies store or site, the company can then further improve upon problems or keep stuff from where they are already doing well.  In the end, Web 2.0 is the ability to connect the users to everyone else in the world and the ability to truly have open information around the world.

Social Media and Marketing
One of the most common uses for the internet is the ability to communicate with other people around the world. Social media has aloud anyone to talk other people anywhere there is a computer and internet.  Many businesses, small and large, have begun using social media to connect with their public.  Marketing in a two-way environment has allowed for companies to improve their business at a more rapid pace.  Marketing and public relations might not be directly associate with the idea of Web 2.0, but the ability for companies to use social media sites, like Facebook, have allowed the development of a much more personal connection with their audience than they did in the past.  Today's market is no longer based around what the company thinks the viewers will like, it is about what viewers say they want from the company.  Social media has opened up new and innovative ways for or businesses to communicate with their clients and to make them want to buy their products or services. Sites like Hulu.com and Youtube have allowed advertising to be moved away from television and onto the internet.  Online shows now have ads placed at the being and middle of the video that a person is watching.  Facebook has keyword connect, which allows the site to places advertising on their site that is correct for you, by taking key words of what you write and relating them to different possible advertisements on the side.  Twitter allows instant updates on what a company is doing, or even make a joke now and then.  With Twitter, a company can get information about what is happening, by the use of hash tags.  There are many different ways marketing is being used in social media today, because of Web 2.0.

How to run a photography project on scene

This is a short guide to how to run a photography project from the beginning to the end.  Below will be a rough outline of the steps needed to have a successful shoot and, more importantly, a beautiful final image.

Before the Shoot

Prepare a photography project

This might be the most difficult and most important step to an entire photo shoot.  You must first come up with a concept or idea that you want to shoot.  It could be as simple as, "I want to shoot my friend in the park," or as complex as, "I want to produce a conceptual image, depicting how a dog sees the world."

Develop the project

Whether it is difficult or not, you have to go further with what you want.  Maybe write down a short list of what you want from the image or images. Here's a short list of questions you can ask yourself to develop your idea further:

• Am I trying to make an emotion connection? If so what emotion?
• What do I want to be in the image?
• Do I have a specific location to use or do I need to find one?
• Are there specific poses that I would like to use?
• What is the most important part of the image?
• etc.

The location and scouting it

The next important step is, if you don't have one yet, find a location.  With your idea developed, you should have an idea of what you are looking for in a location.  Finding the location can take time and you might not find the location that you imagined in your head, so improvising might help. Scouting the location, whether you know it or not, is key to success in making a solid image.  You need to pay attention to the lighting of your scene and other factors, like weather.  Things change, but having an idea of what you will need for lighting and for weather changes is nice to know going into a shoot.

Finding a model

Depending on your skill level, you can join a modeling website, such as ModelMayhem.com and from there you can locate a model that fits your needs for an image.  If you're new or don't want to join a site, you can always ask a friend for their time.  Usually finding a person to be in your image isn't too difficult, it seems.

Planning the Out fit
Sometimes this doesn't matter too much, but if you have a specific style for the photograph, you might want to take time to figure this out.  When you have connections to people or money to waste, you can always go out and get exactly the outfit you want, but that won't apply to many people here.  The best way to do this then, is to have an idea of what you want and explain this to your model.  It can be helpful to have images of what exactly you are talking about.  Visuals help people to be able to think of what they have that is similar to what you are asking.

Setting the Date and Time of the shoot
You have the idea, the location, the model, and their outfit planned.  You should have a understand of how the lighting of the photograph will be done.  Now it is time to set up a date and time for the shoot.  Timing matters.  There needs to be a common time for you and your model can meet, but this time has to also coincide with the time of day you want the image to be taken also.  When a date and time are finalized though, attempt to make a "make up shoot" day also.  This is a fall back, incase something happens to force the shoot to another time.

Day before Preparations
Usually the day before you shoot, you should make sure that your model is still ready for the next day and that the weather, if important, is going to be ok for you.  All of your equipment should be checked and cleaned and ready to be transported.

Day of the Shoot

Set up
It's the day of the shoot.  You've arrived early to scout the location real quick, just incase something is different or something needs to be changed quickly.  Before your model arrives, if they aren't early themselves, set up your equipment.  If you have any extra lighting equipment or backdrops needed to be place, make sure those are done. Set your exposure on you camera and fire off a few test shots.

The Shoot
The time has finally come.  All of your planning has come to this moment.  When everything is the way you want it, it is time to shoot.  When working with a person, it is nice to talk with them, make sure they are comfortable and relaxed. This is the fun part, so move around and even if you think you got your shot, take more.  Get every angel and every pose you can think of and then make some up.

After the Shoot

Post Production

Just because you're done shooting doesn't mean you're finished with your project.  Post production will help to further improve your already great image.  Take your time and look at the small details.  Ask yourself what needs to be fixed to make this image look like the one in your mind.  It doesn't matter if you have Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom when it comes to editing.  If you look around the internet you can find cheap or even free photo manipulation programs.  With these you will go into your image and begin fixing it.  When you feel that the photo is finished, stop and save.  You are finished with your photography project.

The truth is, this isn't always simple.  There are a lot of factors involved in making a photo project come together, but in the end, it is worth the work.  These steps can give you a guideline to what you need to do for you to accomplish any kind of photograph you are trying to create. All images property of Matthew Sodon Photography.

Tips

• To find ideas for a photography project, search the internet and look at images that inspire you.
• Lighting is important to creating a good image. You should probably study a few lighting setupsbefore you shoot.

The Good and the Bad of Social Media

After reading the two articles (located at the bottom) for class, I have come up with a short summery of bother the positives and the negatives of social medias and how they play into modern society.

Looking first at the positive side of the social media, I can say that there has been, for sure, a good use of social media in the past decade.  The first point to come across was the ability for people to connect with others, from around the world, with a click of a button.  Allowing intercultural communications has allowed us as humans to discover the ways of others around the world and make connections with people that previously were unheard of.  Another point that is made is the use of social media helps those who cannot physically be social with others, whether they are elderly, have a physical body issue, which doesn't allow them much mobility, or they cannot physically be around people without feeling uncomfortable.  It isn’t easy sometimes for people to me others, because they are frail when it comes to who they are, but the Internet has allowed these gaps in their personal lives to change drastically.   Social media can also be used to help people make connection with others, which might have never occurred otherwise offline.  Stereotypes have been tested and many people are now looking at people and cultures in a new light.  Social media has allowed people to connect and discover new things about other, giving them a better understand to something that previously was only perceive by a small percentage of a population.

Following the positive side, the negatives, in the situation of social media plays an important role in how to view this ever-changing style of living.  A front-runner problem brought up in the article, which I have personally seen, is the affects of social media on the human psyche.  Though social media has been known to create connections, it can also cause a person to slip into depression, whether it is from cyber bulling or noticing how much other people are doing than you.  Recent studies show that social networking sites, like Facebook, are causing people to feel that their lives are less than fulfilling, due to the mass amount of pictures and post people make about their own lives. The lost of social privacy was another major issue, discussed in the article.  We, as the users of the social media sites, believe that we have privacy protection on these websites, but the article brings up the fact that we just might not have all the privacy that is being offered.  Our information is being sold to companies for marketing research.  Also, everything that a person says of places on the Internet is free look at that person’s life.  Nothing is a secret if it’s on the Internet.  Other problems to be noted were: Lost of productivity, online predators, incorrect grammar and spelling, and much more.

With everything in the world, there are good a bad things to be said about social media.  The final choice is up to you on how to feel about it.  Do you think social media, being a powerful way to connect with people around the world, is worth all of the dangers and risk that come with it?

A Social Society: The Positive Effects
Negative Impact of Social Networking

My Interview

Brielynn Bell, age 21, currently enrolled at the State University of New York at Buffalo and is a senior, majoring in journalism, sat and talked with me about her first experience about using the internet.  After discussing her time using AIM, she talked of a sight called, "Black Planet," which she stated was very similar to the site I wrote about, Myspace.  There was a similarity found between our two stories, when it came to how we first got involved with the internet.  It seemed that being about the same age, we have the same idea about what we thought the internet was good for.

Further into our discussion we both took a look back at what we did with the internet as kids and realized just how dangerous it real was for us to be on those websites.  When looking back, we now know of all the stories of predators that were caught picking up children on these web applications and sites.

I found more about Brielynn, when we started to talk about what she now does with the internet.  She began by telling me that it was much easier for her to stay connected with her family down south.  With all of the access of social media, the availability to stay in touch leaves her feeling much more in control.  Though Facebook isn't her favorite site, you can easily find her uploading images onto Instagram, or possible tweeting about her day on Twitter.  The internet has become a tool, which both Brielynn and myself will use now in our everyday lives.

My First Internet Use

The Internet is a way to communicate with people around you.  Everyday is a social encounter in a way, which was unheard of not long before.  I remember my first time using the Internet.  I was 14 and had heard my friends talk about it.  My parents decided that it was need in the house and that day I learned about AOL instant messenger (AIM). I spent my first day talking to my friends for an hour on the Internet.  It was great to be able to talk with people without having to utter a single sound.  As a 14 year old, I was very into my privacy and enjoyed the fact that no one knew who I was talking to or what I was talking about. 

While I talked to my friends, I found my way on to a website that would cause me more trouble than it would at making friends.  MySpace was my world.  My top eight were the people I considered to be my closest friends.  These were the people who would appear on my page, when people clicked on me.  Looking at pictures and listening to my music was all I did with the Internet.  Life was great.  It wasn't until a few years that MySpace needed to go, but when I first joined that day, I was amazed by the possibilities to create and change my own sight to fit my personality.

 Since my first encounter with the Internet, my use has grown to the point where I am constantly active on it, it seems.  I have the Internet with me at all times, on my phone or laptop.  When I was first on the Internet as a teen, I was addicted to it, but now it is strange to be away from it today.  I use AIM still, but only to message my girlfriend from my phone.  I current use Facebook, Tumblr and a few other social media sites to advertise my photography and other artwork.  In a day, I sift through thousands of images and watch hours of videos, whether it be clips of people doing dumb things around the world, television shows I might have missed the night before, or even tutorials on photography lighting.

 The Internet has expanded to drastic measures, to the point that what you post on your wall, on Facebook, might cost a friendship.  An image of you doing a keg stand at the party you went to could be the image your boss sees and fires you for.  When I got on the internet the first time, I never thought of how much this would matter, but now seven years later, I worry about every little thing that I type, afraid that the wrong person might see.  The Internet is much more a part of ever person’s life that it is the basis for how the live and deals with the real world.  Who knows what it will be like in another ten years though.