What is Art?

I would define art as just elements that when a arranged in a certain way, appeal to the senses or emotions, both good and bad, of human beings.  I believe that it is more than possible to assess and evaluate art, but I think it only goes to the extent of the individual viewing the art.  Everybody is going to have a different opinion about art, however there may be some areas of agreement.  But overall, most people are going to view art differently and have different opinions of what is considered art and what is not.  This also goes for judging what is considered good art and what is considered bad art.  No one person can look at a single piece of art and say that that piece of art is good or bad and that is how it is going to be.  That is just that person's opinion, and opinions are never wrong or right, they are strickly a voice of how one feels. Overall, I think art is much like how one views beauty, in that art is in the eye of the beholder.

Self-Portrait

     
Starting with this piece, I already kind of knew the direction I wanted to go in, but I needed to find an image that I could use to present it.  Thus, searching Google, I came upon this water drop picture in which the world resided in the water drop.  I thought this was perfect for what I wanted to show.  Therefore, using this image I put a picture of my girlfriend and myself in the world.  I feel this is significant because she is a big part of my life and thought it would be appropriate to incorporate her in my self-portrait.  From there, I wanted to include my passion in life, which is photography.  So, I took a picture of my Canon lens and blended it into the picture to give it the presence of being under the water.  Finally, I figured that the piece needed one final touch and took a picture of my hand to incorporate and act like I was holding the water drop of the world.  I feel that the image as a whole is symbolic in that I hold my life in my hand and have control over my destiny.  I consider the puddle to be my life so far, depicting photography as my most resent passion, and my hand adding another segment into the puddle of my life dealing with my most important relationship and love of my life.

Canon EOS Rebel T1i

One of the best cameras on the market right now that buyers have their eyes on is the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. This DSLR is packed with high-definition video capture and other top-end features that surpass others of its kind and make it a competitive rival to the Nikon D5000.

This 15.1MP (megapixel) camera also inherits some top-notch capabilities as seen in Canon’s EOS 50D and 5D Mark II. One such area that is inherited is in its sensors and processors. It gets its 15.1MP CMOS sensor and 14-bit A/D conversion from the 50D. Also, the ISO’s of the T1i can be driven towards a whopping 12,800. Thus, with utilizing the same sensors and processors, the image quality of the T1i can be expected to match that of the 50D.

The T1i is traditional with its LCD display. It has the same fixed 3-inch, 920,000-dot LCD display that Canon’s EOS 50D and 5D Mark II possess. This is a beautiful display that may catch the interest of those more interested in a fine-grain viewing screen rather than an articulate one as seen on Nikon’s D5000. Canon’s T1i’s autofocusing system may also seem familiar. It gets its 9-point, diamond pattern AF array from the EOS Rebel XSi and its center cross-sensor is surrounded by linear sensors.

As for Canon’s T1i’s video capabilities, it has the advantage over others of its kind with its 1920x1080-pixel HD video. However, since the T1i does not have four outlet channels from the sensor like the 5D Mark II, its two outlet channels can only manage 20 frames per second up to a 12 minute clip, making for some choppy video. Because of this and its smaller pixels, its video may be noisier at higher ISOs. The T1i is also only capable of mono sound recording as opposed to the 5D Mark II’s stereo. Although at the lower resolution of 1280x720, video can be shot at 30 fps.

Moreover, the built-in pop-up flash is a basic one that comes with other Canon cameras, but without wireless flash control. And as for the lens compatibility, the Canon EOS Rebel T1i can take any lens from the EF collection, digital only or full frame.

Overall, the Canon EOS Rebel T1i proves to be a prime competitor on the market right now for camera buyers at the price of $800 for the body only and $900 with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S IS lens. Its features listed here are more than enough to spark the interest of the avid photographer, not only for its picture quality, but also for those photographers looking to capture a little video on the side.