Chosen Photograph:

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Above shows the photograph I have chosen to edit in response to the fashion photograph I was recreating. I have chosen this image as it was one of my most clear photographs and I feel replicates the original best. I also feel that in this photograph the lighting was working well compared to some of the other outcomes I produced and the subject is standing in the most similar way to the original photograph.

My aims while editing this photograph is to not adjust the photograph too much but to adjust the light and contrast to then put a black and white filter over the top to then create an accurate final outcome.

Editing Process:

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For the first step towards turning the photograph into black and white I started by adjusting the brightness and the contrast slightly so that I had the best amount of shadows and highlights that I felt would work well once in black and white.

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Next I went in and only slightly adjusted the actual shadows and highlights just to enhance what I previously did with the brightness and the contrast.

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For the next step I experimented with placing a cooling filter over the top of the photograph to see how this would effect the image when putting it into black and white to take away the yellow and warm tones.

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Finally I placed the black and white filter over the top of the photograph to recreate the final photograph best and to enhance this photograph itself more.

Final Outcome:

This shows the final outcome for my finished edited photograph, I feel the photograph worked well. I feel it works well in the black and white tones and placing the cooling filter over the top also worked well with enhancing the photograph.

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Background:

The early 1960’s featured a number of diverse trends.  It was a decade that broke many fashion traditions, mirroring social movements during the time.  During the late 60’s there was a backlash by radical feminists in America against accouterments of what they perceived to be enforced femininity within the fashion industry.  Instead these activist wore androgynous and masculine clothing such as jeans, work boots or berets.

Plan:

For this photoshoot I will be taking the images in the studio to give me the best lighting for recreating these AD’s I will use two different subjects one in each of the images.  I am going to be dressing the subject in clothing that is almost exact or close to what the subject in the original image is wearing.

For the first recreation seen below I have found someone I feel will work best to take on this photograph and I have asked them to dress in a way similar to that of the original picture for the best possible recreation I can gain.

I will be trying to show my inspiration from Cindy Sherman by the way I am having my subjects try to embody the way the original subject was standing and acting.

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First recreation:

Above shows the photograph that I have chosen to recreate.  I had my subject stand against the wall and try to recreate the pose that the model was standing in herself.  What I feel could have been done better would be to find an actual wall to take the photographs against rather than in the studio however I feel the rips on the floor of the studio I feel help with the recreation.

Above shows a contact sheet of the images I produced on the day of the photoshoot.  As can be seen some of the photographs came out too dark when I began to adjust the light, however this was able to be fixed in the camera settings with some adjustments.  Taking and thinking of the inspiration from Cindy Sherman I tried to have my subject embody and look at the original image a couple of times to try and recreate and represent the woman in the original photograph.

Unedited Best Outcomes:

Below shows my 6 personal best outcomes from the photo shoots.  After selecting these I will go in and start editing my 2 favorites to be more like the original picture and to enhance them more.

Planning:

The aim of this photoshoot is to capture images which are able to capture the contrast of Jersey’s seawall during the war compared to now, the same aim as Gina Socrates. In order to do this I will capture more macro and texture photographs, to capture the war side as it showcase the more unpleasant side of the sea wall. To capture the walls beauty, I will look at capturing more landscape images which outcast onto the beach. I want to be able to show experimentation with camera settings and so I will be adjusting the ISO to create a subtle noise to work with the textured images. Moreover, I will look at experimenting with different angles, shutter speeds and white balances. One thing I noticed from Socrates images was that her images seemed to have a hint of orange/yellow to help show historical factors, by adjusting my white balance and using the Hue setting on photoshop I believe I will be able to achieve this effect within my work. The location of the photoshoot will be down at First Tower// Saint Helier sea wall, as it is a long wall which will provide multiple opportunities to capture different images of the same stimulus. I will also capture St Ouen’s sea wall as that is the wall Gina captured when she conducted her photoshoot.

Contact Sheets:

Evaluation:

To evaluate this photoshoot I believe that I have been semi-successful with the images that I have taken. I believe that I have met my artistic aim by capturing the two bipolar uses of the sea wall, in order to present Jersey’s journey through the second world war. However, I do believe that I could have taken more images in order to have more outcomes to work with during the editing process. I was able to capture my images at different viewpoints, from a straight on angle to a birds eye view (which where not as successful as they where captured on a plain ride create a blur to the images). In order to further develop this idea I am going to manipulate my top outcomes on photoshop. I am wanting to create double exposures, level, adjust curves, hue and saturation in order to not only make my images have stronger links to Socrates, but to further develop my presentation of the change in the sea wall in the second world war.

Contact Sheet:

For this shoot I originally wanted to focus on a recreating the work of John Davies, however when editing, I found that using a tilt-shift lens effect in Photoshop (by using the quick mask tool in Photoshop, then using the gradient tool to select which area I wanted to be in focus, then deselected the quick mask, and finally added a lens blur from the ‘tools’ section of the quick bar) made the idea of ‘Journeys and Pathways’ stand out more than just landscape images. I utilized this effect to show how small everything really is, or at least how small it can seem. The final outcome of my images looked like this:

Final Images

Out of all my images, I found that this one worked better than most others taken in terms of creating a realistic looking tilt-shift effect, in essence making the buildings look like tiny scale models. I think the angle, and visibility of what is behind the subject in focus helps create this effect.

For this image, I liked how the wider angle helps this it in showing much more than some of the other images, making it look more like a smaller model city. However I think that the shot would have looked nicer if the houses in the foreground weren’t there. Despite this, I do think it once again supports the message of showing how small we are, especially seeing the Avenue in the background, stretching into the mist on the other side of the island.

Unlike the first 2 final images, I wanted to show a more close up view on the buildings, and personally I find this image looks most like a model building set, and really emphasizes the miniature/model look that I was aiming to create. However, I struggled in photographing more interesting buildings for these shots as they were taken around the Fort Regent area, and therefore meant I had very little to work with in terms of getting nice buildings at the right angle, yet I still think this image works for the message I’m trying to put across.

For this photo shoot, I wanted to look at landscapes and movement. I also want to look at portraits as I can also show journeys and pathways with people. I wanted to convey the idea of going on a mental journey and discovering yourself. I also wanted to look at physical journeys such as going out on a walk or going on trips to places around the island.

I chose Andrew S Gray because I really enjoyed playing with the technique he uses and experimenting in the style of ICM. I already have some photos that I took at the start of this course which I think are some really great photos and shows the technique off really well.

Photos from Pre AS Task:

I want to work with this style of taking photos, I really like how these photos came out so in this photo shoot, I want to achieve the same look.

Contact Sheet:

Final Images (unedited):

I chose these images because I think they show the technique of ICM really well and I think they look the most visually appealing. I am really happy with how these photos turned out, but I think that they do need a bit of editing to enhance the strength of them. M camera was set to shutter priority, my ISO was 400 and the F number was between 4-10, depending on how much sun there was.

Final Images (edited):

I used Photo Shop to edit these photos. 

I really like how these edited photos turned out. I feel like I have captured the theme of journeys and pathways well as these photos were taken when I went to the beach with my parents. I’m also happy with the editing of these as I believe they now look a lot better than the original photos, as some photos were too over exposed.

 

 

1st Shoot Contact Sheet:

For this shoot, I wanted to focus on the areas involving security/ surveillance, as well as things that have been left behind(preferably something that has a story, or at least seems as though it does). During this shoot I also tried to get detailed shots of car wheels and rims, as these are the objects in contact with the ground whenever someone gets into a car and drives wherever they need to go. I found it interesting how each wheel had a distinctive look, from the large alloy wheels of a luxurious Bentley, to the unique yellow and purple wheels of a Mitsubishi 4×4. I also found that a lot of signs throughout town were in a poor and dilapidated state, showing the metaphorical journey of time has slowly destroyed or covered up the signs.

Final Images:

For this set of images, I noticed an old tractor that was left parked in an overgrown car park. I wanted to show the aged and tired red/orange paintwork and to give the vehicle a story. Following on from my original idea of photographing old, forgotten objects, and this fits perfectly into that category. Despite the warm colours of the tractor, I personally find this set of images to be quite sad, as they have an atmosphere of abandonment.

I wanted to try and use elements of psycho-geography, using ideas of surveillance and security, combined with old discarded items such as newspapers and other litter people have left around. When I was compiling these images together, I liked the idea of having the security cameras surrounding the newspaper, where the only visibly clear word is ‘convict’. I also like the use of colours used in this image, as each picture inside of the final piece has a similar colour palate as the one diagonal to it.

1st Experimental Shoot Contact Sheet:

In this small shoot I wanted to try and explore some of the ideas I was having around Journeys and pathways, most notably light trails from the back of cars. I have done a small amount of this kind of photography before, but this time I had a better idea of what I was doing, as well as bringing a tripod to hold the camera steady. I also used a wireless remote trigger for the camera to avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter button down. I also used the “BULB” mode on the camera to capture some of the images and found it was easier than having to set a certain amount of shutter speed, as it was easier to time the picture with cars going past. I also tried experimenting with photography on public transport, unfortunately, as I took these pictures late at night, there were no other people on the bus, which meant I couldn’t quite get the kind of photos that I wanted. I also tried experimenting with the contrast Between old and new buildings, but as it was dark, it was difficult to capture both  the lit up modern architecture in the same frame as the darker, dimly lit older buildings.

2nd Experimental Shoot Contact Sheet:

For this shoot I wanted to utilize a macro lens to get very close up pictures of circuitry and computer components, however I didn’t have access to a real macro lens and instead used a trick that I found online when researching. I found that by taking the lens off of the camera and flipping it around (so that the part that is normally attached to the camera is facing away, towards the subject) created a very zoomed in, macro effect with a very shallow focus. The outcome of this is the ability to create images that are much closer to the subject than any other lens I own.

3rd Experimental Shoot:

Contact Sheet:

I wanted to include a some images involving old and new buildings, and while out on a more recent shoot, I found an interesting way of doing this; I used the reflections of the glass from newer buildings to show the older ones. I found this to be quite effective in terms of exploring the concept of journeys and pathways, due to how it is like the newer buildings are looking down on the older ones, as the are much taller, as well as much more reflective/shiny and new. Even though I did not take too many pictures like this, I think that it turned out how I wanted it to after doing some basic adjustments in Lightroom and making the B&W.

Final Images: