Colour

Colour

Definitions

Colour

- The property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light.

Saturated Colour

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 When color is fully saturated, the color is considered in its purest version. Primary colors red, blue and yellow are considered truest version color as they are fully saturated.

This is an example of a photo that uses saturated colour.

Muted Colour - Any highly saturated colour with a tint, tone or shade to make it less bright and more subdued.

This is an example of a photo that uses muted colour.

Analogous - Colours that are adjacent (next to) to each other on the colour wheel. 

Complementary - Colours that are opposite from each other on the colour wheel. 

Theory

Different colours can have different connotations depending on where and how they are used.

Red - passion, love, strength and anger

Orange - energetic, pleasant, movement

Yellow - warm, cheerful, bright, lively

Green - friendly, calming, neutral, jealousy, envy

Blue - Isolated, peaceful, cool, calm

Purple - spiritual, creative, calming, magic

Analysis of photography

This is an image by Nadav kander. Most of his photography uses muted colours. I really like this specific photo because it immediately makes you feel slightly cool and calm. There is a slight hint of pink and green within the womans clothing however a dull tone has been placed over the top to make it more subdued. This could be the photographer trying to represent that not all brighter colours need to stand out. His images create a slightly calming atmosphere. 

This is a photo of Britney Spears that has been taken by David LaChapelle. This particular photo has a lot of saturated colours. I believe the yellow stands out a lot in the image. I feel as though the photographer is trying to portray a summery atmosphere and he has subtly incorporated things that are typically American. He is representing the singers background and where she was born. 

Artist Research

The artist I have looked at is Robert Cartwright. Cartwright is a professional wedding and corporate photographer however he has a passion for street art which he incorporates into a lot of his photography. He is based in London so many of his images are taken in the city.

I really like the first image that I have looked at. This is the image of the water dripping down the window. The objects beyond the window are all out of focus and I feel as though this draws you in because you aren't completely sure what it is. The colour red is generally a saturated colour but the water dashing down the window makes the colour fade slightly. This is very intriguing because your eyes are drawn to that area of the photo. I feel as though the fact that the bright colours are still standing out even in the dull and dingy weather could be trying to imply that people should not let things bring them down and they should continue to stay strong throughout harder times. I have also looked at the image of the many lights. This darkened background makes the bright lights stand out even more which draws you into the colours that the photographer has created within the photo. I think that the fact that he chose to use so many different lights, moving in so many different directions could represent a busy city like London where his photography is based. the darkened background shows that although it is night time the city is still alive and many people and vehicles still move constantly. From looking at Cartwrights photos, overall I think he likes to use darker backgrounds to make the colours pop and stand out. I would like to recreate this within my photography by taking photos at night. Also I would like to incorporate a skill in photoshop called 'colour popping'. This will emphasise the colour that I have within the photos I will take. Finally by using a long shutter speed on the camera I can recreate the final image I looked at of all of the lights. 

Image bank 

The images above are a selection of photos I have gathered from google. They all represent the formal element of colour and each of them have specific parts that I would like to incorporate into my own photography. For example I would like to use the colour pop effect. I particularly like this because it focuses your attention on a specific element of colour in a photo. These images have a mixture of saturated and muted colour within them, I would like to take a similar approach when taking my photos. 

Contact Sheet

The intentions for my shoot were to focus specifically on light painting. Although the photographer I have focused on only takes a few photos based on light painting I wanted to experiment with this technique and adapt my ideas. Some of the photos were unsuccessful because there was some background lighting that made the background visible. This took away from the effect of the light painting. Also it was hard to create some of the shapes that I wanted to however to overcome this I tried the different shapes more than once to get the correct composition. The photos that were taken in the studio were more effective than the photos I took outside because I had full control over the lighting of the photo. Some shots were very effective because I incorporated more than one coloured light which made the photos a lot more eye catching. I would also like to adapt my own responses to my photographer and complete one or two more photo shoots focusing on other elements of Peter Cartwrights photography. I have annotated my contact sheet by ticking the images I feel initially look successful and I have crossed the images I feel were not as successful. I also made small labels on some of the photos as to why I crossed or ticked them.

My Best Images (first photo shoot)

For my first shoot the first two images that I chose as my best were created in the studio. I liked these photos in comparison to the other ones that I created at home because I used different coloured paper to place over the flashlight on mobile phones. This created the different colours which I love because it draws your eyes to disorganised spirals that have been created. When looking at editing these images I may adjust the brightness and contrast however I do not feel as though they need to be strongly edited because the photo is very good quality within itself. 

In reference to my image of the angel wings I feel as though this contrasts the photos that I took in the studio because the composition is very simple and the frame is not overcrowded. I feel as though this highlights the light painting which is what i wanted to portray. This image was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds. This was because the people moving the flashlights had to have enough time to create the shape and the camera had to capture this shape fully. I believe the unsuccessful thing about this image is quite zoomed out so I would like to crop this when editing it to get rid of some of the negative space that is not needed. 

Image that require improvement  (first photo shoot)

I have selected the above images as images that I believe need to be improved.  The ideas I had for creating the first image was a heartbeat. Firstly I do not think that the composition was correct within the photo. I would have liked the photo to be more zoomed in on the light pairing rather than including the background that surrounded it. I was not able to achieve this because the camera was searching for a focus point and it could not find one as it was dark. Once I noticed this issue I changed the camera to manual mode. I also believe that the camera was not on a high enough shutter speed. I took these images on a shutter speed of 4. This was not enough time for the camera to capture all of the light that I wanted it to.

For the second image I feel like it lacked colour and excitement. I only used one light in this photo and I think this looks slightly boring. I do not think this focuses heavily on colour or resembles Peter Cartwrights photography because his light painting incorporates a lot of different colours and patterns. If I were to reshoot these images again I would use a tripod. This would allow me to adjust the shutter speed to a larger number without the photo becoming blurry or out of focus. I would also try to incorporate more coloured lights into my photos to make them more interesting to look at.

Contact Sheet (second photo shoot) - 2nd Nov 

I have added this shoot in at a later date because once looking at my final series of images I did not feel as though I had enough photos for a strong series of photos. My intentions for this shoot were to complete a small scale shoot which was specifically based on the movement of cars. This is because the images that I have already created are all due to the way people have moved in relation to the shapes created so I wanted to show some natural light painting that has been created by moving vehicles. 

My best images (second photo shoot)

For my second shoot I have only selected one image that I feel have been successful. This is because the shoot was very small and it was based on one specific thing so the photos are roughly the same. When selecting these images I based it on composition, camera quality and how clear the line are that have been created. For the first of my best images I used a shutter speed of 10 seconds. This resulted in the camera capturing more light and this made the road visible which I felt was quite effective as it allows people to understand what they are looking at and people can make a connection between the image and movement of vehicles. In contrast the second image was taken with a shutter speed of 8 seconds. This meant that not as much light was let into the camera but I also liked this because it gave a sense of mystery as people may not realise what the lights actually are. I really like these images because they use a saturated colour (red) which really draws your eyes into the image. Also the fact that the red really stands out could represent danger or anger. These images can have many connotations and this is why I like them so much.

Contact Sheet (third photo shoot)

My intentions for this shoot were to create a series of photos that had saturated colours within them. I also wanted to make the flowers the focal point and express the colours within them. I have annotated my contact sheet by ticking the images I feel initially look successful and I have crossed the images I feel were not as successful. I also made small labels on some of the photos as to why I crossed or ticked them.

My best images (third photo shoot)

For my image of the very close up rose I focused in on the individual flower to try to portray the small, intricate details that are created within the flower. I was inspired to look at this individual flower from Rober Cartwrights photo of a lady with a flower in her hair. The saturated colour of red makes this the focal point of the image. I really liked this and therefore decided to expand on this idea of looking at the flower within colours. I will also crop this image to draw your attention deeper into the flower.

My photograph I have taken of the bouquet of flowers is quite different to the other images that I have selected. This photo focuses on the effect that the flowers have when they are altogether. I really liked this because it gives you a lot of things to look at. Also there are complimentary colours within the photo (pink and green) which draws your eyes into the image. I would like to edit this image by using the curves and brightness and contrast tools to enhance the colours within the photo. This is because the photo was shot in unnatural lighting so it was hard to fully capture the colours within the flowers.

The photos that I took of the dying flowers were very effective because the fine detail of the crisp petals was shown very clearly. My inspiration for these images came from my image bank because I really liked the photo of the dying flower that has darker and more muted colours in comparison the Robert Cartwright's image of a healthy flower that uses bright, saturated colours. I found this very interesting to look at and wanted to show the comparison within my photos.

I decided to take one image of a bunch of flowers which are very healthy and another of the same kind of flower but dying. This is because I have tried to show to contrast in the deteriorated petals compared to the bright and saturated coloured petals. In the second image there is unnecessary background however I feel as though the detail within the flowers is very good so I would like to edit this in photoshop and make it look like a professional image. 

Images that require improvement (third photo shoot)

The images above are the photos that I have chosen as needing improvement. Firstly for the image of the boquet I do not feel as though the photo has the correct composition.  When taking the photo I did not have access to natural light therefore some of the flowers looked slightly darker and more dull. I believe that to overcome this I could have taken the photo in daylight. Also there was a lot of background showing that was not needed and took the focus away from the flowers and colour within the photo. Although there is colour within the photo I feel as though it was taken too far away for the colour to be the main element of the photo.

The second image that I feel needs improvement is due to the focus point of the image. The focal point is the pink flower and although it is in the centre of the photo I would have liked it to be in the middle of the photo.  Due to the f-number being small I was able to make the background blurry however whilst doing this it also made it slightly darker and more dull. This is another reason why I wanted to change the focal point and make it centred because the pink flower is one of the only bright colours that is in the image.

AO3: AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

I have gathered my ideas for my photographs mainly from the photographer that I researched names Robert Cartwright. I decided to take his photos and focus in on small details that he has included to make my images slightly different and more unique. The first and second photo shoot that I  completed I based on Cartwright's image of light painting. I really liked the idea of this as I was able to create my own shapes and when photographing in the studio I used different coloured lights to bring more colour into my images. In addition I liked the natural, straight shape that vehicles created when moving. I also gained inspiration for this when looking at images to place in my image bank. This inspired me to complete a shoot just focused on this area of photography. My third photo shoot was inspired by one photo of Robert Cartwrights, the image of the woman with a red rose in her hair. I wanted to capture the colour that natural forms like flowers can produce. This inspired me to complete a photo shoot when I focused on different types of colourful flowers.  I completed this photo shoot because I didn't feel as though I represented the formal element of colour as much as I could of done so I wanted to look at shooting some photos that included saturated colour.



In reference to my images that I felt need improving there were issues with the focal point of the photo. I believe that as I improve my skills using a camera I can set the focal point myself to ensure that it is in the place I need it to be. This will avoid any incorrect compositions that I may have created. I also had issues with the lighting however this can be easily overcome by shooting outside in natural daylight.



A02: AO2:Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I used a canon eos 400d to take my photos. I took the images of the rose with a small f-number. This was taken with the f/5.6. I ensured that this was a small number so that I could make the background slightly blurry. On the other hand when taking the images of light painting I used a shutter speed of 5. This allowed a longer exposure time for the camera to capture the moving light within the photo.


To improve my images I decided to use photo shop. When editing the photos of the light painting the main thing I was able to do was to crop them however on the image of the angel wings I altered the hue to make the light appear to be a pinker colour. I used the colour popping effect on photo shop to edit some of the images of flowers and I also adjusted the curves, brightness and contrast. Below are screenshots showing some examples of how I edited my images.

Firstly I cropped the image to take away some of the background. 

I then used the magnetic lasso tool to select the flower.

I then clicked select at the top of the screen and selected inverse. 

I selected the black and white effect and this kept the flower red and changed the background to lack and white. 

For this image I did not like the background because it didn't fit with the image as it had objects that were not needed. To overcome this I decided to use the brush too to paint the background black. This allowed the flowers to be the only thing in the photo meaning they are the main focus. 

AO4: AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
My artist research has helped me understand the theory on the different types of colour and how they can be used to reflect different emotions in images. I believe I have gathered a lot of new information on focal points in photos, specifically form my research on Robert Cartwright because he uses a specific element of colour in his photo and draws your eyes to it. This was extremely useful to me because it gave me an immediate foundation of how to structure the objects I was photographing to ensure that my images would intrigue people into looking at my images. I was also able to use this research to edit my photos. For example I was able to use different skills of photo shop to make the colour immediately stand out. I also cropped a lot of my best images because this cut out irrelevant background which was not needed. When using my camera I tried to zoom in as much as possible so I could capture the detail within the flowers. I also did this physically by placing the flowers in specific places.  I took my images at home and bought specific flowers that I felt would work well in my photos. I chose flowers that I felt had a range of saturated and slightly lighter colours and ones that I knew I would be able to create different compositions with.

My best images 

With regards to my best images I have decided to create two different sets of images. This is because I took images using the light painting technique however I also took photos of flowers. To ensure that I can create a series of strong images that link together I have decided to create two different series based on the formal element of colour.

Flower series of images

I feel as though this series of images can represent the life cycle of a flower because I have set out the photos from being alive and fresh to gradually becoming slightly more weepy and crispy. 

Light painting series of images