Exercise: Enhancement.

Photograph a close-up, head and shoulders portrait, in available or natural lighting without flash or any other photographic lighting. The face should be in shade, not receiving direct light, should be towards the camera and with both eyes clearly visible. This is the first time I have chosen to be in front of the camera!

 

 

You should make two selections, one at a time, with its own adjustment. The first should be of the entire face, which you should adjust by increasing the brightness and increasing the contrast. See below, this had the effect of drawing attention to the face.

 

 

 

The second selection and adjustment should be of the eyes only (iris and pupil). First exaggerate the colour o the iris by increasing the saturation an brightness. My eyes are very bright blue which is not picked up by the camera so I thought that by increasing the saturation the image would then be a closer representation.

 

 

The changes have actually resulted in my eyes appearing more of a grey/blue.

 

Next, try changing the hue.

 

 

I have now changed my eyes to appear rather green. While the change is not hugely noticeable, as I know how the image should appear, I feel that it is dishonest and a step to far from reality. I find lighting the face to make it more visible more acceptable but altering the eye colour seems like too much of a change for me. Maybe I will change my mind after further experimentation.

 

 

 

 



Exercise: Improvement or Interpretation.

We must start by photographing a portrait in a setting, and then use a manual selection method to select just the area of the person. Having done this, save a copy if your software allows. Then make adjustments to the area so that it stands out more clearly from the surroundings, while still looking realistic.

I chose to use a portrait of my sister that I had taken at the start of this course when I was working on workflow.

 

 

While I have lightened and darkened areas of an image before I have never altered of 'enhanced' specific areas. I chose to whiten her teeth  as when you are zoomed in to the image they appear quite dull and slightly tea stained.

 

 

I think I may have got a little carried away with how much I lightened them by in comparison to the original.

 

I have gone back and carried out a slightly more natural shade.

 

 

I think this looks much better than my previous attempt and does improve the look of the teeth.

 

I am torn in my opinion of this kind of enhancement. While I feel that very slight adjustments are ok as long as they do not drastically alter an image I cannot help but feel dishonest. I always thought that as photographers we should be accurately recording scenes, but post production allows for various tweaking. Maybe what I have tried to do today is acceptable but if I had, for example, changed the colour of her eyes, this would then become a step too far.

 

 

 

 

 



Gallery Highwaymans.

At the weekend I also visited Gallery Highwaymans at Risby. The Gallery Highwaymans is a beautiful, newly refurbished space, housing eclectic exhibitions which can include contemporary art, photography, antique furniture, textiles, crafts and sculpture and jewellery.  The Gallery enjoys a wonderful setting and is part of an estate which includes bed and breakfast accommodation and farmland, some of which was formerly a vineyard.

The exhibition I went to see was entitled "Through the lens" which showed a variety of subject matter. 

 

Old building, old man, old Havana, Cuba 2012 - Paul Cooklin

 

His images generally show the colourful but crumbling architecture of the places he visits.

 

 

 

Piloting the City - Julie Dashwood.

 

I am not really sure what to make of this image. It is unique, I have not seen anything like it before, but I am not sure that it is really to my taste. I do not mind the components by themselves but I don't really like the combination. Maybe that is because I don't understand the point of it.

 

 

 



Bee - Allison Johnson.

 

I much prefer the traditional style here. Johnson like to "capture the unseen and the small details that of then get missed in the fast pace of everyday life". I think that she has succeeded here and I love the simple nature of the image. Johnson calls herself a traditional photographer rather than a digital artist as she wants to produce high quality images of what you see.

 

 

 

The Butterfly - Penny Morgan.

 

The shadows are cast by a practising yoga teacher revealing a "non-human world" which I was not aware of until I read the accompanying guide. I really like the concept here, the story behind the images is really interesting.

 

 

 

Felixstowe - Phil Morley

 

This is one of my favourite images from the exhibition. I love the colour and how you can really notice each different texture. Morley is only able to get 12 images from a roll of film so he is very selective with what he shoots. He says that he often finds himself "waiting hours for the clouds and light to be 'just right'."

 

 

I enjoyed this exhibition as it was nice to be able to view several photographers work in the same space. I am still trying to see as much of other peoples work as possible as I think it all helps with learning. We are able to determine which styles we do and don't like and helps us to develop as photographers.

 

 

 

Exercise: Correction.

We are to look through our image collection and try and find a shot containing dust shadows and another with polygon flare. I was unable to find any examples so I decided to use the images provided in the Key Resources section of the student website. Unfortunately I could not find them anywhere as it was not really stated in the course notes whereabouts they would be. I ended up posting on the student forum for the first time during this course and was very grateful to another student who was able to provide me with the link. I have to say that it was nice to be able to contact other students so I was glad in a way to of had to use the forum. I intend to get in the habit of checking it and posting in the future. From what I could see, other students have had the same problem I locating the images.

 

Dust.

 

 

 

Before image.

 

 

With areas of dust highlighted in red. I struggled a bit with this as the style is abstract and I found if hard to decided what was dust.

 

 

 

The areas of dust have been removed using the clone stamp tool as I found this easier and most effective. I understand that others may see this as not being as innocent a correction method but you are only replacing a small areas with what is already shown in the image. This does not bother me and I do not see it as dramatically altering from the original.

 

Polygon Flare.

 

 

Before image.

 

 

Areas of flare highlighted in red.

 

 

With lens flare removed. I actually found this quite difficult as I was not really sure what I was doing to start. This was my second attempt at removing. It is not quite there technically but it is an improvement on my first try. I used the clone stamp tool and set it to colour so that the flare polygons were integrated with their immediate surroundings. I then set the tool to darken and blended each area in with the surroundings once more. With practice I am sure I will improve.

I do think that there is a place for flare in photographs but in some cases they can detract from the image. I think that there is nothing wrong with removing flare if it is a mistake as we are not dramatically altering the overall image.

 

 



 

 

 



All the World's a Stage - Apex Gallery.

I have been trying to produce a well rounded blog and show not only how my technical ability has improved but also that I have been proactive in viewing and analysing others work. I feel that I have let my good intentions slip slightly as I have had various issues to deal with at home and work.

I have decided once again to step up my efforts and visited two galleries in one day. The first was the Apex Gallery in Bury St Edmunds which is actually situated in the Arc shopping centre.

Their current exhibition "All the World's a Stage" highlights some of the UK's fine-art photographers. There was a wide range of subject matter and techniques displayed including portraiture, the theatre, rural and urban landscapes. The exhibition featured work by Graham Portlock, Benjamin Mathers, Paul Cooklin, Dibs McCallum and Penny Morgan and centres around challenging the viewer to look again at things that we take for granted.

After researching online I have managed to find some of the images on display via The Apex Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apex-Gallery/119714374798532.

 

 

 

Time for a Pint - Graham Portlock.

 

I actually recognised this scene. It has been shot in Bury St Edmunds and the pub on the right is The Nutshell, the worlds smallest pub. I really like the variety of tones shown throughout the image from the bright streetlights to the dark sky, and all the shadows in-between.

 

 

 

Tractor - Benjamin Mathers.

 

Now I really cannot make up my mind about this image. I think the problem I have with it is that subject matter and I don't really 'get' what Mathers is trying to tell us. I do however quite like the composition as the tree on the right tries to balance out the frame.

 

 

 

Sleeping Dog, Havana - Paul Cooklin.

 

This image intrigued me as I was initially unsure what the subject was until I saw the title of the image. I think that once the viewer is aware, this shot fulfils what the exhibition is trying to show with regards to encouraging the viewer to look again at things that we take for granted.

 

 

Photograph of Norwich Skyline - Dibs McCallum.

 

This has to be one of my favourite images in the exhibition. I really like the contrast between the industrial scaffolding and the Cathedral and how the scaffolding creates a picture frame effect. The warmth coming from the houses provides depth and a pleasing effect.

 

 

 

Into the Light - Penny Morgan

 

I wanted to include this photo as it has a different style to the others I have shown. This is the first to actually have a figure at the focal point. Displaying the shadow of a woman almost gives this shot a hazy feel.

 

I really enjoyed this exhibition and think that it is very important to try and view as much of other photographers work as possible. I love exploring new ideas and techniques and finding way to develop my own style.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Assignment 3 Tutor Feedback.

Generally I was pleased with the assignment and it would seem that my tutor also found it to be a pleasing submission that worked very well.  He felt that the monochromatic conversion was generally good and consistent technically which if I am honest was the area I was most concerned about. I really tried to get the balance right in each image and produce interesting compositions while getting the conversions right.

I was so pleased to hear hat he thought I had "presented a great series of images that lend themselves wonderfully to the technical processes applied." However, he felt that a couple of my images did not quite sit right in the series but they were strong on their own.

The comment on the image 1 I agree with, it would of been nice to add more of the front section of the train. I had tried to do this but the train was surround by fencing as it was waiting for enough money to be raised so that it could be restored. Looking back maybe I should not include an image if I have to compromise on composition.

Again I agree looking back that the composition of image 2 is a little unbalanced. My tutor felt that the steam was the saving element. I want the sole focus of the image to be the steam and really show its texture, and it appears that it does grab the viewers attention like I hoped. Unfortunately the steam on the left side is beginning to show highlight blow out which if I am honest, I did not notice.

With image 4, which was well received, I should of used my tripod as the high ISO has resulted in noise being present.

With image 4 I wanted to experiment and show a different technique but looking back I do understand that it now does not sit right with the rest of the series. My tutor suggested that I investigate infrared conversion in Photoshop and has given me two links to look at. They were both easy to understand and I actually find tutorials very helpful as I sometimes struggle with Photoshop and creating the effects I want. The only issue is finding the good tutorials.

Image 5 displayed a conflicting composition and it was felt that the texture of the chains and wires was only really noticed when you look a second time. Unfortunately I wanted that to be the main focus of the image but I realise that the whole shot is probably a bit too busy.

The final image worked well and was pleasant to look at. I should look at tweaking it slightly and lighten the reflection of the train so that it is the focal point and adjust the barrelling effect using the transform tool in Photoshop.

To improve, and for formal submission I should include some screen grabs of my working methodologies showing before and after. I did consider doing this before I started but then convinced myself I should not do it. I should of just stuck with my original thought.

My tutor made a very fair comment, that reading vast amounts of light text on a dark background strains the eyes slightly, so I have altered my colour theme (as you can see) in the hope of addressing this problem.

I should also avoid using Wikipedia for research as it is not always liable. I always tell people not to use it as anyone can post on it without facts being correct, so I really do not know why I have not taken my own advice!

It was suggested that I look at the March edition of the British Journal of Photography at the article on Sebastiao Salgado so I shall find that.

Overall I am very pleased with how well my assignment was received and I have understood and taken on board the comments that my tutor has made. I always find that once things have been pointed out to me I cannot believe that I did not notice it myself. Some of the points addressed I may of thought of but then had a bit of an internal battle on what path to take when producing the image, quite often I choose the 'wrong' one and its is not until after than I regret my decision. This is all part of the learning process and we need to make mistakes so that we can improve.