SEEING IS BELIEVING EVALUATION
Out of the four projects we got set this year ‘Seeing is Believing’ was by far my favourite as I actually enjoyed sitting down and editing my images. This was quite a shock to me as before I came to Leeds I was strictly film based and had no time for digital or digitally manipulated images as I thought it was an easy way to a decent image. After completing this module I now know that is not that easy. Whether my opinion on whether overly edited images are still photos is another matter.
The biggest lesson that I am going to take away from this module is that you have to embrace new technologies and you have to keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to new trends in photography. Like I said before I used to be more into the older style of photos and thought I would only ever produce images in that style because they were so classic and timeless. I now realise that whilst they look good that was the style of the past and they should possibly stay in the past. I guess what I’m trying to say is that shots like those by Henri Cartier Bresson documented the past are fine and are now legendary but one day so will the shots that todays photographers take with todays technology. So I say embrace this technology and use it to create new and amazing imagery but just don’t be an idiot with it and use it to deceive people.
In terms of what I have learnt technically I have to say I haven’t learnt much, anything I have learnt I have either taught myself or a classmate has taught me. I feel what we were taught in our lessons was very poor and too basic and to be honest not nearly enough to complete a Digital Post Production module competently. I also feel like there were not enough scheduled lessons and that we were left to our own devices too much, freedom is good but everyone needs a little kick up the arse every now and again.
Anyway that’s my little rant over, I think the reason that I managed to keep my motivation up throughout this module is because what I decided to base my project on stemmed from some quite personal reasons and feelings, and without them I think I would probably have given up this module quite a long time ago.
I think if I was to do this project again I would only change a couple of things. One being, I would have used only images from disposable cameras in my video, purely for continuity. The only other thing I would have done differently would’ve been to make a special request that I could print my three final images bigger than A3 maybe A1 so I would get a really nice pixelated look to them.
Monday, 19 May 2008
THE VIDEO
This is the final cut of the video that i planned to make. The whole thing was created with photo's i took on a dispoable camera or that i had taken previously and were on my computer. The original idea behind the video was to tell the story of a couple where the boyfriend dies and the images would show how you can slowly lose the image in your head of a loved one when they pass away or even just leave you. In the end i decided to go more from the angle of the boys group of friends and how they might remember him.
This video took me a pretty long time to make there's probably about 100 cuts in it each with it's own fade and zoom and pan effect. It is also cut to the music like i mentioned earlier in this blog. I hope you enjoy it, it is quite sad but then that was the idea i guess!
FINAL IMAGES
Here are the three images that i have chosen as my final three.
The reason that i chose this image as a final one is because;
A) I think the colours are really strong especially the greens
B) I like the shape of the silhouette
C) The expression on Emily's face is very real
D) The natural vignetting
The reason that i like this one is because of the links to the Beatles album cover for Abbey Road
I also liked the shape of the silhouette, it's a nice solid human shape.
This last image was chosen again for it's good colours and use of flash also because of the shape of the silhouette, good hand position.
EDITING TECHNIQUES USED ON THESE IMAGES
All were scanned in on my home scanner after having been printed at Snappy Snaps. Next i cut out my subject using the technique i discussed earlier on in my technique section. Then i put them all through Light Room and tweaked the temperature to make them a bit warmer, i also heightened the blacks a little and finally i did a little lens correction where necessary.
The reason that i chose this image as a final one is because;
A) I think the colours are really strong especially the greens
B) I like the shape of the silhouette
C) The expression on Emily's face is very real
D) The natural vignetting
The reason that i like this one is because of the links to the Beatles album cover for Abbey Road
I also liked the shape of the silhouette, it's a nice solid human shape.
This last image was chosen again for it's good colours and use of flash also because of the shape of the silhouette, good hand position.
EDITING TECHNIQUES USED ON THESE IMAGES
All were scanned in on my home scanner after having been printed at Snappy Snaps. Next i cut out my subject using the technique i discussed earlier on in my technique section. Then i put them all through Light Room and tweaked the temperature to make them a bit warmer, i also heightened the blacks a little and finally i did a little lens correction where necessary.
AN OBVIOUS SIMILARITY TO MY WORK
IPOD Adverts.
I didn't particularly want to use these ipod ads as research because i don't think it's particularly imaginative, non the less it is here. The way that is similar is because of the silhouettes and i suppose another link is that it is related to music but that is all i am going to say on these ads as it is boring me!
I didn't particularly want to use these ipod ads as research because i don't think it's particularly imaginative, non the less it is here. The way that is similar is because of the silhouettes and i suppose another link is that it is related to music but that is all i am going to say on these ads as it is boring me!
INFLUENCES IN TERMS OF CULTURAL STYLINGS
As you can probably tell by now after looking at most of my blog one thing that inpsires me heavily is music, but it is not just the music itself that is an inspiration it is the culture and sense of always looking for new and exciting artists. There are a number of magazines that cover the culture that surrounds most genres of music. I find these magazines a good way staying on top of new cultural movements, fashion, music, certain products and also styles of photography that are popular. As you can imagine these magazines are heavily imaged based and it is important for these images to come across fresh and exciting so almost always the imagery will be extremely eye catching and up to date.
With the introduction of such things as Myspace, Facebook, and Blogs making it very easy to find out a lot about people very fast, i think there is a need for imagery to be a lot more true to what is actually happening there and then. As a result i feel there is a huge decrease in the demand for very staged and heavily edited images within this section of modern culture of which i am interested in at this moment in time. There will however have been some digital based post production to most of these images all be it just minor contrast and colour changes and perhaps some cropping. All though these images may not have been heavily edited in the post production stages all these magazines and blogs are created on computers and the positioning on the page and the text and other images that surround them will have an effect on their meaning and in my opinion could be easily be classed as a form of digital post production.
Here are some examples of Magazines, Blogs and Websites that i think push forward these cultures through their imagery.
VICE MAGAZINE
This magazine has been around for a long time now and is still at the forefront of all modern culture, and is also very well known for having some of the worlds top photographers appear in it. Sections like Do's and Dont's have the sort of imagery i have been talking about.
What interests me about these images is the way they leave me asking questions who are these people, what do they do, where did they get that t-shirt from and so on. I find images like these just as interesting or maybe even more interesting than images by photographers such as Rankin and Martin Parr.
Another Magazine, quite similar to Vice is a magazine called Shut, that actualy seems to have disapeared as of late, non the less there are some nice images in there.
As you can see from these images they are all pretty raw, no exterior lighting and no obvious editing, it's mainly just people in the streets or at party's who happen to be well dressed and the magazines use them as models. I especially like the ones taken on polaroid shown below.
BLOGS;
http://fluokids.blogspot.com/
This blog here is primarily a music blog where people put music for you to download but also has some nice imagery related to fashion and hosts a few ads for other realted blogs and sites. It's mainly in french but you should be able to get an idea of what is going on. I feel the images on this blog, all be it of attractive girls are in a similar vien to those of mine for this project, colour, lighting and for use of a better word, vibe.
WEBSITES
http://www.berangereclaire.com/viewmodel.php?idm=FKARGR#top
This next one i used in my studio lighting project but i think it is also relevent to this project in terms of style. It's also in French!
http://www.thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos.html
Same applies to this one but it's in English.
http://store.americanapparel.net/women-sweatshirts---jackets.html
The american apparel site is a good example of a company using very basic photos in the style i have been talking about to sell their products.
http://www.terryrichardson.com/Start.html
After having recently bought a t-shirt from uniqlo because it had a cool looking guy on it, i found out that cool looking guy was Terry Richardson a world class photographer. I soon looked him up on the internet and was pleasantly surpprised to find that his work is actually really good. A lot of his photos are a similar style to that of which i have been talking about just of quite high profile people.
One more thing i would like to show you is this flyer i found at snappy snaps for a local artist named Claire Blundell Jones who is doing a performance piece in and around leeds called 'Kissing II'. Where nine couples will emerge in public spaces, group in close formation according to a prearranged plan, kiss each other ten minutes, and then disperse. The actual performance isn't anything to do with my project but the flyer is strangely similar to mine.
With the introduction of such things as Myspace, Facebook, and Blogs making it very easy to find out a lot about people very fast, i think there is a need for imagery to be a lot more true to what is actually happening there and then. As a result i feel there is a huge decrease in the demand for very staged and heavily edited images within this section of modern culture of which i am interested in at this moment in time. There will however have been some digital based post production to most of these images all be it just minor contrast and colour changes and perhaps some cropping. All though these images may not have been heavily edited in the post production stages all these magazines and blogs are created on computers and the positioning on the page and the text and other images that surround them will have an effect on their meaning and in my opinion could be easily be classed as a form of digital post production.
Here are some examples of Magazines, Blogs and Websites that i think push forward these cultures through their imagery.
VICE MAGAZINE
This magazine has been around for a long time now and is still at the forefront of all modern culture, and is also very well known for having some of the worlds top photographers appear in it. Sections like Do's and Dont's have the sort of imagery i have been talking about.
What interests me about these images is the way they leave me asking questions who are these people, what do they do, where did they get that t-shirt from and so on. I find images like these just as interesting or maybe even more interesting than images by photographers such as Rankin and Martin Parr.
Another Magazine, quite similar to Vice is a magazine called Shut, that actualy seems to have disapeared as of late, non the less there are some nice images in there.
As you can see from these images they are all pretty raw, no exterior lighting and no obvious editing, it's mainly just people in the streets or at party's who happen to be well dressed and the magazines use them as models. I especially like the ones taken on polaroid shown below.
BLOGS;
http://fluokids.blogspot.com/
This blog here is primarily a music blog where people put music for you to download but also has some nice imagery related to fashion and hosts a few ads for other realted blogs and sites. It's mainly in french but you should be able to get an idea of what is going on. I feel the images on this blog, all be it of attractive girls are in a similar vien to those of mine for this project, colour, lighting and for use of a better word, vibe.
WEBSITES
http://www.berangereclaire.com/viewmodel.php?idm=FKARGR#top
This next one i used in my studio lighting project but i think it is also relevent to this project in terms of style. It's also in French!
http://www.thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos.html
Same applies to this one but it's in English.
http://store.americanapparel.net/women-sweatshirts---jackets.html
The american apparel site is a good example of a company using very basic photos in the style i have been talking about to sell their products.
http://www.terryrichardson.com/Start.html
After having recently bought a t-shirt from uniqlo because it had a cool looking guy on it, i found out that cool looking guy was Terry Richardson a world class photographer. I soon looked him up on the internet and was pleasantly surpprised to find that his work is actually really good. A lot of his photos are a similar style to that of which i have been talking about just of quite high profile people.
One more thing i would like to show you is this flyer i found at snappy snaps for a local artist named Claire Blundell Jones who is doing a performance piece in and around leeds called 'Kissing II'. Where nine couples will emerge in public spaces, group in close formation according to a prearranged plan, kiss each other ten minutes, and then disperse. The actual performance isn't anything to do with my project but the flyer is strangely similar to mine.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
TECHNIQUE EXAMPLE
Here is that last technique in practice...
The only thing that i would change about this is to extend the final flurry of flashes and then fade straight to the next image as soon as he turns to white. Also the song that accompanies this video is not the one i intended to use but i actually think this works really well and has now given me the idea that the boyfriend should only be white in the choruses. I think this would be a lot more effective and would help the video to flow as the lyrics are very apt, i might try and produce one with the other song as well and see which one i prefer at the end.
The only thing that i would change about this is to extend the final flurry of flashes and then fade straight to the next image as soon as he turns to white. Also the song that accompanies this video is not the one i intended to use but i actually think this works really well and has now given me the idea that the boyfriend should only be white in the choruses. I think this would be a lot more effective and would help the video to flow as the lyrics are very apt, i might try and produce one with the other song as well and see which one i prefer at the end.
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