Macro - Work Diary

This is my best photograph of the macro shoot, I really like how the eye is in focus when the rest of the photograph isn't. This brings attention to the eye rather than the rest of the face.  The glasses frame the eye especially and draw all of the attention to that part of the face.

This is my worst photograph from the macro shoot. I think that the lighting isn't very good as it darkens one side a lot, whereas the other photographs only have this a little bit.

Progression:

If I was to redo this shoot I would probably take photographs of something different, not people, as although it worked, I don't think that it looked that good. In addition, I think that if I was to do this again I would set the lighting up better as it was quite dark and I don't think that this looks good.

Connecting Essay 4

This image is by Martin Parr, it shows two children eating ice-cream at the beach, the photograph is composed so that they are in the centre of the image, the two children are looking away from the camera which shows that the photograph was taken candidly, they probably weren't posing for it as when children normally pose for photographs they tend to stare into the lens like they've been taught to. They may have been told where to stand for this photo but I don't think they were told how to look or when the photo was being taken.

This photograph was taken in landscape orientation, possibly to show how short the children are as if it was a portrait image they would probably look taller because they are taking up the majority of the photo. 

This image uses a large depth of field so the background isn't very blurry, although it is slightly out of focus compared to the children who are completely in focus. This keeps the focus on the children, whilst we still know where they are, as in some photographs the background is completely out of focus and it gives us no idea where the subjects are, we just know what they are doing.

This is my image, I took it of two young girls who are playing at the park, they are swinging on the railings at the football pitch, I like this image a lot because it is very carefree and casual, they aren't posed for the image, they were just playing and I took a photo. This image works because they are both doing the same thing at the same time, it wouldn't look as good if one of the girls was swinging back and the other forwards as it would just look messy in my opinion. 

My image uses a large depth of field because I wanted everything to be in focus. I wanted you to be able to see everything in the image, however I think that if I was to retake this image, I might try using a shallower depth of field as the background is all very similar.

These two images are similar as they both show the carefreeness of youth, both of the images are quite candid and aren't staged as this can be quite difficult when you're taking photographs of children because most children don't pose well for photographs. They are composed differently as in Parr's image the two children are standing in front of the camera, whilst in my image the two children aren't standing up, they are playing, and also they aren't facing the camera, they almost seem unaware of it.

Connecting Essay 5

This image is by Martin Parr and it shows an old woman who is drinking and eating, she looks quite sophisticated due to the way she is holding her drink very daintily and her nails are painted very nicely. She also looks quite rich due to the jewellery she is wearing and the sunglasses. I like how this image is composed because it is in a landscape orientation which shows the things she is holding rather than just her head and shoulders. Furthermore, the way this image is composed has very nice colours together, the yellows and pinks that most of this photograph is made up of all work together nicely.

This is my image and it is of my grandmother, I took this of her outside a church, however the church wasn't in service and there were a lot of people loitering outside, because of this the background doesn't look like a church. This could have been taken anywhere in Norwich, not just in a churchyard. 

The subject of the image is wearing quite bright colours which looks really good in contrast to the darker background, I think the colours work together well, this could show the contrast between young and old as well as most of the younger people in the image are wearing dark colours, most younger people aren't completely sure of their style so they tend to dress a lot more neutral, whilst older people care less and will wear whatever they feel comfortable in.

These two photographs are similar because they both show elderly people, furthermore, they are both framed similarly as the model is on the left side of the image and is looking to the left. 

Connecting Essay 3

This image is by Alec Soth of a young woman who is a swimmer. The image is quite formal, although it looks like he has just caught her, it is evident that the photo probably took some time to set up with the tripod and the settings on the camera, furthermore, the model is in a position that looks very posed, she is standing up straight looks away to the left, if this were a more casual image, she probably wouldn't look like that. 

The image is in the portrait orientation because it fits more of the model into the image, the background wasn't important to the image as we can see by it being out of focus, this means that Soth wanted to focus on the model rather than the location of the image so he used a small depth of field. In addition to the small depth of field, the model is only wearing a blue swimming hat in the image, this means that there is nothing in the image to really distract you away from her face, she isn't wearing any interesting jewellery so the model looks quite plain. Her face has makeup on it which is quite interesting as not many people wear makeup whilst they are swimming. 

This is my image which shows a teenage girl in London, I chose to take this image because I wanted to look at different people in different locations and I liked Brick Lane. My image looks quite formal because of the way I posed the subject, I decided that I wanted to use deadpan for my photograph because I think that it is easier to focus on different parts of the photo when the subject isn't showing any emotion. I let her wear whatever she wanted as I didn't want the photograph to be entirely staged so her normal clothes worked well for this image.

I chose to do it landscape orientation because I wanted to focus on the background as well as the model, this is evident by the fact that I chose to use a wide depth of field. I really like this image because the whole thing is in focus, some of my other images are slightly out of focus because I used manual focus and it just wan't perfect. 

My image is less staged than Alec Soth's because I didn't tell the model how to stand, I just told her to look into the lens with a straight face, whereas in his image, the model is standing very straight when she might not've been doing naturally. I think that the two are quite similar images but that there are very large differences, I decided that the background was important to the image so I focused on the background as well as the model, whilst he just focused on the girl as the background wasn't important to the image

In addition, my photograph has a lot more things to get distracted by, the model is wearing a bright red scarf on her body and her hair is down around her face, whereas in Soth's image, the model isn't wearing any clothes and her hair is in a hat so it isn't surrounding her face.

Connecting Essay 2

 

This image is by Chuck Close and it is a type of portraiture called a daguerreotype, this means that it was printed onto a sheet of silvered copper, it was a photographic technique used mainly in 1839-1860. So it is a very old technique that isn't used very often now a days. 

The image has quite high contrast, the background is completely black, whilst the models face is a very bright grey/white colour. In my opinion, I think that this looks good because we are able to see all of the face without being distracted by anything else in the image.

The depth of field used in this image is incredibly small, the prominent facial features are in focus but the neck and some of the hair isn't which is quite unusual. This means the viewer is focused only on the models face, rather than the clothes she is wearing or her jewellery. I love how this looks but personally I think it would be interesting to see everything in the image clearly.

My image has very high contrast, the lighting is very harsh on her left side whilst being very dark on her right side, in fact the light is reflecting off of the subjects face. In the studio the lighting wasn't as contrasted as this, I went onto photoshop to create an effect like this and I used curves to darken the dark parts and lighten up the light parts.

In this photograph I used a flash on one side so that side was lit up a lot and the other side wasn't as much.

I used a much larger depth of field because I think that it looks good to have a larger depth of field, it means that you can look at any of the subject and find something interesting, especially the hair.  Furthermore, it would be difficult to take a photograph like the one that Chuck Close took because my camera doesn't do a depth of field that small.

I chose to do this image in black and white because I think it made the face stand out more, when it was in colour, the subjects hair was quite distracting due to its colour and volume as she is ginger. However in black and white, the hair is still visible and you can see the lighter parts of the hair, although the facial features are definitely more eye-catching.

These two photographs are similar because they are both very similar portraits, both of them were taken in deadpan. In addition, they are both very close up images of the subject, where only their face and neck is visible. 

They are different due to the depth of field, Chuck Close's image has a very small depth of field and it focuses solely on the subjects face, whilst my camera focused on the entire image.

Connecting Essay 1

This is a photograph by Thomas Ruff, he has a series dedicated to deadpan portraiture, this is an early example of his work and it is a lot rougher than his later work. The lighting is slightly more darker and the facial features are casting a shadow on his face, for example his eyebrow bone is casting a shadow over his eye. This gives a slightly more negative connotation. In his later portraits, the lighting is hitting the subjects face on and there is much less shadow, like a passport photograph. If the lighting was hitting the subject of this image face on, he would look a lot happier, his eyes look angry.

The colours used in the photograph also affect the mood, the background is completely plain so that has neither negative or positive connotations. Although the clothing he is wearing is a quite bright yellow, yellow is a very happy colour that is linked to summer, so it gives us the impression that he is quite a positive person. Thomas Ruff's photography uses quite muted colours, it is not very saturated and the colours seem quite dull, even the bright yellow is muted to quite a dull point. The models skin is almost completely white, however this may just be his complexion.

The photograph was taken in a portrait orientation, it is very similar to a passport photograph, however rather than the image being printed out small, Thomas Ruff printed his images out at about 210cm x 165cm for studios, this means that they are in incredibly high detail, the audience can focus on specific parts of the image rather than the image overall. Although if they stand back they can also enjoy the image overall.

Thomas Ruff took his images in deadpan so that the viewer could project their own thoughts and feelings onto the viewer, he believed that if you let the camera do the job it does best, it will tell you nothing at all. This means that you don't know anything about the subject, they could be absolutely anyone, furthermore, due to the dullness of his photographs, the subjects are very forgettable. 

This is my photograph, I think it is similar to the image that Thomas Ruff photographed. The lighting is similar because it shines onto the face in such a way that it is almost all light, whilst there being a few parts of the face that are slightly obscured by the lighting, for example the left eye has some shadowing, as well as the left side of the nose

The colouring in mine is very neutral, the background is completely plain white, while the clothes the model's wearing are black so this could have a slightly negative connotation, however I just see it as a contrast between the dark and the light. Ruff's contrast in a different way where it is the happy yellow shirt contrasting with the negative lighting on the subjects face.

My image was taken in a landscape orientation, I decided to do this because I wanted to show the entire upper body, not just the head like Ruff's images, personally I think that this looks better as there isn't as much cut off, its not as close up as the image by Ruff. 

This image was taken in deadpan and I definitely think that this looks good, the model is showing absolutely no emotion which is good because although it looks simple, a lot of the subjects found it slightly difficult as it's hard to show absolutely no emotion. However this model managed to do it really well and it is very difficult to read how he feels.

Shoot Seven - Contact Sheet

Shoot Nine - Contact Sheet

Shoot Eight - Contact Sheet

Shoot Five - Work Diary

This shoot stretched over two different days, firstly, I went to a nearby park and took photographs of my mum's friends children, this turned out quite well and I got some good photographs, however I didn't think it was enough photos to make a complete shoot, so when I went to my grandmothers house, I took photographs of my cousins as well.

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/250

ISO: 100

This is my best photograph from the shoot because it shows childlike fun, it was a very cold day but they didn't really care and grabbed the metal bar anyway, whereas if it was me at my age, I wouldn't have done that, I want to stay warm. The contrast between children and adults is quite large, children are quite carefree whereas I always think about what I'm doing first. 

Aperture: 13

Shutter Speed: 1/8

ISO: 100

This photograph is probably my worst because it is so overexposed, it is way too bright because I tried to use a longer shutter speed and I didn't make the aperture smaller so too much light was let into the camera. Furthermore, the camera also seems to be slightly wonky which ruins the composition of the image

Progression:

If I was to reshoot this, I would like to use more subjects, I would also like to go to more locations as I think that it would be nice to get some more variety. 

Overall, I don't think that this shoot worked very well, I probably won't re-do it as I want to focus on teenagers and young adults more then children.

Gel Light Beauty Shoot - Image Bank

I really like this photograph because of the gel lighting, I think the subtlety of this can change the mood of the image in a small way, if this had no coloured lighting then it would be quite a boring photograph, but with the colour it is a lot more interesting, the blue lighting makes the photograph seem sadder. This is an excellent portrayal of how light can change the emotion behind an image, cold colours like blue bring a sadder emotion to an image, whilst red, orange, and pink bring happier emotions to a photograph.

This photograph is interesting because of the colour that the photographer has chosen to put over the girl, he could've chosen a red or pink colour which would be more fitting to the image, but instead they chose a blue/green colour. I think the reason for this might be to show a contrast, the blue lights reflecting off of her make her seem robotic. 

This photograph works really well, the gel lighting creates a very moody effect, the photograph looks very cold and sad, but with some rage behind it because of the red at the back. I also really like this photograph because of the black background, it is very dark but we can see some lights reflecting off of something in the background, this creates more mystery than it would if it was just plain black. It also makes the photograph more interesting to look at.

I like this image because of the lighting on it,  I think that the red lights make the image seem quite angry, this is because of the harshness of the lights, the image is very dark and the red seems to be the only thing lighting it up so that makes the red incredibly strong in this image.

Personal Project - image bank

This photograph doesn't especially show age and how it affects people, however I really like the deadpan expression in this photo, he looks very serious and we can't tell how he feels, I would like to use this style of portraiture in my photography because I think it looks a lot more serious and you aren't able to read into it as much, it also means that rather than completely focusing on the model, you might focus on the background a bit more, although this only works when I'm doing an on location shoot, rather than a studio shoot which is where a lot of my deadpan shoots have been so far.

I like this photograph because it shows the soldier when he doesn't know the camera is there. This photo was taken in the Vietnam war and it shows us how the soldiers were probably feeling, many soldiers don't feel bravery in a war, they are more likely to feel scared.

This image shows a man on a boat that is smoking, he looks like he's in his early twenties. Smoking used to be legal indoors so this was probably taken when it was still legal, the model looks very uncaring, he doesn't mind the camera being in his face. This photograph was probably showing the carelessness of youth.

This photograph shows innocence and grace, I really like how the photograph is slightly blurred as it makes it seem a lot softer and nicer. The reason for it being soft is the long exposure times, the models tend to slightly move which creates the soft blur, the artist wanted this effect because it seems sweeter and a lot of her photographs are showing youth and innocence.

This image is inspired by a piece of art called the birth of Venus, the way she is stood looks very un-natural and like she was told to stand this way, this image looks a lot more casual than her others, although it was probably more posed.

This is a photograph by Thomas Ruff, it shows a woman in a studio situation, the model is completely deadpan, she isn't showing any expression because Ruff didn't want his portraits to show emotion, I like this technique because it means that the audience can project their own feelings on to the model. 

This image of Michael Jackson looks very feminine, the way he is holding himself looks very gentle, in addition, he is wearing white which makes him look quite feminine as white is a colour that is associated with women, for example, wedding dresses are white. Furthermore, his hair is long which is seen as quite a feminine thing.

This image shows a teenage boy eating an ice lolly, he has a bright red face, so we can assume that it is a hot day. This photograph is composed so that we can see a lot of the background, this may be because the photographer wanted to show how bright it was so we have some understanding of how hot it was, however she also might've just taken the photograph candidly.

I like this image because of the lighting in it, the photographer has used gel lights for this photograph which have made the skin glow different colours like blue and slightly orange. The gradient of the lighting makes it seem warmer at the bottom and cold at the top as they are being shone in different directions. 

This photo is a very simplistic portrait of a teenage boy, it was taken by George Muncey, he used a small depth of field for this photo which means that the person is in focus but not the background, I think that this makes you think about your interpretations of youth as they don't look like a stereotypical teenager, they look a lot kinder.

This image shows a man who seems to be asleep on a rock, I think that the photographer might be trying to make him look dead as he is wearing quite dirty clothing, in addition to this, the rock is being used as a pillow, when this obviously wouldn't be uncomfortable, so could be showing the romanticisation of death.

This image shows two children eating ice cream at the beach. It was taken by Martin Parr, he over saturates his images and slightly over exposes them which creates this effect of very bright colours. His photographs are not often staged, in this photograph he may have told the children where to stand, however they are just acting like they usually would if there was no camera there, they are looking around, not very focused on the photographer.

This is a photograph of a man in an American prison, I think that this photograph shows how people can contrast themselves, he calls himself a preacher as we can see from his top, however he has obviously broken the law as we can see from the fact that he is in prison.

This image has very soft focus, similar to Julia Margaret-Cameron's photography, however it is a photograph of a teenage girl, whilst many of Cameron's images were of younger children. I like this image because it is very candid, we can see a slight bit of movement because the exposure time was probably quite long, which is why the photograph is also very over exposed.

I think that this photograph shows the stereotypes of youth well, the model is leaning against  the fence and he is wearing quite relaxed clothing, if he was wearing a suit in this photograph then we would not be thinking the same things about him, he is also quite aggressive looking because of his hair, he is a skinhead which has a lot of negative stereotypes due to neo-nazis that shaved their heads.

In addition, the pastel colours of the building behind him contrast heavily with the model and what he is wearing. it looks quite youthful and happy, whereas he isn't really showing this.

I like this photograph because of the lighting, it is very exposed, there is a lot of light on her face and she has barely any shadows on her face due to the flash. This could signify how people over-romanticise their teenage years, they only think about the light sides of it without taking into account the bad parts, they look back on it like it was the brightest time in their lives when really it probably had some dark parts as well.

I like the composition of this image, it is very centred, I also like the punctum of this image, it is very bright compared to the rest of the photo. The image is quite muted with whites and greys and light pinks, however in contrast the frame is incredibly bright and it attracts your eyes towards it. 

This photograph has great composition, the entire model is in the photograph and the way they are standing shows off the model planes really well. Furthermore, the clutter on the house makes it look very lived in, rather than a photograph taken in a studio, where we have no idea of the sort of place he lives in.

I like this photograph because of the composition, the model isn't exactly in the centre, he is off to the right a little bit, I think this looks better because of the rule of thirds, our eyes are focused more on the boys face because of its placing in the photograph, it is right about where the two lines meet going different ways on the rule of thirds.

This photograph shows a man with tattoos on his face, he looks quite aggressive, this shows us how the way people present themselves has an affect on our opinion of them. Without the tattoos, he wouldn't look odd at all, it would just be a boring portrait.

This image uses very high key lighting which gets rid of all of the shadows in the image, making the subject look quite 2D. Her hair is the only part of the image that has structure, everything else is quite washed out. I like the washed out effect because it brings all the attention to the glasses in the image, this is emphasised further by the fact that she isn't wearing a top and that the background is white. It makes the photograph seem very washed out.

This is a photograph by Chuck Close and it is of a Christian woman throwing a grenade, this is very unstereotypical because christian women are usually quite passive when they are portrayed in the media. I also like how the lighting is set out, the woman is standing in quite a dark area which could be seen as a portrayal of evil, although she is throwing the grenade into the light which makes it seem like she is giving up her religion in a way.

This image is of a woman who is presumably a swimmer, her portrait was taken outside as we can see from the background, however the photographer used a small depth of field for this image so that all of the focus is on the swimmer, not the background. She isn't wearing much clothing which makes the image quite plain, this attracts all the attention to the swimmers face as it has the most colour and is the most interesting thing of the portrait.

This image is a great portrayal of gel lighting, it shows a large contrast between hot and cold, the parts that are red are very bright, whilst the parts that are blue are quite dark, this could be portraying a change in emotions, for example from sad to angry.

This image is a portrayal of how age changes us, it shows the direct differences between the two as we are able to compare them side by side. This image took a very long time to make as it is made up of two photographs, one of them being when the woman was young, one when the woman was old.

This image is a lot more candid than a lot of the others, the photographer has only focused on the subjects face and the smoke, the rest of the image is quite blurry. Even the face isn't that in focus, which shows that he was probably moving quite a lot

This is a photograph of a skinhead woman, she is looking up at the camera, the natural lighting creates shadows on her face that give a negative connotation as she looks quite angry, there is quite a lot of shadowing on her face, as well as the eyeliner under her eye that makes them look very dark as well. Her hairstyle also gives a negative connotation as skinheads are often associated with neo-nazis, even if they aren't any more.

This photograph of Paul McCartney is by Linda McCartney, it is quite a candid photograph and shows how normal celebrities can be, it is a very interesting portrait because he isn't looking into the lens, although he is probably aware of it being there as it is so close to him. It looks very informal as he isn't dressed up, in addition, the background is very bright, although there is imperfections like the discolouration and the part that is black. 

This image is probably a polaroid photograph, we can tell this because it is so over exposed, the face looks very washed out as it is almost white, hover this could also be makeup because we can see some darker makeup on the bridge of the nose and the eyebrows. I like the contrast of black and white in this image. I also like the shadow that we can see behind the subject of this photograph as it makes the white look even brighter because it is almost against a black background.