hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

JUMBO CONTACT SHEET A3 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

COLOUR ENHANCE USING CHANNELS

Once I clicked off the red green and blue channels, I knew I wanted to enhance the warm sunset tones of this image, the colours here are exaggerated to show the effect mixing the colours in the individual channels can have on an image. Similar to the colour grading except another method to achieve a similar result. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

COLOUR GRADING

I had no idea that Photoshop came with presets for movie style colour grading themes in images. I do now and I think it will definitely be something I will be using in my portraits. It has a fantastic effect, giving beautiful tones and atmosphere to images. Creating more of a story within an image. 

I researched colour grading as part of my fashion editorial brief, and enjoyed finding the common palettes used in films, in particular Quentin Tarantino was a Director I had researched heavily to fully understand why he uses the colours and muted tones in his movies, to add tension and vintage colour schemes. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

CHANNEL CUT OUT

I chose an already isolated subject to try and cut out using the RGB channels. These are the breakdown of Red, Green and Blue channels. I found the red channel provided the easiest cut out as it highlighted the light areas better and increased the contrast between lights and darks. This made for a smoother cut. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

A selection of my final images from my graded unit this year. More abstract that I was expecting, happy transition! Just need to wait for the grade now! Excited and a bit terrified. 

#pamelamarshallhnd2c #cogc #gradedunit 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

Image Editing Research

This type of Photography is one that has fascinated me for years. The technique involved in creating these images is staggering. I have thought about advancing my qualification to degree level and this is what I would hope to focus my studies on and develop my existing skills to learn how to create images like this. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

Exhibition Questions for ‘hndphotography’ at the Theatre Royal. 

#cogc #exhibition #pamelamarshallhnd2c 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

END OF YEAR EXHIBITION! I chose to display one image this year, my Sky bridge image. Really happy with the final framing and all of the work on display this year was fantastic. Well done HND2! #cogc #exhibition #pamelamarshallhnd2c 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

These are the images I presented for feedback before final printing changes were made. Not all made it into the final 20, but I felt these were a strong group to work with and create the theme I was hoping to achieve. I feel I met the objectives I initially set out for myself, but a valuable lesson was learned in that with long projects like these, as you progress, you will never produce what you started out to create. I wanted to find leading lines I nature, which then lead me to leading shapes in nature and then leading lines and shapes in architecture and structures all around us. Final Evaluation will be posted once it has been marked for Graded. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 8 - EICA EDINBURGH

The Edinburgh Climbing Arena is built Inside a quarry. I had been booked onto a climbing session and knew I would also be taking my camera gear. This wasn’t a planned shoot but after I had researched the building and its surrounding area I knew I wanted to make this my last shoot. High sun at midday meant harsh shadows and this was exactly what I had hoped for. I knew there would be metalwork as part of the buildings structure and I wanted to find lines and shapes within this structure. I also planned to shoot these as black and white images. Using a 55-30mm lens allowed me to zoom and isolate areas of interest whilst maintaining a safe distance from the edge of the staircases. I found triangles, curves and duplicating lines on this shoot, keeping the composition tight meant I could zone in on abstract shapes and create illusions with the light and shadows. Two of these images have made the top 20 for the graded unit. Images 7 and 11 were eventually chosen for their unique form and I felt they added detailed value to the overall project. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 7 - GLASGOW TOWER

Probably the quickest shoot I completed from the entire project. Blue skies, polariser on a wide angle 17mm lens, exposed for the sky and took these images. I settled on the seventh images, purely because of its symmetrical properties and alignment. This was more pleasing to the eye for me and made for a striking image. In post production I changed the image to black and white. Despite the deep blue skies, I knew this image would be monochrome when I shot it. I really enjoy its abstract nature and simple clean lines merging into the centre of the image. Once I had the shot, I took a few others from different angles, it reminded me of a space port launch pad so I wanted to recreate that grandness and keep it colour to create a nice bold architectural image. Leading lines everywhere. Happy with the overall final image result.

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 6 - QUEENSFERRY FORTH RAIL BRIDGE

You can plan for weather, conditions, equipment. But you can’t plan for the Flying Scotsman arriving 20 minutes early and missing a fantastic photo opportunity. So I shot the flying Scotrail instead. The third image in this series is one I have planned to shoot for years. Simple leading line straight up to the bridge. Perfect blue skies contrasting against the famous red steelwork. Nothing spectacular about this shot, its a really simple image. But it works well. This was a continuation of the shift in the main aim of this project to capture leading lines, I think it has achieved it, but it also incorporates architecture which has been part of a running theme from nature to man made structures, which can be clearly seen when reviewing the contact sheets. Not only has there been a progression from leading lines to leading shapes in nature, but this has carried through to architecture and structures. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 5 - GLASGOW CITY CENTRE CLYDESIDE, BBC BUILDING, SCIENCE CENTRE, ARMADILLO, BELLS BRIDGE. 

As I planned new locations to shoot, and researching possible structures to use as leading lines, I started to see new shapes in my images that I hadn’t considered before. They had the same effect in leading your eye to the main focal point or subject, but not with lines. Sometimes curves, especially S curves started to appear in the composition my eyes would create. Triangles and square shapes started to appear, everything became more fluid and smooth and I deliberately started to place objects in the frame that I would have never considered before. If I had to look back through the project, I would say the Fairy Pools image is where this started. The triangular rocks in the foreground lead the eye like stepping stones up to the waterfalls and the Cuillin Mountains. I started to apply this compositional direction to all my images. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 3 - GLENCOE LOG

The A82 is famous for the Glencoe Pass, a wonderful windy road that trails through the stunning mountain range of Glencoe. This was a planned shoot with two objectives, use the most obvious curve in the road as a leading line up to the Three Sisters mountains. I had planned to do a recce last light shot when the sun was just about to set and then another image later in the evening to maximise on car light trails. This was going to be my link back to Graded Unit 1 where I used illuminations as my theme throughout the project. Except without castles this time! Just using what I had learned and applying it to a different kind of image. The first four portrait images are part of a vertical panorama I wanted to create to judge in daytime whether the composition would work better as a panorama or a landscape wider image. I settled on the wider alternative as I feel it would give me more flexibility in getting the exposures perfect to blend the twilight sky and the light trails together in post production. 

Although this image does have the desired effect in using the car lights to lead your eyes around the bend to the Three Sisters, I eliminated it from my top 20 as I decided on a new angle for the project. Man made leading lines can work, but not in all cases. Natural formations seem to work better, rivers, rock stacks, trees. I started to see other things in my images that worked better and started the change in my key objective of the project. 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 3 - MELLON UDRIGLE, CORPACH, FORT WILLIAM. 

On the way home from Skye, we stopped at Mellon Udrigle, its famous for a beach with an unusual sand formation. The sun disappeared as soon as arrived, but I did manage to get an image of the unusual water colour illuminated by the sun for a brief few minutes. Again, the abstract nature of this image drew me to it, there was a line, but it wasn’t leading anywhere, it just fascinated me. It was more of a curve actually, like the Skye Bridge, and it created a beautiful stand alone image. This was a handheld taken image, 50mm lens, 1/250, f5.6 iso 200, walking up to the sand formation. I absolutely love it. I removed some of the seaweed in post production and left one large piece for scale. It was suggested I turn the image upside down as it resembled a snake skin. I decided to keep it the way it shot it. But this summarises why I love the image so much, you stare at it and try to work out what it is. The smooth yellow colours and textures of the white sand add to this contrasting nature and I’m really happy with the final result. Abstract Photography was something I researched for my graded plan and I knew I wanted to explore it more as I had never taken the opportunity to do so before. I love it now. I aim to keep this aspect of the project going after college in my personal work. 

MELLON UDRIGLE BEACH

This is the strange sand formation that makes Photographers flock to this beach at sunset. It really is just a break in the sand with flowing water. But it creates beautiful ripples in the water and leads out to turquoise sea. Reminds of the isle of Harris with its white sand and clear blue water. Unfortunately by the time I had reached this feature, the sun had completely disappeared and rain was on the horizon so I knew I had a few minutes to get the shot and get back out. I set my tripod as low as it would go, not low enough though so I may need a new tripod for future images like this, but I managed to push it into the sand to get lower and exposed for the sky and the water separately so to not miss any details in the sand and ripples in the water, I used a polariser on a 17mm lens to cut out any glare In the water from the white/grey clouds and shot a series of images until I got the one I was happy with. In post production I cropped the image to a square to eliminate one half the sand formation and make the curve of the formation follow your eye out to sea. I think this was the right decision as it accentuates the leading line out to the turquoise sea and mountain range in the background. 

MELLON UDRIGLE BEACH FORMATION

Corpach, Fort William

Heading to Corpach just outside Fort William was a last minute decision as I had seen a fantastic images of a boat wreck lying on the side of the beach. I had checked the tide times and knew I could catch it fully on land with the Ben Nevis range looming behind it. The sun was out, but dark clouds covered Ben Nevis and with this combination of weather it was too good an opportunity to miss. All of the images I had researched so far, I knew I would find something or a landmark to use as a leading line, but with this I had no idea what I would come up against. When I got down to the beach, the light was perfect, I could visualise a great, moody shot, but I couldn't find anything to lead the eye up to the boat and then the mountain. I put the longs lens on to condense the background and bring the mountain forward, hoping I would find a new perspective but I couldn’t. Eventually I wandered around the area looking for anything that would work, and settled on the curve of the beach line up to the boat. I waited for the light to dapple on the mountain side and took the shot. Technically I knew I had managed what I set out to achieve, but ultimately I felt like although it was a great landscape image, I felt it was lacking something that really made it fit in with what my brief was initially about. Leading lines. It wasn’t obvious enough to make it into my top 20. Still a great image though! 

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 2 ( ISLE OF SKYE - 27TH APRIL 2017) LOG

OLD MAN OF STORR

This shoot was spit over two days. My intention was to earmark several locations within Skye to visit, weather dependant. I had checked the forecast for the remaining two days and it was very mixed. Sunshine, showers, hailstones and snow with gusts over 30 mph forecast. The shot I had ventured to Skye for was the Old Man of Storr. I knew from researching Google Terrain that there was a clear visible path leading around the old man to take hikers to the summit and this was the viewpoint I was aiming for. I wanted to use that path as a leading line right up to the focal point of the old man rock formation. Typically, as I headed up the mountain, hailstones arrived, I had dressed for the weather and comfortably continued. When I reached the viewpoint I had to anchor myself and my tripod down to ensure it didn’t blow away. The gusts made it difficult to access the bag but eventually I was set up for a vertical panorama shot, polariser on a 50mm lens to cut the glare off the sky and balance the sky and bright white snow. I shot 5 images, maintaining stability was essential. I also shot a few landscape images just incase the wind had got the better of the tripod and affected the sharpness with camera shake. In post production I merged the images together using photo merge and cloned off any spots and made minor adjustments to the contrast and exposure levels. Despite the snow, the path was still very visible and had the desired effect I was aiming for. A clean leading line straight to the Storr and a nice overall landscape image that was worth the wind blowing me off a mountain for. 

STAFFIN BAY - ISLE OF SKYE

The weather had really set in by the time I arrived at Staffin Bay, but the stormy skies and adverse conditions added to the moody, atmospheric images I was hoping to capture here. I knew this would be a trial and error shoot as nothing had jumped out at me on google terrain, no structures, just black sand and white sea froth. I had never seen black sand before, I had heard of it on volcanic islands like Lanzarote, but never actually seen it. It was spectacular to see turquoise water against charcoal grey/black sand with the white tide coming in, I set up to get some handheld shots before I anchored the tripod. There was no wide vista shots I could make a composition with, I tried using rocks as leading lines up to the Kilt rock hills, but it didn’t seem to work. I decided to explore more intimate aspects of the landscape. Abstract areas that seem to offer leading lines to the sea, or rocks. Eventually I put on a long lens and found a lone rock getting battered by the tide. I exposed for a 2 second image using a 4 stop ND filter and waited for the tide to come in, then took the shot when it was receding. This created a lovely string of lines surrounding the rock and gave a different take on the leading lines theme of the project. I loved the blue/grey combination of colours as the water receded and it ended up being one of my favourite images from the entire project. 

Staffin Bay - Isle of Skye 

SKYE BRIDGE

The Skye Bridge is iconic, if you catch it on a night with great light, good storm clouds, plenty of atmosphere, it can make for a powerful image. The classic image of the bridge is usually taken from the other side in Kyle of Lochalsh, but I knew I wanted to use it as a leading line in itself to the Isle of Skye. I saved this image until last, the night I was leaving Skye as I knew I wanted that ‘last light’ effect to colour the image. Armed with the tripod, 55-300mm lens and a 2 stop ND filter, I headed down the rocky beach., found a composition and shot a succession of images quickly as the light was fading fast. The longest time taken was arranging the composition, I knew I was minimal foreground, a smooth long exposure, and to split the image into three areas, with a point of interest in all three sections. I used the curve of the bridge to lead to the lighthouse, with a lone boat in the middle ground and wood stacks and the rocky beach as the foreground. I love this image, its rare that an image turns out exactly as you pictured it beforehand. 

Skye Bridge

[hnd2cpamelamarshall-blog]

GRADED SHOOT 1 CONTACT SHEET - GRADED LOG

LOCATION: FAIRY POOLS, ISLE OF SKYE

EQUIPMENT:  PENTAX K5 X 2 DSLR, 50MM 1.7MM, 18-55MM, 55-300MM, 150MM LENSES, 6 STOP HOYA ND FILTER, MEDIUM GRADUATED FILTER, HOYA 52MM POLARISING FILTER, COKIN ADAPTER, TRIPOD, 4 PENTAX  BATTERIES, 8GIG, 16GIG, 32GIG, 4 GIG MEMORY CARDS SANDISK. YONGNUO SPEEDLITE FLASH AND FLASH STAND. 

I arrived the night before to get an early start to this shoot as the weather would be unpredictable and I wanted to get as much dry weather as possible to minimise damage to the camera equipment. I had seen many photos of the Fairy Pools in Skye and all with similar angles and I knew I wanted to change the perspective and find something to lead your eye to the waterfalls and Cuillin Mountain Range. As the area was saturated with tourists, despite the early start, I headed straight to the base of the mountain where there were less tourists and found a Photographers haven. Access to the water was fair and didn't require much climbing. Another photographer was already in the same spot so I waited for him to finish and assessed the angles he was aiming for. I decided the best way to find an object to lead your eye to the subjects was to get in the water and wade through to where a large rock was stable enough to sit on. I have included the contact sheet from the shoot, I tried using smaller rocks as stepping stones to the waterfall and a large rock to the left, after consideration I decided the smaller stones provided more of the effect I was looking for and eliminated the larger rock as it seemed to dominate the composition rather than act as a stepping stone to the main focal point. I found another smaller waterfall further down the path and decided to try a vertical panorama to pull in the perspective, using the 55-300mm lens. The compression was exactly what I had hoped to produce with the natural line of blue stones in the water leading your eye straight to the waterfall. Image 1 will be part of my final 20.

GRADED SHOOT 2 - TALISKER BAY, ISLE OF SKYE

I drove straight for the bay as the predicted weather was looking to interrupt the my only opportunity for photography. Luckily, when I arrived at Talisker Bay, the weather had hit with such ferocity than the resulting after rain sunshine was atmospheric and exactly what I needed. The weather seemed to follow this pattern all day, with torrential rain followed by sun showers, which can actually be fantastic to shoot, providing the equipment is protected. I stumbled across the boulder beach to get closer to the sea stack, I hadn’t had a chance to survey this area on google terrain yet so I used to dry spell to quickly go over the various compositions. I settled on a line of cobbled stones leading straight to the sea stack. Once again showing that leading lines don’t have to be in a straight line, or a line at all. Image 6 of my contact sheet for shoot 2 shows a black and white variation on the final image, I used a graduated filter to darken the sky further and bring some drama to the image along with a 5 second exposure and the ND filter. A boost of contrast in camera raw enhanced this further and created the final image I had hoped for. Overall I’m very happy with this image and I think it shows the result of considering all elements in a frame to complete the composition.