Work Log 3

Contact Sheet 

My intentions for this shoot were to capture more photos of older architecture. I wanted to also look at taking more photos that are less zoomed in. This will allow me to experiment with a wider range of compositions. I have annotated the contact sheet with ticks and crosses based on whether I feel the image was successful or not. I have also annotated some of the images in regards to why I have ticked or crossed the image.   

My Best Images

I have chosen this image as one of my best because I like the fact that the ageing of older architecture is clearly represented. I used an aperture of f/16 to take this image which allows me to take an image with a wide depth of field. This means that the entire image is in focus which I feel also highlights the details of the old architecture.  

I have chosen this image as one of my best because I like the composition of the photo. I like the fact that the wooden arch leads your eyes towards the architecture in the background. 

This image is one of my best because I feel as though the intricate detail of the door and the area within the frame is very aesthetically pleasing. Although the image was taken at a slight angle when editing this image I can adjust this in photoshop.  

Images that require improvement 

I have chosen this as one of my images that needs improvement because it is under exposed. When photographing this image I used an aperture an aperture of f/11. I believe this made my image slightly under exposed due to the opening of the lens not being large enough to let in enough light. This then resulted in an under exposed image. I tried to take a photo of the same area using an aperture of f/8 and the image came out a lot brighter. I have placed this image below.

When taking this image I tried using the to make the darkness of the window a little brighter however this resulted in a light reflection from the flash. This also made my silhouette visible in the window which I felt ruined the image overall.  

Camera Settings

When shooting the images that I have taken I mainly used apertures ranging from f/8 to f/16. I used the lower apertures when the weather was slightly dull and there was not enough natural lighting. I did this because I needed the opening of the lens to be slightly wider because I needed more light to be let into the lens. I used a slightly larger aperture when I did not need as much light to be let into the camera and also when I wanted to ensure that I could achieve a wide depth of field. I use an ISO of 400 because the weather was slightly cloudy and I wanted the camera to be fairly sensitive to the lighting. I did experiment my camera settings by using ISO 200 however the images came out too dark. I altered the shutter speed throughout my shoot but I mainly used a shutter speed of 1/125. By using this shutter speed I was able to create crisp and clear images.

Plans for my experimentation 

Experimentation  

To edit the images that I have taken above I have incorporated elements from all three shoots I have completed already. I wanted to experiment using a mixture of physical and digital experimentation. I have used shards of shattered glass which I scanned into the computer. I then edited parts of buildings into each of the shards of glass. Below are the steps as to how I completed this. 

INSERT IMAGE OF GLASS AND SCANNER 

Firstly I used a scanner which is in the photo shown above. I shattered a glass into pieces and then placed them into the scanner. This then produced a digital image of the shards of glass. 

I then opened the scanned image of the shards of glass into photoshop. Once this was done I used the crop tool to resize the image to cut out some of the irrelevant background that was not needed. I then used the magnetic lasso tool to select the outline of one shard of glass. 

Once the selection had been made I dragged the first image I wanted to use into photoshop on a separate tab. I then clicked 'cmd+A'. This selected the entire image. 

I then clicked 'image' then 'copy' 

Once this image was copied I clicked back onto the image of the shards of glass. The shard of glass that I wanted to put the image into was still selected. I then clicked on 'edit', 'paste special', 'paste into'. This pasted the image into the selected area. I then repeated this for each of the shards of glass using different images each time. 

Once every shard of glass was filled with an image I wanted to make the background white. I did this by using an image of a plain white background. I opened this in photoshop and clicked 'cmd+A' to select the entire image. I copied and pasted this over the top of the photo of shards of glass. I resized this by clicking 'cmd+T' and made sure it covered the entire image. 

I then created a layer mask on the white background layer. I then selected the paint brush tool and made sure that the colour was black. I then painted over the areas where the shards of glass were and due to using a layer mask this revealed the shards of glass whilst leaving the background white. 

Above is a screenshot of the final outcome of what I have created. 

Once I had created this I wanted to repeat the process by using a different physical material to create shapes the scan into the computer. To do this I followed the same steps but used ripped up pieces of paper. To place the buildings into the ripped up paper I used exactly the same method as above. Below is the final outcome. 

This turned out looking very similar however I feel like it gives a slightly different rustic effect due to the rips of the paper being slightly visible. 

Experimentation

For my next experimentation I wanted to use the same idea that I had previously of using different parts of images and putting them together however I wanted to do it in a more orderly way rather then using uneven shards of glass to create sections for the images to go. 

Firstly I created a new document for me to paste the images into. 

I opened the image that I wanted to use to paste into the new document. I then used the rectangular marquee tool to select the part of the image that I wanted to paste into the new document. 

Once selecting the part of the image I wanted to copy I selected 'image' then 'crop'. This cropped the image to just the part I selected with the rectangular marquee tool. I selected 'edit' then 'copy'.  

I then clicked onto the new document that I created and clicked 'edit' then 'paste'. This pasted the section that I selected into the document. 

I then used the 'move tool' to move the section to the place that I wanted it to be. I repeated the previous steps for a range of images, varying the size of the selection each time. 

Once I completed the rest of the selections that I wanted to make I highlighted all of the layers. This allows me to do the same thing to all of the layers that are selected. 

I then used the black and white tool to change them to black and white. Below is the final outcome of the image. 

This is the final outcome. I feel as though this is very effective because I like the contrast between the first edit, where the images are put together in a random way, in comparison to this experimental edit, where the images are neatly lined up together. I also like the effect of the black and white because it highlights the difference in tones between each of the images. 

Further Experimentation

I wanted to try and complete an experiment that linked closer to Harry Kaufman's work. He takes photos of landscapes in other countries that show juxtaposition of architecture. I wanted to try and recreate a landscape with direct juxtaposition all in one image. 

I used the two images above to create one final image. 

Firstly I opened both the images that I wanted to use in photoshop. 

I then used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the part of the building I wanted to use. Once I did this I copied the selected section. 

I then pasted it into the other image I have opened in photoshop. I then clicked 'cmd+T' which allowed me to move and rotate the selected layer. 

Once it was in the desired location within the image I used the rectangular marquee tool to crop the entire image. 

I then altered the image to black and white because I felt like by doing this the image looked more realistic, as if these two buildings really were taken side by side. 

Where did I get my ideas from?

For this shoot and edits I gathered my main ideas from my artist influence, Stephen McMennamy. This was because I have used his idea of putting parts of different images next to each other. I have also been inspired by the work of Harry Kaufman. This is because he has photographed landscapes with juxtaposition of building very close to each other. I liked the idea of the juxtaposition being in one image rather than placing two images next to each other. This is what I did during my first edits based of the work of Frank Gohlke. This is why, during my experimentation, I have tried to use different elements of buildings within the same image. For the final experimentation that I completed I have found inspiration from some photos I gathered in my image bank. An example of one of the images that inspired me is down below. The image inspired me because I wanted to try and recreate juxtaposition within one images however because I did not go to a location that hand architectural juxtaposition close to each other I tried to use photoshop to re create this effect.

Artist Influence 

The edits and images that I have taken and created are based on my artist research for Stephen McMennamy. I have incorporated his ideas of looking at placing different images next to each other. Instead of placing the images directly next to each other I decided to use different materials to create shapes for me to place parts of images into. All of the images that I have placed together link as they are all images of architecture. This is also something that I was inspired by in Stephen's work as he subtly relates the different images he uses.

Comparison - my work versus the artists work 

This is an example of Stephen McMennamy's work. 

This is just one example of my work. 

My work relates to the artist I have looked at because he uses different images and places them together to create juxtaposition. I have also explored this however I have done it in a different way, by cutting out parts of images and placing them together in one image. Also rather than just using two images, like Stephen McMennamy, I have used multiple photos. 

Progression

I would like to move on from this by creating a blog post based on experimentation within all of my images that I have taken so far. I would like to try at least 2-3 different experimentations using one or two more artist research's as inspiration and influence to my work. I would also like to complete two more shoots, one based on older architecture and one based on newer, more modern architecture. I feel as though by completing more shoots this will allow me to widen my experimentation when editing images.