Saturday, December 22, 2012

Thematic Project




Thematic Project Images


1.1
"Poppy"

42mm, f/5, ISO 400, flash, hand held










1.2
"Piano" 
50mm,  f/5.6, ISO 400, no flash, hand held.















1.3
"Daughter"
 39mm, f/5, ISO 400, flash, tripod














1.4
"Little Chicken"

 41mm, f/ 5, ISO 100, no flash, hand held





1.5
"Meet me at the 5 ways"
20mm , f/ 4, ISO 1600 tripod no flash











1.6
"Fridge"
36mm, f/ 4.5, ISO 1600, no flash, hand held

















1.7
"Beyond Metal"

41mm, f/5,  ISO 100,
no flash,  hand held











1.8
"The Zoo"
70mm, f/ 4, ISO 1600, no flash, hand held



















1.9
"Prince Ring"
27mm,  f/4, ISO 1600,  no flash, tripod
















1.10
"Annie"
39mm, , fstop-5, ISO 100, hand held. 













1.11
"Milly"

 41mm, f/ 6.3, ISO 400, no flash, hand held.




















1.12
"Leaving"

55mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, no flash, hand held











Project Summary

Equipment used:
Cannon 650D DSLR with 18-55mm lens and 55-250mm lens.
Tripod
Costumes
Makeup
Props and animals

The location is Burringbar in rural Far Northern NSW. Some shots were selected outdoor locations and some indoors in different rooms on a 200 hectare farm.

Technical aspects of this work included a structured plan incorporating a rough gauge of what was expected at certain times of the day with regards to lighting. An 8.30am start on a day anticipating weather ranging across sunny and overcast to capture different natural lighting symphonies over the subject. A wet weather plan in place was timely for indoor shots in the dark country house, mostly without the use of a flash in order to capture shadows for mood. We had booked the shoot for the day prior but we were rained out.

Project rationale:  
Journalistic portraiture of a musician

Music is an art form. I believe music to be similar to visual arts and though audible, it escapes from the creator into the invisible medium of space thus creating form. The notes created by musical instruments are measured and patterned just as a brush colours paper or other medium for the purpose of conveying expression.
 I find every artist fascinating because creation embodies a part of the creator for the audient to read into them.

I found a multi talented vocalist, piano player and guitarist who lives with animals and agriculture. Her name is Claudia.

Technical and Artistic Aspects of this work:

Each photograph is staged.
Balancing the aperture, ISO and shutter speed required memory and knowledge from previous tasks and I was determined to be able to set the camera up in the time allowed throughout the day as I had structured a limit for each creative idea. More time was spent on some ideas such as the cow “Annie” and less on others such as the “Daughter” shot.
The fabric of one the dresses was chosen for my idea of bringing out texture in a composition. “A sense of touch can be given in a photograph by capturing texture” Hedgecoe, J (2006) p. 37. I was able to manipulate the image to bring out the texture further in Photoshop by using colour level adjustments.

Critique:

I used Photoshop to achieve B/W for some shots, The piano shot 1.2 contains dark shadows. “Look for strong interesting shadows, the shadows themselves may create a hard line between darkness and light” Davis, H, (2010).  The metal chicken shots 1.4 & 1.7 also contains heavy shadowing around the face and eyes and was effective in both monochrome and colour.  My technical concentration for this work encompassed lighting with a focus on shadows. I also used the idea of shadows in the guitar shots 1.5 & 1.9 opting for natural lighting. This was the main concentration which made the photo shoot of my subject more difficult and time consuming than expected.

My compositional rationale is thinking in thirds though sometimes a dominant mass is all that is required to concentrate on to make the pictures interesting to me.  I ask myself about the harmony of lighting and colour and if the final composition will be black and white or a colour image and choose my settings based on the expected outcome though it did not always work as I anticipated.
I opted for fairly standard angles, I focused on exposure to create a feeling about the subject.

I have mixed colour and black and white for my project. Wake Evans said “colour photography is vulgar” Kim, E (2012).  Kim states “a project is more powerful when kept all black and white or all colour.” However I note that often family photos are displayed on walls and also some gallery exhibitions use both types of compositions.

In my colour work depending on the feel of the project, I sometimes like to use ‘vibrance’ in photoshop. This brings the colours out and I can control the saturation so that its use isn’t detectable to the untrained eye. CSI Miami is a television show that uses vibrance filter platforms. The colour management and cinematography, it is excellent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2UvKPQjznE

Here is a thread from cinematographers discussing how to get the colour: http://community.avid.com/forums/p/107225/621115.aspx

Eran Gilat’s  ‘Sublet Project‘ ‘untitled’ work of the fully clothed man and nude pregnant woman in the room is what some of my work is inspired from. The use of natural light in the room is excellent and although there is a vast space of exposure in the window it does not detract attention from the story of the couple. http://www.erangilat.com/large-multi-view/single/1460391-0-/Photography.html
The entire series of portraits (except the last one where the room light can be seen on the ceiling) uses natural lighting indoors.
It is here that the theory that the eye notices firstly a vast mass of light first and then what ever is in focus is challenged. In the works aforementioned I note the images of the subjects rather than the mass of light leading me to break such a rule. I have achieved this in shot 1.5 and I am happy with its outcome.

 In most of the colour shots I chose backgrounds that enhanced the colour of my subjects eyes, the deep rich browns were chosen as they blended and created a similarity and likeness in the image.



I have concentrated on capturing the expression and way of life of my subject. John Hedgecoe (2006) states, “When taking pictures of people composition and lighting is not enough, he or she makes or breaks the picture by their expression and pose”.  I have chosen for a certain expression in my subject therefore to portray what I am saying about her rather than the usual smiling shots seen in family photographs. I chose the style with an idea for use as an article or story in a magazine such as Dolly magazine aimed at younger women selling Claudia as a musician and academic role model in todays world. 












References:

Davis, H (2010) Creative Black and White, Wiley Publishing Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.14-129

Kim, E (2012) ‘Eric Kim Street Photography’
28/12/2012

Bennett, L (2012) ‘Fine Art Photography and Digital Imagery’
31/12/2012

Gilat, E (2012) 'Sublet Project'
12/1/2013

Hedgecoe, J (2006) ‘The Art of Digital Photography’ DK Publishing, New York, pp 37-84




Bibliography: 

Kelby, S (2012) 'The Digital Photography Book Vol 4' Peachpit Press, USA, pp 16-221

Briot, A (2009) “Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity and Personal Style’
16/12/2012





Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)