Contact sheets

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Above, is a couple of my contact sheets that show a wide variety of images from the photoshoot at Plemont and St Ouens. Contact sheets allow me to organise my photos and plan if I need to make time for more photoshoots if I do not have enough images.

Selecting my Images (Colour Coding)

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Above I have another set of contact sheets these are displaying how I have selected my first selection of images. As I took so many photos I needed a way to narrow down and refine my choice, so I used the colour coding tool on lightroom to help me with this. I first used YELLOW for my ‘average’ images and GREEN for my ‘best’ images. This helped me to select which ones to move ahead with and edit which leads me to the final colour PURPLE which has all been edited and that I will be using as my final images.

Editing

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I have included some before and afters of my edited images from this photoshoot. While a lot of my photos didn’t need to be changed, some of them were overexposed and I also like to have a more saturated look to my final images. In some of my edits, I have also increased the clarity as some of the original photos did not come out as clear as I would have liked them to.

Final Images

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Above are two of my final images from my photoshoot at Plemont, I have chosen my first photo to be part of this selection because of the strong composition, I like how the shoreline isn’t straight but somewhat diagonal and is broken by one of the rocks. Another key element of this image is the contrasting tones and colours of the sand and the sea. here you have warmer tones in the sand and rocks which are the direct contrast to the cooler/cold tones in the sea. For the second photo that I have selected, I enjoy that there is only a small bit of the sea that is shown in the centre of the photo, the green/blue colour majorly contrasts with all the brown and beige colours around it. The shadows are also an eye-catching feature of this image as they are so pronounced against the rocks.

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These are the 3rd and 4th images that I have selected from my photoshoot at Plemont. The 3rd photo was taken in one of the caves toward the back of the beach, I decided to photograph this spot because I liked how the green from the plants stood out against the dark rocks behind them. When taking the photo I liked how the outline of the cave made the background bolder and framed the part of the image that the light hit from above. I have chosen the 4th image because I like the different composition that the rocks make due to the varying size and shape. I think this photo has a lot of different elements for people to look at for example, the droplets of water that are caused by the water fall from above also the different colours of rocks which contrast with the dusty yellow colour of the sand. I like how the light reflects off the wet rocks which makes the photograph a lot more interesting to look at.

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My 5th and 6th images where talked in a car park down at St Ouens beach, I like the composition in the 5th image as i looks very neat and thought-out compared to the diagonal composition in the 1st image. Another feature of the image that standout to me is the contrasting colours of the sky to the shoreline. Youve go the warm glow from the setting sun which reflects off the sea which is set directly in the centre of the image.

Contact Sheets

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Above are two sets of contact sheets from my studio photoshoot. One is of the images using continuous lighting with a plain white background and the second is a set of images using flash lighting with a two-tone background.

Continuous and Flash Lighting

Continuous lighting: With continuous lighting, you can see how the light falls on your subject as soon as you switch it on. You don’t have to wait until you’ve taken a photo to get an idea of what kind of image you’re going to end up with

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Flash Lighting: The biggest benefit to flash lighting is that type flash provides much more power and in a shorter burst that is less disruptive to a model/object. Also, some darkness and shadows are illuminated when using this type of lighting.

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Selecting My Images (Flags)

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To help with the selection of my images I have used the different flags to differentiate between the images I want to use and the ones I don’t. To do this I used the ‘p’ and ‘x’ tools, the ‘p’ tool put a white flag at the top of each photo which helps to indicate the ones I am using and the ‘x’ tool will put a black flag which will take the photo off the list of ones that I will be using.

Editing

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Above I have put two edits to the continuous lighting photo shoot, I have put the transparent coloured sheet in front of the light to create different lighting and the other I have left the lights plain. In both, I have only slightly adjusted the exposure, but for the image on the left, I have decreased the contrasted, whereas I have increased it on the right to get the darker more exaggerated shadows. For the photograph on the left, I wanted it to be brighter and not so dull as when it was taken so I have adjusted the highlights and whites settings which have helped to get the desired look.

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Sub selection (Colour coding)

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Above are some contact sheets showing how I have colour-coded my images to help select my final images. I have used YELLOW to represent the images I think are average, which I might use in my final images and I have used GREEN to highlight the photos I think are best to be part of my final image collection.

Final Images

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Here I have the first three images of my collection in the still life project, my first photo is one of the first designs I tried with the rocks also it’s my first attempt at continuous lighting, it also uses coloured plastic sheets. I like this image as I think the pink lighting on the left side compliments the more natural, beige shade of light on the right side. Also, the composition of the image is eye-catching which is enhanced by the different lights. Another example of continuous lighting is my second image, in this final piece I have kept to the yellow/beige lighting instead of using one of the coloured sheets. I enjoy how the light compliments the colours that the objects hold. Another feature which makes the photo more eye-catching is the stream of light that shines diagonally from the left side of the image, I feel as if it acts like a spotlight on the compilation of objects. Furthermore, I feel the placements of all the different objects make a nice composition that is satisfying to look at, it has a tall structure with leaves coming off the side to give the final piece dimension.

Lastly, for my third image, I have also used one of the red plastic sheets to change the lighting which gives the photo an eerie feeling as red is normally a symbol of danger, I feel the colour of the lighting adds to and compliments the composition of the structure. The composition of the photo is the same as the 1st in my collection but I think this lighting is more eyecatching and tells more of a story than the other. Another feature of this photograph which I think draws people’s attention is the shadows that sit in the background and foreground of the image. the shadow towards the front is more defined and prominent which gives the final image a mysterious feel. The background is faded but can still be seen, it also can add a lot to the image as it gives views more to look at and analyse as well as complimenting the composition.

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Above are my 4th and 5th images from my still life collections, for the photo on the left I have kept it in colour as I feel that the different colours form the rocks compliment each other as well as the shells that sit in front of them. One feature of the image that I especially like is the composition, how the rock have been stacked and placed together with the shells ling the outside. I feel that having the good composition helps to bring the final photo together as well as the warm tones from the yellows and reds which contrast with the cooler tones from the background.

For my 5th photo I have converted it into black and white as I thought the monochromatic look would suit the composition better rather than leaving it in colour. I found that by doing this it makes the textures from the shells and rocks more prominent adding different viewing points. one feature I enjoy about this final image is the detail from the rock, it has a slight marble effect as there are some different lines that are a lighting shade the the rest of the rock. Furthermore, I also thing that the composition of the image compliments the objects that are being shown, in the foreground there is a line with different shells that are in colour order, lightest to darkest, I think this adds a really eye-catching feature to this photo.

We went to Green Island and walked quite a while, taking various photos of the different kinds of rocks around us on our way. It was quite cloudy so we didn’t have to worry about our photos being overexposed due to the sun but we did have to be cautious about all the puddles that were there, making the rocks quite slippery to be on in order to make sure we wouldn’t slip or break our cameras.

Contact Sheets:

Throughout this photoshoot, I mainly focused on getting good quality photos of isolated rocks rather than taking images of the scenery as a whole. This is due to the fact I had a previous idea that I wanted to improve further and thought I would be able to get the images I needed on this trip. Along with that, I also took a lot of images of the floor, trying to get a variety of interesting shots of the composition of the smaller rocks mixed with the texture/patterns of the sand and water as I thought the images would come in handy later on.

I brought my images into Lightroom and flagged the good quality photos I liked best, making it easier to spot them against the blurry images I took. I also made sure to keep an eye out for any images I could combine together into a mini series, either because they looked similar or because I thought they’d work well together.

Best Shots:

I chose these images as my best shots as I really like the composition in each one of these images. I feel as though it’s easy to tell what the focus of the image is, leading the eye towards the centre of the image to view the various details I’ve managed to capture within my photos. Along with that, I like how consistent the shadows and highlights are across all the images as it’s already giving me inspiration for future projects.

These are my images from our trip to Le Hocq. We went down to Le Hocq to capture images which relate to our theme of ‘my rock’ in particular we emulated the style of Emile F Guiton, an important historical photogapher for our heritage.

My selection and edits

I decided to edit these rock images in black and white to emulate the style of Emile F Guiton

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La Motte is a beach in Jersey which is known locally as “Green Island” due to the tidal island, and listed archaeological site.

From this photoshoot I separated my images into 2 categories; images I will edit and images I will probably not use.

I had a scratch on the lens of my camera so some of my images appeared foggy and unfocused in one part of the image.

During this photoshoot I focused mostly on rockpools and colours instead of rock formations and landscape images. Below are my most successful unedited images from the photoshoot.

IMAGES

When I have fully edited and possibly collected more images from this site I plan to make a zine about rock pools and colours in nature.

The Société Jersiaise was founded in January 1873 by a small number of prominent Islanders who were interested in the study of the history, the language and the antiquities of Jersey.  Membership grew quickly and the aims of the new society soon widened to include the publication of historical documents, the founding of a Museum, and the study of the Island’s natural history.  Their first Bulletin Annuel was issued in 1875 and continues to be the main record of their activities.

The Société Jersiaise Photographic Archive (SJPA) contains over 125,000 items dating from the mid-1840s to the present day. The subjects represented within their archive are as diverse as the multitude of processes and techniques used to produce them. Covering archaeology, geology, botany and entomology, ornithology and mycology, agriculture and maritime, economic and social history. It is the Island’s principal collection of nineteenth and early twentieth-century photography and reflects a rich history generated from our geographical and cultural position between Britain and France, two nations that were prominent in developing the medium.

During our photography trip we had the chance to visit Jersey museum and look at the photographic archive, which included photos of Green Island and excavations of a skull (above), these photos were helpful in showing us the history and archaeology of the part of the island we were photographing.

EMILE F GUITTON

Born in Jersey in 1879 he had a keen interest in history and was a member of La Société Jersiaise, served on its executive committee as joint honorary secretary, and was curator of the Museum and editor of the Annual Bulletin

Not only did he record events and activities during his own lifetime, particularly agriculture, but he had a fascination with the past and chronicled with his images many archaeological excavations (his pictures of the interior of La Hougue Bie remain some of the best in existence) as well as photographing Mont Orgueil Castle and other coastal fortifications, sites of geological interest, and architecture. Guiton had a particular interest in the design of Jersey houses over the centuries, and particularly in different styles of arches to be found in the island.

Emile Guiton was a keen amateur photographer and practised throughout his long life. He experimented with colour at the beginning of the twentieth century in “Autochromes”. His subjects include the recording of archaeological excavations and he was one of the few people in Jersey permitted to take photographs during the German Occupation of 1940 – 1945. Emile Guiton also recognised very early on the importance of collecting photographs, both as a valuable social historic resource and as interesting artefacts – examples of developments in science and technology. He donated many images to the Société Jersiaise. He died in 1972.

Plan

I will be taking photographs at Green Island I would like to take these images round midday to ensure that I can have the best changes of having the correct lighting for this shoot, and making sure its not raining to make sure my only equipment, the camera, doesn’t get damaged.

Contact Sheets

Below I have included some contact sheets displaying the wide variety of images from my Plemont and Stinky Bay shoot, this is important as it gives an indication of how many images I have from each shoot, and helps with the organisation before image sub selection.

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Colour Ratings/ Image Sub-selection

Below I have placed some screenshots of my colour coding my photographs, I have included an explanation of the system and how I have come to the image sub selection process, I really like this system as it ensures that I have a clear plan in my mind of which images I am going to edit. It also helps me predict my final images just from looking through them in Lightroom.

• Purple- Best images
• Blue- Average images
• Pink- Not so good images

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Best Images

There I have taken some of the images from my ‘purple’ selection above and placed them in a gallery so that they can be more easily viewed, this also helps me consider whether or not they could be displayed as 9 images or just individually. Furthermore, this is before the editing process so lots of these photographs could be made to be of a higher quality afterwards.

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I have organised my best images into mini galleries, this one focusing on the small castle at La Rocq and its area around, I think this is a good way to display images as it helps visualise images in collections and helps when it comes to thinking about the layout of how they would displayed.

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These next two mini galleries are much more focused on the beach and the rocky areas around, I like that these images all have very similar tones and brightness’s, meaning that they compliment each other well.

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Editing

Below I have included before and afters of all of the images that I have decided to edit, I think that for the most part these images came out very well, I think I didn’t end up with a wide range of good images to edit, however I think the ones that I have are of good clarity and some exposures have been edited so that the images are more legible. Furthermore, I think that changing the undertones of the images to make them appear cooler/ warmer gives them a greater effect.

Above I have included an one example of how I have edited my photographs, and below I have included images before and after thee editing so that their differences are more prominent, I think this is a good way to display editing and it helps to make decisions about whether images look better before or after editing.

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Final Images

For my final images I have decided that these are my best options, I have included evaluations for each of my images, with explanations for each stating the strengths and weakness of each.

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I have selected these two as my first final images as I think that they compliment each other well, when editing these images I tried to make it so they had a similar exposure. This is one of my favourite aspects of these images is that they are both slightly over- exposed, I think this adding a lot of brightness of the sky creates a focal point out of the bricks in the castle, along with helping the photographs to have a cooler toned images. Furthermore, I think that there is a lot of contrast between them, starting with the perspective of them, I put them together as the difference in the angles means that they compliment each other well. Additionally, the materials within the pieces are different, with the new metal stairs leading up to the entrance of the castle contrast with the very old fashioned bricks that compose the castle.

In contrast, there are some downfalls to these photographs, as the fact that they are somewhat over-exposed may hinder the quality of my images, or how well liked they are. Furthermore, I think that the first image is more of a higher quality, especially in contrast with the second, and they may even look better displayed by themselves. The fact that the second image is a lot more warmed toned means that the contrast between the two photographs may mean that the contrast may not be aesthetic.

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This is my third final piece, this was my favourite to edit as the drastic change made to this photograph made it more interesting. My favourite aspect of this image is the clouds surrounding the rocks in the background as I think this gives the images an eerie affect and the fact that this piece is has been edited in black and white (monochromatic) means that it also adds to the affect. Additionally, I think that there is lot of contrast between the foreground and the background, with the foreground being filled with lots of darker tones, with details such as the lines and textures in the rock. Then the background being filled with highlights which make the central piece, the rock, stand out more. Alternatively, this final piece could be seen as a little boring as there is only one aspect to this image, meaning that its not as catching as my other pieces.

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These final pieces have been placed together as I think that they would compliment each other well together as they tell a mini story within only two photographs. With the first being a lot more zoomed in, focusing on one thing that happened outside of this castle, the lady with the dog is just one example of something that has occurred here, maybe making us think about what else may had happened here, such as war and conflict. The second image is placed here in order to put the first one into perspective as its a different point of view from the first. I think that the second photograph is of very high quality because of the clarity of it, with the bricks and grass being filled with texture and depth because of the clarity of the original image. However, in my opinion, these piece could be improved by adding more images to the sequence, as this would make the mini story more detailed and vivid.

I have presented these photographs in this way as I don’t want to cut off some of the first photograph (which is what happens when a gallery on the blog is made). Furthermore, I think that the perspective of the first image is important to note as the image is perfectly half rocks and half sky. To edit these photographs I changed the ‘dehaze’ and ‘saturation’ settings, this was in an attempt to keep the cold and eerie affect throughout many of these photographs. Furthermore, the second photograph is filled with lots of more colour and softer textures, which are present throughout the flowers and grass. The best contrast between these images is the man-made vs natural theme, as the first is filled with all human made features and the second being filled with natural aspects such as the wood, flowers and grass.

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I have placed these three photographs together to produce this final piece as I think this makes these images stronger as they are together. This is because the top two photographs are very similar, and the third/ bottom image being a different perspective of the same face of rocks (as the image was taken from the side). Additionally, I think that these photographs are very aesthetic as the contrasting natural colours throughout the pinks and greens on the rocks help to create depth, along with the browns in the left side of the bottom photograph. All of these images contain the ‘rule of thirds’ which means that horizontally they can be split in three, with different angles and features in each section.

We decided to create 3D sculptures out of our images. In order to create my photo sculpture, I needed to select which photos I wanted to use. I knew I wanted to experiment with textures so I began by choosing a variety of close-up shots with a mixture of patterns as I thought they would work well when I attempted to add texture to them.

—- Experiment 1: ————-

In order to create this experiment, I printed out the same image twice, one slightly bigger than the other, before cutting out the rock in the centre of both images. From there, lightly crumpled up the bigger rock and stuck down the edges through the smaller hole, creating the illusion of a protruding rock, which I found quite difficult as some of the edges didn’t want to stick leading me to tear arts of the image to make it work. I then stuck a scrapped image onto the back, creating a small pocket and stuffed that with the scrap paper from my work. This made the piece sturdier as it was less likely to collapse to the touch. Overall, I am content with my first experiment and want to recreate and improve it further by choosing a different image [as this one was a bit too dark] and by taking my time with my presentation, making it look less scruffy/torn.

—- Experiment 2: ————-

I started this experiment with the idea of creating some sort of textured piece by making each ridge within the image stand out in some way. However, once I stuck my image down onto a piece of foam, I realized it would be easier to take away from the piece rather than adding on, leading me to carefully cutting into parts of the image & foam. This created small dips within the piece which allowed the rocks in the piece stand out due to the texture I created. Overall, although I do like the experiment, I don’t think I’m going to pursue it further as I can’t see it becoming anything more interesting than it currently is.

—- Experiment 3: ————-

This experiment was linked to my second one as I had a plan to make a texture board of sorts, using different methods to make different textures and looks. For this one, I printed out the same image twice, sticking the first one down onto a square piece of foam board. Then, I used the cut most of the rocks that could be seen on the foam board out of the second image and onto separate pieces of foam board, careful cutting around both the image and foam so it would fit perfectly on top of the base. For some of the rocks around the edge, however, I decided to let the overhang the board which I think added more depth and form to the piece. Overall, I like the final experiment better than the second one as the rocks here stand out against the rest of the image, creating a more interesting composition.

On Tuesday 4th October, we went on a class field trip to Le Hocq and Green Island, before going to the Société Jersiaise, a local charity dedicated to studying and archiving the island’s archaeology, history (both human and natural), culture, environment and language. This work is incredibly important as they aim to protect and share this knowledge with islanders.

About

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I tried to experiment with a mixture of monochrome and colour images, taking inspiration from some of the work of Emile F Guiton, a photographer who’s work we looked over in the archives, specifically his images of Green Island. I also tried to vary my compositions, using a range of close-ups and more far away shots, however I do wish I got to take more pictures after actually arriving at Green Island so I will look at planning another shoot there.

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I was inspired by the monochrome work of Guiton but did not want to stick to exclusively black and white, which is why I added in some cyan to the image, making it stand out more. Both images feature multiple people looking around a significant site, however are separated by years and subject.

Renaissance Still Life

Into the early renaissance period, still life painting accompanied religious artworks as stylistic elements with symbolic meanings. these were usually painted in backgrounds of religious paintings and were seen in Northern Renaissance and early Netherlandish paintings. Many still life paintings were kept with religious meanings which were shown in the work of artists like the Flemish painter, Jan van Eyck.

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Other artists like Leonardo da Vinci and the German painter Albrecht Durer painted still lifes without the religious symbolism. Still life paintings were done of a variety of natural objects, some being flowers, household items or even food. At this stage during the Renaissance, still life paintings were also done to explore the natural world by observing it and painting it.

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Dutch `Still Life

Still Life painting started as a genre in the Netherlands which was termed as one of the Low Countries, which also included Belgica and Flanders. The Dutch Golden Age was a result of Dutch independence from Spain, which led to the Dutch Republic being born. Still Life was especially popular as a painting style during this time, especially paintings of flowers.

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The protestant revolution minimised the production of religious artworks, which led to other genres of paintings becoming more popular. Still life paintings were favoured because they could depict everyday scenes of people and their lives which inherited a symbolic meaning from various objects. These paintings also branched off into what was called “Dutch Realism”. This focused on the ordinary depictions of people, specifically the middle class, mainly traders and merchants. Artists painted subject matter for merchants who were more focused on depicting what they have earned during their lives.

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Paintings during this period were mostly small and done for private home display as opposed to paintings done on a larger scale for churches or altarpieces. But as this was dominantly a protestant culture, there was not a need to flaunt artworks in the same way. Furthermore, the common types of still life paintings included the Vanitas (Latin for ‘vanity’ or ’emptiness’) genre, ‘breakfast pieces’, ‘ornate’ or ‘ostentatious’ displays of still life pieces as well as florals.

Modern Still Life

Modern Still Life came about during art movements like Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Notably, during Post-Impressionism, Vincent van Gogh brought Still Life painting to life with his flower and vase paintings.

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A French artist from Post-Impressionism, Paul Cezanne, painted Still Lifes with fruit, bread, bottle and baskets. The difference between these paintings and the more realistic Dutch Still Life paintings was that these modern artists used more expressive brushstrokes, colours and different perspectives. Skulls would also sometimes be included in the Dutch Vanitas. Still Lifes that included skulls would mainly have various fruits with pieces cut or bitten out of it, placed in front or in the skull’s mouth.

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Contemporary Still Life art has developed over the years and many artists now use photography, computers and videos as means of portraying everyday objects and food. The evolution of technology has allowed a hyper-realistic portrayal of subject matter, from painting to being computer generated.

Don McCullin

Don McCullin is one of the greatest living photographers who has employed a variety of different photography genres in his work. He has documented the poverty of London’s East End, and the horrors of the wars in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He has also proved to be an artist capable of beautifully arranged still lifes, soulful portraits and landscapes.

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“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”

McCullin grew up in North London, and after his impoverished childhood, he was called up for the National Service with the RAF. After being posted to Egypt, Kenya and Cyprus he returned to London with a twin reflex Rolleicord camera and began photographing friends from a local gang named The Guv’nors. McCullin showed this collection to the picture editor at the Observer in 1959 which kick-started his career in photography.

Photography has given me a life… The very least I could do was try and articulate these stories with as much compassion and clarity as they deserve, with as loud a voice as I could muster. Anything less would be mercenary.”

For the next two decades war became a mainstay of McCullin’s career, initially for the Observer and then The Sunday Times in 1966. Moving on from war, Don McCullin’s work focused on the suffering of the poor and underprivileged and he has produced moving essays on the homeless of London’s East End and the working class of Britain’s industrial cities.

“I had long been uncomfortable with my label of war photographer, which suggested an almost exclusive interest in the suffering of other people. I knew I was capable of another voice.”

When McCullin returned home from travelling, he spent three decades chronicling the English countryside – in particular the landscapes of Somerset – and creating meticulously constructed still lifes all to great acclaim.

Don McCullin Still Life

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