Unit 31: Specialist Location - Evaluation

For this unit I set out to do abstract landscape photography.  I know most people like landscape photography but when it comes to abstract, people either don't like it or don't understand it.  Abstract doesn't really fit in within the norms and genres of what has generally been widely accepted as representational photography.  Abstract can be a bit difficult to define or interpret, as you can't easily identify any shapes or objects.  Whether it's human or animal form, or if it's a cityscape or seascape - there can be a level of mystery and ambiguity surrounding them.  I think as humans it's not in our nature to accept anything different, anything  that we don't understand or cannot explain in our head.

I've always had this fascination with abstract images, but I think I really fell in love with it after seeing the stunning pieces of work produced by Chris Friel.  I like the fact that most abstracts blur the line between paintings and photographs and plays with your imagination.  During my research I noticed abstract falls within the fine art category -   this has a broad definition and has traditionally defined many art forms such as paintings, sculpture, music and poetry.  Fine art has been appreciated for its aesthetic and imaginative qualities. There was a time when fine art was synonymous with good taste.  Researching for this unit led me to believe there's still a market and audience for this type of work, otherwise, why would so many photographers dedicate such tremendous amount of time, energy and commitment to such an art form? 

For this unit my main aim was to produce a series of ten images which were visually stimulating whilst eliciting some sort of emotional response from the viewers.  I planned to initially visit New Brighton to try and get some abstract seascape.  On the way to New Brighton from the motorway I noticed this amazing sea of yellow - a field full of golden yellow rapeseed. I immediately decided to get off at the next exit to capture this stunning scenery.

Armed with my Canon 500D, and 17-55mm, 2.8 lens I pulled over to the side of the road next to the rapeseed field, in Helsby.  As I was walked near the field I saw a bit of an opening where I could position myself to take the photographs.  I had my ND 4, 6 and 8 on as well as the graduated grey filter.  Setting the camera to f22, 1 second shutter speed and ISO 100 I took my first photograph. This image didn't quite look like this in camera as the filters let in a lot of light which made the images look reddy/purple. It's only when I adjusted the white balance, colour temperature and camera calibration setting was I able to bring out the true colours.  I also adjusted the contrast, clarity and vibrance only very slightly to bring out the tones and texture.  I also straightened this ever so slightly as it was tilting a little bit from one side.  I had to perform almost the same basic adjustments in camera raw for all the images but didn't want to manipulate them too much as I wanted to limit the manipulation to in-camera rather than PS.  Having said that, most of the images suffered from heavy vignetting due to having three different filters on the lens. In order to rectify that I had to do some cloning around the corners.

This is my first entry to my final ten.  I really love this image for many reasons.  As I have a thing about straight lines, this image came out with perfect symmetry and fits really well into my fondness linear arrangements.  I like the way I managed to capture the cocktail of colours ranging from the green grass to the yellow rapeseed finishing off at the horizon of blue/purple sky.  It could have been improved a little if  I could have made the sky look blue, but it was difficult to do without the rest of the image being affected.      
         

My second favourite image is from the same place.  This time I tried to move away from the traditional vertical and horizontal lines you associate with these types of images and ended up with something that looked very much like a big wave. There's a simplicity about this image but if you look closely there's a quiet storm taking place within the image - it could almost be in some sort of turmoil.  I can easily see these two images hanging up on a gallery wall or in someones home as a piece of art work.  In my opinion these two images are technically the strongest.  I increased the shutter speed to 1.6 seconds on this but kept the rest of the settings the same.

My third image was also from Helsby but one I rejected because I didn't think it fitted in with the the other two.  Although the black and white tones works well on this image and I like the way the clouds looks like crashing waves, I think it doesn't fit in because of the conversion. It's still a good image in its own merit and has a lovely feel to it.  I used the same camera setting as the other images but just varied the movement.       

The following two images are from New Brighton and almost made it into the final ten.  However, I rejected these because they don't look abstract enough to me. The images are not technically that bad but when I think of abstract, I don't want to immediately recognise what the actual image is.  I want to spend time trying to work it out, whereas with these you can easily tell what the scene is.  One of them showing the lighthouse and the other a row of houses.  I think because there's no mystery around them they don't grab my attention.     

Following on from my trip to New Brighton, I decided I wanted to add more variety of colours, textures and tones to my images. I didn't want them all to be too similar so I went off to Tatton Park, knowing there was an abundance of colour in their flower gardens. Luckily it was a bright sunny day and I had the whole day to take as many photographs I needed to. I varied the setting on this slightly to f14 and 4 seconds shutter speed. I've been wanting to photograph bluebells but unfortunately I couldn't get to anywhere within the time-scale I had so I welcomed the opportunity when I saw a small bunch of bluebells in one of the Tatton Park gardens.  On this image I tried to move the camera at a slightly upward motion to get that blowing in the wind effect. I think it's worked quite well, especially with the a nice mixture of purple and green. Unfortunately there's still bit of red showing on the top of the image but I think it somehow adds to it.     

This is another of my favourite images and I like it because of the contrast of two colours and the the vibrancy of the shades of red and orange. It's almost like a rainbow of colours, changing in that order as they sweep across.  

These two images have a similar feel to them as the movement was pretty much the same. The movement helps to enhance and accentuate the vertical lines whilst blending them in to one. I have seen quite a few images from my research that fits well into this style of photography.

These images are also in my final ten as they compliment the set whilst having their own unique style. The changes in colour, movement and shape adds a lot of variety to the series.

All in all I feel I have produced a good set of images that work really well together as a series.  I feel have achieved with this brief what I originally set out to do.  There's no doubt they're not up to the standard of images produced by some of the photographers I researched, but I think it may come with time, if I dedicate enough time perfecting my skills.  I also need the correct equipment such as filters and lenses to make sure I don't leave any room for something going wrong.  I believe some of these images are good enough to be marketed on line to be sold as large size prints for people to hang up on their walls, as they do would suit most household decor.  I could also market them to high street retailers as they often have large prints on their walls.          

Unit 31: Specialist Location - Planning & Research

I always had this idea of photographing life in the caravan parks. Not really sure why but I've been fascinated by this ever growing great British tradition and wanted to get a glimpse of this intriguing life style.  The caravan industry was growing at a rapid speed with around 1,000,000 members, contributing around £6 billion pa to the UK economy.  Caravanning is big business in the UK, being one of the most popular holiday choices with British people.  My main aim was to capture a different type of lifestyle, one that I've never had the opportunity to experience myself and show the quirkiness that's associated with such life style choice.  I also wanted to explore the reasons behind such a popular pastime and the lengths people go to to make their caravans a home from home.   

After a class discussion, the idea of UK Aistreamers came up. This is an American company that was founded by a man called Wally Byam, 80 years ago.  These caravans were well designed and innovative and not something you would fail to notice.  As it happened there was a rally taking place in Leyburn, Yorkshire that weekend.  I decided to email one of the organisers involved with the rally to see if I could pop along to take some photographs.  I didn't hear from them by that Sunday so I decided to take my chances and drive up. After a two hours journey I finally made it to Leyburn but I didn't have a specific location of where the rally was taking place, as it wasn't made public.  Shortly after I arrived I received a response saying I wouldn't be allowed in as it was members only.  Thinking I didn't want to have a wasted trip I decided to try and seek out some local caravan parks, that I looked up prior to leaving for Leyburn.

I plucked up the courage to speak to a few of the holiday makers, starting off with an elderly couple who have been caravanning for many years.  They were so happy to tell me all about how much they enjoy going off to places all over the country whenever they wish to do so.  Overall my interaction with the different groups people was not as intimidating as I thought it would be and I was quite pleasantly surprised by how friendly and welcoming most people were, considering how worried I was about invading their personal space.  

However, my final results from that visit didn't quite live up to my expectations and I was not impressed with what I had produced - in fact I felt quite disappointed with myself for producing work of such low standard.
Photographing people in a documentary style was a new-ish experience for me and I felt like I really didn't rise to the challenge.  In my head I was thinking of capturing people in a relaxed and natural state as they went about their everyday life in the caravans, something in the style some of the work produced by photographers like Martin Parr, but I ended up with images which looked a little bit uncomfortable and rigid.  Perhaps it was a reflection of what I may have been feeling at the time.  I wasn't completely at ease with what I was doing and maybe that showed in my images.    

Trying not to feel dejected I decided to move onto my favourite subject - landscape photography.  I have always been interested in landscape photography, it's one of my main passions and it's one of the things that drives me to push myself further in the world of photography.  I also love abstract images and have always been fascinated by images which take on a life and meaning of their own - something created by the photographer from the depth of their imagination.  I've done a lot of landscape images ever since I started photography a couple of years ago, but this time I wanted to do something a little bit different and combine my love for landscape and abstract.  

To achieve the best results possible I will be travelling to different places around Cheshire or Yorkshire, hoping for the best lighting condition possible, where I can capture the beautiful British landscape in all it's glory.  I will be using my ND filters 4, 6 and 8 to allow me to have long exposure, varying between 1-15 seconds, which will work best when I make some intentional camera movements to add different shapes and tones to the images.  As this will be my first attempt at abstract landscape, I will be experimenting with the settings until I'm happy with what I get.  I will be taking spare batteries and memory cards as well as my tripod and remote shutter release, but not sure yet whether I will be using them, as most of my work can be done by hand holding the camera. The good thing about this is I won't have to rely on people and I could control most of the variables, apart from the weather.  I would have to consider trespassing laws and make sure I don't go on to private land.        

In the past I have explored the work of contemporary photographers like Chris Friel, who has been one of my biggest influences for this unit.  I have discussed Chris Friels work in my previous blog posting for Unit 23, so I won't go into too much detail about his work on this post, but rather speak about some of the other photographers who have had an influence on the type of work I am planning to produce.

Chris has pushed the boundaries when it comes to long exposure photography and is probably one of the most well known abstract landscape photographers.  His work involves intentional camera movement, with long exposures and ND filters. During an interview late last year, Chris said his work was 'interpretive rather than representational'  this is exactly what I aim to do.  As much as I love landscape photography and there's no shortage of beautiful and varied images out there, in most cases they are mainly representational.  At one time I would have been happy with just being able to capture a picturesque landscape, but now I feel I want to develop my photography much further and see what else I can achieve - see what my capabilities and my limitations are, the only thing limiting me would probably be my imagination, oh and, perhaps lack of equipment!. 

The first photographer I researched was Frances Seward, a UK born photographer who has travelled the globe before settling in New Mexico.  Frances specialises in fine art photography and according to her biography she uses various materials such as metal glass and water, whilst working with colour, light and space to express different emotions.  Like a lot of abstract photography, they have an ethereal feel to them.  They bring a sense of tranquillity to your inner being.  This is one my favourite image from Frances.  Like most abstracts it has a lovely painterly feel.  From what I can make out, it looks as if the sun is floating gently on the waves, bringing a feeling of calmness to your senses. For me it's a visual delight and I can never get bored of looking at images like this. 

Whilst researching landscape photographers I came across Steven Friedman. His work probably best represents what I am hoping to achieve with mine. Canadian born Steven, who according to his website 'classes himself as a purist' using a large format camera to capture hidden beauties from around the world, sometimes hiking for up to 20km to discover inaccessible locations. Steven is in a long line of landscape photographers who dedicate a tremendous amount of time and energy to pursue what they're passionate about. Travelling continents and visiting many locations time and again, just to catch the right sort of light, the atmosphere and the true essence of their location. The results they produce are breath taking and makes the hard work truly worthwhile.

His images mainly consists of forests, trees and mountains.  The one thing I have noticed about most of his images is that they are very vibrant and full of strong colours.  They have a sense of drama and excitement about them and are a bit of a feast for your eyes.  I am hoping to achieve results which are not too dissimilar to Friedman's work, in terms of texture, variety and colour.  

Abstract and long exposure photography go hand in hand and when researching long exposure landscape photographers, I came across Canadian photographer David Burdeny.  Born in 1968, David started young and at the age of 12 he started photographing landscape.  Using his bedroom closet as a makeshift darkroom.  David works with low light to produce what's been described as 'haunting and ominous' images.  Like many landscape photographers, he has a great love for light and the vastness of the open space all around us.  Another photographer who uses film, relying on the elements to produce stunning results.




His 'Drift' series has the type of images I am hoping to produce. Looking through the series, although they are very aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion there's not enough variety in shape and texture.  However, they have given me a good knowledge base and ideas for the changes I would make when I'm doing my shoot.                        

One of the most well known practitioners for landscape photography is German born British photographer Fay Godwin.  Fay's career followed from series of portraits of well known writers, through to reportage and finally landscape.  I found her 'Glassworks' series, produced in 1999 quite interesting, as they consisted of abstract and close up images of various plants, flora and fauna.  This was very much in line with what I was looking to produce.     

   

Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto's seascape images are truly captivating, showing his exceptional craftsmanship. He has a varied portfolio of work ranging from seascape, theatres and architecture. Although very minimalistic, his seascape series have a lovely poetic feel to them.

  

                   

The final photographer I looked at was Michael Kenna. Anther black and white British landscape photographer. Again like many others he works at early morning or at dawn, sometimes working with exposures of up to 10 hours. Working with a Hasselblad, he also has a minimalist approach to his images. His images have an air of mystery around them, with very little distraction that comes with colour.            

  

If there's one thing I've learnt from these innovative artists, as obvious as might be, is that to produce work of such high technical and aesthetic quality, first you must have a vision, the right tools and a tremendous amount of dedication, tenacity and patience.

http://www.c4gallery.com/artist/database/hiroshi-sugimoto/seascapes/hiroshi-sugimoto-seascapes.html
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/inspiredby/2012/08/fay-godwin-photographs-of-the-british-landscape.html
http://www.davidburdeny.com/
www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2013/163_news130108_2013_range_rover_and_airstream/photo_03.html

http://www.andrewsgibson.com/blog/2012/11/long-exposure-photography-interview-2-chris-friel/

http://www.madeinslant.com/2013/01/internal-stills-photographs-of-abstract-landscapes-by-frances-seward/http://www.friedmanphoto.com/index.php#mi=1&pt=0&pi=1&s=0&p=-1&a=0&at=0
http://francesseward.com/#biography
http://www.digitalphotographer.com.ph/forum/showthread.php?15358-List-of-Famous-Landscape-Photographers

Unit 31: Specialist Location - SWOT Analysis & Types of specialist location photography

Completing a SWOT analysis is not always something you think of when it comes to photography.  It's normally something that's completed in a business environment for a project or particular venture.  However, it can be applied universally across the board in relations to a product, place or an individual.  

Carrying out a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) analysis will help me to identify my key skills and areas for development when it comes to completing my specialist location unit.  It's a great planning tool and will help me to anticipate and put in place any necessary measures to aid my progress with this unit. 

 STRENGTHS                                                                                              

• Good communication skills                                                                           
• Positive, adaptable with a friendly attitude
• Willing to go that extra mile to achieve a good result
• Keen to develop and expand knowledge
• Good experience of specialist location photography such as seascape, landscape - urban/rural, weddings, events, portraits etc.    
• Happy to experiment and explore different photographic methods
• Willing and able to travel to get to various locations to carry out the shoot 
• Have the necessary equipment (camera, tripod, remote shutter release, spare batteries, SD cards, etc.) for the shoot and borrow other equipment from college if required

WEAKNESSES 

• Lack of experience in abstract landscape photography
• Could be a matter of trial and error
• Using ND filters for the first time so not sure of their effectiveness
• Not enough variety in colours, textures and tones in images
• Not adding enough variety to my style of photography

OPPORTUNITIES   

• Research abstract photographers to get a good knowledge base 
• A good starting point for developing my work in fine art photography
• Prints can be marketed to sell with various online retailers 
• Try and find a niche market for my images       
• Opportunity to show my vision and produce something truly unique by offering a different perspective to landscape photography                                                                              

THREATS                      

• Shoot can be weather dependent
• ND filters not working as well as expected and producing poor results
• Colleagues choosing to do the same subject area 
• Not dedicating enough time to plan and execute the shoot

Types of specialist location photography

Specialist location photography could cover anything that takes place outside a studio.  The different specialist types of photography could be portraiture, food, travel, advertising, nature, architecture, landscape, seascape, industrial, photojournalism, sports and documentary, to name a few. 

The many genres and sub-genres within specialist location photography are inter-connected, such as weddings and portraits or landscape and industrial.  The main difference between genres of location photography is whether it takes place internally or externally.  Some of these differences are pretty obvious such as landscape photography, either urban or rural, it must take place outside.  Architecture photography could place outside and inside.  Whereas a wedding will predominantly take place inside, with some shoots taking place outside.  There are many variables to consider here, such as internal lighting, suitability of equipment, permission to take photos during the ceremony, identifying relevant people for the shoot and the list goes on!

There are also a number of differences to the types of risks involved when you're planning a specialist location shoot. When doing a model or advertising shoot, depending on the location, you would have to consider risks to health due to lighting, lose cables, exposure to any chemicals etc.  Doing a shoot at a sporting event will have its own set of risks, however different to the ones associated with an advertising shoot.

Doing a documentary photography will vary greatly to doing street photography.  For a documentary the photographer may spend a lot of time with the subject matter, building up a relationship and a rapport based on trust.  They try to get close to the subjects in a non intrusive way, to make them feel at ease whilst documenting their lives.  Whereas, street photography usually involves catching a fleeting moment and relies on good judgement and timing on the photographers part.

The good thing about my specialist location shoot is that I will not have to rely or depend on others for the shoot to go ahead, as it does not involve people.  In my experience whenever there's people involved there are many risks and issues to consider, reliability being one of the major factors.  I will need to consider where I will be doing my shoot in terms of private or public property/land and consideration needs to be given to permission requirements for photography on private land and whether I would be contravening any trespassing laws.  I will work independently but will be heavily reliant on the weather for producing a good outcome.                              

Unit 27: Digital Image Capture & Editing - Research

The process of photo montage or composite image making has always existed within the creative industry and has been embraced and practised by many influential photographers, from the past and present.  The process itself could involve cutting, pasting and layering of various materials in order to produce a new art form with a particular message or meaning, whether political, social or personal.  The message is not always explicitly clear and is sometimes left to the viewer to make their own interpretations.   

One of the very first pioneers of photo montage was Oscar Gustave Rejlander during the Victorian era.  He produced a very famous piece of work called "The Two Ways of Life" in 1857.  The final piece was made up of 30 images and it took him 6 weeks to make it.  The message behind it is the path one must choose in life, one of virtuous pleasure or sinful pleasure.  The image manages to pose a serious ethical and moral question and was seen to be quite innovative of its time.  The same message is still relevant now, in fact it could apply even more so now, then it did back then.    
     

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oscar-gustave-rejlander_two_ways_of_life.jpg

Another early pioneers of photo montage was English photographer Henry Peach Robinson.  He specialised in combination printing to emulate the look and feel of paintings.  In 1858 he produced one of his most famous image called "Fading Away".  His image depicting the death of a young girl suffering from tuberculosis, surrounded by her family, was met with disapproval and criticism from members of the Photographic Society of Scotland.  He was accused of falsifying something by using a truthful medium like photography.  However, the controversy helped to catapult the photographer into a life of fame and fortune.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fading_Away.jpg

Frank Hurley, The dawn of Passchendaele, 1917

Capturing the 'truth' was the job of war photographer Frank Hurley. Born in Australia in 1885, Hurley served as official photographer during both world wars with the Australian forces.  He became increasing frustrated with not being able to tell the 'whole truth' with his images so he decided to produce composite images, which attracted much controversy and criticism.  Hurley wasn't the first to use photo manipulation but he did take it much further creating a shock factor with his images.  Hurley's images highlighted the true horrors of war which was perhaps too disturbing for people to acknowledge or accept.        

Venus Anadyomene 
(after Titian)
1998

Many of these early pioneers of photo montage continue to influence contemporary photographers to this day.  One of these photographers is Calum Colvin.  Born in Glasgow in 1961, Colvin is currently a Professor of Fine Art Photography with the University of Dundee.  Colvin's work crosses many boundaries and is a unification of photography, paintings, sculpture and digital imaging.  Colvin manages to produce something truly unique by blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.  Most of his work is influenced by historical paintings and explores themes identity and culture.  There are a number of layers and techniques involved in producing his images.  He uses various household objects and paints classical figures from well known masterpieces across these surfaces and then photographs and exhibits them as large scale prints.  The very creative and complex nature of his images captivates and compels you to closely examine every single details, layers and textures.  

This image shows the complexities of Colvin's work.

Cupid and Psyche
1986

More of his work can be found on his website: www.calumcolvin.com

For centuries photographers have manipulated images in one form or another.  Montage has been a powerful tool used by many, at times of war for protest, to make a political statement and for propaganda purposes.      Each image serving its own purpose consisting of multiple layers and messages, waiting to be unravelled.  Montage definitely opens up many possibilities in the world of visual realities.  It's always worth exploring if you have the time, patience and inclination to do so!    

http://www.photoworks.org.uk/programme/projects/photographing-the-first-world-war
http://www.disphotic.lewisbush.com/2011/01/21/a-short-history-of-photomontage-i-1822-1945/
http://archive.garageccc.com/eng/exhibitions/18349.phtml

Unit 27: Digital Image Capture & Editing

Planning 

To say this is one of my least favourite unit is probably a bit of an understatement! for months I have briefly thought about montage and then within seconds I've moved on to something else.  That's because my mind just goes blank when trying to think of ways I could stick things together in PS to make an image to convey a message. Some people are naturally good at things like this and enjoy doing it. I prefer my traditional methods with only a bit of digital thrown in.  My brain must function in analogue as I try and make minimal use of digital editing with my images, unless I'm trying out something new.  I had contemplated doing something with a political message but some of the things I thought of would not sit comfortably with most people so I decided to give them a miss.  

Montages can be used and have been used to convey various political message and if done well they can be quite effective.  In this digital age most things are created and distributed in cyberspace leaving very little need for creating anything physical that you can touch and feel.  On-line social networking is a great tool for spreading a particular message worldwide at the touch of a button.  Montages are also used in the creative industry for various projects and art work and by practitioners to develop their work.    Lately there has been a surge in the number of mobile applications you can use to create various pieces of art using images and other paraphernalia.      

For my montage I finally settled on a family theme, but also adding the other most important thing in my life - photography. Sometimes (maybe most of the time!) photography takes over and I end up not giving much time to my family.  

Material for montage

I decided to use a few different pieces of material to put my montage together. I used a scanned negative from the film shoot we did for the Media Unit. I also used a scanned sunography print I did as part of the experimental unit. I also included one scanned print and three digital prints.

Message

All these photos represent what I truly value and hold dear in my life. The images are of my family and my achievements and progress in photography so far. My mum and my sister are the two people who have always been around in my life and are the biggest influence in my life. It's because of them I am who I am today. I had lots of independence to do what I wanted to do and was always encouraged to pursue my dreams, without feeling bound by any cultural restrictions. I was able to pursue my passion for photography because of the support and encouragement I received from my family. When my sister had her three boys, they became the most precious people in my life.  I have hundreds of photographs of the three boys and only a handful of me with them, as I was always behind the camera.  The family photo in black and white was taken abroad and is typical of how you would be required to pose in a studio. Looking very rigid without smiling at the camera and appearing very formal.  The image of myself with the three boys was taken three years ago.  It's one of those rare occasions when we were all in the same room.      

                                           

Scan images 

I scanned old black and white family picture but the resolution is pretty low in comparison to the digital images.  The resolution was showing as 72 ppi and 548 KB in file size.  As it was an old image it had some tearing and bits of dark marking around the edge.  I repaired this in PS and saved the document as high resolution at 240 ppi which increased the size to 1.23 MB.  The digital image of my two nephews is 96 ppi and 936 KB in size.  The family image of my three nephews with myself is 72 ppi.  They all fitted in well on the canvas regardless of resolution size as I varied the image size on the canvas.    

     

These two images relate to the time when I received my medal for excellence from City & Guilds for my Level 2 Photography. It was one of my proudest moments. I felt such a great sense of achievement, considering a year ago I didn't know anything about photography.  I still remember it well, it's a memory I will treasure for a long time. The image on the right is from the award ceremony which took place at the Roundhouse in London and was presented by Alex Jones. The image on the left is the award ceremony held by Oldham Lifelong Learning, where I did my Level 2. They made such an effort, showcasing my work, giving me flowers and a cake baked especially for me! it was a lovely evening.  These were digital images so I had no problems with image size.  

I used the scanned negative and the sunography to show where I am at this moment in time, in terms of my photography.  I am gradually moving forward from digital processes and have become much more interested in alternative processes.  It represents my progress and development in the world of photography.  Both of these images were scanned at 300 dpi and were combined in PS.  I used the layering technique to place one image on top of another and then reduced the opacity and used the mask to make parts of the other image appear.  I adjusted hue saturation and brightness and control to bring out the textures.  I then inverted the image to give it that sepia tone and to make the sunography more visible. I then flattened the image to save it.      

Equipment 

I used my Epson all in one printer at home to scan most of the images apart from the negative which was scanned in college.  All images were uploaded on my pc for editing.    

Image editing   

To put my montage together I started with a blank new canvas.  It was sized 12 x 8 inches.  I knew I could always resize the canvas if all the images didn't fit in.  I opened all the images in PS that I wanted to place on the canvas and dragged and dropped them on the plain canvas.  I added a mask to rub out the parts I didn't want showing and reduced opacity to show parts of the other images.  On the old family picture I also used the quick selection tool to use parts of the image rather than the full image. I used the brightness and contrast tool to highlight the layers and textures.  I finally flattened the image and saved it as a low resolution JPEG to upload on the blog.   The screen shot below shows my work in progress and how I used the layering technique.    

Montage 

The final image isn't completely to my satisfaction but I did my best with my limited PS skills.  Considering I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of doing something like this, I feel it's a half decent image but could benefit from some improvements.  To improve the image I could have ensured the layers blended in more and looked less stuck on.  However, it does show what I set out to do, which was to show the importance of photography and family in my life.  It manages to highlight those key elements.  

Unit 23: Photographic Media Evaluation of images - Lake District

I went to the Lakes and as predicted the weather was cold, dull and miserable! For most part of my stay it was fairly dry so I was able to go out and attempt to do my images.  As planned, I took my Canon 500D with the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens borrowed from college. I also took my tripod and my various ND filters, graduated grey filter and remote shutter release.  I had all the equipment that I needed to carry out my shoot.          

As I was using my ND filters I was getting a huge amount of red/purple tint to my images. This may have been down to light leaking in through the filters.  However, I didn't have the most expensive filters and had to make do with what I had at the time. I was shooting in RAW so I still had the option to make necessary adjustments in camera raw in PS.        

As I was using an ND 4, ND 6 and ND 8 and a graduated grey all at the same time, most of the images came out very dark and red in colour.  I adjusted the white balance to auto and tungsten which still gave me images with a variation of the red. However as I was shooting in RAW I wasn't too worried about colour adjustment.     

The image below was shot with my camera on tripod, aperture set to f/22 and 13 second shutter speed.  I adjusted the white balance in camera raw. To reduce the shades of red I had to dramatically reduce the temperature and tint to get rid of the red and increase the blue and green in Camera Raw.  On the camera calibration tab I adjusted the shadows to green to get an equal balance of almost natural looking colours.  As I took this shot just before 7pm in the evening there was very little day light left.  I increased exposure and fill light to get an even spread of light and also reduced clarity and contrast to get a softer and dreamy feel to the image.  Once opened in PS I created a Selective colour adjustment layer and changed the sliders on the CMYK to get the desired shades of colour I wanted.  I didn't do any cropping to this image as I wanted that wide angle view and to show the vastness of the lakes.  There's also something about big wide open spaces that I really like, fits in well with my fascination for landscape.     

This is my favourite image from that day as I love the stillness of the water.  It looks very peaceful and tranquil. In my opinion it represents what a holiday should be - time away from the mad rush of daily life, to a place where you can sit and ponder and gather your thoughts, with very little distraction. The low light and subtle pastel shades gives this image a nice atmospheric feeling. As it was early evening there was very little activity on the lakes, which helped me to capture the stillness of the water and get a nice clean image with very little clutter.  

I took this image hand held on the following day as I arrived in Ambleside.  It was just as we got off the boat.  It was still a dark and dull day so lighting conditions weren't great. I used f/10 with 1/13th of a second shutter and ISO 200.  Luckily I didn't get much camera shake and managed to get most of the image in focus.  I decided to use the ND's again in order to introduce some form of colour to the image, otherwise it would have looked very grey and not very cheerful.  I ad to do similar adjustments in PS to get the right shades and tones of colour.  I think the shades of green and pink work well with the shades of blue and white on the boat.  I applied slight Post Crop Vignetting to this to focus the viewers attention on the boat.  The effect has worked nicely as it draws your eyes to the centre of the image.           

This is a bit of a classic image you see when you look up the Lake District.  I think it's an image that would be ideal for marketing the lakes as it's representative of the lakes and it's what people expect to see.  Again I managed to shoot this image when there was very few people around.  There's very little distraction in the scene and the leading line of the jetty helps to guide the viewers eyes to the land and hills far beyond the horizon. I applied the same post processing on this image as I did on the precious images.  I did a bit straightening and cropped this image to get rid of the overhead cable that was in the frame.   I used a tripod again for this image, with 1/8th of a second shutter speed, f/9 aperture and ISO 100.  The original image was quite dark so I increased exposure and fill light in camera raw.    

I really love these boats in Bowness.  I photographed them from every angle possible and tried various compositions to get their 'best side'.   However, this shot is my most favourite of the three I have selected.  Being a bit fixated with linear arrangements, I felt this composition showed off the boats really well.  The diagonal line leads very nicely to the jetty in the distance.  Like all the images I have selected it has a pinky/purple tint due to the filters I used.  I think the affect of the filter works quite well on the images and adds a bit more interest and livens up the sky as it was such a dull grey day.  Reducing the pink even further in PS would have left the images looking completely flat and uninspiring.       

Out of all the images I have selected, I feel this is the least interesting one.  I chose this just to add a bit more variety to my selection. In reality this image is far too weak and unappealing to be considered for any marketing material.  Adjusting the white balance has left the image a little too bluey/green. I found it difficult to get the right shade of colour and tone for this image.  The sun was shining a bit too bright so I used the clone stamp to reduce the harshness and diffuse the highlights. This may not have been the right tool to use but I was unsure of what else I could use - perhaps dodge and burn? To get rid of some items that looked like twigs floating in the foreground I used the Lasso tool to select and then edit and fill with content aware.  This is better than using the clone stamp as it can leave lots of smudges behind.  Taking the bits of rubbish out has given a nice smooth feel to the water and would now be more suitable to be used for any possible promotional material. The camera settings used were pretty much similar to the rest of the images as I had the same lighting conditions throughout the shoot.

I don't need to think about printing profiles for these images as they would be available on line.  However, they could be printed as postcards which would mean making sure the correct colour profile was installed in order to ensure the image I'm seeing on my computer is the same as the one I get printed.  There are many retailers who print postcards at a reasonable price but realistically, it's not going to make you a fortune!.     

This is the first time I've used my ND filters and a wide angle lens, so it was a completely new experience for me.  It's made me realise how much I could do with a wide angle lens if I want to pursue landscape photography. I also could do with some better quality filters to get better results when working with seascape and even city scape, as they work really well on water and clouds.  I felt competent enough to carry out the task I undertook for this shoot and came out with some nice images.  Not the best I have produced but if I had better lighting conditions then I'm fairly certain the images would have looked far more appealing.  

Using PS for post processing will enable you to rectify many mistakes but my philosophy is to always try and get it right in camera first.  And I certainly don't have the patience to sit in front of my computer playing around with adjusting images to make them look completely different from what I originally photographed. That to me is digital image making rather than photography.  Overall I feel I achieved my objectives and I'm fairly satisfied with the images I produced.          

Unit 23: Photographic Media Planning a shoot - Lake District

For this part of the unit, I have decided to do a location shoot in the Lake District.  I will be visiting the Lakes around the middle of April so will be using this opportunity to do my shoot.  For the shoot I will be using my Canon 500D with a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens which I will borrow from college.  The wide angle lens is great for landscape photography so will be ideal for my shoot.  Some of the other equipment I will be using includes a tripod, remote shutter release, Graduated grey filter and ND filters.    

There are many advantages and disadvantages of using film and digital cameras.  However, there are key differences which can influence one's decision on whether to use film or digital.  One of the main factors to consider is image quality - as I'm going to be doing landscape I would like to have the highest quality image possible, and there are a number of factors that can determine this.  One of them is the pixel count on a digital camera, in a film camera this is dependent on the area of film used to record the image.  The higher the pixel count the better the image quality, the larger area to capture more information.  Some of the medium format cameras have resolutions of up to 50 mega pixels, whereas large formats can go up to 800 mega pixels.  For my landscape shoot it would have been good to use a full frame or medium format camera as they have a large sensor size to capture a lot of detail and for producing high quality images.  Film cameras can also be quicker to operate as the image doesn't have to be compressed or saved to a memory card.  This isn't something I would have to worry about too much as I can take as long as I need when doing my landscape images.           

Colour reproduction (gamut) is something else to consider when deciding on film or digital.  When using film, the colour reproduction is entirely dependent on light conditions and the quality of film used, although film does have the capacity to produce a broader range of colours, unlike digital, which poorly produces stronger shades of colours such as red.  However, when working with digital it is easier to work in RAW format which allows you to choose the colour space at the post processing stage.   I will be shooting my images in RAW to allow me the flexibility to adjust the colour space in Photoshop.  This will be particularly helpful if the weather turns out to be dull and grey during the day of my planned shoot.

Other factors which affect image quality is the ISO or film speed (sensitivity to light) as well as the developing, processing and printing methods you choose to use.  The higher the ISO/speed the more chances of getting images with noise/grain.  This is sometimes desirable in film photography to create atmospheric images.  Noise can be removed from digital images in PS but it can definitely effect image quality. It can also be added to give an artistic feel although it doesn't quite look the same as it does in film.  Noise can be a problem when working in lowlight as the sensitivity needs to be higher, so in theory it could affect my shoot as I'm planning to shoot late afternoon/early evening.  The reason for this is so I can try out my ND filters. I will do my best not to go over ISO 200 and using a tripod with remote shutter release will enable me to use a slow shutter speed to expose for longer without suffering from any camera shake or blurring.

Dynamic range is another important factor affecting image quality.  This refers to the difference between the darkest and lightest  parts on an image.  If an image exceeds the dynamic range then it could look too dark or completely washed out.  The key is to control the lighting and to try and underexpose and correct the tones in PS.  For my shoot I will be using my graduated grey filter to control any highlights and overexposure.  I can also adjust the exposure compensation in camera to make sure the highlights don't burn out.  Exposure bracketing and HDR are other ways of ensuring even exposure when shooting in difficult lighting conditions.      

The other problem you could encounter with digital is the 'moire pattern' this occurs when one pattern is overlaid with another. This usually occurs with patterns on buildings and metal structures and can be avoided by adjusting aperture, camera angle as well as shooting in RAW.  Fortunately I feel I won't experience such issues as I'm shooting landscape and the textures are completely different.      

Some of the disadvantages of film is that the image quality may degrade over time, whereas a digital photo can be stored on line and then backed up to prevent losses.  there's a lot of cost involved in processing film and even then the result is completely dependent on the developer unless you have a dark room at home, where you can control quality and develop the images to your requirements.

I will be using my digital camera for convenience and ease of use and also because I'm a lot more familiar with digital than film.  I can instantly view results and make any necessary adjustments to the white balance, composition, shutter speed and aperture to get the best result.  I also don't have access to a medium or large format camera so couldn't use one even if I wanted to.  The good thing about using digital camera is I don't have to spend money on developing images I'm not happy with. I can select the best images and print as necessary.

My reasons for wanting to shoot landscape is because it's one area of photography I thoroughly enjoy doing and get a lot of pleasure from.  I am also heavily influenced by landscape photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston who are known for their iconic landscape images.  Alongside Chris Friel, I also like the work of Charlie Waite, a well established British landscape photographer, known for using a painterly approach with his images.  I very much admire their work and hope to produce work inspired by these masters of photography.

A very well travelled man, Charlie Waite has produced some lovely images which have a calming effect and have a picture postcard look to them.  They are great for promoting the beautiful scenic  British landscape.  They are very colourful and working on film using a Hasselblad, his images are very vibrant and have a great colour rendition.      

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/how-to/icons-of-photography/535934/charlie-waite-s-landscape-images-iconic-photographer





http://www.charliewaite.com/gallery

The type of images I'm hoping to produce could be used to market and promote the Lake District and particularly Bowness, which is where I'm hoping to take my photographs.  The Lake District is a popular holiday destination for most people and it's visited by people all around the country.  My images will have a slightly different look and feel to them as I'll be using my ND filters.  The filters are great for controlling light but also for giving images a very soft and smooth feel when used with a long shutter speed.

I could market the images to the Cumbria Tourism board or the many hotels/B&B's and restaurants that rely on the trade from the holiday makers.  As I would be providing digital images, the costing wouldn't be as high as printed images.  There are many ways to sell images on line and due to the supply being higher than demand, I would imagine the prices would have to be relatively low in order to compete with other photographers.  However, when images are re-used by different sites then that would generate a steady income perhaps on a regular basis.          

As mentioned earlier I will be using a wide angle lens to get as much as possible in the frame.  My focal points are going to the be jetty's and the boats on the lakes.  As I will be shooting in fairly low light I will be using shutter speeds around 1/8th and 1/10th of second.  The aperture will be around f/8 to f/10 - this will allow me to capture greater levels of detail in the image.  As I will be using a tripod I can get away with using a longer shutter speed without affecting image quality.  The aim of the images would be to show the unique beauty of the lakes.            

http://www.photography.getitdone.biz/film-versus-digital.html
http://www.ishootshows.com/2012/04/09/understanding-moire-patterns-in-digital-photography/
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/dynamic-range.htm