After creating a Diamond Cameo with different sides of my subject face, I decided that I wanted to edit them so they looked more rustic.

This is my Diamond Cameo without any type of editing (only blending was done as seen in my previous blog. I applied all these blending effect to all my experiment of Diamond Cameo) :

Evaluation and critique:

Although I quite liked the way the diamond cameo looked without editing except for blending, I didn’t like that fact that it looked really bland therefore I decided I wanted to experiment and see which one I liked most and showed that rustic tone to it.

Experiment 1:

Editing process: After using all those blending tools stated above, I flattened image so that I could edit the image I pressed on adjustments and selected the filter called warm. That was all I did to this experiment of Diamond Cameo.

Evaluation and critique: I quite like this picture. I like the way the adjustment adds this rustic tone to the picture and how it gives the picture shadow however I don’t like how dark the picture is. In some parts of the picture, it is so dark that it strips away the subjects face and removes those beautiful details the subject has. I also don’t like how orange the picture is, it makes the subjects face look a little saturated.

Experiment 2:

Editing process: For this Diamond cameo, I added an adjustment called soft sepia after blending my cut outs and flattening my image. That is all I did for this diamond cameo

Evaluation and critique: I really like this picture. I think that this picture is the picture that shows the most rustic tone. I really like the colour of it and how it doesn’t strip the details from the subjects face because it adds heavy shadows to parts of the picture like the experiment above. I really like how the adjustment brought the picture to life and really shows ‘oldies’ look to it. However this picture could have a more orange background like the original diamond cameos so that the diamond cameo would look more realistic.

Experiment 3:

Editing process: For this diamond cameo I decided to add a different type of filter called diffuse glow after blending the cut outs and flattening the image. I added the diffuse glow by pressing filter on the top bar and then I pressed filter gallery and pressed the distort folder and selected diffuse glow and then I added a adjustment called warm. This was all I did for this diamond cameo.

Evaluation and critique: I think this diamond cameo looks alright. The filter adds a really nice, rustic look to the diamond cameo, however, I think that the diamond cameo is overly exposed and gives the subjects too much highlight in parts where the subjects face was more exposed to light. Because of this, it strips that rustic look the picture should have.

Experiment 4:

Editing process: For this picture I decided that I wanted to add texture and an adjustment so I pressed filter on the top bar and then I pressed filter gallery and pressed the texturiser, after flattening and blending my image. After applying texture I felt like the diamond cameo needed something more so I added an adjustment called sepia. This was all I did for this diamond Cameo.

Evaluation and critique: I really like the end product of this diamond cameo. I like the colour of the diamond cameo even though its not entirely that original diamond cameo colour. I also like how the texture added a more rustic tone to the picture. However it doesn’t really look as rustic as I wanted it to look because it doesn’t have that orange undertone that old pictures used to have. The picture is quite bland.

Overall Evaluation:

Overall, I really liked how my diamond cameos turned out. My favourite cameo was experiment 2 as I think that it is the most accurate out of all the experiments. I think that the format of my diamond cameos are pretty precise and I strongly believe that you can see that they are diamond cameos.

A strength that I had with my diamond cameos is how I was able to show creativity. I experimented with lots of textures and colours so that I could be sure to which cameo looked the most ‘correct’. I think that experiment 2 was the one that looked the most accurate and had that old look that Henry Mullins photos had. However that cameo could have some improvements like having a scrunched up effect to it or maybe some burned parts to it so that it looked more old. I could also show more of a yellow tone to it just like Henry’s photos looked like. I could’ve experimented with the colours and layered different colours to create a more aged look to it.

Finally I think that I’m quite satisfied with my diamond cameos. I think that they look exactly what they are meant to look like but I do think that I could’ve focused more in the editing and making sure that my experiments looked more like Henry Mullins photos. Instead of focusing on making them black and white I could’ve focused on trying to correct that yellow tone that Henry Mullins photos had.

Step to step guide on how I made a Diamond Cameo.

Step 1: First I uploaded my preferred picture from my headshots photography folder into an A4 paper in photoshop.

Step 2: Next I selected the elliptical marque tool and created an oval shape on the subject face, making sure I include most of the face. Then I selected the move tool and moved the oval shape which created a cut out of the face of the subject.

Step 3: Shortly after cropping the oval shape of the subjects face, I moved the tab at the top where the picture is and then created a new plain A4 tab. I grabbed the cut out and placed it on the plain A4 paper.

Step 4: I repeated this three more times to create a that Diamond cameo. Then pressing on each cut out I wanted to blend in the pictures, so I right clicked on my mouse and selected blending options and selected all the blending options below. However adding blending is completely an option.

Henry Mullins is one of the most prolific photographers represented in the Société Jersiase photo-archive. He has produced over 9,000 portraits of islanders in jersey channel island from 1852 to 1873 at a time when the population was around 55,000. The records of his work comes from his albums, in which he placed his clients in a social hierarchy which basically means he categorized them depending on their class. The arrangement of Mullins’ portraits of ‘who’s who’ in 19th century Jersey are highly politicised.

Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s and then shortly moved to Jersey in July 1848, where he set up a studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. In his studio he would photograph Jersey political elite (The Bailiff, Lt Governor, Jurats, Deputies etc), mercantile families (Robin, Janvrin, Hemery, Nicolle and more) military officers and professional classes (advocates, bankers, clergy, doctors etc).

Mood board:

Diamond Cameo: The Patent Diamond Cameo photograph was registered by F.R. Window of London in 1864. It is basically four small oval portraits ,usually 1″ x ³/₄“, were placed on a carte de visite in the shape of a diamond. Each portrait of the subject are headshot photographed in a different position.

What is Loop lighting?

Loop lighting is a lighting that creates circular shadow on the subject’s face right just under which should look like a loop hence the name. Photographers can achieve this by placing the key light at an 45 degree angle to one side of the subject and then raising the key light just above the subjects eye line. 

Mood board:

Set up for Loop lighting

Own experiment of Loop lighting:

Experiment 1:

Editing process: for this picture, I desaturated the picture to -100 so that the picture would go black and white. I did this to create diversity and because I also liked how the picture looked in black and white.

Before (left) and After (right):

Experiment 2:

Editing process: For this picture I didn’t change it. I left the picture as it was because i thought that it looked great with colour and I also think that editing it would destroy that loop lighting that is evident in the picture.

Experiment 3:

Editing process: For this picture I desaturated the picture to -100 so that the picture would be black and white as I though that it would enhance that loop lighting that was slightly missing when the picture was in colour.

Before (left) and After (right):

Presentation of outcomes

Evaluation and critique:

Butterfly lighting is a portrait lighting order where the key light is placed above and centred directly to the subject’s face. Evidently it creates a shadow under the subject’s nose that creates a butterfly like shape. In other cases, butterfly lighting can also be known as ‘Paramount lighting,’ which is named for classic Hollywood glamour photography.

The set up for butterfly lighting.

Own experiments of butterfly lighting

Experiment 1:

Editing process:

For this photo I wanted to make the picture less bright and exposed, so i decreased exposure (-0.70) to make it less lit, increased contrast (+54) to sharpen the image, i decreased, highlights (-26) to make lighter parts of image darker, shadows (-40) to recover lost details, whites (-51) to strip the whites in the pictures and blacks (-67) to make image darker.

This is all I did to the image to enhance that butterfly lighting that was not as evident as it is now. I made this overly exposed picture a representation of butterfly lighting.

Before (left) and After (right)

Experiment 2:

Editing process: For this picture I decided to keep it just as it is. I didn’t want to change it as I thought that it represented that butterfly shape. I think that the picture looks great and doesn’t need any type of editing.

Experiment 3:

Editing process: For this picture, I decided that if I desaturated it to -100 it would help highlight the shadow under the subjects nose that butterfly lighting is know for. I also wanted to desaturate it to make it black and white to create more diversity in my work as I think that it is important to have diversity like coloured and desaturated photos because it shows you can be creative.

Before (left) and After (right)

Experiment 4:

Editing process: For this picture I decided to keep it just as it is. I didn’t want to change or alter anything within the picture as I thought that it represented that butterfly shape where it shows a well lit face with a shadow below nose that creates that butterfly shape. I think that the picture looks good and does not need any type of editing to it.

Presentation of outcomes

Evaluation and Critique:

Overall I think that my pictures look great. I was able to show that butterfly lighting where under the subject nose a butterfly like shadow is created through the use of a key light and a reflector.

I think that I created a diverse set of picture where it includes, black and white picture, different type of emotions and experimenting with the editing in light room.

When it comes to that bright and illuminated face, I think that I did really well with showing that illuminated face because as seen in my final outcomes, the subjects face is very illuminated and its evident that, that butterfly like shadow is created under the subjects nose.

However something that I could have improved was showing that butterfly lighting. I feel that in some of my pictures that butterfly like shadows isn’t as evident as I would like it to be. As seen on experiment 4, the butterfly shadow is barely there. I could improve this by moving the reflector around and taking pictures and seeing which position the reflector is set at, produces the best butterfly lighting.

Lastly another improvement my photos could’ve had was a darker background. When I was researching about butterfly lighting, lots of the pictures I saw the background was black and not white. I believe that it is easier to show that butterfly shadow using a black background instead of white. So next time I will try taking pictures with a darker background and I can do that by using a black back drop or lowering the ISO in the camera to around 100-125

Rembrandt lighting:

Rembrandt lighting is a form of art that takes advantage of one light and one reflector or sometimes two separate lights. It’s a known technique because it forms images that look both noticeable yet logical. It’s mainly famed by a triangle that is lit-up underneath the subject’s eye on the side of the face that is less illuminated.

The set up for Rembrandt lighting

Own experiments of Rembrandt lighting

Experiment 1:

Editing process:

For this picture I decreased exposure to make the picture a little darker to highlight the Rembrandt lighting on the left side of her face (-0.61) and blacks (-56) to make the darks in the picture lighter.

This was the only editing I did to this picture because I believe that this photo needed little editing to it as it already represented that Rembrandt lighting without it needing to be edited however I wanted to make the right side of the subjects face less bright and a little more warm.

Before (left) After (right):

Experiment 2:

Editing process:

For this picture I decreased exposure to make the picture a little darker to highlight the Rembrandt lighting on the left side of her face (-0.61) and blacks (-56) to make the darks in the picture lighter.

The editing for this picture is the exact same as the first experiment as I liked how the experiment turned out. I strongly believe that adding this small amount of editing hugely improved and enhanced the picture but still showed the sole purposed of the picture which was showing the art of Rembrandt lighting.

Before (left) and After (right)

Experiment 3

Editing process:

For this picture, I desaturated it (-100) to create diversity within my pictures and because I liked how the picture looked in black and white especially because it made the left side of the darker part of subject face even darker which was what I wanted to improve in this picture using editing.

Before (left) After (right)

Experiment 4:

Editing process: For this picture I didn’t edit a single thing in this picture. I thought that the picture really showed that Rembrandt lighting where a triangle like shape formed on the left side of the subject face or wherever the key light wasn’t directly facing at, hence why I didn’t feel the need to edit it.

Presentation of outcomes:

Evaluation and Critique:

Overall I strongly believe that all my pictures showed Rembrandt lighting. I came out with a diverse set of pictures. My pictures diversity include, black and white picture, pictures where lots of the subjects body is showing and pictures where it is a shoulder shot. This shows that I can be creative and produce a variety of different type of pictures that show Rembrandt lighting.

A strength I had was the fact that I was able to show that triangle figure below the less illuminated parts of the subject’s face. In all of my pictures I am able to show this perfectly which is something I am greatly proud of because it shows that I am able to replicate the famous triangle shape on the subjects face.

However a way I could have improved my pictures is by successfully creating an all black background which would greatly impact my pictures and make that triangle more evident and deep. In some of my pictures, I felt that the triangle and the other parts of the picture that are meant to be really dark are not as dark as I wanted them to be. I could improve this by using a black curtain in the background or by decreasing my ISO to around 100-125 so that it would make the background completely black and therefore make that triangle darker and even more evident.

Chiaroscuro is an Italian word that translates to Light and Dark. The effect is created by a light across the subject that goes in one direction and then a lit background positioned so that it is in a reverse direction. Ideally, the subject should go to black on the side that is unlit and it should stay the same for the background. The subject’s outline or shape, is clearly described because of the lit background even though its black on the unlit side. The word chiaroscuro came from painting. It was a job that joined a very strong contrasts of light and dark in an image so that it created a sense of volume and shape.

The setup for Chiaroscuro lighting.

Own experiments of Chiaroscuro lighting

Experiment 1:

Experiment 2:

Experiment 3:

Editing process: For these three pictures I kept them just as they are. I didn’t edit them because I though that it perfectly represented Chiaroscuro lighting as it shows the dark background and the illumination of the subject’s face. Although the background could possibly be darker, editing it would negatively effect the subjects illuminated face. So changing this picture would only do harm to it and strip that Chiaroscuro lighting from it.

Experiment 4:

For this picture I kept it just as it was because I think that shows chiaroscuro lighting because of the black background and the illuminated face.

Experiment 5:

For this picture, I desaturated it (-100) to create diversity within my pictures and because I liked how the picture looked in black and white especially with the illuminated face and the dark background.

Presentation of outcomes

Evaluation and Critique.

Overall, I think my pictures look great. I believe that in most of my pictures I was able to show that chiaroscuro lighting that we we’re meant to show. My pictures have that black background that chiaroscuro is meant to have and that illuminated face.

The quality of my pictures are high. They are focused and have no type of blurry parts showing in the pictures and due to this the quality of my pictures is good.

However in some of my pictures I feel like they could show more of that illuminated part on the face and also have a more evident dark side on the face. For an example on my experiment 4, the left side of the face could have been darker by moving the key light more to the right side of the subjects face and same goes for fifth experiment. Adjustments like this would’ve massively impacted the photo and increased that chiaroscuro lighting slight more.

Another improvement I could’ve done in my 1-3 experiments was the fact that the background could’ve been a little darker. The way I could make the background darker is putting a black curtain in the background to make sure that the background is fully black. I could also bring the key light closer to me from where I was taking the picture and also bring the key light closer to the subjects face and facing it more so that it was closer to the centre of their face but not completely centred to the subjects face.

What is lighting?

lighting is the meaning where the light source can be natural or artificial in relation to the position of your subject.

• Why do we use studio lighting?

It allows photographers to enable a significant number of photographs and ensure complete light solidity in colour, exposure, and image quality.

• What is the difference between 1-2-3 point lighting and what does each technique provide / solve

• What is fill lighting?

If there is two lights present then the second light after setting up the key light will be what is called a fill light.

This is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the so called ‘key light’. The fill is usually softer and less brighter than the key.

The three pictures I want to present are,

Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference and Evaluation and Critique

As seen from my previous blogs, the one artist that I explored was Vanessa Winship who is the artist I want to compare her work with mine and who’s work that inspired me to produce my own type of work from her work.

Her work is raw. It’s close up, showing the flaws and beauties of a being. Her concept made me inspired so I decided that I wanted to show that rawness in my pictures like she did. Some of her pictures aren’t as close up which I admired because of how she was able to capture the background whilst capturing her subject as a whole.

In colour wise, my picture imitate her’s. I edited my pictures so that they were black and white just like most of her work. I think that the fact that her work is in black and white creates this dramatic effect. However her work has tendencies of showing what the real life looks like, my work wasn’t based off that. In my work i wanted to somehow show that reflection of the past. By using a subject who is a child, i was able to reflect that child figure that people have within them without realising. Showing a child in a park really reflects how things have changed and how missing being a child who went to the park constantly with no worries in the world is very real.

Photographing a subject in a hair salon was with intention of showing an appreciation towards people who work in a salon/hairdressers. I believe that Vanessas Winship’s work shows this sense of under appreciation towards human beings and how unique every single one of them are. As someone who’s mum is a hairdresser, it’s frustrating seeing how under appreciated hairdressers are. How hard working they are and how they aren’t just hairdressers, they are friends and someone who listens to their clients. They give their all and all they get are unrealistic expectation’s. Photographing a hairdresser proudly representing her work shows how genuinely unique and hardworking hairdressers are. I wanted bring awareness to peoples work, especially hairdressers.

Furthermore, I think my work really shows the inspiration that I had from Winship’s work through the use of the subject and the environment they are surrounded by just like Vanessa did. Winship shows the environment that the subject is surrounded by but doesn’t make the environment the main sight. In all her work it is evident that she wanted the subject to be the main attraction and that’s what I did with my work. As seen in my three photos at the start of the blog, the environment surrounding the subject is evident but the main ‘deal’ is the subject. I really liked how Winship did that and I think that I will use that in future projects.

When it comes to my work in general, I think that I did good, of course it can have some improvements but overall my final outcomes were good. One success I had with my final outcomes was how evident the environment related to the subject. For an example, the first picture above where the child is on the slide, I think that it is very clear where the child is and what they are doing. I think that it perfectly represents a child. She is smiling like a child would be in a park and although it isn’t as formal as environmental pictures should be I think that the fact that she’s smiling shows how real the picture is.

Another strength I had with my final outcomes was how still the pictures were. In the three picture above, none of them have blurred parts from movement which is exactly what environmental picture should be like. They shouldn’t show any type of movement. So when it comes to cancelling any type of movement in my pictures, I think I managed to do that.

However a weakness I had within my final outcomes was how in one or two pictures, I felt like the pictures weren’t as focused as they should be. This isn’t good as it doesn’t show this sense of professionality that it should show. This could have been improved by changing the focal lens so that the picture would come out more clear or coming closer to the subject.

image final selection

Image Editing

For all of my pictures i kept the editing the same, i decreased the saturation to -100 because i wanted to transform it into black and white to show the inspiration from the artist Vanessa Winship.

Here is the final outcomes for all my pictures that were edited by decreasing the saturation to -100.

experimentation 

whilst editing these pictures i decided to experiment with diverse ways of desaturating the picture into black and white using the develop segment of lightroom.  

first experiment:

For this picture I decided that I wanted to decrease the whites (-100) to make the colour in the picture look a lot warmer to produce a more smoother black and white picture, blacks (-32) to make the picture darker and saturation (-100) to take all of the colour off of the picture. I increased the clarity (+30) to make the picture more clear and Dehaze (+100) to amplify colour and contrast where the photo appeared a little ‘washed out’. I liked the way this picture was edited but it was too dark for me.

second experiment:

For this picture I decreased, highlights (-89) to recover lost detail and darken the lighter parts of picture, shadows (-39) to make the picture darker, whites (-61) to make picture look warmer, blacks (-39) to make picture even darker and saturation (-100) to completely take the colour from the picture. I increased texture (+37)to add visual interest and clarity (+47) to make the image much more clearer. This picture was slightly lighter than the picture above but I didn’t like how pixilated the picture continued to be and how blurry it was even after adding clarity and interest.

Third/ last experiment:

For this final picture experiment I decreased highlights (-100) to recover lost details, shadows (-70) to make picture darker, whites (-56) to make picture look warmer, blacks (-26) to make picture darker and saturation (-100) to remove any colour from the picture. This picture turned out too grey. i also didn’t like how dark the persons face became and how little shadows are present in the picture therefore i didn’t like the finish product of this picture.