In order to edit this image, I used the black and white option converter in order to adjust the intensity of each shade. This allowed me to create a very dark background, making the subject more prevalent. I then added the ‘tint’ option so that textures such as the chains were more visible. Overall, I chose this image as I think it represents the candid genre the most – with the subject being unaware of the image being taken and therefore not acting any different to usual.
Definitions –
Portrait – A photo, painting, drawing or engraving of a person which captures/ depicts a face and sometimes the body.
Self-Portrait – A photo, painting, drawing or engraving of a person created by themselves.
Candid – A photograph of a person (taken informally) especially without the subjects knowledge of the photo being taken.
Environmental (Photography) – A photo taken in the subjects usual surrounding e.g. their workplace.
Birds-eye – An image taken from above, as if from a birds point of view – looking down.
Worms-eye – An image taken from a lower stance – looking up.
Surreal – Unreal/ Bizarre, Out of the ordinary.
Studio Shoots –
Chiaroscuro
Definition – The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting, with the dark colours such as black being completely black and the light colours such as white being very clear, sharp and bright. Chiaroscuro is an Italian word for light and shadow, it uses both light and shadow in order to create an illusion of a permanent light source shining on subjects and objects in the painting/ photograph. This technique has been used throughout the history and evolution art, for example artists such as Da Vinci used this technique in many of his works.
My photos –
Chiaroscuro style painting –
By using one point lighting in the studio, at a specific brightness and colour warmth, in this case as white as it could be, sections of the subjects face are highlighted while the other parts are discarded and appear to fade into darkness. Similarly, chiaroscuro paintings and photography manipulate light and shadows in order to make only the subject visible, neglecting the background which is the style I tried to replicate in my photo shoot by the different positioning of the single light.
Altered Landscape Research –
First being popularized via The Nevada Museum of Art in the early 1990’s which had a section directly focused on ‘new’, contemporary landscape photography. Nearly two decades later, the Altered Landscape collection which the museum holds is over 600; it’s largest landscape photography ‘sub-genre’.
During it’s early days, the ‘Altered Landscape’ genre was heavily focused on natural landscapes and the beauty it presents with photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston leading the ideas and type of connotations landscapes/ their images conveyed. However, during the mid 70’s the Altered Landscape style of photography changed dramatically due to it’s newer influencers such as Bernd and Hilla Becher. This new style of photography focused on landscapes and the effect man-made structures, such as caravans, had on it’s appearance and meaning.
In some ways, modern day Altered Landscape photography acts as a visual source of history combining both old – landscapes and new – houses, buildings, gas stations; conveying quite an emotional feeling towards viewers, forcing them to ask questions like – ‘Is this for the best?’ or ‘Are we ruining our planet?’.
From my research on some artists and altered landscape images, I would say that by under-exposing the images the actual landscapes are even more highlighted due to the emphasis on things such as texture and shadows. This also allows the landscape to be the main focus of the image as no ‘blinding’ light or colours ‘distract’ the viewer from the actual image.
Artist Research –
Photoshoots –
Stephanie Jung Inspired –
Fong Qi Wei Inspired –
Extension –
Evaluation –
When comparing both my final outcomes, I would say that my interpretation of the extension task worked better as there are multiple flipped/ distorted images layered on top of each other with different opacity’s. This effect adds more depth and visual illusion to the overall image; combining an older style of photo editing(Threshold/ Black and White) with a more surreal way of editing(Layering images and distorting their aspects).
By using the threshold effect, and adjusting the level of threshold visibility, objects, buildings or people can be transformed to silhouettes – very under exposed and completely black. Wheres areas such as the sky are pure white and very over exposed.
Mood-board –
Urban Landscape Research –
Taking influence from multiple photographic genres, Urban lanscape photography could be defined as a romanticised mix of architectural and street photography. Unlike many other forms of photography, people shouldn’t be used as the subject of an urban landscape photo as it fraws the attention away from the main focus. However, people, as they are an integral part of society, can serve as a story telling tool for the images.
‘Urban’ refers to citys or towns. Therfore ‘Urban Landscape’ can be referred to as a combination of new and old – citys (buildings) and nature in order to convey multiple messages.
Artist Research –
Photoshoot 1 – St Ouens
Photoshoot 2 – Havre Des Pas
Urban Topography Photoshoot –
Photoshop – Inspired by Bernd and Hilla Becher
Photoshop 2 –
Apeture – One of the three pillars of photography, the others being the ISO and Shutter Speed, apeture is the opening of the lens through which light passes through in order to reflect/ enter the camera. This concept can be linked to how our eyes work, as your surrounding ight changes from datk to light, the iris in your eye either shrinks or dialates – controlling the size of your pupil. However, in photography the ‘pupil’ of your lens is apeture. The apeture of a photo can durastically change the overall exposure or, brightness of the image; if an image is over – exposed the lens is letting in too much light/ apeture too high.
Depth Of Field – The distance between the closest and furthest object in a photo that appears clear. For example, in a photo with a ‘narrow’ depth of field, only a small section of the image will be in focus/ clearly visible. Therefore, reversley, a photo with a large depth of field, will allow the overall image to be a lot clearer and sharper.
2. Manual Focus – By twisting the front part of the lens, you can manually focus or blur certain areas of the image.
3.White Balance – The process of removing unrealistic colour casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white inthe photo.
4. ISO – Measures the sensitivity of the image sensor.
5. Aperture – Refers to an adjustable opening in your camera lens that is able to limit the amount of light passing through the lens and hitting the camera sensor.
6. Focal Length – The focal length of the lens is the distance between the lens and the image sensor when the subject is in focus e.g the standard cameralens with a focal length of 18-55mm
7. Depth of Field – Depth of field is the distance between the closest and farthest objects in a photo that appears focused/ clear.
8. Slow / fast Shutter Speed – When taking photos of fast moving things such as a runner, a fast shutter speed will be used in order to capture them clearly. Whereas, a slower shutter speed allows the lens to record more light over a longer period of time.
9. Exposure and exposure compensation – Exposure compensation is used to alter exposure from the value selected by the camera, making photographs brighter or darker.
Exposure – The amount of light the camera/ lens allows to pass through.
10. Exposure bracketing – This is a technoque used by many photographers; where they will take multiple photos of the same thing, but change the exposure each time. So when editing the images can be combied to show both colour and textures/ objects/ shadows.
Mood-board –
Mind-Map –
Introduction to Landscape Photography –
Landscape photography – typically used in order to capture a single moment/ presence of nature. Throughout landscape photography there are many different approaches/ types for example, large, vast and seemingly unending images in contrast to those which only portray a microscopic area or piece of landscape.
Growing in popularity during the 18th century, landscape art, in particular, nature, began to enthrall and intriuge artists increasingly more. In addition to this, during this period of time photography was also growing in popularity and as an art consequently, leading to the well-known landscape photography we know today.
In my opinion, landscape photography is a technique used my numerous photographers in order to capture the viewer; bringing them into that single scene. In addition to this, landscape photography can also be used in order to portray many different things, depending on its ‘style’/ ‘theme’. For example, Romanticism related landscape photography would convey quite a dramatic feeling whereas abstract landscape photography tends to expose the more symmetrical/ ‘underrated’ areas of a landscape.
Landscape Photoshoot –
Photoshoot – St Catherine’s
New Topographics –
Photoshoot
In order to edit these images, I first used the cropping tool in order to cut out any moder technologies which I though distracted from the new topography theme as it because popular during the 70’s. Once I had used the cropping tool and the spot healing brush tool to remove any veichles, I leveled the image so that the darker aspects of the imag were under exposed. I then converted the image to black and white, making sure that the clouds were emphasized and the open door was mostly black.
Photoshop 1 – Exposure Bracketing –
Photoshop 1 – Exposure Bracketing
Photoshop 2 – Romanticised
Photoshop 3 – Layered
