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.


 

DPP-Part 4; Exercise 4

Exercise; Addition

There are two parts to this exercise, the first part is about adding elements from different images. I have to take a landscape shot, with ¾ of the image to be sky. When taking the image, I had to use a tripod and in one, get the correct exposure of the sky and in the other get the correct exposure of the foreground, then splice/merge them together to create the perfect image.

 

Part one;

This image was taken in Park Guell in Barcelona. This particular image is a perfect exposure of the sky.

 1/250 seconds at f/22.0

This image is perfect exposure of the foreground.
 

1/250 seconds at f/11.0

 

 

 

This is the final image, when splicing both of the images together to create the correctly exposed image.

With regards to the final image, I did use some curves on it to enhance the contrast of the whole image just a bit.

Part two;

Now, I have to take a different image of the sky and splice it with the foreground of the image in part one. I have chosen the following sky, as I wanted to get a really different look and to see if I could achieve it.

 

And this is the final image of the splicing.

To be able to make the image look as natural as possible, I had to use the underexposed foreground, I then used a fill mask to darken and lighten different areas of the foreground to be able to successfully merge the sky with the foreground.

With all of the splicing, I used the quick selection tool and refined the edge.

DPP-Part 4; Exercise 3

Exercise; Enhancement

I took an image of a person close up (Head and shoulders) with face in the shade and not receiving direct sunlight, without a flash or any other light source, the eyes to be clearly visible and to then do have the following adjustments.

Original image;

This was taken at a wedding where my friend was the bridesmaid, it was a very sunny day and I managed to get a shot of where she was in the shade.

1/400 seconds at f/10.0

 

 

First enhancement;

This enhancement is solely on the face, in which I used the selection tool and enhanced the brightness and contrast, trying to keep it looking as natural as possible.

1/400 seconds at f/10.0

 

 

Second enhancement;

I had to enhance the eyes and exaggerate the colour of her eyes by increasing the saturation and brightness.

 

1/400 seconds at f/10.0

 

 

Third enhancement;

I had to change the colour of the eyes, by adjusting the hue; I changed her eye colour to hazel as it seemed the most natural.

  

 

1/400 seconds at f/10.0

 

I think that you most defiantly have tampered with reality in the entire image, however, is it legitimate? Again I think this comes down to personal preference, I think sometimes when you alter the reality of an image, it could be that it needs it, or simply, you are trying to achieve a specific look for that particular image. No one questions when a painter adjusts there art work to an altered reality, so why should it be any different for a photograph which is also art?

 

 

 

 

DPP-Part 4; Exercise 2

Exercise; Improvement or interpretation

I had to use an image that was described in a previous section of the course file, in which there is a person in shadows of a detailed background and then I had to use a manual selection method to enhance/adjust the person in the image to make the person stand out, by using either the lasso tool or mask painting with a brush. I decided to use the latter method, as it is one that I am familiar with and I believe produces the best desired result.

I did experiment with the lasso tool, but on this occasion the mask painting worked better for the result I was trying to achieve. This image was taken in Barcelona.

Original image;

 

 1/125 seconds at f/7.1

 

Edited image;

1/125 seconds at f/7.1

The parameters I accept with this type of editing is to be able to adjust it to a degree, but not so far that it alters the image massively, I know that a camera has a limitation as to what we actually see, therefore, I believe that this kind of local adjustment is acceptable and in this case, the person still looks natural and it works very well.


 

DPP-Part 4; Exercise 1

  

Exercise; Correction

Wow…where do I start!?, it’s been a roller coaster of a few months for me, I have moved up to London, got a new job where I’m working 12 hour days 6 days a week and I won a weekend away to Barcelona, which I managed to take, only to badly sprain my ankle at the airport on the way back!, so trying to take photographs has been a bit difficult, however, I have used some of the images that I took in Barcelona and some afterwards, were I Managed to hobble around!.

So, the object of this exercise is how to correct an image that is technically “faulty” the first in this exercise is dust specks. I have chosen an image that I took in Barcelona. I unfortunately didn’t realise until I got back, how any dust specs there actually were, it does however, work for this exercise.

Part One;

This is the image with the dust specs.

1/320 seconds at f/25.0

As there are birds in this picture, I have attached a magnified image to be able to see a bit clearer which is which.

Here is the magnified image.

 

 

 

This is the final edited image, with all the necessary corrections made.

 

1/320 seconds at f/25.0

I used the spot healing brush tool to correct all of the dust spots, the tool worked so well, I had no need to use the clone stamp tool.

 

In the exercise it poses a few poignant questions, firstly, is using the clone stamp tool as innocent as using the spot healing tool?.

I have used the clone stamp in the next image and in the past on a number of occasions, I think, for me personally, I see no difference in using the spot healing brush tool to the clone stamp tool, in both cases you are still correcting/altering the image in two different ways, which leads on to the next question; - is this speck real from the scene, or caused by dust on the sensor – should you remove it and does it bother you?.

I would like to answer this with personal feeling, as this is a question of personal/moral values, I feel that the specks are different from the scene and only an artefact caused by dust on the sensor, which, no matter how many times you try to correct it, by cleaning all the time and taking it to a professional to get cleaned, can’t be helped, therefore, I have no problem in removing that speck from the image.

On the other hand, with regards to the clone stamp tool, when using it, I sometimes feel guilty!, especially when I am replacing sections of an image to improve it, for example, after I have cropped an image by rotation, and the shot would look better if it had the top, bottom or sides of the image, rather than another crop, I will sometime replace the corners, that’s when I think, I should have taking it correctly in the first place. Then there are times when I feel it is necessary and not a moral issue, if it improves the image due to circumstances out of your control then I feel it is justified.

Part Two;

I had to use an image that had a polygon flare and use the clone stamp tool to remove the flare. Here is the original image, taken at sunrise on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Northern Utah.

1/160 seconds at f/8.0

 

Here is the edited image.

 

1/160 seconds at f/8.0

 

I have stated my thoughts about the clone stamp tool in part one of this exercise. I think with this particular image, I prefer the flare, it makes a great lead in line and gives the sense that you are actually there, it adds to the image. I think that a flare should be left in some cases and some cases, maybe not, it is all to do with personal preference and if the image lends itself to it.