Cubism pre-task

Before I was given the brief for my project, I was given a pre-task which involved choosing an object at home then photographing it at least 10 times against a neutral background from different angles without moving the object itself. Here are the photographs I created when I was asked to do this. 

 

I was then asked to bring the item I used into college on the following day. When  I got back to college I was asked to take the object and photograph it at least 10 times again, this time not changing the angle of the photograph, but to change the surrounding in which the object is located. I decided to take this cup around college and around Bradford to photograph it. Here are the photographs I took when asked to do this part of the task.

After I had completed these two photo shoots, I was then asked to do some work in Photoshop to create a cubist style image from the first set of photographs. I did this by cropping, rotating and placing the photographs together so the recreate the original image. However, this didn't go exactly to plan as I was asked to take the photographs of the cup from different angles before I knew what would be done with them so I did not know that I would have to make the images connect to each other. Had I known this, I would have photographed slightly differently so the images fit together better and created a slightly smoother yet still quite abstract overall piece. Here is my final piece which I created from the images of the cup.

Once I had completed this image, I then went ahead and edited it slightly dropping most of the images down to greyscale leaving only the image in the middle of the piece in colour. Although the images which I used do not match up in the way in which I would like, i am quite happy with the overall results of these two images.

Unit 2 Final Evaluation

Throughout this project I aimed to capture the essence of the colour modes RGB and CMYK. I feel I did this during the first part of task 1 by first creating mood boards to represent the two colour modes. The first mood board I created was for the colour mode RGB. This mood board was created by looking through magazines and finding images which included the colours red, green and blue and removing them from the magazines then sticking them to an A3 sheet of paper. For this mood board I included all of the colours from the RGB colour mode but I grouped each of the colours together so it was clear that the mood board was for the colour mode RGB and not just a random mood board containing these colours. As I found all of the images that were used in this mood board from different magazines, there is no theme running through the mood board other than the RGB colour mode and all of the images are unrelated to each other. If I was to redo this mood board, one way in which I could improve it would be to include images found from different sources such as online images or items that have been found (such as a red ribbon or a green button etc...). The mood board I created for the CMYK colour mode is slightly different to the RBG one as I created four separate mood boards, one for each of the colours in the colour mode. It is also slightly different as it was created digitally rather than physically. All of the images I used for the CMYK mood board are images of artwork that I found whilst looking through art and photography books found in the library. To find the images that I used in this mood board, I looked through various art and photography books in the library and found images of photographs and artwork by various artists, I then referenced the image, writing down the name of the artwork, the year of the artwork, the artist and the title and author of the book, then using Google Images, I searched for the artwork and added a digital copy of it to the CMYK mood boards. While searching for the images of the artwork in the art and photography books, I found that the colour Cyan was the most difficult to find as it was difficult to tell in a lot of the images if it was cyan or just a paler shade of blue. 

The second part of task 1 called for a photoshoot of signage and promotional material in the colours Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black around Bradford city centre. I found this task quite east to complete as there is a lot of bright and vibrant signage and promotional materials around the city of Bradford. As Bradford has a lot of different signage and promotional materials in various different colours, it was quite easy to find most of the colours such as Red, Green, Blue and Black however I found it more difficult to find signage and promotional materials in the colours Yellow, Cyan and Magenta. All of signage that I found in the colours red, green, blue and black I feel were very eye catching and appealing to look at, I feel this is why there were more signage and promotional materials in these colours and less in the colours yellow, cyan and magenta as these colours do not stand out and catch the eye quite as much as the others.

Task two was a photographing task in which I had to go to Saltaire and photograph a variety of different subjects that contained the colours from the two colour modes, RGB and CMYK. Again I found this task relatively easy and the only colour I really struggled to find was cyan. I found a wide variety of different images for each of the colours such as flowers, cars, clothing and doors however, when it came to finding items which were cyan in colour, I found that there was less to choose from and the task became trickier. 

The first part of task three was to create duotoned images using photoshop. Once I had been out and taken a selection of photographs, I then went to photoshop to edit them to be duotoned. To create the duotoned images, I first used photoshop to drop the image to greyscale. Once I had the greyscale image I then edited the levels of the image to make the main lines in the image stand out more and to make the image appear more focused and clear. Once I had done this and was happy with the way the image looked, I then went to the duotone setting on photoshop and made the colout of the duotone match the colour of the original picture, for example, for the image I edited to be my Cyan duotone, the original image was of a cyan coloured flower so I made the duotone for that image cyan to match the oringinal colour of the flower. To create the duotone images I had to use photoshop, as I am new to photoshop, this proved difficult to begin with as I was unsure of where each setting was located and I kept looking in wrong places. This problem was quickly resolved though as I got used to the program and how it works. I like the duotone effect on images as it is different to images that are in full colour and it looks simple yet effective and it is a nice change from standard photographs which are not edited in this way.

The second part of task 3 was another photographing task, but this time I was required to do a still life photoshoot involving random object which contained the colours red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow and black. I found that this photoshoot was easier to complete than the others as for this one, I had set object that I had to photograph rather than having to try and find items off different colours while out and about. This made this photoshoot easier to compete as there was no difficulty in finding items in certain colours to photograph. Before doing this photo shoot, I have not had much experience with still life photography, therefore I feel that my photographs are not the best they could be, however with practice and experience I believe that I could take the same photographs but better. One thing I found difficult with this photoshoot was getting the lighting right. I shot most of these images outside relying only on natural light. This proved to be a problem as harsh, unwanted shadows were often formed and there was not much I could do to prevent this. Towards the end of this shoot, I took a few photographs inside under artificial light from directly above me, this proved to be better lighting for this type of photography for me. If I was to redo this shoot, I would prefer to do the whole shoot inside with artificial light from directly above like I did towards the end of the photoshoot.
Task four of this project required me to create two colour grids displaying the two colour modes RGB and CMYK. The first colour grid I created was for the colour mode CMYK. For this colour grid I used four images of each colour to create a square grid of photographs. Amongst the grid, I included four duotoned images, one for each of the colours. I arranged the images in vertical groups according to their colour then placed the duotoned images in a diagonal fashion throughout the colour grid. The second colour grid I created was for the colour mode RGB and it if very similar in layout to the one which was created for the colour mode CMYK. The RGB colour grid was slightly smaller than the CMYK colour grid as there are less colours in the colour mode, however, the layout of the grid was essentially the same. As the colour grid I created had to be square, this meant that I had to crop each of the images to be perfectly square. I did this by using the crop tool in photoshop. To crop the images, I clicked the 'crop' tool then set it to the right dimensions (4.5cm x 4.5cm for the CMYK colour grid and 6cm x 6cm for the RGB colour grid) then set the resolution of the image to 300 pixels per inch, then moved the highlighted cropping box to where I wanted the image to be cropped, the clicked 'ok' and my image was instantly cropped to the right size. I repeated this process with each of the images in the colour grid meaning each of the images would be of the same size and resolution so when it came to putting the grid together, all of the images would fit together perfectly and seamlessly. I also used photoshop to create the actual colour grids. Once i got the hang of how to do this, it was a very easy process. Creating the colour grids consisted solely of dragging the cropped images into a new document on photoshop and arranging them into a grid. As I have very limited experience with photoshop, I did find it a little challenging to create the colour grids in the beginning as I was using tools in photoshop that I was unfamiliar with. At one point I got a little confused and forgot to click the 'move' tool then wondered why my images were not moving. i soon realised my mistake and quickly corrected what I was doing. Another small mistake i made while creating these colour grids was while I was cropping the image I set the resolution wrong. I accidentally set the resolution to 300 pixels per centimetre rather than 300 pixels per inch, this mean that although the height and width were set correctly, the image came out at a different size and was quite a lot larger than it was supposed to be. Again, this was easily corrected by going to the cropping options and changing the setting from pixels per centimetre to pixels per inch.
I believe my project was successful since it showed off the two colour modes RGB and CMYK. If I could change one thing to do with this project it would be that I would reshoot the still life images as i am not happy with the lighting in a lot of those photographs. This project and the still life shoot in particular, has really taught me the importance of light and shadows within a photograph and how much of a difference the lighting can make. Overall, I am pleased with the work I have done during this project as I feel I have portrayed the colour modes RGB and CMYK in the best way that I can. 

Task 4 - Colour Grids

For task four of this project, I was asked to create two colour grids displaying the two colour modes, RGB and CMYK. Here are the two colour grids I created.

This is a colour grid for the colour mode CMYK. in this grid there are four images for each of the colours in the colour mode making the grid a perfect square. Each image in this colour grid has been cropped square from its original form using the photoshop 'crop' tool. In this colour grid, I have used 4 images that I have edited in photoshop to be duotoned. I have set out this colour grid in a simple manor, keeping all of the colour groups together in a vertical fashion. I arranged the images in colour groups in the same order as they appear in the colour mode, Cyan, then Magenta, then Yellow and finally Black. As I arranged the images vertically in their colour groups, I placed the duotoned images going diagonally through the colour grid.

This is a colour grid for the colour mode RGB. This colour grid consists of 9 images 3 of which have been edited to be duotoned. Much like the CMYK colour grid, this colour grid is square meaning again, each of the images have been cropped square using the crop tool in photoshop. The layout of this colour grid is very similar to the CMYK grid as they images are arranged vertically in their colour groups and the duotoned images run through the grid in a diagonal fashion. My favourite photograph that I have used in this colour grid is the photograph of the Starbucks Coffee sign. I like this image because it is very central and framed well and the vibrancy of the green sign is very eye catching and appealing to look at.

Task 3 - Part 2 - Still life

For the second part of task 2, I was asked to do a still life photoshoot in which I had to photograph a selection of random objects which were of the colours Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Here are the photographs I took for the still life section of this project.

This is one of the photographs I took during my still life photo shoot. This is a photograph of 3 pencils lines up next to each other in a 'step' like fashion. I chose to photograph these pencils as part of the still life photo shoot as they are simple objects however, the colours which they contain are very bold and they stand out against each other very well. The colours in this photograph are red, yellow and black, all of which are colours found in the two colour modes which I have been studying throughout this project.  

This is another photograph that I took as part of the still life photo shoot. This is a photograph of 6 black jelly babies arranged in two rows, one on top of the other. This is one of my favourite photographs from this shoot because it isn't perfect. The jelly babies are all slightly different shapes and sizes making the photograph more interesting than if they were all perfect and the exact same shape. This photograph is slightly different to the one before it as the lighting within this photograph was created by a mixture of artificial and natural lighting as it was taken on a table top inside rather than outside where natural lighting was the only option. I feel that the lighting used in this photograph works well as the lighting was coming from directly above the image meaning there are minimal shadows to distract from the subject itself. 

Task 3 - Part 1 - Duotone

For the first part of Task 3, I was asked to take 7 photographs, one for each of the colours in the two colour modes, and create a duotoned image. Here are the 7 photographs I converted to duotoned images.

This is the first duotone image I created. It is an image of a red satchel bag so I have made sure the colour of the duotone is red so it matches the colour of the original picture. This image is not frames quite right and is off to one side a little bit, but other than that I like this image and I am happy witht the way it looks.

This is the second duotone image that I created. It is a photograph of some leaves which, in the original image were green. As the original image was green i have made sure the duotone fot this image is also green so it matches the colour of the original image

The subject of this photograph was a deep blue colour this is why I have made it so the duotone of this image is deep blue. This photograph is a cropped photograph of a car. I like the way this photograph is framed however, if i was to reshoot this photograph, i would try to eliminate the reflection of myself in the car

this is the photograph which i edited for the colour of cyan. In the original photograph, the flowers were a cyan colour, this is why i chose to create a cyan duotone over this photograph. I also really like the way this photograph is framed

The subject of this image was originally a pink colour so i thought this fit in with the magenta portion of the CMYK colour mode, this is why I chose to create a Magenta duotone ofver this image. i like the way this photograph is framed meaning the flower, the subject of the photograph, is nice and centeral.

This is the image i chose to edit to be my yellow duotoned image. The original image is of a simple yellow flower so it thought it would be perfect for editing to duotone. i like the way the photograph is nice and centeral and i feel li8ke i have framed it well.

This is the image i chose to edit for my black duotone image. This image is basically just a grayscale image as in order to create a duotone image, another colour must be added other than black or white and as the chosen colout is black, this is not possible. i like the way the subject of this photgraph is central and i feel that it is framed well. i think that this is my favourite of the image that i chose to edit to duotone.

Task 2 - Photograph, Saltaire photoshoot

For task two of this project I went on a field trip to Saltaire and was asked to photograph images of various subject matters which included the colours Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Here are the photographs that I took for this part of the project.

Contact prints.

 

This is one of the photographs I took while out in Saltaire. This is a photograph of some red berries that I found growing in a shrub. I chose to photograph these berries because of their vibrant red colouring which makes them fit in nicely with the RGB colour mode. I like this photograph because the berries are perfectly in focus yet the leaves in the background are visible, yet out of focus. The lighting in this photograph was created by natural light and I feel that this works well with this photograph as the colours are nice and vibrant and the sunlight gives the berries a slight shine on one side.

This is another photograph that I took while out Photographing in Saltaire. This is a photograph of a single yellow flower that I found in a patch of grass situated next to Saltaire train station. I chose to photograph this flower as I liked the vibrancy of the yellow petals and I thought that it would fit in perfectly with the yellow section of the CMYK colour mode. I chose this image as one of my favourites from this photoshoot as it makes me feel happy when I look at it. Yellow is a happy colour, so this vivid image of a yellow flower strikes up feelings of happiness when I look at it. The subject of this photograph, the yellow flower, is nice and sharp and in focus whereas the leaves in the background are out of focus, if I was to re-do this photograph, I would consider editing the photograph slightly to make the background slightly more out of focus especially the leaf which can be seen directly above the flower as this is a little distracting from the subject matter itself.

Task 1 Part 2, Bradford Signage

For the second part of task 1, I was asked to go out into Bradford city centre and take photographs of signage and other pieces of promotional material that I could find that was of the colours Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Here are the photographs I took for this part of the project.
Contact Prints.

This is one of the photographs that I took while photographing signage and other pieces of promotional material in Bradford city centre. This is a photograph of the sign which stands outside if Nandos in Centenary Square in Bradford. I chose to photograph this sign because of its vivid red colour which fit in perfectly with the 'Red' portion of the RGB colour mode. I chose this image out as one of my favourites from this photo shoot because it caught my attention with its cold and vibrant colouring. This image really catches the eye and is appealing to look at. The lighting in this photograph was created by natural light. I feel this works well because the natural light really makes the dominant colour of red stand out.

This is another photograph that I took while photographing signage and promotional material in Bradford city centre. This is a photograph of a black signpost directing the people of Bradford to all of the major nearby landmarks. I chose to photograph this signpost as it is painted black and fits in well with the 'Black' portion of the CMYK colour mode. I chose this image as one of my favourites from this photo shoot because I like the simple nature of the image. This photograph consists solely of the sign post with nothing distracting from the subject matter. On the day that I took this Photograph, the sky was overcast and cloudy, I feel that this works well in this photograph as the overcast sky acts as a blank canvas and provides a neutral background meaning there are no unnecessary distractions such as a blue sky with white clouds. I also feel that the overcast sky works well this this photograph as it almost makes the image look like it has been dropped to greyscale, however there has been no editing done to this image. If I was to reshoot this image, I would try to change the lighting a little and maybe shoot it from a slightly different angle so there is a little more brightness in the image as this photograph appears to be a little dark.