WR5

Plans for Shoot

In this shoot, I will be looking into artificial light photography that involves more colour and heavier editing processes. This is to develop my photo editing skills and vary my compositions in artificial lighting for my final photos. I will be looking into a photographer who captures colourful artificial light and uses a more intense editing process to influence my work. This influence will help me to create a shoot that presents a more colourful portfolio.

Research

Victoria Siemer

Victoria Siemer is a Brooklyn-based American graphic artist who focuses mainly on photo manipulation using Photoshop. She goes by the moniker "Witchoria" because "digital manipulation has given me the ability to create my own alternate realities where anything is possible. Sometimes it feels like magic." Her personal portfolio 'Hue Don't Own Me' is an exploration of 'emotion + light + colour'. She used gelled lights to create the landscapes and added the text in Photoshop. I did further analysis into Siemer's work on the blog post 'Photographer Research - Victoria Siemer'.

Image bank

These are a few photos from Siemer's portfolio 'Hue Don't Own Me'.

Contact sheet
These are all the photos I took for this shoot.

Best Photos

These are my best-selected photos from the shoot.

Photos that require improvement

These are two photos that I believe required improvement, this mainly being due to the grainy appearance. The first photos exposure settings were shutter speed 1/640sec and aperture F5.6, which was a lower exposure compared to the other photos, explaining why it appeared less vibrant. I later improved this photo by bringing the shutter speed up to 1/250sec and aperture to F5. The second photo does have these exposure settings, however, the deep blue hue appeared to make the photo too dim and grainy. The only way to improve this was to use a lighter tone of blue in the photos.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My Ideas

My intention for this shoot was to experiment and use aspects of colourful artificial light in more work and use the influence of the photographer Victoria Siemer. I intended to keep to the incorporation of portraiture in this experimentation. However, I feel this shoot was not successful due to the light setting I created. I do not yet have gels to use like Siemer uses, so I was limited to where the colour could be captured and the brightness of the colour due to using a colour-changing light bulb on my ceiling. This made the photos grainy and impossible to get a sensitive enough exposure to make the photo bright enough. So, I will be taking another shoot when I have gels to use.

Reference to best photos

I selected this photo as one of the best because of its mischievous and sinister setting. The deep red creates an atmosphere of something dangerous or evil; this combined with the pose that appears as though I am scheming something, conveys an evil character with an evil backstory.

I selected this photo because of its icy and miserable atmosphere. The cold blue creates a forlorn atmosphere and a sense of crying to the viewer. This hue combined with the pose of me holding my face and my shoulders tensed up conveys as though my tears has created this icy blue light.

I selected this photo because of its vibrant and careless mood. The yellow tone adds a cheery and calming atmosphere to the photo and including my careless and relaxed pose furthers this atmosphere.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

Shoot Process/Use of Camera

For this shoot, I used a colour-changing light bulb attached to my ceiling to the left of me, and stood my Nikon D3400 camera on a tripod and used a self-timer setting on my camera to capture myself. The camera settings were shutter speed 1/250sec, aperture F5, and exposure at ISO25600. I would put a subject in my place while setting up the focal length and making sure the lens was focused in the right field, then I'd set the self-timer, remove the subject and take its place to then pose in various ways on each capture.

Experimenting

Since Siemer's work presents vivid colours, I used photoshop to attempt to restore some appearance in these photos.

Firstly, I pressed CTRL+J to copy the original photo layer so I could go back to it if I made any mistakes.

Secondly, I added an adjustment layer of 'levels', and increased the white tones in the photo and slightly lowered the mid-tones in the photo. This created a more vivid colour appearance and made the shadows in the photo sharper.

This is the before and after effect of the edit.

These are all the layers used.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Through my research, I was able to discover the use of gels and discover a new photoshop technique from Siemer's work. Unfortunately, I was unable to use practice either of these, but in the next shoot, I will be practicing this. Siemer's work has inspired me to focus on colourful artificial light for the rest of my work and experiment with more extreme editing processes.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

Here are my final pieces.

Progression

Overall, I would say this shoot was unsuccessful due to the materials I was reduced to using, leaving the photos to be grainy and under-exposed. I find Siemer's work to be enticing with its vibrant colours and cryptic, forlorn messages. She uses artificial light in a vivid and emotional way, while also using skilful edit processes, I find inspiration from this and plan to do the same with my work moving forward. For my next shoot, I will be using gels, just like Siemer does, and plan to use heavier editing processes.

Photographer Research - Victoria Siemer

Victoria Siemer
Victoria Siemer is a Brooklyn-based American graphic artist who focuses mainly on photo manipulation using Photoshop. She goes by the moniker "Witchoria" because "digital manipulation has given me the ability to create my own alternate realities where anything is possible. Sometimes it feels like magic." Her personal portfolio 'Hue Don't Own Me' is an exploration of 'emotion + light + colour'. She used gelled lights to create the landscapes and added the text in Photoshop.

This photo presents a sand-filled road with dry plants surrounding it, and above the road is an illuminated piece of text stating 'ignoring is bliss', creating a cyan glow around the area. Firstly, it appears as though this photo is shot in a desert landscaped area, this is due to the dehydrated plants and the clouds of sand in the sky; this makes the area appear dry and lifeless, creating tension for the viewer. However, there is suggested life in this photo created from the tire tracks in the sand, suggesting people do pass this area, but nothing more. Siemer states that gels were used to create the cyan glow in this photo. Furthermore, the light's framing resembles a light source from a car, suggesting that gels were put over the headlights of a car to create this glow. The text could create confusion and frustration for a viewer, as the quote 'ignoring is bliss' resembles similarily to the quote 'ignorance is bliss', this could leave a viewer wondering why the quote is different in this way, and try to find any hidden meaning from this. Combing the quote and the lack of life suggested in this landscape could show the message of how when people drive past places, they never really acknowledge what they are passing, and it doesn't matter to them; this creates the quote 'ignoring is bliss'.

This photo presents what appears to be the same landscape as the last photo, but with an icy blue glow and at a different, longer angle compared to the previous one. The light here is more vibrant and so creates deeper shadows in the textures in the sand and branches. The text placed here states 'I want you'. From the combination of the lifeless area and the text, it appears as though this text is a thought that is wandering around trying to find meaning or even a solution. The cold blue glow suggests a sad emotion to this text and adds hydration to the dry plants as if tears were made to hydrate them. There is a lot of negative space above the landscape and text, that appears to go unnoticed, showing that the punctum is the landscape and text. Once again, the light appears to come from headlights and the colouring is created by gels. The headlights from a car could suggest the text has been discovered while a car has been driving through, or possible that as this car drove through, this thought emerged from the driver's mind and was left here to possible die just like the plants have. 

This photo presents a wide landscape area of mountains in the background and gritty sand and dry plants in the foreground, with a magenta hue highlighting the area and text in the centre stating 'you deserve worse'. Siemer is able to use Photoshop to insert the text into her photos and make it appear as though this text was naturally there, even though as a viewer we know this is an unnatural appearance. This shows us what skillful photo manipulation can do, and how it can create surreal imagery into a realistic appearance. The landscape appears abandoned and barren with a lot of negative space around it; this is further suggested by the frail and weeded plants that are dry and unkept. The text stating 'you deserve worse' is similar to the common line 'you deserve better', but this suggests a more spiteful and colder meaning. This paired with the vibrant and lively magenta hue conveys a feisty and spiteful character stating this quote to possibly get back at someone. The quotes being placed in such barren areas suggests these are thoughts that the people holding them cannot let out, and so have to leave them somewhere abandoned so they no longer feel them for their own good.

This photo presents a bare grit road with lots of dry shrubbery surrounding it, and a piece of text stating 'nothing lasts forever'. Compared to the previous photos there is less negative space and so the punctum is better framed. Once again, the light source resembles headlights from a car, this is further conveyed by the light directed onto a road at night. The gel creates a yellow vibrant hue that highlights the road and all the shrubbery vividly. This hue emphasizes the dry and dead quality of these plants surrounding the road, the yellow tones convey a scrawny appearance to the leaves and branches. The text further conveys this lifeless area, 'nothing lasts forever' is presented in the plants not lasting forever because they are now shriveled and withered. 

Overall...

I find Siemer's work to be enticing with its vibrant colours and cryptic messages, creating a deep message of solitude. The use of text creates a symbolism of lonely people's thoughts being left out in the desert to be forgotten and held away, with the text sometimes being spiteful or forlorn. From researching, Siemer uses gels to create vivid colours and photoshop to insert the surreal text. When recreating her work I will be sure to take these techniques into consideration.

Siemer, V (2017), "Hue Don't Own Me", [https://www.witchoria.com/hue-don-t-own-me], (accessed: 11/02/2020)

First Recreation...

 

After research into Siemer's work, I learned that she used gels and photoshop to create her surreal and vivid images. In my recreation (since I do not own gels yet) I used a colour-changing light bulb on my ceiling to create vivid colours, which, unfortunately, was too dull for the camera to capture a clearly exposed photo. I used photoshop to then try and enhance this colour and remove some of the grain from the photo, this was not the most successful. I was successful in creating an emotional atmosphere by using the colours combined with the poses to convey that emotion, similar to how Siemer uses the colours combined with the text to convey an emotion. However, I plan to go further with this photographer's influence and recreate Siemer's work more to improve.

WR4

Plans for Shoot

In this shoot, I will be looking into a photographer who presents the appearance of shadows using artificial light. I will research into shadow photography techniques and create my own shoot taking influence from my photographer research and general research into shadow photography. However, for my shoot, I will take my own interpretation using human figures for my shadows, to keep in theme with my intentions for my final pieces and further vary my skills in my portraiture work.

Research

Brassai

Brassai was a Hungarian-French photographer whose fame rose with his work in France and Paris. Brassai created the book 'Paris de Nuit', translated to 'Paris by Night', that captured numerous photos of Paris at its most isolated times within the night. The strong streetlights reveal the empty pavements, sometimes accompanied by the homeless, prostitutes and thugs. I did further analysis into Brassai's work on the blog post 'Photographer Research - Brassai'.

Shadow Techniques
Chiaroscuro
Noun - the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
         - an effect of contrasted light and shadow.
The word chiaroscuro is Italian for light and shadow. It refers to the use of light and shadow to create the illusion of light from a specific source shining on the figures and objects.

Rembrandt
Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling with a minimum of equipment.

Gupta, K (2018), "5 Tips for Mastering Shadows in Your Photography", [https://digital-photography-school.com/5-tips-mastering-shadows-photography/], (Accessed: 13/03/2020)

Sebald, B (2019), "Low-Key Photography: How To Shoot Shadow Photos with Inexpensive Gear", [https://medium.com/@billsebald/how-to-create-low-key-shadow-photos-with-low-cost-gear-79f3f94ba8de], (Accessed: 13/03/2020)

Richman-Abdou, K (2017), "How to Capture Bold and Beautiful Photographs Using Shadows", [https://mymodernmet.com/shadow-photography-how-to/], (Accessed: 13/03/2020)

Andre Kertesz

Daido Moriyama

Image bank

These are a few photos of Brassai's work from his book 'Paris de Nuit', translated to 'Paris by Night'.

Contact sheet

These are all the photos from the shoot.

Best Photos

These are the best-selected photos from the shoot.

Photos that require improvement

These two photos I believe require improvement, this is due to the focal length and exposure settings. Both photos were set at aperture F4.5, shutter speed at 1/40sec and exposure at ISO6400; the focal length being 51mm. The issue here was that the ISO was not sensitive enough, making the negative space around the shadow too dark so the shadow blends too well. Also, since the setting was so dark, the camera was unable to focus onto the shadow; I later improved this by putting a subject onto the wall so the camera would be able to focus before I took the photos.

AO3: Record ideas, observations, and insights relevant to intentions reflecting critically on work and progress.

My Ideas

My intention for this shoot was to experiment with the presentation of shadows of human figures to continue my influence on portraiture. To do this I had to research into the photographer Brassai who presented deeply contrasted photos of streetlight lit streets, presenting many various shadow forms. Brassai didn't appear to have a specific photo technique the only common quality is the photos being highly contrasted so areas of the streets are defined with a high tone range. I feel I was successful in this aspect of the shadows, as in my editing shown later, I was able to create a deep contrast with the shadows and the negative space. I believe my photos are effective in creating a curious sense to the viewer, similar to Brassai's work; this is because the silhouette created can only give so much information about what is happening in the photo, so the viewer wants to understand more.

Reference to best photos

I selected this photo as one of the best because of its dramatic composition. The arched back and neck creates a curve in the body expression that could suggest stress or over-emotion. The one revealed arm stretched out to the face suggests distress on the subject, as if they feel faint or even anger. This composition appears as a typical appearance of someone in a dramatic state, and that's whats effective about it.

I selected this photo as one of the best because of its masculine energy. The shadow appears to be burly and defined in the bicep area as if a common male figure. Also, the presentation of hair appears short and choppy, with the ear revealed, suggesting the hair is short similar to typical males hair.

I selected this photo as one of the best because of its painting-esc appearance. The composition of my silhouette appears very formal and staged. It can remind a viewer of vintage photos where subjects would have to stay in one position for a long period of time for the photo to be taken.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

Shoot Process/Use of Camera

For this shoot, I used a basic torch light positioned to the back-right of the camera that faces an area of a wall; and I would stand next to the camera so I create a shadow onto the wall that the camera is capturing. I used a tripod and self-timer to capture the wall and shadow. I increased the focal length to 51mm so it only framed the shadow and placed a subject on the wall so the camera can focus onto the wall so there is no blur before setting the timer. I used my Nikon D3400 camera and the settings were shutter speed 1/30sec, aperture F4.5, and exposure ISO12800. Once the timer was set I'd remove the subject to help the camera focus, then stand next to the camera and in front of the light to create a shadow on the wall for the camera to capture.

Experimenting

Brassai's work presents a deep contrast to define areas of the streets. I edited my photos so they also had a deep contrast.

Firstly, I pressed CTRL+J to copy the original photo layer so I could go back to it if I made any mistakes. Then pressing CTRL+SHIFT+U I removed all the colour from the photo so the blue tones wouldn't affect the contrast in the photo.

This is the before and after effect.

Next, I added an adjustment layer called 'gradient map', this was to help increase the contrast. By clicking on the gradient bar, it opens the 'gradient editor'. Here I increased the black area to 15% and the white area to 65%, this created a deep contrast.

Here are all the completed layers.

Here is the before and after of the edit.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Through my research, I was able to learn various shadow-making techniques and terms used in art to explain shadow work. I also was able to evaluate a talented photographer, Brassai, and his work where shadows are often displayed and created an eerie atmosphere. His work inspired me to create more dramatic and theatrical atmospheres in my photos.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

Here are my final pieces.

Progression

Overall, I feel Brassai's work creates an expectancy to the viewer of motion or something more to the photo, by the presentation of empty streets in their most isolated hours. I only took the aspect of shadows from his work, which created an eerie atmosphere and emphasis on the isolated period, which I feel I was able to create in my work due to there only being one subject in the shadows and the dark setting around them. I personally feel this shoot was successful, however, I feel little inspiration with this composition and feel I should move onto something more lively and vibrant involving portraiture and artificial light. Therefore, for my next shoot, I will look into a more lively presentation of artificial light and will try to recreate this.