Tag Archives: Photoshoot

Independent, Reading, Resource, Task

PERSONAL PROJECT PHOTOSHOOT 2 – Drone Photos

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Firstly, I flew my drone around the bay and captured some unique angles of the bay, and a general overview shot of the bay. It allowed me to capture some of the features of the bay in greater detail such as, Fort Leicester (heritage site), and the l’islet. The contact sheet that contains the images from the drone flight of the bay.

I also explored the hill leading the Bouley Bay, as I could compare the images with some of the old photos form the archive. Using the winding road images, means that I could link in some photos of Bouley Bay Hill Climb, which is an iconic event which happens in the area. An example of the contact sheet featuring the hill.

These are the best images that I took with my drone, after being edited in photoshop.

These 2 images are my favourite images. I really like how the sky has a hazed look to it, and has a gradient of overexposed sky, which gives the image a softer look. For the jet ski image, I used the clone stamp tool, and the spot healing brush to remove distractions such as, bright orange buoys, and some floating seaweed.

I made sure to capture images of the road which the Bouley Bay Hill Climb takes place on, which makes linking images of bikers and racers easier to connected relations to.

Overall, I like how the images came out. I feel that I achieved my main goal when taking photos with the drone, which was to show unique angles, that offers a new perspective. I like the images that show the object in a more 3D aspect, rather than the straight down, birds eye view shot. However, it still works well, especially for the cars driving down the road. I found that editing these images were easier as I could easily change the composition at which I took these images, as there were no limits for example, with a normal camera you can only shoot from as high as you climb to reach, where as a drone is controlled remotely.

Independent, Reading, Resource, Task

PERSONAL PROJECT PHOTOSHOOT 1 – LONG EXPOSURE

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These are some of the contact sheets that include all of my long exposure images. They weren’t all taken on the same day, which allowed me to capture the area in different light.

Editing

Most of the images have been editing in the same way using similar processes, so I will only show one example of the editing process.

I decided not to use the basic filters, gradual filters, and radial filters. Instead I used the brush as there are lots of different elements that need to be individually focused on. I used the brush to select different parts of the image, for example I started with the pier, I increase the shadows, clarity, and the sharpness. The red is only showing the mask and won’t be there in the final image, as it helps you see where the edited are happening, but I turn it off when making the adjustments. I also used a brush filter on the water where I decreased the temperature, clarity, and texture.

For images that I combined multiple image to create one final image. I made sure that they were all aligned before making them into one image, then made the edits.

Final/Best Images

I edited all of the good images in Photoshop. For some of the images I had to merge approximately 10 images to create a single final image, and then do all of the simple edits, such as gradual and radial filters, brushes, contrast, exposure, etc.

I love the mist look that the water has, due to the long exposure. It is a combination of 8 images, which really helped display the effect. The composition is good as it includes the green, seaweed covered rocks, which balances out the green in the background of the headland.

This image expresses a wide selection of colours as it was shot during sunset. It is a composition of 10-15 images, as this helped it get the surreal look.

These images give off a cold atmosphere, they were shot earlier in the day compared to the two images above. They are my strongest images however they still show great camera skills and they have an interesting composition.

I like this image a lot, although it is not clear it was taken at Bouley Bay, it is clear that it is associated with a bay and the rock formations around a coastline. It strongly captures motion and the black and white edit creates more of a contrast, that brings out the blurred lines that is the highlighted water from where the sun is shining on it.

Another one of my favourite images, however there where boats in the image, but I removed them as they were blurry because they were moving. Plus, it gives a more natural look to they photo, although it takes away from the authentic bay feeling.

This is another more colourful image. It was taken at high tide during a sunset. If gives off tropical ocean blue colours, which contrasts with the pink sky. This colour combination gives off a calming feeling.

This image was taken at the secret bay behind the pier at Bouley Bay. The rocks were just peaking above the water, which made for some interesting shots. The combination of blue and orange gives off a tranquil vibe.

Not the best image, however it showcases the bay during golden hour. And having the water out of focus makes the viewers focus shift to the islet and the headland behind.

Another favourite image, the blue tone creates a surreal, alone, spooky atmosphere. Whilst, the shuttle

Overall, I love how these photos came out. The long exposure effect creates a new perspective on the area

Independent, Task

Community NFT – Photoshoot

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Our Photoshoot

As planned in my Storyboard Blog Post, on October 14th my group went to shoot on location at Carmen’s grandmother’s house. We aimed to create images inspired by Lissa Rivera and Cindy Sherman, keeping our Clare Rae inspired shots for our video footage. Each member of our group took images on their own cameras for this shoot, however the final edits are comprised of my shots which we all worked hard on creating unique compositions and lighting for. I focused on photographing in areas of warm lighting, with side lamps, ring lights and natural sunlight as our source; I wanted to create an atmosphere of confidence and playfulness in these images. Each member of our group walked around the house to find rooms and areas where interesting images could be taken, we tried to focus on finding patterned wallpaper, similar to Rivera’s work, as well as rooms with mirrors, fireplaces and symmetrical backgrounds that could create dynamic changes. During our photoshoot we experimented with how using flash would disrupt or help the lighting of an image, for some it helped massively by providing natural highlights on our models face as well as illuminating the background – however, in rooms with an abundance of natural lighting the flash created highly over exposed images that did not reflect the warm tones as we had hoped. I really enjoyed experimenting with the White Balance, Shutter Speed and ISO of my camera to see how changing the setting slightly could effect an image so greatly.

Flagged Unedited Images;

In Adobe Lightroom I imported all 324 of our photoshoot images and used to ‘flagging’ tool to select which ones were the most successful. When choosing these I looked for photographs with interesting compositions, sometimes I found asymmetrical images a lot more intriguing as they showed freedom and fun, qualities of our fully empowered modern woman that, in some images, we wanted to portray. After flagging our favourite images (screenshots seen above), I went through them again giving them a 1 to 5 star rating. Any images with 5 stars I then went on to edit and refine, touching up exposure and brightness mostly, to link more to Rivera’s work and convey a sense of empowerment. When editing, I wanted to keep the warm undertones that I captured in the raw shoot as I believe they helped represent the comforting atmosphere of a woman in her own home, feeling confident and safe within herself.

Best Images – Edited;

Our images show understanding of stereotyping, taking inspiration from Cindy Sherman’s work by photographing our model in a stereotypically feminine outfit, stood/sat in exaggerated poses to create an ironic display of the female gender. We wanted to use these ideologies surrounding women to form a basis for our shoot, using irony to suggest our model feels proud of her femininity as she uses it for her own empowerment, not for the pleasure of others. Locations for these images around the house include bedrooms, offices and lounges – each holding a different stereotype being squashed by our models confidence and satirical representation of how women were (and still are) seen in society.

Image Analysis

I have chosen to analyse this image from my feminism photoshoot as it shows a clear link to all three artists I have studied with use of the formal elements and thematic composition. The first element of this image that I really enjoy is the warm lighting that creates an orange hue throughout, conveying a sense of comfort and security. The dominant colour of orange, as well as creating warmth, also helps the observer understand the subject better as the bright colour connotes ideas of confidence and happiness, things our ’empowered new-age woman’ feels in a free, equal society. The dark lighting that covered this location helped us form an image with depth and meaning from the colours that the natural sunlight, coming through a window out of frame on the right, created. This lighting also illuminated the space around our main subject, as if she were emerging from a place of purity and serenity, symbolic of a heavenly light that surrounds her while she admires herself. The range of tones in this image is quite unbalanced, with the focal point at the brightest point in the centre being surrounded by a much larger border of dark shadow. This creates an atmosphere of mystery and secrecy, linking to Clare Rae’s secretive images were she hides parts of her body so they cannot be exploited for the male gaze. The use of repetition in this piece is seen from the mirrors reflections around the edges, creating distorted versions of our models features eg. arms, hands etc, further linking to our studied artists ironic portrayal of the female gender. The reflections create some rhythm in the image, relating to the idea of flowing water around her; connoting ideas of freedom and fluidity. The overall composition of the piece adds an interesting take on the theme also, we cannot actually see the model’s physical body in the image, only a reflection of her standing out of frame. This raises the question, is she really there? Or is this maybe a ghost from the past looking in on a changed world, possibly an echo from future generations looking back on what women have accomplished – the ambiguity is for the observer to imagine.

Independent, Resource

Identity and Community – A Sense Of Place

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The Photoshoot

On Monday 28th June, as a photography department, we had a day of learning and information at The Societe Jersiaise Photo Archives. During the day we went out into different areas of St Helier focussing on separate communities who came from different immigrant backgrounds, such as the Merchant Quarter, the French/Portuguese Quarters and the British Quarter. My aim for this photoshoot around town was to capture a sense of place, photographing different buildings, shops, businesses, architecture, streets as well as capturing some environmental shots of people working/living in or just travelling through these areas. The group I carried out this photoshoot with focused on walking through the French/Portuguese Quarters, I was able to plan while walking about the kind of people/places and types of buildings I wanted to take images of. My plan was to photograph the comparison between old and new St Helier buildings, showing how the sense of place changed over time, as new communities entered and old ones left. Additionally, I planned on capturing street photography inspired portraits of these communities to show a range of ethnicities residing on the island – I found it important while taking these images to be respectful around certain areas where people were not comfortable having their photo taken. Altogether, I really enjoyed this photoshoot around different migrant communities, showing a sense of place changing over time and people in a natural and not staged environment.

Editing – Contact Sheets

For the editing process of this photoshoot, I took a different approach, in class this week we learnt how to use different filters such as ‘flagging’ and ‘star rating’ using Adobe Lightroom to filter out specific images I liked or disliked to perform a quicker and easier edit. During the photoshoot I took around 100 images in St Helier, before importing them to Lightroom I did an initial sort through and delete of any images I knew that I did not like/did not tell a story or were just not right in lighting/angles – this left me with around 60 images which I imported to edit. Once my images were in Lightroom I went into ‘Develop’ mode to start filtering my preferred images. I started by trying the ‘Flagging’ filter, using controls ‘P’ for a white flag (preferred image) and ‘X’ for a grey flag (disliked image) and holding down ‘shift’ – this really helped speed up my selection and let me clearly see which photographs were my favourite. Next, I used the ‘Star Rating’ feature to filter each image from 1-5, one star as the worst and five stars as the best, which again really assisted me in seeing which images worked better than the others.

Editing – Over Exposed

While I was editing my images, I discovered a few came out very over-exposed during the time where I was experimenting with my camera’s shutter speed. On Lightroom I went into develop mode to see whether I could edit these images to correct their exposure – under the ‘tone’ section I lowered the highlights, exposure and blacks. Furthermore, on the image where I have photographed the ‘Romanian Delight’ shop, under the ‘transform’ section I discovered how to straighten my image to create more symmetry and level lines throughout by changing it to ‘auto’. I wanted to edit these images in this way to represent and really show the bright colours of the communities we visited, heightening the vibrancy of the coloured houses and shops to demonstrate their character and beauty in the more secluded areas of town.

Editing – Black and White

During my editing process of this St Helier photoshoot, I decided to experiment with editing some of my images with a black and white filter. I wanted to edit in this way to see how darker and lighter tones would affect the mood and atmosphere of an image. I produced this edit in Adobe Lightroom, highlighting each of my five star flagged images and selecting the ‘soft black and white’ filter. After seeing what each image looked like black and white, I was able to select my favourite monochrome photos that worked best in terms of contrast and tone. Additionally, I chose these six images due to their link to my theme of this shoot, showing the change of a sense of place in St Helier through it’s architecture. Each image forms a pair with the one next to it, the left hand image represents an older sense of St Helier and the right image shows the more modern/re-built buildings around town. Each pair is a sort of mini sequence showing the progression of architecture, I love the way the ‘older building’ images have darker tones and harsher shadows which symbolizes the possible atmosphere of St Helier’s past around these secluded areas. Contrastingly, the ‘modern buildings’ hold lighter tones with more white and negative space, creating a clean and crisp atmosphere. The natural lighting produces a softer texture, which is interrupted by the repetition of details on each building such as the windows, brick work and doorways.

Final Edited Images

As well as producing black and white edits of certain images from this photoshoot, I have also decided to experiment with how different colours can tell a story within an image. I edited these final photos on Adobe Lightroom, after filtering out my favourites with flagging and star rating, exploring the different features of the app and correcting any mistakes made while photographing outdoors. For example, as shown before in this post, I made the mistake of over-exposing two interesting images, however was able to amend this by turning down highlights, blacks and exposure. Additionally, I wanted to portray the realness and natural atmosphere of these photographic locations, hence why I conducted minimal editing so not to tamper too much with the ‘sense of place’. I wanted vibrancy, however not so overly enhanced that the images looked artificial – I heightened the contrast and highlights of several images to achieve this bright and lively atmosphere. I wanted to edit my images in this way to juxtapose the otherwise empty streets I was capturing, while some images show life and movement, most are static without people to provide character. This was the main reason I wanted to show a sense of place with the area’s architecture, through repetition, space and shape, connoting the idea of a built up landscape of small business and homes which may not seem much to some, but to those living there is their world.

ANTHROPOCENE, Controlled Conditions, Independent

Anthropocene – Andrew Moore Photoshoot

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Why Andrew Moore?

Andrew Moore’s work depicting the effects of time on natural and built landscapes has greatly inspired me while researching for this Anthropocene project. I really enjoy the way Moore captures his images from a different perspective to Burtynsky and how he demonstrates the way nature is trying its best to overcome the effects the human race is having on the environment. I wish to reflect this element of Moore’s work through landscape photography of overgrown scenes while also capturing images showing areas of nature by the side of industrial buildings. I believe this will further the Anthropocene idea on society’s impact on the world by showing the impending modernization creeping into each photograph. Additionally, Moore’s use of saturated colours and natural lighting allows the observer to understand the subject better, for example letting them acknowledge how nature; when left alone and undisturbed by humans, has the ability to form beautiful natural landscapes and areas that are not overwhelmed by industrialized structures.

Photoshoot Plan

What – I plan on capturing images of landscapes which have been impacted by humans with buildings, greenhouses, ruins and industrial sites – however with nature still trying to make an appearance, fighting back against the urbanisation. I wish to capture elements of the natural environment juxtaposed with modern structures to represent the imminent world industrialisation.

Where – I aim to produce this photoshoot around many locations on the island; the first, where I wish to photograph the difference between nature and industrial structures, is at Le Quesne Barracks, Mount Bingham in St. Helier. I also plan on walking down to the beach at Halve Des Pas to capture the natural landscape with tall structures from La Collette in the background.

When – My plan is to conduct this photoshoot on Friday 21st of May due to the forecasted sunny weather, as I am taking my images inspired by both Edward Burtynsky and Andrew Moore on the same day. The bright weather will aid my photoshoot as it will create harsh shadows and emphasise natures vibrant colours, symbolising the beauty in the untouched natural environments around us, which are slowly being destroyed and forgotten.

How – Similar to my shoot inspired by Edward Burtynsky, I will use natural sunlight to capture my images. I also plan on standing from a lower eye-level point of view and getting closer to the main subject of my photos to reflect Moore’s more grounded style of photography.

Why – My aim in producing this photoshoot is to mirror the work of Andrew Moore by capturing natural landscapes which have been effected by the human race with buildings and structures creeping into each photo. Additionally, I want to photograph areas of landscapes that have been tampered with by humans however where nature is retaliating against the urbanisation of it’s natural habitat.

Contact Sheets

Selected Images

Image Analysis

I have chosen to analyse this image from my Andrew Moore inspired photoshoot as it represents the idea of nature fighting back against industrialization. I captured this photograph at an abandoned greenhouse in Grouville, during mid-day using natural lighting to reflect Moore’s style of photography. The first element of my image that I really enjoy is my capturing of straight leading lines, creating direction in the photograph and guiding the observer’s attention into the center of the image. These thin abstract lines create geometric patterns from the mid-ground to the background and symbolize the rigid systematic way that humans are impacting natural environments. These artificial shapes contrast greatly with the organic pattern formed by the cluster of bushes and leaves which are reflected throughout the image. The texture created by these brambles is rough and spiky which gives the impression that nature is having to fight for its environment through force as society’s modern architecture will not let it thrive. Furthermore, the actual location of where this image was taken links to the Anthropocene idea even more as it is planned to be destroyed in order to make room for new housing and apartments. The context of the location shows how little humans are caring about the natural world, connoting the idea that they will let their beautiful landscapes become abandoned to make profit on industrializing and destroying them in the future. Additionally, the high saturation of colour in this image helps the observer to understand the value in our natural environments as it connotes the idea that when nature is left to thrive on its own it can create beautiful surroundings – however the vibrancy is juxtaposed with the dull monochrome greenhouse structure which symbolizes how nature is trapped behind the industrial bars of man-kind.

Natural Landscapes

During my Andrew Moore inspired photoshoot, I captured elements of the landscapes that I was in which showed nature, untouched by man and thriving in its natural environment. I wanted to photograph these landscapes to link to my initial idea of presenting the three different stages of industrialization, showing nature unharmed, nature fighting against man-made structures and nature destroyed with urbanization taking over – in my final presentation of images I wish to use these natural landscape images as the first photo in the sequence of three. I wanted to highlight the beauty of nature through vibrant colours and the use of negative space in the skyline – I believe this gives the impression of a clear clean future of surviving natural landscapes, which contrasts significantly with the other two elements of my Anthropocene project.

ANTHROPOCENE, Controlled Conditions, Independent

Anthropocene – Edward Burtynsky Photoshoot

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Why Edward Burtynsky?

Edward Burtynsky’s work in ‘The Anthropocene Project’ has immensely inspired me, I really enjoy the way he uses a birds-eye point of view to capture his images as I believe it connotes themes of man looking down on all he has created. Burtynsky’s use of repetition and shape in his images is also a factor I wish to demonstrate in my photoshoot inspired by him, I believe it shows the uniformity of society and hints at how the growing industrialization of our planet is leading to an indifferent homogenized world. Additionally, I believe Burtynsky’s work holds many interesting uses of shape and texture- I wish to reflect his busy images by capturing landscapes with many similar structures and buildings to symbolize the growing destruction of natural landscapes. I aim to demonstrate how humankind, with its population explosion, industry, and technology, has in a very short period of time become an agent of immense global change.

Photoshoot Plan

What – I plan on photographing landscape images overlooking urbanised scenes and areas of Jersey, I aim to capture rooftops, buildings, roads, harbours, office blocks and industrial workplaces to show the sheer amount of unnatural sites surrounding us daily.

Where – My idea is to go to the top of Fort Regent car park to capture most of my images as the view looking over St Helier shows mass industrialisation. Additionally, I plan on photographing landscapes from footpaths along Halve Des Pas to show the modernised buildings around the shore line, and also from the harbour near La Collette to shows the industrial areas of our waters.

When – I aim to capture these images on Friday 21st May due to the weather forecasting lots of sun – this will benefit my photoshoots as I plan on spending the day going to different locations inspired by my chosen photographers (Edward Burtynsky & Andrew Moore) who both capture bright images using natural lighting.

How – I plan on photographing the modern landscape of St Helier from high places eg. the top of Fort Regent – however due to this location having a tall fence blocking the birds-eye view I will have to place my camera lens between the bars to capture the landscape through the gaps in the fence – if this poses as a problem I may have to drive higher and over look town from another location.

Why – My aim in producing this photoshoot is to capture images reflecting the work of Edward Burtynsky, showing the growing industrialisation of our planet and demonstrating how systematic society is becoming; reflected through architecture and the destruction of our natural landscapes.

Contact Sheets

Selected Images

Image Analysis

I have chosen to analyse this specific image from my Edward Burtynsky inspired photoshoot as I believe it holds several interesting uses of the formal elements, successfully reflecting the industrialization of the parish of St Helier. I captured this image at the top of Pier Road Car Park, placing my camera lens between the railings to photograph the mass of buildings across the town landscape. I really enjoy the amount of repetition I have captured in this image, I believe the span of windows all lined up in rows across each building presents the idea of a uniform, unchanging society where humans are the constant source of natural environmental destruction. Moreover, the row of trees captured in the mid-left of the image shows a systematic approach to taming nature, their orderly artificial shapes are unnatural and have been photographed to suggest that our world is becoming infested with industrial ideas in architecture and now clearly nature too. In the foreground, the rectangular geometric shapes that fall across a building’s rooftop almost resemble cards of paint colour swatches, symbolizing how humans treat environments as if they are their own rooms to decorate, destroying natural habitats like they are just options of paint shades. The composition of my image shows a wide depth of field, with a busy foreground and mid-ground with the only element of negative space seen in the background- this space, with its bright blue colour, provides a juxtaposition to the otherwise bland colours seen elsewhere of white, brown, cream and grey. The colour palette of my image connotes how the urbanization of our landscapes is destroying all the beauty within them, with unsaturated shades creating a monotonous mood for the observer. As I have photographed this landscape at mid-day using natural lighting, there is a wide range of dark and light tones – the darkest falling across shadowed sides of hotels and office blocks and the lightest within the highlights of white apartments. This extent of dark and light across the image creates a high contrast and, along with the harsh texture created by the repetition of geometric shapes, develops a hectic atmosphere for the observer.

ANTHROPOCENE, Controlled Conditions, Independent, Reading, Task

CC – Anthropocene Photo shoots

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MAIN PIECE PHOTO SHOOT / PLAN

For my main piece, I am creating a photo manipulation to raise awareness about ocean pollution, so I need photos of :

– Rubbish
– Fishing Gear (nets, buoys)
– Underwater
– The sea
– The coastal headline
– Boats
– Rocks

I made a table to visually display all the photo shoots I need to do for my main piece.

ST BRELADES PHOTO SHOOT

I went to St Brelades in the evening when it was clear, and took photos at the end of the beach that the pier was at. Then moved towards Quasine. Firstly I took photos of the boats in the sand, then in the middle of the beach, I took photos of the sea with the horizon in. I plan to make that the surface of the sea in my final piece. After went to the rocky area, and took photos the larger rocks.

BOULEY BAY PHOTO SHOOT

I decided to get more photos, as I didn’t really like the lighting and the reflections of the sunset from the St Brelades photo shoot. Firstly, I started near the island to get photos of the rocks. Then I went to the end of the pier where I got another photo looking out to the sea. Then lots of photos of boats, and there was a man putting his boat into the sea, so I was able to get a clear picture of the bottom of the boat, which had some buoys on. Additionally, I got some pictures of sea gulls, which I could add into the sky. in Photoshop.

RUBBISH / PLASTIC PHOTO SHOOT

I took photos of various waste and plastic items, such as, plastic water bottles, plastic bags, crisp packets, and, cans. Nothing complicated, I positioned the subject in the centre of the frame, and for the items that had weight like plastic bags, I filled with air to make it look like it would be floating, so it would be easier to blend in Photoshop, and not look out of place.

SECOND PIECE PHOTO SHOOT / PLAN / (If I have spare time)

If I have spare time I plan to create a photo manipulation of space. For my photos I need :

– Galaxy
– Foreground photo (white house in St Ouens)
– Moon

GALAXY PHOTO SHOOT

I would need to go to a place where there is no light pollution. St Ouens would be a good place. I would need to bring a tripod and a camera. The camera settings would be at the lowest f-stop number, manual focus on the brightest star, wide angle lens (35mm), 800-3200 ISO, shutter speed is 25-30 seconds, but no longer as it would create star trails.

FOREGROUND (WHITE HOUSE) PHOTO SHOOT

I need a subject that would be the foreground, I chose the White house. I would need to go when there is natural light, so I went in the morning (10am) as there was good light and no people.

MOON PHOTO SHOOT

I chose to take photos when there was a full moon. I would use the same setup as the galaxy photo shoot, except the lens. I would use a 300mm lens the capture the moon, with a 1 second shutter speed.

Controlled Conditions, Independent, Task

Identity and Place – Carolle Benitah inspired photoshoot

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Photoshoot plan

Carolle Benitah inspired photoshoot

As I was using old family photos for this final piece, I wanted to incorporate my own photography into these images. Therefore, I took simple headshots of my mum, dad, and myself at different angles in order to show comparison between the past and present. I used softer lighting for these portraits as I was going to cut them out and wanted to avoid harsh shadows.

Controlled Conditions, Independent, Task

Identity and Place – Francesca Woodman inspired photoshoot

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Photoshoot plan

Francesca Woodman inspired photoshoot

I believe the images highlighted in red are my least successful images as they don’t capture the blurry movement that Francesca Woodman displays in her work. Also, the rain on the lens covers the majority of the model in these images, which makes them more difficult to comprehend in terms of the idea that I wanted to achieve.

The photographs highlighted in green are my most successful images, in my opinion, because they share the similar ominous affect that in common in Woodman’s work. Although the raindrops on the lens were not intentional, I think in these images they add to the hazy aesthetic of which Woodman achieves in her work.