ISO

In this task we were asked to investigate ISO, to do this we had to take images on different ISO's for example 100 and 1600, this is to sow the grain of having a high ISO.

 On the images above we used to ISO of 100, I then went onto photoshop to zoom in to show how a low ISO is not grainy, though the image is zoomed in the quality has not changed too much.

 On the images above I used the ISO of 1600, I then like the images above went on to photoshop and zoomed in, this shows how a high ISO makes the image look grainy, this means the images are of bad quality and the photograph has a lot of noise going on in the image.

 In the images above I did another example of low ISO of 100, to again show how he quality does not change depending on if you zoom in or not.

 In this images above just like the ones at the top I made the ISO 1600 then zoomed in to show how the quality changes depending on your ISO for example this image when zoomed in has a lot of noise, which makes it very grainy.

Photographic Analysis; Irving Penn

Name of the Photographer Irving Penn “Girl Behind Bottle” 1949

Basic Facts

The title of this image is “girl behind bottle” which was created my Irving Penn in 1949.

Description of the Photograph

Describing the photograph in detail will reveal a lot about your interest in the image, so don't be afraid to state the obvious.

What is the subject matter?

A woman having a cigarette behind a wine bottle

Is it black & white or colour? Film or digital?

This image is in black and white and is on film

What type of photograph is it? (Landscape, Fashion, Portrait etc.)

The photograph is a portrait

What is the format? (square, horizontal or vertical)

Square

What is the tonal range if it is black & white? (Low/high/normal contrast, high key or low key)

The image is in low contrast and is it in low high key

What are the colours like? saturated/desaturated, harmonious/discordant.

Do any colours dominate?

The image is in black and white

Visual Analysis

What is your eye drawn to first?

The wine bottle

How is your eye led around the frame?

It goes straight to the bottle

How has the photographer structured the photograph; with lines, shapes or areas of tone? Triangle, to keep your eye in the picture

Which other compositional devices has the photographer used?

Leading lines

How can the photograph be divided into areas; foreground and background?

The bottle is the foreground, the woman is the background and there is no mid ground

Has a dramatic viewpoint been used?

Yes, the view in the bottle

How is the photograph balanced or unbalanced?

Balanced

What type and direction of light has been used? Artificial or natural, bright or diffuse?

Artificial light has been added

What depth of field has been used? How has this affected the picture?

Shallow, it brings your attention to the bottle

What is the importance of film speed or type?

I think the speed in this image is important and you can see the light of the flame

What use has the photographer made of shutter speed?

He made the shutter speed fast to capture the light of the lighter

How has the choice of lens or camera had an effect on the photograph?

Judging by the black and white and the time the photograph was taken in I think the camera was an old camera

What skills must the photographer have used to produce the image?

The skill the photographer would need to take this photo is to be able to handle his depth of field and be able to change it.

Personal Analysis

What were your feelings when you first looked at the photograph?

I didn’t really feel anything when I looked at this image

How did your reaction to the image change after looking at it for a while?

After looking at it for a while I thought it started to look better, I was looking deeper into the image and I saw more

How does the photograph capture a mood or feeling?

This photograph feels sophisticated as she is getting her cigarette lit for her, but her cigarette is on a stick making her seem high class and posh

What are the hidden meanings in the photograph?

I don’t think there are any hidden meanings in this photograph and if there is, I cannot find them

Does the photograph tell a story, or is it more like a poem?

I feel like this photograph would be a poem

What message was the photographer trying to communicate?

I think it could be that sophisticated women drink wine

Has text been used in any way? Does this affect your response to the photograph?

No it has not been used

Why did you choose this particular photograph?

I thought this was a pretty interesting photograph to use

Context

What events (social/economic/political/cultural) were occurring at the time the photograph was taken? Was the photograph a reaction to any of these events?

1949 was after the depression and ww2 this was where tv became bigger and things started to get better.

How does the photograph look dated, how can you tell when it was taken?

Other than knowing when the photo was taken, it being in black and white, the wine bottle shape and the stick the cigarette all hint that it was an old photograph

Influences

What was the photographer influenced by whilst producing this image?

I think post war antics influenced the photographer with this image

How has the photographer been an influence to other photographers?

I think with the way the photographer has taken this image would influence other photographers to be as outgoing with taking their images as he is as taking it through a wine glass is different.

Comparisons

How does the photograph compare to the rest of the photographer's work?

This photograph is only similar to some of his work, that being the black and white ones, I think he could only do a image like this so many time before it gets repetitive.

How does the photograph compare to the work of other photographers?

This photograph is very different to that of other photographers, as I said this image is very out there, most photographers work doesn’t look planned or thought out, you could argue that, that is what makes it thought out so they seem like they weren’t, but this one you can tell it is thought out.

Martin Parr.2

500 Words about Martin Parr

Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer, collector, contemporary photographer and photojournalist. Parr is well known for his photographic projects that have a critical view on modern society, foreign travel and tourism, motoring, family and relationships, and food. Parr though born in Epsom, Surrey later moved to Suburbia, but not the high end, the area he lived in was dull and had no center. Parr was a keen collector, he collected watches, wallpaper and trays, it is said that Parr inherited this from his father who was also a keen collector, proof of this is shown through his work, he has several well-known collection such as; Boring Postcards and Autoportraits. It is also said that his father was a keen ornithologist, Martin would often accompany him on bird-watching trips, and family holidays, usually to Norfolk or France, were usually characterized by his father’s love of nature, and enthusiasm for birds of prey. Parr was interested in photography from an early age of 14, his grandfather, who was an armature photographer, is said to be an early influence to that part of Parr's life, Parr wouldmake regular visits north, to see him. Parr shot one of his first photographic series at the age of 16; it was taken at a fish and chips shop on one of his trips to Yorkshire. Two years later in 1970 Parr moved to Manchester to study at college, there he enjoyed exploring and photographing the ordinary, day-to-day life of British culture and society. British culture quickly became part of his photography collections, in his earlier work with Daniel Meadows they spent time at Butlin’s and later at June Street in Salford photographing things such as peoples living rooms. Parr and Meadows became employees at the camp, living in a chalet with free board and lodgings and only Saturdays off, they took many photographs in the resort of its guests and the resort itself. In 1972 “Butlin’s By The Sea went on show at Impressions Gallery in York. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that Parr had the attention he wanted, this was due to the shift in British photography. Over the years Parr’s photography has changed as his interests have developed but elements remain such as saturated colour and fill-in flash flash-lit and brightly coloured postcards, brochures and snapshots. Parr took up teaching at Newport in Gwent there he encouraged his students to experiment with negative film, medium format cameras and flash to capture what he called the ‘brashness’ of the 1980s. Parr moved around a lot after he completed The Last Resort in 1987 Parr moved from Wallasey to Bristol. Because Parr’s photographic reputation had thus far been built on photographing in the North, the move was dramatic. Over the next few years Parr focused on his collection The Cost Of Living; this focuses on the middle-class, his own class. The subjects of the photographs make small talk and chitchat. They eat strawberries from little plastic bowls at functions. Consumerism and commoditised culture continues to be an obsession for Martin Parr. Over the last decade his camera has moved ever closer in on his subject, picturing detail with remorseless clarity.

High Key Photography

Original Image

                                                                       Edited Image

In this challenge we were told to experiment with high key lighting and then change the image in photoshop. Above is an image of my eye, in the first image there is nothing we have done, in the second we had to do a number of things. To take the original image in high key lighting we had to use a a set up similar to the one bellow, this is so there is limited shadows and not harsh light.

After taking the image we uploaded it onto photoshop and went through stages to change the image into the second one above. The first stage was to crop the image, to do this we selected the crop tool and made it so you could see just the eye, some people did it closer or further away but I chose to do it there as preferred to have it not too close nor far away. We then had to make the image black and white  to do this we used the black and white tool on the tool box on the right side. Then we changed the contrast, in the same box, so it was in more high contrast than before. We then used the burn tool to add the darker areas back to the photograph so we didn't lose features on the face, such as the eye brow and the nose shadow. We then went  to filter and added a grainy look to the photo to make the image look less pure and to give it an effect, I saved this image as a copy so I will not lose the original image if I need to change it to something else.

Crop Factor

Black – Full Frame

Red – 1.3x Crop Factor

Yellow – 1.5x Crop Factor

Green – 1.6x Crop Factor

If you take a photo with a smaller sensor and the same lens it will only show a smaller area of the scene. Until recently full frame cameras were DLSR's and lower end cameras had smaller sensors. When you enlarge images to the same size from different sensors the ones with the smaller sensors will be enlarged more, making it seem bigger, when adding a larger lens to a smaller sensor, the lens is often said to have a larger lens size. Bellow is  a table to show different lens sizes for different crop factors. The column on the left is the lens focal length on a full frame camera.

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman

1. Critique the technique. 



Exposure.
Is any area overexposed or underexposed? If so, can you say why you think that happened? How could the photographer prevent this problem in the future? 

I think that the exposure in this image is slightly over exposed as the person looks slightly washed out as it looks a bit bright. A way the photographer could prevent this in the future would be to make the exposure lower.

Focus.
Is the main subject in focus? Is it sharp focus, or a "soft" focus? Is the focus appropriate for the situation? 

The main subject in this image is not in focus, I personally think the focus on this image is soft but it is appropriate for the situation.






Depth of Field (DOF).
Is the DOF shallow or deep? Does the DOF work in this shot, or should more (or less) of the photo be in focus?  
I don't think the depth of field of this image is shallow, I think its kind of deep, this is because you can see the background clearly so its not shallow or you would not be able to see the background as clear as you can. The DOF in this image works, I think this because if the focus was just on the person and you could not seen the background I don't think the image itself would work, but I do think there could be a little more focus on the main subject being the woman.

Lighting / White balance.
Is the light soft or harsh? Does the type of lighting enhance or detract from the things in the photo? Is the white balance set correctly? Is there a yellowish, orangey, or greenish cast to the photo? 
The lighting in this image is harsh, I know this because there is a shadow, soft lighted photographs don't have shadows, I think this type of lighting enhances thins in this image.

2. Critique the composition. 
Centred vs. "Rule of Thirds".
Is the main subject in the centre of the frame? Is it on a third? Somewhere else? Does the chosen composition work, or would you have done something differently? 
The main subject is in the centre of the frame, it does appear to be on a third, the chosen composition of this image does in fact work very well, I would of don't nothing different as a generally like this image

Fore, Middle, and Backgrounds.
(Most applicable to landscape photos) Does the photo contain all three? If not, do you think it would be better if it did? 
This image has a foreground, begin the main image, and a background being the wall, I think having a middle ground would make the image better.

Cropping/Framing.
Is there wasted empty space is the photo? Should the crop have been tighter? Is it cropped so tightly that important parts of the photo have been cut-off? 
I think the only wasted space would be the top, above her head I think its an unnecessarily large gap, I would make he crop on tis tighter at the top but maybe wider on the sides.

Colour / Tonal Range.
What type of colours do you see? Did the photographer use many primary colours? Secondary? Complementary? Are the colours too vivid? Not vivid enough? If you are looking at a B&W photo, is there a true black, true white, with a large tonal range in between, or is the photo too "grey"? 
I don't think there is no true black or white in this image, the black is a bit dull and the white a bit off coloured and also dull. This photo is too "grey", the only true black is her jacket but it  appears that is not the only black thing in the image.

Diagonals, S-Curves, etc.
Did the photographer make use of any visually interesting elements, such as diagonal lines or S-curves?
I don't think there are any S-cuves but I do think there is one diagonal line, that being her leg.

Leading lines.
Do the lines and overall composition make you want to look deeper into the photo? Is your eye drawn into the photo, or out of it? 
The lines and composition do not make me want to look deeper, my eyes are drawn into the photo but not kept there, this is because of the line away from the main subject. The triangles on the subject make your eyes stay but after a while you start to look at her shadow, the floor, the wall.

Dark vs. Light areas.
Are there too many bright areas? Too many dark areas? 
 There is a even amount of dark and light areas but they are not too dark nor too light.

Balance.
Is the photo "balanced"? Would it be better if there were other objects or other light/dark areas in the frame to improve the balance? If the photo is off balance, is there a reason for it? 
I think the image is balanced, there could be other subjects involved in the image but I think that would throw the balance of the image.

 3. How does it make you feel? 

What mood do you see in the photo? 
When look at this photo I see the mood is calm I think this because the subject looks calm, she's just sat there smoking a cigarette, nothing is involved in the image its just her on her own so nothing is bothering her.

Do you think this mood is what the photographer intended? 

I do think this mood in intended as I don't think there could be another mood intended in this photograph. If there is I fail to see or find the other mood, so if there is another image then the photographer needs to make it clearer as it is no shown in this image.