Evaluation of Component 1

Evaluation 

By doing artist research throughout component 1 I have been able to produce work that has been inspired by what they have done however this has also enabled me to go beyond he artists concepts and create work that is more than just a replication of the artists work. An example of this within component 1 is within my landscape blog post when I focused on Victoria Siemers geometric reflections. To develop my work I have tried to replicate her work using the geometric reflections  technique in photoshop and then to try and go beyond her concepts I tried to add in more than one geometric reflection and use geometric shapes in other ways within my edits. Another artist that has influenced me is Elena Oganesyan. This artist research is within my portraiture blog post. This photographer uses movement within her work to make peoples faces less visible and in some cases it creates a surreal effect. Initially I recreated her images by using the model to move their hand across their face whilst using a long shutter speed to take the photo. I liked the effect that this created however I then decided to go beyond the artists concepts by taking photos of graffiti and putting this in the background of the photos. This made the photo a lot more aesthetically pleasing and I felt as though it gave the photo a edgy feel.

This is Elena Oganesyan's image. I tried to use the artists ideas to then go beyond them and incorporate my own ideas. 

This is the image that I have created in relation to her work. My image is similar to Elena's because I have explored the idea of movement within my images. This is the main thing that she looks at within her photography. This also shows that I have gone beyond the artists concepts by using photo of graffiti to add to the background. 

During component 1 I have gained knowledge of different technical skills which have allowed me to take a wider range of images. Firstly I have learnt and understood the settings on my camera in a lot more depth. For example I have learnt that to capture motion I would need to use a long shutter speed and when taking landscape images with a wide depth of field I would need to use a high f-stop. By knowing these camera settings I have been able to capture images that have even exposure and are in focus. I have also been able to include the use of narrow and wide depth of field within my photos. I have also learnt how to set up a photography studio and which different parts of equipment I would need to shoot in a studio. By learning this I have been able to have a lot more freedom in when I can take my photos as I do not need help to set the studio up. This enabled me tho complete more shoots and get my work completed more effectively and independently. Within the studio I have leaner that using soft boxes aimed at a 45 degree angle to the model will create a smooth and soft lighting effect. By knowing this I was able to manipulate the lighting within the studio to create softer and harsher shadows. Especially during my portraiture blog post this was very useful for me to be able to express a range of personalities within my images. The way that I have taken photographs has changed but also improved. This is because I am able to use my camera in fully manual mode enabling me to alter the settings depending on  the location of the photos I am taking and the weather conditions that I am taking the photos in.

During component 1 I feel as though showing how I have experimented throughout my work has improved over the course of completing this. For example during my landscape and portraiture blog posts I have experimented in greater depth when editing my images. Throughout this component I edited a lot of my photos on photoshop therefore I feel as though a weakness within this component would be that I did not complete enough physical experimental edits during my work.

I feel as though as whole my work has developed in the direction of looking at composition. This is because I feel as though I have expressed using different compositions within my work to make the photos I am taking more aesthetically pleasing. An example of this would be within my tone blog post. When taking photos of different buildings I used many different compositions within my work to make the photos look different from one another. This is evident in my formal elements portfolio.

Overall I feel as though I was successful in identifying which areas of my work were strong and what  parts needed improving. I have done this when I looked at my best images and images that needed improvement for each shoot. I also feel as though I completed a sufficient number of shoots within this component in order to create the best portfolio that I could. By doing a wide range of shoots it gave me a lot of options when selecting which images I wanted to edit and I feel as though this helped me to be able to select the best images. As I previously mentioned one of the things that I felt was unsuccessful within component 1 was that I did not physically edit enough of my images, the main editing that I did was on photoshop. I also feel as though I could have improved on using diagrams to explain the planning process for each of my shoots.  

Photo genres - 2 independent shoots

Independent shoots - photo genres 

I have completed an independant shoot for both portraiture and landscape. Within each of the shoots I have used new techniques to develop my work. The information within this blog post continues on from my previous work within landscape and portraiture. This work is also available in my blogposts labelled 'Landscape' and 'Portraiture'. Within these blog posts it is clear as to how this follows on from my previous work. 

Portraiture independent shoot 

Contact Sheet - 3rd Shoot 









My intentions for this shoot were to take photos of a model that I could edit in different ways. I planned this photo shoot by collecting different images of various artists and created a mood board. This is located below. This gave me multiple ideas of the different ways in which I could creatively edit my photos. I then took photos based on what I would need in order to successfully edit my photos in the style of my artist research. 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.

A02:

To complete this shoot I used a canon eos 400d. I shot these in the studio. I used two soft boxes that were at a 45 degree angle towards the model. I then attached a light trigger to the top of my camera and used a light meter to determine which camera settings I needed to use. To do this I asked the model to stand where she would be photographed and she held the light meter in front of her face. I then triggered the flash which showed me the correct settings to use. I used an f-stop of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/125. Using this shutter speed enabled me to freeze action and create a crisp and clear photo. I also used an ISO of 100. This was because as I was using lighting I did not need the camera to be highly sensitive to light. I also used a tripod to ensure that the camera was stable. I needed this to be extremely still because for some of my images I needed to take two photos in the exact same frame but with the model doing different actions. Using a tripod ensured that I could do this successfully. Below is a diagram that I have drawn of the set up of the studio. I have also labelled all of the equipment that I used.   

Edits

I edited each image slightly different. Below I have shown the final image that I have created and then the steps to editing each individual image. 



To edit the image to the left I used the two images to the right. Below are screenshots of how I completed this using photo shop.

Firstly I imported the first image I wanted to use. I then cropped it to the size that I wanted it to be. I needed to reduce some of the negative space at the top of the image.

I then imported the second image on top of the first image and rescaled it to the same size. After doing this I clicked cmd+T and held down the shift key. This ensured the photo stayed in proportion. I then changed the opacity to 50%. This made the top image slightly see through allowing the background layer to be visible underneath.

To edit the image above I used the black and white tool on photo shop. This image was taken using a shutter speed of 3.5 seconds and an f-stop of 20. I had to increase the aperture because I altered the shutter speed. By changing both setting the photo was then at the correct exposure. 

Firstly I changed the image to black and white and used the sliders to edit the different tones within the photo. 

I used the curves tool to edit the contrast within the photo. 

To edit the image to the left I used the two images to the right. Below are screenshots of how I completed this using photo shop.

To edit this image I opened the two images that I needed to use. I then cropped them both to the same size and copied the image with the models hands over her face over the top of the other image. Once this was done I turned the opacity of the top layer down. I then used the black and white tool, curves tool and brightness and contras tool to adjust the contrast within the image. I did this until I was happy with how the image looked.

To edit the image to the left I used the image to the right. Below are screenshots of how I completed this using photo shop.

To edit this image I used the lasso tool. I cut out the area of her face that I wanted to make look as if she was holding. I then clicked copy and pasted this section. Using the move tool I moved this layer into the position that I wanted it to be. 

To make it appear that the model was holding this I created a layer mask. I then selected the brush tool and made sure the colour selected was black. Once doing this I painted over the part of the cut out that was covering her finger and then her finger became visible, creating the impression that she was holding it. 

I then repeated the first step with the other areas of the face that I wanted to be cut out. 

Once doing this I ensured that the background layer was selected and used the black and white tool. Due to only having the background layer selected this meant that only this layer changed to black and white.

When I decided to take a photo that involved a piece of someones face being cut out I decided to experiment with this idea physically and on photo shop. The image to the left of is a photo that was printed and ripped apart. Once taking this I decided to take a photo that would allow me to edit this on photo shop. I decided that I liked the photo shop version of this image better because I could not print off the photo in the exact same proportion as the models face which I believe made it look slightly fake. I also think that due to the flash coming from the light boxes the paper has reflected some light and looks slightly over exposed. This problem did not occur in photo shop which is why I feel like that was more effective.  

To edit the image to the left I used the image to the right. Below are screenshots of how I completed this using photo shop.

To edit this photo I altered the tones and contrast within the image by using the curves tool. I then selected the mixer brush tool and changed the colour to red. I drew lines going through the models face coming from where her fingers were placed in the photo. 

Contact Sheet - additional shoot 

I completed a small scale shoot of different graffiti around London. I did this because I wanted to bring another element into my edits. 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.

I have not chosen my best images for this shoot because I only took around 20 photos and I feel as though all of them are quite strong.

A02:
To capture the images in this shoot I used a canon eos 500d. I used an f/stop of f/20. This was because I wanted the entire image to be in focus and using this aperture allowed me to capture a wide depth of field. I used a shutter speed of 1/125. This was so that the image was not blurry and this enabled me to freeze action rather than capturing motion. Due to the weather being cloudy I used an ISO of 400 to ensure that the camera was sensitive enough to the lighting. This stopped my photos from coming our dark and under exposed. 

Edits

Below are screenshots as to how I edited the graffiti into the background of my images.

Firstly I opened the image of graffiti that I wanted to use and also opened up to photo that I wanted to place the graffiti behind.

I then copied the image of graffiti over the top of the portrait image. I also slightly lowered the opacity of this layer.

Once this was completed I made sure that I was on the layer of the graffiti image and I created a layer mask.

I then selected the pain brush tool and made sure that the default colour was black. I then painted over the areas where the model was. This removed the graffiti image from any of the parts I painted over, creating the impression that the graffiti was behind the model.

Below are the final edits that I created when experimenting with different backgrounds. 

Landscape independant shoot 

Contact Sheet - second shoot

My intentions for this shoot were to capture photos that had landscape at the bottom of the frame and a clear space nearer to the top of the photo. This was because when completing an experimental edit on a photo I had already taken I realized that this needed to be done. 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 

I chose this photo as one of my best because I wanted to express the city through my photos and I feel as though using the London Eye shows a landmark in London that everyone will know about. 

I chose this image as one of my best because there is enough sky space to edit the photo in the way that I wanted. I also liked the different tones that are in the buildings.  

I chose this image because I liked the fact that bicycles and cars are in such close proximity to each other. I feel as though this could represent how much technology has advanced from bicycles to cars. The fact that there are a lot of cars could also represent how much pollution there is in the world and right beside the issue is a solution, the bikes, however people do not care.  

Images that require improvement 

I feel as though this image is slightly dull. I believe that when taking this I used an ISO of 100 however this meant that the camera was not sensitive enough to the light and therefore the image came out dull. I should have used an ISO of 400 due to the cloudy weather conditions.

This image is under exposed. The street is very dull. 

A03:

I was inspired by the city images that Victoria Siemers took. I wanted to reflect this within my work therefore I decided to take basic city landscape images and use the geometric reflection technique editing technique. I found Victoria Siemers work very interesting because it gave landscapes a slightly surreal effect. I was not sure if I would be able to use this technique successfully so I read step by step instructions on how to create this effect in photoshop. I then made some notes and tried it myself. Once I did this I discovered that this was possible for me to do. I took photos of city landscapes rather than a natural landscape. This was because I had access to a city a lot easier than I did to nature landscape. I also really liked the way that the Victoria Siemers photos of city landscapes looked as if they were futuristic. I also gained inspiration from my first artist research that I completed, Stephen Shore. He photographs classic American city landscapes and I wanted classic London landscapes to be reflected in my work.

A02:

To shoot these images I used a canon eos 500d. I also used a tripod to take the photos. This allowed me to angle the camera correctly to receive the correct composition. This also helped me to keep the camera steady ensuring that the image was fully in focus. Due to the fact that I was taking landscape photos I used a large aperture of f/16-f/22. This gave me a wide depth of field meaning that the entire photo was in focus. I also used an ISO of 200 and 400 during the day. This was because it was a cloudy day however during some moments of the day the sun did come out and I had to alter the ISO. I used a shutter speed ranging from 1/125 to 1/160. By using this shutter speed it allowed me to freeze motion. Also the image was all in focus rather than having certain parts blurry from the anything that was moving during me taking the photo. 

Edits

I edited all of my images in the same way. 

Firstly I opened the image that I wanted to use in photo shop. I then used the brightness and contrast and curves tool to edit the image and enhance the tones and colours within the photo.

I then clicked cmd+J which duplicated the background layer. This created the background copy layer.

I then clicked on the eye on the background copy layer. This made it not visible to me. 

I then clicked back on the background layer and created a new layer. I named this shape.

I used the shape tool to draw the shape that I wanted to use onto the image. Once doing this I held down the shift key and clicked on both the background layer and the shape layer. By holding down the shift key it enabled me to have the two layers selected at once. 

I then clicked the 'align horizontal centres' at the top of the page.

 I clicked off both layers that were selected. Then I clicked on the background copy and made it visible again by pressing on the eye. 

I then right clicked and pressed create clipping mask. I then clicked edit , transform, flip vertical. 

Once completing this I clicked on the shape layer and reduced the opacity. I then clicked on the background copy. This allowed to move the part of the image that was inside the shape. I moved this around until I was happy with what it looked like. 

I then clicked on the shape layer and created a layer mask. I then clicked on the paintbrush tool and made sure that the default colour was black. I then painted over the area of the shape that I did not want anymore. 

Photos edited in the style of Victoria Siemers 

Further Experimentation 

To develop my work I have tried to go beyond the artists concepts. I used photoshop to experiment using geometric shapes. Below are the different experimental edits that I have created and how I created them. 

First Experimental Edit 

All of my original edits for this shoot used geometric reflections using circles therefore to expand upon my edits I decided to use other shapes rather than just circles. Above is the final outcomes of these edits. 

Second Experimental Edit

Firstly I used the shape tool to draw rectangles over the top of the image. I then duplicated the layer 6 times and moved them all into the correct place on the image. 

I then held down shift and selected all of the rectangle layers. This allowed me to edit all of the layers at the same time. I lowered the opacity to 56%. I then clicked off of the selected layers and selected the background layer. I then used the black and white tool to edit the image to black and white. 

Below is the final outcome. This relates to Victoria Siemers work because I have used geometric shapes on top of an image. 

Third Experimental Edit 

For my third experimental edit I decided to use the geometric reflections technique but instead of using one shape I used two. To create this I used the same steps as the first edits that I completed and then I repeated the exact same steps using the same image which created geometric reflections in two shapes rather than one. 

For this image I used two circles and placed them in two different place within the photo. I then created a layer mask to remove certain parts of the circles that I did not want. 

To create this image I used two pentagons. When drawing the second shape I pressed cmd+T to flip the pentagon and place it underneath the second shape. The photographer that I looked at,  Victoria Siemers, only ever uses one geometric shape to reflect the image in to however to go beyond the artists concepts I used two different shapes to flip the image into.

Fourth Experimental Edit 

This is the final experimental edit that I completed. To create this image I used the technique of geometric reflections and the placed rectangles with a lower opacity over the top of this. I did this because it links to my photographer, Victoria Siemers, because it uses many different geometric shapes. I also did this because I wanted to try and bring some of the ideas that I thought of beyond the artists concepts together to see what it created. I do not feel as though this is very successful because by adding the rectangles over the top of the geometric reflection it becomes unclear as to what it is.