While in St Malo I wanted to experiment with taking photos of shops, items inside the shops and using the reflection in the shop window etc. I wanted to do this, because the shops in St Malo were very different to the shops that we have in Jersey, so this really interested me. St Malo was full of small own business shops and there was very little high end designer or branded shops. This intrigued me, because all of the shops were quite unique.
Items
Analysis
I think these images came out well, because they display how the shops offer different items and things to Jersey shops, as well as each other, as they all offer different things. These photos also display how even the food is different in St Malo compared to Jersey.
These images also have good composition and lighting and have been edited well in my opinion.
How do these images relate to Henri Cartier-Bresson?
These images don’t necessarily relate Henri, but they do show the lives of the people living in St Malo and how their lives differ from ours back at Jersey.
People
Analysis
These images display the lives of the locals in St Malo, as I have snapped images of them living their day to day lives (candid photos). These images also display all different types of people, eg: young, old, male, female. I have also tried to use shop windows to my advantage, by capturing people through the windows without them seeing me and using the window reflection to my advantage.
The composition of these photos are also good, even though they all have different compositions. The lighting and editing are also good in these images.
How do these images relate to Henri Cartier-Bresson?
These images relate to Henri Cartier-Bresson, because I was observing the peoples day to day lives in these images (mostly without them knowing) and waiting for the decisive moment, which is what Henri did. I took candid shots of these people, which is what Henri did, while he walked the streets observing the people.
Ferris-wheel
Analysis
I like these images, even though they are a different style. I like these photos, because they produce different angles of St Malo and the people from St Malo. I was able to achieve higher up angles for my photos and did capture a few landscape shots. I was also able to capture other people on the Ferris-wheel with us. I also had fun on the Ferris-wheel and I don’t think anyone else really went on it.
How do these images relate to Henri Cartier-Bresson?
These images don’t necessarily relate to Henri, but I had fun taking them. They also do show life in St Malo from other angles and the lives of people from other angles.
Bringing the People of St Malo to life
I wanted to experiment with bringing the people, who are still in these images to life. I wanted to do this by using motion blurring.
First, I duplicated my background and selected my person. Then, I selected inverse and deleted the background.
Next, I went to filter and motion blur and selected how blurry I wanted it and what angle I want the blur to be.
If my person got too transparent I would also duplicate the layer with only my person, before I motion blur it, so there is always an opaque copy.
I wanted to also experiment creating different scenes in St Malo, so I used AI to do this. I also used AI to create more shop windows and reflections, so I could experiment with that even more.
First, I selected an image I wanted to use and selected where I wanted the AI to go. Then, I selected generative fill and typed in the prompts that I wanted and finally selected which one I thought looked best.
I used colour selection for some of my St Malo images, ones with people involving significant colours or were close to the camera. For each one, I wanted to ensure subtlety was involved as this way, it wouldn’t entirely draw attention away from the purpose or intention behind the photo. As well as this, it meant that there was still a bright pop of colour amongst the grey tones.
I also created this on a selection of hot pink graffiti as this is something that is frequently spotted around St Malo, becoming a part of the small town’s culture.
HOW I DID IT:
To complete this experimentation, I duplicated the layers of the same image to begin. I then made one layer black and white:
After I concealed the black and white layer, I selected the layer which was still in colour and went to colour range:
Here, I could select a variety of different tones and colours found in a specific area. By doing this, I would keep these colours saturated whilst the unselected components remained black and white:
After grabbing each tone of red on the woman’s jacket using the positive eyedropper, I inverted the layers so that the red jacket would pop out:
This was the final result once I rubbed out any imperfections picked up:
St Malo is mainly a tourist destination, so it was ‘normal’ for the locals to see us taking pictures with our cameras. We also saw many other tourists who were not with us taking photos with either their phones or cameras. There were many different shops and food stalls in St Malo, which attracted many tourists. There was also the Ferris-wheel.
Contact Sheet
The images that are highlighted green are my best images and the images I have decided to edit, because they show people’s every day lives the best, while have the best composition. They are also the different types of images I have experimented with.
Edits
These images are images I have taken with the camera at eye level, so people knew I was taking photos in these.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights, whites and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and so the background of the sea and boats would be more visible and eye capturing.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more eye capturing.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited these images by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the images would be more vibrant and eye capturing.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have be brighter.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the person in this image would stand out more.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting.
I edited these images by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more eye capturing. Also so the people would stand out more.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would be brighter.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would be brighter.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have be more vibrant and all the colours on the caracal would pop more.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the lady’s bag and umbrella would pop more and be the main focus.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the coloured umbrella and backpack would pop more and be more eye capturing.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would have better lighting and be more vibrant.
Hip Shots
These are images I have taken with the camera at hip level, so it is less visible that I am taking photos, so that people will not change their expressions or actions when I am taking the photos.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was more vibrant and had better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so the colours in the image would pop more and be more vibrant, such as the flags and coloured clothing.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the coloured clothing and flags in this image would pop more, and so the image was slightly brighter.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was more vibrant and had better lighting. Also, so the ladies coat was more vibrant and stood out more.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was more vibrant and had better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was more vibrant and had better lighting.
I edited these images by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the images were brighter.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was brighter and had better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was brighter and had better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was brighter and had better lighting, and so the green bench was slightly more vibrant.
I edited these images by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so red furniture would pop more and be more vibrant, so that it was eye capturing. I also wanted the lighting to be better.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so all the different colours in this image, such as the red furniture and her coloured umbrella would pop more and be more vibrant, so that the image was more eye capturing. I also wanted the image to be slightly brighter, so that the lighting was better.
Blurry Images
For these images I experimented with the shutter speed by slowing it down, so that anyone or thing that is moving will be slightly or very blurry, while I am stood still taking the images.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the colours in this photo would be more vibrant and the lighting would be better.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so the different colours in this image would be much more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so the image was brighter and had better lighting.
I edited these images by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the image had better lighting.
Shop windows/ Reflections
For these images I experimented with using shop windows/ reflections, so I took pictures of people inside the stores from outside the window. I also just took images of people shopping and browsing.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so that the lighting would be better and their brightly coloured coats more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so that the lighting would be better and all the brightly coloured clothing would be more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so that the lighting would be better and the colours in the image would pop more.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, saturation and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so that the lighting was better.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights saturation and blacks. I did this so that the image was brighter and the people could be seen better.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights, saturation and blacks. I did this so that the lighting was better and all the colours were more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, saturation and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so that the image had better lighting.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, vibrancy, highlights and blacks. I did this so that the colours would pop more.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, saturation and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so that the lighting was better.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, saturation and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this so that the lighting was better and the person could be seen more clearly through the window.
I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so the image is brighter and her neon coat more vibrant.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the exposure, highlights and blacks. I did this so the lighting was better in these images.
Experimenting with Black and White Images
I made all these images by making a virtual copy of the final edited images. Then, I edited them more so after they’ve been made black and white if need so.
I edited this image even more after turning it black and white, by increasing the contrast and whites more, while decreasing the highlights, shadows and blacks more. I did this so there was lots of contrast.
I edited this image even more, by increasing the contrast, shadows and whites more, while decreasing the highlights and blacks more. I did this so the image would have more contrast.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows and whites more and decreasing the blacks and highlights more. I did this so there was more contrast and the reflection in the window was more apparent.
I edited this image more by increasing the contrast, shadows, highlights and whites more, while decreasing the blacks more. I did this so there is more contrast.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows and whites, while decreasing the highlights and blacks more. I did this to create more contrast.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows and whites, while decreasing the highlights and blacks more. I did this to create more contrast.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows and whites, while decreasing the highlights and blacks more. I did this to create more contrast.
I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows and whites, while decreasing the highlights and blacks more. I did this to create more contrast.
Saint-Malo is a historic French port and town situated on the coast on Brittany, France. With its history of piracy and overseas adventures alongside being heavily bombed in 1944 during World War 2, the city is a popular tourist centre with its ferry terminal serving the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey alongside the South of England such as Portsmouth, Poole and Hampshire. The population in 2017 was 46,097, however during the summer tourist season this can increase enormously – up to 300,000.
CONTACT SHEET:
Overall, our shoot consisted of just over 800 images of the town of Saint-Malo to show the city culture and pace of life. I flagged the images which I thought had the best composition, angle and detail. This photoshoot was inspired by the work of Henri-Cartier Bresson, using his concept of the decisive moment in candid street photography. I wanted to focus on photographing relationships with others, such as couples or friendships, with a aesthetically pleasing composition in the background, maintaining shape and balance throughout. I looked for locations filled with French culture, had leading lines such as long alleyways or just fit cohesively with the actions of the people in the backgrounds.
BEST IMAGES:
In this image, I captured an elderly woman conversing with a homeless man, sat around all his belongings. I really liked this image because it represents community and selflessness, checking up on someone instead of following society and idly walking by. The way her head is tilted towards the side shows empathy in the image and I feel that this adds a sense of genuinity that can be pushed towards the viewer.
For this image, I used a slow shutter speed, standing as still as possible and waiting for pedestrians to walk past me. This created a motion blur on just the people instead of making the entire image out of focus, making it a very successful image. I feel that this represents the face pace of which city life acts in, people always moving and doing something.
This image would have to be one of my favourites as the actions of the woman are very unusual and spontaneous. I liked how she was singular, acting in a way that may be judged or frowned upon by those in the background with umbrellas whilst she walks barefoot with her skateboard. Alongside that, I really liked the way the umbrellas look in the background because they add geometry to the image consistently following up the right side of the image to the left.
BLACK AND WHITE IMAGES:
I made my selection of images in black and white also to bring across the nature of Henri-Cartier Bresson’s images as his were usually portrayed in this way. I played around with the different tonal scales of the images as well as pre-sets to make the black richer or more greyscale, depending on the composition, colours and exposure being used at the time:
I used the graduated filter on this image to create a stormy effect in the sky as it was quite bright. I used the graduated filter on this image also to ensure the viewers focus would be on the couple.
STRUCTURES:
I also took some images of the architecture based around the city as I feel that this shows the culture of the city and how can appear to be similar to Jersey whereas in reality it is quite different. This included some ancient and abandoned buildings however some were more urbanised:
Using Lightroom, I experimented cropping my final photos that I had edited in different ways which showed different and unique views of the final photo. From this I could duplicate the photo and crop it down to various people which I thought could be an interesting concept to explore.
Here are my final images from our day trip to St Malo, throughout this edited shoot, I have captured the sights, people and atmosphere in a series of images.
For my edits, I have focused on mainly on altering on Saturation, Clarity and Texture. Through examples I will show their slight variations, depending on the subjects within the frame, such as movement, lighting and distance.
Due to numerous edits containing similar settings, I will break down some of the main types of edits I’ve made to the majority of my images.
Example 1 – Low light:
Since in the original image, limited light was within the foreground of the images contents, I aimed to highlight this through editing by creating more depth to it through editing.
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing process:
Through cropping my image to centralise the composition of windows and subjects, I converted my image into greyscale through removing the saturation. By altering other features such as clarity and texture, and settings within its tone, I edited this image with the focus on making the light standout from its outside source, and highlighting the woman in pinks appearance due to her singular action of looking out the window.
Final image:
Example 2 – Motion:
Inspired by Cartier-Bresson’s image of a cyclist I decided to try and create something similar within St Malo using motion.
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing process:
By adjusting the texture, clarity and haze, I tried to create a sharp but also an intentionally blurred image.
Final Image:
Example 3 – Distance:
Edit 1 –
With Cartier-Bresson’s images of large infrastructure, dwarfing their surrounding subjects, I took inspiration from this in my own work and tried to recreate it.
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing Process:
After turning into black and white, to add more pop and character to the image I attempted to make a tonal shift between shades. With lots of distance into the image it can be seen that it contains lots of different tones that can pop out once edited.
Final Image:
Edit 2 –
In the next image I did something similar with a more busy street.
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing process:
To edit this image, and incorporate those variants in tone from colour when converted to greyscale, I prioritised making the small details in the lower half of the image stand out more with dehazing and white and black balance.
Final image:
Example 4 – Cropping:
By shortening down the original image, Cropping can help create a more effectively deeper meaning to its contents.
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing process:
adding additional shots, I wanted to further detail this image by overlying multiple images. By adding different angles, changing their colours and opacity, I think this adds more detail and exclusiveness to the image.
Final Image:
Example 5 – Reflections:
Edit 1 –
Capturing a few photos where Reflections where caught in them, I liked how they came out a lot and can be said to capture 2 moments in one image without the use of artificial alterations.
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing process:
To make sure both reflection and subject within the image where able to be recognisable I mainly used highlights and contrast to make them both stand out.
Final image:
Edit 2 –
Camera Settings:
Before:
Editing process:
Due to the unedited version being slightly out of focus but a lot of the tonal settings being alright, I mainly used the dehazing and clarity to make the image look nicer in greyscale.
Final image:
Edit 3 –
Camera settings:
Before:
Editing process:
Editing this image, like before I focussed more so on clarity and dehaze, this was to differentiate the subjected reflections within the original image.