Symmetrical image - wednesday 20th

we were set this brief on the wednesday by andy, we had to get into pairs and take face on portraits of one another in different locations such as the studio or outdoors. I was paired with sarah and we decided to go outside and take some shots in different natural light. I also wanted to use the studio to see what the different locations and lighting would do to the image and change the mood of it. As the studio was full we decided to take a trip down to the fire exit stair case which Andy told us had really good lighting, I struggled at first when trying to change my camera settings to fit the lighting but i feel that i have learnt a lot more about aperture and shutter-speed and how it works.

Once I had taken the photographs on the staircase i uploaded my chosen photograph from the staircase to photoshop to brighten to image I then used the marque tool to select half of the image 

I then selected the feather tool and selected the feather radius to 44 pixels

Then I went onto edit - transform - flip horizontal














After that I copied the image and made it into one single layer














This is the overall outcome of the left side

This is the overall outcome of the right side

I enjoyed this excersize and feel it has helped me to understand how to use photoshop more quicker and easier , as you can see I  have screen shots of how I edited and flipped the images I felt that this would help me in the future to look back and be able to do it again.

CD cover - wednesday 13th

For today brief we had to think of our favourite song and try to take a photograph which would be used to design a cd cover for that particular song , I initially struggled with this task as I had thought of too many songs , eventually i came up with the song: Photosynthesis by the artist Frank Turner . 

This is the original CD cover for the song, which is basically a clip from the video. I wanted to steer away from this and wanted to try something more simplistic which had more symbolic meaning towards the song. 

The first idea that came into my head was to use some kind of clock to use within the image, so i decided to take a look around the bargain shops on the high street, I found a timer which was in the style of an old fashioned alarm clock , I thought this was perfect . I wanted to show that the song was about growing up, as it is , and how his life is one big timer and eventually it will go off and it will end. Here is the photograph of the clock I used.

As well as having the clock within the photograph I wanted to include the idea of photosynthesis, by adding some sort of natural plant, so I walked around Blackburn and photographed the clock in different natural landscapes, such as on the grass, near leaves, and on tree branches, I think the most effective was the tree branch. Here is the contact sheet of the entire photo shoot to give you an idea of the sort of photographs I took. 

After taking a series of photographs I decided that my most favourite and suitable photographs for the song i choose where the photographs with the branches. Here is the photograph that I choose to develop for my final design. 

I choose this photograph because I felt although it fit the brief and showed the meaning of the song clearly but doesn't overcomplicate it. The depth of field on the image is effective and takes the viewers eye away from the background and makes you focus more on the clock/timer on the trees branch.

I also like how the background is out of focus because of the pattern it creates. I developed and edited the image on photoshop CS5 , I only wanted to edit it slightly as I feel as though the meaning would be taken away if I changed it too much. 

I started by cropping the image to fit the Cd size I then resized the image to 12cm by 12cm which looked like this: 

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I then decided to change the colour of the image to make it fit the whole theme of plants and photosynthesis, so i changed the colour and make it into a sepia tone. I destaturated the image then changed the colour by using the colour balance tool. To make the colours come out stronger I used auto tone. 

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This is the look that i wanted for the cover of my chosen song, next i had to add the text to complete my design. I decided to choose a text which was similar to the text on Frank Turners other albums, I resized the text to fit the image.  

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This is my final image , I am pleased with the final outcome but could possible think about changing the colour of the texts so its clearer the see but other than that I am happy with the image and feel as though it shows what i wanted the image to show about the song and the artist. 

weekly picture project 3 - Pattern - tuesday 5th

For this weeks WPP the brief was pattern , I took a range of shots from old built environments to new to see how different the use of pattern was within the construction, above are my chosen images which i preferred , they are the newer buildings, i feel as though the images fit the brief more as the pattern is more precise and less random. 

Here are the photographs of the old buildings 

Weekly picture project 2-unusual everyday

This is one of my photographs for the 2nd weekly picture project , i took these in Blackburn city centre and for me it was alot easier to find something that looked unusual in Blakcburn because its not my home town. The left image i tried to use a viewpoint which would make the women look as though she's in the bin to symbolise the sign on the bin. the colours i have captured and put together are the same and make the image look as though its one rather than two separate ones.

induction/diagnostic project

Through  detailed research looking at still life and advertising photography I found two very different photographs, one photograph by Jim Goldberg a photographer who documented a lot of his travels , his image is simply a document of weapons which where confiscated going through customs placed in a draw. The other photograph is by David la chapelle a well known fashion photographer who is well known for his vibrant , surreal and humorous photographs, the photograph I have chosen of chappelles is an advert for 'skky vodka'. 

I choose this image because I found the composition interesting, and found that the use of framing with the sky scraper buildings worked very well with the product. I found that the image focuses  on the iconic blue bottle and try to draw peoples attention to the striking colour palette.I think that the shadows from the cocktail glasses contrast with the brightness of the image. 

I came across this image whilst looking on the website www.magnumphotos.com which is a research resource that I found is very useful. The image caught my eye simply because of the interesting Birdseye viewpoint the photographer has used and it automatically generated ideas which related to this image in some way. I like how the photograph just happened and how it hasn’t been posed in anyway, the purpose of the image was to document an event rather than advertise a product to an audience. 

The idea for my own photograph through inspiration of this image was to take photographs of other peoples belongings inside their draws, as well as my own and document peoples belongings and see how others organise themselves as I believe that you can tell a persons personality and how they are by looking inside their draws as it tells a story about them, I think this would be an interesting photo shoot and I have tried it out around my house. 

The above image is from a draw in the study/spare bedroom and I feel as though this image really captures that clearly from just looking at it. I think that the image isn't the best quality and hasn't got the best composition of framing but it tells a story in similar ways that Goldberg’s photographs do. From this image I can see clearly that the person isn't very organised and is very random.

other photographs taken: my bedroom 

The kitchen 

After researching  and comparing the two different styles of photographing objects I have found that  they are similar in the ways that both the images make you think about the concept and why it has been taken , as the sky adverts have a storytelling technique behing the images Goldbergs image also tells a story and makes you think about why he might of taken the photograph and for what purpose. Although both styles of photographing an image have simularities they also have different purposes , for example the sky  adverts are designed to engange and invite consumers wheras Goldbergs image  has been taken to document an event/information for people to see. 

word count : 502

studio lighting workshop

for the studio lighting workshop i brought in a perfume bottle for my 'object' as i felt it would be interesting lighting glass with all the shadows you can create, i also used jess's ipod and found that the object wasnt as interesting to light as you would either get a flat image with no shadow or just a streek of light (shadow) through the middle. heres a few images i took.

these images are different viewpoints i tried to use:

we changed where the light was and moved it so it was underneath the perfume bottle , we also added a pink filter to create a 'perfume advert' effect : 

this image showed too much shadow and created this effect,

it takes over the image and changes the whole dainty feminine appeal 

and makes it a darker image 

this was the overall effect of the pink filter , i think it works well with the object 

and creates nice shadows

here are some of the ipod photographs that i took , again i tried different viewpioints to see how it changed the image and its shadows. we started off with two lights and then removed one to create to different effects , these are the images with two lights :

there are no shadows on either image

here are the images with just one light, look at how they are different 

the light gives the image a cold effect, with strong shadows behind and underneath the object , 

rather than it being a flat image of an ipod. 

Equipment in the studio which we looked at was:

Barn doors - a modifier for the flash heads  which spread the light around the room , you can add different colored gels which can add different effects , i used a pink colored gel to try and create a feminine look for the perfume. 

Polyboards- big polystyrene boards , one which is colored black to absorb light and the other is white to reflect the light. 

Soft box- a modifier which creates a soft even light 

weekly picture project 1 - presentation of self in everyday life

this was my interpretation of the first weekly picture project, i felt like it represented me the most , the image shows that i want to grow up and get a good job but i also still have the child within me , i felt like others would be able to relate to this image as well as myself . I feel as though the message comes across clearer because i have used a series of images rather than just the one.