Friday, July 31, 2015

Create

  • Create
  • Page 90 Enhancing highlights and shadows
  • During this shoot, I had more light on the top half, and kept the bottom half in a little more shadows.  I thought this worked well, because the lightly gradually increased the more vibrant the colors became.
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Parallel Lines

  • Parallel lines
  • Page 97 Hide distracting stuff
  • In the background of this picture there was a lot of unnecessary things.  They ended up drawing the viewers eyes away from the actual subject.  I had to remove those distracting things to get the shot I wanted.  Some of them I just cut out of the shot, and others, I had to physically take away for this shoot.
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A Group

  • A group
  • Page 68 Macro Lens
  • It was on accident, that I stumbled upon this photo shoot.  I was fortunate enough to already have had my camera settings perfect for this shot.  I was close enough to the wasp's nest to get clear photographs, but not too close that I did not need to use my zoom lens.  I could have gotten closer, but I thought it was safer just to zoom in a little.  I did not take many pictures of this, but thankfully was able to capture a few very clear detailed images.
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Sunshine

  • Sunshine
  • Page 113 Low ISO-speed
  • This photograph was taken with the ISO-speed set to 80.  Because of how low it was, I tucked my arms into my sides to help steady my camera.  I did not mind that the branch in the front is not in focus, because I was trying to focus on more things further back and higher up in the photograph.
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In the Distance

  • In the distance
  • Page 120 Don't always shoot wide angles
  • For this photo shoot I took multiple pictures using both landscape and portrait layouts.  I found I liked the portrait angled photographs better.  It made the photographs slightly more ominous with the trees creating shade in the left side of the photograph which was closest to me.  The portions of the photograph that were actually "in the distance" were bathed in bright sunlight. I thought this created a contrast throughout the photograph.
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Hide

  • Hide
  • Page 68 Macro lens
  • I thought this was a relatively interesting shot.  I was trying to capture how something could be hidden in between these two sides, or what could be hidden on the other side.  With the help of the natural lighting, which was shining directly on to me, I was able to get a good few through the lattice.  Using the macro lens, and just slight zoom I was able to  keep in focus what I needed to.  I actually managed to focus on more than I had originally anticipated.
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Smooth


  • Smooth
  • Page 68 Macro lens
  • I had a lot of difficulty getting my photographs in focus.  There was a lot of wind, which kept blowing everything around.  I was fortunate enough to get a few clear shots during the times when the wind subsided slightly.  Aside from the wind, it was still challenging getting clear pictures because of how close I had to be to my subject matter.  
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Friends

  • Friends
  • Page 164 Still players are boring
  • While this page in the book was talking specifically about sports events, I thought it fit very well with this particular photo shoot.  There was a lot of dancing and movement going on, and I think this photo captures that.  Because of the motion captured in the front, the still people in the background help add to the photograph.  They are focused on something that just needs a little more motionless concentration.  
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Toy

  • Toy
  • Page 181 ISO-speed
  • For this photo shoot my ISO-speed was set to 200.  Even though I was quite close to my subject matter, I did not use my macro lens.  I think had I, my ISO-speed would have drastically dropped, and it would have been harder to get sharp photographs.  I did rest my arms on the table to help unsure I got the maximum clarity possible in these photographs.
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Time

  • Time
  • Page 68 Macro lens
  • The macro setting on my camera worked perfectly for this photo shoot.  I do not think I could have captured this photograph using any other lens.  Since macro lens has such a shallow depth of field, I was able to capture such a contrast between the close-up blur on the left side of the photograph, and then go straight into a perfectly clear photo on the right side.  I think this perfectly depicts time.  In the beginning, things can be very unclear, but as time goes on we are able to see things in sharper focus.
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Fresh

  • Fresh
  • Page 89 Mixing daylight and studio light
  • Since the colors I used in this photograph were warm, I thought it seemed practical to add incandescent overhead light in addition to the natural daylight.  Since the colors from the light and the photograph were so similar, I did not have to adjust my white balance so much.  The light, rather than creating artificial colors, added to the ones that were already there.
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Tiny

  • Tiny
  • Page 173 Interior lighting
  • During this photo shoot I was in a rather dark room.  Even with additional light, it did not brighten up this area very much.  The one advantage I had, was that even though limited, there was some natural sunlight coming in from the side.  This helped to not cast the whole photograph in to darkness.  I did adjust my white balance also, which aided in not adding artificial colors to the background
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Deep

  • Deep
  • Page 98 Clean it before you shoot it
  • Before I started taking these photographs I had to wipe down the piano keys.  Since these particular keys were at the far end, and are less frequently played, they were somewhat dusty. After cleaning them, they looked much better.  Even though it was such a small thing, I could tell it helped make the photographs look just that much nicer.
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Sour

  • Sour
  • Page 91 Making your own product table
  • I was limited in availability of a good product table.  I found this surface, but thought it was a little dark for the whole photograph.  I added a piece of white paper to the greater front of the product shot.  This helped make the photo become a little  brighter, and also added dimension with the differing colors between the background and front, and the colors of the candy.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Work

  • Work
  • Page 179 Low light 
  • The lighting in this room was very dark.  Fortunately there was a little bit of natural sunlight coming in from a nearby window.  That sunshine helped create the lighting on the second coin from the left, which also happened to be directly set to fit for the rule of thirds.  I did not want to add artificial lighting, because I thought it would brighten the coins too much, and remove pixels.  In hindsight, I think I should have maybe added light further off in the room, rather than directly on the coins to hopefully avoid that issue.
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Rough

  • Rough
  • Page 72 Zoomed vs. full frame
  • Since I was so close to my subject, I set my camera to macro lens.  On my camera, when I activate this setting, it instantly zooms the lens in.  I did not think I needed this zoom on, since I was  able to be just a few inches away from my subject.  I took a few images without the zoom, and had difficulty getting clear photographs.  I was too close, for the field of view my camera was trying to access.  I ended up taking a few steps back, and increased my zoom just enough so my frame only contained the tree, and nothing else in the background.
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In Between


  • In between
  • Page 52 Uneven lighting
  • As I was setting up for this photo shoot, I noticed my camera lens was creating a shadow directly over some of my product.  After taking a few photographs like this, I realized I actually liked the way the shadow was cast across the left side of the photograph.  Since the word for the day was "in between" I thought it fit well to have the lighting also be in between.  I had taken some photographs with additional lighting that removed this shadow, but I did not like those pictures as much.
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Cold

  • Cold
  • Page 97 Hide distracting things
  • For this photo shoot there were a lot of things immediately bordering what I was trying to capture.  I tried taking pictures from varying angles, but there were too many distracting things in these images.  I ended up having to take straight on photographs so as to hide the unwanted things on the sides.  Despite this, I felt this photograph still followed the rule of thirds.
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Hot


  • Hot
  • Page 203 Tuck elbows in for sharper shot
  • Since I was photographing upwards, I had a little trouble steadying my camera.  I was also quite close to my subject matter.  I had my camera set to macro lens, which lowered my ISO-speed, allowing the photograph to blur more easily.  I tucked my arms inward, and tried to keep them close to my side.  After doing this, I found that the photographs turned out a lot clearer.
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Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Celebrate

  • Celebrate
  • Page 97 Hide distracting things
  • During this photo shoot, my focal point was position between a building on either side.  It made it increasingly difficult to get photographs that captured the fullness of the shot, without having the buildings be a distraction.  I tried to adjust my position and the angle of my lens to best avoid capturing the buildings as well.  I ended up getting several shots that did not need any re-sizing, and several more, that with a few sizing adjustments, will contain the perfect subject content.
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Red

  • Red
  • Page 140 Overexpose
  • Even though this page in the book was referring to portraits, I felt it worked equally well for this photo shoot.  The area this shoot took place was full of shadow, but there was a great deal of natural and additional light in the greater part of the room.  I knew my colors were rich enough, that overexposing would not remove any of the necessary content.  It helped to create an over bright white background, and made the red pop even more.  If I had had access to more lights, I would have added a few more to remove some of the shadow still in this photo.
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On My Street

  • On my street
  • Page 187 White balance
  • It was very bright outside when I did this photo shoot, so I did not think I would have many issues getting the white balance correct.  I set it to flash, and that seemed to give me the best photos.  I adjusted it to daylight once, just to see the difference between shots.  The photos set to daylight had a very washed out color to them.  I liked the brightness captured in this photo, even though there were not very many colors.
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Sparkle

  • Sparkle
  • Page 68 Macro lens
  • I used my macro lens for most of this photo shoot.  Even though I was able to be so close to my subject, I did end up using my zoom lens for some of the shots depending on the angle, and to avoid unwanted shadows.  I had trouble getting clear photographs.  Because of the shallow depth of field, sometimes it would focus on things further back in the photo, or the surface directly in front.  I was able to rest the lens and my arms on the surface, which helped steady the camera and allowed me to get some crisp detailed photographs.
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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Wet

  • Wet
  • Page 89 Daylight and additional light
  • It was actually unexpected, that I came upon this photo option.  A major benefit for it though was, that I had to advantage of outside daylight that was beginning to go down.  This made it appear almost cloudy outside, and the addition of more light increased the photos composition.  I had light directly above this shoot, and I believe that light was what helped create the highlights.  I was able to keep the white balance on daylight, and captured the exact off white color of my subject matter.
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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Clean

  • Clean
  • Page 68 Macro lens
  • I had my camera set with the macro lens.  I did not use the zoom option, because I was able to be close to my subject matter.  I was able to rest my arms on a steady surface, so I did not have any trouble getting clear photographs.  The limited light made it so the shutter speed did not have to drop very much, which I think was also part of the reason why I managed to get mostly all clear photographs.  My ISO-speed did change to 80 because of the use of the macro lens.  
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Old

  • Old
  • Page 173 Home interiors
  • While the subject matter in this photo is not exactly home interior, it was an item in my home, so I ended up following a few of the principles suggested.  I had the benefit of natural daylight, which helped me to accurately set my white balance.  I also turned on other lights in the room to help give more life to this, what could be, dull object.  By adjusting my angle I was able to give more personality to the picture, and also capture great details without having to cut out much of what I wanted in the frame.
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A Pet

  • A pet
  • Page 181 ISO-speed
  • Since I was photographing an animal, I had to raise my ISO-speed.  I brought it up to 800 to help with the unpredictability of his movements.  I was fortunate enough that there was a great deal of natural lighting, so I did not have issues with the the high ISO-speed creating any noise. I was also able to keep my body steady, and rest my arms on the steps or other available surfaces depending on the angle of the shot.
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A Relative

  • A relative
  • Page 139 Not smiling or looking at the camera
  • For this subject and photo shoot, it was better suited to have my subject face away from the camera.  With this type of shoot, that also meant I did not have to worry about capturing the perfect smile.  Despite my lack of facial view, my subject did smile for a few of the images.  However, the ones she did not smile in looked more natural and as if I had caught my subject unknowingly from behind.  
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Oops


  • Oops
  • Page 170 White Balance
  • For this photo shoot I had the advantage of having the large majority of my subject matter to be white, which helped me accurately decide if it looked white or not.  I did not have a lot of difficulty setting the white balance correctly.  I did find I had to change it depending on the angle of the shot.  Some of the shots would have been blue had I not adjusted my white balance levels.  I did have a few issues with shadows, and the pictures ended up being darker than I would have liked.  In hindsight, I should have added additional lighting.
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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Summer

  • Summer
  • Page 68 Macro Lenses
  • For this photo shoot, as appears to be the norm lately, I used my macro lens.  For me, the word summer continued to embody the idea of flowers, but for this one I thought it seemed less about there being flowers during summer, and more about the other things that come along with the beautiful flowers like insects and arachnids.  Because of my great fear of spiders, I did use my zoom lens for this particular shot, but not at an extensive zoom length.  My ISO-speed was at 80, and my shutter speed 1/500 sec.  My back was towards the sun as suggested in the articles, without casting a shadow
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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Nature


  • Nature
  • Page 68 Macro Lenses
  • Because the idea for the day was nature, it only seemed right, that I should use my macro lens for this photo shoot.  It definitely helped capture the immaculate details on insects, flowers and all things nature.  Partially because of the breeze and the slight movements from my hands, I did have a little trouble getting clear photos when I needed it.  Next time I will try using a tripod as suggested.  Some of the angles and ground surfaces I was shooting from would not have been ideal for the tripod I have.  
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Monday, June 22, 2015

Detailed

  • Detailed
  • Page 68 Macro lenses
  • I felt that using my macro lens for this photo shoot would be best to capture the details I needed.  It was somewhat hard to get clear photos, but I was able to get a few very detailed photos by resting my arms and hands on any surfaces I could manage.  The ISO-speed for this photo, and most of the photos for this shoot, was set to 400.
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Simple


  • Simple
  • Page 95 Dramatic background
  • I had an immensely difficult time getting good photographs during this photo shoot.  Since I needed to be so close to my subject matter, I had trouble in many areas.  I had trouble: getting clear photos, avoiding noise, avoiding shadows, reflections, and backgrounds in places I did not want them, and making sure the exposure was not too high or too low.  I originally had a lighter background, but decided it would be better to change it because my subject matter was so light.  I thought the texture on this phone was a good addition to create something a little more dramatic.
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Sunday, June 21, 2015

Sugary

  • Sugary
  • Page 68 Macro lenses
  • For most of my photo shoots I have used a macro lens, because they have been items that would look best closer up; this photo shoot was not exception.  I felt that for this particular subject matter, that it was especially important to capture the sticky, sugary texture on the candies surfaces.  The macro lens certainly helps to bring out characteristics on items that would otherwise not be seen.
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Friday, June 19, 2015

Transportation


  • Transportation
  • Page 90 Enhancing highlights
  • It was hard taking these photos without getting unwanted shadows in my pictures.  I ended up having the light point directly on the back of the car, so it cast the shadows forwards.  It also enhance the highlights and details; mostly towards the back, but also all over the car.  It brought out the white stripe on the rear of the car and helped to emphasize the characteristic marks all over the vehicle.
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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Entertainment


  • Entertainment
  • Page 179 Low light situations
  • I had a little trouble with this photo shoot, because the light I was using was very small, and my subject matter was slightly larger than I usually use.  I was able to be close enough though, that I could position the light to my advantage.  I think I managed to get rid of unwanted shadows and highlights.  Considering how limited my light source was, I feel the lighting and white balance ended up working relatively well for me
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Silly


  • Silly
  • Page 91 Homemade product table
  • Since I only had one item in this photo shoot, it was easier to make sure the background worked perfectly for what I was trying to achieve.  I was able to be even more creative with my backdrop tools, because it was so small.  I ended up using two pieces of white paper on top of each other so it would not be see through, and I curved the papers and rested them against a mug.  I even rested my cookie on a small candy, so as not to be seen, but also to help my cookie not appear so flat.  There was light directly above my shoot, and then I adjusted my white balance and exposure accordingly.  It really is easy to make a backdrop out of anything.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Bright



  • Bright
  • Page 179 Tricky Low-Light
  • I decided to do this photo shoot in low light, because I did not want the artificial incandescent light to make it look too yellow.  The problem with this though, was that the low light needed the ISO-speed to be raised, which caused noise to be in some of the photos.  I did the best I could to steady the camera on my body and by resting my arm on the nearby table.
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Monday, June 15, 2015

Facial Feature


  • Facial feature
  • Page 181 ISO-speed
  • I had no white balance issues with this photo shoot, which saved me a lot of time between shots.  I was able to have both still content, and minimal need to move my hands.  This allowed the ISO-speed to be set to 200 and still produce relatively clear photographs.
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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Accessory

  • Accessory
  • Page 187 White Balance
  • During this photo shoot I adjusted my white balance to bring out the blue and cool colors in the photo, and get rid of any yellow lighting.  The incandescent light in the room is not ideal for photo taking.  Because of this, I added a small, but direct, fluorescent type light to create the shadow and to correctly show the colors.  
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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Extreme Close-up


  • Extreme close-up
  • Page 203 Sharper shots
  • I had to add additional lighting to this photo shoot, because since the subject mature was so close-up, the colors were very melded together.  Adding the light helped extremely in correctly capturing the colors.  Unfortunately this also meant that my picture's were brighter and it made it more difficult getting a sharp photo so close-up.  I attempted to tuck my arms into my side to help steady the camera better to try and get clearer photos.  It seems to have been a helpful trick.
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Friday, June 12, 2015

I Enjoy...


  • I enjoy...
  • Page 173 Interior lighting
  • I had trouble getting the lighting right during this shoot, because of the location the over head light was in the room in relation to where my photo was set up.  I ended up having to adjust where I was standing, so my shadow did not ruin the less than ideal lighting conditions.  I had to raise my exposure which then lowered the shutter speed to 0.77 which made it extremely hard to get clear photos.  As an after thought, I should have attempted to see if I could get a better photo with a tripod.  The only down side to that, could have been because of the angle I wanted the photo to be, and the tripod would have made it more straight on and level.
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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Favorite Color


  • Favorite color
  • Page 187 White Balance
  • During this photo shoot I had to adjust my white balance multiple times depending on the angle I was shooting, or if I was getting too many shadows in locations I needed to have a brighter view.  I ended up being most satisfied with the photos set to incandescent white balance, with the exposure raised to +1.0.  I may have been able to get better coloring if I had added extra light in my darker areas.
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Young


  • Young
  • Page 176 Exposure
  • I raised my exposure to +1.0 to help brighten my photograph.  Since most of the image was white, I did this to help make it actually look crisp white, rather than the yellow some of the other photos showed.  Raising the exposure adjusted my shutter speed for this photo to 1/10 sec.
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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

In My Home


  • In my home
  • Page 181 ISO-speed
  • When I started taking this photo shoot there was not enough lighting, which made the ISO-speed go up to 1600, and a lot of noise appeared in the photos.  I added more light and changed my ISO-speed to 400 because the shutter speed had dropped to 1/15 sec.  I was finally able to get photos with minimal noise while still getting clear photographs.  
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Monday, June 8, 2015

Celebrate


  • Celebrate
  • Page 170 white balance and 176 exposures
  • I changed both my white balance and exposure.  I changed the white balance to help bring out the colors in the photograph without having the yellow flame and over head lighting take over the brightness and color of the photo.  I raised my exposure to +0.7 to help brighten the image and get rid of the minimal noise that was in a few of the early photographs.
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Sunday, June 7, 2015

Happy


  • Happy
  • Page 170 White balance
  • I set my camera settings for food, and this setting allows to adjust the white balance between warm and cool colors.  I chose to set it on the more cool side, because that helped make the fruit's colors show up accurately in the photos.  I tested the way it looked with the other settings, but it distorted the lighting, which changed both the colors of the fruits and background.
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Saturday, June 6, 2015

Shallow



  • Shallow
  • Page 173 Interior Lighting
  • During this photo shoot I did not change very many of my settings.  There was no need to add additional light, or adjust the exposure.  I just used the interior lighting fixed directly above where I photographed.  The camera was set on close-up, which helped produce clear photos without having to adjust the shutter speed.  I tried to change the white balance based on the incandescent light, but it added an unwanted yellow hue.
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Friday, June 5, 2015

Dry

  • Dry
  • Page 176 Exposure
  • For this photo shoot I only changed my exposure slightly.  When I turned it up, the pictures became too bright, and when I turned it down too much it added noise to my photographs.  I finally settled around -0.3 and -0.7 depending on the angle and closeness of my photo.  For this photo I had my exposure set to -0.3.  I think I might have been more pleased with the coloring had I had it set a little lower, but am still relatively satisfied with the outcome.
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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Under


  • Under
  • Page 181 ISO-speed and shutter speed
  • For this photo shoot I had the benefit of not having to hold my camera very much.  The constant stability allowed the shutter speed to get as low as 1/6 sec. and still produce a clear photograph.  When I had different settings on I had the camera's ISO-speed set to 200. However, when I changed the scene settings to close-up, and rested the camera on the floor instead of holding it, the ISO-speed changed to 400 for the remainder of my photos.
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