Portait Techniques

Manual setting - 
ISO 200,
F STOP ?,
SHUTTER SPEED 1/125 OF A SECOND

Equipment
Soft box
Reflector
Light diagram

Portraiture Image Bank

Portraiture Definition Post

A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.

Portraiture - A painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders

  I like this image because you can see the emotion of the little girl's face. This makes us think deeper into why she may be pulling this face etc. I like the dark background because it reflects her emotion. 

 This image does meet our standards of a poetical/war hero because the expression on his face looks grumpy. Stereotypically as a prime minister (which he was during World War II), you would think of them as harsh and powerful. The dark and harsh lighting really brings out the masculinity and dominating look that he wished to portray to the wider population. 

  This image represents femininity through extreme makeup such as the big lips and heavy eye makeup. This woman is transgender and has aimed to represent Marilyn Monroe. This image in general is fairly extreme and the way that she is laying against the leopard print background is eccentric. This could portray being comfortable within your own skin and expressing who you are which may be important to this individual due to being transgender. 

Framing Contact Sheet

Reflection Contact Sheet

Landscape Work Diary

Planning



Evaluation and Progression

Evaluation

  I chose this image as one which represents landscapes well because I like the colours and how the trees are bare and we can therefore see segments of the sky in the background. This creates a really picturesque landscape which is calming and quiet. Vertical lines represent strength and power which goes well with the idea of trees (production of oxygen) as an essential for everyday life. The trees are long and tall which presents a sense of strength. I like the angle which I have taken this at because the trees lead us to the top of the picture.

Progression 

  To progress this image, I used Photoshop to adjust the exposure, saturation, gamma correction and contest. This made the autumn colours in the trees really stand out as they were originally quite dull and dark. This image now makes me feel warm due to the orange and yellow tones. they stand out against the white background. The lines represented in the picture are more prominent. I really like this image because the colours are intense which portrays the wide variety of colours we see in autumn.  

Evaluation

I like this image because the long pavement means our eyes are led towards the end of the picture. I also like how the picture looks simple and tidy but is still effective. I like the mixture between greens and yellows however, I think that I should convert it into black and white because the colours here are darkened due to the overcast sky. 

  

Progression

   

  To progress this image, I used Photoshop to convert it into black and white. I think that this works better because it highlights the tones in the picture better. I used the dodge tool in Photoshop to highlight specific areas within the picture. I also used the burn tool to darken some areas of the sky. I have consciously made adjustments which are more effective in 'leading' our eyes to a certain area. I think by using these tools, it has created a picture which represents landscape from a different perspective.  If I were to the this image again, I would take it more centre orientated so that our eyes lead straight into the end of the picture.              

Evaluation 

I like this image because it is different and is not something people would usually think represents a landscape. I like the damp patches on the floor because they are reflective of the light above. This picture has an opposite effect to the alternate images because it does not supply me with a warm feeling. This is because the colours here are very bland and cold, unlike the warming oranges and yellows. However, I like this picture because it presents landscape photography in a different way.

 Progression

  

   I made subtle adjustments to this image using Photoshop because I think that it worked very well previously. However, I used Photoshop to change it into black and white, adjust the contrast, curves, exposure and offsets settings. I think that these changes work well because the black and white is well suited to the damp and cold nature that this image portrays. I also used the dodge tool to highlight some particular areas which I wanted to be more highlighted and I used the burn tool to create shadows in areas which I wanted to be darker. This image contains a range of tones and portrays landscape effectively and intriguingly. If I were to take this picture again, I could use a tripod to steady the camera while taking the image at a lower angle.



Progression

 I chose this image as one which should be adjusted or retaken because I do not think that it accurately presents landscape. I think that it is uninteresting and should be taken at a better angle. I could maybe use a tripod to take an image at a accurate angle and maybe to get more of the building and landscape in. I went back to retake this image (shown below). I think the mage shown below does work better than the one previous however, I would need to make some adjustments using Photoshop using crop, contrast , curves and so on to improve the appearance of the picture. I could also turn it into black and white as I do not like the colours presented in this picture.

Landscape Straight Images

  I like this image because I think that it has potential to be a good landscape image. I like it because it is peaceful and I like the autumn colours such as orange and yellow. The trees represent vertical lines, which imply strength and direction. I also like this picture because the trees are mostly bare, which allows us to see parts of the overcast sky. I could use Photoshop to make the colours more vibrant and eye catching as they are fairly muted and dull here. By doing this, the autumn colours that I like will be intensified.

  I chose this image as one of my favourite takes on landscape photography because I like how our eyes are lead into the picture due to the long straight pavement. I like how there are no distractions in this picture ad the landscape is completely empty, because it does not divert our eyes anywhere else. I could use Photoshop to turn this image into black and white as I feel it would look better this way. I could also use the dodge and burn tool within Photoshop to create more defined tones.

I chose this image as one of my favourites because I like the light coming through the clouds and how the sky looks dainty and soft. I also like it because the sky is really the only bright thing in this picture. This image presents me with feelings of freedom and relaxation which  may be due to the spacious area that I have photographed. I may edit this photograph to make other areas more visible and enhanced rather than just the sky.

  I like this image of a car park because it is different to what I would usually photograph for landscape photography and is a more unique idea of landscape. I like the reflection of the light onto the floor and the low ceiling. However, I could use Photoshop to make some adjustments regarding the colours and tones in this image because the image displayed above presents some suffocating and depressive feelings in my opinion.

Ansel Adams Research Post

 Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. He created the zone system shown above which was a scale of 1-10 to help identify different tones. He not only focused on tones but looked widely at landscapes. Adams commonly linked the two subjects together - manipulating his landscape photographs to show a wide tonal range.

This is an example of Ansel Adams' work which shows a wide range of tones. It is a good representation of his usual work and focus point. This picture shows large depth of field because it is all round a sharp image. Ansel Adams often focused on natural landscapes rather than man made landscapes. He tied together his connection to the environment (due to being an environmentalist) to his love of photography. This is commonly seen within various famous photographers work (for example, Vivian Maier and her tying of her occupation as a nanny and photography). The stream  catches our attention because of the light tone it shows and the fact that it leads us into the photograph (leading line).

   This image is another piece of Ansel Adams work which again, presents a wide tonal range. There are extremely bright whites which highlight certain areas and therefore are eyes are more drawn to this. Our eyes are close drawn to the reflection of the sky onto the water which is very clear. The clouds look soft and puffy and the grass looks untouched, presenting the natural world in a more picturesque way. I like this image because you can see the real contrasted difference between the bright white highlights and the dark tones.
 

  I chose this image taken by Adams because it not only explores tone, however it explores form of the natural world also. The rocky and jagged shape of the boulder creates a sharp contrast with the soft and calm clouds. I like this image because the way in which the photographer has taken it, makes it seem as if the boulder is touching the sky which creates a intriguing illusion. It is more interesting than the other images of Ansel Adams which I explored because it looks at more than one topic in photography. I could possibly attempt to bring these two topics together when shooting my photographs.
          

Joiners Work Diary

Planning

Evaluation and Progression

  Here I used Photoshop to create a more unique joiner. I like this because I have layered different images on top of the original images which include his face/body from different angles. I adjusted the capacity setting on Photoshop which helped me to create the fading effect on some particular images. I really like this joiner because it creates an illusion. I could possibly add further images to the joiner to make it more interesting.

Evaluation and Progression

  I used a similar technique as the joiner above when focusing on this one. I took small scale images of separate parts of her body in the studio. I then used Photoshop to make adjustments to each of the smaller photos before I merged them all together to make this joiner. I joined images together which obviously did not match together accurately, which creates an illusion. I think that this piece of work is successful in showing my ability to use Photoshop to the standard in which I require. I like this joiner because it is not perfect, not every image is accurately matched with the corresponding one. 

Progression 

  To further progress this project I could try to use different objects to join together. For example, taking images of different parts of the flower and joining them together. I could also try to work with images of a building and join them together. This would add variety to my work rather than just photographing people. 

Joiners Image Bank

Landscape Image Bank

Landscape Definition Post

Landscape - all the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.

 This picture is of a picteresque landscape.   

Ansel Adams Landscape Photography

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist. 

Group f/64 was a group of seven 20th-century San Francisco photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharp-focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western (U.S.) viewpoint. 

The Zone System is a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer.

Pictorialism is the name given to an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries.  

An approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality.

Methodology - a system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity.

Colour Contact Sheet

Joiners straight images

I really like this joiner that I have completed because the fading effect of particular angles of his face is an alternative but more intriguing way of presenting joiners. It makes it more confusing and random, which is commonly the effect that joiners ate meant to have. I could turn this picture into black and white because I think it would supply a particular interesting effect.



I think that this joiner worked particularly well because I managed to fit together most of the pieces accurately.  I think the size scale I have managed to represent accurately also.  I like how the colours are different in each picture (for example, her jacket is two different greens in two different pictures) because it shows how individual pictures may differ from others. To edit this, I could use Photoshop to change it into black and white because I think this particular joiner would be more effective and it means we focus more on the unique and unusual shape that joining pictures together makes. 

Joiners Definitions

Joiners - In the early 1980s, Hockney began to produce photocollages, which he called "joiners," first of Polaroid prints and later of 35mm, commercially processed color prints. 


  This is an image of a crowded town which has been assembled by someone. They have misplaced some parts of the picture, turned pieces around to create different angles. We as human beings can work out what is happening within the picture despite the picture being aligned and set out how we imagine it in our heads. This is why I find the topic joiners interesting.

Examples of David Hockney's work:
     

Framing work diary

Planning



Evaluation and Progression


Evaluation

  I chose this image as one which I wanted to progress because I think that it has potential to be a great representation of framing photography in a unique and abstract way. The frame is the wooden edges in the foreground. I really like how the foreground is focused and the background is unfocused. The barbed wire creates a distinct sharpness. This image also ties in with the subject topic texture because the rough wooden frame and the sharp and vicious look of the barbed wire presents texture. The background contrasts with the sharp barbed wire and rough wood texture presented because trees and nature represent life, purity and growth.

Progression

  To edit this picture, I made the colours in the background more saturated and vivid. By doing this, it has created a more distinct background for the sharpness texture and shape of the barbed wire to contrast against. The picture is brighter as a whole which good in this case because it outlines the frame which we are looking through. I also adjusted the contrast, vibrancy, exposure and brightness because it was really effective in helping towards a picture which really stood out. It has brought the background to life which was originally unfocused and dark. Furthermore, overall it has brightened the picture and has made it more effective in showing framing of the background.


Evaluation

   

  Here I have taken the idea of placing a literal frame onto a background to represent framing photography in a simplistic but effective way. I took the idea from my image bank which I had gathered because it interested my how it is very basic but effective. I like how the the frame isn't that focused but the background presented within the frame is, causing us to look into the frame. A frame would usually hold a picture but in this case, the background is the picture within the frame. I like it because it creates confusion but interests you at the same time.

Progression 

  

   To progress this picture, I used Photoshop to change the picture into black and white and adjust the colour levels to create a more vivid picture through the frame. I then adjusted the vibrancy and contrast because the 'picture' see through the frame was not particularly vivid. I like how my hand is blurry and by changing it into black and white, we focus even less on the hand in the picture. This is god because our eyes are lead straight into what is represented within the frame.

Evaluation


  I chose this image as one which I wanted to progress because it extends further than the other images shown above. For example, it represents framing within framing. The frame in the foreground frames the background however, there are also frames within the background. Not only this, but there is more than one frame within the 'whole frame'. There are smaller, individual frames within the large frame. This is more effective because we can look through each individual frame and see different segments of a whole picture within small sections. I also like the metal look because it creates a thin outlined frame.


Progression

   To progress this image I used Photoshop to make subtle adjustments such as: the increase in saturation, vibrancy, exposure and contrast. The colours are now more drawing and saturated which makes the picture more interesting. I think that with the changes that I have made, the picture works really well and is an interesting take on framing photography. The angle works well with the objects also. If I were to take this picture again, I would maybe try to cut out some of the pavement and try to focus on getting more of the grass in the picture.

















Progression

   I chose this image as one which I needed to progress or retake because I don't think that it works well with the subject topic of framing. The frame is too wide and it is hard for our eyes to be drawn into the image that I was meant to frame. There are too many distractions such as the diamonds on the object which we are lead to. I could possibly take this image again but at a different angle to ensure it doesn't look muffled and rushed.