Proposal Task 3

For my assignment, I want to use a range of techniques that we've learnt in our first half term. I'm going to base it on street photography, architecture and landscapes, mainly because they were two of the things I really enjoyed. I want to incorporate that with some macro, light painting and photoshop as well. For this assignment I'm going to wonder around the countryside in Guiseley and Yeadon as well as the streets of Leeds. You can get a real range of people in Leeds, from chavs to emos and everything in between, and they all look and act different. Guiseley is really near the Moors so i think i could get some really iteresting shots up there.

Kitteh in macro xP

I got bored and my kitty is pwetty :D

Tom's Evaluation ^-^

In Tom's lessons we have covered a range of skills, including: macro/aperture, shutter speeds and street photography. In my opinion it all went rather well, however I did have a bit of trouble with my camera when we were doing the aperture work. My camera only has 2 f.stop settings and it was hard to see the difference between the 3.1 and 8.1 settings. Other than that i found all of it fairly good. The shutter speeds were hard to sort out though, because we had to change the ISO every time we changed the shutter speed slightly. The light painting was really fun and quite easy to do, again I had to keep adjusting the exposure and the ISO to get the shots I wanted. I really enjoyed the macro work and didn't really have any problems with it. Its really easy to apply all these techniques to photography, for example adjusting shutter speeds would give the same shot a completely different effect. Like a horse race for example, a slow shutter speed would blur the horse and rider giving a motion effect, whereas a fast shutter speed will freeze it, making it perfectly clear. Macro would be very good for studio photography for example separating a model's face from the backdrop. Light painting can also be used in a studio to add to a picture- make it look less plain.

Macro x]

Macro photography refers to close up pictures, where there is only 1 subject in focus. It uses a small aperture to separate the subject from its background. Its extremely popular with photographing flowers or small insects but can be used with anything really. It is a very effective and popular type of photography because it has such a great finished result.

Here are some examples of other people's macro work.......

 

Health And safety- Task 2

There are a number of health and safety issues with photography and photo shoots. Here are a few ways to make it safer.

When working in the dark, eg painting with light or low key shoots, you should be told where not to go and where objects are. The lights should be on until the shoot starts and go straight back on when it has finished. Everyone should stay still- to avoid walking into people and things until one person has turned the light back on. When working in a studio with the studio lights, all wires should be taped down and all stood equipment, like tripods and light stands, are stable and wont fall over onto someone. The studio needs to be kept cool to stop the equipment overheating, and any broken wires need to be either replaced, mended or wrapped with electrical tape. There must be no food or drink in the studio to stop spills and people slipping. When on a shoot outside of college, you should stick to a group to avoid getting lost, and keep your phone on you in case of emergencies. You should not be taking photos while crossing the road, making sure you look both ways and stay alert for cars etc. When working on the computers, you need to have a chair at the right angle- so not to injure your back and help your posture. You need to keep all liquid away from any electrical equipment, although you should take breaks every so often to stop straining your eyes and keep well hydrated by drinking water to keep your brain active.

Online Display xD

Photokit- Basic photoshop

This is an exercise  where took pictures of each other on photo-booth and used photoshop to blend parts of the images together, creating new faces. These are the three images i used, one of me, one of Katie and one of Lily.

And here are the results :)

Here I used half of my lips and Lily's eye. I then rubbed out the outline to make it look realistic and then smudged the edges.

Here i took Katie's fringe and eyes and my lips. I then smudged the edges and lightened the contrast to make everything look equal.

This one was my first one, and i just stuck on Katie's lips and Lily's eyes.

High Key Lighting :O

I wasn't here for the high key photo work, so instead i researched it and found a diagram on the internet. High key lighting is used with a white background and usually  has 4 or 5 bright light to flood the scene with light. This gives the resulting images a washed out look with very little contrast and shadow. It usually gives an image an upbeat mood however it's said to give little meaning or drama to a photo. An advantage of it is that it doesn't need adjustments for every scene you do, which can dramatically cut the amount of time it takes to do a photo-shoot.

Here is an example of how a High key shoot might be set out......

 

And here are some of other people's High key photos......

 

Flash Fiction :3

The Quiet Ones

Joey sat in her chair glaring at her bed.

Joey's bed seemed to ignore Joey's nodding-offs in her chair.

Joey was having less success willing her bed to her, than willing her body to the bed.

Joey's body got fed up.

Before dawn, Joey awoke, all aches.

 

Street Photography Examples :]

This is some examples of street photographers that we looked at with Maria and what they generally look and and focus their photos on. 

'Street photography is about capturing decisive moments as they unfold with the public space as the setting. It is a way of recording and understanding the everyday lives and happenings of the streets and their inhabitants. Street photography often presents a humorous, weird, interesting or unusual world as it occurs. The skill of the photographer is to photograph what is around them in an interesting and different way, and to present the nuances and intricacies of the everyday in a visual way that is often ignored by the passer by.'

The first photographer we looked at was Darren Hall. His photos are fairly controlled for street photography. He controls the composition and colours used in the photo. He creates the photos to look natural without using flash and lets the person choose their own expression and pose. The backdrop is usually picked by where the person is found.

 

 I like this picture by Darren Hall because it looks so natural but the lighting is so perfect. It just frames the man in the middle, i also like the composition of the image, the man stood in the middle looks right because the eye focuses on him.

I love the colours in this picture, the purples all compliment each other as well as the dark skin of the women.

This image looks really nice- I'm not really sure why. But i really like everything about it, mostly I like the backdrop and lighting. Its such a contrast to the old man.

This picture is awesome. The posh look of the man against the backdrop is such a contrast and looks so interesting.

The second photographer we looked at was Nick Turpin. His images are constructed, 'the caught moment' in a controlled environment. He uses professional models who are posed in a way to look natural like street photography. He uses flash and the images are beautiful, attempting to make them look spontaneous.

I really like all these images. the lighting in them gives them a great contrast and makes them look a lot more dramatic. I like how the last three models look uninterested in the camera. These last images look really natural. The first image has great lines and composition, making the model stand out against the background.

The last photographer we looked at was Paul Hartnett. He uses a 'straight-up' style and works for a range of magazines as well as doing journalism for them as well. He gets commission on his work and was the first to publicize the punk movement, he merged fashion and culture. We based our 100 strangers project the same kind of idea he had.

Street Photography :L

The First lesson with Tom, he let us loose in Leeds to take pictures of interesting people. At this point I'd not brought in my camera, so i shared Katie's. So some of the images are hers and some of them are mine. We took all the pictures (minus the police shots) were done in auto mode.

I also looked at a few street photographers- one that caught my eye was Matt Stuart. I love his irony and abstract approach to images. All his pictures work so well and are really cool. Here are some example of his less well known images.