Final Evaluation

Task 1-

Task one is always a research task. I really enjoy researching different photographers and techniques they've used. However, that's all the task is. Sometimes it gets repetitive to start every Unit with the same thing but it'd be nice to incorporate something else with it so we aren't just sat researching as it can get draining.

Task 2-
Task two was another research task. We were asked to research photographic processing laboratories. The whole point was to find processing laboratories in West Yorkshire and find the prices and what deals they have as it was coming up to Christmas. As I was researching, one laboratory did photo manipulation which came in handy as one of the tasks were photo manipulation. Again, I like researching but it's very repetitive however, I understand that it has to be done.

Task 3-
Task three was to go out and photograph digital images of glass. I liked this task as it enabled us to get out of the classroom and to do some photography. However, finding interesting glass was a struggle, I enjoyed it a lot as it gave us a rough idea of what to shoot when we came onto shooting in black and white film.

Task 4-
Task four was to go out and shoot a black and white film. I decided that I would go out to the media museum and photograph the numerous urban lights that they have their. Although there wasn't much colour, it didn't matter as it was black and white. I also went into centenary square to shoot some reflection images of the town hall into the water of the fountains. However, when it came to the processing of the film, it came out blank. I then knew I had to reshoot in my own time so I went down to salt mills. I spent the full day shooting reflections on the river to the glass inside the building. Again, when it came to processing the films at ProAm, they came out blank. The majority of the class also had this happen to them therefore, I think it was due to faulty film.

Task 5-
Task five was again, a black and white film however, using an object. I decided to use a bottle and tie a ribbon around the top and a paper tag to add extra detail. I really enjoyed shooting these images as it gave us time to experiment with the light sensors and different placements of the object. Overall, I really enjoyed this task and the images that I captured came out very good.

Task 6-
Task six was to do risk assessments for the darkroom including the do's and don'ts. It was a vey simply, straight forward task and it didn't take that long to complete. It was good to refresh the memory of the rules in the darkroom as we haven't been in for so long.

Task 7-
Task seven was my favourite task by far. It was to shoot reflections. I really enjoyed looking for the reflections and trying to get the most unique ones. although the majority of the time was spent looking for them, I enjoyed photographing them and finding out what apatures will would work and what wouldn't.

Task 8-
The comparison shoot was very interesting. I liked enjoying shooting on both camera's side by side to see the differences and also to see how different but how sometimes how similar the images come out on colour film and digital. I really enjoyed it.

Task 9-
The Christmas task was pretty easy. It was to simply photograph baubles and lights. There wasn't much too it therefore, it felt like it was just taking images. I didn't enjoy it as much s the others.

Task 10-
Task ten was to manipulate your images. I found this very frustrating but very satisfying. Although it was very fiddly and frustrating, when you eventually get the hand of it, the end result looks very good. I enjoyed playing around with the different brushes an techniques that I youtube'd how to create a floating island. It came out quite good.

Task 11-
Putting a person in a bottle was one of the easiest to do when it came to photo manipulation. It was quite simple when it came to photoshope however, whilst in the studio and getting the right positions for the model to be able to fit in was quite difficult however, it came out very well. I enjoyed it a lot.

Over all this Unit taught me a lot about photoshop and I enjoyed being able to go into the darkroom again. I really enjoyed the amount of freedom we had and I also liked playing around in photoshop. However, the mishap with the film caused a lot of stress and anxiety. But, this was my favourite unit, so far.

Photo minipulation

Original:

My aim for image manipulation for this image it to make the light bulbs look as though they're melting. To do this I will use the liquidity tool in photoshop. 

Edited:

 Overall, I think this edit went perfectly with the image. The colours are warm so it gives a warm feel to the image. Therefore, it makes sense that the light bulbs might be melting.

How to:

Open your selected image in photoshop. 

When loaded, click filters. 

Then select liquify. (shortcut- shift+alt+X)

When selected, it will lead you to this page. To start creating simply choose the size of the brush and pressure at the right side of the screen. Once done, select the forward wrap tool at the left top of the screen.

Then simply select the area you want liquefied and drag down or up. Continue until you're happy with the result.

Once you're happy with the result, press of and then save the image.

My Photo Manipulation:

Whilst looking throw videos of how to create different photo manipulations, one of the popular images was the floating island. I wanted to create an image similar because I found it very interesting and I wanted to have a play with the process of creating it. All the images I used were from google, they included two sky photographs in which I blended together, a picture of a fairy which I cut out and dragged onto the image of the sky, floating island and silhouetted birds which I repeated the same steps for the fairy. I enjoyed this process more than the process of using the liquefy tool as it wasn't as tedious. Also, you could have a play with the colour balance throughout the process instead of having to wait till the end. 

Original:

Edited:

I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted the outcome to be however, I'm very happy with it. I tried different things with this image including trying to make it melt however, I didn't like the look of it. After a while, I got  really frustrated and just randomly started to liquify random sections. That's when I realised I could make something very pretty. I realised that if I continuously moved in a circular motion, I would end up with a whirl of colours. Personally, I think it looks like an artist paint palette. With all the beautiful colours. 

Original:

Edited:

One of the strongest factors of this sculpture is the very fine, straight lines. So, I decided to distort them, however, I didn't want to change the shape of it overall. I still wanted people to know what it was. Also, I think the sculpture is very unique and I didn't want to take that away from it. Overall I really like this image however, I personally don't think it gives as much as the other examples of photo manipulation.

Person in a bottle:

Choose a picture of the bottles you want to use.

Start by opened the picture/s you want to use. Including the glass bottle.

Select the quick selection tool and outline the subject in which you want to transfer.

Once that is done, click the move tool and simply drag the subject you've selected onto the desired image by dragging it onto the tab located at the top of the area.

Then making sure layer one is highlighted blue on the right side of the screen, go into edit and free transform. (CTRL+T)Once the rectangle is surrounding, Adjust the sizing, whilst holding down shift so it doesn't become deformed.

Repeat as many times you want. I've chosen to do one more of my subject 'falling' into the bottle. 

If you need a reflection, which I need in this image, left click the layer you need duplicating and select duplicate layer.  

The layer is on top of the original layer, so by selecting and dragging, it will separate the two. Repeat the steps of free transferring the image. For reflections, you'll need to spin the image 180 degrees.

Place in the area. After this, the last steps will to simply adjust the fills of the layers. Making sure, the reflection is a lot less filled that the others.

Whilst I was editing this image, my model just wouldn't blend in with the photo. I tried adjusting the fill to make it look like she was inside the bottle however, it still wouldn't work. So, I turned to full down to 94% and turned it to black and white. This isn't my favourite image however it was my first and I was just experimenting.

This is the last image that I made for person in a bottle. but, I didn't want to put it her in the bottle. I wanted to do something different but I knew because of the task it still had to include a bottle. Therefore I put her on top of the bottle. It almost looks like she's peering in. 

(All images of bottle are taken from google images.)

Baubles/Lights

For this task I really wanted to focus more on lights however I still took some pictures of baubles. This is because I love the way lights look when they're out of focus. When taking a photo of lights in focus (example in the contact prints) it just doesn't look good. There's too much space that isn't filled and it just doesn't look interesting for me personally. As well as lights out of focus, I've also taken numerous pictures of lights through the window, focusing on the raindrops. Below is also an example of the same image however, with coloured lights. 

Comparison Shoot

IContact Prints:

Colour Film:

 Digital:

With these two images, I was really hoping for similar images. My aim was to create the surroundings dark so the lights were the main focus of the image; which I achieved on digital however, the film image came out way too bright. To the point where you can hardly see the detail of the lights. For this comparison, personally, the digital image looks better. 

Colour Negative:

Digital:

The point of this image was to capture the modern feel but with the wood. On the film image you can see that the warmth of the wood has completely disappeared and the tonal blues of the glass is really powerful creating a very cool feel. Then on the digital image, the warmth of the wood and the glass are really complimenting each other. Therefore, I like the digital image better quality. 

Colour Film:

Digital:

I really loved the whole set up of this and because it incorporated glass, I could take the image. On the first image which is the film image, the yellow of the homemade juice is very bright. Also, the reflections of the lights above are very strongly reflected onto the glass. It overall just has a very busy feel to it. On the other hand, although of the same thing shot straight after, it feels completely different. The warmth of the lights, the wood and the orange tones give a very calm and almost homely, welcoming feel to it. Therefore, in my opinion, the digital is better quality. 

Colour Film:

Digital:

Last but not least. These were probably the hardest to choose on which one I liked better however, again I have to say the digital. The warmth within the lamp makes it look inviting and like it's alive however, the film makes it look abandoned. 

When comparing them side by side, I have to say I don't enjoy colour film. Personally I think it takes the warmth of the images away by muting the oranges and reds. On the other hand, digital isn't as fun as film. But, I really do enjoy black and white film as it creates classic images. 

Reflections

When it came to my reflection shoot, I didn't want to have the same images of everyone else. Therefore I left the shoot until the weekend so I could travel to different places, maybe also go into Leeds. However, The Apperly Canal flooded and the fields around it also. Although it was sad as some people homes were also flooded, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get some reflection images as the water on the fields were calm. This image was one of the last images I took as I was walking back to the car. I chose to take this image because all the other images I took had a focal point and non were a broad reflection of just nature. Personally, I think that the idea of this image was good but, the space in the foreground takes away from scene as for me, it's the first thing my eyes are drawn to. The reflection is very sharp and you can clearly see it which is the whole point of the image therefore, I like this image.

I really enjoy this image as the calmness of the water creates such a striking reflection, almost like you've places a mirror under everything. Evidently, the main focus of this image is the line of poles, however, when you follow the leading lines down into the background, you come to the reflection of the tree. Then you're onto the landscape and you can see the reflection of the trees that are out of the image. Which then leads to the goal, creating a perfect rectangle. Personally I think the lighting really compliments the colours nicely. The whites are white but not too bright that it take the blue away from the sky. the trees are brown however, the grass isn't washed out. I really enjoy this image.

This image is definitely my favourite. The reflection of the 4x4 is there however, the wave created by its force adds something else to the reflection. The placement of the car is perfect as it draws your eye straight to it and you can clearly tell that that is the intended focal point of the image. Also, the colour of the car draws your attention even more as it contrasts with colours of the background.

The lighting of this image is probably one of my favourites as the low light really hits the little boys face. perfectly. It creates an almost halo like lighting on the left side of his face. Also, I like how it's lively and the fact it's natural. A little boy playing in the water. I also like the fact that the reflection isn't so obvious but you can still clearly see it. Also the people slightly to the right also have a large part of the image although they aren't the main focus of the image. They balance everything out as the boy is slightly to the left. Although the main focus of the image doesn't need to be in the centre, the darkness on the bridge would off balance the image.