The new Topographics was a term made by William Jenkins which was used to describe a group of American photographers whose photos had a similar banal aesthetic. in that they were formal and mostly taken in black and white, there photos also consisted of the urban landscape around them.

The New Topographics mostly focused on Man-altered landscapes such as homes packed together, industrial buildings, roads and anything that disrupted the view or area of natural landscapes.

Historical context

The New Topographics were mostly made in response to the fast increasing suburbanised world around them. Topographic photos were taken around the 70s and the historical context of why America were becoming more suburban is that in post-war America, to accommodate all the returning soldiers coming home and to keep up with the new innovations in the industrial sector, they decided to build more buildings and more homes as well as more roads so vehicles (which were rising in popularity more and more) could drive along these paths. As a result it ended up transforming areas, which were previously natural and contained good views of the landscape ahead into buildings and roads which expanded for 100s of miles in each direction which resulted into landscapes beyond these buildings being barley visible and big natural areas being removed in order to build these man made structures.

Why were Photographers interested in these structures?

Most photographers took pictures of these manmade structures to show the growing unease of how natural landscapes were being replaced and removed by industrial development. Places once natural and untouched were now cleared and terraformed in order to make space for buildings and roads which would be placed instead.

Artist Reference – Stephen Shore

Technical

The photo uses natural daylight in this image which lights the image up quite strongly as their is no clouds in the sky to cover up the suns light. You can also see the image uses a slow shutter speed as we can see the cars on the left side of the image appear quite blurry. The temperature of the lighting is cold as the image contains more of a blue hue than a yellow hue of colour. We can also see that due to the way the lighting is projecting towards the object, it ends up creating hard edged shadows of the objects/structures in the image.

Visual

With this photo you can see the hard edged shadows that form around the objects and structures. The image is aligned in a specific manner that it resembles some aspects of the rule of thirds. We can also notice that starting from the top of the image with the bright blue skies and then moving towards the bottom half of the image that it starts to become more cluttered with buildings, signs and lamp posts obstructing the view ahead. The photo is in a square format which allows the focus of the image to be more concentrated towards the bottom and the picture appears to be pointed towards nature by the way some objects are pointed like the signs or the direction the cars are driving towards.

Contextual

This picture might be focused on the achievement of cars and how prices for them have gone down meaning lots more people are able to afford them and drive hundreds of miles and have the freedom to go anywhere. We can also see nationalism on the gas station sign as it uses the iconic colours of the American flag.

Conceptual

This image might be showing us the gradual change from natural landscapes to man-made structures which is starting to benefit the majority of people. From the cheap cars to the wide range of options of where to go for food or shopping in town areas. This photo could also be seen as a depicting the start of the American dream and how it looks to live in America.

On the havre des pas walk I made sure to take multiples images from one place, starting from taking pictures on the left side and slowly taking more and more as I turned the camera towards the right. This technique is what allows you to form panoramic images which can then later be presented as physcial images or edited in photoshop in order to extend the images size and what you want to be visible in the image.

My Images:

With my images I have made sure to take as many as I could while going from left to right in order to achieve a wide panoramic image. The results ended up looking great as now you are able to get a bigger picture of whats around the area but also by joining the images together it allows for the image to look even more appealing as a panoramic photo and it also allows you to capture more than one interesting area in a photo as long as its nearby.

A Panoramic image is a technique of taking a photo of what’s in front of you but capturing it at a wide angle. The difference between a wide angle photo and a Panoramic is that a Panoramic usually consists of multiple photos merged together that form a long wide angle strip. This wide strip photo would then show you a expansive view of your shot like with a Landscape it would show the full scenery around you. Wide angle photography in the other hand are different as it typically uses a wide lens that allows you to take a wide angle picture, however wide angle photos have a limit and they cannot capture the amount of detail and area that a panoramic image can achieve.

How do I create a Panoramic Landscape?

To create a Panoramic Landscape you can either take a photo of the landscape with your camera that has a Panoramic mode or if your camera does not contain that mode then the traditional method would be to take pictures of your landscape but making sure you take it from all angles from left to right to top to bottom, making sure you leave enough room for the images to overlap. Once you take all these pictures you can insert them into a program like Photoshop or Lightroom and there should be an option to Photo merge them into a Panoramic image. Then you just adjust the images and edit them to your preference and then you should have a Panoramic Landscape.

David Hockney

David Hockney was a painter and a photographer who was well known for his work and was considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Around the early 20th century he decided to experiment with joiner photographs, these photographs consisted of usually a place or a subject that had photos taken close up instead of far away. By taking multiple close up photos (around 700+ photos) it would then allow him to merge them together to create a full photograph. The difference from a joiner photograph and a full photograph is that joiners allow you to capture details you would never spot on the first time of taking your images. So by taking multiple photos over a span of a few days close up and capturing all the little details and then merging all the photos together you end up creating a piece that not only looks unique but also contains every small detail that is easily viewable which can also make your image look more appealing compared to just a regular image taken from further away where you wouldn’t usually spot those small things.

Exposure Bracketing is the process of taking multiple pictures in the same scene with different exposure levels, from really low exposure to really high exposure. You then would use those series of photos to blend and mix them together which in return should create a photo with a much higher dynamic range where it will give you all the details you will ever need.

Exposure Bracketing works very well with still images like landscapes which can help create a HDR Photo that will retain all the details in the images. Exposure Bracketing is not really useful in moving images as if you merge them to make a HDR Photo then you might see some weird effects and it wont be as effective.

Exposure Compensation

Exposure Compensation allows you to override the automatic exposure adjustments your camera makes in situation’s where light is either really bright, dark or uneven. It basically allows you to adjust the brightness of your image manually.

HDR

HDR or High Dynamic Range is a way to capture the lightest detail and darkest detail of a photo, you would typically use Exposure Bracketing to gain a series of high and low exposure photos which you could then merge together to make a HDR Photo.

How does HDR work?

It works by grabbing the details captured from the multiple photos taken in different exposures, for example lets say you take a picture that has some intense shadows and the bright blue sky. With a normal automatic exposure the camera would try to capture all the light and shadows but at the price of sacrificing detail and the amount of light in those certain areas. However by using multiple exposures with Exposure Bracketing it allows you to get the best detail of the sky with the low exposure image and the best detail of whatever is around or in the shadows in the high exposure image. You would then merge the low and high exposure photos together in a program (for example Lightroom) which would then take the best details out of the low exposure image and the best details out of the high exposure image and merge them together to make a HDR Photo with all the details and light being shown to its fullest potential.

My HDR Photos attempt

Before

After

We can see with the before image that the colours are lacking as well as details like the sky or water are quite overexposed due to it being too bright outside. But changing the image into a HDR Photo has helped to bring the water and sky back into the image and it has made it more detailed and viewable with the waves in the water now being viewable as well as the clouds in the sky which is also now viewable. it has also made the colours more vibrant however i did turn up the vibrancy a bit more to capture more detail in those bright colours.

Before

After

We can see with the before image that the sky was quite overexposed with half of the clouds being hidden, we can also see that some details around the rocks in the sea were quite dark. But by changing it into a HDR Photo we can now see that the rocks are more detailed and the clouds in the sky are fully viewable. I have also changed the vibrancy of the image and the saturation in order to brighten up the image and add more colour as well as to help bring more detail into the clouds and rocks at the bottom.

Before

After

We can see with the before image that the cliffs and the rocks at the bottom are quite dark, we can also see the grass and the plants lack colour and detail. We can also see the sky which appears to be overexposed with the clouds being barley visible. With the after image we can now see that the cliffs and rocks at the bottom have brightened up making the image have more detail and colour, we can also see that the plants now have more detail added as well with more colour which was achieved by adjusting the saturation and vibrancy of the image. The sky was also more visible with the after image and to make it stand out more I adjusted the haze to try and bring out as much detail as I could.

Image:

Technical

This photo looks like it most likely uses natural daylight for its source of lighting as the photo was taken quite far away, it also looks like it includes a good level of exposure as the image is well lit while still maintaining detail around the image. The contrast used around the image especially the sky help to enhance the image and bring out more detail, especially around the top of the mountain and the sky as it creates a dramatic effect while allowing for the detail of the jagged rocks to be viewable. This photo also looks like it uses a wide angle lens with a very small aperture to capture the wide area of the mountain while also keeping most things in frame sharp and in focus. The photo looks like it uses a long shutter speed in order to capture the right amount of light to ensure the photo is well exposed. The photo appears to have minimal grain as well as using various amounts of tones in the tonal range.

Visual

The photo uses a black and white colour scheme with various of tones being used throughout the image which can enhance the detail around some parts like the mountains rock texture or the snow and trees at the bottom of the mountain. We can also see that the image shows a lot of texture as I mentioned before, in areas like the left lower side of the mountain we can see that the jagged edges are easily viewable and identifiable or on the right side of the mountain at the cliff edge where we are able to see the cracks in the rocks and the trees in the distance. The main view point of the image is the half dome and Ansel Adams was able to make it the main view point of the image by using techniques like composition to make the half dome take up most of the image. We can also see that the sky also includes lots of detail as Ansel Adams used colour filters to help with the creation of this photo, by the sky using a dark tone it helps capture that horizon in the background from the bottom of the sky being a lighter shade to the top of the sky being a darker shade.

Contextual

The picture is named Monolith, The Face Of Half Dome and it was taken in Yosemite. This image has a lot of history as it wasn’t the first time Ansel Adams had taken a picture of this half dome. At the age 14 Ansel had visited this same spot on a family trip to Yosemite carrying his Brand-new Kodak Brownie Camera, He snapped several pictures of the Half Dome including one taken upside down on accident but it resulted into it being one of his favourite images of the Half Dome. A decade later he returned to this spot with his fiancée and three close friends where they climbed about more than 3500 feet above Yosemite Valley, Encountering this spot again they decided to set up the cameras and take photographs of the Face Of The Half Dome. He Experimented with a yellow filter at first but it didn’t feel quite as effective as he hoped so he swapped it with a dark red filter which darkened the sky and produced dark shadows and bright light which resulted into the image being the final one he decided to use for his piece named the Monolith, the Face Of Half Dome. It is one of his most famous images and an iconic depiction of one of the most unique spots in the American wilderness.

Conceptual

Ansel Adams took this image to show his passion for not only photography but wildlife. Ansel Adams has been to Yosemite ever since he was young and repeatedly came back by joining the Sierra Club and doing tour groups during summers. Nature or Yosemite in particular served as a place of healing for Ansel Adams who survived the deadly Spanish influenza in 1919 and dedicated himself to try and preserve the wildlife and nature of the Yosemite Valley.

Ansel Easton Adams was a American Landscape Photographer and environmentalist who was well known for his black and white images of the American west. He also helped found a photography group called F/64 which was an association of photographers who were advocating for ‘pure’ photography (photos that attempted to depict a scene or a subject in sharp focus and detail).

Childhood

Ansel Adams was an only child growing up and was born when his mother was nearly in her forty’s, with his relatively elderly parents, his family history and other factors, it all combined to create an environment which was Victorian and both socially and emotionally traditional. Due to his natural shyness, certain intensity of intelligence combined with his broken nose (which was caused by his face being smashed against a wall during the san Francisco earthquake) this caused Adams to have difficulties when trying to fit in at school. Later in life he was then diagnosed as hyperactive with the possibility of having dyslexia alongside that. After going in and out of various schools and getting tutored by his family he did manage to get a legit diploma from the Mrs Kate M Wilkins private school. He learned piano in his youth but unfortunately could not pursue it professionally due to not being cut out for it but when he discovered photography he quickly found a passion for it and dedicated all his time towards it.

Inspiration for Photography

The Yosemite National Park was Adams inspiration for his photography career, using the camera lens and looking through the Yosemite’s rock, trees, and rivers. All he could see was art and it sparked more inspiration and love for his photography hobby and work.

Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization whose mission is to explore, enjoy and protect the wild places of earth. Ansel Adams in 1927 went out on the Sierra Clubs annual outing (known as the High Trip) which resulted into one of his most famous images named Monolith, The Face of Half Dome. This image would then make him well known and popular to the world of photographers. The year after he ended up becoming the Sierra Clubs official photographer. By 1930, Ansel Adams began to deploy his photography in the cause of wilderness preservation.

Ansel Adams in 1934 was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club was seeking to create a national park in the Kings Canyon region of the Sierra Nevada and this was because people wanted to use the water to generate electricity which could destroy the nature around it and possibly pollute the canyon, so by creating a national park it prevents anyone from being able to use that land for industrial purposes. Ansel Adams all the way in California had to find a way to convince congressmen back in Washington to turn the canyon into a national park and he achieved this by carrying and showing his portfolio to the heads of the national park service to show them why they should make the canyon a national park. however the first time they tried to request it to be a national park they were told it couldn’t be approved. After hearing this information he created an impressive and limited edition book called the Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail. The book contained some of his best photos taken at the sierra club and this book ultimately ended up attracting President officials which then ended up into them finally making the canyon an approved national park by 1940.

Presidential Medal

Ansel Adams was a conservationist and the photos he took of Yosemite helped secure the designation of those lands as national parks, his work helped expand the national park system and his work was then later recognised by presidential officials who ended up awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.

Ansel Adams Visualisation

The meaning of Visualisation is “the concept of interpreting a scene and deciding on the final shot before pressing the shutter”. Ansel Adams referred to this as Taking place within the minds eye, Adams with his photography made sure that he assessed his subject and chose the most important attributes to highlight and keep or show in the frame of the photo. To capture the detail and the effects he was looking for in his images he would often resort to using camera filters knowing that it would allow him to adjust the dark or lightness of the sky or cliffs that surrounded him. These filters helped Ansel Adams achieve the dramatic effect he was seeking in his images.

Ansel Adams Zone System

Ansel Adams used his own Zone system in order to represent the gradation of all the different tonal values you would see in black and white images. With Zone 0 being pure black, Zone 5 being middle grey and Zone 10 being pure white. The Zone system would help control the exposure of the image and how it was developed in order to achieve the best results of the photo you have taken.

What is Romanticism?

Romanticism is a movement in the arts and literature which was originated in the late 18^th century. Emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity and the primacy of the individual.

In Photography Romanticism is used in contrast with landscapes. Romantic landscapes celebrate the instinctive, imaginative and purity of nature. It can also evoke deep feelings of emotion and can add a deeper meaning to the images taken. 

Romanticism was a reaction against the spread of industrialism, as well as a criticism of the aristocratic social and political norms. So it was then used to forward peoples attention to nature.

From the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, Romanticism was used to emphasise emotion, nature and individualism, which ended up contrasting strongly with Enlightenment due to Enlightenments focus being more on reason and universalism compared to Romanticisms which was the celebration of the individual and honouring nature.

John Constable

John constable created landscape paintings before they were known as a genre, One of his best pieces named Hay Wain (originally named “noon”) was painted of the River Stour in England. The Canvas used was large compared to typical landscapes at the time, This was part of Constables ‘Six-Footers’ series due to the size of the canvases used. Constables father owned the Flat ford Mill and the house you can see in the background of the landscape belonged to a neighbour Willy Lot who was said to be born in that house. John Constable was always very passionate about his paintings as he tries to paint areas or locations that he knows very well (Hay Wain being one of them) which helped to make his landscapes more meaningful and special. John Constable painted the piece using his memory and not in person with the view in his sight which makes the landscape he created even more impressive. Hay Wain was different to every other landscapes at the time especially with his use of a rough surface which allowed the textures to gain more details which made certain areas in the landscape like the water feel “real” and made the overall image look more realistic compared to other landscapes of that time period.

The Sublime

The Sublime is a feeling associated with strong emotions both positive and negative that are felt in front of nature. For example waterfalls which are typically seen as beautiful but at the same time terrifying with all the rocks protruding out the ground and the cliff which could be dangerous if anything were to ever move/fall at any time.

Edmund Buke defined sublime as an “an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling”. Which basically is describing how our minds determine the feelings towards images, for sublime images (specifically landscapes) typically the mind would find the image both pleasing to look at but at the same time fearful of whatever danger could be into play.

J.M.W Turner

J.M.W Turner is a English romantic painter who was a sublime artist, He started making sublime artwork to show his viewers the feelings of awe and wonder that he experienced when tackling the majesty of nature. His paintings (made usually with oil paintings and water colours) often included dramatic scenes, for example some of his work consists of the rough sea with boats sailing creating this amazing view of the sky and the sea but making you feel uneasy with the boats that appear to be on the tipping point of flipping over.

Landscapes is the visible features of an area of land which is often seen for their aesthetic appeal, This can be areas like forests, rivers, cities skylines, mountains and anything that includes a wide view and natural elements can be considered as a Landscape. Landscapes started to become emerged in the western culture with the growth of the natural world which was sparked by the renaissance around in the 16th century. And by the 17th century the classical landscape was introduced, these landscapes were influenced by classical antiquity and were thought to provide an ideal landscape to think of Arcadia which is a legendary place in ancient Greece which is well known for its quiet pastoral beauty.

Landscapes then had a sudden rise in the late 18th century to 19th century, this was because the industrial revolution was starting to alter the traditions of rural life. Which then prompted people to move away from more classic and idealised landscapes and shift their focus into creating landscapes which were more focused on directly nature which is a practice known as plein air painting. This new focus on landscapes ended up revealing a new generation of painters which would introduce their own techniques to landscape paintings.

Landscape Photography was introduced in the 19th century and the earliest known photo taken of a landscape was between the years 1826 and 1827. It was a urban landscape photo taking by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce who was also the first person to make a permanent photographic image with the camera obscura. This first landscape image would then continue to shape the future of Landscape Photography to what it has now become today where it is now more advanced and more detailed thanks to modern technologies and innovations.

Presentation Ideas

These are my presentation ideas for my edited photos, Some of these photos together with the right ones almost look like they match up together and some of them display nicely next to each other. For instance the third presentation looks like a full building with the rock wall on the right looking like it joins up to the old building on the left image. One of the presentations which is my favourite is the second one as those series of photos together go well nicely and it looks similar to how a panoramic view is laid out as the photos joined together look like they form a long rock wall.

Virtual Gallery Presentation

With Art Steps to put my photos into a virtual gallery. Using this I spread my photographs out nicely and displayed them similarly to how an art gallery would display peoples artwork/images.

My Final Images

These are the final images I have chosen to use and print, these images by themselves already look really good but when joined together it creates a panoramic effect which makes it look even better. For example the right side image and left side image both end up with the rock walls ending while the middle image is where both of those images connect to, resulting into a unique presentation when these images are together side by side.

Evaluation

I feel that the final outcome of my images turned out to be really successful, out of the 200 photos I took I had 80 photos which I felt were up to a good standard and out of those 80 there were 6 that really stood out to me. Using those 6 photos and analysing and then editing them turned out to make these already good photos into even better ones. Resulting into me using 3 out of 6 of those photos as my final images. Those final images when printed will look unique and amazing when presented side by side.

I used the plan that I had set for my photographs which were to take photos similar to Clare Rae’s style while changing it up slightly whether it was the pose of the subject or the background behind her. Most of my images met that plan and helped achieve the effect I wanted in my photographs. Especially with editing which allowed me to change the colour scheme to match Clare Rae’s style and also decide what I wanted in view for my image.

When analysing my images I commented on the Conceptual parts of Clare Rae when referencing her, Often making my subject only reveal parts of her figure on my photographs which Clare Rae did similarly which was done to disturb the traditional representation of the female figure that society sees. I also followed her photography style where she would use different landscapes/areas for her photographs which helped make the images unique but also to make a connection between the person and the place hence why some of my landscapes in the background of the image are quite different and not something you would see ordinarily.

If I had to change or do something differently when I did this project I would of experimented with different environments such as doing a photoshoot in a forest or in town, this could have made a more diverse set of images and could of ended up with me having more unique and good quality images I could of used as my final images.

To enhance my images and make them standout I am going to edit my images in a manner which allows for more detail to pop out and prioritise what I want to be seen in the photograph itself.

Photograph #1

This photograph that I have taken is great as it captures both the detailed landscape with the rock wall as well as my subject attempting to climb it which created a unique posing position for the image. However the image by itself lacks a few things, for one the subject is tucked all the way to the left side of the image which may make it harder to indicate where I want the focus of the image to be set on, the image having colour is not a problem in itself however by setting the image up into a black and white colour scheme it can help minimise details on things like the sky or grass and enhance more details towards the subject and rock wall.

After Editing the image you can now see that it comes across more effective and the main focus is now easier to identify. To reach this point I cropped the image and rotated it slightly in order to make the image more straight and to discard the unimportant details and only keep the details I wanted in view. This allowed me to make my subject take up most of the image so I could use the rule of thirds composition, which helps highlight my subject as the main focus point of my image. To make the subject standout more and enhance more details around the image I decided to make the image black and white and adjust some levels so the subject can standout more, for example in the original image the subjects legs were in a dark area which made it less visible so by using a black and white colour scheme and adjusting the levels I was able to brighten them up and standout against the rock wall. I have also adjusted the levels for the scenery of the image too so I could preserve the detail of the rocks and grass which helps make the image more appealing to look at to the viewers.

Photograph #2

This photograph that I have taken is another image I found that had potential to be great especially when edited. The pose where she’s balancing on the divided rock wall helps add more mystery behind the photograph and the sky in view helps add more life to the image as it helps viewers figure out the type of environment the image was taken in. Edits will have to be done in this image to crop things I don’t want to be seen and rotate it slightly to keep the elements in the image straight. I also want to try and bring more detail into the subject as the lighting from the sun has made her figure appear more darker.

After editing this image you can now see the subject as the main focus of the photo. By cropping the right side and rotating the image to make things straighter it has allowed for a more aesthetically pleasing photo. Cropping also allowed me to use the rule of thirds which helped make my subject the main priority. By making it black and white and adjusting the colour levels it helped brighten the subject up slightly without making her look unnatural which makes her more noticeable and seen in this image. It has also helped to minimise distractions in certain aspects of the photo such as the small patches of different colours embedded in the rocks or the blue sky.

Photograph #3

This photograph is one of my favourites that I have taken. The pose helps hide away some of her figure which makes it hard to depict and make assumptions about her feminine figure. The place used compliments the subject perfectly and has made the image so unique and pleasing to look at. The lighting used as well has also really helped make this image look good as it illuminates the structure clearly revealing the details on the stone but it also illuminated the surface of the subject which when edited will be able to make the subject standout next to the landscape. The image was taken from far away so cropping the image will need to be done to direct the focus towards the subject as well using a black and white colour scheme to bring more depth in certain things and retain the attention towards the subject.

After editing this photo you can now see the subject more clearly which now makes it easy to identify what is the main focus of the image. I’ve also cropped most sides of the image to minimise the size of the structure behind the subject so the attention is not drawn to that first. By using a black and white colour scheme and adjusting the light levels I was able to make the background more brighter and reveal more details, I was also able to make the subject brighter but not too unnaturally bright so more attention can be drawn to the subject and also so I could prevent the subject looking like she was blending in with the rocks. With all edits applied the image looks better than before especially with how its laid out now and what’s now in view.

Photograph #4

With this photograph I was inspired by one of Claude Cahun’s images where she put her arms through the rocks. So I decided to take inspiration but experiment with it differently which ended up with this image as an end result. I found this image quite interesting as by making the subject hold onto the top of the holes in the rock wall it makes it look like she is holding up the top part of the building. The darkness that you can see in the holes of the rocks are perfect as it helps hide the subject entirely with only the arms and hands being visible. By also taking the image closer to the wall and not revealing the sky or the entirety of the building, it helps to attract more focus towards the subject compared to if I were to take the photo further away as then the subject would appear very small compared to the rest of the image. The only issues I see with this photo is the low lighting due to the sunlight not being able to reach into this area and the size of the image which needs to be cropped so the subjects arms and hands are the main priority of the image.

With this photo now edited you are able to see that the subjects arms and hands are more in the centre in the photo which makes it likely that its the first thing you see when you first view the image. Since there were lots of empty space around the image which were mainly the walls of the building, I decided to crop a good amount so attention would be kept to the holes in the wall and my subject. Making the image black and white helped brighten up areas of the subject like her arms so they are more visible to the viewer and also helped gain more level of detail. Using black and white also made it look similar to Claude Cahuns image which was the main inspiration for this photograph.

Photograph #5

With this photo I found that the layout and how it is presented is actually quite clever. Using the same similar style to Clare Rae from her “Entre Nous” collection, I have made the subject look away into the distance while making her figure hidden behind her legs and behind the rock. By posing like this it helps create a mysterious aspect to this image but also follows through with Clare Rae’s motive for her images which is to disturb societies depiction of the typical female figure. So by positioning my subject in this unique way it makes it harder to identify who or what she is. The background used is detailed and appealing which then alongside my subject helps compliment each other and builds a connection between my subject and the place. Due to me taking this photo from far away it will have to be cropped to prioritise the subject instead of the background behind her.

With this photo now edited you are able to see that the subject is more prioritised in the image with her taking up two thirds of the image. I have cropped a large chunk of the background so I could prioritise the subject and remove what I think wasn’t needed to be seen in this image. This final result was a nice outcome as you have that rock wall with the subject posing on it taking roughly one half of the image while the other half is more set on the background of the image and the details and things you can see from a distance. Making this image black and white helped to make the details and brightness of the subject greater. It also helped reduce distraction as the image contains a range of different colours used so by making it black and white it makes the viewer more drawn to the attention to detail and the meaning of the image rather then the colours used around the image. This image now becomes more effective when edited as I was able to choose how I wanted it presented. By also using these edits I was able to replicate Clare Rae’s style which is what I wanted due to her being the inspiration for this photo that I took.

Photograph #6

With this photo I found that the background of rocks would work really well alongside my subject when posing. I have positioned her in a way where some of her figure is hidden away behind her torso or behind her leg, I’ve also made the subject lean against the rock while using her hand as support which made it possible to use her elbow to cover her face which helps to make the image more mysterious to the viewer. The background of the image matches well with my subject helping to build that connection between the person and the place which ends up making the image more effective. This was taken with Clare Rae as my inspiration as I found that one of the images from her ‘Entre Nous’ Collection was very eye catching especially with how it was taken and the ideas used so I wanted to apply some of those principles into my image. To make this image standout more I will need to add a few edits including cropping the image to keep the subject in view and make her the main priority.

With the image now edited we are now able to see the subject more clearly with her taking up a good amount of the photo. I have also cropped out areas of the background I felt were not very important to include or didn’t contribute much towards the image to minimise distractions. I have also used a black and white colour scheme to brighten up the subject as well as making the rocks appear more detailed. Using black and white also helps create more of a dramatic effect across the image which is what I wanted so I could make the image look more mysterious especially with how the face is covered. With this image now edited it is looking a lot better and looks more similar to Clare Rae’s work who was my inspiration for this photograph that I took.