Saturday 22 January 2011

Evaluation (Whole Assignment)

Everything is now completed for my assignment and I must say that I have learned quite alot about photography. Not only have I learned how to use a camera with manual settings but I have also learned how to manipulate images to make them look better or completely different. I have also learned what different types of lenses there are and what they do and I have also learned about what photographers are out there that inspire me and are similar to my work.

Overall I feel that I have done very well with all of the units. I have taken my time to make them as detailed as I can and feel that I have totally understood everything about it without being confused at all throughout the whole assignment. My photoshoot I feel went very well. I think the decision of splitting it up into two parts was the right decision as I managed to get the same area but with a completely different climate (Snow) which I was very lucky at getting. Because of the weather conditions changing very dramitcally I was able to take some brilliant photographs of the River when it is snowing which made the overall shot look completely different to what it would look like if it wasn't snowing. If I was to go at this task again I would probably explore down the River a bit more to get more of a variety of shots which could lead to more unique photographs espiecially if it was snowing again.

My photoshop task I feel also went very well. I was able to on board any information I was told about the piece of digital manipualtion software which I used and was able to use it with minimal questions asked. I also took time and went onto youtube to do my own research on using the software for more digital manipulation techniques which I then used for the task. If I was to go at this task again I would definetly do more research to create even more heavier manipulated images, because of what I have seen there is limitless possibilities available.

My research was one of the tasks that took me the longest. This isn't because I had to research ten Photographers it was because I wanted to choose photographers that really inspired me and because there are so many different types of photographers out there this lead me to taking more time picking the right photographer. But who I found whilst doing alot of research I was very pleased with as they now inspire me even more to continue with my photography work. I didn't struggle at all writing about them and I was able to choose pictures which inspire me. If I was to go at this task again I would probably take even more time looking even further for photographers that inspire me because there are alot more out there.

Overall I am very happy with this assignment on a whole. I feel that I have completely understood every part of it and I will be taking this knowledge even further to help me progress with my career.

Lenses Research

For this assignment we were also asked to explain different types of lenses and understand what they are used for. Below is an explanation of different lenses and what effects they do when taking photographs.

Standard Lense




The standard lense comes with most cameras as the default lense. Standard lenses are designed for taking basic shots with nothing too extreme. Although the standard lense isn't designed for the extreme it still has the ability to take some stunning shots.

Macro Lense






The macro lense is designed for close-up shots particulary familiar with close-up shots of flowers. They create such an effect that it is purely the item you want to take the photograph of that will be in focus and the background being blurred out. Some macro lenses can be quite expensive but you can also get macro filters which just go over the top of the standard lense.

Zoom Lense


Zoom lenses are designed for taking shots from long away. They are particulary used for landscape shots like wideangled lenses. You would be able to take a perfect shot which looks like you right next to the area you are shooting but actually you would be quite far away.

Special Purpose Lenses

Special purpose lenses are used to create shots that are not normally taken. Alot of them consist of taking shots to filter out certain aspects or colours in a shot. Below are a few special purpose lenses which can be used.

* Fish eye Lense
* Stereoscopic Lense
* Soft Focus
* Infared Lense
* UltraViolet Lense
* Swivel Lense

These lenses all create different types of effect like the fish eye lense for example. This lense creates a dark effect around the shot creating a bowl like effect for the shot. Ultra violet and infared lenses can also be bought in a filter form to put over a standard lense to get rid of certain colours from a shot which should'nt be there. Soft Focus lenses give a soft but not out of focus shot, particulary used in portrait shots. Swivel lenses rotate on the camera itself to give different angle when taking a photograph to give quite a unique effect. Streoscopic lenses take pairs of photographs which give a 3D type effect when viewed with approriate gear.

Research - Mike McFarlane

For my tenth and final piece of research I have chosen to research photographer Mike McFarlane. Mike McFarlane is a photographer who really inspires me. His work is very similar to what I would like to achieve in the many years that I do photography. Mike Mcfarlane started taking photographs in 2002 and has become a big name in landscape photography. He goes all over the country taking photographs of some of the most amazing photographs of what nature has to offer. Like always I will be choosing some of the photographs which I feel are my favourite pieces of his work and writing about why I have chosen them.

The Miracle of Life
This is the first photograph that I came across whilst viewing Mike's work. One explanation for this piece of work is that it is simple but truley fascinating. As you can see one of his main focuses for this photograph was to get the viewer to see the natural beauty of the landscape surrounding this photograph but also to get the viewer to see the beauty of the rock placed right at the front of the photograph. With this placed here it changes the shot completely making it not only a landscape shot but a unique landscape shot. Very impressive, it goes to show that Mike likes to go the extra step with his photography.




Enlightenment

This is the second photograph I have chosen for my research. This photograph in one word is stunning. Taken at the Loch Vaa in Inverness Scotland, this photograph shows how beautfiul the nature can be in the UK and also how perfect it is for photographs. Obviously taken with a wide angled lense, this photograph has everything in it for a landscape shot. This is most definetly the type of shot I would like to take eventually. With the hills in the background and the Loch in the foreground, this shot has absolutely everything in it. He also managed to take this shot at the right time with the sun shining down on the trees to the right of the shot making this photograph look even better than it already is.


Tombolo and White Horses
For my third and final shot I have chosen of Mike's work I have chosen another photograph which really inspires me. This shot is another landscape shot which was also taken in Scotland. Again, it has a mixture of everything for a landscape shot. It has perfect brightness, perfect colour and everything that is included in the shot mixes perfectly with it. What I like the most about this photograph is how he managed to capture this when the tide was out. This makes the shot look amazing as you can see part of the tide is on the left and part of it is on the right creating a surrounding effect with the becah in the middle. This was the perfect time to take this shot because if the tide was in this would be a completely different picture.

Overall Mike McFarlane really inspires me. I will love to be able to take landscape shots like these especially with Rivers and surrounding landscapes because they are truley amazing.

Research - Alberto Seveso (Digital Manipulation Artist)

My next artist that I am going to be researching is also another digital manipulation artist. Alberto Seveso was born in Milan in 1978 and is a photo manipulation artist. He works on editing portraits of people and turning them in to weird and unreal but fascinating products of art. Alberto does alot of work for front cover magazines like mens health magazines etc. I will be choosing three of my favourite pieces of his work which inspire me and I will be writing about why I have chosen them.




This is the first picture that I found when looking at Alberto's work. This image is truely amazing with what he has done to it. This image looks like it has been taken from a front cover of a magazine. As you can see the original image would've been just a straight up portrait. As you can see Alberto's style of work is taking the portrait photograph and then designing his own artwork onto the portrait creating this amazing effect. On his chest it almost looks like a tatoo effect but when it moves up to the top of the head the editing gets a lot heavier and makes this image look amazing.


This is my second image that I have chosen for my research. This image is also very unique to anyone else digital manipulation work. As you can see again he would've taken an original portrait shot and he has really heavlily editied the original photograph using a piece of digital manipulation software. I would personally love to do this sort of work but it would take alot of practice. He has not only edited the shape of the origninal portrait but he has also added his own splatter like effect onto it aswell making it completely unique. Amazing.


Now, as you can see most of Alberto's work relate to a theme which is editing the persons face or body in a very unique and effective way. This third and final photograph which I have chosen is also an image which has been heavlily edited. Again, this was originally a portrait of someone which has been manipulated to create this awsome effect. This image was also probably used for a front cover of a magazine because it has that style to it.

Overall I feel that Alberto's work style is similar but they are all unique. Again I would love to create this masterpiece style of work as when the final products turn out like this they are truley rewarding.

Research - Marja Leena Pelho (Digital Manipulation Artist)

Other than taking the photographs for my project this is one of my favourite parts of this assignment purely because I look digital manipulation. After taking a good look at all of the digital manipulation artists I have decided to research an artist called Marja- Leena Pelho. I have decided to research this artist because her work has such a unique style. Ny this I mean she will take a photograph and then completely change it into something else with a very unique artistic style.

Marja- Leena is also interested in constructing aswell as her photography work but her photography and digital manipulation is her prime subject. She has won many awards for her work and her work really does inspire me to learn how to create such amazing images.



GuaranE
This was one of the images that caught my eye when I was looking through Maja- Leena's work. The final product consits of two images combined together using a piece of digital manipulation software to create a giant bottle like effect dropped into a forest type area. This image is truely fasinating because she has managed to create the image perfectly making it look like it has been dropped from the heavens. What I like the most about this image is how simple but effective it is. All you have to do for this image is get the two images and over lay them onto each other and then give them a nice touch up to make them blend together but it gives an amazing effect. This image is obviously an advertisment to say that this Cider is Cider from the heavens.


Head3_b
This is my second image that I took particular interest to. This is image in one word is spectacular. It is very heavily edited and looks amazing. From just a single portrait image she has managed to create such a desiring effect whoch must have been very difficult to create. She has managed to take a portrat photograph edit the person in the photograph and insert them into another photograph aswell creating a wildlife type effect. Very artistic.



Dollar Tree
Ever heard of the saying "money grows on trees" well apparently it grows on leaves aswell now with this image. This is the third and final image that I have chosen for my research on this artist. It is proberbly one of my favourites. Again two images have been taken and then blended into one final product. She has managed to take a photograph of a dollar bill and a close-up photograph of a branch from a bush and actually blend the dollar bill onto the leaves to make it look like they are growing on them. This is amazing as she has made it look perfect and real.

Overall this artist has a very unique editing style to many other digital manipulation artists. Alot of her other work is so heavily manipulated it actually looks like she has drawn them herself.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Presentation Research

Amongst my research tasks for this assignment I have also been asked to not only research photographers but to research ways of presentation. Now, there are many different ways of presenting images so I will be describing a few different methods which are my favourite and ones which I may well use myself for my final product.

Firstly I will start off by describing the main way of presenting images which is printing. Printing is the most popular way of presenting images as it is proberbly one of the most open for opportunity. It is the most open for opportunity because you can do so much with a print rather than just show someone. Below are many different types of printing methods which can be used to print photographs:

Digital Printing

This is the most common printing method. This printing method is designed to transform a digital image from a computer onto a physical surface (Paper). This printing method is mainly used for making alot of copies of one piece of data, mainly used for photocopying.

Letterpress

This printing method is a very old style of printing. This is a style of relief printing, where the image being printing is raised from the surface. Like I said this is a very old style of printing as is slowly dieng out.

Electrostatic Printing

This printing method is very much like photocopying. The image colour is attached to a drum and is then blended with the paper alongside heat to produce the image. This method is similar to digital printing and is more cost effective.

These are just a few different ways of printing an image to present but there are many more. Now I am going to be describing different ways of presenting your image that has been printed out.

Framed Photograph

This is one of the most common ways of presenting your photographs to someone. Whether it be for advertising purposes or to show a client, framed photographs can't really go wrong as you are showing the client your work at a nice size. What also makes this method a very relible way of presenting is that you can have many different styles of frames to present your photographs in which can come to a huge advantage.

Multiples

This method is mainly used for portraits or a photoshoot with the same theme. It is designed so that you put most of your photos from a photoshoot that are similar into one frame. Quite a nice style of presenting images.

Book

This is also a very common style of presenting your work. Using a book style method to present your work is very effective as this is also very open for opportunity. With a book you can not only present your images but you can also add to them aswell with text for example to really catch the viewers eye. This is also a very proffesional method of presenting images.

Portfolio

This is the method that I will be choosing to present my work in. A portfolio is a collction of your best work to present. You can have many different styles of portfolio whether they be on an internet site or from an application from your iPad, you can go to some great proffesional extremes to presenting your portfolio. I feel that this is the most effective method of presenting your work because you can go that extra step to show your proffesionalism of your work.

So these are just a few different methods of presenting your work. There are proberbly hundreds of other different ways of presenting your work like basic presentation of images or using slideshows etc you could go on forever with the differnt methods alongside making up new ones, there are endless possibilities. The above are the ones which I feel are the most effective and methods which I will most likely use in the future to present my work.