Portraiture Work Diary

Portraiture Work Diary

Evaluation

I took some images of several different people to represent portraiture. We were given different photographers to base our photography around and I took images in a studio as well as picking different locations to take them in.

I took this image to represent the photographer Thomas Ruff because he takes serious images of different people to express them. I think this is one of my better pictures because it imitates a photographer well but has my own interpretation of the style of photography. Thomas Ruff's images are dull and slightly boring, however my image contains colour which makes us take a second look at the image as the colour is attractive to the eye. The colour of the background was linked with the girl because stereotypical girls like pink. A pink background makes her stand out because she is wearing white.

I took this image because I was experimenting with the settings on the camera. Trying out different locations helped test out the camera settings because we had to get the right settings to allow the right amount of light in. Personally, this is one of my better pictures because I like how the light in the picture is coming through the trees almost making her look like an angel. Although this is supposed to be a portraiture image I think the depth of field in this image adds effect to the image because we can see deep into the forest but we are still instantly drawn to her because the light is hitting her. I also like how the foreground is lighter than the background in this image.

Whilst experimenting with the different camera setting and locations to get a good picture there were some image that didn't turn out well. I think this image is included in the ones that didn't turn out well because the composition of the picture could've been put together better. The lighting is coming in at an awkward angle which exposes the bottom half of her at an angle which I don't particularly like. The natural lighting is also too bright so it didn't turn out as I expected.

Progression

To progress these images I put them into Photoshop and edited them to look better. 

   

To edit this image I increased the saturation of the image which made the colours of the leaves stand out more. I also increased the brightness of the image and darkened the shadows that are present in the image. Generally, this has made the foreground of the image stand out more because they appear slightly darker than the original image. The light coming through the trees also stands out more because we can see it clearly reflecting on her hood. The edited picture appears better than the original image because the depth of field appears more clearly and so does the girl.

   

To edit this image I made the background black and white to make her stand out more as she is the main focus of the image. I also increased the saturation of the girl which made her hair and skirt stand out more too. I think the edited image is better than the original image because the girl stands out more and when taking portraiture images you want the person to stand out more rather than the location they are in. The background being black and white helps draw attention to the girl because it takes away the slight depth of field the background has.

   

To edit this image I made it black and white to make all the colours blend into one. By making it black and white it makes us focus on her more rather than the colours around her. It links to Thomas Ruff's portraiture images more because they are every dull and boring so by taking away all the colours from this relates it more to his work. I think either image looks good because the first one is more attractive to the eye because it has more colour but the first one focuses more on the girl.

   

To edit this image I decreased the contrast of the image to reduce the colours in the image which gives a better effect to the image. I didn't like the yellow lighting in the original image so I wanted to reduce the yellowness in the image which I did by decreasing the contrast. I also darkened the shadows in the image which made his t-shirt black and make the shadow behind him darker which makes him stand out more.

   

To edit this image I made it black and white because I didn't like the colour of the lighting in the picture. I also cropped the image slightly to focus in more on the top part of the body. The edited image could be changed slightly by making her face a different shade of black/white because it is quite dark. If there was shadows in the image I would've darkened them because she would've stood out more. 

Physical Images Work Diary

Physical Images

Evaluation

I experimented using physical images linked to Barbara Kruger. I created 5 physical images using Barbara Kruger's theme. 

In this image we can see a boy holding his hands up wearing boxing gloves, he looks very intimidating. I chose to use the caption "equality, if they can we can" alongside this image because it tells us that if men can be powerful and strong then why can't women. Also, in the sporting industry women are not looked up to as much as men and in this instance it can also show us that if men can play sport then why can't women.

In this image we can see a boy doing his hair in the mirror. I chose to use the caption "who does he think he is" because it shows that he is selfish and not caring about anyone else. This links to the men that are in power because they are arrogant and selfish. I chose these words because they are similar to the Barbara Kruger's photo with the caption "who does she think she is".

In this image we can see a waist being measured. I chose to use the caption "not skinny enough" because we are expected to look a certain way and be a certain size. The picture has a big effect because it is in black and white so it gives a depressing effect which makes us feel sorry for the person getting their waist measured. As we don't know the gender of the person who is getting measured the meaning shows that everyone feels pressured to look a certain way whatever gender we are. 

In this image we can see a girl with extreme make-up. The caption "i want to be beautiful" shows us that girls feel pressured to look a certain way. The fact that the make-up is packed on shows us that maybe she is trying to cover something because she is insecure of herself. It shows us that girls feel pressured to look like the pretty girls that are portrayed in the media. 

In this image we can see a man with his hands behind his head looking depressed and sad. The caption "make the right decisions" gives the impression that he has done something wrong, I wanted to portray the men in the world now who are powerful and make the wrong decisions regarding women. This could also show that the man is depressed and sad about the world going on around him which show men as the same regarding feminism.

Evaluation

Evaluation

Throughout my project I have researched several different photographers and each one has made a difference to my work. When I researched Henri-Cartier Bresson I learned about the decisive moment and how he had to decide when to take the image to make sure it turned out the way that he wanted. In my work I was able to use the decisive moment because I timed photos right and was able to capture successful images. Another photographer that has influenced my work is Barbara Kruger, she created physical images relating to feminism. Personally, I liked her work because she spread a meaning throughout her images, they have a purpose and spread her ideas to other people. I particularly enjoyed creating physical images that linked to her work because I  believe strongly in what she was saying and I like spreading my ideas to other people.

Also, I was able to learn several different skills when using the camera in my project. When using the aperture feature on the camera setting we were taught the main f stops and how each f stop let a different amount of light into the image. Learning the f stops and all about aperture had a successful effect on my work because my pictures turned out better as I understood how much light should be allowed into the photo and which f stop to choose. Being able to use the studio also impacted my work a lot because I was able to learn about the studio lighting and how to change the settings on our camera to work well with the studio features. Working in the studio had a successful impact on my photography because I am able to use the equipment well to produce a high quality photograph. 

These different techniques that I have been taught made a successful impact on my work as it has helped develop my photographs well. In the beginning my ability to take photographs was not very successful, I had no idea how to use the different settings on the camera and I didn't understand the different compositional rules that I could've used. Throughout this project my ability to take photographs has progressed well. I now know how to change the different settings on the camera to work with the lighting in the location and which f stop and shutter speed to chose. As well as learning about the camera I have also learnt a lot about Photoshop. I am now able to edit photos using the different tools to produce a progressed photo.

I have demonstrated the different techniques that I have learnt by editing my images using Photoshop. In Photoshop I am able to change the image to black and white to effect the mood of the picture. I have also picked up skills to change the saturation and contrast of the images to effect the colours being produced in the image. Also, I can use different paint brush tools to colour certain elements of the picture, for example making the sky darker or lighter. In my work I have demonstrated using the camera techniques that I have learned by changing the settings on the camera to produce a high quality photo. For example, when taking images related to landscapes I changed the f stop to 22 to produce a high depth of field in the images.

Personally, I think my work is developing in a composite theme because my images show composite rules such as the rule of thirds. However, I would still like to experiment with abstract images as this will help me develop fully what route I would like to take. I enjoy producing composite images because the look nicer and I feel as though I can spread the meaning of the image better.

In my work I feel as though I have been most successful in my documentary project because I produced a high quality photoshoot and also produced better edited photos within this category. I think I have been least successful with tone, I found it extremely successful to make tone images using people but I was unsuccessful at creating tone images using objects.

Connecting Essay 5

Connecting Essay 

Barbara Kruger

In this photo we can see a little boy flexing his muscles and a girl pointing to his arm. This photo has a old fashioned black and white effect which gives it a WW2 effect. The caption says "we don't need another hero", this shows that this little boy is inspiring to be like the powerful men in the world. I think the caption is showing sarcasm because there are hardy any powerful women that have status in the world at that time and the powerful men in the world aren't really heroes at all. Barbara Kruger has a feministic theme throughout her photographs and this one adds to this theme because she is showing us that little boys are inspiring to be like the arrogant and selfish male leaders throughout the world. I like this image because I think it has a deep meaning and it opens peoples eyes to things happening in the world.

In this photo we can see a boy holding up his hands with boxing gloves, he looks very intimidating. The black and white effect is similar to Barbara Kruger's image but I made it slightly bolder to represent modern times. The caption on this image says "equality, if they can we can", this also, like Barbara Kruger's image, represents feminism. The meaning I tried to get across was that if men and boys can be strong and powerful then so can women because there is no difference between women and men. Similar to Barbara Kruger's images this photo also has a deep meaning to it and can spread feminist views. 

My image is similar to Barbara Kruger's because they both spread feminist views and both show how boys are inspiring to be powerful and strong but we don't see girls inspiring to be like this. The composition of this image is also similar because the images are both black and white with a red caption. 

Composite Images Work Diary

Composite Images

Evaluation
I created two sets of composite images, the first attempt of this topic didn't go that well because I chose the wrong objects as they didn't match with the location I chose. However, my second attempt turned out better than the first.

These first two images were my first attempt at trying to create some composite images. The idea I had didn't turn out well, I was expecting to try and create the objects like people but I struggled with this. If I had

chosen different objects it may have turned out well. A perfume bottle and lipstick doesn't really compliment the location that I have chose which is why it didn't turn out as well as I hoped. 

   

As my first attempt at composite images didn't turn out as well as I hoped I tried to create them again but with a different object and the same location. I think this object worked well with this location as it is cartoon character and graffiti is often associated with cartoon characters and writing. Also, this area looks like a rough area and not very upper class, this can link to the fact that the character is a shark because they represent fear.