Photomontage:

In order to create my photomontages I exported the original images as JPEG’s and then imported them into photoshop, where I created the montage. These outcomes are inspired by Milach who created similar imagery to contextually presented the children strike.

Design 1:

To create this design I opened up archival images of German soldiers, using the quick selection tool I cut out the sliders and placed them onto the still life photograph. Using the transformation tool I adjusted the size and positioning of the soldiers. I then used the rubber tool and went around the cutting making the outline smooth and more naturalistic. I then added a whole solider image in the light, which was done by cutting out the centre of the light and using the blending mode tools to combine and create this overlay of the two layers. I believe that this outcomes is the most successful from my further experimentation with my still life imagery.

Conceptually I wanted to convey the restrictions the German’s bought in on islanders when Jersey was occupied over the 5 years. The objects in the frame are minimalistic and basic suggesting how restricted Islanders where, as well as the ideology of lack of communication on the island which is shown by the radio set in the centre, contextually Islander where not allowed radio sets or contact with the main land which influenced the restrictions of objects the islanders where allowed. The soldiers represent the restriction and how the German’s were always around making it hard to have the contraband without being caught, creating a sense of authority and entrapment. On top of this, the soldiers in the light represent the unknown, when the war was occurring islanders did not know where they stood and who was winning due to the lack of communication

Visually, the image is busy creating a sense of chaos and lack of space, showcasing the conceptual meaning on how Islanders where restricted. The colours contrast the archival photographs, creating clear juxtaposition which reinforces the conceptual and contextual meanings outlined above. Everything is central in the frame, making it the main focal point. The lack of shadows and simplistic background supports this being the main focus point. On top of this, the main formal elements presented are colour, space and texture which is presented through the positioning of the composition.

Technically, the camera settings are simplistic and similar to Milach’s photography. The ISO was kept on 100 as well as the shutter speed being quick. The aperture was F16, allowing no depth of field to be showcased, but still allowed enough light in. The lighting was two artificial flash heads, reducing shadows in the background, which worked with the colour accuracy of my white balance used. Overall, I believe I have managed to produce successful imagery with strong conceptual and contextual representations.

Design 2:

For my second design I followed similar steps as to my first photomontage. When creating this image I selected an archival image of a solider and used the quick selection tool to cut it out. I then placed and positioned the the solider to look at the light, creating a minimalistic and simplistic documentary photomontage. Although this imagery is still successful and rich with conceptual land contextual representation, I do not believe it is as strong as the imagery created above.

Exploration Edit:

For my next edit I decided to select my top photograph which captured a singular object at a straight on angle on the white background. For my first design I created a colour version of this. I achieved the look by adjusting the contrast, structure, white, blacks and shadows allowing the colouring to be emphasise, making it the main formal element being presented in the outcome. There is clear highlighted areas which create a contrast in tonal regions, which compliments the rustic feel towards the imagery. A vignetting has been used to draw attention to the centre of the frame, almost creating an artificial depth of field. I find the colour edit visually pleasing to look at due texture and colour of the object to clearly be illuminated.

For my next design I wanted to create a black and white variation of the same image. To achieve this I started by making the image monochrome, and similarly adjusted the sliders of contrast, blacks, whites and shadows like the colour edit above. Doing this allowed a clear comparison as to if the image presents itself better black and white or in colour. Personally, I prefer the black and white outcome due to a ore metallic feel and the texture of the object to be showcase more, which helps to emphasise the contextual representations of the object more clearly.

I then decided to make a third edit, which really emphasised the texture and tonal contrast of the object. Utilising the image above I then went on to moving the sliders to the extreme, at the bipolar ends, allowing the metal to be clearer and showcase more tonal contrast. Doing this also allowed the shadow of the object to be presented, which I think compliments the object and outcome. In addition, it has allowed the backgrounds to be multiple tones of white and grey, which does not distract viewers from the background, making a more intriguing representation of the object. I believe that this outcome is the most successful from this photograph due to the overall atheistic it brings and the strong conceptual and contextual representations it holds.

Most Successful Outcomes:

Evaluation:

To evaluate I believe I have been able to show clear further exploration to my still life imagery, through using inspiration from artists and experimenting on Lightroom to produce different outcomes of the same image. Doing this has allowed me to develop my project and understanding of still life, as well as produce outcomes which I would not have initially created. I have shown my creativity through my photomontages and ability to use photoshop to create such design. The two successful images, are definitely images which I will be using in my new zine which explores objects and people. To conclude, I have successful produced further exploration to still life which showcase my ability to think about conceptual and contextual meaning when creating the imagery.

Planning:

In preparation for my second photo shoot I reflected back on my previous shoot, looking at lighting techniques which worked and looked over the camera settings in order to capture effective imagery. For this shoot I decided to take a more contemporary approach by adding colour backgrounds to my straight on angle photographs, allowing an inspiration link to Rafal Milach’s work, developing my response to still life photography. I also wanted to explore more using singular objects of the complete white background, working on my manual focusing skills. I will again be using two set ups, the first for more flat objects (Birds Eye View) and one for 3-Dimensional objects (Straight on Angle). These two set ups required different lighting rigs, which is explained below. With my camera settings I put the mode to Manual, the ISO to 100 and the aperture to F16, allowing a wide depth of field to be utilised. The shutter speed for the Birds Eye View was between 1/250 – 1/200 and the straight on angle’s shutter speed was 0.5 – 0.8. The white balance for both was set onto daylight, with manual focus being used.

I used two flash head lights, set on a 2.0 power output. The lights where paced either side of the table, slightly facing downwards towards the object. On my camera I used a transmitter which triggered the flash heads to operate as I captured my imagery. In addition, I also used a pilot light in order to position a and frame my composition, this was located at the back of the table (on right) and did not affect the colouring or the outcomes of my image. The camera itself was placed on a tripod facing straight on at the table, with adjustments allowing me to have control over the composition of my imagery.

Edits:

Outcomes:

The three outcomes below are my top photographs from the shoot, which clearly showcase my inspiration and application of Milach’s work into my own. I explored with coloured background, which complemented one another, allowing a more ameliorative tone towards my final outcomes. I felt that it was important the the colours were vibrant and bright, almost welcoming, in order to draw the eyes into the objects located in the centre of the frame, I really emphasised this when editing. I started off by adjusting the whites, darks, shadows and contrast, allowing the objects to show clarity and tonal contrast, on top of accurately making the background vibrant. I then used the spot removal tool, to ensure a consistent coloured background, so that the viewers attention is not drawn away from the objects presenting the concept, a lack of simple supplies that citizens had to live off when the German’s occupied the island, of the imagery. I also selected another photograph which used the plain white background and experimented with attempting to get the text clear and bold, making it the main focal point, which was done by adjusting the clarity, structure, blacks and whites.

Evaluation:

To evaluate I believe I have been able to produce strong imagery, which clearly convey my understanding of Milach’s work and ability to apply his techniques and designs into my photographs. In addition, I have been able to explore a new way of capturing still life, furthering my exploration with this style of photography allowing more conceptual and contextual outcomes to be presented. To further my exploration even further I now intend to create photomontages with the coloured outcomes to make stronger links with Milach’s work, as well as creating different edits of the same photograph to showcase my exploration.

Planning:

For this photoshoot I intended to photograph objects from the war, which was given to me by the Jersey Archives. There is a mixture of objects such as Red Cross packages, Tins, Helmets, Newspaper’s, Letters and many more which symbolically represented the war. Having this many items, I used two set ups, the first for more flat objects (Birds Eye View) and one for 3-Dimensional objects (Straight on Angle). These two set ups required different lighting rigs, which is explained below. With my camera settings I put the mode to Manual, the ISO to 100 and the aperture to F16, allowing a wide depth of field to be utilised. The shutter speed for the Birds Eye View was between 1/250 – 1/200 and the straight on angle’s shutter speed was 0.5 – 0.8. The white balance for both was set onto daylight, with manual focus being used.

Birds Eye View Lighting Setup:

For the Birds eye view set up, I used two flash head lights, set on a 2.0 power output. The lights where paced either side of the table, slightly facing downwards towards the object. On my camera I used a transmitter which triggered the flash heads to operate as I captured my imagery. In addition, I also used a pilot light in order to position a and frame my composition, this was located at the back of the table (on right) and did not affect the colouring or the outcomes of my image. The camera itself was placed on a tripod looking down at the table.

Straight On Angle Lighting Set Up:

For the straight on angle set up I used a continuous light set up. I used a fill light illuminating the object, with a secondary (tungsten light) light source to reduce the shadows and clearly showcase the object. I also experimented with back lights, but felt that it was not successful and did not justify the objects, thus I stopped using the back light. The camera was on a tripod with a 50mm lens.

Edits:

Straight On Angle Edits:

For my straight on angle edits, I began by cropping the photographs, to ensure that the object is in the centre of the composition. I then focused on adjusting the whites, blacks, shadows, contrast and structure in order to accurately portray the objects. This also ensured a complete white background, allowing the objects to be the main focal point within the photograph. Within each photograph, there is a sense of warmth through the artificial lighting, which presents a positive view point towards the contextual meaning of the objects.

The image above is my top photograph from this exploration of still life photography. Visually, we are presented with a light used in the mines during the occupation of Jersey in 1940-45. This object is the main focal point due to the positioning of it in the frame, and it being the only item within the frame of the photograph. The use of artificial lighting allows reflection on the metal object creating tonal contrast of the rust and decay of the object to clearly be presented. When analysing the main formal elements within the frame, we are clearly presented with a sense of space, and emptiness (showcasing the lack of purpose the item now has within today’s society) form, colour and texture. The photograph captures the object at a straight on angle which works in harmony with the plain background, allowing emphasis on the conceptual and contextual factors.

Contextually, the photograph brings viewers back to the second world war and the impact it had on Jersey. It showcases the torch and how slaves, who were taken (from places such as Russia etc) and forced to work digging out tunnels, such as the underground hospital. This conceptually remind us of the importance of this object in Jersey’s history and enriches our understanding of what life was like for the slaves who were forced to work.

Technically, the photograph uses a slow shutter speed, allowing enough light to be presented within the photograph to emphasis the object, which did not create any blur due to a tripod being utilised when capturing the photograph. The ISO was kept at 100 to ensure that no noise is presented within the frame and the aperture was set to F16 which has let a wide depth of field to be used on top of allowing enough light into the exposure of the photograph. The white balance was sunlight, allowing a clear white balance correction which complemented the warm artificial light source used (a two point lighting set up, with a tungsten light).

Birds Eye View Angle Edits:

With my birds eye view photographs, I began by cropping the photographs, to ensure that the object is in the centre of the composition. I then focused on adjusting the whites, blacks, shadows, contrast and structure in order to accurately portray the objects. After ‘correcting’ the photograph I then decided to try and make the object stand out for it’s background, almost as if it has been raised and is separated from the background. To do this I looked at further increasing the shadows and blacks, although I achieved this effect, it has meant that the background now has grey tones, which slightly distracts viewers from the focal point of the photograph

Evaluation:

To evaluate my attempt at still life photography, I believe I have been able to produce clear example of my exploration with this style of photography. From taking the photographs at different angles with different lighting set ups, to applying my artist inspiration within my work, I have successfully been able to conceptually and contextually showcase the importance of these items to Jersey’s history. The simplistic editing used within these outcomes have worked well, as it does not distract viewers from the true values of the outcomes, which showcases my aesthetic for the photo shoot. To conclude, I am happy with the outcomes I have produced due to the high quality images created, through correct camera settings, and good edits. If I was to improve this I would look at producing another photo shoot capturing more objects, singularly, at a straight on angle, allowing me then to explore with typologies as a format for displaying the objects.

Planning:

In preparation for this photo shoot I looked back at Sian Davey’s candid photography, in order to reflect on the techniques she used, so that I can implement her approach into my work. I wanted half to be highly staged, more like an environmental form, family portrait, and half naturalistic in order to showcase a true representation of my family, following more of a candid form of documentation photography. My camera setting where kept similar to the detail shot photo shoot, due to the shoots occurring on the same day.  used the AV setting, allowing me to focus on the aperture and depth of field. On the day these photographs were taken, the lighting was dull, but well lit, which meant that I used a low ISO. My f number stayed on 5.6, unless the room itself was much darker. The shutter speed was set on a quick setting and the white balance was set to the day light setting. In order for further control I used manual focus, allowing me to control the depth of field and the overall composition.

Edits:

Colour:

For my colour edits, I wanted the outcomes to be kept as naturalistic as possible, so I ensure that the detail and structure was not over the top, creating soft outcomes, focusing on the conceptual reasoning, family love, to be presented within my imagery. I explored with adjusting the white and blacks and shadows in order to create outcomes which still presented tonal contrast, allowing the colours and environment and subjects to be the focus of the composition. I am pleased with the way in which these outcomes have turned out, due to me keeping the editing simple, to capture the naturalism of the photographs.

Black and White:

For my black and white outcome, I explored with an image which uses a birds eye view angle. The tonal contrast and new angle allows the conceptual meaning to be presented in a new way, which showcases this further exploration as successful. The photograph follows a candid style of photography, and presents my three subjects, with one looking at the camera, implementing an environmental stylistic feature to my work. The composition uses the rule of thirds, allowing viewers eyes to be guided around the frame. The formal element of space plays an active role with the outcome. In the frame there seems to be a lack of empty space, thus my models are in close proxemics to one another, which emphasise the conceptual representation of family love and bonding within the work. The background, is kept simplistic with not much going on showcasing my families naturalistic environment.

Technically, the photograph uses a small aperture, due to the the whole frame being in focus. The ISO used is low which is shown through there being no noise being created. This also allows us to understand that natural lighting produced by the daylight was used to capture this, and informs us that the white balance has colour accuracy and that it presents a sense of warmth, adding to the overall pleasant mood to the piece. In addition, the shutter speed is quick, due to no interned blur being presented within the outcome.

In order to achieve all of this, I kept the editing simplistic. I turned the photograph black and white and focused mainly on adjusting the black, white, shadows and contrast sliders in order to create the overall photograph.

Evaluation:

To evaluate I believe I have produced strong photographs which clearly showcases my understanding of ‘Establishing a shot’ and the ability to use candid photography in order to produce naturalistic outcomes, which explores a narrative within my work. I have reinforced my ability to have control over manual settings and shown my competence of using Lightroom in order to edit my photographs. Although I have produced strong imagery, I do not believe it is as successful as the detail shot photo shoot. However, the imagery still produced has an clear overall aesthetic and shows exploration into the home sweet home briefing.

Planning:

When going about this photoshoot I kept in mind the technique the Martin Parr used when he captured detailed/macro photography, in order to create an effective outcome which can hold a lot of conceptual meaning. On top of this, I also took inspiration from the mood board created on the previous blog post, in order to create new ways and approaches of capturing this style of photography. When capturing this set of photographs I used the AV setting, allowing me to focus on the aperture and depth of field, an important feature for macro style photography. On the day these photographs were taken, the lighting was dull, but well lit, which meant that I used a low ISO. My f number stayed on 5.6, unless the room itself was much darker. The shutter speed was set on a quick setting and the white balance was set to the day light setting. In order for further control I used manual focus, allowing me to control the depth of field and the overall composition.

Edits:

Colour Edits:

For my colour edits I tried to explore with making the colours vibrant and over the top, to create a similar outcome as Parr. In order to do this I increased the contrast, vibrance, white and blacks. Although this worked well, I did not think that it was justifying my work, so I decided to edit them normally, as if it was a normal portrait, in order to allow the detail to clearly be showcased. To do this I subtly moved the sliders in order to correct the imagery until I gained my desired effect. I believe my colour outcomes are successful as they clearly showcase the formal elements of colour, texture, space and shape, which enables the macro photographs to meet the briefing and showcase my implementation of Parr’s work within mine.

Black and White:

Experimenting in black and white; I was a little skeptical at first as all my inspiration did not use black and white imagery to present the macro photograph. I then decided to go ahead with this idea, because I knew it would show exploration outside of my research. In order to achieve this effect, I set the image to black and white and mainly focused on adjusting the black, white, contrast, structure and shadow sliders in order to create the outcome below. I am happy that I experimented with black and white, as I believe that this is my strongest outcome from the photoshoot, with my reasoning for this being explained in an analysis of my work below.

Visually, we are presented with a landscape macro photograph of a models mouth, who is smiling showing her teeth. The frame is 3/4 full, with a sense of space on the left of the frame, presenting the technique of rule of thirds bring utilised in this outcome. The main focus point is the teeth, due to it being the area most in focus, which informs us that a large depth of field has been used when capturing the photograph. The photograph presents the formal elements of space, texture, shape and tone, which is being shown through the detail of the lower half of the models face. The photograph is presented in black and white which allows a clear tonal contrast to be showcased, making the imagery even stronger. The background is black, which enables our attention to be focused on the foreground, the face of the model, allowing the conceptual representation of happiness within a family to be clearly presented.

Technically, the photograph uses a medium aperture, due to the narrow depth of field being utilised in order to allow the focus to be on the mouth and teeth. The ISO used is low which is shown through there being no noise being created. This also allows us to understand that natural lighting produced by the daylight was used to capture this, and informs us that the white balance has colour accuracy and that it presents a sense of warmth, adding to the overall pleasant mood to the piece. In addition, the shutter speed used to capture this macro photograph was quick sue to no intended blur being presented in the overall composition.

Evaluation:

To evaluate this photo shoot, I believe that it was more successful than the previous home sweet home shoot, due to me producing stronger imagery, through more control over my camera settings. I have been able to show my competence with macro photography, as well as showing my ability to use manual focus in order to create depth of field and put different features in focus for effect. I have also shown my ability to take inspiration and implement it into my work, on top of adding my own artist style to show further exploration within my imagery. I believe that my overall outcomes are successful due to high control in my camera settings, and quality editing, making my work have a clear overall aesthetic.