Final Evaluation

For my final exam shoots, I feel that the images I captured were heavily influenced by the research I underwent. I looked at 20 images from different Photographers in my research log, many of which influenced how I composed the images I shot during the exam period. One Photographer I particularly took influence from is Laurens Kaldeway, who's image entitled "On the table" I analysed in my research log. She captured some everyday objects on a wooden table; a cup of coffee was positioned in the foreground, then a book with a pair of glasses on it in the mid ground and a chessboard in the background. She focused on the coffee cup, meaning the further behind it the object  was, the less it was in focus. This use of depth of field helped create a narrative in the image, in which the viewer sees that she is going to drink the coffee, then put the glasses on and read the book, and lastly, play a game of chess. The use of depth to create narrative and documentary qualities to the image was something I tried to take on into my final exam shoots. I shot all of my images using a wide aperture to capture a narrow depth of field, which I felt would create a sense of what's most important in the grand scheme of the image, with things in the background being the next important thing due to being out of focus.

I have gained some technical insights throughout my final exam process which I have incorporated into my final pieces. Some of these examples are Photoshop techniques, which I incorporated into both my final pieces and my computer experiments. One Photoshop technique I learned of in research  was duotone, which involves converting an image to greyscale then setting the image to have a main tone then a secondary tone. I used this technique in my computer experiments as I felt I could create a nostalgic mood well with the use of setting the main tone to black and the secondary tone to a muted shade of orange. A shooting technique that I learned to incorporate into my shooting was macro photography. I am used to keeping a distance between myself and my subject, therefore I researched different ways in which to capture subjects and learned the macro Photography technique and how it can be used to create a larger than life appearance in the context of everyday objects, which was my topic. I shot close up to my subjects, meaning the small objects I captured in my shots appeared large and meant that excessive background distractions were removed.

As well as technical insights I have gained through the exam process, I have also gained a number of aesthetic insights on how to present my work and how to keep to a certain style in order for my images to work in a series. One such aspect was the use of vignettes. All of my images were captured using a narrow depth of field, meaning a small part of the image that I wanted to be in focus was and the rest is out of focus, meaning the viewer focuses on what I want them to see. I learned that the use of a vignette is a way in which I can enhance this sense of depth by creating adding darkness to the areas surrounding the focus zone, meaning the viewer is further drawn in to point of the image I wanted them to be. Another aesthetic technique I developed through my shoots is the use of black and white and selective colourisation; these are both evidenced through my straight images and my computer experiments. I felt that the use of black and white in my first shoot meant that the images I applied to had a wider tonal range, as well as linking them to the idea of everyday banal. The use of selective colourisation in my computer experiments was with the purpose of highlighting a certain object and removing distractions that are caused by other objects; the object I want the viewer to notice most was the part of the image I kept in colour and the rest of the image I converted to black and white. I felt that this technique was effective in making an object stand out against the background.

Overall, I would say I was successful in my response to the exam paper. I chose the topic of everyday objects, which referenced ways in which objects can be given significance when brought together
and photographed. It references Andre Kertesz, who made use of hard shadows in his still life photography and Peter Keetman's use of structure in his everyday object photos. Peter Keetman's work was a body of work that I took clear influence from in my work, taking on board his use of pattern and framing. I researched both Keetman and Kertesz's images in my research log. My approach to everyday objects was, in practice to stay close up to the objects I am capturing, but in theory, incorporating some sense of narrative and strong connotation that can be made about the object and the situation it's in.

The strongest area of my work was my composition and framing of the images I took. When taking a photo, I would frame the shot in a way that there is minimal background around the object I was capturing, however, I would leave a small amount of background in the shot as I learned from my preparatory shoots that this helps create some context to the environment in which the object is being photographed is in, as this helps present the photo as having documentary elements as well as macro elements; it is a snapshot into someone's life through an object they have left somewhere.

However, I feel that there are definitely weaknesses in my response to the exam paper. One main weakness my response had was a lack of experimentation in computer and physical techniques. I focussed my study on perfecting the composition of close up macro, therefore feel I have neglected incorporating physical elements particularly; I struggled to find a way to incorporate a way to incorporated them so that they would add to the study and not feel as if they were put there because they were required to be. While I have completed some computer experiments during exam time, and some, like vignette, linked well to my topic and the way in which I responded to it, others such as duotone felt like they had few links to the macro and documentary focussed series of images I have created.

Shoot Three - Work Record

For my final exam shoot, I have decided to shoot in the second bedroom in my house as while similar size to my bedroom, it's organised in a very different way, with less space being taken up by wardrobes and chests of drawers, meaning there are less objects scattered around. I'm taking this as an opportunity to focus on composition, perhaps only capturing one or two objects throughout the frame of the shot. I hope to capture macro photographs which incorporate composition rules such as rule of thirds and leading lines.


This image was shot with a shutter speed of 1/25 and an aperture of F8 and an ISO 640. I shot this on the desk that's positioned in the room, and the image depicts a figurine hanging between some cards and a deodorant can. The depth of field was narrow, meaning the figurine is in focus but the deodorant can and the cards are not. This image makes strong use of texture, with the figurine being mostly smooth, however, having some rough and worn textures shown around it; further rough textures are shown on the deodorant cans in the background. The presence of both rough and smooth textures on the same object could represent that while they have been there for a long period of time and have suffered heavy use, they still have use and are in one piece.

Since the lighting in the room was dim, I had to make adjustments to the image to get the final image seen above. Once I opened it in Photoshop, I decided to add an exposure adjustment layer and increase the exposure to +90, which added some light exposure to the image that the camera failed to capture. I added to this by increasing the brightness of the image by 30, meaning the image now appeared correctly exposed. However, I noticed the low lighting had created a blue cast over my image, which I decided to fix. I used this method to correct the white balance of the image, and the above image has much warmer tones to it as a result. Below is the original image as a reference of how my editing affects the image.

Here is another of the images from my set of straight images. The image was shot on 1/25 with an aperture of F6.3 and an ISO of 640. Like the previous image, this was shot on the desk in the second bedroom of my house, however, I tried to move my shot to somewhere in the centre of the desk where there were more objects concentrated to one area. I focused my camera on the small brass diving helmet keyring that can be seen in the mid ground, and my use of a narrow aperture meant that everything outside of the keyring is out of focus. I tried to use leading lines in the photo, with the edge of the stack of notes and the pen leading the viewer to the focus point of the image. There are some clear contrast in textures in the image; the keyring is smooth and shiny in texture yet also has some grimy, stained marks on it to contrast it, which I feel could be a representation of the resilience of household objects through heavy use and wear, and how they are still functional after this.

To create the straight image shot shown above, I edited the original image (shown below)through  Photoshop in a number of ways

The first thing I noticed about the image is that it was underexposed; this was due to my reluctance to bring the shutter speed too slow as I was shooting handheld and this would create camerashake. The first thing I did to the image was create a brightness/contrast layer and increase the brightness by 40 and the contrast by 20, which meant the image was better exposed, as well as having a wider tonal range. Since the depth of field was so narrow, I felt like adding a vignette would mean this depth is further used to remove background distractions and make the viewer focus on the keyring, which is the focus point of the image.

The first step in this is was adding an ellipsis marquee to cover most of my image. I set the feathering to 150px in order to avoid my vignette having hard edges.

The next step was to inverse this selection using select>inverse. This meant that the area selected was the surrounding areas outside the marquee, which was where my vignette would be.

The final step is creating the vignette itself. To create this, I added a brightness/contrast layer and moved the brightness to -50. Because the area surrounding the ellipsis was selected, it only adjusted this area, achieving the vignette effect seen above.

This is my final exam shoot. I feel like throughout this exam period, I have developed my concept of capturing macro style close-ups of household objects, successfully incorporating documentary photography into this technique to create narratives through these objects.

Final Pieces

Final pieces from Reece Hack

Computer Experiments

Here is a photo that I have edited to look as if it was taken on a Lomo Camera. Lomo Cameras were developed in Russia in the late 1980s and despite being a knock-off of another camera of the time period, have increased in popularity due to their high contrast image and vignette effect. Above, I have recreated a Lomo style image using photoshop, which I learned from this tutorial. The image displays a high contrast, as well as a vignette around the area of the salt pot shown in the foreground. Below is the original image I used to create the Lomo edit, from which you can compare the differences.

Above is an example of my use of selective colourisation. As you can see, the yellow banner and the blue text on it is in colour while the rest of the image has been converted to black and white. To create this image in Photoshop, I selected the yellow banner along the card using the quick selection tool, then inverted the selection with select>inverse. This meant that everything that wasn't the banner was selected, meaning I could convert to black and white and the banner would be excluded from the conversion.

Here is another example of my use of this technique. In the image, I selected the red section to remain in colour and converted the rest to black and white.

Another technique I frequently used throughout my final shoots is vignette, and an example of this can be seen above. To create a vignette, the first thing I did was create an ellipsis marquee that takes up most of the image

I set the feathering to 150px on the marquee selection in order to avoid hard edges in my vignette. The next step was the inverse the selection, using select>inverse.

This meant that the area surrounding the ellipsis was the area selected. This was the area in which my vignette would be created. The final step was the create a brightness/contrast adjustment layer and lower the brightness, which creates the darkness around the image that is the vignette.

Another use of computer experiments in my work was the use of duotone. Below can be seen my Duotone image. I created this by opening the original and going to image>mode and selected greyscale. This allowed me to go into the mode menu again select the duotone option. I set my main tone to black and moved my secondary tone to be a very muted shade of orange, meaning the image has an almost sepia tonal effect.

Shoot Two - Work Record

For my second exam shoot, I plan to develop the macro/documentary style that was featured in some of my first shoot. My first shoot took place in my bedroom, in which there are a large amount of objects personal to me, however, for this shoot I have decided to shoot across the kitchen and the living room, which tend to contain items that are personal to other members of my family. My plan is to create a sense of narrative using objects that don't have a story to them that is my own; I have to create my own narrative for the objects rather than knowing the meaning of them already. I am planning to shoot this shoot without the aid of a tripod, like my first shoot, as it meant I could move freely and position my camera amongst the objects to get a closer perspective.

Shot at 1/30, with an aperture of F5.6 and an ISO of 640. This image was taken on the work surface of my kitchen, on which there were a large amount of objects; this depicts a pair of green suede gloves, on which a set of keys tied to a shoelace have been placed. I positioned my camera very close to the subject, as I wanted to capture the textures in great detail, and because of both this and my slow shutter speed, there was some noticeable camera shake. This was something I decided to fix in Photoshop using the shake reduction filter. I went into filter>sharpen then selected shake reduction, which brought me to a menu. In the menu, I brought the blur trace bounds up to 98px, as this was sufficient enough to fix the camerashake I had, then applied the filter.

Below is a before and after of how the filter affected the image.

Before ^

After ^

I also applied a vignette to the image, creating some tonal contrast and focussing the viewer's attention to the focal point of the image. I did this by creating an ellipsis marquee that filled the majority of the screen, setting the feathering to 150px, then inverting the selection and lowering the brightness in the selected area. 

This image makes strong use of texture throughout its composition; the shoelace that the keys are attached to display a very rough texture, which is contrasted by the texture on the keys themselves, which is shiny and smooth. This contrast in textures represents that things used for the same task will react to years of this task differently; while the keys have been used for years and are still smooth and shiny, the shoelace has sustained lots of fraying and roughened in texture.

Here is another of my straight images from the shoot. I shot this on the same settings as the previous image, being 1/30 with an aperture of F5.6 and an ISO of 640, as this was shot under the same lighting as the previous image. The image has a narrow depth of field, in which the camera is focused on a metal print of a vintage advert which depicts a girl pouting and looking upwards. In the foreground, and kept out of focus, is the handle of a kitchen knife which comes across the frame diagonally above the girl's head. I framed the image in a way in which the girl looks as if she is looking up towards the handle of the knife. The young girl is presented as innocent, which is portrayed through her curious facial expression and the presence of saturated shades of yellow in the background of the image. The idea of her innocence is contrasted by the knife, at which she is gazing at the handle of, which suggested she is thinking about taking it and using it.

The source image for this straight image had to have a number of adjustments added to it in order to get to how it looks in the depiction above. Below is the original image before any editing.

Due to the minimal lighting in my location, I noticed the image has been underexposed, which was the first thing I fixed when I opened the image in the Photoshop. I opened the exposure adjustment under the adjustments panel, and using that, adjusted the exposure to +90, making the image appear as though it had been exposed to light more. 

While this improved the image, it still felt like it needed to be brighter, therefore I opened a brightness/contrast adjustment and brought the brightness up to +30, which added some much needed vibrance to the image. I also increased the contrast by 30 as it adds some depth to the tones and therefore widens to tonal range. 

One final thing I felt the image needed was a slight increase in the saturation of the colours, therefore I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment and increased the saturation to +12, which added more vibrance

to the images colours.

For my final exam shoot, I hope to make one final development of my focus on objects around the household in macro and documentary styles, however, with this shoot I had a location that was very dense in objects and created a sense of busyness, I hope to shoot in a location in which the concentration of objects is less dense. This will change me to create a sense of narrative by focusing heavily on the composition of the image and using techniques such as leading lines.

Shoot Three - Straight Images

Shoot Three - Contact Sheet

Shoot Two - Straight Images

Shoot Two - Contact Sheet

Shoot One - Straight Images

Shoot One - Contact Sheet

Shoot One - Work Record

For this shoot, I plan to capture macro close up images of the objects in my bedroom. I am going to be shooting handheld and will use natural lighting to light my objects. I hope to achieve surreal closeups which present the objects in my house as larger than life, as well as presenting them as obscured and making it unclear what they really are.

Here is one of my straight images from the shoot, which was shot at 1/30 with an aperture of f5.6 and an ISO of 640. Despite turning the lights on in the room and opening the curtains fully, the lighting was still not very strong, meaning the shutter speed had to be put to 1/30 and the ISO I moved up to 640 in order to increase the sensor's sensitivity to light. The shutter speed being so slow while I was shooting handheld meant there was some camerashake, which was something I had to fix in editing. To do this, I used the shake reduction filter, which is located under filter>sharpen. Once you select the shake reduction filter, you are given an adjustments screen.

I played around with adjusting the blur trace bounds for a little while, as the motion blur in the image was small and a large blur trace bound would create blur itself. I eventually settled with 26px. The difference in sharpness of the background, where I focused my shot, can be seen below
Before

After

As you can see, the image is clearly sharper, particularly in the top of the composition where the gold tin and pins are.

My image made clear use of colour prominently in its composition. The foreground, which is out of focus, makes heavy use of a muted shade of purple; purple is a symbol of wealth, therefore this being present in the composition could represent the economic struggle of my household. We try to work to get enough money to live nicely, however, this doesn't always become a reality. A muted shade of brown is also present in the focal point in the background, shown in the sand inside the teddy bear shaped bottle. Brown can represent nature, and it being a muted shade rather than a saturated shade creates a sense of nature being tamed and, in a way domesticated, by literally being trapped into a bottle.



Shot at 1/15, with an aperture of f5.6 and an ISO 640. This image was captured on my desk, on which there were a number of objects that had gathered there over time. I took the image from a high angle, pointing down on my phone that was left on the desk, and taking it from a perspective in that there is a message shown in the reflection which is unreadable apart from the words "Hi Reece!" This message creates some context to the scene, as it implies that the desk in which this was taken on belongs to Reece, which is me. I decided to convert this image to black and white after shooting, as I felt it would remove the distraction made by the bright green colour on the side of the phone. To convert this image, I opened it in Photoshop, then went into the adjustments panel and selected black and white. I chose the "Darker" preset, as I thought it would bring out some of the dark tones shown in the phone screen more. The black and white filter created a wide tonal contrast, in which there are some very dark tones shown in the phone screen, which are contrasted by the light tones of the side of the phone. The image being composed of mainly dark tones creates a mysterious mood, which is supported by the unreadable cursive handwriting shown on the note; the whole mood could suggest that the message could have either positive or negative and this is where the mystery is created.

For my next shoot, I want to keep to my close-up macro format, however, I feel I need to focus more on presenting texture and reflection, as these help to push the documentary and narrative side of my images. I also feel that I could develop my framing, capturing different items together in order to create a sense of contrasting ideas or moods.