sophiestrawmc

[sophiestrawmc]

Evaluation - 

I have explained the process I went through for my final piece on the other post - but I imported the images into Light Room and placed them in the Capture subfolder, then using the Develop tab I edited the images to a basic standard and then exported these into the Select subfolder. I opened my chosen image in bridge and cropped it a bit and then I went into Photoshop, duplicated the layer CTRL J and used the spot heal tool to get rid of any marks which may have been on the background - although I think I could have done a better job at this now I look back. I then opened up the same image into a different tab and used the rectangular marquee tool to trace a some cubes around certain pieces of the photo - using the move tool (V) I dragged them onto the piece I was using and laid them out like the cubism photographs and art I have seen - I did this to the best of my ability and then saved the image into the Master subfolder so it could be saved into the Output folder ready for the web. During this project I have learnt two new techniques...Light Room Cataloging and Tethering. Light Room Cataloging has a high potential because it helps you organise your files much quicker and you can then use that catalogue to go back to images you’ve been working on - as well as this it saves much more time if you need to get something done pretty much straight away. Tethering is good because you can review your images at a full scale almost instantly - this saves a lot of time whilst taking pictures because you don’t need to keep moving the camera and losing your composition whilst checking the images - as well as this you can also change the settings from the tethering cord on the laptop and also edit the photo on the spot so all the others come out looking good. If I were to use these again I would try doing them with a much larger shoot and see if they live up to the potential. During the creation of my final piece I used a white foam board, some glass to place the objects on, a kiwi, a pineapple, some starburst and some jelly. I needed these items to create the cubes and triangles for my piece. I think these items could also be used for making more detailed shapes or even a whole different approach on things by taking photos of the items and then making something cubism inspired on Photoshop. In the process of my final idea I experimented by placing the objects in different places to see what it would look like. I also experimented by trying to make different sized shapes to see if that could make an overall difference to the piece and jazz things up a bit. 

My final piece was inspired by cubism - I focused on the aspect of ‘rejecting judgement of “Good” or “Bad” art’ - I was inspired by the simplicity of the cubism and fracturing objects into multiple pieces. As well as this what is classed as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art it is all open to the viewers interpretation as it is a very subjective topic. I was inspired by David Hockney’s series called ‘Joiners’. His series focused on landscapes and portraits with a cubism twist and I used his photos to inspire me to edit mine in a similar way to the best of my ability. I was also inspired by his use of colours and simplistic subjects and this is why I decided to use fruit cubes. Whilst researching I was also inspired by a picture of fruit cubes I saw from a publishers called ‘Lernert and Sander’ - so I decided to mix these two together to have a simplistic yet colourful feel to the image. With my final piece I was trying to catch the viewers imagination with different items to display cubism - I guess there is some sort of health kick around it too by mixing sweets in. It shows you can have a balanced diet whilst also having fun with what you eat. As well as this by showing fruits in geometric shapes they become similar to sweets therefore could be eaten as treats or part of a normal diet without being boring. I was also trying to show how cubism is in more things than we see. From a professionals point of view I would see my image as interesting as I have represented cubism in its most basic form as well as this I would say I used a good range of colours to catch the eye - it is also quite contemporary and maybe a traditional cubist would say it is a post modernist way of showing cubism because it is clean cut and involves very simple colours. 

Overall, I am happy with how this turned out because I have completed the task to the best of my ability and shown cubism how I perceive it. The aspects that I were happy with are the colours and simplicity of it all and I think they stand out and catch your eye. The strengths of the image are that I have captured a good concept however I feel as though this could have been perfected a bit better as I wanted less shadow in the image and I could have maybe spent a bit more time adjusting the lights and the composition of the image. If I were to do this again I would cut my objects up more neatly and also take more time in exploring the Photoshop process afterwards but I feel I have produced the image to the best of my ability. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Final Shoot and Editing Process - 

For my final piece I needed fruit and square things so I went to the shop and bought an array of fruit and then some starburst and jelly to mix things up. First up I had to cut my fruit into cubes - I cut up a pineapple and kiwi. But then I thought to use triangles to, to make my work more geometric. So I cut these up and arranged them strategically - as you can see from my contact sheet I tried a few different things before I settled on my idea. I also used the jelly cubes and starburst to make things more unique and add more cubes - as I was doing cubism. My set up consisted of a tripod and the camera facing down onto the set up and then two lights (one with an umbrella at 2.3 and one with a softbox at 2.3 - these have to be equal unless you’re going for a gradient effect). The settings on the camera were ISO 100, SS 1/100 and F9. The ISO of 100 is basic for the studio because the lights control how much light goes into the camera and then I used a SS of 1/100 because it is quite quick and allows me to capture what I want before the set up is messed up or something. The aperture of F9 allowed me to focus thoroughly on the set up. I took an array of photos - which are shown on the contact sheet. 

Once I had finished my shoot I packed everything away and went on to editing my photos. First of all I opened up Light Room with my hard drive plugged in and opened up the catalogue I have. Next I made a new folder within the 2017 folder and called it ‘Masterclass Final Shoot’. Next I put my memory stick in and it came up with the import screen and I imported all my photos from my final shoot into the ‘Masterclass Final Shoot folder’. After this had done I created four subfolders in this folder - Capture (for images taken on the shoot), Select (for images you want to work with), Master (for Photoshopped images) and Output (for images to output to the web). I moved all the photographs into the Capture folder. Next I pressed ‘D’ which bought up the develop tab which is basically a version of Camera RAW editor and I played around with the exposure a bit for the photos I wanted to move into the Select folder. Once I had done this I opened up Photoshop and edited the images I wanted to use - I only ended up with one so I will talk through this process - I firstly synced my folders (right click - synchronize folders). I opened up my final image in Bridge and cropped it slightly to make sure it looked better than it did and so there wasn’t much blank space around. I then opened it up in Photoshop and duplicated the original layer using CTRL J. I then used the Spot Heal tool to get rid of any marks on the objects and the background. Once I had done this I started to make it into something which resembled cubism. First of all I opened up the same image in a different document and selected the Rectangular Marquee tool - I traced around a part of a fruit or jelly or starburst and then using the move tool (V) I dragged it across to the other document and placed it like I have seen in the cubism photos I have seen. I did this with many parts of the image until I thought it resembled the images as much as possible. After I had done this I saved it as a PSD file but I also imported it into the Master folder so it could be imported to the internet through the Output folder. Overall I am happy with how this process went. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Final Idea - 

For my final idea I have decided to combine Minimalism and Cubism - these two go hand it hand quite easily due the geometric shapes within them both and how simplistic they both are. Because I want to shoot cubism I am going to use fruit or products - the first thing I came up with was the fruit as cubes however whilst brainstorming I looked into various different forms of doing this. Whilst brainstorming cubism I figured it was made up of shape and form and in photography this can be shown using various forms of shadow > this can be shown by cutting different shapes into paper/card and holding it up in front of a light. This would project a shadow onto the cubed fruit and combine both meanings of cubism into one photo. Another idea was to form 3D geometric shapes out of Play-Doh however, this could be quite difficult as I would have to have precise cutting skills and ensure that the shapes stayed together. After thinking for a while I thought I could combine a whole variety of ideas together. David Hockney did a series called ‘Joiners’ and this included portraits and landscapes - he took the photo and then placed the images in series of cubes which made me think of taking photographs of fruit in various shapes and then using the scheme to create something like his work (using Photoshop of course). The work we have been doing over the assignment will also help me in my final steps because I will have to use Light Room to organise and export the photographs and then Photoshop to edit them in the way I wish to. Picasso was one for using cubism in his art - although I won’t be using people I can take some inspiration from him for my final edit. Overall, I am excited to shoot my final piece. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Art Movements - 

Minimalism - Minimalism is a movement in sculpture and painting which started to take place in the 1950′s. The work is set out to expose the identity of a subject whilst eliminating all non-essential concepts. It is identified with American visual arts in the 1960′s and early 1970′s. Minimalist art offers a form of beauty but can also represent truth because it shows nothing different than what it is. Some minimalist artists include Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd and Frank Stella.

Renaissance - The Renaissance was in European history from the 14th to 17th century. It is said to be the bridge between the middle ages and modern history. The cultural movement started in Italy in the Medieval period and then progressed to the rest of Europe. It was its own invented version of humanism and the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy. This art movement was very realistic as it was all about portraits and very realistic scenes.

Cubism - Cubism was invented around 1907 to 08 by people like  Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. It has been described as reducing everything from geometric outlines to cubes. There are two types of cubism - analytical (these images look more severe and are made up of darker colors) and synthetic (these are much more simpler shapes and brighter colours).

Surrealism - Surrealism was invented around the 20th century - it was an artistic movement that explored the workings of the mind and championing the irrational, poetic and revolutionary. Many of these artists would use drawing or writing to unlock ideas from their unconscious minds, others thought to depict dream worlds or hidden psychological tensions.

Abstract - Abstract means to exist in thought or as an idea but not having an existence - so in this case you can use shapes, forms, colours and gestural remarks to achieve the desired effect. Abstract artists include Joan Miro and Frank Stella.

[sophiestrawmc]

Part 2 - The Bang Bang Club

Part 2 - The Bang Bang Club

Image 1 - Taken in 1993 by Kevin Carter - This photo is one of the most famous photos ever taken. Kevin took this photo after an exhausting day and headed out to the more rural area of everything. He took the child’s photo and shortly after the Vulture landed, he was told not to help the child in any way because of the diseases so he watched for 20 mins thinking the bird would open its wings and fly away...it didn’t. He scared the vulture away. Just a year after Kevin took his own life due to being haunted by the vivid memories he had. This photo looks very well composed considering the trauma he was in whilst taking it. The Bang Bang Club photographers used a range of cameras such as  Nikkormat SLR, Nikon F2, Nikon FM2, Nikon F4, Leica M3, and a large format camera. However, I think this photo would have been taken on a 35mm film camera due to having to have a fast shutter speed to take it, and then a mid number for the aperture to get the subject in focus and maybe have a bit of depth in the background. This image communicates the hidden horrors that were going on behind all the killings - famine and disease. I think Carter published this image to show people what the diseases were doing and how they needed to help or at least spread awareness about them. This image had impact because of how shocking it was to everyone to witness and it also had impact because it was controversial why Carter hadn’t saved the child. When looking at this photograph I feel an array of emotions but especially anger - when all the fighting was going on why couldn’t they out it aside and just help each other. I also like the photo because it tells a meaningful story.

Image 2 - Taken in 1990 by Greg Marinovich - This photo is of a killing of a suspected ANC supporter by Zulu supporters of the Inkatha freedom party in Soweto. Marinovich says he had ventured into a Zulu dominated hostel - he didn’t know what he was about to witness but he had been permitted to capture it and then just walk away like nothing had happened. He said it was one of the most disturbing days of his life. I like the way this photo was composed to capture every inch of the action which was going on - as well as this the angle in which it was taken connotes they are being looked down upon. The Bang Bang Club photographers used a range of cameras such as  Nikkormat SLR, Nikon F2, Nikon FM2, Nikon F4, Leica M3, and a large format camera. I think this image would have been taken on a 35mm film camera to get a quick capture and average quality. Therefore, a quick shutter speed would have been used. This image communicates the fear the townships lived in and how they wouldn’t take any chances keeping ‘traitors’ alive. I think this image was published to show what a wild world they lived in and how mass murder was going down everyday. This image would have had an impact because it would have shown people they need to stay alert to stay alive. When looking at this image I feel quite disturbed by what went on and to why they did it. Division in politics can cause terrible things. I also like this image because it gives you a taste of what life was actually like for The Bang Bang Club as well as the people in the townships.

Image 3 - Taken between 1990 and 1994 by Joao Silva - This photo looks as if it is of a freedom party either killing or helping someone. In my opinion it looks as if they have just attempted to kill him and are quickly running away with him. Although you could interpret it as them saving him and running away to get to safety. There is a liquid coming from his stomach and there looks like there is blood on his face so I’m assuming he has been murdered.The Bang Bang Club used a range of cameras but for this shot I think Silva used a 35mm film to be able to capture the image quite quickly. I think quite a large aperture number was used as there is a lot that is in detail. This image looks as though it was published to show the rush of chaos they went through day to day. This image would have had an impact because you could interpret it either as helping or killing and this is a make or break situation. I personally feel a sense of dread when looking at this image because I can’t tell whether they have just killed or are helping the man. Silva probably would have been feeling the same emotion.

Image 4 - Taken between 1990 and 1994 by Ken Oosterbroek - This photo looks as if it is of either the two parties and then two children running across to escape the Havoc. Oosterbroek died in a cross fire and this looks like what this image is of as there are many people with weapons lined up on one side and on the other there is probably the other party. The Bang Bang Club used a wide range of cameras and I’m thinking Oosterbroek used a 35mm film in this situation because you’d want to be able to move as quick as possible. To capture the two people running he would have needed quite a quick shutter speed at around 1/250 or more? I think this image was published to show people were constantly running from the trouble only to end up in more - this image connotes that especially well. It was probably also published to show quite a few innocent people were being shot because of the division within the townships. This image would have had quite a large impact because there are two fairly young people running and children are usually the ones to protect, however, in this situation I guess anyone could die. Personally this image makes me feel fear for the two running across the gap as they could potentially get shot at any time.

[sophiestrawmc]

Part 2 - The Bang Bang Club

The Bang Bang Club were four photographer’s active within the townships of South Africa between 1990 and 1994, they documented the transition from an apartheid system to democracy. Documented fighting between ANC and IFP. Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, Joao Silva created the club. The name came from an article which was publishes in the South African magazine Living. The ‘Bang Bang’ was a reference for violence occurring in communities. Kevin Carter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in May 1994 – 14 months after photographing a famine stricken child, this image became a symbol of African Suffering as well as emerging as one of the most controversial photos in the history of Photojournalism. Marinovich and Silva published a book named ‘The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War’. Marinovich got into photographing conflict through reading and writing about living under an apartheid. His initial reaction to conflict was that he didn’t want anything to do with it. However, within a week of conflict breaking out he decided he needed to document it – he then went to Soweto and after around an hour and a half of being there he was photographing someone being killed. Silva got his legs blown off by a landmine in Afghanistan and shortly after rang his wife saying he had had his legs blown off. Political movements included the abolishment of the apartheid which caused a lot of political of social arrest between communities. During the time they were taking the photographs a lot was going on in the townships due to Apartheid system and democracy - this saw lots of black on black conflict but mostly between the ANC and IFP after lifting these bans on political parties. They were trying to document what went on in these towns.

(Bibliography - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang-Bang_Club )

[sophiestrawmc]

Part 1 - War Photography 

Image 1 - Taken during the Vietnam War 1965-1975 - This photo was taken during the Vietnam War which lasted from 1965 to 1975. The photos exact date was in 1972 and the photo is of soldiers running across open ground during operation Lam Son 719. This particular photo looks very rushed - this could be due to the dangerous situation the camera man/woman was put in. I like how they have captured the adrenaline of the event through the photo with the bombs going off and the soldiers in full swing - it makes you think how traumatizing and horrific this was for them to encounter.The way the photographer has placed themselves to take this photo shows that they are looking down at the soldiers and this could communicate that a lot of the soldiers were being looked down upon for what they were doing in the war. This photo was more than likely created with a large format camera and a tripod. This photograph communicates how hard people were fighting in the war for the good, bad and ugly - it also communicates the blurred emotions of the soldiers as they’re running across the field. I think this photo had an impact because it shows a totally different perspective to war photography than you usually get - they’ve placed themselves within an operation to feel the emotions the soldiers were feeling and hopefully pass it onto the viewer. Personally I like this photograph because it is in the action of war as well as this the composition is also very good and the image has depth due to the shadows of the soldiers on the ground - the bombs exploding also caught my eyes as its one of the main features of the photograph. 

Image 2 - Taken during the Vietnam War 1965-1975 - This photo was also taken during the Vietnam War which lasted from 1965 to 1975. This photo was taken in 1972 which was near the end of the Vietnam war. Pictured in the image are activists meeting in the Nam Can forest - the activists are wearing masks to hide their identity from the people they are with in case they got captured and interrogated. The photo was taken on a Kodak as the photographer couldn’t carry around a huge camera as well as this many rolls of film were needed so he also carried lots of this. To take this photo he would’ve needed to be positioned on the floor to get that shot of the activists from below eye level - as well as this he would have needed to have had a fast shutter speed to ensure he could capture the exact movements. I feel as if the image was created to show how secretive people were in the Vietnam War and how this made it hard to trust people resulting in even more conflict. I think this image had an impact because it would have made people weary of who they were talking to and what about and it would have also made others feel scared to go behind peoples backs risking being interrogated or killed. I personally like this image because the sense of creepiness to it draws me in, it is fearsome to think who’s behind the masks and what they were planning to do (even if it were bad or good). It reminds me of when you feel all eyes are watching you and you don’t know what to do - I think this part of the image really makes the viewer think about what it was like to live during the Vietnam war and how uncomfortable everyday was for them. I also like how they are all stood in a line as this is aesthetically pleasing to me.

Image 3 - Taken during World War One 1914-1918 - This photograph was taken during World War One which lasted from 1914 to 1918. This image is of Rags the terrier which was a famous dog during this period of time. Rags was a stray dog - the soldiers first thought he was a pile of rags however, he barked and followed them around. Rags kept the soldiers safe and they kept him safe. I think this photo would have been taking on a large format as they are all posing for the image, therefore having more time to take the photograph. The shutter speed probably would have been quite slow to capture the image and the aperture would’ve been wide to capture the detail in the photo. I think this image was taken to show the unlikely hero’s of war and how they helped many people. I like this image because it’s different to usual war photography - it captures the life after the event rather than during it. I also like the depth of field in the background because it makes you focus on the main cause of the image. 

Image 4 - Taken during the Rwandan Genocide April-July 1994  - This image was taken during the Rwandan Genocide which only lasted a couple of months in 1994. The European colonists used fear and hatred to divide Rwanda and conquer it - this meant the two tribes, Hutus and Tutsis, were politically manipulated to a state of no return. 500,000 to 1 million people were murdered over a time of three months by using farming implements as weapons. This photo shows a Hutu man who didn’t support the genocide as a result of this he had been imprisoned in the concentration camp as well as being starved and attacked with machetes - after this he was freed and placed in care of the Red Cross. I think this photo would have,again, been taken with a large format because the man is posing for the camera to capture the emotions he felt during his time there - some sort of light source looks as though it has been used to the reflections on his face. I think this image was photographed to show people how badly other got treated during this genocide and also how it affected people. In this image you can really take away emotion from it and imagine how torturous it was for this man involved in being held in a concentration camp. It shows how close these people were to death for standing up for their own rights and having their own opinion. I personally like this photo a lot because it shows the feelings and pain the man went through and the photographer has done a really good job of showing this - the way his hands are around his neck shows he has been feeling chocked and unable to escape from the pain of everything. Overall, this photo is one which caught my eye a lot. 

Image 5 - Taken during the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 - This photograph was taken during the Spanish Civil War which lasted from 1936 to 1939 and this is one of the most famous photographs ever. This photograph is of a falling soldier and was taken by Robert Capa. The soldier was a Loyalist fighter in Spain - however, there is controversy that this picture was staged. This photo would have had to be taken with something that had a fast shutter speed and a wide aperture to capture the detail in the photo. I think this photo was taken (even if it were staged) to show the disaster of what happened on the battle field and to also show how many people were killed due to another civil war. I like this photo due to the amount of controversy around it and also the way it was shot - the mystery whether its staged or not makes me think how the photographer didn’t get shot too. I also like the emotion in the mans face whom is getting shot. Those last moments being captured on a picture is precious but also very emotional. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Part 1 - War Photography

War photography began in the 1850’s when the Crimean War was in progress – these photography attempts were made by the British Government. However, in 1854 a man called Gilbert Elliott was commissioned by the government to photograph the Russian fortifications along the coast of the Baltic Sea (information taken from Wikipedia). Roger Fenton was the first official war photographer and he also tried to cover the war for the benefit of the public – however, due to the size of his photographic equipment he was limited to what he could take photos of so this left him to photograph stationary objects and landscapes as he avoided injured/dead bodies. This lead onto him photographing his most famous image which was ‘The Valley of Death’ which was then expanded as ‘The Valley of the Shadow of Death’ as part of an exhibition in London. Eventually, Fenton left and was replaced by two men by the names of James Robertson and Felice Beato. Their partnership took them to Sevastopol, 1855 where they photographed and produced around 60 images. In February 1858 Robertson and Beato ventured to Calcutta to record the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion (1857). Throughout their time there they were thought to be the first to ever photograph images of corpses – along with this there is a photo that is still available to see and next to this are the rearranged Skeletal Remains of an Indian to ensure there is more context about the image. Only a couple years after this Beato left the partnership and went on to photograph the Anglo-French Campaign during the Second Opium War and began a new partnership with Charles Wirgman. Wirgman was a correspondent for the Illustrated London News. Beato’s photographs of the Second Opium war were potentially the first to help document a military campaign as it was unfolding. They also photographed the Taku Forts and these formed a narrative recreation of the battle including many dead bodies. The next movement of photography was throughout the American Civil War – however, it was a bit different to usual. They would recreate the scenes due to limitations of photography at the time. They were designed to display the emotions of the battle. Alexander Gardner and Matthew Brady even went to the extreme of rearranging the bodies of soldiers to ‘show’ how the battle affected them. George S Cook was the first to capture what people thought were the first photos of actual combat – his photographs show the fire show explosions and some Union ships firing at boats/people in the south. These photographs were taken on a wet plate – wet plate photography involves cutting the glass/metal plate, wiping egg whites on the sides, coating it with a solution called collodion then you make the plate light sensitive by putting it silver nitrate for around 5 mins, after this you have to load the wet plate into a dark plate which is then inserted into the camera then you take the photo and develop it which is like dark room processing. There were then some photos of the South American Warfare published which led on to Javier Lopez creating his own portable darkroom. In the 20th century World War 1 happened and luckily cameras were now small enough to be carried around by one person. A soldier named Jack Turner illegally photographed the battle of Vimy Ridge – all this was done in secret. Professional photographers were asked to document all the conflicts which were going on at the time – unfortunately most were killed. Robert Capa covered the Spanish Civil War, D-Day Landings and the fall of Paris. However Capa was eventually killed by a landmine in Indochina. Unlike the paintings photography was much better for networking and showed multiple aspects and perspectives on certain events. The genre has changed overtime because now we have access to better camera equipment so the photos can make their way to the world instantly rather than over a certain amount of time - and we also have the ability to be able to edit the photos which can change the meaning to a photo completely. 

Important War Photographers included Robert Capa, Alexander Gardner, Peter Arnett, Joe Rosenthal, Margaret Bourke White, Mathew Brady, Don McCullin, Tim Hetherington, Philip Jones-Griffiths and Dickey Chapelle (Georgette Louise Meyer). These photographers helped the genre of war photography by taking some of the most important photos in history and they gave war photography a new meaning. They helped document events we wouldn’t have proof with without them.

(Bibliography - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_photography and https://medium.com/vantage/a-first-timers-foray-into-wet-plate-photography-495680004324 ) 

[sophiestrawmc]

Food Photography - 

This task was all about food photography. Before I got into taking photos of food I did some research of what I wanted to achieve. I found some pictures of fruit that had been sliced up and these really inspired me to go for something along those lines. The fruit caught my eye because it was very colourful. As well as this the pattern within the fruit looked aesthetically pleasing to my eye. The photos of fruit were taken on dark backgrounds and I think this looks nice because it makes the colours of the fruit pop more. The research photo in the middle is of classic food photography you get in magazines or in restaurants - this was my back up plan. 

Before I took my photos I went to the shop and bought an array of fruits - pomegranate, orange, kiwi, lemon, lime, grapefruit, dragon fruit and I also got some asparagus. These were good to use because they were all different colours. I also got some black slate from college to place the fruits on. To prep for the shoot I had to cut the fruit up into the desired shapes I was going to use - so circles. 

ISO 100, SS 1/125 and F11 - I used an ISO of 100 because this is the basic ISO you use when shooting in the studio due to the lighting, Shutter Speed 1/125 because it’s quick and lets you capture what you wish before anything moves out out place or something and I used an ISO of F11 so I could focus on the fruit more than the background. For this photo I cropped into it a bit to focus more on the fruits rather than the slate background - I did this in camera RAW. In camera RAW I also adjusted the exposure, clarity, vibrancy and some of the other settings to make it look better than it was. I then opened up the image into Photoshop > Duplicated the layer CTRL J > Used the spot heal tool and the clone stamp tool to get rid of some of the marks on the slate and then I saved the image. The spot heal tool and clone stamp helped me get rid of some really distracting marks on the slate and also bits of kiwi that had fallen off into the wrong place. I like this image of mine because the bright colours of the fruit stand out from the backdrop and it looks aesthetically pleasing. The shadows and light on the fruit add depth to the image and make it look more professional. If I were to do this again I would use other coloured fruit and also try some different concepts with the whole process. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Pixels - 

DPI stands for Dots Per Inch and PPI stands for Pixels Per Inch. There is no set number of pixels in an image it can depend on the size. A larger image can have less or more than a bigger image - vice versa. 9x6 image - In am image there are a certain amount of pixels, lets say around 72 DPI, 5184 PPI x 54 boxes 279936. Resolution is the number of DPI and is exact to image quality and some have more quality than others. Web resolution images are 72 DPI because they load up quicker than larger images and as well as this when trying to print them they will be a slightly worse quality because they were made that way to be placed on the web, not used by others. 

I went in Photoshop and opened up a picture of my favorite biscuit and this was to show that the web quality is saved to 72 DPI because it loads up quicker and print images should always be at 300 DPI so they are better quality.  

[sophiestrawmc]

HDR

HDR stands for high dynamic range - this means that everything would be balanced - this can be used in Light Room. First of all you create a virtual copy of your image > right click ‘Virtual Copy’ > now select both of the photos > right click > photo merge > HDR and then merge the photo together. You can also press K for an adjustment brush.

[sophiestrawmc]

Own Presets

Develop tab > Presets > Shift and click on the photos you want and then press sync and this will sync the photos to the settings you already have on your chosen one. If you don’t want to sync something you can just untick whatever it is on the sync pop up box.

Some presets might not reset - they might stack on top of each other. Presets are only set to affect certain parts of an image, not every setting is covered so the other preset will step in. To do a new preset just press CTRL Z to get rid of the last one. 

To make your own preset you edit the photo you’re on to your liking and then press the + button on create new preset and then you name it and you can update all your images with your new preset.

[sophiestrawmc]

Watermark

Choose you photo and File > Export > Click on your Output web preset that is already made but this time create a watermark. Edit watermark and change it. You can change the placement and the text of the watermark. Save the watermark and then save your image into the output folder. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Snapshots/Virtual Copies/Stacking -

First of all pick a photo from your catalogues in Light Room. Then in the develop tab there is something called ‘Snap Shots’. 

Snapshots records where you are at with a photo and you can go back to that stage at any time as long as you have added it as a snapshot. To take a snapshot you click the ‘snapshot’ button and you can edit the name of these snapshots to know what you’re working on or what you wish to go back to For example ‘B&W, Edited Preset or Original’. 

A virtual copy allows you to compare more than one of the same image. To create a virtual copy you right click and select ‘Create Virtual Copy’ > create four copies of the same image and change the settings and presets on them so they look different > select the photos and press N to compare the images side by side (this is a survey shortcut). 

Photo stacking allows you to stack your photos to how you want to see them in the pile, you can move these photos up and down in the stock which helps compare them! 

Advantages of virtual copies are that they are easy to output to the web and they hardly take up any room as well as this you can get back to the original photo if need be. Photo stacking is good because it can be used to organise your photos and see where they are. 

[sophiestrawmc]

Negative Scanning - 

For Negative Scanning we use a flatbed scanner called an Epson Performer 2480 - this scans 35mm film and normal photos. When placing the negatives into the holder make sure to hold the strip by the side so you don’t get it mucky. You can clean the water droplets off by using a microfiber cloth but if you have oils on your negatives you will have to put it back into the wash for around ten minutes to try and get it off. Before you start scanning also clean the scanner with some cleaner as this can get oily also. There are different sections to scan A & B. The scanner uses the top light to illuminate the negatives and then the scanner underneath will scan these onto a computer.

First of all place the film, emulsion side up, into the holder. Next place the holder into section A of the flatbed scanner.Open the Epson Scan software and choose Professional Mode - Professional Mode allows us to gain more control over scanning.Go to the Original tab and then change the document type to Film Black and White negative. In Destination make sure it says 16 bit Grey scale. The resolution will depend on the images. Next make sure none of the adjustments are ticked then click preview and it will scan and show thumbnails of the images. Once it has scanned in select all the images and untick the unsharp mask and then click back to get out of select all. After this you have to click on the images one by one and open the histogram - drag the pointers to the end of the graph the photo has created as you need to find the true ends of the photographs. After you have done this you need to change the resolution to around 3200 but then using the scale go up until the photo reaches 35mb. Next click scan > make sure you save it to your folder in your memory stick and save the images as a TIF. A TIF is a lossless image file so this ensures your image will maintain quality and lose no info. A JPEG can lose quality as it is only 3-4mb where as a TIF is 35mb. Make sure the start number is 1 and then on the options make sure compression is on 0. The scanning can take 3-4 minutes so be patient. Don’t knock the table whilst the scanner is scanning as this can cause imperfections and errors within the photos.  

Here is one of the photos I scanned in and then edited on Photoshop - to edit my image I firstly duplicated the layer with CTRL J and then went on to adding a curves adjustment layer to boost the contrast a bit. I also used the spot heal tool to get rid of imperfections off the image. Overall I am happy with my scanning.

People scan their film because it sometimes works out cheaper than having them printed and its quicker for putting the images on the web and editing them.

[sophiestrawmc]

Light Room - Presets - 

First of all select some photos (either one or two - these can be from the same series or not).

Copy as DNG and import them into Light Room. Place them into dated folders (they should already be dated but name them with what the photos are - in my case ‘Emblance’ and ‘Sculpture’). 

Now make your four sub folders - Capture, Select, Master and Output. 

Select the photo and press D, this will take you to the develop tab and ensure you can RAW edit on it. 

Now edit the photo to how you wish (if you have more than one photo you can edit the first photo and then highlight some and press sync settings (right click or CTRL SHIFT S) and this will apply those settings to all images). 

Now under the preset folder at the side there are many to choose from but I went on the internet and downloaded some. First of all you find the preset which you want to download > make a new folder called ‘presets’ > import the preset into downloads but then unzip it and import it into your presets folder > go on Light Room and and click the plus button on the preset tab to add them and then you can apply the preset to as many images as you wish. 

You can download as many presets as you wish and add them to named  folders to create unique looking images.

[sophiestrawmc]

Light Room - Basic RAW Editing and Work Flow - 

Light room is a RAW editor which is geared towards cataloging and batch processing - this calls for basic RAW editing and fast workflow. 

Open up Light room > New Catalogue >  Choose the hard drive > Create folder named Light room Catalogue.

Import photos from mountain folder onto hard drive to make it easier to find everything. Now place all the photos from mountains into the same folder and within that folder make four other folders. Capture (normal images), Select (ones you wish to use), Master (ones you wish to edit?) and Output (ones to place on the web). Now go on to develop (D) and play around with the basic RAW editing tools there are > I changed the exposure, white balance, contrast etc. After I had finished I pressed Y to compare my original image to the one I had just edited. Now export the image into the select folder making sure the image format is a TIF. 

Now open up Photoshop > File > Open > Light room Catalogue > 2017 > Mountains > Select > Open the image up into Photoshop. 

CTRL J to duplicate the layer and then S for the clone stamp tool and get rid of any bits you don’t want to be in the image (this is not necessary).

Save this photo as a TIF into the master folder.

Go back over to Light room and sync the folders > right click > synchronize folder.

Export the final image into Output > Quality 80 > Width 1200 > Height 0 > JPEG > Resolution 72 > Create a preset called Output Web and save that then save the image to the folder and sync once again.