. . . a simple invitation to walk within a marked boundary . . . without any definite plans other than walking and immersing ourselves in this encounter and experience. (page 47)
Essentially, we would like you think about the walk to town before we go, so therefore we want you to make some planning posts before your trip. We also want you to make an evaluation post at the end of the week.
Planning
If you look at page 38 you can see how ‘groups nominate who, what and where they wanted to explore‘ and on page 39 the group came up with a number of themes for their exploration.
As such, we would like you to think about some themes that you could explore on your walk, think about the trip as a chance to capture people in the ‘wild’ in their natural habitat, therefore answer these questions:
what do people do in the ‘wild’?
what does this activity tell us about society, humanity and individuals?
As Sarah writes on page 51 “we’re starting to use the city and what people are doing in it as a probe to enable us to speculate”
Shoot
For the actual shoot we want you to take photos in the style of environmental portraiture or street photography. From your earlier research and analysis you should be able to identify some key characteristics, but we would definitely suggest that you
try to capture images and moments around your set theme (street photography)
try to talk to people before you take their image so that you can a good frame and a sense of intimacy (environmental portraiture)
you avoid ‘back of the head shot’, shots from too far away, shots that don’t have people in them, shots that don’t have permission or consent, shots that create a risk or are inappropriate (see policy above for guidance and advice)
Evaluation
When you have uploaded all of your images (in a contact sheets) please select 3-5 of your favourite images and provide some analysis that helps us to understand why you like them the best. We will be looking to print out and mount the best 2 (or 3) photos, so you will need to upload them to Mdrive>depts>photography>students>image transfer>PRINTING and we will arrange for them to be printed over 1/2 term.
We would also like you to provide a creative description of your walk, similar to Soile’s page43, Ann’s page 44 and David’s page 45, so have a look at them before you go.
Extension
As an extension you could look at the concept of :
During this part of the course we want you to develop some more confidence with using the manual settings of your camera, which will help you to show flair and creativity in your images.
First of all you need to just take a couple of photos, transfer them to your folder (we suggest you create a folder in your M drive as this will have the most space for you to work in).
Then you need to use a suitable programme to convert all of your thumbnails into a contact sheet, then you need to upload your contact sheet to your blog.
When you are confident with this process you can then start experimenting with your camera.
1. WHITE BALANCE
Try to understand the concept of White Balance by taking some more pictures that have the same composition and manual settings – but this time alter your white balance settings. In your analysis refer to the following terms: Colour Cast, Temperature, Kelvin Scale. As an extension task you could try setting a manual white balance and you could even try to fool the camera by setting a manual white balance with a coloured pieced of paper. Here are some resources to help.
2. ISO (International Standards Organisation)
Use A priority mode to achieve a shallow depth of field and make sure that at 400 ISO you have an even exposure (use the light meter on your camera)
Take the same picture (frame, angle, focus etc) but move through the different ISO settings.
Check your pictures and see what results you get.
Take some more pictures and adjust your Aperture setting and/or your light meter to make sure that all of the ISO settings have a reasonable exposure.
Return to the classroom.
Upload all of your photos as contact sheets
Define the term ISO and
identify the ways in which it affects your photographs
and why and when you would need to use a different ISO setting
Go back and take some more photographs in a different setting (eg outside on a sunny day) to explore and understand ISO further.
3. SHUTTER SPEED
This week we need to add one more key feature to your knowledge of manual camera settings – ‘SHUTTER SPEED’. To start with set your camera to Tv (Time Value). This means that when you adjust your camera settings, it will change your shutter speed value and adjust other values (aperture, ISO) accordingly to ensure a balanced exposure – ie not too dark / not too light (or in photography language not too overexposed or too underexposed).
First of all let’s try to work out how shutter speed affects the image. Then think about where, when and why you would want to adjust shutter speed value.
Then, undertake a task to show your own practical understanding of this task – remember to take good quality images as part of your practical task, think about light, setting, composition, NVC etc etc etc.
You need to record your own examples, so I suggest you look at this pdf to give you some ideas shutter-speeds and then look at the work of Francesca Woodman:
before you produce:
some images that record movement very slowly, so that the image is blurred, impressionistic and abstract (use a tripod to help keep your camera steady)
some images that record movement very fast, so the image is sharp, clear and in focus
some images using some specific techniques: eg ‘zoom bursts’, ‘whip pan’ or ‘time lapse’ which will show a more advanced command of the camera and the use of shutter speeds.
For each shoot:
upload all of your images as a contact sheet
use formal written language to discuss and analyse what you have done showing a sense of evaluation (what was good, bad, could be improved etc)
Include key terminology in your post
Include some images or videos about shutter speed in your post (to illustrate your ideas)
Highlight your favourite image (or couple of images)
All sets of images (at least 12 photos for each) should show your ability to take a good photograph, so pay attention to composition, exposure, framing, light, NVC, setting, balance, shape, form, colour etc etc etc.
4. Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels…as shown in the diagrams below
This image clearly shows how the focus of an object and its background can be adjusted by controlling the aperture (or f-number) only…
Now your turn…
set up objects in a scene in which you maintain the same focal length, ISO, WB but adjust only the APERTURE to create a similar comparison
create a blog post to describe and explain your process and results alongside your most effective images
5. Depth of Field
A basic definition of depth of field is: the zone of acceptable sharpness within a photo that will appear in focus. In every picture there is a certain area of your image in front of, and behind the subject that will appear in focus.
APERTURE CAN / DOES AFFECT DEPTH OF FIELD
FOCAL LENGTH CAN / DOES AFFECT DEPTH OF FIELD
Depth of field can dramatically change the feel or mood of an image, and bring our attention to a particular focus point…where the subject is isolated from the background. This is known as a shallow or narrow depth of field
For example…
But we can also a apply a wide, deeper or larger depth of field by using a small aperture eg f22 or f36 to create a sense of more aspects of the image being in focus…
For example
So…to increase depth of field you should :
Narrow your aperture (larger f-number)
Move farther from the subject
Shorten focal length
and to decrease depth of field you should :
Widen your aperture (smaller f-number)
Move closer to the subject
Lengthen your focal length
With your camera try these techniques and create a blog post to document your experiments (portrait or street photography)
Define what depth of field is…add an article or video to support your understandin
insert your images so that you can compare various depths of field
describe and explain how you created the images…analyse the best ones using key terminology where possible
EXTENSION ACTIVITY…creating BOKEH effects
Bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”.
Perhaps the first way that we engage with photography is an emotional response – ‘like’ / ‘dislike’. At times we may not even understand why we like or dislike a photograph, but it will create an emotional response that is loaded with value and meaning – about us, the image, the colour, shape or form.
Emotional analysis is useful and certainly very powerful (it can override other responses, such as an intellectual response) but can be quite limited. So be careful.
Task:
Open up the folder ‘Photos for Analysis’ in Depts>Photography>Students>AS
Choose 3 photos
A photo that you immediately feel connected / interested in
A photo that you immediately feel alienated or disinterested in
A photo that you are not sure if you are interested in or not . .
Write up your initial feelings towards each photo. At least a paragraph/5 sentences/80 words etc
Reflect on what you write about . . . in other words try to understand your emotional response is it a colour, a person, a memory, a look, an object . . . .
Upload the photo and your analysis to the blog (I will help you log onto the blog, but if you can’t, write it up and post it at home)
Extension: To help you understand the more formal elements of photography look at this ppt rule-3rds-line-balance-export
Analysis 2: Formal Analysis & Textual Analysis
Colour
Light (natural / outside)
shadows
Rule of thirds
Line / leading lines
Depth
Symmetry / parallels
Balance
Shot size (BCU, Long shot, MCU)
angles
Framing
Focus
Depth of field
Aperture
Posture / gesture / look (non verbal communication = NVC)
Props
Setting
Sets
Clothing
Contrast
Tone /Colour palette
Shutter speed
Cropping
Post-production eg saturation
Type of lens eg telephoto / portraiture lens
distortion
Task:
Complete a Formal Analysis of 2 of your chosen photographs using at least 20 terms list above.
Analysis 3: Critical and Contextual Analysis
How to analyse a photograph critically?
During this A level you will be expected to critically – this does not mean analysing the negative aspects of the photograph. But it does mean that you are required to ‘read’ a photograph beyond the surface ie beyond your emotional response and beyond the purely technical or formal elements.
In other words, you need to think about a photograph in terms of intention, context & ideology (ie what attitudes, beliefs and ideas are held within the photograph). You should also know something of the history of photography and how each photograph fits into the overall subject.
Use the four bullet points below and the attached ppt to help ‘deconstruct’ and understand the three photos you have chosen.
“criticism is informed discourse about art to increase understanding and appreciation of art”
Describing ~ FORM ~ What is here? What am I looking at?
Interpreting ~ MEANING ~ What is it about?
Evaluating ~ JUDGEMENT ~ How good is it?
Theorizing ~ CONTEXT ~ Is it art? How does it relate to the history and theory of photography, art and culture?
Source: Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images, by Terry Barrett, 1990, pg:3
Go back to 1 of your 3 photographs and analyse it in terms of a ‘critical & contextual study’. In other words, think about the form, meaning and context of the photograph. Is there a theoretical framework (formalism, feminism, semiotics, social/historical . . etc) for you to place the photograph and thereby understand its intention in more detail?
Include references from other (academic) sources
Include some a video extract that helps you to explain your analysis
EXAMPLE: CINDY SHERMAN
I didn’t think of what I was doing as political. To me it was a way to make the best out of what I liked to do privately, which was to dress up. –Cindy Sherman – Black and White Magazine
My intentions are neither feminist nor political. I try to put double or multiple meanings into my photos, which might give rise to a greater variety of interpretations… – Cindy Sherman – except from an interview with Wilfried Dickhoff., Prospect : Photography in Contemporary Art , ISBN: 390816219X , Page: 280
I have this juvenile fascination with things that are repulsive. It intrigues me why certain things are repulsive. To think about why something repulses me makes me that much more interested in it. I feel that I have to explore it.
I didn’t want to make “high” art, I had no interest in using paint, I wanted to find something that anyone could relate to without knowing about contemporary art. I wasn’t thinking in terms of precious prints or archival quality; I didn’t want the work to seem like a commodity.
So how could we interpret all of this (often) contradictory information. How does it help us to understand the changes in society that were occurring at this time – feminism, performance art, conceptual art, a ‘postmodern’ obsession with the media.
Watch above to get a better understanding of her approach to photographic form and the use of ‘performance’ in photography.
What does this tell us about purpose and/or point of photography?
How does this link photography to art?
Watch above from 2:00 to understand the relationship between Cindy Sherman’s character work and feminism.
I didn’t think of what I was doing as political. To me it was a way to make the best out of what I liked to do privately, which was to dress up.