Contact Sheet

For these image I went down to Havre Des Pas where I started to take photos of the swimming pool which was made on the beach in 1895. I carried on and went round near the edge of the beach where they have more recently made these ginormous electricity and waste structures.

Editing process

Edited Photos

I think the first one is very successful because you can see especially in the bottom corner of the photo that there is this huge bush with many different kinds of plants and then behind it you have this massive buildings which looks to be a factory with many pipes coming out. The contrast between the two really exaggerates the idea of how humans ruin our wildlife.

I really like this photo as in this image you can see there are 3 different buildings which are all very different the one on the right are brand new flats however they have been designed using old buildings as inspiration then at the back you have the really tall apartments which were built very differently to the ones at the front.

Aaron Siskind Inspired photos

I think this first photo would be one of my favourites from my photos where I focused more on Aaron Siskind I like this one the most I think because I have lots of different materials in this small section and having it so zoomed in you can small all those small details like the cracks in the paint where the paint has peeled off the wall. The small markings on the wood probably from water damage.

Robert Adams was an American photographer born may 8th 1937. He focused on the changing landscape of the American west and his work first came to light in the mid 1970’s through his book ‘The new west’.

He lived in multiple places throughout his life but was born in Orange, New Jersey. Later in his life he moved to Colorado and in 1963, Adams bought a 35mm camera and began to take pictures mostly of nature and architecture. He learned photographic technique from Myron Wood, a professional photographer who lived in Colorado. Adams began to photograph in 1964 but did not start working as a full time photographer until 1970.

Some of his work –

As you can see, Robert leant a lot into the Topographic movement of photography, focusing on natural landscapes and how the man made structures, buildings and industrial estates affected them. His most famous being the first photo ( caravan park ).

New Topographics was a term created by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers (such as Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz) whose pictures had a similar aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape.

The death of the American dream

The American Dream is the national ethos of the United States, that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The phrase was popularised by James Truslow Adams during the Great Depression in 1931

 “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”

 James Truslow Adams

photographers like Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz believed that the mindset of a constantly evolving society was wrong and that nature should be preserved, they were considered environmentalists.

Ansel Adams was also considered an environmentalist however he choose to express this through capturing nature at its best , unimpacted by the developing world around in an effort to convince the general public to slow down the rapid urbanisation of the environment, Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz chose a different approach.

Instead opting to capture the ways in which a modern society impacts nature, photographing buildings trailers and overall the unattractiveness of modern development, this was in hopes if the community became aware of the deteriorating wildlife surrounding there suburban living and outrage would rise.

Lewis Baltz was a American visual artist, photographer and teacher that was an influential figure in the new Topographics movement in the late 1970s. he was based in Europe but travelled extensively using a dead pan approach to photograph urban landscapes across the world, he typically used mundane lighting to create his greyscale photographs.

Mood Board:

Mind map:

• Typography
• Historical / industrial
• Black and white / dull tones
• Bright lighting and exposure
• Man-made
• Empty areas

Ed Ruscha was born December 16, 1937 in Omaha, Nebraska, US. He was associated with West Coast Pop art whose works provide a new way of looking at and thinking about what constitutes the American scene, as well as connecting the verbal with the visual.

Ruscha was raised in Oklahoma City, and in 1956 he made his way to Los Angeles. There he attended Chouinard Art Institute where he studied painting, photography, and graphic arts. He worked as a commercial artist, painting signs and creating graphic designs. As a result, he began to apply commercial techniques and styles to his own artwork. Initially, he experimented with Abstract Expressionism, but he soon turned to the found words and images drawn from vernacular culture that would come to inform all his work. 

Between 1963 and 1978 Ruscha systematically photographed southern California’s built environments – including vacant parking lots, swimming pools, and nightspots. He made these photographs into wordless books, such as Every Building on the Sunset Strip. The 16 artist’s books he created in this manner were widely influential among a younger generation of artists.

Ruscha comments on myths of American Romanticism, commercial culture, and urban life in humorous and ironic pieces. He sometimes uses unusual media in his work, including fruit and vegetable juices, blood, gunpowder, and grass stains, in works such as his Stains series. In the 1980s, his style became more mystical, as he worked with rays of light, constellations, and other celestial themes. Ruscha is best known for his witty and enigmatic use of text in his paintings, which he continues to incorporate into his works today.

 I started taking pictures when I was at school, with no serious intentions. I liked the idea of capturing what is right here right now, like an immediate reality that could be then evaluated and integrated to a painting” – Ed Ruscha

His painting is impregnated with American consumerism and visual standardization, including words and catch phrases in the pictorial composition. This may be significant as it adds context into each of his images, and gives the viewer something to focus on.

Also, Ruscha often experimented with typology – the idea of a system used for putting things into groups according to how they are similar. The reasons to create a photographic typology would be to either create a connection between subjects that share no obvious visual relationship. Or to compare and highlight differences and similarities between subjects that share a visual relationship. The typology approach is effective as it shows a range of different photographs that relate to each other, but with differences such as location or angle.

Image Analysis:

Standard – Amarillo, Texas’, 1962. © Ed Ruscha

This is one of Ruscha’s most famous images, taken in 1962. The location of the image is at a local petrol station, with no particular out-standing aesthetics. However, although it is seen as a perhaps unusual subject at first glance, there is important aspects beneath the surface of this image. I can rightly assume that the reason behind Ruscha photographing this would be to refer back to the American Dream, which was a huge concept of society in the 1930s.

The importance of Ruscha was that he managed to elevate each of his photographs, by simply adjusting his camera settings to alter the image to however he desires. This photograph specifically has many dull tones, in which it is not completely black and white. It seems to have some warmer tones within it, where we can make assumptions about it; the sky is clear and bright blue and the weather is extremely calm as the trees are still.

The angle of this photograph is described as the “deadpan” approach, meaning it was taken from straight on. A deadpan photograph is devoid of emotion. It simply exists as a subject and photograph, yet it seems to be empty. There is no joy or sorrow, although some can argue that the deadpan itself is a mood of its own. The deadpan approach as well as the filters on the photograph gives the viewer an immediate impression of mystery, where we question why the image is in black and white, and why was the deadpan approach used? In photography, black and white photographs symbolize emotions distinctively. They can be used to show contrast, convey feelings of sadness or happiness, or mostly to create a feeling of nostalgia. They can also depict the passage of time or the changing of seasons.

Another significant factor of this image is that despite Ruscha’s common theme throughout his photos is the man-made world, he manages to incorporate small hints of nature in the background. In this photo we can see large trees hanging over the gas station, perhaps implying anciency. From this we can assume that maybe Ruscha has used this gas station before, or grew up near it. This gives the image a sentimental mood because from the first look, the aesthetics of the photo did not imply any of this. This makes me feel included and more involved, as just by analysing and taking a closer look at Ed Ruscha, I am able to make assumptions about the backgrounds behind his work.

Similarities and Differences:

These are two more photographs captured by Ed Ruscha, where they have clear similarities and differences to one another.

The image on the left has much brighter shades and tones throughout as it was taken in the day time. This is significant in The New Topographics because other photographers such as Lewis Baltz and Robert Adams used this technique. They preferred to take their photos in the middle of the day rather than dawn or dusk, as the exposure is higher and the lighting is better. The left photo has also been taken from a lower angle than the image on the right, yet both photos seem as if they have been captured from inside a vehicle, whilst it was moving. This creates a blurry sense, which enhances the images by giving a shallow depth of field. In the photograph on the right, there is a clear absence of light, in which this emphasises and enhances the decorative lighting. The lighting may be viewed as the subject of the image because without it, the image would be pitch black, which draws the viewer in. Also unlike with daytime shoots, the light is not changing – it’s very much the same throughout the night. This is effectual as there is also a contrast created between the luminous lighting and the dark background.

Overall, I think Ed Ruscha’s images are very successful in the way he plays with different lightings, yet comes out with similar outcomes. The use of taking two similar photos but with opposite lighting, allows the viewer to observe how lighting can affect the mood and overall tone of the photograph.

What are HDR Images?

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and they are images which display very high contrast, similar to the human eye or sometimes even more. These images often display details within an image which wouldn’t usually be seen such as shadows which would normally be black or details within highlights that would normally be washed out. This is because the image displays a combination of exposures which merge to create one final image.

Examples of HDR Images:

How to create HDR Images:

To create HDR Images, firstly, you should produce images which have been taken of the same landscape and in the same positions but are of various exposures. This can be done using a camera by adjusting the Exposure Meter in settings to be on -1, 0 and 1 then turning on Continuous shooting, also with an aperture of 16. After taking these photos, you should upload them to Adobe Lightroom and, for each HDR Image, select multiple photos with different exposures and merge them by right clicking then going to Photo Merge > HDR.

My Own HDR Images

Merge 1

These are the images that I merged:

Merge 2

These are the images that I merged:

I used the brush tool to lower the exposure and saturation of the water as it was a bit too bright.

Merge 3

These are the images that I merged:

I decreased the saturation and exposure slightly of the whole image as it was a bit bright then I used the brush tool on the cliff to make it more vibrant and contrasting between the green, orange and brown by increasing the exposure and saturation.

Merge 4

These are the images that I merged:

I thought that this photo was a bit over-saturated, therefore, I lowered the saturation and exposure slightly. I also rotated the image as it was taken at a bit of an angle.

Merge 5

These are the images that I merged:

This photo, at first, turned out very over-saturated and the sky was very dull so I lowered the entire saturation then used the brush tool to increase the saturation for the sky so that there was a little bit of blue.

Merge 6

These are the images that I merged:

I slightly cropped the left side and bottom of this photo as they looked a bit out of focus, making the quality of the photo look worse.

Merge 7

These are the images that I merged:

Virtual Gallery of Final Outcomes

I used ArtSteps to create the following Virtual Galleries:

Evaluation

Overall, my images relate to Ansel Adams’ as they display high contrast, however, my images are in colour rather than B&W. These images also relate to the sublime as they display the beauty of the cliffs, however, their size and brilliance is terrifying when in comparison to a human.

These are some of my images in B&W:

As you can see, each of my images display a range of tones within the Colour Zonal System, alike the work of Ansel Adams.

My case studies and inspiration are Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Fay Godwin, and Don McCallion. They are all very famous for landscape portraits and tend to put all there photos in black and white, while editing you will see my resemblance of editing them all black and white and adding other subtle changes to make the detail pop like all of these famous photographers did.

This was my first photo I took I really liked the idea as it is very similar to a photo that Fay Godwin did, but I wasn’t sure I think it seems wonky and blurry and even once edited it does not show its detail of all the bushes and bricks clearly or like how i vison it to.

This is one of my favourite photos that I took I even thought before I edited it looked good and liked when it had colour, I think it is quite similar to my artists studies.

I mainly wanted to do get lots of contrast of the rocks, sky and sea so you can see all the textures and contrast of lighting like Ansel Adams did.

These were from my first two photoshoots I planned to go out and take more and do it in the way we got taught in school, to show how ill edit them I have a demonstration and practise that we did in school and this is how I will likely edit and take the rest of my photos.

Then it will make another image on how you decided to merge.

Photoshoot 1:

I took 99 photos in my first photoshoot that was mainly taken on, the rail way walk and Corbiere.

I selected 47 photos out of the 99 that I actually liked and wanted to edit and use for my finally product.

These are my favourite photos from my first photoshoot;

Photoshoot 2:

In my second photoshoot I tool 177 photos all at pebble beach in St Aubin’s by St Aubin’s Fort.

Out of my 177 photos I selected 30 that I thought were the best and not too blurry and could be edited well.

These are my favourite photos from my second photoshoot;

Exposure Bracketing + HDR imagery

What is exposure bracketing?

Exposure bracketing in photography is a technique that photographers use to capture the best possible photo. It’s where you take exactly the same picture of your subject/landscape at several different exposures, so you end up with the same image with different exposures. This technique gives you a range of options to choose from when you’re editing, and you can even merge the images together to make the perfect photo with the best exposure.

There are a few different ways to bracket your shots. The most common way is to take one picture at the exposure you think looks best, then take two more photos at either side of that exposure, one slightly darker and one a little lighter. Some cameras also have an auto-bracketing feature that can do this automatically.

Why use exposure bracketing in photography?

Bracketing is useful in photography for many different reasons. It is an important technique for photographers to learn because it helps allow them to get the best possible photo of a scene.

There are several reasons why bracketing is essential in photography:

1. It allows you to capture every detail in a scene.
2. It helps you avoid overexposing or underexposing your photos.
3. It gives you more options to choose from when you’re editing.

My attempt at exposure bracketing:

I took this image using the exposure bracketing technique. I had the exposure on -2 to create an ‘underexposure affect’ for this image. For the middle, I has the exposure on 0 so normal exposure, and for the last one I overexposed the image so it was on +2.

I then merged all of the images together to make one, so I could reach the perfect exposure for the image:

What is HDR imagery?

HDR imagery in photography stands for high dynamic range. Dynamic range is simply the range of the lightest tones to the darkest tones you can capture in a photo. In another way, it’s a measure of the light intensities from the highlights to the shadows. A HDR photo is really just two or more photos taken at different exposure levels using the exposure bracketing technique, and then merged together to create a better picture. HDR is the quality of the image produced after using the exposure bracketing technique.

New topographic photography was a technique that was predominantly black and white landscape images which were being taken as if it was being surveyed from afar. New topographic was a term made by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers. This included Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz and they all had a general name to describe them all as one because their photography had a similar banal aesthetic, they were mostly black and white images of urban landscapes. However Stephan Shore was the only topographical photographer who took his images in colour.

The new Topographic was a reflection of the increasingly suburbanised world around them and a reaction of the tyranny of idealised landscape photography that elevated of the natural and the elemental.

For this photoshoot, I really wanted to use the merge HDR method, so I set my camera to shoot 3 photos, each with different levels of contrast (as it will effect the shutter speed). Then In light room I merged the images together to get a higher dynamic range with the photos. This means the images would look more like what the eye sees (as eyes have every high dynamic range). This would allow me to get images very similar to Ansel Adams who’s images also had life like dynamic range giving a drama packed image. I went to Plemont just before the golden hour so the lighting and contrast would be very powerful. Also, the cliffs are very tall and dramatic, which will help make my image more interesting. Here are some good photos with the editing process:

Photo 1:

I took this image from the side of a bridge, keeping a visualisation on how I want the end photo to look like. I wanted the house to look insignificant compared to the large cliff sides of jersey. The dark and sinister cave below shows that humans don’t have the same power as nature.

I bumped up the contrast to make the scene far more dramatic from the textures of the rocks to the now visible clouds. However, Increasing the exposure too much left the highlights being to over exposed and the shadows being under exposed. I felt like the rocks could do with some more detail so I increased the texture which automatically adjusts certain sections of the image for me.

Photo 2:

Here I combined the 3 images below to increase the dynamic range of my image, each with a different exposure level:

below is the final image after the HDR processing:

I wanted to use visualisation again for this picture. I knew not to take photos with the sun in frame as it can make the image look less exiting if not done on purpose. I also saw some surfers going into the water before taking the photo so I waited for them to get in a nice position before capturing this image. The eyes are brought away from the dark rocks and towards the surfers, placed on the rule of thirds. This means the viewers eyes are always drawn to the surfers (focal point).

I wanted to bring the clouds out more in the photo so I increase the contrast and decreased the highlights and whites. This also gave the rocks some more detail. However, I believe that in photoshop It might be better as I can add detail to the image without the surfers blending in with the sea.