EDITING PROCESS:

These images were taken during a night out with the girls that started with a car wash which led to going out clubbing. This photoshoot was to reflect this idea of ‘girlhood’ and the stereotypical view of how girls present themselves for a night out, specifically for the male gaze. In these images there are a range of portraits of girls getting ready and girls challenging the stereotype with knowledge about cars. During the editing process I kept the aesthetic of the digital camera, reinforcing the style of my artist reference Nancy Honey. Honey photographed this idea of ‘girlhood’ in a sense documenting how femininity is expressed through female identity. During the process of editing the pictures, I adjusted the tone of the images to more cooler blues and purples, which has connotations of calm, relaxed, and reserved, then warmer yellow tones.

Furthermore, I adjusted the images to cool tones in order to fit with the previous photoshoot editing style. However I also intend to edit the previous photoshoot with more warmer tones so there can be a contrast between warm and cool tones in the editing style. This photoshoot easily adjusted to the cooler tones as some of these images were taken in the dark, and moreover the coloured clothes of the girls simply works with the cool undertone of the image.

REFLECTION:

This photoshoot was slightly disorganised however I got some of the shots I needed. Even though the plan was not to do a car wash I still managed to get some images. However later in the night when some girls got ready to go out I managed to get some images of the girls getting ready. This was slightly unorganised as some girls already came organised and ready which limited the amount of images I could get. Even with the very limited photoshoot I still managed to get some shots which I think I could possibly use in my exam project. Reflecting on this photoshoot I overall think it could have been more organised and more images could have been taken. Applying this to Honey I believe some images can work of girls getting ready and doing makeup, some of these photos can also work with Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures’ even though she is not my targeted artist reference I believe she is relevant to the project.

During the editing process I will be enhancing the brightest and the idea of using ‘flash’. I will be exploring cooler temperatures such as blue and purple to reinforce this idea of femininity and girl power. Purples and pinks are often associated as feminine therefore reinforcing the gender stereotype I am presenting in my photography. However to further recreate Honey’s look in her photography, I will need to take some photo’s during golden hour.

MY IMAGES VS NANCY HONEY:

COLOUR RATING:

RED: BAD QUALITY IMAGES

YELLOW: RELATIVLY GOOD IMAGES, COULD BE IMPROVED

GREEN: GOOD IMAGES, THAT FIT WELL WITH ARTIST STUDY

PURPLE: BEST IMAGES, FIT WITH ARTIST STUDY, CREATIVE

When I edited these images, I wanted to make sure I didn’t detract from the vibrancy of the colour in a lot of them. For these images, I mostly increased contrast and made them brighter. For the images that didn’t have this level of vibrancy, (due to overexposure, underexposure, etc.) I made them black and white and increased contrast to make them more dramatic. See below for an example of one of the colourful images vs a less colourful one.

I like the way these turned out and this is why I continued relatively the same pattern throughout all of my edits.

EDITING PROCESS:

These images were taken during and before a girls birthday party. This photoshoot was to reflect this idea of ‘girlhood’ and the stereotypical view of how girls dress at parties, specifically for the male gaze. In these images there are a range of portraits and close ups of hair and accessories. During the editing process I kept the aesthetic of the digital camera, reinforcing the style of my artist reference Nancy Honey. Honey photographed this idea of ‘girlhood’ in a sense documenting the evolution of their feminine identity. During the process of editing the pictures, I adjusted the tone of the images to more cooler blues and purples, which has connotations of calm, relaxed, and reserved, then warmer yellow tones. The cool tones immediately changed the aesthetic of the images by adding purples hues, which is stereotypically a more feminine colour. Furthermore connotations of cool colours are often associated with feelings of calmness, relaxation, tranquillity or sometimes even melancholy, which can be seen through Honeys photography work.

Furthermore I decreased the exposure to sharpen the leading lines of the images (which is where your eyes follow in the photograph), however I also increased the highlights in order to bring some of the brightness of the flash back into the image, more so by enhancing the highlights in the image you are able to see the highlight point of the young girls faces. In some images I decided to add a white vignette in order to directly focus on the portraits of the girls and what they are doing, whether is it posing or laughing. By adding a white vignette it further brightens the image creating this bright grainy aesthetic of digital camera’s back in the day. By using the white vignette it is also improving the focal point of the images directly drawing the audience, and by brightening the overall image.

REFLECTION:

Overall the photoshoot went as planned, I managed to get a good range of images of girls getting ready and girls out together. I got many good shots in which I know I will have a range to edit from with different styles and angles. Furthermore by taking images of many girls, it gives me a variety to work with. Most of these shots are posed however shows girls smiling and being happy which can be argued shows the stereotypical woman of being less aggressive then men are stereotyped. This shoot fits with Nancy Honey more then Cindy Sherman, as it portrays young girls and this idea of girlhood, and becoming woman. Some shots that are inspired from Honey is girls doing their makeup and girls helping each other out.

Overall, I believe this photoshoot went well, however to improve I would like to take less posed images and more natural candid images. In which the girls don’t know I am taking images of them and just more in the moment images. During the editing process I plan to experiment with different hues and temperatures (cool and warm tones) in order to create this aesthetic f grainy old camera like the style of Nancy Honey.

MY IMAGES VS NANCY HONEY:

COLOUR RATING:

RED: BAD QUALITY IMAGES

YELLOW: RELATIVLY GOOD IMAGES, COULD BE IMPROVED

GREEN: GOOD IMAGES, THAT FIT WELL WITH ARTIST STUDY

PURPLE: BEST IMAGES, FIT WITH ARTIST STUDY, CREATIVE

PHOTOSHOOT ONE

My research into Henri Cartier-Bresson’s concept of the “Decisive Moment” – a picture masterly composed to seize the essence of an impromptu event, saw an undoubted relation to the genre of sports photography. Taking Bresson’s ideas of The Decisive Moment and it’s links to Sports Photography inspired me to undergo a photoshoot with a focus on the practice of surfing. My approach saw me produce a series of images in an attempt to preserve the human body and it’s surrounding elements in motion. The constant change in conditions when undergoing this photoshoot saw the capture of a well composed and visually compelling image a difficulty. Although, A Fast Shutter Speed, Auto-focus and the use of the ”Burst Mode” enabled me to overcome the difficult shooting conditions. The Waterproof housing provided by the JEP saw the opportunity to produce images from the viewpoint of a surfer, allowing for unique often unseen of outcomes due to the pricey equipment necessary. Areas of improvement have been identified from analysis of my outcomes, allowing for an improved response in future photoshoots. Due to the fish eye effect of the dome housing provided, the need to position myself a close distance from the subject was crucial. My affected mobility in the water saw my distance in specific images a necessary area of improvement. Although my past experience in the ocean aided my response, my recent knowledge on certain camera related tricks, such as the removal of water droplets from the lens with saliva, will undoubtedly aid me in future shoots. Physical and Environmental aspects of this in water shoot also affected my response, having already been in the water for hours prior to the photoshoot my levels of fitness and body temperature were seen to be a problem. Overall, I believe this photoshoot was a success and has provided me with the necessary experience to produce outcomes of higher quality in shoots 2/3/4/5.

Favoured Outcomes

I have begun to make selections across my photoshoots to find the ones that are worth editing, as I have nearly 2,000 images and cannot possibly edit them all.

Using the ‘Flag as picked’ and ‘Flag as rejected’ tools in Lightroom, I am able to pick out the images I would like to edit, which I can then filter later on. I am choosing the best images based on their aesthetic quality and their relevance to my overall intentions.

For Amsterdam, I picked a total of 54 images for editing.

For Athens, I picked a total of 80 images for editing.

For Edinburgh, I picked a total of 21 images for editing.

For London, I picked a total of 16 images for editing.

For New York, I picked a total of 59 images for editing.

For Paris, I picked a total of 32 images for editing.

From the plane journeys, I picked a total of 24 images for editing.

For St Malo, I picked a total of 43 images for editing.

For York, I picked a total of 30 images for editing.

That makes a total of 347 images.