LOCATION TECHNIQUES : Contrast

Here we were working on the idea of contrast and how two photographs in the same place (Leeds) can show completely different aspects of the area.

This set of images shows contrast between the two bikes. The first one is fairly old and tacky looking with its purple exterior, leopard print accessories and honking horn. The second one is a very slick pewter BMW motorbike. These represent two very different people that were in Leeds the day these were taken. One is a quite light hearted person who likes to inject a bit of fun with the accessories on their bike. The second is probably a fairly wealthy person who takes pride in their possessions and looks after their bike by keeping it very clean and shiny.

This set of images shows two different areas of Leeds, and how they've been cared for both by the public and/or the council. The first image is the inside of an old telephone box which has some of the glass smashed through and missing, and a lot of rubbish lying on the ground inside. I always think that the old red telephone boxes look so attractive, and when I looked inside I was quite disgusted at what I saw. The contrast image to this is the floor inside Queens Arcade. This is a more affluent area with lots of expensive shops. The floor in here is kept very clean and tidy.

This is not a direct contrast but I thought it would be interesting to see the group of poppies to show respect to those who have lost lives during the war, against a group of stubbed out cigarettes in an ash tray. I thought it would be a different look on the contrast theme to see something so clean and beautiful to respect the dead, against something so dirty and revolting like cigarette ends.

Here I have photographed two shop windows. The first is an upmarket cupcake shop in Queens Arcade. The cupcakes are on the pricey side, and being situated in one of the more affluent areas of Leeds, the clientèle are most likely fairly wealthy. The contrast image is taken of a bakery in Leeds Market. The shop is pretty average looking and obviously caters to a much less affluent clientèle than the cupcake shop did. Leeds market is not a very nice place, it's fairly rough and common, and this photograph shows this fairly well.

EXPERIMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY : David Hockney Joiners

Here are two joiners I created using photoshop inspired by David Hockney. These photographs were taken from my classroom in college. I'm lucky at college to have such an interesting view from our 9th floor room. Here I took two sets of photographs, one of the whole view from the window and one of the roof of Morrison's outside. I took lots of different photographs with different angles and viewpoints of the buildings. I think that the more I zoom in on sections and angle my camera, the more interesting my joiner is going to look. 

Once I had taken all of my images, I went into photoshop and created the joiner as follows:

In photoshop, select File > Automate > Photomerge and select 'Collage'.

Then, un-tick the 'Blend images together' box.

Use the browse button to find the images you want to make a joiner from, select them all and click 'Open'.

Wait...

All of the images will open as individual layers. This allows you to adjust them individually. You could lighten or darken them to make them look more like the rest of the image. You could remove them if you don't think they are adding an awful lot to your joiner. You can move or rotate them as you wish.

Double click the first layer, this will open the layer properties where you can apply a drop shadow to make the images look more like they're in a pile rather than just a blended image with jagged edges. You can also add a stroke if you wish (this will create a solid line around all 4 edges of each image).

Then copy the layer style (the shadow and stroke) to all of the other images by holding down the ALT key on the keyboard and dragging the letters 'fx' onto the layer underneath. 

Then click Layer > Flatten image.

This will create the white background.

LOCATION TECHNIQUES : Test images around Leeds : Portraiture

This image was taken on some stairs in college, we wanted to test out how the flash gun worked both inside and outside. 

I like this creative shot where my model is looking in a mirror and I have photographed her face in the mirror rather than her face in real life. 

I love the lighting in this image 

LOCATION TECHNIQUES : Ideas for my own photoshoot

DISCLAIMER: None of the above images are my own.

Here are some ideas for a location techniques photoshoot that I am planning. I would really like to create imagery like the ones I have used as examples above. I love the whole 'romantic' look to images with beautiful hazey lighting. These images are often quite warm toned and would be best taken at around sunset. I would like to create a set of images possibly including a model in a field or woodland area. I really like the second to last image which is a group of images with similar subjects and a similar colour scheme. I would really like to create something like this for my own photoshoot. I think there is a possibility that the group of 9 square images may have been taken using a mobile phone. 

Here I have tested out different techniques using my mobile phone and taken images using different filters and effects to gain ideas for my photoshoot.

EXPERIMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY : 'Photo-planets'

'Photo-planets' are an abstract form of photography created using panoramic imagery.

DARKROOM PRACTICE : Actors headshots

Here is the contact sheet from this photoshoot. The purpose of this shoot was to capture actors headshots. These actors are also students studying performing arts. They are second year students who are needing 8x10 black and white headshots to keep with their CV's and send in with job applications. Whilst one studio was set up for a photoshoot with a white background, high key lighting and a digital camera, I decided to set up another studio with a black background, low key lighting and use a film camera to take some photographs. Unfortunately not all the students wanted their picture taken using a film camera so I only have around 8 or 9 images of actors headshots.

Here are some close ups of the actors headshots and some other images that were taken. I have only printed one picture at the moment, as with developing the negatives into film which could then be printed is time consuming. I am really looking forward to printing more images and perfecting the prints so I expose them to make them look as aesthetically pleasing as possible and hopefully my clients will be pleased with them and excited to put them with their CV's.

This is the first headshot that I printed from my developed negatives. I really like how this has turned out for my first ever black and white film portrait. Unfortunately through the developing and fixing process, using the tongs to move the image around in the liquid, I have scratched this first image. I will now know for next time to be a lot more careful when using the tongs and putting the image into the liquids. I also really like the mount that I have created by covering equal amounts of the photographic paper when it is exposed to the light to create this boarder.