Hastings Trip

Strange Environments

Equipment List: Strange Environments

• Tripod
• DSLR
• Film SLR
• Fish-eye adapter
• Polarizing filter
• Neautral density filter
• Lens Cloth

Preparations for location shoot

Firstly, I went to observe the locations prior to when I went out to actyually shoot. I looked for interesting objects and places within the environments that I could photograph in interesting ways, or by using interesting angles. I also worked out what equipment I would need to bring to use in my shoots. For example I made sure I had a tripod and a polarizer at all times, secondly I brought along a neautral density filter and a fish eye adapter on the later shoots. For health and safety, I brought waterproof clothing, ensuring that I would not get hurt or damage any equipment when shooting.

Plan for Strange Environment Shoot:

 Location Photographers Research

The first photographer I looked at was Peter Fraser. I looked at a project named '12 Day Journey'. I chose this photographer because of his surreal images, which are created by using strong lines, repetition and negative space. I therefore decided that I would like to reflect these qualitys in my own work and suggest rather than show. Here are some images by Peter Fraser that I like:

This first image depicts a group of cows, this image is made interesting by the way the image was taken through a hedge, this frames the image and gives it another depth. Furthermore the simple blocks of sky and grass give this image a simple background with an abstract foreground and focal point. Furthermore Fraser has used quite a shallow depth of field to ensure the that the hedge in the foreground is not completely in focus and suggests a bit of distortion wheras the field with the cows in, is in focus.

 

This image simply depicts a pathway. This image is made interesting by the use of negative space and the way that the natural environment leads into the centre of the image. Furthermore the framing of the more dense bush on the left and the shadows that fall onto the path, give the image a sense of unbalance. This is also enhanced by Fraser placing the horizon two thirds of the way up the image.

The second photographer is called Sian Bonnell, Bonnell focuses on normal, mundane household objects in strange environments, or environments that contrast the objects dramatically, here are some images by Sian Bonnell:

I chose these images because they are very simple, but have a strong impact. The first image for example depicts jelly moulds and cakes stacked on top of each other in a natural landscape. This is slightly odd or abstract to what is seen as normal. This therefore gives an atmosphere and makes you ask questions and think about the image. Bonnell uses very wide apertures to ensure a short depth of field which means that the objects are in focus whilst the background is not, therefore keeping the attention focussed on the objects.

This second image is also quite bizarre and unusual, the image uses bread and ham, placed in a kitchen in an extremely wierd way, this unusual image seems really out of place and also suggests an element of mystery. This image also works because the  use of three seperate objects in a series which is even and balanced and is kept the main focal point by the blue wall behind, which brings out the colours and tones of the bread and the ham.

The third photographer im looking at is Rut Blees Luxemburg, Rut Blees focuses on night photography, night photography in itself suggests an environment which is completely different and surreal compared to photography in the day. Rut Blees manages to captures Urban Environments when there most quiet and still, by using long exposures in photographs you can obtain a completely surreal and powerful image.

Finals: Strange Environment

These images are my outcome from the Strange Environment project, The first is a digital image and the two below are both shot with 35mm film.

For this first image, I decided to produce a seascape. To produce this image, I used a long exposure to blur the movement of the water and the clouds

Colour Explosion Project : Urban Decay

Location Health & Safety: Street Photography

Firstly, when taking pictures in an urban environment, you must be careful of moving cars and vehicles, especially when crossing roads or taking photos in places that may be dangerous. Secondly when asking strangers for permission to photograph them, only approach someone when you’re with another person. Also be polite and explain that it is for a college project and that they do not have to participate if they do not want to. Another point is that you should ask when taking photos in shops or cafes, as some places do not allow or want their shops to photographed or documented.

Useful SLR camera techniques for street photography

Firstly when photographing an urban environment, a small aperture is always good. An aperture from F22 and above will ensure that your image will have a very large depth of field, ensuring everything is in focus. Secondly, using fast shutter speeds ensures you can capture movement in a crisp clean way. However experimenting with slower shutter speeds can also be successful, when using a shutter speed of anything below 1/60 of a second use a tripod to remove the possibility of camera shake. When using a tripod you can try different techniques, simply by zooming from the widest focal length of your camera to the shortest photo length during the exposure of the image, can create some interesting effects. Finally when shooting portrait images, use a fast shutter speed, once again to avoid camera shake and ensure that the image you take is crisp and still. However, experiment with wide apertures so as to gain a shallow depth of field, helping the person looking at the image to focus on the subject and not the background.

Difference between Editorials and Advertorial

Firstly, an editorial is an article written by a member of staff from a newspaper or magazine. An editorial presents an opinion whereas an advertorial simply advertises something and are subject to bias and favouritism to therefore sell the product or place, e.g. Travel brochures.

Travel Advertorial Review

The advertorial I am looking at is about Singapore, this feature basis the article around the culture, most obviously around food due to the metaphor used as the title. The title is “Tantalise your senses with a taste of Singapore”. This suggests that Singapore has a rich culture, that Singapore has an atmosphere that excites all of your senses. This is reinforced by the images shown of firstly food, street markets and finally a wide shot of the city of Singapore at night. The images slowly lead down from the title, and the suggestion of incredible food and culture, to the image of the city which slowly opens the readers mind to more than just the senses inferred in the title. Furthermore the text in this article has been positioned on the left, the block of text is small enough too not seem too overbearing to the rest of the article. Another point about how the images flow with the text is how the text box flows into the background for some of the buildings in the cityscape image, helping your eye move easily from text to image and vice versa. In terms of colours, the background to the article gradually blends into a darker colour from the sky of cityscape image into a darker blue. The word “Singapore” is pale red which stands out from the background, ensuring that the article is both eye catching and obvious what the articles is about. Finally the overall layout and presentation is very clean, contemporary and rich in colours. This then reflects the city that is being advertised which helps sell the city to the people reading the article. Also the article doesn't give too much away, the article gives you the facts and entices you to read more and enquire further.

Here are my final Images for this street photography project.

Landscape Project

For this project I decided to photograph both natural landscapes as well as photographing urban environments. Firstly here is one of my final outcomes for this project. I chose this image because it represents a natural environment which is quite interesting. To take this picture I used a slow shutter speed to capture the movement of the water as a blur. This effect resembles mist or smoke, but in a very controlled way. This effect is also successful because it is not possible to see such an effect with the human eye, which makes it a lot more interesting.

However, I am not completely satisfied with this image, as I believe that the waterfall could have been framed better, I also believe that I should have used a slightly smaller aperture to ensure the whole image was in focus.

To edit this image I simply boosted the saturation slightly to bring out the vibrant greens in the image and adjusted the levels slightly to gain a subtle contrast in the rocks surrounding the water. 

This second image is one of a more urban landscape. I took this image from a bridge over a train station, I used a reasonably slow shutter speed to capture the lights, both from the moving train and also the surrounding lights of the station. I chose this image because it is very balanced and almost symmetrical. Furthermore I like the use of negative space at the top of the image, however this space could have been used more imaginatively. I decided to photograph this at night as I believe that it would not have been as successful if taken in the day. Firstly because of the light trails I managed to capture but secondly because of the strong atmosphere which can be achieved by photographing urban landscapes at night. 

To edit this image I simple edited the curves, to bring out the reds and oranges in the image. Finally I would've once again liked to have used a higher aperture to gain a longer depth of field to ensure everything was in focus, however this may just be camera shake as I did not use a tripod, I simply rested by camera on the bridge itself.

Finally I also took this image at night. This image was taken in a park at night, so a cross between a more natural landscape set in an urban environment. I chose this image because of the surreal nature of the image itself. To capture this I used a long shutter speed, this captured the light pollution in the sky, therefore giving the image a strong orange glow, which can not be seen as vividly with the human eye. 

Finally I am not that pleased with the outcome of this image although I believe it could be developed through further shoots.

In evaluation, I believe the ideas I had worked to an extent, but need fine tuning to create a strong positive outcome. I also believe that I needed to spend a lot more time deciding the right settings for my camera and I would like to re shoot this images with a tripod, as none of the above were taken with a tripod which distressed the final quality which I think is important. 

Below are some extra images I took for this landscape project.

Motion Project

Below are some of the images that I have taken to represent motion. I chose four photos, one using a fast shutter speed, two using a slow shutter speed and a fourth image using an experimental shutter speed. For my slow shutter speed images, I chose to take them at night, here are the two images I chose to represent a slow shutter speed.

For this image I used a tripod, I set my cameras ISO to 200. I put the shutter speed to about 8 seconds and the aperture to around F8.  I took this picture at around 10 o'clock which meant that there was not too much blue left in the sky, which meant a really strong contrast between the street and the sky. I used a passing car to create the beam of light in this image, to do this I started the exposure before the car came into shot, but timed it right so as the car had just gone out of shot the shutter closed. The light is quite thick and bright, this is because the car went quite slowly enabling a strong light trail to be left. I am very pleased with the outcome of this image as it does not seem to busy and overcomplicated which can become an issue when capturing light trails or drawing with light.

This image below is of a block of flats, for this image I also used a tripod to capture the image. However instead of using a shutter speed of around 8 seconds, I increased the shutter speed to around 15 seconds, I then increased the aperture to compensate for the longer shutter speed.

The results of using longer shutter speeds results in a much softer, more detailed and more colourful. I chose this image because I really like the colours that are apparent that you would not be able to see in real life. Furthermore I really like the structural element of this image which helps lead the viewers eye to the blurred movement of the clouds.

This image below is the image I chose to represent a fast shutter speed. For this image I used the camera on shutter priority and used a shutter speed of around 1/500 of a second, with the ISO set to 400.

The results of this means I managed to capture a wave in motion, by using a faster shutter speed you can also gain a lot of detail in an image. I am happy with this image because it is extremely simple but quite dramatic. However I believe that if the wave was bigger or I could have got closer to the wave the image could have been a lot stronger.

This Final image also represents a slow shutter speed, however this time the shutter speed used was considerably longer. For this image I used a shutter speed of around 30 seconds, an ISO of 200 and the aperture was set to F4.

To take this image I did not use a tripod, instead I rested my camera on a table, facing upwards towards the sky. I took this picture at around midnight, meaning the only light source was from street lights. Thus the reason for the orange glow in this picture. Furthermore I am very happy with this image as I managed to capture the movement of the clouds, which blurred due to the long shutter speed, whilst also capturing the stars, not in great detail but enough to add another dimension to the image. I did not have any preconceptions of this image, I was simply experimenting with extremely long shutter speeds. This image however is around the third attempt at capturing this shot as the clouds sometimes covered the entire backdrop of sky.

In evaluation, overall, I am pleased with the outcome of this project. However I wish to extend my experience with faster speeds and look for more interesting things or places to photograph, Furthermore I would also like to experiment further with slower shutter speeds on both film and digital cameras.

Enrichment: Brighton

Here is a short summary on our visit to Brighton Art Gallery, we observed the photographs that had documented Brighton from the early 1900's until the present.  

Firstly I found the use of film very interesting, as there is a certain depth and character with film that you cannot achieve with using digital cameras. Furthermore I found the quirkiness of the image very inspiring. For example images depicting a group of men lined up next to their penny farthings, which today seems ridiculous, but the effect from that era is extremely effective today. I also found the representation of Brighton from another persons viewpoint very interesting, as people from the early fifties and onwards would see Brighton differently to the way people do now, which is reflected in their photography.

The exhibition used many interesting ways of presenting images, one way was by mounting cut out circles of  images of Brighton sky and mounting them on clear plastic perspex. Another way they presented images was once again by cropping other images of people, protests into circles and mounting them in small circular frames. This set of about eight different images all had a different coloured frame, the colours of these frames represent the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement. These colours appear on the rainbow flag which represents diversity, which is extremely important and apparent in Brighton's culture.

Below is my final outcome to this shoot. Firstly I chose this image because it represents a very stereotypical image of the seaside. However I believe that this image is more nostalgic than stereotypical and represents a much earlier decade. To achieve this effect I edited the image to make it look much older and more like it had been taken on a film camera.

 I did this by editing the curves slightly, to bring out the reds and the greens. I then desaturated the whole image, this takes out some of the colour adding a much more dated look. Next I added a filter which creates noise, which basically gives the photo a grainy effect that would normally have been achieved with a film camera by using film of around ISO 800. Finally I edited the levels to bring out the contrasts and make this image much more powerful. When shooting this image I used a shutter speed of around 1/30 to capture the movement of the object and managed to avoid camera shake, even though I wasn't using a tripod. Overall I am happy with the final outcomes of this shoot and I believe it represents and reflects Brighton and has clearly been inspired by the photographs displayed at the Brighton Art Gallery I visited.