Top 20 Pieces (So Far)

Connecting Essays 1 - 5

NEW Bleeding Flower Animation *Shoot 10*

Work Record - Personal Shoot 11

Plans for the shoot:
My plans for this shoot are somewhat quite simple compared to other shoots I have conducted. As some of the shoots I wanted to involved powder paints and white clothes, I thought this might be somewhat difficult to do considering the amount of time I have left before the end of this project, and the level of mess I would have made. So instead, I decided to take on the technique using a different method, where I will photograph some white roses that I am in the process of dying rainbow colours. I have watched many tutorials and I set up the experiment yesterday afternoon, in a hope that some of the colour would have been absorbed by this morning - but this has failed. I did observe very slight colour droplets on the petals, so I am hoping that by the time I get home this evening, they will be much more colourful for me to shoot on another date.

An example of what I hope to achieve.

------------------------------------------------------

16/12/13:

The results of my experiment have so far not come through - the flowers essentially died after I'd kept them in the coloured water for a few days, which I don't understand as I followed the tutorial for it exactly, but sometimes these things happen. I think it might be to do with the way I cut the stems, as I used scissors rather than a sharp knife, which may have effected the small tubes which run on the inside  of the stem which usually carry the water to the leaves and the petals. The petals picked up some colour, mostly the blue food colouring, but not enough to create the effect above that I was looking for. I am going to now buy another bunch of flowers, possibly not roses this time, to reduce costs, and I am going to experiment by painting the colour onto the petals, possibly with either food colouring again or watered-down water colour paints and shoot them together at home against a white background.

-----------------------------------------------------

19/12/13:

Today I went into the studio with the intention of shooting my 'coloured roses'. Only a few of my roses actually survived, and the ones I was able to bring in today were starting to wither, so I combined a lot of the shots with other white flowers to bulk up the framing of the images. I did attempt to dye the new white flowers, but I only bought them yesterday which meant they didn't fully absorb the colour like i wanted. My plan was to shoot the flowers in a variety of compositions using the macro lens to show the graduation in colours between the flowers. These are a few of my favourite edited images from the shoot. I particularly like the 2nd, 3rd and 4th images below purely because of the sheer boldness and contrast in colour - I am really pleased with the level of detail I have managed to capture and the patterns created by the 'blend' of the colours looks really eye-catching. This just shows that even though the dye had a very minimalistic effect on the roses, the results still looked effective and I could well try it again in the future with more colours.

Technique Page - HDR

What Is It? HDR stands for High-Dynamic-Range Imaging. The technique produces a greater dynamic range of contrasts and luminosity within a photograph.

The technique can be produced with specific HDR-enabled cameras, or it can be applied with a few steps on Photoshop.

Step 1: Set up the camera like normal, preferably on a stand/tripod.
Step 2: Take a series of the same image but with different exposures, some below 0, some above, and one at 0.
Step 3: Upload the images then open Photoshop.
Step 4: File > Automate > Merge to HDR pro.
Step 5: Select the images you want to use for the HDR piece, including a range of different exposure sets.
Step 6: Alter the sliders for the image until you are happy with the result. Print/save like normal.

More Animations!

I copied a section of one of the flowers which had a droplet forming, and then applied it in an animation form to give the idea that the blood is dripping from the flower. I am happy with the result as it looks realistic, but I may have to work on that opening frame as the droplet seems to jump off of the petal.


----------------------

Experimental Session - Work Record

Plan:

As my planned shoot for today can't go ahead, I am going to conduct some experiments on HDR photography using some photos of my dog I have shot over the last few months and some from when I first brought him home. I am going to use a tutorial I found online: HDR Photography CS6 to give some of my images depth of contrast in terms of the colours, highlights and shadows, and then I am going to experiment with various multiple imagery techniques to show the contrast of when he was a young puppy, to how he looks now, to essentially show contrast in age.

Original copy

HDR copy

Normal Levels/Curves copy

I think that the tutorial has worked well in the sense that it has definitely given the original image that HDR effect. I think it looks particulalry dramatic on his tummy fur and on the ears, but I think that because of the paleness of his fur, especially on the top of his head, it doesn't work as the colour just blends in with the cream background, so it would have perhaps worked better with a darker backdrop. The technique works by combining different copies of the same image with different exposure levels. I also edited the original copy of the photo with extreme levels and curves like normal and I think on this occasion, the effect looks just as good as the HDR trial, except that the colour looks to dark and overly-edited.

Work Record - Personal Shoot 10

My Bloody Valentine:

Plans for the shoot:
My plan for today's shoot is to look at the before and after effect's on a flower's life. I am going to take a bunch of flowers and photograph them from different angles and perspectives. In the editing I want to make these images look really bright to represent a pure characteristic and tone. Then I want to completely destroy the flowers by smashing them against a wall so that they look really rough. When I shoot these images, I then want to use fake blood and drip it from the petals to also show a contrast between human life and nature. I think I also want to create some animations and multiple imagery pieces from today's photos, including some possible overlay photographs.

Shoot Evaluation:
I was really lucky with todays shoot as nobody else was booked in for the studio, so I practically used 3 whole hours to experiment with the flowers that I brought in. I didn't get around to doing my crushed flowers as I knew that once I destroyed them, I wouldn't be able to do anything else with them, so I might save this idea for another shoot. I did however manage to find some fake blood, and I experimented heavily by dripping it across the flowers whilst they were hung upside-down to give the impression that they were 'dead', mixing human characteristics with nature. I think the work also shows contrast in the colours, and also in the themes of life and death, as flowers are normally symbolic of life.

I really like the composition of this particular shot because I didn't shoot many portrait, but I think it works as it shows that the flowers are being hung upside-down, whereas you wouldn't necessarily identify that in a close-up crop. As nice as the actual flowers look in this picture, I am disappointed with the lighting, as I think I may have blocked the lights slightly as I took the picture which has caused the darker shadow on the left side, which I don't particularly like in the photo.








This is one of my favourite straight prints from the shoot because I was actually able to capture the blood dripping from the flower, which was initially very difficult to do as focussing the camera took longer when the drips were unpredictable and too quick to shoot. I think the brightness of the lighting and the white flowers contrasts really nicely with the red of the blood, and the crop allows the viewer to focus directly on the blood which is about to drip onto the floor. I like that I used a whole bunch of flowers instead of just one as it fills the whole frame and adds depth to the image.

I also made an animation for the flower shoot showing the bouquet go from empty to full, and then it repeats. The only problem I had with this is I realised I should have perhaps included a picture of the vase completely empty, but I forgot this. 

Best Personal Work So Far - 21.11.13

Work Record - Personal Shoot 9

Changing of the Seasons:

Plans for the shoot:

My initial plan for today's shoot was to focus on the idea of HDR landscape photography. I have researched the technique of HDR photography and I wanted to apply it to a few landscape photos to show the dynamic contrasts between tones, colours, exposure etc. However, the weather wasn't particularly good for this sort of a technique because the lighting was quite dull and the 'landscapes' around the college aren't as interesting as I would have hoped. Instead, I wanted to make good use of the dull lighting and photograph some more 'wintery' images. I know I have already photographed some autumnal and summery images already, so I plan to combine all the images together in some way to show the contrast between the seasons.

Shoot Evaluation:

This isn't the only image I took from today's shoot, but it is definitely my favourite as this was my goal for the day. I used lots of photo filters and curves and levels to adjust the impact each season had on the photos, and I love the clear contrast between each of the four. The use of colour allows for a clear distinction between each season and the variety in the types of images makes the piece more interesting to look at. However, I may re-work this piece and experiment with various other techniques or perhaps some different images for the grid as I feel the autumn row looks quite weak in comparison to the other three.

Progress Check - w/c November 25th - What do I have left to do?

Contacts personal - eleven.....

Work diaries - Personal project 11.....

Further Evaluation of Results Achieved from Personal Shoot 3

original edit

new edit

Since completing this shoot several months ago, I have gone back to re-visit the edits I produced from the shoot to help improve the quality of my best work. The original 'melting' photos I produced were created using a method of different brushes, and then adding shadow to the layers to add depth to the images. I initially thought that the effect looked really effective, but once I had printed the image off, you could tell that the colours didn't match up as well to the skin as I had have liked, and it clearly looked 'painted-on'. I have now changed my mind about the images that I produced and I wanted to improve the results.

I came across the liquify tool in Photoshop recently and I had never really used it before now. Using this tool, I drew strokes down from the hand to give the impression that it was melting, and I think it looks a lot neater and more realistic, as it is simply the hand's properties being drooped down, so there is no need to worry about the colours not being correct or the shadows looking unrealistic. I am definitely going to replace the work I produced using the initial technique with this new technique I have learnt. 

Work Record - Personal Shoot 8

Evolution of Technology (new and old) [part 2]

Plans for the shoot:

When I first shot this particular topic last thursday, I didn't get a chance to finish off all of the ideas I had planned to do due to experimenting with the first half of my ideas. I focussed mostly on the cameras last week and created an animation for this idea, but I still have the evolution of music to look at, where I have brought in vinyls, CDs, tapes, ipods and mp3 players.
I am going to start off with this shoot a lot more basic than the first one; I want to make sure I photograph each of the objects individually before I get into anything complicated. I am going to use this time to photograph 'an image within an image' as I want to place items such as the CD 'inside' the vinyl to show the change between old and new music.

Shoot Evaluation:
I didn't quite get all of the time I needed in the studio today due to other photographers over-running in the studio, but I didn't mind as all of my shots were quite basic. I will use my next lesson on monday to edit the shots I did produce and create some final pieces.

 Although quite basic, I really like this edit as it subtly shows the contrast between new and traditional media. Even though you can't fully see the first vinyl record in the line, you know what it is because of the recurring theme of music in the shot, and that's what I like about it. I also feel it is important to put them in a line as it created a nice pattern for the viewer to follow from vinyl to CD.

I really liked the idea of this image-within-an-image piece because I knew I could easily show the comparison between modern and slightly older photography methods. However, what I didn't realise is was that the digital camera was upside down when I photographed it, so actually in this image the shutter button is on the bottom, and the photo didn't look the same when I flipped it over because of the lighting, so in that sense, I am quite disappointed with the result.

Contrast of the Elements : Computer Experiment

This images are part of what I call an 'extension' from my second personal shoot where I photographed Katie for my 'ageing' idea. Once I had done this I came across a really interesting photoshop tutorial where you can give a portrait an icy or firey look about them, Ice/water, naturally, is a complete contrast to fire, and I wanted to create something really eye-catching from the basic portraits I captured in that second personal shoot.

Work Record - Personal Shoot 7

Evolution of Technology (new and old) [part 1]

Plans for the shoot:
Last night I rummaged around my house with my dad looking for various pieces of technology from both of our generations, as I decided for this shoot today I wanted to focus on the contrast between old and new technology. I have managed to collect: a vinyl record, CDs, various old phones, my ipod, my smartphone, digital camera, bridge camera, old disposable camera, and a video tape. With these, I am going to shoot in the studio using various techniques. This will be another of my 'experimental' shoots where the final pieces are more likely to come after I have edited some of the shots together. I am going to start by photographing each of the individual items and then I'll photograph the old and new items side by side. I'm also going to use an overlay technique to show the contrast. One of my shots will focus more so on the cameras I have brought in, using an 'image within an image' technique, starting with the disposable camera and the getting 'newer' as the shots come 'closer' to the front.

Shoot Evaluation:
Despite the initial struggles with this particular shoot, in the sense that I felt like I wasn't getting the results that I wanted, I was able to get some really interesting images from them. With this first animation, my initial plan was to have my model holding out the cameras on just one hand, but the weight difference between the newer and older cameras was so substantial that it was near impossible to keep completely still, which would have made the animation look ineffective. I decided then to place my model siting on a stool, so that way she could be supported by her lap and would only have to focus on keeping the rest of her body still. Although there is some slight movement in her head in some of the shots, because of the change in the frames on the animation, the movement isn't so evident so essentially I did achieve what I had planned and I am really happy with the result. The only thing I would criticise is that the camera doesn't actually appear to be that old, and doesn't create much of a contrast. I think the camera would have looked older in colour as you would have been able to identify it more, but I wanted the black and white effect as this again gave the impression that it was taken with a really old camera.

This second image was again another complete experiment, as I wasn't planning on doing this particular effect with this shoot. When browsing for Photoshop tutorials, I came across one to turn an image into a Polaroid-style collage, and I thought to myself, that the Polaroid camera is another example of an older style of camera, as they are not so common these days. However, I didn't have a Polaroid camera with me, which is why I chose to use the tutorial on this image of my model holding the more modern digital camera, as this to me shows the contrast of old and new technology again. I really think the actual effect itself looks amazing and I will definitely use it again considering how easy it was to produce. 

FUTURE SHOOT

Yin and Yang:

Plans for the shoot:
Because I have only just started planning for Thursday's shoot, I know I am not going to be ready in time for one of my other studio-based shoots I have planned in my Improvement Plan (previous post), due to not having a model or the correct costumes I will want to use. For this shoot, I am going to conduct it at home as I can use one of my younger brothers as my model. Daniel is only ten, but I think he has a very serious, almost grown-up face and this will work well for the mood of the shots i want. Using black and white face paint I am going to paint the Yin and Yang symbol across his face and photograph him against a plain white background. I am going to experiment shooting in colour, but I think the results will look best when I change them to black and white in Photoshop. Because I have two younger brothers, I am also thinking that I might experiment by painting one of their faces completely white, and the other completely black and photographing them close together. If they have the right t-shirts, I will also shoot it so that they are wearing the alternate coloured top. Ideally, I would want to do this sort of a shoot in the studio, but because I specifically want to use my brothers because of their similarities in height and age, I can only do this at home because they are in school all day and wouldn't be able to come in to the studio before Thursday.

Shoot Evaluation:

IMPROVEMENT PLAN:

After evaluating my best work from my personal shoots, I have decided that I need to create a basic plan for the next few shoots I am going to conduct in order to improve the quality of my portfolio. I decided that a lot of my work so far has been focussed on location-based work, and mostly with objects and visual contrasts, but in order to boost up my final potential grade, I need to think deeper into my topic and also vary the appearance of the images within my portfolio.

SHOOT IDEAS/PLANS:

• Firstly I want to look back at some of the shoots I have already conducted and re-evaluate the results I produced and potentially re-do them to improve such results. This is the case so with the 'pumpkin' shoot I produced not too long ago, as the results didn't show my initial contrast as much as I had wanted them to. My thought was to contrast the idea of something scary - i.e. the Halloween element of the pumpkin, with something really innocent and sweet, which is where the idea of the fairy lights came from. I also intended to use some sweets and shoot them pouring out of the pumpkins mouth to show this contrast, but I didn't think about the use of lighting enough with this shoot, which stopped me from using the sweets as they couldn't be seen as well as I had wanted, so in the end, I had a shoot which did show the Contrast between light and dark. So, to further improve my ideas, I feel like I want to use another pumpkin, remove the fairy lights and therefore use a brighter background, which will allow the overall brightness of the results to strengthen, meaning that pouring sweets through the mouth will be more visible than before. I have also thought about using melted chocolate through the mouth as this will represent something such as blood, but instead again bring a contrast of sweet and evil. 

• Another idea I would like to introduce into my portfolio is something I was inspired by by one of my researched photographers. The Holi festival is a Hindu festival celebrated with a 'party' of colours, and the people all throw and decorate each other with coloured powders. When I was looking for inspiration online, I also found that this is a really fun and effective technique used by modern portraiture photographers, and I feel this will look really effective if I can shoot this in the studio. I can either start outside and throw the colours onto a model wearing a white t-shirt, and then photograph the model inside in the studio against a black or white background. A white background will allow the colours to be picked up as a stronger contrast, or a black background will also introduce contrast between the t-shirt and the background. I also really like the patterns created with the use of coloured powder paints and they can make really magical effects in a photo. I want to also try this shoot outside which will allow me to photograph the paints as they are being thrown, whilst I can't do this in the studio for making a mess.
• I want to do a second shoot based on the above idea, but further contrast it with the use of white talcum powder against a black background. This way it will show a contrast between black and white, and I can also use the shots and create a photo combined with the coloured shots from the previous shoots.  

• Similarly to this shoot, I want to also try the same effect with paints. This shoot I want to conduct at home because I can use my two younger brothers. As they are both of the same age and height, I think this will look effective in showing contrast because there will also be similarities to contrast with the contrast (if that makes sense). My more specific plan for this is to focus more on close-up shots, having my two brothers face to face, close to each other etc. with each of them 'representing' a different contrasting colour. 

• I also have an interest for fashion photography, and the only thing that stopped me from doing it as a whole topic was knowing that I wouldn't be able to provide models on a regular basis. I would like to continue my idea of black and white as a contrast, using one model across two individual shoots. Firstly, I want to use my model wearing a jet black dress and shoes against a white background. I then want to reverse the appearance using a white dress and shoes against a black background. This idea was derived from  the idea of Yin and Yang, and I may also incorporate the symbol somehow in my edits. I want to create a repetition-piece using these shots, alternating between white and black. I will then also try with the two different shot types against the white background, and then blending the different images to make it appear that my model is appearing more than once in the same image. 
• Following on from the last idea, I have seen some make-up inspired photography based on the Yin and Yang symbol. Whilst there is the contrast of black and white already within the symbol, the individual meanings also contrast each other. Using a male model (I may use my brother unless I can find another male volunteer) I want to paint the face half black - half white. On the white side, I want my model to close his eye so I can paint the eyelid black, whilst on the black side I'll ask him to keep the eye open as this will act as an immediate 'white dot' without needing paint.

• In my project proposal I talked about a really creative idea of mine inspired by artwork from a Deviant-artist based on the contrast of good and evil. All fairytales have their heroes and their villains, and I want to portray this image in shoot. For this, I am going to either need to create a costume, buy one, or find a model who already has one - I want my model to dress up as a stereotypical 'Disney-style Princess' to represent the usual good in fairytales, but put a twist on the way they are presented i.e. cover them in blood, dark heavy makeup, weapons etc. I have some friends so far who are willing to do this particular shoot for me, which will take place in the studio, but before I can conduct it I need to be able to get hold of a costume which I can essentially 'destroy'. 

More Inspiring Pics:

Unit 3 Best Work So Far

I am really proud of some of the pictures I have produced so far this year, but I think it is evident from my powerpoint that I need to improve my future shoots in order to make up more numbers for my final portfolio. So far I feel like a lot of my work is quite basic, and I am still waiting to take on more complex ideas for the theme of 'Contrasts' but this has so far only be due to not having a model around. With my portfolio so far, I feel I have covered a wide range of different topics under Contrasts, but there are still many more which I would like to explore.

My favourite shoot so far has been my 'orange' shoot and my shoot with the ice, and I feel like the use of Photoshop has really improved and benefitted the quality of my work. I think the use of brushes in Photoshop makes these shots stand out the most in my portfolio, and I definitely want to take these skills forward into future shoots I conduct to give my work an 'edge.'

I feel I have definitely demonstrated skill in my location shoots, and with objects, but I definitely feel like I want to take my work forward by working with people more, and not necessarily looking at visual contrasts, but perhaps mental contrasts, or contrasts which can't be seen.

Essentially, I don't think I am planning for my shoots enough - I am often leaving them till' last minute and I need to learn from this by planning all my shoots in advance and scheduling everything in. My photos so far don't look like they are all good enough for a grade A, and I was rather limited to what images I wanted to include as I don't think I am producing enough, good-quality images. 

Photographer Research 5: Bagrad Badalian

About This Photographer: 

Bagrad is a conceptual and portraiture photographer from Brussels. There isn't a lot of other information about Bagrad to be found. He created a photography book titled, "Matter Beyond" where he showcases his stunning work and exploration of the human body with intense colours, bright lighting and intriguing textures. What is most important about his work is that he mostly uses black models, which creates for a stunning contrast when he applies the vivd body paint. I also really like his exploration of editing, experimenting with various movements and blurs.

Why Have I Picked This Photographer:

I also see a nice contrast in the ideas of surrealism and reality in his work which I would love to learnt to replicate in my own work. I have also picked this photographer because of the obscurity of his editing techniques and I have personally never seen anything like this before, ever. I love how he has picked up on the use of strong lighting which is a technique I have seen in many different photographers I have researched recently, and I think it beautifully enhances the quality of the picture, which again is something I would love to learn to use in my work. 


Evaluation:

This image is of a black model painted with vibrant paints across his face and chest. I don't know how the affect has been achieved, but it looks like some Photoshop work has been done to make it look like the paint has been illuminated. I think a blurring or repetition/overlay technique has also been used to repeat the same image on top of each other  to give off that blurry texture, which contrasts really nicely with the smoothness of the model's skin. Because of the illumination within the paint - no matter how the technique has been achieved - I really like how it contrasts with the dark shadows cast across the model's skin, which makes it appear that the model isn't even there, and that it's just the paint.

I think that this is a really effective technique and it is something I could definitely apply in my own work as I believe it has only been done with use of an overlay technique, and then some of the colour layer has been erased to give off the impression that it is slowly developing up the model's back. The extreme contrast between colour and black and white looks really effective and helps the image to stand out dramatically. I love the textures within this image, and how the minimal lighting has given an almost wet-look to the model's skin, creating another contrast between the natural texture of the model's black skin and the dryness of what appears to be powder paint.

I like the main contrast of light and dark in this image, and how it creates a moody and serious tone. The image itself is very haunting because of the pose of the model, and especially because of the dark shadow cast across one half of her face, illuminating just the one eye. Then, with the glittery overlay effect, it gives a more uplifting spirit to the image which creates a really interesting contrast, and comes across as quite creative. Although the image is particularly different in comparison to the photographer's other work because of the use of the brighter lighting, it stands out really effectively and the overall composition creates quite a haunting effect.

This image stood out the most for me from the photographer's website purely because of the strong use just the single bronze colour. Even though it is just the one bronze colour throughout the entire image, various different textured effects are created from the one single element which creates a really eye-catching contrast. Along the skin, a beautiful smooth texture is created which almost resembles chocolate, whilst the scattered material creates a rough, yet sparkly and entrancing technique. I don't know how the technique has been done, but it looks like the photographer has experimented with the liquify tool on Photoshop as it has given him freedom to create a variety of different shapes at his own will. I also like how the same technique has allowed him to create a 'frame' around the edges, giving the image more of a fine art look about it, which makes the image stand out all the more.






Influence:
I am yet to be strongly influenced by this photographer, but I definitely feel I could apply some of his techniques in my own work to focus on the topic of contrasts. I particularly like the second image as it shows me how I could turn simple contrasts between colour and black and white imagery into something really creative with the use of the overlay technique I have already learnt.

Summary:
I conclusion, I see Bagrad as a really interesting photographer to research as his style of working is something completely different to anything I have ever seen before. His strong use of paint and glitter has definitely inspired me to think of some new ideas for my own work, and I find it all particularly entrancing which is why I like it so much, and I want to be able to be able to create the same effect for audiences with my own work.

Photographer Research 4: Rachael Koscica

About This Photographer:

Rachael Koscica was born and raised in Arizona, America, and found an interest for photography when her father gave her a camera for Christmas one year. She followed by learning about B&W developing and darkroom printing in years at college. She combines her degree in Fine Art Design with her photography, creating mostly conceptual pieces and even working for clients such as Vogue.

Why Have I Picked This Photographer?

I have picked Rachel to study more in-depth as I loved the way her surreal photography often takes on the theme of reality and dreams, which is an interesting contrast I too would like to explore in my personal work. She also works a lot with underwater photography, something I have always had a strong love and interest in, and something I would love to conduct myself if it was much simpler for me to conduct on a regular basis, but I love some of the colour contrasts hinted in this selection of her portfolio. In her surrealism portfolio, not only does she play with the contrast of reality and dreams, but she also often explores the theme of life and death, but also the animal and human worlds too.

Evaluation:

The contrast that I see most in this photo is the use of light and dark. I have not focussed on light and darkness in great depth so far in my own personal work and I believe that, looking at this particular image, it could look really effective. I like how the use of a bright light source brings a strong contrast for this image, and allows the model to almost 'glow'. The effect is actually quite disorientating in this image as it appears that the model's head is completely separate from the rest of her body. The darkness of the image gives off the impression of a scary, mysterious tone, which is added to by the blurred, unidentified object in the very back of the composition, but then the idea is further contrasted by the use of a feminine, attractive model, wearing a swimming cap decorated with feminine flowers. I think this initial idea of light and dark also allows for a key focal point for the eye, as the model's head stands out really strongly against the 'glow' of her body beneath her..

This image has a really strong message of life and death and is somewhat haunting. The basic is that the model is supposedly alive, and she is holding on to 'someone' that is dead. You could arguably say that they are both deeply in love, hence why the girl is still holding on to the 'person' despite the fact that he or she is dead. The framing I find is also particularly important as the couple only make up a small amount of the image; they are surrounded by a dark, yet pretty background, which again signifies another contrast. Despite the dark colours which might suggest a dark, horror tone, there are also pretty yellow flowers which contrasts the idea of good and happiness. Emotions play a really important part in this image which is special because it allows for different audiences to perceive it differently, which is definitely something I could play into my own personal work.

I chose this image for research into 'contrasts' because I love the strong contrast in the colours. Whilst enhancing the curves and levels in some images can look silly and over-worked, I like the overall brightness of this image and it is quite captivating. Her skin is quite pale, which makes for a brilliant contrasting 'background' against the bright colours she is wearing. The use of yellow and red colours in her clothing and makeup contrasts beautifully with the deep sea-blue of the water around her. This image could also be 'read' in a completely different manner, it is all about perception. Some audiences may suggest that the model is completely underwater to suggest that she may drown, which would have a complete contrast of moods and emotions, as she facially looks really happy, but the paleness of her skin could also suggest that she is cold and dead.

This is my favourite image of all four of them, simply because I think it is stunning. I love her strong use of lighting in this image and how it shows form of the model and the tree. The model is wearing all black, which brings about the natural contrast of lightness and darkness, but other people may read it as good and evil. With this particular image, I am inspired to do a shoot based on good and evil, where I perhaps have a 'good' angel and a 'bad' angel, signified with the use of bright lights and pale colours for the former, and dark tones and passionate reds for the latter. The use of the lighting behind the model is also really effective because it gives off a nice glow around the edges of the model's frame, and also illuminates the colour of her red hair, which also contrasts well with the black in her clothing and the whiteness of the lights.

Influence:
I find a lot of Rachel'w work influential, and I definitely feel I will be able to apply some of the themes and techniques she has used in her work into my own. I think that her work is really captivating, and no single one of her photographs is boring to look at. The use of colour and lighting in her work is really strong and influential as I find a range of contrasts in the emotions and feelings she portrays. I definitely feel inspired and I want to now look at using light effectively in my personal work to make stronger use of the emotions that I can evoke from viewers. She has also definitely influenced some of my work so far, including my 'pumpkin' shoot where my main focus was the use of fairy lights in creating special effects for my photographs. I will definitely expand on this idea in the future after researching Rachel's work in more depth.

Summary:
Overall, I find Rachel is one of my favourite photographers I have ever researched over my entire time in A-Level Photography. Her work is really inspiring and beautiful to look at, and you can really see her past experience in Art and Design come through in some of the sets and costumes she uses in her work. I feel I can definitely learn from Rachel about the use of visual contrasts in my work, as well as the connotations of emotional contrasts as well.

Work Record - Personal Shoot 6

Autumnal Colours + B&W:

Plans for the shoot:
I don't have any major plans for this shoot, I am just going to take it by chance and see what happens. As I was walking to college today I noticed all the really nice contrasts in the colours of the leaves on the trees, and also how the leaves were changing from green to brown where they were dying, so this is what I am going to focus my shoot on today. I am also going to experiment with the black and white filter after I have downloaded to play with the contrast here.


Shoot Evaluation:
The whole shoot itself was actually really successful and the results were exactly as how I wanted them to come out. The autumnal colours were really effective in the separate images as they were ideal for applying strong levels and curves too, whilst most of them also looked really effective as a black and white image also. I experimented also with the HDR technique I may have mentioned in my research and my project proposal, which worked particularly well with the forestry scenes.

This image is definitely one of my favourites since my initial start on Unit 3 back in September. The image on it's own was nice, but I used a combination of the levels, curves and brightness/contrast options to really enhance the individual colours of the leaves and make them all contrast each other against the grass. What I like about this image also is that it is a perfect representation of the topic of this particular shoot 'autumnal colours' and this would also work as a 'fine art' piece as I find it really beautiful and eye-catching.

This image was initially of two different trees overlapping, the tree on the left had yellow leaves and the tree on the right had green leaves, and together the colours looked really pretty blending together in the middle. However, the colours were more like complimentary colours, which is why I decided to apply a black and white filter to this image in particular, and by then using levels and curves, the tone of the image stands out a lot more than what they used to, and shows a really strong contrast.

Work Diary - Video

What is it? As an alternative to shooting still images, we used the cameras to create a short movie.

Plans for the shoot:

I don't have any major plans for this shoot as I don't really know what to expect. My only plans are to find a suitable location and use my peers as models to make a mini-film based on the horror genre. I am then going to use iMovie to edit the video so that it complies to the genre. 

Shoot Evaluation:

I found this particular 'shoot' rather interesting as it was the first time I had used the FujiFilm cameras for shooting film, but I found actually conducting it quite fun and a real learning-curve for when I started film in my A2 Media class. We wanted to utilise the buildings around us and all created our own Horror films. I chose to use a black and white filter while editing because it added to the tone of the genre, whilst I used conventions of inter-titles to tell the story and scary music to also set the mood. Whilst it took quite a long time to get the shots right, I found that the actual product came together quite well after I had started editing it on the computer, and this is the result I achieved:

Using camerawork skills to film a sequence of events and using iMovie to add suitable music and effects.

I am really pleased with the outcome of this film; I feel like all of the additional elements work really well and help to set the tone and genre of the video, but I feel like if I was to improve this final product, I would take out some of the inter-titles as they made the video too long and boring. 

Work Record - Personal Shoot 5

Happy Halloween!

Plans for the Shoot:

Today I am doing another personal shoot exploring the very festive theme of Halloween. I have brought in a carved pumpkin, some sweets and fairy lights. I am going to use the dark blue background as this will contrast nicely with the orange of my pumpkin, and will give a 'dark starry night feel' to my shoot along with the fairy lights.My main aim of this shoot, is, using the fairy lights and the sweets, I want to evoke a very sweet innocent emotion, but to contrast it with the scary connotation surrounding pumpkins and Halloween.

Along with the dark blue background I am also going to experiment with the Boom to strengthen the use of lighting in my work, but this may not necessarily work with the fairy lights, so for now I am just going to experiment.After I have finished the shoot I am going to download and edit the images, before continuing with a few outstanding work diaries I have left to do for progress check.

Shoot Evaluation:

Despite my initial thoughts on this shoot, the results came out like nothing how I was expecting, due to the problems I experienced through shooting. Firstly, there was a struggle with setting the camera properly because I was using fairy lights in the pumpkin, which was having an effect on the flash, and the brightness of the preview images on the camera. In the end, I had to set the aperture to 16 and a 1 second shutter speed, which meant that I had to use the stand for the camera as the results would have blurred because of this slow speed. This limited me quite a bit as I wasn't able to frequently change my angle and height, as I wanted to experiment a lot with some more extreme close-ups of the details on the pumpkin. I also initially wanted to create a very autumnal feel to the shoot, but the table and white cloth I was using didn't look very special in the images, meaning I had to use an all black cover over the table, which overall made the images darker. Although this created a new contrast of light and dark, it took away my initial contrast idea between the orange colour of the pumpkin and the navy background. Nevertheless, I have some images which I feel I will be able to work with, and I am also going to create an animation. This is definitely giving me something to work with in the future and to create an all new shoot.

The first image is my favourite from the entire shoot, because the editing was really effective - I had to use strong curves to darken the edges around the pumpkin to allow the centre to 'glow' more. I think whilst my initial 'contrast' for this was to be horror and fantasy, or good and bad, through the use of the 'scary' pumpkin and the fairy lights, there is also a much more vivi contrast of light and dark.

The second image I was looking forward to seeing because I preferred the composition as it showed more detail compared to the first image for example. However, when I experimented with the levels and curves, the colour of the pumpkin became too strong and there was no distinct contrast between the 'glow' and the actual pumpkin, which I didn't like. I think to improve this I might experiment with a black and white filter to give it a spookier effect. 

Work Diary - Slow Sync

What is it? This technique combines a slower than normal shutter speed combined with a flash during the exposure.

    Shoot Evaluation:

I personally found this technique one of the more difficult ones to shoot as it's hard to get the balance right between the lighting, exposure, shutter speed etc, otherwise you just end up with a result that looks like 'blurring'.We particularly found a problem with the lighting coming from the red head, so we had to apply a filter to change the colour slightly to give a better blur. Other than this initial hiccup, the shoot was actually quite enjoyable, but because we had a big group, we individually had less time to shoot it and I feel if i had have had longer I could have produced some even better results, as not all of them came out as well as I wanted them to. 

I really like the motion in this photo, as it looks like my model, Alice, is performing a dance move, as all she moved was her arm, and tried to keep the rest of her body as still as possible. I think this image worked well because Alice was wearing a white t-shirt, which reflected more of the light and gave it a brighter 'glow' making the sharper part of the image stand out a lot more than the rest of the image.







I like this image too because of the 'creation' made by my model, Emma, moving certain parts of her body when I released the shutter. It has meant that the motion captured her moving her head, but her body kept still, making it appear as if she had two heads, and actually also shows contrast quite well as her two 'different heads' show different emotions which looks really effective.



How can I apply this to my personal project?
Like the last annotated image above, I think this would be a useful technique to use to show a change or contrast in emotions. As for this technique it only needs to be a very slight movement to create the effect, I could get my models to move by changing facial expressions to show a contrast in one single picture.

Technique Page - Slow Sync

The initial set-up for this particular technique is very-much the same as the set-up for 'blurring':

Step 1: Place the polystyrene board to block the light from the red-head light hitting the black backdrop.
Step 2: Set up the studio light for a normal flash.
Step 3: Set up the flash sync to 'rear curtain'.
Step 4: Set the exposure mode for a continuous light source.
Step 5: Set the aperture like normal.
Step 6: The model or object then needs to be placed so that they are under the filtered-through lights in front of the camera. When the model or object initially begins to move, release the shutter and you will get the 'slow sync' result.