Work Record 5

Fifth record of photographs

Planning
Shoot Ideas

In my final shoot prior to the exam I am planning to base it off of Thomas Leth-Olsen's style of photography, a high contrast urban feel, linking to the other two I've been researching the past weeks. I will be heading out with the intent to find more closeups of curves, with more metallic or industrial looks to them.

Image Bank
Inspiring Images

Contact Sheet
All Photos Taken

5 Best Photos
The Top 5 for Final Piece

2 Photos to Improve
The 2 that Failed to Reach the Requirements

The selected photos are all from the most recent shoot taken for the unit, and I believe they all accurately represent what the unit is based upon. For example, the first of the five photos shows a rather gritty photo from a bike rack by the library in town. I like the photo because of how it captures a snippet of the area, focusing on this specific curve which can be seen inside of the image. The rest of the photos have extremely similar focal points of railings. However, I'd like to talk in more detail on only a few. The third image is quite interesting, and is ironically the only non-handrail photo I've chosen. The photo is taken of a tree pot inside town, and captures the edge of it. Along with this however, it also captures the background which pictures a bench and the flooring. This gives a lot of depth to the photo as well as more context on where the photo is located in relation to the ground, etc. Onto the 5th photo (my favourite), it's very good in the way that it mixes the gritty texture of the wall with the extremely smooth handrail. Furthermore, It uses each of the connectors as focal points of the photo, which gives the idea of a 3 dimensional photo. Furthermore, the shadow also hits in the perfect place below the railing, giving depth to the photo. 

The two worst photos show two different fixtures inside the town centre, with the former being a cigarette disposal container and latter being a drainage cover. The first is flawed due to a variety of reasons, one being the area it was taken and another being the fact that there wasn't an easy way to get close enough. The second photo of the drainage cover didn't work because of how it barely captures it, and just looks a bit dirty rather than actually gritty or industrial, its not aesthetically pleasing and doesn't give any depth or composition.

Potential Ideas & Experiments
Exploring new Ideas

I believe there are some clever experiments I will be able to partake in to improve the photos beyond what they originally stood as. However, this will be complicated as the photos are not very versatile in the way I want them to be. My aim is to begin by burning and dodging each photo, and then do something I like to call select saturation. Select saturation is a concise term I've came up with for when one makes an image black and white, and then changes specific areas to be in saturation. For example, a photographer takes a photo of a field with a tree in it. In post, he makes it B/W and removes the filter on the tree only, making the tree in colour while the rest out of colour.

References
Photos to Link to Ideas & Experiments

Camera Settings
How I took the photos

Using my Canon 1100D, I took these photos using IOS 400 through 3200, and aperture of f4/f7.1, and a shutter speed of 1/100 to 1/1000. I primarily focused on trying to take macro shots, however some required less of a macro setting, hence the versatility and ambiguity of the settings. When taking the photos, my main focus was on the aperture as well as a bit of the shutter speed. I wanted photos where the thing I was focusing on was the only thing in focus, to make the viewers look at that.

Edits
How I Edited them in Post

To edit them, I began by using Camera RAW via opening the .RAW files in Photoshop. To reach my goal, I began by creating very high exposure high contrast photos, along with very contrasting highlights and shadows. Then, I increased both the clarity and amount of dehazing to my liking. This is because some of the photos were quite soft or slightly out of focus. Doing this can remove that and make it 
much more raw and sharp.


Once I finished with that, I opened my spot healing tool, and removed any areas of my image which had spots, blemishes or marks on the camera or the object in focus. To do this all I had to do was brush over the wanted area and the computer creates a representation of what it thinks best fits in that area. Sometimes it doesn't work, but if you get it in the right place it fixes it.
After that, finally I went through the adjustments once more to get the perfect possible photo. I changed around with the exposure via curves, and I made sure it was in B/W. After that I saved and exited.





Final Piece
Final Photos and Future Improvement

Work Record 4

Fourth record of photographs

Planning
Shoot Ideas

In a new yet familiar turn, I've researched an artist under the name Henry Yau. An Asian turned British, he photographs a variety of dark photos based on dystopian-esque architecture. So in regard of that, I've decided it would be fitting to find some darker areas to photograph, with a lot more of a "modern industrial" feel. I've decided I could also twist it in my own way to follow on the previous topic of grunge, as well as implementing the previously discussed areas. In summary, I think I should go for a contemporary feel.

Image Bank
Inspiring Images

Contact Sheet
All Photos Taken

5 Best Photos
The Top 5 for Final Piece

2 Photos to Improve
The 2 that Failed to Reach the Requirements

When it comes to each of the photos chosen for the best and worst, there's quite a vast difference between each. My best five aren't really reaching my best potential, as seen with the grainy photos and dark lighting. However, they are great in comparison to the two worst ones. These were both taken without consideration of the final photo, and as spontaneous ones. The latter would've been interesting if taken with more consideration, as the circle could've been used as a sort of frame for the eye to look through, but the only issue is that there isn't anything to look at. If, say, it was one of those tourist telescopes you'd pay to look through at an attraction, it'd be a better photo. The background is just a bunch of shops, which isn't an interesting thing to look at. Furthermore, it was very hard to get an accurate angle which places the pole at a 90 degree angle downward, even if I was to have used a tripod the angle it was coming from the floor with wouldn't have helped at all. On the other photo, it's a simple issue of composition. It's not really a good thing to photograph, no real angle to take it from via the ground either. If it was a drone shot at night, with other lights, it might be improved (I don't own a drone, though).

Although I have my criticisms, I'm not without praise for the potential in my better photos. These images were taken with an idea in my head of what I wanted it to look like, as well as how and where different pieces of the photo should be. In the first photo, I took a photo of the pillar and wall to mix in the brief with some other additional parts. Furthermore, the reason I took it from that angle was to create a view through the main foreground for the eye to explore, as if it's a frame which shows what is on the other side of the building. The second photo is probably the one with the least linking to the main exam brief. I thought I could get away with it because of the cylinders atop the ventilation (and still do, or I wouldn't have put it in the record!). It has a great variety of different distances - the wall in the closest piece at the bottom, and in the middle third the main focus of the photo.  Then another building in the background to give some extra texture to the photo. In the third and fourth photo i used a similar idea, with the idea of pattern and repetition in mind. Both follow diagonal, strong lines which connote to powerful ideas. Both also are good for if I want to try any higher contrasting photos, which is great for the final images. The final photo is probably my favourite of the contact sheet. It follows a great curving line, with a perfect difference in contrast of each area of the photo. 

Potential Ideas & Experiments
Exploring new Ideas

I'm thinking I could try experimenting with the saturation in the photos, as I've previously only been using B/W photos. Things that maybe relate to the hyper-saturated age of the 80s might work.

References
Photos to Link to Ideas & Experiments

Camera Settings
How I Took the Photos

I used my normal camera and lens to take the photos, with an ISO between 400 and 1600, and aperture between F7.1 and F11. The shutter speed wasn't particularly consistent, though. Each photo was taken with daylight in mind, making sure to take them around 11am to midday, getting a nice lighting without too much shadows that peek into the photos, when unneeded. 

Edits
How I Edited them in Post

To edit my photos for use, I first started by delving into Camera RAW. This tool allows one to access photos before they're converted into the smaller bitrate of Photoshop, giving you more access to different editing tools, like clarity, hazing, highlights and shadows. For the photo I'm editing, I want a high contrasted image which brings out the texture of the ground. Furthermore, I want a single curve to be brighter than the rest of the photo. These finished slider bars were done by experimenting on the photo raising and lowering them. Usually highlights wouldn't be that high, but there are no highlights in the photo other than the curve. 

After improving the quality in that aspect, there is also the option to edit the clarity, hazing and saturation. Because I want a black and white image, vibrance and saturation are both pulled back entirely. With the clarity I edited it accordingly to bring out the texture a lot more, while keeping the smoothness of some areas. I used dehaze to get rid of some of the hazing that occured from the camera being used on a sunny day. Dehazing also works well for roughly increasing contrast and then fine tuning in the tools above these ones. 

Once I finished, I pressed open image along with selecting all other photos I'd finished with. Do not press done if you want to open it in Photoshop.

Opening the image in photoshop I open the curves adjustment, and lower it by a moderate amount and, while selecting it, press CTRL+I. I do the same again, except making it a bit brighter. This makes them "invisible" and only visible via the white brush tool. I take said tool and use the darker one to bring out the curve below the kerb, giving it a much higher contrast. I then take the lighter one and selectively add it to the road line. This gives a really good contrast between different parts of the photo.


Final Piece
Final Photos and Future Improvement

Artist Research 5

Research and Preparation for the Exam

Thomas Leth-Olsen

The photo shown above is of a tramway in an urban district of what seems to be a very traditional city. The photo itself follows the lines of the tram as they converge on another, while someone is walking across, giving good contrast to the middle ground. The depth of the image is solidified by the flurry of buildings as well as the leading lines through the centre of the photo, seeming infinite. Furthermore, Olsen has used a very high contrast upon the photo to make the people silhouettes, and focus the eye on the foreground. It also seems he's used a low F-Stop to get that feeling of depth, with the eye solely focusing in on the diverging lines of the tram line. I believe the photo itself might signify that of moving forward in life, or diverging from the norm. The tramlines also might signify how one might end up doing the opposite, transitioning to the norm and becoming another statistic. This is further improved because of the amount of people upon the path. However, if we focus on the people, that could also link to divergence as you can see the man in the centre walking right over the tram line, signifying his passing from the status quo into being a unique individual.

Taken it what seems to be a dilapidated building, we see two chairs sitting parallel in a hallway connector. It creates a variety of textures within the image by using high contrast, which also increases the amount of depth we can see in the image. The texture is very vivid in the photo, with wood boarding, brick, plaster and metal. Furthermore, there is a lot of meaning behind the image. For example, the two seats might link to how partners used to live in this place, but they've long disappeared. However, what they've left behind has remained intact and stood the test of time. I like it because it links to the connection between people, and how it can last longer than we can, ourselves. So not only is the photo great when it comes to composition and quality, it is also rife with inner meaning and connotations to symbolic things.

Finally, this photo is of a quiet backstreet in one of the many cities and towns of Europe. It contains a wide variety of different pieces of context and content building up the image to what it looks now. The artist seems to have taken the picture in sync with a cat moving through the street, which adds personality to the photo, as well as connoting to things I will explain further in the description I'm providing. Moreover, the photo has been taken so a shadow contains the majority of the image in relative darkness, while there is a brief shine of extreme light between the two shadows. This is perfect in creating depth in the image when paired with the curvature of the buildings. It's quite an aesthetically pleasing photo in that light. In relation to the meaning behind it, the cat might signify one travelling from light to dark (shadows), and vice versa. It also could be something related to Olsen's childhood, as if they saw their-self as a sort of loner, and this photo scene was a good link into their past.