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Peter Ainsworth

Ainsworth born in 1978 is an artist from London who practices in sculpture, acting, video and 3D printing however is well-known for his striking works of urban photography. He studied and graduated in 2007 with a masters degree at London College of communication. lectures at He focuses mostly on areas of the world that are overlooked and the relationship between organic and in-organic structures excluding humans.

Some examples of his work include:

Peter Ainsworth

Peter Ainsworth

Peter Ainsworth

Frank Hallum Day

Frank Hallum Day born in 1948 who currently lives in Washington DC is a fine art photographer and the winner of many awards including the Bader prize 2006. He has taught photography as well as doing many of his own exhibitions from taking photos around the world. Hallum also worked for the US State department before he became a full time photographer.

Frank Hallum Day

Frank Hallum Day

Frank Hallum Day

Texture

Paper Ball Photoshoot

These images were inspired by Paul Jackson who was an artist from north of England. Jackson claims to have “been a fan of photography since he could walk”. He is currently studying for a BA in Photography and has trained in the New York Film Academy. Before his career in photography Jackson used to serve in the British Military. He is also a performer and enjoys travel and playing rugby. Here are some of his original works:

Paul Jackson

Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson
Original Image was taken with Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/40, IOS 100, f/4

I then edited the Original Image using these settings on Photoshop:

Exposure
Brightness/Contrast
Vibrance

I then used an auto B&W filter from photoshop.

Edited Image
Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/40, IOS 3200, f/14

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

I then also used blur tool to get rid of some of the noise in the back ground due to insignificant lighting when I took the image
I also used the sharpen tool to make the paper ball more in focus.
Edited Image
Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/125, IOS 100, f/22

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance
Edited Image
Original Image
Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance

I used drastic settings when changing the vibrance to create a Black and White effect

I also used “Spot Healing Tool” to correct any small visual “mistakes” that I felt might take away from the main subject.
I then took a more abstract approach to cropping the image by using the rule of thirds.
Edited Image
Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/125, IOS 800, f/10

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance

I also hanged the image to black and white and manually changed the settings

I also cropped the image
Edited Image
Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/125, IOS 800, f/10

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance

I also used the “Sharpness Tool” to help keep the focus on some specific areas.

Edited Image
Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/80, IOS 400, f/7.1

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

Brightness/ Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance
Colour Balance
I then cropped the image
Edited Image – I decided to try experiment with colour in this image despite many of Paul Jackson’s images being in B&W and bring out the colours in the shadows by enhancing them in photoshop.
Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance
I then cropped the image
Final Image

I also did some texture images outside using nature to show detail with my own ideas rather than artist research.

Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/160, IOS 100, f/5.6
Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance
I also used the “Sharpness Tool” to accentuate the detail the camera picked up.
Edited Image
Original Image
Brightness Contrast
Ithen wet back later and changed the contrast again.
Exposure
Vibrance
I then changed the image to B&W and used the settings manually to make the veins in the leaves stand out more by making the greens darker.
I then used the sharpness and blur tool to show where the camera focused more.
I then used the dodge tool to draw over the veins in the leaves.
Edited Images
Original Image taken with: Canon EOS 1200D, Exp 1/250, IOS 100, f/5
Brightness/Contrast
Exposure
Vibrance
Selective Colour

I also used “Sharpness Tool” on the two leaves in focus.

Edited Image

In all my images I tried to use the formal elements. For example in this specific image I showed lines within the overlapping leaves and the lines of colour that run through them. Also, I used shape with the unusual long and twisting shapes the leaves make when they wind over each other. Space is used in the way the photo is layered and that the horizontal leaf is closest to the camera and then the others behind it are further back in the depth of field and there is more shadows in the background. I’d like to argue that repetition is used when the pattern of multiple leaves going vertically through the frame is repeating. Texture is used in which the texture of the leaf is in macro focus showing how its smooth. Colour is used as the leaf is very colourful in general especially in the bright sunlight however I have also heightened the colours significantly using photoshop to give it an almost neon green look. Tone is used in the difference of the brightness the closest leaf is in almost like a spotlight however the rest of the bush/plant is in a deep green darkness/shadow behind it. Therefore all of the formal elements have been used within this image and I’d like to say also the other images.

I used photoshop to make an online gallery and display some of what I feel are my personal bests in this shoot.

Comparison

Paul Jackson
My Image

A similarities between these images is the lighting is from the same direction casting a shadow on the right side of the paper sculptures. also the background is similar as there is a blend between the background wall and the floor with a grey shadow. A difference between the two is Paul Jacksons work looks to be in black and white as there is no hint at any blue shadows in the image that the white light casts and everything is on a greyscale where as my photo is in colour and you can see the different shades of the paper, the blue shadows and the yellow shade of the other papers.

Evaluation

Overall, I think the the photoshoots and editing went well especially the paper ones with multiple structures within the image as I felt there was the most depth of field used including different heights of the subjects. I also like the outdoors ones and use of colour. in my next shoot I’d like to focus even more on colour use as I felt the colour you could create with the paper ball project was limited. I’d also like to experiment more with cropping and depth of field looking at different subjects. I struggled mostly with finding the correct lighting to use for the paper balls to create enough shadow to make it interesting with out it being low quality image due to being dark, but also not having too much light or exposure to make the paper create a white glare.

Shutter Speed And Movement

Shutter speed is the length of time your camera shutter stays open while you capture the image the more light that is allowed in to hit the sensor and the longer the camera shutter stays open the brighter the image is.

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second. 1/2000 would be a fast SS whereas 1/30 would be slow. The slower the shutter speed the more light can be accessed as well as the colours making the image more detailed and brighter.

I took some similar images while experimented with different shutter speeds.

I edited this image by cropping it and using sharpness tool on photoshop.

We also experimented with boxing and looked at the motion that was created with that. I then edited these photos on lightroom classic and photoshop.

Original
edited using blur tool and sharpen tool
original
edited using blur tool and sharpen tool

Photoshoot: Shutter Speed and movement

The purpose of this shoot is to look at capturing movement using shutter speed and different settings on the camera.

In this shoot we were told to play the role of boxers in order to capture movement.
Next we were given three tennis balls to throw in the sky to capture movement and practice focusing on a moving object.

Francesca Woodman

Woodman was an American artist born in 1958 and started taking photos at age 13. Later in life she was well known for her black and white images which many were self portraits where she utilises shutter speed to make the images appear ghostly by obscuring the face and parts of the body. She grew up surrounded by art her father George was a painter and her mother a sculptor. Her brother Charles Woodman grew up to be an electronic artist. Unfortunately, Woodman suffered with mental health conditions and committed suicide at age 22

In this shoot we did took the photos with the same agenda however we wanted to capture movement within the style of Francesca Woodman.

Raw Images:

ISO

IOS controls how sensitive the camera sensor is to light.

The higher the ISO number the more sensitive your sensor and the less light is needed in your photo, however this can lead to more noise in the picture. Preferably you would want to keep the IOS as low as possible and change the studio lighting instead if possible or go outside as daylight is always better quality light. However, some photographers use the “noise” created by high ISO to their advantage for artistic purpose to give the image an “old” feel to it or to accentuate the concept meaning behind their image.

You can see here the noise appear in the photo and the quality of the image decrease as more light is let in through IOS. This is why keeping a correct ISO for the environment you’re shooting in.

First I took some images inside the corridor where there was still some natural light. I took a set of seven images each at a different ISO setting but keeping all other settings the same. The first image of the corridor in the blog I took at ISO-800. The second at the highest possible ISO setting on the camera i was using which was ISO-6400 where you can clearly see the “noise” seep into the image as the sensor takes in more light than necessary to create a clear image and instead it ends up with almost a pixelated look.

For the second image I went to the fire exit door to use the bright natural light. I took the images not even a few seconds apart so the lighting outside did not change I also did not change any other setting other than the ISO and the difference is very obvious. This proves that the ISO is what causes the over exposure that forms the “noise”.

Fixing the shadows

Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura was originally created around 200 years ago. However, it’s not the world’s first camera as before them was pinhole cameras neither need a power source. They project in real time the landscape Infront of the camera onto the back walls of the room or box. This was how art first started becoming more detailed after the medieval period as painters would use the camera obscura method and paint it onto the walls and on canvases. In 1826 Joseph Niepce was the first known person to create the first photograph of a scene in Italy by using chemicals which change colours in the light to capture the scene projected.

Calotypes –  Henry Fox Talbot

Image from https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/william-henry-fox-talbot-an-introduction

Invented in 1841 next was “The Art Of Photogenic Drawing” where William Henry Fox used salt and silver nitrate to create what we now know as a Calotype. He used pressed plants on a sheet of chemicals and covered them in a glass sheet to print out the shape in the sun.

My Cyanotype

I made this piece in class by using leaves from outside collected on the school grounds. I then positioned them on the paper this way so it was clear what each one was and they weren’t over-lapping. I then left them outside in the sun with a glass sheet on-top till the paper had turned a noticeably different colour and left shadows of the plants I had placed there.

Louis Daguerre – Daguerreotype

The process of the Daguerreotype created in 1837 made it possible to turn the image inside of the Camera Obscura and preserve it. The Daguerreotype is made with a sheet of copper with a thin piece of silver which is polished until mirror like, then it’s a sensitised in a lighttight box with iodine and bromine vapours until it turns a yellow colour. This produces silver iodide. The sheet is then inserted into the camera without any light touching it. After that its fixed in a sodium and then intensified with gold chloride and washed in water. The images mirror the reality of the pose due to the Daguerreotype process.

Richard Maddox

image from http://microscopist.net/maddoxrl.html

In 1851 Frederrick Scott Archer invented the Collodion process. This was revolutionary in the evolution of photography as it took only 2-3 seconds of light to create an image compared to the 1 to 5 minutes it took previously. However, Richard Maddox realised his health had been affected due to the ether vapours from this process and began his search for a replacement. He produced the idea in 1871 of coating cadmium bromide and silver nitrate in gelatine on a glass plate. This made it possible for cameras to be small enough to be hand-held.

George Eastman

Eastman tried for 3 years to create a formula and by 1880 invented the correct formula. He also invented a machine capable of creating these plates at a fast rate which made it possible for him to manufacture and sell to other photographers which is when he started his company in London due to the high rates of businesses in the area henry Strong was very impressed, so he invested some money into it. In 1892 the company as renamed the Eastman Kodak company as photography developed further.

Kodak

image from https://www.eastman.org/camera-obscura-revolutionary-kodak

After Eastman realised that the plates were making the photographers hands “go bad” he started the trade with the idea of film in rolls the venture was immediately successful but the paper grain was prone to showing up through the picture. This sparked Eastmans new idea to coat the paper in soluble gelatine and the insoluble light sensitive gelatine. With the Kodak camera in 1888 photography was ready available to pretty much everyone

Digital photography

image from https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/product-innovations-of-the-computer

In 1957 the first digital image was created in the USA using the first operational stored program known as the SEAC.

Image from https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/kodaks-first-digital-moment/

The 1960s space race also drove photographers to think of a new way to take photos as film would be impractical  to take to space. NASA used a magnetic tape recorder to send the tv camera into electrical impulses to send back to earth and they had the first photo of mars. Later Sasson took one of the later models of a movie camera and connected it to the most recent CCD electronic sensor and created a prototype. The company Sony then created a version small enough to hold and sell in a shop the Sony Mavica the first known digital camera.

Aperture And Depth Of Field

Aperture is the amount of light let into the camera using the hole at the back of the lens and making it wider or smaller.

We use the f[stops] to measure it. The higher the aperture equals the more in focus and the smaller the hole. Depth of field is what’s in focus in front and behind the subject. the lower the depth of field the higher the aperture and less s in focus. The higher the depth of field the smaller the aperture and more is in focus .

Shutter Speed: 1/180

Aperture: 2.8

IOS Setting: 800

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture: 4.5

IOS Settings: 400

Shutter speed: 1/125

Aperture: 11

ISO setting: 400

Depth of field

Depth Of Field is the distance between the foreground object and background furthest object or infinity (eg: the horizon) which are “acceptably sharp”. Since our cameras cant fully focus on two objects at once we use “acceptable sharpness” however this measurement varies as it depends on an individuals eyesight as well as how large the screen or print the photo is displayed on is. Sensor size of the camera also effects depth of field and therefore what is considered “acceptably sharp”. Typically cameras with a larger depths of field have smaller sensors.

image from https://photographylife.com/what-is-depth-of-field

To create a shallower depth of field you can move closer to the subject or open up aperture by lowering f stop number and therefore letting more light in. The opposite is used to create a greater depth of field so you can either move away from your subject or close down the aperture by using a higher f stop number and allowing less light in.