DPP-Assignment Five; Learning Log

Learning log – DPP assignment 5; Personal project

“Clear focus is one of the most compelling virtues of photography.”

 

(Sean Wilkinson – Taken from the book The Elements Of Photography-page 132)

Now on reading the rest of his extract, he is questioning the above statement and saying that it seems perverse to shoot an image that is blurred, but wanted to emphasise that an image could be blurred and beautiful. On looking at his images, they are all blurred and very beautiful.

I decided to look at this quote in another way, in fact, the way I thought about it when I first read the line. I thought it was representing, not so the clear focus of an image, but the clear focus of the person who is making the image and on looking at it in that way, I think the statement is quote profound.
 

My Thoughts

This assignment was difficult but thought provoking, up until now, we have had to stick to a format, obviously the format is still there, but lesser so and I could be more selective, which I enjoyed. For my project, I had to do a lot of technical reading, so to be able to use my speed lights correctly, however, I am happy I finally managed to find the time to do it. I also really enjoyed creating my web gallery, this also gave me a lot of technical stuff to do and I am really pleased it is up and running.

Strengths on my assignment

Was the ability to be able to recognise my mistakes and correct them as much as I could at the time, by trying different compositions and lighting techniques, which normally for me, lighting is a massive problem, however, I feel I am getting better in this area, but there is always room for improvement.

Weaknesses on my assignment

Is the inability to not be able to achieve the look I wanted first in my head and photograph it, now I know this is normally the case, but I would like it to come more naturally to me, knowing whether it would work or not first, before trying to attempt it.

Some of my research sources-Books, websites and documents

• The Elements Of Photography: Angela Faris Belt (This is a really interesting book, it contained artist’s portfolios with a statement and the process of how they achieved it, which I found intriguing, as each photographer seems to each have their own style. It also gives accounts of different techniques used)
• Mastering Canon EOS Flash Photography: NK Guy (This book is my god send!, I have always struggled with flash photography and had little knowledge with regards of how to take it out of the “P” mode on the speed light, this book gives a truly accurate account of how to use my speed light in the correct way to achieve the results I want)
• Light, Science & Magic: Fil Hunter, Steve Biver, Paul Fungua (Another god send, a perfect book that describes how light is used and how, as a photographer you can manipulate it to achieve your overall goal and how to photography certain types of materials that always seem to pose a problem, such as reflective items etc)
• The Photograph As Contemporary Art: Charlotte Cotton (A collection of images from a myriad of different artists, broken down in to seven categories, or themes as it were, with the inspiration and motivation behind them )

DPP-Assignment Five

Assignment Five; Personal project 

 

 

Object of assignment five

I have to apply all that I have learnt in this entire course, in to this final assignment. I have to take around 10-12 photographs in a subject of my choice and write a reflective account to accompany my images.

 

 

“Like all art, photography creates its own reality. And the best photos are not those which succinctly record what has been seen, but those which understand how to structure this according to rules and laws specific to the genre.”

(From Icons of Photography, taken from the book The Elements Of Photography - page xv)

I like this quote, I think it is a true and accurate account of what photography is all about and I believe this quotation relates to photography in general and specifically to this project, you can create the image you want, by using the tools you have to create something you want others to see.

 

Reflective account

This was quite a tough assignment, I wanted to choose something that had a bit of oomph, as it were and to challenge myself, which I try to as much as possible, as I believe we all have our comfort zone and I for one would like to have a more diverse range of skills.

So, my first thought was to photograph areas around the Thames, then on second thoughts, I realised that was Landscapes – again, and something I needed to move away from, this thought was also followed by, the City of London, Train Stations and Tube Stations, all of which I believe was tied to Landscapes/Cityscapes in some way, so, I went in the opposite direction and decided to do photography that was indoors, with my Macro lens and Kitchen objects.  

I chose this particular theme as I love Macro photography, the detail, the different ways you can manipulate an image and how you can bring something so small, to bigger than life proportions. I chose kitchen objects, as whilst I was cooking one day not so long ago, I noticed how unusual and oddly pretty my bottle stopper was, from there I thought about all the other unusual things my kitchen had to offer, this is how I generated my project.

 

 

I wanted to take close up shots of small items and to make some of them (not all) appear as something that they were not, I hope I have achieved this as it was quite difficult to do and some of them are extreme. I also wanted to, as the brief suggests, to incorporate elements from the entire module in to the images, for example, using the last assignment, “Real or fake?” I have composed one image to fit in with the theme of that assignment, also I have used the Monochrome assignment as inspiration and so on and so forth.

With regards to the theme I chose and the images I produced, I am happy with the outcome as a whole, there are some images that I still have my doubts about, as always, so I will look forward to my Tutors interpretation with regards to this project.

I did stick to the brief that I finally chose, but I digressed away from images I thought I wanted originally, when actually photographing the objects.

Then on production of the images, it was interesting, on making the image I thought “I want to keep that one” then afterwards, I went back to images that I thought I did not like and ended up using them for my final assignment.

As I said previously, I am extremely happy with my collection, it was difficult at times, due to lighting, which is one of the most important this in photography and I knew I had to get that right, in some of the images, on reflection I would have manipulated the light slightly differently and changed my White Balance before shooting some of the objects. Also, I would have liked to have had more coloured items in the collection of images, but a lot of my kitchen items are chrome.

With regards to what went well or not so well and the question of technical problems/how I solved them, I will highlight this question in each individual image, so to be more specific with each image and the process I used to obtain the objective I wanted to achieve.

 

Exhibition

As I now live in London, it is a lot easier for me to go and see exhibitions, of the ones I really want to see. I decided to go and see the “Travel Photographer of the Year ” – TPOTY for short, which was shown at the Royal Geographic Society I was particularly excited to go and see this exhibition as it is one that I have entered last year and is mainly about landscapes and more importantly, travel. Alas, with my competition entries, I got nowhere that year, but I always love to see other peoples work and it was beautiful, it always blows me away when a child under 14 can produce a thought provoking image.

 

 

Books used for this assignment

• The Elements Of Photography: Angela Faris Belt (This is a really interesting book, it contained artist’s portfolios with a statement and the process of how they achieved it, which I found intriguing, as each photographer seems to each have their own style. It also gives accounts of different techniques used)
• Mastering Canon EOS Flash Photography: NK Guy (This book is my god send!, I have always struggled with flash photography and had little knowledge with regards of how to take it out of the “P” mode on the speed light, this book gives a truly accurate account of how to use my speed light in the correct way to achieve the results I want)
• Light, Science & Magic: Fil Hunter, Steve Biver, Paul Fungua (Another god send, a perfect book that describes how light is used and how, as a photographer you can manipulate it to achieve your overall goal and how to photography certain types of materials that always seem to pose a problem, such as reflective items etc)
• The Photograph As Contemporary Art: Charlotte Cotton (A collection of images from a myriad of different artists, broken down in to seven categories, or themes as it were, with the inspiration and motivation behind them )

 

So on to the images of my project;  

Workflow;

 

I used a similar workflow as I did with my previous assignment to help me plan out the items I needed, also the way I shot and edited my images, as with the previous assignment, similarly to my last assignment, I tried test shots, however this time, I did shots of my items at different times of the day, so to test the lighting and I used my books to help me with this process.  

 

 

 

 

1; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 – Egg Cup

For this image, I wanted to get up close, so the viewer would have to take a second look as to what the item is, I wanted to create high contrast and a ‘washed out’ look as you see here, this image was a tricky one as I had to get the flash just right. I tried using my speed light and it failed to perform, so I then changed to my Marco flash that I had just purchased, so to create light bouncing off of the sliver and gain the darkness in the areas as you see here. I also wanted a shallow depth of field so the front of the egg cup would be in focus and the back of it blurred. 

 

  

 

 

2; 1/200 seconds at f/2.8 – Cocktail Umbrellas

I wanted to generate a vibrant colour here, so I stacked all of the umbrellas on top of each other and shot from the front of them, I tried this one a few times, as it was difficult to get the vibrancy in this image. I wanted to get the majority of the image in focus, even though I was using a low f-stop.  I had to use a low f-stop to be able to get the colour as to how I wanted it, as using a higher f-stop posed a bit of a problem with regards to this.

 

 

 

 

3; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 – Cocktail Sticks

This is one of my favourite images in my collection of this project, I love the way the tips are really in focus and looking at this image, it is not entirely clear as to what it is, I also love the detail of the sticks and the blurred middle. When I first shot this, I wanted the edges to be blurred and the middle to be sharp, however, when I did it like that, I liked the result but felt that this one was better. I also used my Marco flash for this image, this image ties is with the monochrome section of the module, so I purposefully shot it in black and white. 

 

 

 

 

4; 1/5 seconds at f2.8 – Cocktail Stirrer

 This is another favourite of mine and no I am not a cocktail addict!, although with the past three images I can see why people would think that!.  This stirrer is completely clear and again, this image was not the one I had thought of when first approaching this object. I had firstly wanted the light source at the tail end of the cocktail stick, so to illuminate it from the end in to the head of the stick. I then tried using my Macro flash light, however, that generated an undesired effect, then changing my tact and remembering one of the assignments required a subject that was backlit, I decided to give it a try with a different composition and it worked, I think it looks great, the clarity and detail really stand out.

 

 

  

 

 

5; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 - Fork

For this image, I used my macro flash and had my camera on a tripod to steady it, so to be able to focus on the tip of the fork. This image turned out exactly how I imaged and wanted it too. 

 

 

  

 

 

6; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 – Egg Timer

There is not much to say about this particular image, I think it fits in with the theme, however, there is not much I could do with it. I used my macro flash again and a low f-stop as I just wanted to focus on the number, what is interesting, is that I never noticed the ‘55’ had, what looks like strands of black ink coming off of it, I like the clarity and depth of field in the image. 

 

 

 

 

  

7; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 - Corkscrew

This one I had difficulty with, however, I am pleased with the final result. I tried this in a multitude of different ways, with the whole bottle opener, just the side, just the knife of the opener, etc, etc. In the end, I felt this photograph was the most effective as it looks like the corkscrew is infinite.



 

 

 

 

 

8; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 – Bag Clips

This image was inspired by the “Real or fake?” section of the module. I only had a few clips, so I took one image with a few scattered around, then I took photographs of all the clips individually. On Photoshop I created a new background and using the ‘Quick selection tool’ I outlined all of the individual clips and copy and paste them to the new background, sometimes rotating them and placing them in to different positions. I then saved that and brought up the image of the many clips, used the tool again to eliminate the white card behind and copied and paste it on to the background that I had created. I was a bit sceptical as to how this would turn out but overall I’m happy with it. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

9; 1/15 seconds at f/2.8 – Egg Cup

As before, this was inspired by another assignment in this module, I decided to use the “Dappled light” thought as I liked the effect. To get this image I used natural light and a slightly blue tinted light source. I had to do this on the floor to be able to get the light I wanted and directionality. I like the sepia and blue tint in this image, I also like how the dappled light is not strong and how it looks like a glass of water, with the light shining through it. Initially I wanted strong dappled light, with no tint, however on trying it, it did not look good, quite plain and boring, so I opted to tint the light and make more of a ‘dream’ effect.

 

   

 



 

 

 

10; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 – Bottle Stopper

 
This is an image I did not expect to use, but overall, it was the best one in the end. This is inspired from one of the assignments in this module “Reflective”. In the beginning I was thinking about just shooting this without anything in front of it and just using my room to soak up the reflection. Then when taking that photograph, it looked awful, so I played around with the composition a bit and ended up putting my big mirror in front of it. I am happy with the result as the reflection is very strong, I also left a lot of space on the right hand side as I wanted to viewer it feel as though the mirror was there and give more of a perspective in the reflection.

11; 1/60 seconds at f/2.8 – Chocolate Grater

This image is a bit of flop really, the grater is actually tiny, but it looks like it could be massive in this image. I tried to shoot through the wholes of the grater, however, it looked awful, I then tried turning it on its side and shoot from the bottom up, again, it did not look good, so I opted for the shallow depth of field but focused on the back rather than the front.

DPP-Part 5; Exercise 2

Project; A web gallery

 

For some time now I have been meaning to start a web gallery to sell my images, I have held off due to not having enough of a bank of images to use, I still don’t really; however, this is exactly the push I needed to get started.

I did a lot of research in to this as to how to do it and what other people had done on their blogs, I noticed that you could do it for free, however, I wasn’t impressed with the quality of those particular web sites and as I want to sell professionally, I decided to register a domain name.

I had already chosen the name for my company ‘MEP Photography’ so I wanted to use that name. On searching, it appeared that a lot of them had already been taken, which was strange, because when I actually went on to the domain names not a single one of them called their company ‘MEP Photography’ which was quite frustrating, so I had to choose a .com address to be able to get my website up and running.

 

With regards to the design, I decided to create it via ‘Bridge’ which is a program linked to Photoshop, now for the time being I wanted to keep the design etc as simple as possible as I only have a small amount of images, I will be changing this in the future to create an actual website where I can properly sell my photographs, but for now simplicity seems best.

I decided to do a film strip on the side and have the filmstrip images at a medium size so that you could see which ones you wanted to click on, which also helps lend itself to not losing the size of the full image, when you click on it.

I kept the background black, so to enhance each image and again keep it simple, unfortunately the ‘Bridge’ function is a bit limited and I couldn’t change the font or size of the text I incorporated, however, this helped with the simplicity and navigating through the images is extremely easy.

This was an interesting project and I look forward to maintaining /updating it in the future to generate a completely fully functional gallery, I will update this on all of my blogs throughout the course.

• Here is the link to my web galley;- www.mep-photography.com

Other galleries;

Whilst looking at the domain names I wanted to choose, it was quite interesting how different each person’s gallery was.

One of the gallery’s was easy to navigate though with large pictures and simple headers, I like the ‘Home’ button and there were clear cut titles as to what you were looking at and where you could go to next.

A couple of others were difficult and didn’t make much sense, with a mix of images that seemed to be randomly placed, it had titles, but the site was unclear as to what it was offering, I didn’t know if it was for her friends or for the general public.

I’m quite logical and extremely organised, I feel that when my ‘actual’ web site is up and running, it will be easy to look at and promoted in a way to market my best images and services. I will also try and get people’s opinions with regards to the functionality of the site, but an unbiased one from people who will be honest with me.

DPP-Part 5; Exercise 1

Exercise; Sharpening for print

For this exercise, I have to use a portrait image and do 3 different levels of sharpening, so to see the differences between when you have the image on screen and when you print it.

 
This is the original image;

1/60 seconds at f/5.6

This image is of a bridesmaid at a friend of a friend’s wedding. I had already done the alterations to this image but no sharpening. In Photoshop there is already a default setting of 25 on every image that you open in Raw.



This image has been sharpened slightly;

The amount of sharpening that I applied to this image was the following;

• Sharpening; - 50
• Radius; - 1.5
• Detail; - 50

I kept it small, so to match the original image as much as possible, the differences that I saw in this image and the printed image were minimal, however, this image is noticeably darker than the original image in print and on screen.



This image is with the medium amount of sharpening applied;

The amount if sharpening that I applied to this image was the following;

• Sharpening; - 100
• Radius; - 2.2
• Detail; - 75

The highlights came out a bit more at the front of her hair on this one and the same with the print, with regards to the differences from the computer and print, there isn’t much, apart from the print is ever so slightly darker (this is without a magnifying glass) this may be because I have calibrated my monitor and I invested in a quality printer to produce my images. With a magnifying glass and the zoom function on my computer, the image looks more ‘pixelated’ like little grains of rice have been incorporated in to the picture.



The final image has the maximum amount of sharpening applied;

The amount if sharpening that I applied to this image was the following;

• Sharpening; - 150
• Radius; - 3.0
• Detail; - 100

This is sharpening to the extreme, at very first glance and I mean glance!, it looks like a really clean image, but obviously, it actually looks un-natural, the front of her hair is lighter still and some other areas, but the whites of her eyes looks almost alien and the grains on the computer and print are extremely harsh.

All in all, I prefer the first amount of sharpening, as it still provides the natural look of the skin, but highlights a bit of clarity and defines the edges, I think if the colour was corrected, it would enhance the image further.


 

DPP-Assignment Four; Learning Log

Learning log – DPP assignment 4; Real or fake

“One day PHOTOGRAPHY will become Photoshopy…..ORIGINALITY may disappear”

(Lakshman Iyer)

I decided to show two different quotes with regards to this Log, the first being a distain for Photoshop. This quote comes from a photographer who believes that Photoshop is used too much and to a degree, I agree with this. Although I have said in my assignment and exercises that manipulation is acceptable, I do also believe that you cannot beat a true image from a different perspective. However, I think we need both and with regards to the photography I like to take, which is landscapes, it is a preference with my images, that I make an image as good as I can through the lens, to capture the truest sense of the feeling within the photograph, on the other hand….

 

“I use Photoshop CS3 and Nik Efex…because a great picture of an ugly woman…is still an ugly woman”

(Mike Murillo)

With regards to this quote, which is not by a photographer and instead a race car driver, I also agree with this one, Photoshop is needed for the post production of the image and the image can still be the same, however, as I have previously stated, we do need completely manipulated images, as per the images that are used in advertising or artistry to enhance or coheres the photograph, to ensure the viewer is understanding the message behind it, as per the image below.

 

I have no idea who this image is by, I tried to find out, but it was seemingly impossible!. I do know that this image is for an advertisement and it was only titled ‘Feet’, but I have no idea for which company and as there was no script to go with it, I had to make up my own mind as to what it was trying to say.  Looking at this image I instantaneously thought, it is about the footprint of destruction that humans have on the planet and in turn effects global warming. This is what I mean by manipulating an image to make the viewer see what you want them to see.

My Thoughts

This assignment was fun; it was interesting learning about the different tools in Photoshop and what you could do to create the desired result. I had to use my Adobe Photoshop instruction manual and I also needed help from other websites with the brush tools but I am happy with the desired result, it has also been good to think outside the box and explore a different thought process with regards to this controversial subject.

Strengths on my assignment

The strength on my assignment was; with regards to the final photograph, I had a specific image in my head and this was replicated exactly how I saw it. I am really happy with the end result and put a lot of time and effort in to achieving the goal that I wanted to achieve.

Weaknesses on my assignment

Was firstly the time it took me to get the desired result, secondly, it was the different mistakes I made initially to try and achieve the results I wanted, although, if you look at it in a different way, that could be a strength as I did not give up trying different techniques. I may still also like to make it look a bit more professional; however, my weakness is not knowing how to do that.

Some of my research sources-Books, websites and documents

• Photo truth or Photo fiction?: Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age by Thomas H. Wheeler (An interesting look in to manipulation through history and how it differs from today)
• Portrait of a Young Girl by Mark Niemann-Ross (Rather than a book on direct fact, this is a fictional story of how Photoshopping and the ethics behind it effect the main character of the story, I used this to see if my perception on editing would be altered/influenced in a different way)
• Faking it: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop (Metropolitan Museum of Art) by Mia Fineman (This is an interesting one, showing how many images were manipulated before Photoshop, in general and the Media, how they did it and the images that were used
• http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photoshop - (To find definition)
• http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/ansel-adams-excuse.html - (An interesting view on manipulation)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_manipulation - (To gain more factual information and images on manipulation)

 

 

DPP-Assignment Four

Assignment Four; Real or fake?

Object of assignment four

With this assignment and the previous exercises, it is all about exploring the technique, but also the ethical choices behind the final editing process, with the subjects and content helping me define my own stance on the choices we make, when editing an image. Specifically for this assignment the real-versus-fake argument and the means that involve completing a task, which lies in the middle ground of this argument.

I had to produce an imaginary book or a magazine cover by altering a photograph to create an eye catching image, I could have, if I wanted to, took an existing illustration and created my own cover for it. I decided to do something original, but when I say original, I mean a food magazine cover, so, not so original for a generic magazine, but I did not want to use a well publicised magazine.

The reason I decided on a food magazine, was due to having recently got back in to catering and the image is from one of the cocktails we make, I chose to take this image as the colours are inviting and vivid, also I had a specific manipulation in mind, which I feel I achieved by the final image.

I shot this image on a wide aperture setting (Shallow depth of field), with a macro lens and a speed light, I have not been able to afford a macro flash as of yet, hopefully I will be able to do so soon, so I will then be able to compare the results between the two, but for now the speed light worked extremely well in this case.

With regards to this image, it is more about the manipulation rather than the original photograph, that being said, you always have to start with a good image.     

  

Real or Fake?

“: to alter (a digital image) with Photoshop software or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes)”

(Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of Photoshop)

I found this was an interesting terminology for Photoshop, the ‘alter’ section seems and is relatively normal/apt, but the section where it says “especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes)” is not so relatively normal/appt.  Now, distorting reality, as it states, is surely up to the user of the programme?, all photos need to be processed, in the past it was with the film roll negatives and in the future, it is through software on your computer, either way, there HAS to be post production on an image, otherwise that image wouldn’t exist in the truest sense of the word. I believe the software to be an essential tool in the post production process and certainly one that I could not live without.

As for their “(as for deliberately deceptive purposes)” comment, I find this quite strong, like what you are trying to do is to trick someone. When you use heavy manipulation, you could very well be manipulating an image for an enjoyment factor, which could be fun or sad or making the viewer think differently about an altered perception of someone else’s mind/thoughts, who is to say what is right or wrong?.

In the art world, an artist who is painting a real scene but then altering it to show a different side, or thought process, is not considered as ‘deceptive’, it is considered bold and inspiring. There is nothing wrong with that, so why is it wrong if the same thought process is used for a photograph?, a painter is allowed to manipulate their view, but a photographers is not?, they are both artists in their own right. My thought with regards to this is to keep an open mind and let people keep surprising us with their amazing views and talent….  

Exhibition

I went to an Ansel Adams exhibition about a few weeks after completing my third assignment. As strange as it may sound, considering the last assignment would have been much more relevant to this exhibition, however it is also relevant to this assignment. I was extremely pleased and honoured to have been able to go, I wish I had been able to go to see it for my last assignment, alas, due to timing, it was not possible. I was in ore view his images, there was also a video presentation of Ansel and his views on manipulating the image, which were interesting, he was ‘pro’ post processing, although not on an image that was bad, you have to have a great image to start with, then he would do dodging and burning to bring the photograph “to life” which I think is completely justifiable.

Books used for this assignment;

• Photo truth or Photo fiction?: Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age by Thomas H. Wheeler (An interesting look in to manipulation through history and how it differs from today)
• Portrait of a Young Girl by Mark Niemann-Ross (Rather than a book on direct fact, this is a fictional story of how Photoshopping and the ethics behind it effect the main character of the story, I used this to see if my perception on editing would be altered/influenced in a different way)
• Faking it: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop (Metropolitan Museum of Art) by Mia Fineman (This is an interesting one, showing how many images were manipulated before Photoshop, in general and the Media, how they did it and the images that were used )

Websites used for this assignment;

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photoshop - (To find definition)

http://nocroppingzone.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/ansel-adams-excuse.html - (An interesting view on manipulation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_manipulation - (To gain more factual information and images on manipulation)

I have decided to put my final image first, the reason being is that when I looked at the image at the end of the process; I feel it did not have the same impact, as you can see the editing process before you.

I have put it first AND last, so at the end, I will give my thoughts and view with regards to the image.

 

This is the original image;

All images are based on this one, the aperture and shutter speed is as follows; 1/60 seconds at f/4.0

As previously stated, I took this with my Macro lens and a shallow depth of field, I really liked the clarity of this image and colour, on reading this assignment, I wanted to originally have the strawberry dripping, however, on reflection, I also wanted an ‘explosion’ and a subject as to whether or not fruit was good for you, so I started with the explosion.  

 

This is the explosion image;

I made this image using spatter paint brushes, I started off by downloading the brushes from the internet, I cut and paste the strawberry to create a new layer, selected the brush, changed the brush size and direction of the brush, then painted black on the side of the Strawberry, after this I went back to my cut out layer, copied it and used free transform, so I had one image on top of another.

I then hid the layer with a hide all layer mask, painted on the mask with a spatter brush and used white to show the free transform layer that was underneath, after that I changed the direction of the brush and chose black as my colour to break up the spatter horizontally and to give it more of a realistic feel.

 

 

This image was an attempt to show the Strawberry dripping;

I had real problems with the dripping part of this image, this was a poor attempt to do them, with this I choose the same colour as the bottom of the Strawberry used my paint brush and dragged down holding the shift key, I could not get the desired result that I was looking for, so I tried something else.

 

 

Second attempt to show the Strawberry dripping;

I then tried to used the smear tool to create droplets from the actual Strawberry, all I did was keep dragging it down, as you can see, again it was a pretty poor attempt. By this point I was getting extremely frustrated as to how to achieve this look. I then thought, I downloaded the spatter brushes, maybe I could do the same for the droplets?.

 

 

Here is the image with the droplets;

So for this image, I used droplet templates and selected the colour of the bottom of the Strawberry for each droplet, so to match it perfectly, I then used the smear tool a bit so to merge the Strawberry with the droplets, to give more of a realistic feel.

I did some more editing on this image;

So to mould the droplets with the Strawberry, I clone stamped one of the pips on the Strawberry changed the size and added it to some of the droplets, I then clone stamped a reflection of light on the Strawberry and added it to all of the tips of the droplets. After that I did some dodging and burning of the highlights and shadows of the droplets, so to enhance them and bring them in to the image more.



 

The final image;

For the final image, I created the writing using the text tool on Photoshop, I am extremely pleased with the final image, the methods I tried and used have been listed throughout this assignment, as have my views regarding manipulation, but to clarify, I think that ethically, manipulating an image to change the perception/view is no different from a painter doing the same, I was going to say “Artist doing the same” but changed it as I believe that photospheres are Artists as well.

DPP-Part 4; Exercise 5

Exercise; Alteration

This exercise is about massive alteration in an image, I have to take a picture that contains one distinct subject, occupying an area of about one-eighth of the frame and then I have to successfully remove this subject from the image.

 
Here is the original photograph I chose to edit, this was taken in Park Guell in Barcelona.

1/320 seconds at f/20.0

With regards to this image, I wanted to take out the lions head and the heads of the people who are sitting on the other side of the wall.

Here is the image that I edited image.

1/320 seconds at f/20.0

 

I feel extremely happy with the final image, I used a range of different tools to complete the final image, I used the clone stamp tool, the patch tool and copied/pasted/moved sections to achieve the final result.

The question is about whether or not this process is an ethical one, again as before, I believe this, if with just cause and you want to enhance the image to make people think/view things differently, is ethical. I go back to my point about a painter, art is art, whether it be a painting, a photograph, a sculpture, it’s what you want the viewer to see and the mind to think, with the image you create or make, if you will.

Personally, I see nothing wrong in it, however, I will always prefer a natural image shot from a different viewpoint, than an image that has been manipulated, but that is personal preference.