Unit 57 Task 2 Primary Research

Before and after images

Below are some of the photos which were taken in the studio, I have opened this photos and altered them in various ways in Photoshop. Below I will explain what changes I have made and why I did them.

Photo 1:

This is a portrait image of me in the studio, but I think the photo is too dark and that it could use more saturation so this is why I chose to edit this photo. I also wanted more of my facial features to stand out so that it would give the impression that I was on a stage and the spotlight was shining down on me.

The first thing I did was increase the brightness of the photo and decrease the contrast using the Brightness and Contrast tool. This was the first step that I took to enhance the brightness of the photo. I did this because the original photo was too dark and with the corrections it makes the photo more brighter and in a way the light shines a spotlight on me which is what I intended.

The next step was to increase the exposure, offset, gamma correction, vibrance and color balance. These tools helped bring out the colors in my cheeks and also the color of my hair, this was done to give the impression that I am wearing makeup. After using all of these tools on my photo I used the Burn tool to bring out more detail in my right eye because it was lacking any color and I wanted both of my eyes to match.

Photo 2:

I thought this picture had a frozen motion feel to it, we was changing the camera settings while this photo was taken. I would say this is similar to a behind the scenes photo from a old movie shoot and most of them was shot in black and white, so this was my main goal in changing this photo. 

The first step I did was changing the brightness and contrast to make the photo black and white. I made this decision because I feel like the black and white effect suits the mood of the photo well. I then used the vibrance tool to bring out more of the features in our face. I did this because I feel like it brings the photo more alive 

Photo 3:

In this photo I wanted to capture the struggle between blood and flesh (god made) versus an object which was man made and see which one would come out victorious, the unstoppable force against the immovable object. I chose the theme Heavy for this particular photo and I wanted it to resemble caveman times when moving heavy objects around was common.

When editing this photo I first used the Quick Select tool to highlight the immovable object and the two characters in the photo and created a new layer once the objects were highlighted, I did this to protect them from the next step. Next I used the Smudge tool on everything which was not highlighted, I did this to make the focus of the photo on what is going on in the middle and also to highlight that the only thought on their mind at this time was to move the object, everything else ceased to matter at that moment in time.

Photo 4:

This photo represents the theme Reflection, the story behind the photo is that the person got lost while looking at his reflection in a window. This window allowed him to reflect on his life so far, all the mistakes he has made and also allowed him to envision his future. 

When editing the photo, I tried to add a surreal effect along with it. I did this by using the Smudge tool on the background and increasing the brightness and contrast. I think the blue tint that the photo has suits the theme perfectly. 

Test Shots

This is one of my test shots for my photos, I was aiming to capture the characters urge to drink by having him stand in the background but have the center of attention in the photo be the bottle. I really like this shot but I don't think it would fit into my overall story. Maybe if I hadn't exceeded the limit (4 photos) I could have added it into the narrative.

This is another one of my test shots, I intended this to be my second photo in the narrative but after taking all of my photos I decided to go with another photo instead. This photo shows the character passing out after having too many drinks.

This is the photo that I went with instead of the one above, I feel like this photo fits more into the narrative because it captures the character after having a couple of drinks and in deep thought about his life and what he has gotten himself into.

This test shot was supposed to be my first photo in the narrative, it shows the character having his first drink. But after considering how each of the photos are connected I decided to not use this photo because it does not explain why the character is drinking, it just jumps right into it.

This is the photo that I decided would suit best for my first photo, unlike the one above you can get a sense of why the character is drinking because he is being peer pressured into it by somebody off screen.

Photography Evaluation

The photograph I decided to take was a picture of the Ghost face character from the Scream series laying drunk on the floor with empty bottles around him, I chose to take this photo because I wanted to parody the character in a different way that hasn't been seen before. 

I didn't want to take a expected photograph of the horror character stalking his victim or anything related to the franchise, I wanted to take the photograph beyond the horror genre and add a comedy vibe to the photo. I came up with the idea of making the character drunk from the film Scary Movie which parodies the Scream movies and also the Ghost Face character. In the film the character says "I need to stop drinking" and this is where the idea originated from.

This is the photo that I took, The settings I used were f-stop 11, a shutter speed of 1/4s and ISO 200. I was trying to make the photo blurred in places to give the effect of the character being drunk. 

And this is a enhanced version of my photo after I added shadows and highlights to it, I was trying to add the drunken effect to the photograph.

In the future I need more practice with the camera to become more aware of the features and how to use them. I could frame the photo better and also take advantage of the shutter speed and f-stop to add more blur to the photo. 

What is Photography?

What is Photography?

• Communication: Photography can be used for communication purposes, the biggest example being commercial purposes. There are many different ways photography can be used in this way such as for advertising (to promote a product visually), Crime scene photography (Which is used to capture specific details from the scene to be analysed later) and for the paparazzi( who use the photos they take to get a story out to the public about the famous people they have photographed.)

• Expression: Expression Photography is when a mood is captured onto a photo, the most popular event for expression photography is weddings newlyweds will hire a professional photographer to take pictures of their wedding so they can capture the feeling from that day and look back on it for years to come.

Lenses:

There is all different types of lenses available for cameras, they determine the quality of what photograph you will take. It's important to use the right lens for the right photograph, for example if you are wanting to take a landscape photo you will use a wide angle lens to capture all of your surroundings.

This is a fish eye lens, this type of lens allows you to get a wider shot of your surroundings. This lens is mostly popular with skaters as it allows them to stick with the style found in most skating videos.

This is a telephoto lens, this type of lens allows you to zoom in on object far away. They are mostly used to record football games or to capture from a great distance away.

White Balance:

White balance controls the colour of the photo you take, this is important if you are taking photos in daylight because if the white balance is not right then your photo will be drained from colour. To set the white balance you need to hold up a sheet of white paper in front of the lens and configure the settings correctly. Below is an example of how white balance effects a photo.

 

This is a photograph taken without the white balance set correctly.

And this is the same photograph with the white balance set correctly, as you can see there is a clear difference between the two photos as this one has more natural colour.

Photos were taken from this website: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm


F-Stops

F-stops is one of the main features of a camera as it allows you to choose how much light you let into the lens. There is a number of different f-stops to choose from, the further up you go the less light you will let into the lens. This is helpful if you are trying to take a darkened photo. And if you use a lower f-stop then you will get more light exposure into the lens thus allowing you to take lighter photos. 

The above diagram was taken from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number

ISO:

ISO stands for International Standards Organization and is a built in camera sensor. When you change the ISO setting then you are adjusting the camera's sensitivity to the light. So if you wanted more light then you would set the ISO setting to a higher setting  but if you wanted a darker photo then you would lower the setting. But the higher the ISO setting, the more grain you will get on your photo.

The above image was found here: http://www.exposureguide.com/iso-sensitivity.htm


 
Different Photographers

Horror:

This photograph was taken by Joshua Hoffine, it is based in the horror genre and includes elements of a slasher movie with a young girl babysitting and a escaped killer in the house. He stages all of his horror photo shoot's as small movies with props, costumes and special effects makeup. I chose this particular photo because I am interested in the horror genre.

http://www.joshuahoffine.com/

Art:

This photograph was taken by Edward Burtynsky, it is shot looking down at a housing area surrounded by water. He was born on February 22, 1955 and is mostly known for his industrial landscape photos. I chose this picture because it reminds me of Eastenders.

http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/

Fashion

This photograph was taken by Rankin, it is a shot of a model with very long eyelashes. His full name is John Rankin Waddell, he is a fashion photographer and he has photographed people including Tony Blair and The Rolling Stones. I chose this photo because it struck me as being bizarre. 

http://rankin.co.uk/home/

Participatory:

This photograph was taken by Julian Germain and it is a wide shot of everyone in the room looking at the camera. He was born in London in 1962 and has written numerous books and he mostly takes participatory photos in his spare time. I like the element of voyeurism in the photo.

http://www.juliangermain.com/projects.php

Album Covers

This is the cover for the soundtrack from the movie Drive, it features the main character from the film with his back turned and the name of the film written in a 80's font to represent the music used in the film.

This is the cover of the band Blink 182's live album released in 2000, it features the three members of the band drawn in a cartoon style performing on stage.

This is the cover for the band The Misfits album Earth A.D which was released in 1983, it features the band surrounded by skeletons and also shows them as skeletons too.

This is the cover for the band Metallica's album Ride The Lightning which was released in 1984. The main song on the album is Ride The Lightning which is where the album gets its name from.

This is the cover for artist Katy Perry's album Teenage Dream, which was released in 2010, it features her on the cover and gets its name from the main song on the album Teenage Dream.