Throughout this project I aimed capture the essence of
experimental techniques which are featured within photography. Within this
project I experimented with a lot of different techniques both within the
darkroom and digitally within photoshop. In order to generate the image to work
with within the dark room I shot two rolls of film, one black and white and one
colour. With the black and white film, I took this to the darkroom and carried
out various experimental techniques such as sandwiching negatives, photograms,
solarisation and painting with developer. Creating these images was a lot of
fun as it meant I was able to get hands on with the editing of these images. Through
experimenting with different techniques within the dark room I found that
creating photograms was my favourite to do as this was the simplest yet I feel
that this technique is able to create some of the most interesting prints as
you can use almost anything to aid the creation of photograms and if you use some
of your negatives to create the photograms like I did, the detail from the
negatives shows up on the photograms and this gives the print a lot of detail
which you might not think would be easily created by simply placing items on a
piece of photographic paper then lighting up the enlarger for a few seconds. In
addition to this, another of the darkroom techniques I liked was painting with
developer. I enjoyed this technique as it was very hands on and allowed a lot
of creative freedom as you can paint the developer onto any part of the paper
and only the pieces of paper with the developer on will be revealed with the
image you have printed onto the paper. This technique allows you to be very
creative as you could even paint a small picture with the developer and have
the photograph show through this. My least favourite technique to carry out
within the darkroom was solarisation. This is because although the effect of
this technique was very unique and different, I found it very tricky to get
this technique right as you have to work very fast and as there was quite a lot
of people within the dark room at the time and the area where I was trying to
work was a little crowded, I feel that my solarised images were not as good as
they could have been as they feel a little rushed and this technique is one
which you cannot take a lot of time with. I enjoyed experimenting with
techniques, however solarisation was my least favourite. As well as
experimental techniques within the darkroom, I also experimented digitally with
techniques within photoshop. The techniques I used to digitally edit my images
include colour popping, overlaying textures, adding borders, panoramic images
and creating pinhole effect images. My favourite digital experimental technique
to create was definitely colour popping as I love how much freedom was involved
in the process of this as you get to choose exactly which parts of the image
you want In colour and which parts you want to be in black and white and you
can have as much or as little colour as you like. There is a lot of creative
freedom within this process and this is the main reason I enjoy this. Another reason
I love this technique so much is because when you are creating the colour
popped image, it feels as though you are colouring in the photograph and it
makes me feel as though I am a child again with a colouring book or something. My
least favourite experimental technique which I created within photoshop was the
adding of borders. This was my least favourite as I feel that when I added the
borders to the image, it did not really add much to the image and the images looked
a little boring to say quite a bit of effort went into making them. I have
physical prints from my roll of black and white film but unfortunately I was
not able to get into the colour darkroom so I do not have any prints from this
shoot however the negatives from this shoot are included with my darkroom
folder even though they never got made into actual prints as I was not able to
get into the colour darkroom. By doing this project I have learnt about a lot
of different techniques both digital and within the darkroom which I did not
previously know how to do so I feel that this meant that my project was a
success. Overall I enjoyed this project a lot as I love changing the way my
photographs look and that is what this whole project was about. This project
was a lot of fun as there was a lot of creative freedom throughout the entire
project which I like a lot. I really enjoy being able to put my own spin onto
my photographs. This means that overall I
am happy with the way this project turned out.
Monday, 18 May 2015
Sunday, 17 May 2015
Monday, 11 May 2015
pin hole effect images
Pinhole images are images which are created with the use of a pinhole camera. Pinhole cameras work without the use of a lens and instead a small hole in the front of the camera which lets light pass through to project an image of what is in front of the camera onto whatever is on the other side of the hole made in the front. This phenomenon is known as camera obscura and was first referenced between 470 and 390 BC (years 284 to 364). When the image is projected, the image will be inverted as light only travels in straight lines resulting in the projected image being upside down. Pinhole image have a few distinct characteristics which make them stand out from other photographs. One of these characteristics is long exposure times. This is because the pin hole in the front of the camera is so small that it only lets a very small amount of light through it this means that a longer exposure time is required in order to get a good and visible photograph. other characteristics of pinhole photography include wide angle views, soft focus, lack of focus towards the edges of the photograph and vignetting on the corners of the photograph (darkened corners). As pinhole photography has these characteristics, it means they have their own look which can be replicated digitally within Photoshop. Below, I have done just that and taken some architecture images and edited them within Photoshop to make them look as though they were taken with a pinhole camera.
This is one of the images which i created. this is a photograph of Seville cathedral which I took whilst on a trip there around 2 years ago. in order to create this image i first edited the colour slightly by adding grain to the image in order to make it look as though the photograph was taken using film taking some of the colour out by lowering the saturation slightly then upping the contrast as this is the effect that pinhole images usually have. After this i added a radial blur to the image to make the edges of the photograph blurred and making the focus drop more and more towards the edges of the photograph, the last thing i did was darkening the corners. i did this by creating a small border then changest the lightness to the darkest possible setting. this made the edges and corners of this photograph slghtly darker, once i had done this, the pinhole effect was created within this photograph and i am very happy with the way this pinhole effect image looks.
This is another image i edited within photoshop to create the pinhole effect. This was edited in the exact same way as the previous one however i dont feel that this one worked as well as the last as the bright white sky makes the darkened corners a lot more prominent and i feel that the edges and corners may be a little too dark for this effect to properly work and look fully effective. had the edges and corners been a little softer i feel that this would be a lot better.
this is another image which i edited in the pinhole style within photoshop. this was edited in the exact same way as the others and i think this is my favourite out if the photographs i edited in this style as i feel that this one looks the most natural and it looks as though it has not been overly edited and looks as though it could have been taken using a pinhole camera. i am very happy with the way this photograph was edited and they way it turned out.
this is another photograph i edited in the pinhole style within photoshop, again, this photograph was edited in the exact same way as the others but again, the corners and edges are too dark for this photograph and this has resulted in the image looking overly edited and less like a photograph which was actually taken using a pin hole camera. The corners and edges of this photograph are so dark as i added 2 layers of the border as when i added the first border i felt that it was not dark enough and did not make much of a difference to the image so i chose to add another. looking back at this photograph now that it had been fully edited i realise that with this effect and the vignette at the corners, less is more and the vignette is supposed to be subtle rather than too obvious like this is. I feel that had the vignette on this image not been as strong and slightly more subtle this image would look a lot better and work a lot better as a pin hole effect image
abstract architecture
Abstract photography is photography in which the subject is somewhat distorted so that you can not tell from the first look what it is. Abstract photography is done by taking photographs in unique ways and often only capturing sections of the subject. This can be done by taking the photographs from a different angle or from close up. this means that the subject matter of the photograph can be the same as a regular photograph however it has a completely different look. when experimenting with abstract photography, i chose a subject to photograph then took one photograph in an abstract style then another in a conventional manor so a comparison can be made between the two photographs. in order to make this this comparison easier, I edited the two photographs together to make a diptych so the two photographs can be viewed side by side. here are the diptychs i created.
this is the first diptych i created with an abstract image and a regular image of the same subject matter. these photographs are of a pillar which i came across whilst i was on a trip to the photography show in Birmingham. I chose to photograph this pillar as i liked its shiny appearance. the first photograph shown here is the abstract image. In order to take this abstract photograph, i got up close to the pillar and shot from the bottom looking up. I am quite happy with the way this image turned out however, it is not as abstract as it could have been as you can still kind of tell that this is a photograph of a pillar. the second photograph shown here is a standard photograph of the same pillar. i took this in a normal fashion meaning that the entirety of the pillar is shown. this photograph is solely so show what the abstract image is of and how it usually looks if you were to see it whilst walking past. the second image in this diptych was rotated as i realised that when i was taking this photograph, i shot the first image in landscape and the second was taken in portrait so in order for these images to fit together in a diptych one of them needed to be rotated so i chose to rotate the second one.
this is another diptych i created using an abstract image and a normal image of the same subject matter. these photographs are of a stairway which i found when i was on a trip to the photography show in Birmingham. I chose to photograph this stairway as i felt i would be able to easily create an abstract type image from this. the first image shown here is the normal image of the stairs. this image was taken to show what the stairway usually looks like when you are stood at the bottom of them. the second photograph is the abstract image taken of the same stairway. this photograph was taken while standing on the stairs looking down. each of the stripes is a step so this photograph is just a birds eye view of the stairs. i think that this works well as an abstract image as when you are looking at this photograph you cannot tell what this photograph was told without being told.
This is another diptych i created within photoshop to show an abstract image and a normal image which were taken including thr same subject matter. These photographs were taken of a bench which, again, i found whilst on a trip to the photography show in Birmingham. I chose to photograph this bench at first because i liked the colour but then realised that the pattern within the bench would create a good image for the abstract photograph. the first photograph shown within this diptych is the abstract style image. this photograph was taken from close up so the holes in the bence and the rain droplets are visible however, not much else is visible within this photograph. this means that you cannot properly tell what this photograph is of meaning that this photograph works well as an example of abstract photography. The second photograph shown here is a normal photograph of the same bench. in order to take this photograph i stood a few steps back from this bench and took a photograph which showed off the entire bench so it was obvious what the photograph was of.
overall i feel that abstract photography is very interesting as i like how you can take a photograph of something in such a way that it is distorted so that you can no longer tell what the subject of the photograph is at first glance.
colour pop
Colour popping is a technique completed in Photoshop which results in the final image being predominantly in black and white with a section of the image in colour. This technique is completed within photoshop by opening the photograph, duplicating the layer, converting the upper layer to black and white then removing sections of this layer which you would like in colour with the eraser tool. This is one of my favourite techniques to complete as i enjoy the amount of freedom which you have when creating these images as you can choose exactly which parts of the image you would like to have in colour or in black and white. I had a lot of fun creating these images as once I had prepared the image before colour popping, it felt as though i has a black and white image which i was then colouring in. I found this process very relaxing and fun. In addition to this, I love the effect that colour popping has on images as it makes the part of the image which is in colour stand out a lo more than the rest of the image. This means that the part of the photographs which remains in colour is often the most important part of the photograph as this is what is seen first when you look at the image. Here are the photographs which I took and then edited in the colour pop style
This is the fist image which i edited in the colour pop style. This is a photograph of the octopus graffiti which is located on a wall in the centre of Bradford. This photograph is originally well lit but at the same time quite dull meaning that it lacks some contrast. with this in mind, when editing this photograph, i edited the levels of the photograph slightly to make the yellow of the octopus stand out more and then when colour popping made it so the yellow octopus was what was in colour as this was the brightest colour within this photograph and this is also the main feature of this photograph. As the main feature of this photograph is in colour while the rest is in black and white, this means that the eye is instantly drawn to the main part of this photograph which is the main goal when taking a photograph of something. I am happy with the way this image looks as the colour popping is very effective in making the octopus stand out within this photograph.
This is another photograph i edited while experimenting with colour popping. This is a photograph of a red brick wall and as the entire image is the same colour i thought that this would be a perfect time to be able to get creative with the colour popping. for this photograph i chose to pick out individual bricks and put these in colour. I enjoyed this process as it meant that I was able to choose bricks to potentially make a pattern or something to this effect however with this photograph i just chose a few random bricks to put into colour however looking back at the photograph now that it has been edited, it looks as though i have chosen bricks which form diagonal lines throughout the image which i think is a nice effect although this was not the original intention as the original was to have random splashes of colour within the image which would remain predominantly black and white. I am happy with the way this image has turned out and i enjoyed creating this image a lot as i enjoyed the freedom and creativity which was open to me when editing this piece.
This is another image which i created when colour popping in photoshop. This is a photograph of the David Hockney building and I chose to photograph this building as I like the red and pink panels which are present within this building. As this building had a bright colour incorporated in it i thought that this would be the most appropriate part to colour pop however i chose to pick out only the red and pink sections and not the full section where the windows are as i thought that by just picking out the pink and red sections it would make this part of the photograph more eye catching and i feel that it does this well. I am happy with the way this image looks.
As I found the process of colour popping very enjoyable, I took the opportunity to create some more images which are not architecture related but they do show off the colour popping technique very well. I included these photographs as they are not architecture related but they are the images which helped me to gain more experience in colour popping and the main reason I completed these images is because I enjoyed the process of colour popping so much that I had to create more with different subject matters. Here are the additional photographs which I edited:
Panoramas
Panoramic photographs are photographs which show a larger area than would usually be shown had a standard photograph been taken. Panoramic photographs can be portrait as well as landscape however the panoramic photographs which i created are both landscape but this technique can also be in the same way with portrait photographs in order to create a narrow and tall photograph. Panoramic photographs have recently become more and more popular with the use of the "panorama" feature which can now be found on a lot of digital cameras and a lot of smartphones. This feature allows the user to move the camera in either a horizontal or vertical fashion and it will take a number of photographs and stitch them together within the phone or camera itself before showing the photograph which has been taken. However, this can also be done manually both conventionally and digitally, creating panoramic photographs conventionally would mean taking a selection of photographs in either a vertical or horizontal line with each photograph overlapping slightly then laying the prints out so they create a smooth looking image. This technique can also be done digitally by taking the photographs in the same way, this time using a digital camera then opening all of the images within photoshop and editing them together to create a larger overall image from various different photographs. In order to create these image I took the photographs digitally and then used photoshop in order to join them all together to make the final images which are shown here.
This is the first panoramic photograph which I created. This photograph is of the row of shops which is located within City Park in the centre of Bradford. As this is a large area, this would not be able to be captures with just one single shot without a very wide lens then the cropping of the sky and the ground. This means that creating a panorama in order to photograph this area was a good idea as it meant that all of the area which i wanted to photograph would be included however there would not be excess sky or ground within this image. In order to create this photograph I started with my camera in a portrait position and took a series of photographs of this area. with each photograph i took, i made sure half of each photograph was the same as the next one. this meant that when joining the images together, each photograph overlapped and meant that there would be no caps within the final panorama. Once i had gained all of my desired images, i then took to photoshop and resized each of the images and began to join the separate photographs together to create the final panorama image. As this was the first panorama image which i created, this means that there are some errors within it. Towards the left hand side of this image you can see where the two photographs were joined as the sky is not matched quite right and it looks as though a cloud has been cut in half. The joining of the photographs was the main problem here as the photographs which i took seemed to join together in some parts but not in others and this made it difficult to join the images together. another problem which I encountered when creating this panorama was that when shooting this panorama, i accidentally missed a section out meaning that there would have been a small gap within the image so this mean that i had to cut the panorama a little shorter than expected. If I was to re do this panorama in particular I would look into maybe using a tripod in order to keep the camera at a consistent height and in a constant place when taking each photograph and I would take extra care when taking the photographs to make sure i did not miss any sections out again. Overall, despite the mistakes i made during this process, i am happy with the outcome and I will use the knowledge i have gained from the mistakes and learn from them in order to better my future panoramic photographs.
This is another panoramic image which i created by taking a seried of portrait photos then joining them together within photoshop. This panorama was created in the exact same way as the previous one. This photograph is of the back of the City Hall building. I chose to take a panoramic picture of this as this is an old building meaning it fits in with the old meets new architecture project which I have been given and i chose to photograph it so it was displayed as a panoramic image as again, the area i was wishing to capture was far too wide for me to be able to capture this building in its entirety with just one single shot. This panorama is better than the first i created as i feel thst i learned from some of my mistakes however it is still not perfect as towards the left of the image, the building seems to curve and look a little wonkey which is due to me accidentally changing the angle of the camera whilst i was taking the photographs. luckily this is the only section of this panorama which was affected by this problem. aside from this minor problem, this panorama seems to fit together very well and i feel that it fits together a lot better than the fist one which i created and i feel that this is due to the experience gained when creating the first image. In addition to this, when taking the photographs for this panoramic image, I did not accidentally miss out any sections which I would have caused blank spaces within the panorama, this means that this panorama was not unintentionally cut short like the first one which i created was. Overall I feel that this panorama is a lot better than the first i created due to experience and practice and I am quite happy with the way this panorama has turned out and im sure with each panorama i create in the future, more and more improvements will be visible.
Borders
Adding borders to photographs is a simple yet effective technique completed within photoshop with digital images. Here are the images which I edited within photoshop to have a boarder around them.
This is the first image i added a boarder to. for this image as I had not had much experience with creating borders before, I was mainly just experimenting with the technique and getting used to how this technique. This means that when creating this border, i chose to keep it simple and stick to a plain black border around a photograph taken within City Park of the clock tower and one of the sculptures within city park. This photograph shows juxtaposition between old and new and this is the main reason i chose to use as part of this project. This boarder was left quite simple however i experimented more with boarders as i created some more images with borders.
This is another photograph i edited to have a boader surrounding it. This time, i used the same photograph as before and this time chose to change the width of the border slightly and made it a little bigger meaning i was then able to experiment with the colour of the border. to create this border, as the border is made up using the background layer within photoshop, i experimented with changing the colours and for this one i decided to get creative and use a wide range of different colours to create this rainbow effect border. This boarder is not relevant to this image however, this was not a main concern when creating this border as I was mainly focused on experimenting with this technique and showing the creativity which was possible when creating borders.
Again, i have used the same photograph as before in order to add a border to it. I stuck to using the using the same photograph as it meant there was a little bit of consistency within my work while i was simple experimenting the use of this technique. to create this border i simple hid the image which would later end up being the photograph which is surrounded bu the boarder and then fulled in the entire lower later with black and with the drawing tool on photoshop, i chose a colour i liked and started to draw random scribbly lines all over this entirely black layer. this created a very abstract pattern in which i concentrated most of the overlapping lines towards the edges of the image as this meant that when the top later of the image was shown again, the border would be black with abstract lines running through it. Again, this border does not relate to this image too well but when creating this image i was more focused on the creative experimental aspect of this technique.
this is another image i have added a border to using the photoshop technique. This image is my favourite out of all of the border images i have created and this is because i feel that the border for this image relates the most to the image which i chose to use. when creating this image, I chose to use a photograph i previously edited in a colour pop fashion meaning that the only colour within this photograph was pink with the rest of the image is made up of various shades of grey. This meant that deciding on the colour of the border for this image was relatively easy for me. When creating this border, i made sure the faded into the image itself and when choosing the colour fot the border, I chose a pink colour which was the closest shade to one used within the photograph and filled the border with this colour. I then went to the brush tool and changed the brush to a spray type effect and enlarged the size of the brush. i then chose a grey colour and added some grey specks onto the pink background. doing this meant that when the photograph was added back onto the background to create the border, the border would be the same colours, pink and grey, as the image itself. i feel that this works well and i feel that it works best out of all the bordered images i created when experimenting with this technique as the colour scheme matches the best and i feel that this border ties the image together nicely. overall i am very happy with the way this image has turned out.
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Overlaying textures
Overlaying textures onto photographs is a good way add some interest to your existing photographs. adding a texture to your photographs can add extra detail, enhance the image or even transform the original image depending on the overlayed texture which you have used. In order to create these images and overlay the textures, I used photoshop however this process can be done within the dark room. I created these images within photoshop as it meant i was able to experiment with creating as many different images as i liked without being limited to the images which I had from the film photoshoot which i carried out. I enjoyed creating these images as I had the freedom to layer any two photographs which i felt fit together well and it meant i was able to be creative with this.
this is one of the images which i created by overlaying textures. The original image used here is a photograph of the corner of TSB's building. I chose to photograph this building as it is an old building and it shows off the old architecture within the centre of Bradford. I like this photograph as it also features some people in the foreground which provide scale and show the size of this building. The people within this photograph show that this building is large and as I was photographing from the bottom of this building looking up at it, this adds to the fact that the building is tall and by photographing looking up towards the building, it gives importance to this building making it look superior to other things within the area. The texture which I added to this photograph was a photograph which I took of some pebbles on the ground. I took this photograph as the pebbles were all smooth, round and nicely formed without jagged edges. This means that although the pebbles show texture however they are also smooth so the texture is not too harsh. I chose to use this photograph as a texture on a photograph of this building as the building itself shows a lot of curves and rounded aspects of the building so i felt that the roundness of the pebbles fit in nicely with this. i feel that had i have used an image of jagged stones or something of that nature, this would not have fit in with the original photograph as well as the one which I used. I also feel that the colours featured within the two photographs work well together as they are both quite muted colours which blend together quite nicely to add a nice effect to the image and I feel that adding the texture to this image enhances the original image.
This is another image I created by layering a texture on top of another photograph. The original photograph used here is a photograph of City hall and I have layered this with a photograph I took of tree bark. I used this image as the image layer as i felt that the texture of the tree bark added to the look of the city hall building and as this building itself is old, I feel like the rugged texture of the tree bark helps to age the building. With each of the images used here, before layering them together, I edited the levels slightly in order to enhance the look of each photograph before editing them together to create the final image. I chose to edit only the levels when preparing these images as I wanted the imaged to remain true to the original photograph without changing it too much as I knew i would be editing two different photographs together so editing each individual photograph more than I did, i feel would be over editing and the end result would end up not looking great. As the brown colour from the tree bark has been added to the photograph of city park, this has meant that the colours from the original photograph are now a lot more vibrant than they originally were and as i previously stated, the only editing i did to each of the photographs was slightly altering the levels of the photographs. Before layering the images, the colours within either of the photographs was not as vibrant as they are now. This means that the colours within each of the photographs compliment each other nicely in order to make the colours within the overall piece a lot more vibrant and eye catching. Overall I am very pleased with the way this image has turned out as I like how the texture of the tree bark adds to the look of the age of the building. I think this is one of my favourite images which I have created while experimenting with overlaying textures.
This is another image i created while experimenting with overlaying textures within photoshop. The original image used here is a photograph of the pavilion within city park with bradford ice rink within the background. I chose to use this photograph as my main image as this image shows juxtaposition as the pavilion in the foreground is a new building whereas the ice rink in the background is a much older building therefore the original image used here shows the juxtaposition between old and new buildings. The texture I used within this image is a photograph i took of some purple gravel. This is a photograph of coloured gravel which is usually used for decorative purposes such as within fish tanks or something however I found it laying around my house so i felt that as it was an interesting colour, it would make for a more interesting texture photograph then normal coloured, grey gravel. When overlaying this texture to the image, I was aware that purple gravel did not have much to do with the image which I overlayed it with and it does not really relate to anything within the original photograph, however I chose to use the purple gravel as my overlayed image as i felt that it as so different that it completely transformed the original image. The purple colour has changed the colour of the entire photograph apart from the sky area as the photograph was taken on an overcast day meaning that the sky was dull and white. this meant that the purple colour from the texture layer was not picked up on this part of the image however other sections of the image such as the buildings were more capable of taking on the colour from the layer. When adding the layer to this image, I made sure the opacity of the layer was turned down meaning the detain in the gravel and the purple colour were more prominent. I feel that this works well as it gives a false pattern to the buildings and adds a new, unique and quite abstract look to this image. Overall i am very pleased with the way this image has turned out.
This is another image i created while experimenting with overlaying textures within photoshop. The photograph which i started with when creating this image was a photograph of one of the university buildings. This photograph was taken from a low angle meaning that the lower half of this photograph is filled with grass. Taking the photograph from a low angle also means that the building is given slightly more importance as it appears to be towering over you albeit from a little bit of a distance away within this case. The image I used as the overlay for this image was a photograph I took, again of free bark, but this time with ivy growing around it. I felt that this would be an appropriate photograph to use as the texture for this image as although tree bark and ivy does not have a lot to do with an education establishment such as this university building, the original photograph was taken at such an angle that half of the photograph is showing grass. This means that i thought that the nature theme of the tree bark and ivy and the grass fit in well together. I feel that this texture works well for this image as i really like how the tree bark and ivy is shown on the side of the university building. I feel that this is the thing that you see first when looking at the photograph so at first glance it could look as though this was the only section of the photograph which was edited then when you look closer you can see the large leaves of the ivy present within the grass. I am very happy with the way this image has turned out as i feel that the nature theme i worked with within this photograph works well however the nature theme does not completely distract from the theme of architecture which runs through each of the photographs i have taken for this project.
Tuesday, 5 May 2015
Hockney Joiners
These photo joiners were inspired by those created by David Hockney. When creating the photo joiners, Hockney would take photographs of small sections of a scene which he would then print then arrange to create a larger overall image made up of various different photographs. In order to create my images, i have used the same technique but instead of creating the images in a conventional way and physically arranging the prints, I digitally created the images and used Photoshop to arrange them. The first joiner which I created is of a row of a row of flags which are located within one of the corridors in college. To create this joiner i took various photographs of small sections of these flags and did this by choosing a section to photograph then photographing the surrounding sections until I had photographed the entire area which I wished to include within the joiner. once I had photographed the entire area in sections, I then resized each of the photographs and placed them all into a Photoshop document and lined them all up with each other so that all of the photographs joined together in order to create the overall image which I was aiming to get. For this joiner, I had my camera set on an automatic setting meaning that the iso setting kept changing depending on the amount of light which was present at any given point. This means that some of the photographs within the joiner are brighter than the others and each has a different brightness. This means that the joiner does not join up properly and the sections that do join up do not match each other because of brightness levels differ so much. In addition to this the photographs were all taken from slightly different angles meaning that some of the images do not join up properly meaning the joiner is not seamless. however, one of the aspects of the joiners is that they have a look of a cubist image made up using photography so this adds to this effect and the fact that each of these images does not line up exactly is not too important however the lighting issue within this joiner is quite problematic. If i was to re do this joiner i would have my camera set on manual so i can control the amount of light which is let into the camera by controlling the shutter speed, iso and aperture. Doing this would mean that the lighting within each of the photographs would be consistent making this joiner fir together better. The second joiner i created was created in the same way as the first however when taking the photographs to make this joiner, i made sure i had my camera set on a manual setting meaning i could control the amount of light let into the camera. this means that the lighting within these photographs is consistent and this makes the joiner fit together better than the first one i created. This joiner is a photograph of a section of a wall found in the college canteen and to take these photographs i stood directly in front of the section of the wall which I wanted to photograph and started by taking one photograph then moving my camera slightly to one side and taking another photograph and continuing in this fashion. I did this in this way as it meant that I was able to take a photograph which covered each section of the wall which i was choosing to photograph meaning that there were no open and unfilled gaps within this joiner. I put this joiner together in the same way as i put the first one together, by resizing each of the photographs then placing them together in order within photoshop. As i was not moving and i was stood in the same place when taking the photographs for this joiner, it means that the photographs were all taken from a similar angle meaning that they all fir together better than the photographs taken for the first joiner. Overall i feel that i learned from the mistakes which i made while creating the first joiner and corrected them with the second joiner which i created meaning that i feel that the second joiner i created is a lot better than the first one.
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Darkroom and Camera Techniques
Double/ multiple exposure:
Double or multiple exposure photography is a technique used
in order to have two or more images within the same photograph. The way in
which to do this is by using a setting on a film camera which allows you to
take two photographs on the same section of film so when you wind the camera
on, it just resets the workings of the camera but does not immediately wind on
the film. This allows you to take 2 photographs on the section of film creating
a layered type of photograph.
Sandwich negatives:
Sandwiching negatives gives the same overall outcome to
double or multiple exposure meaning that two photographs are ultimately layered
on top of each other. This technique is carried out within the dark room while
printing the photographs. In order to carry out this technique, two single
exposure photographs are required and when preparing to print the photograph,
instead of placing one of negatives into the negative holder, two negatives are
placed into the holder at the same time. By printing these photographs in this
way means that both photographs will be present within the final end piece.
This technique hugely increases the exposure time needed in order to properly
expose the images. This is because the thickness of the negative has been
doubles so the exposure time is at least doubled.
Scratching negatives:
Scratching negatives is a technique used before the has been developed. To carry out this
technique you have to scratch the negative before using it. When you have the
end product which has been created using this technique, the end photograph
which has been created will have black lines wherever the scratches on the
negatives has been placed. This is because when you scratch the negative, you
are removing the emulsion which stops the light passing through the negative
creating he image so when this is scratched away it means that the light is
able to pass straight through it creating a black line as this would be the
most exposed part of the photograph.
Painting with developer:
Painting with developer is a technique used in the dark room
and is carried out by literally painting the photographic developer onto the light sensitive paper then
exposing the paper to light then developing the image as you normally would when
developing a photograph using the wet process. This technique means that you
can draw any design that you wish and this will appear on the paper once the
image has been properly developed. When
carrying out this technique, the parts of the image which you have painted with
the developer will show up as white when eventually be developed as the
developer would stop this part of the paper being reacting when the light comes
into contact with it and act like a barrier so this means that the parts of the
light sensitive paper which have not been painted with developer would appear
black when eventually developed. This technique can be very effective as it can
be used as a different way of creating paintings, or it can be used to create
unique looking photographs as you could paint onto the photographic paper with
the developer then take that same piece of paper and develop a photograph onto
it as normal. This technique means that when the photograph has been developed,
the places where you previously painted with the developer will be left blank with
the photograph showing through in the remaining spaces. This can be more
effective than simply exposing the paper to light and allowing the remaining
spaces to go black.
Solarisation:
Solarisation is a technique completed within the dark room
which gives photographs a silver-ish look to them. Solarisation reverses the
tones within a photograph and is very effective if done correctly within black
and white film photography. This technique can be done while using the wet
process in order to develop the photographs. Solarisation is done by finding
the correct exposure for the photograph you wish to print in this fashion then
placing it into the developer as usual, then as soon as the image starts to
appear on the paper, flash the print under a bright light for around 1 second
then places back into the developer for the usual amount of time then
continuing with the developing process as usual. The parts of the print which
were just becoming visible will now be the parts of the photograph which appear
the lightest and have a silver tone to them.
Baseboard distortion:
Baseboard distortion is a technique carried out within the
dark room when exposing the photograph. Usually when exposing a photograph in
the dark room, the paper is alaid flat on the baseboard beneath the enlarger in
order to get an evenly exposed photograph, hoever, when carrying out this
technique, the baseboard or paper must be moved or bent in some way in order to
change how the image will look. For example if you hold the paper in such a way
that the middle is arched up off of the base board and focus the image on the
base board this will lean that the left and right of the photograph will be in
focus while the middle will be out of focus as this is at a different height so
would need to be focused differently.
Image weaving:
This is a technique completed post dark room in which you
take two photographs which you have previously developed then cut them into
equal strips then weave them together as you would if you were weaving a basket
or something else of this nature. Once put together this technique will create
one image made out of two photographs and the result will be that the image you
have now created will have a checkerboard appearance with alternating from one
photograph to the other. This technique would be most effective with two very
contrasting photographs as this would make it easier to determine what the two
images are.
Photo montage:
This is a technique which takes place after the dark room
process has been completed. A photo montage is a piece of art work made up of
several different photographs all arranged together to create one large image.
Often photographs of the same scene are taken from different angles and of
different sections of said scene and then once printed, placed together to once
again build up the scene which you were intending to photograph. This technique
was famously used by David Hockney.
Photogram:
A photogram is a technique in which an image is made within
the dark room without the use of negatives. A photogram is created by placing a
piece of photographic paper under the enlarger as if you are preparing to
expose a photograph, then place some items on top of the photographic paper,
after this, run the enlarger for a short period of time with no negatives in
the enlarger then remove the objects from the paper and carry out the
developing process as usual. This technique creates interesting prints as each
one has the potential to be very different to the last. This technique works as
the object placed on the paper are stopping the light from the enlarger from
exposing the paper meaning that when you come to develop the print the sections
which were coved by the objects will be remain white while the uncovered
sections will become black.
Distressing images:
Part 2 - artist research:
Man Ray:
Emmanuel Radnitzky, also known as Man Ray was an american visual artist who spent most of his career in France. He was known for creating a wide range of media but considered himself a painter overall. This said, he was very well known for his photography and was a renowned fashion and portrait photography. In addition to this, he is also known for creating photograms within the darkroom which he liked to refer to as 'Rayographs' in recognition to himself. Man Ray was a very private man and did not let many aspects of his life be known by the public. he was so private that refused to acknowledge that he even had a name other than Man Ray as this is what he changed his name to later in life. Along with his photographic assistant, Man Ray recreated the art of solarisation and created various prints in this manor as well as creating his 'rayographs'.
Here are some examples of Man Rays work:
David Hockney;
David Hockney is an English artist and photographer born in 1937 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. David Hockney was a massive part of the pop art movement in the 1960's and is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. David Hockney was born and grew up in Bradford and he studied at Bradford College. David Hockney is well knows for a number of types of artwork, two of the most notable ones are pop art and his photo joiners. In the early 1980s, he began to create photo collages which he called 'joiners'. These were photo montages constructed using several photographs all taken of the same scene from slightly different angles so when they are put together they create an image of the scene which has been made up of a lot of different images. Hockney first started doing this using polaroid photographs and then moved onto 35mm film which was then commercially printed in colour. The creation of Hockneys joiners was accidental as he found that photographers during the 1960s were using wide angled camera lenses and he did not like this as he thought this made photographs look somewhat distorted so when working on a painting of a living room and terrece, he took a few polariod photographs and stuck them together. after doing this he looked at it and saw that it looked as though it was taking the viewer on a journey through the area which was photographed.
Here are some examples of David Hockneys joiners:
Half Term Task
Over the February half term I was asked to carry out a task in which I would photograph a different building each day but in two different ways. The photographs I took are all located within the Baildon and Shipley area as this is the area which i live in and with limited founds, it meant that i was not able to go further afield at this time. For the first few days, I focused on photographing buildings in Baildon village as this proved to be the most accessible for me and once I felt that i had photographed the majority of the buildings with any interest within this area i then branched out to Shipley town centre as this is also nearby and easy for me to get to. Over the February half term, the weather was not the best and the sky was overcast and cloudy meaning that the lighting within the photographs which I took during this task are not the best however there was nothing which could be done to alter the weather and as the photographs had to be taken within the time scale provided, i had to make the best of what I was given.
Here are the photographs which I took during this task:
Day 1:
For the first day of this task, I chose to stay close to home, as close to home as I could get, and take the two photographs for this day of the exterior of my house. For both of these photographs I went out to the back garden and took two shots which are essentially the same, however the two photographs here look completely different. These two photographs were both taken from the same angle and they were both taken in the same place meaning that they are both showing the same section of the building which I chose to photograph. The first photograph shows a general shot of the side of my house showing the back door and the door into the outhouse whereas the second photograph which it took shows a close up of the brickwork. The first photograph has been quite heavily affected by the lighting which was present at the time of photographing. As I was relying solely on natural lighting, this means that as the day in which i was taking this photograph was overcast and cloudy, the photograph which i took looks quite flat and lifeless. This would be corrected if the weather had been different as the sun had been out, If this had been the case, the photograph would look a lot brighter and more interesting to look at. With the second photograph however, the lighting did not prove to be as much of an issue as this photograph is a close up of the brick work and the sky is not visible within this photograph. The lighting within this photograph is sufficient as it allowed me to to take a well lit photograph of the brickwork without unwanted shadows being cast by myself or surrounding objects. I chose to take these photographs from the same angle because it meant that although the photographs were different in some ways, they remain the same in others
For the second day of this task i chose to photograph the Moravian Church in Baildon. I chose to photograph this building as I feel that it has some interesting features such as the detailed hinges on the door and the overall shape of the door and it is near to where I live meaning I was not requited to go too far in order to take this days photographs. A with the previous days photographs, the sky was overcast and cloudy meaning that the lighting provided for these photographs is somewhat dull and not very interesting and I feel that this is the case for both of these image, the second one more so that the first though. For these photographs i chose not to photograph the building head on and I chose to take two very different shots of this building for this days photographs. The first photograph is of the door which leads into the Moravian Church. I chose to take this photograph as I thought that this was a very interesting part of the building as the shape of the door within the archway is quite unique and I found the shape of this door very interesting. In addition to this, I also liked the hinges which are on the door as they are both practical and do the job they are intended to do and decorative as they add a nice amount of detail to these doors. I feel that this small bit of detailing on the hinges of this door really make difference as they prevent the doors from being plain and boring. In addition to this, the handles on the doors are quite large, however from this photograph, they look relatively small. This gives the photograph some scale and shows that the doors are a lot larger than they might first appear when looking at this photograph. The second photograph which I took was taken in a completely different way and was taken using a small mirror which I found lying around the house. I chose to take this mirror out with me when I took the photographs as i wanted to experiment with reflections within photography and i felt that this would be the perfect way to do it. To take this photograph I placed the mirror on the floor and positioned it so the Moravian Church would be in view, then I photographed down onto the mirror and focused on the church itself meaning that the ground surrounding the mirror dropped out of focus. The mirror which i was using had a couple of stubborn streaks which did not want to be cleaned away on it making it difficult to properly focus the camera on the building in question. I found when taking this photograph that this technique of taking the photograph via a mirror was very effective and I liked the way it came out so I then went on to take photographs using this technique on later days.
For the third day of this task I again chose to photograph a church, this time it was St. Johns Church also located within Baildon meaning that this is also extremely close to where I live so it was easily accessible by myself when I was not able to travel much further afield to take these photographs. The first photograph was taken as a head on shot of the church and the whole of the front of the church is on view. This means that when looking at this photograph, you can see exactly what the photograph is of. This church is a typical old church which I find looks simple, yet appealing to look at. Within this building there is no elaborate stonework or intricate detailing however i chose to photograph this church as it is simple in design and i feel that this is part of the buildings charm. As with the photographs which I took on the other days, the weather proved to be an issue once again as the sky is over cast making the photograph look dull and less interesting than it could be had this photograph been taken when the sky is blue and the sun out. The second photograph was taken in the same fashion as one of the photographs from the previous day and was taken by shooting the photograph of the church via the mirror. I like using this technique as the mirror flips the image which you see and i think this gives a different look to the photograph in question. In order to take this photograph, I positioned the mirror on the wall seen within the first photograph and took the photograph in this way. I focused my camera on the reflection of the building so this meant that the wall which the mirror was positioned on dropped out of focus making the reflection of the building more prominent. I feel that this photograph would look better if the sun had been out and the sky being blue as this would add more colour to the photograph making it more interesting. Either this, or if the sky had been a lot darker as if a storm was about to come. I think this would look good as it would add a lot more atmosphere to the photograph.
Day 4:
For the fourth day of this task I chose to photograph the Baildon medical practice. I chose to photograph this building from two different angles in order to get two different photographs of this building. The first photograph which I took was the easiest for me to take as I took it from standing in my back garden as the medical practice was built on the land just beyond the garden. This means that I have an unobstructed view of the side of this building from my garden. As I have this view, i thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take this photograph as after taking this photograph i was then able to leave my house, turn a corner then be at the front of the building where I was able to take the second photograph. The second photograph is of the front of this building. This photograph was taken head on in order to show off what the building is as i did not want to obscure the photograph and make the subject unrecognisable. The day on which these photographs were taken was, like the other days, cloudy and overcast meaning that the photographs appear quite dull and would be improved if the photographs had been taken when the weather might have been better. A bright blue sky would cheer the photograph up considerably and make the two photographs a lot nicer to look at however, like stated previously, i was not able to take a photograph in such weather conditions as the photographs had to be taken within a certain time scale.
for the fifth day of this task I chose to photograph Shipley train station. This was the first day in which I chose to photograph buildings which were not in Baildon. The first photograph which I took was of one of the archways leading onto one of the platforms. I chose to take this photograph from standing on the platform itself and looking out onto the car park. I like this photograph as I think that this archway is nice to look at and it also photographed well as the skylights at the top of the tunnel let in a lot of light meaning the entire archway was well lit and easily photographed well. The second photograph which I took was the front of the ticket booking office. I chose to take this photograph from a slight angle as taking it head on meant that I would have had to stand in the middle of the road in order to get the shot and this was not safe for me to do this. Both of the photographs which i took on this day are simple and neither have used any different techniques rather than photographing other sections of the building to shoot this photographs. As with the other photographs taken throughout this task, the lighting is not the best as I was relying only on the natural lighting and the day which i was taking these photographs was quite dull and this was not the best for the photographs i was taking as i feel that a brighter sky would have made the photographs a lot more interesting to look at.
these are the photographs which I took on the 6th day of this task. These photographs are of the clock tower in Shipley town centre. The first photograph which I took was taken from the bottom of the clock tower looking up at it. This was a different angle to those used when taking the other photographs from this task as with the others, I did not take any other photographs from the bottom upwards. Taking photographs in this way gives the object in which you are photographing, in this case the clock tower, more importance as it appears that the object is towering over you as if to possibly intimidate you when in reality, it is just a simple clock tower which hold little importance other than time telling within its surroundings. The second photograph which I took is revisiting a technique which I used earlier on in the week which is photographing the building via a small mirror. This technique flips the image making it look unique as the photograph shown is the right way up however the building has now been tunred on its head. in order to take this photograph I focused on the clock towers reflection meaning that the ground has dropped out of focus. i feel that this works well as the texture within the pavement which the mirror was placed on may have caused a distraction and taken away from the building itself which is what is intended to be the main focus of this photograph.
Day 7:
These are the photographs which i took from the 7th and last day of this task. Both of these photographs were taken of the row of shops in Shipley market place. The first photograph which I took is just a general shot of the shops and the building which they are all incorporated into. I chose to take this photograph in this way so it was clear enough to tell what it was and recognise the building it is clearly enough so you can then make out the second photograph, The second photograph that i took is of the exact same row of shops and was taken standing in the same place however this time, i have taken the photograph of the building in the reflection of a spoon. I chose to take this photograph in this way as earlier in the week i found that i enjoyed taking photographs in the reflection of a mirror and i liked the way the photographs looked done in this manner so i decided to get a little experimental and try to find other household objects which i could capture a reflection in. The first reflective household object which sprang to mind was a spoon as i thought i would be able to capture a good reflection in the back of the spoon and although when it came to photographing, this probed difficult, this was still possible. When i was taking these photographs the weather was dull and gloomy which i found actually helped with the second photograph as i feel that direct sunlight would have made the whole thing a bit too bright and taken away from what i was trying to achieve however on the day i was taking these photograph it was actually raining quite heavily which proved to be a problem, not only because of my fear of my camera getting wet and being damaged but also because the rain on the spoon distorted the reflection which i got. this was not intentional, however it was not a major disaster as i feel that it adds to the distorted effect which would already have been present as a result of the curvature of the spoon. The second photograph which i took on this day proved to be the hardest of the photographs which i captured throughout this week and it was the only photograph which i needed assistance in taking. As i was taking the photograph and holding my camera with both hands in order to press the shutter and properly focus the camera, I asked my dad if he wouldn't mind coming along with me in order to hold the spoon in the right place so i could capture this photograph. He was happy to do this for me (even if it did mean him standing in the rain for a while when he could have been inside watching football or something!) so I was then able to get the shot which I wanted to get. when focusing for this photograph i made sure to focus on the spoon and the reflection of the building only as i wanted none of the background behind the spoon to be visibly in focus as this would definitely have been distracting from the main subject of this photograph. overall i think this is my favourite photograph which i took during this week as this is the photograph which took the most planning and came out the way i wanted it to. if i could reshoot this photograph i would maybe shoot it when the sky is clear and blue, but i would definitely wait until it is dry and there is no rain to further distort the image.
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