My Photoshoot aim is to capture the Political side of Anthropocene capturing the effects to what us as humans altering and damaging our world is doing and the effect that it is having to our small Island. I would like to achieve a realistic effect of how we are almost oblivious to the changes that are being made on the daily basis.
The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and modern humans have been around for around a mere 200,000 years. Yet in that time we have fundamentally altered the physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet on which we and all other organisms depend.
In the past 60 years in particular, these human impacts have unfolded at an unprecedented rate and scale. This period is sometimes known as the Great Acceleration. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, extinction and widescale natural resource extraction are all signs that we have significantly modified our planet.
Scientists now agree that human activity, rather than any natural progress, is the primary cause of the accelerated global warming. Agriculture, urbanisation, deforestation and pollution have caused extraordinary changes on Earth.
Some people suggest the Anthropocene began at the start of Britain’s Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century, which created the world’s first fossil fuel economy.
Burning the organic carbon in fossil fuels enabled large-scale production and drove the growth of mines, factories and mills. Since then, other countries have followed suit. Demand for coal has increased, along with carbon dioxide emission, to the detriment of the environment.
Others argue that the Anthropocene began far earlier, when humans began farming. Even more people suggest it dawned in 1950, when nuclear weapons cast radioactive elements across the globe. The radioactive debris from nuclear bombs made its way into rocks, trees and the atmosphere – they may represent the golden spike that scientists are searching for. Currently there is no clear consensus.
contact sheets:
Best images – Salt mines:
Here I looked through my contact sheets and decided which images were my favourite and were good to edit.
basic edits – salt mines – colour
On photoshop I used the crop tool to line up my photos to straighten the horizontal line. I also used the spot healing tool to get rid rid of people or anything that was unnecessary to make the photos look natural. Then I lowered the brightness down to -5 and added some temperature and saturation to give it a bit more colour.
basic edits – salt mines – black and white
After the basic edits I decided to make them Black and white because the dark tones make the photos look as if they were taken on another planet because of the rock shapes and especially mountains in the background.
Experiment 1 – salt mines
For my experiment of my 1st photoshoot I used my photos with colour and used photoshop to experiment with my photos. For these photos I used the Gradient tool, which makes it look like a oil spill, An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution,
How I intend on presenting these photos: I would like to mount 3 of my best photos and mount them on an black board
photoshoot 2
Comparing photoshoot 1 and photoshoot 2 they are both set in different locations, photoshoot 1 is a very dry and dull location with little greenery and wildlife whilst photoshoot 2 is full of vibrant colours making the photos look more interesting than the salt mines.
My intention with these photos is to make a collage on photoshop using all the trees and plants to show how nature is beautiful but then I will add some rubbish / plastic and tractors or adding images of objects that link into how humans are ruining the planet (Plastic waste, Farming, burning waste). The man holding the signs on the bottom right corner will be the main focus of this collage as his sighs say “Plastic is out of control, mother nature cannot self-heal” and I believe this is a super important message for people to see.
Experiment 2
My inspiration:
for this edit I selected multiple different photos from each photoshoot and I used the lasso tool on photoshop and cut my favorite part of the photos I have selected to be in the collage and then resize to fit into the frame.
step by steps:
Here I am using the magic lasso tool to cut out the Man, by selecting all the unimportant parts
For this first image experiment I used the software Lightroom to edit and manipulate this original image:
I chose to edit this image because it gives a clear representation of our topic being Anthropocene. Also, I thought that the incinerator and tank below would contrast well due to the different shades of basic colours.
Firstly I decided to change the colour to black and white to bring out more contrast and eliminate the distraction of colour and hope that the final outcome looks good.
Black and white tool
After changing the colour, I was happy with the black and white and decided to start changing the different tools such as contrast, dehaze, and shadows. My idea for this experiment was to try make the image very dark and ghastly. To do this I changed tools such as shadows, blacks and dehaze to create a very gloomy effect.
After changing these the image turned out looking like this:
I like the way the darkness of the incinerator contrasts against the lighter colour of the tank positioned below. Also, I really like how the shadowing of the sky contrasts towards the incinerator and buildings at the bottom by having different shades of grey and white.
I decided to experiment cropping the image to try and make the incinerator be more centred and here is how it turned out:
Original image
Edited image
Cropping the image makes the viewer focus more on the main attribute being the incinerator which helps link to the topic of Anthropocene because of the pollution these types of buildings cause.
I really like the way this image has turned out because of contrasting throughout the image and the effect it can create towards the viewer being a slight nostalgic feeling, it also focuses viewers on the story of the image instead of the contents in the image.
Experiment 2:
For my second editing experiment I used the software Lightroom and Photoshop to adjust different techniques. I chose to use this image because I am going to try and relate this image to a piece of artist George Mazarakis work.
Georges work all have a similar styles by photographing locations with high temperatures and have dry beige like colours throughout his images. I tried to photograph a similar landscape that has dust and sand like colours to try and be as accurate as possible when linking to Georges work.
This is the original image unedited next to an example of Georges work:
As you can see, so far there are some slightly similar aspects such as the colour of the landscape excluding the grass. To begin this accurate representation I am going to take my original image over to photoshop and change the colour of the grass to a similar sort of tone as the sandy areas. I am going to do this buy using the adjustment tool Hue/Saturation and changing the lightness, saturation, and hue.
Here is how it turned out so far:
Now I am going to carry this image over to Lightroom and adjust all the basic tools to try and get a clear representation of Georges Mazarakis work.
On Lightroom I didn’t change much other than decreasing the highlights to give the image a more darker effect which I think helps represent Georges work.
My image vs George Mazarakis image:
My edited image
George Mazarakis image
Both images have a similar lighting style by using natural light and natural landscape. Also, they both seem to be taken on days with the same weather conditions which helps the contrasting and lighting of the image. The angle I took my photo from was slightly above the main attractions in the image, however Georges image seems to be taken from an angle that’s lower down to try and capture the whole scenery. Both images seem to have the same temperature and colour cast with the use of the sandy like colours to show the natural landscape. However my image seems to be slightly more colourful which I tried to fix on photoshop but didn’t have any success. The diggers in my image link to the topic of Anthropocene by showing the effect of man made structures towards natural landscapes such as the one shown on my image.
Experiment 3:
For my third experiment I will be using the software Adobe Photoshop to edit my image. My aim for this experiment is to present a different style of work by inverting my image.
Here is my original image:
To begin with this edit I firstly started by inverting the image to see how it looks. I did this because I haven’t seen anyone try this style of work yet and wanted to experiment and see if it is effective.
Image after inverting
After seeing the result of inverting I started to think of what I could add to the image to try present the idea of Anthropocene throughout the image. I went through all my images from my photoshoots looking for structures that could be introduced into this image. After scrolling through them all I chose 3 images that have objects and structures which I think would fit nicely onto the hills in the back of the image.
These are the 3 structures I will add to my image:
I started the process of adding these structures by firstly adding the incinerator on the hill. This is how it looks:
Next. I chose to add the water tanks onto the hill next to the incinerator to try and keep these structures close to each other. Here is how it turned out:
Finally, I added one more feature being a digger positioned on dirt tracks below the hills. Shown here:
After seeing how this all turned out I was happy with the outcome of the finalised image. I think the use of inverting makes the image more vibrant and eye-appealing which attracts the viewer into the structures around. This is how the final edit turned out:
Vilde Rolfsen’s photography consists of editing her plastic bag photography to successfully bring the photos to life through the vibrancy and beauty of the plastic bags, which is what I will experiment with in my own work while editing in the style of her. I will attempt to do this in photoshop by cropping the photos, to make the finer details/patterns of the creases more visible which will help to see the colour of the plastic bags which I have chosen to use. To create the beautiful mix of colours which Rolfsen presents in her work as well, I will experiment with the vibrancy, contrast, hue/saturation, channel mixer to transform into a singular colour, etc. Further more, I will also move away from Rolfsen’s style to experiment with changing the colours of the photos into black and white or create a faded look with them through the gradient map, curves etc.
Examples of
Rolfsen’s work
Editing photo 1 –
Experiment 1)
The process of editing the photo.
For this edit, I began by editing the photo to get rid of the excess space on the edges of the photo where the plastic bags weren’t quite in focus and had a large surface area, which I didn’t like. After this, I wanted to bring out the vibrancy of the purple plastic bag yet keep parts of it darker, which can be seen in Vilde Rolfsen’s work at the creases and folds. I used the brightness at the start to bring the photo down to a more controlled level of brightness and then brought the contrast all the way up to keep the vibrancy of the purple fluent throughout the photo which can be seen when I was using the vibrancy and saturation which I didn’t need to change as much, due to this. Then to make sure the purple was as bright as it could be, similar to Rolfsen’s work, without overexposing it I used the colour balance to make sure the colours weren’t getting lost in each other due to one colour being too overpowering. This photo is what I used as a basis for editing the photo further on and this is because I really like how it turned out and I think that it would be a good photo to use to experiment in different filters with because there are light and dark points of the photo, similar to Rolfsen’s work.
Experiment 2)
For this edit, I inverted the photo on photoshop and adjusted the density and feather tools a little bit, which created this image which I really like because I think that due to the editing on the basic photograph I had used beforehand made the creases more defined which creates the image of a leaf. I really like how this has been created because similar to a leaf, it shows the intricate little formations which a leaf may have to show its uniqueness. This can also link quite well into the theme of ‘Anthropocene’ as the outdoor environment is another element which is being heavily effected by it and due to the way the lighting is, which makes the surrounding of the photo a bright, plain white makes the leaf appear as if it is fading away more and more, which can show the dangers which are effecting the environment and how if we keep acting as we are, there won’t be much left. I also like how the middle of the leaf appears darker then the rest as it adds a layer of dimension to the photo to make the leaf look realistic as this is where the stem would be on the underneath. If I were to edit this photo again, I would make sure that there is more green involved in the picture which I would edit in the channel mixers and vibrancy/hue because I think that it would add that extra level towards the photo which would make it stand out well, highlighting the fact that it resembles a leaf.
Experiment 3)
Edit 1
Edit 2
For these edits, I experimented with the black and white filters on photoshop. I used these to transform the photo, highlighting the middle where the flashlight was which makes it become the main area of attraction to someone’s eye and then the black highlights the creases in ways where it makes them defined so that they stand out, creating the effect that you are looking down into a valley or mountainous area.
Then for the second edit, I inverted the black and white photo on photoshop which creates this X-Ray effect which I think is really effective as it creates a miniature landscape inside of itself where the brighter parts can be seen to be higher areas covered in snow whereas the darker bits are where the land falls down, but if I were to edit this further I would have cropped the photo to make the main focus be the small landscape which has been created as I think that the bright, overexposed area from the lighting previously around it makes the focus being taken off of it.
Editing photo 2 –
Experiment 1)
For this edit, I wanted to keep it quite simple to begin with as previously because I think that the base was a good starting point which I really liked and wanted to experiment further with in different ways. I began by bringing the brightness down to try and neutralise the glow of the flashlight a little bit as I thought that it was quite overpowering, but this also made the photos colours become a bit dim so to keep them vibrant I brought up the contrast. Then I used the exposure and gamma correction, a small bit, to help bring out the darker colours but to an extent. I wanted to also extenuate these colours further as I felt that they had gotten a little bit lost while editing, so I brought up the Vibrancy and to keep it stable/equal I brought the saturation down.
Experiment 2)
For this, I brought the photo into black and white as I wanted to experiment with dragging the colour put of the photo, as it was a really vibrant photo. I liked the effect that the flashlight brought to the middle of the photo as it adds a gradual change throughout the photo from light to dark which makes the photo appear to be quite sinister in the effect as it creates a tunnelled illusion which makes you wonder what could be down the small gateway which is leading downwards throughout the photo, also adding a 3D element.
Experiment 3)
For these edits, I wanted to experiment with changing the colour of the photos completely through the use of the channel mixer in photoshop. I really liked how the blue one came out as it shows a similarity to Rolfsen’s work of a blue plastic bag which I really liked, the blue effect is able to add a sufficient amount of contrast throughout the piece because it is able to level out the light and dark points so that they don’t become too overpowering and bright. If I were to do the photo again, I would crop the photo to get the focus to the middle of the photo where the most creases of the plastic bag are, which I really like, I tried this in the green edit which I think worked quite effectively as it got rid of the excess plastic similar to the first edit of this photo which I did.
I’m really happy with how these 2 turned out because I liked experimenting with transforming the photo into different colours but the third edit where the photo shares elements of red and blue fading into each other, I wasn’t happy with the way that this had turned out because I think that the red has become too overpowering and doesn’t show the details of the creases which I wanted to have fluid throughout these edits. If I were to do this edit again I would make sure that I change the contrast and saturation to control these levels to make sure that they don’t merge into one.
Ed’s work focuses on the impact of humans on our landscapes.
The first 4 pictures show how tires can mask these landscapes, instead of it being a beautiful area where animals can live and trees can grow.
The last 2 photos show a valley which has been used as a quarry. This shows the impact of humans on our landscapes, as they destroy valleys to mine something that they can sell.
My work:
My work with tires is different, as the tires are being reused for a good cause. Farmers use tires to weigh down the plastic covers on feed storage areas for the animals. These photos show agriculture in Jersey but are also similar to Ed Burtynsky’s work.
My work with quarries is similar to Ed’s. This Quarry is located in St John on the Jersey coastline. These photos show the impact of quarries on Jersey’s beautiful coastline, while Ed Burtynsky’s show the impact of quarries in valleys. They both show that our landscapes are being built over for mining purposes. In 50 years time there might be more than one quarry on the coast of Jersey.
I first edited the final selection of images on Lightroom using the before and after view to show the differences made to the images, I changed the different contrasts, exposures, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks and changed the orientation of some of the images to make them look much better and effective. I also created virtual copies of some of the images to create a black and white version of the image as well. The images shown are my favourite images and edits of the final selection of images.
Shoot 2
I first edited the final selection of images on Lightroom using the before and after view to show the differences made to the images, I changed the different contrasts, exposures, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks and changed the orientation of some of the images to make them look much better and effective. I also created virtual copies of some of the images to create a black and white version of the image as well. The images shown are my favourite images and edits of the final selection of images.
I was able to fully complete 2 photoshoots in preparation for this exam, I followed the plan I made for the exam by taking photos of desolate overgrown buildings as well as industrial sites to portray the theme and topic of Anthropocene.
Shoot 1
I was able to capture a total of 222 photos in shoot 1 which is more than enough to work with to produce final outcomes to the best of my ability. For shoot 1 I took photos in and around the la Collette industrial site as well as up around mount Bingham.
I used the flagging technique to select the best photos from this shoot to use for manipulation and editing. After using the flagging technique, I had 81 photos to once again choose from to use for editing and manipulation. To narrow down these photos, I used the rating system to select the best photos from these 65 photos. Using this technique I came up with 20 photos to use for editing and manipulation.
flagged photos
rated photos
Shoot 2
For shoot 2 I captured a total of 321 photos to work with and narrow down to select for manipulation I also used the flagging technique for this photoshoot. For this shoot I took photos around the grounds of St. Saviours hospital as well as other derelict sites around the island.
After using the flagging technique, I came up with 48 photos as a lot of the photos were blurry or too dark or too light to be able to use. I then used the rating technique to once again narrow down the photos to use for editing and manipulation. After using the rating technique, I had 13 photos to edit and manipulate to create final images.
flagged photos
rated photos
Review of photoshoots
Although I aimed to take 3 photoshoots with at least 100 photos in each, I managed to get 2 photoshoots. Even though I only did 2 photoshoots I was able to get 222 photos in shoot 1 and 321 photos in shoot 2 which was well above the amount of photos I aimed to take. With a total of 543 photos I believe I have more than enough photos for me to create the most effective final images for the Anthropocene project. I believe the quality of the photos I have taken overall are quite good and I managed to photograph the locations I planned on photographing, a couple of photos I have taken have not come out as I would have liked as some have been blurry, too bright or too dark. Using the different filtering techniques on Lightroom I am happy with the final selection of images I will be using for editing and manipulation with Lightroom and Photoshop in order to come up with the best possible final outcomes I am able to produce.
For this shoot I used a plain white sheet under the props to make sure the model is the main focal point I shot these images using flash and natural lighting with a variety of angles. I used a suitcase and a verity of clothing and shopping bags to portray the message that humans will continue to over purchase clothing due to the continuous evolving fashion industry even when we’re aware that we have no space and they will be sent to landfill eventually.
I had 75 images from this shoot inspired by Marco Mori after being imported into light room.
Then I refined my final image selection using P and X to filter my successful images from my unsuccessful images which left me with 37 images before beginning my editing process.
unsuccessful images
These images were unsuccessful as they didn’t turn out as I originally planned or camera settings were off due to the way the lighting entered my room and the way the camera picked up the props due to ISO settings being too high.
These are the successful images before I start the star rating system from 1-5.
These are the best rated images from this shoot before I start editing them in develop mode.
I edited these photos to relate to the Anthropocene project ‘The Anthropocene Project is a multidisciplinary body of work combining fine art photography, film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and scientific research to investigate human influence on the state, dynamic, and future of the Earth.’ I didn’t like the outcome too much so i chose not to include in my final outcomes.
Experiments
These images i experimented with i mainly used photoshop by layering different images onto each other to add certain effect. I.e how we harm the environment and how that can affect certain people who are trying to protect it. Other images i experimented on i just focused on the lighting and positioning of objects so the photo can tell its own story.
