Photoshop Tutorial

This is a very simple tutorial on how to create balls of light on photoshop, but it is perfect for what I hope to achieve to represent 'pharisees' on Mount Caburn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qcIkE5NOvg

Reading Photographs

Encoding - the artist encodes their views and values into their art/media text.
Decoding - the viewer then interprets information/messages according to their own values.

Meanings are relative.

The date of the piece and the character of the auteur themselves will always affect how art/media should be read.

Denotative - observing the art/media in a literal way.
Connotative  - searching for meaning with the work.

Studium - the piece as a whole.
Punctum - the main feature of the work (what the eye should be drawn to).


"The photograph both mirrors and creates a discourse with the world, and is never, despite its often passive way with things, a neutral representation. Indeed, we might argue that at every level the photograph involves a saturated ideological context. Full of meanings, it is a dense text in which is written the terms of reference by which an ideology both constructs meaning and reflects that meaning as a stamp of power and authority. We need to read it as the site of a series of simultaneous complexities and ambiguities, in which is situated not so much a mirror of the world as our way with that world; what Diane Arbus called 'the endlessly seductive puzzle of sight'. The photographic image contains a 'photographic message' as part of a 'practise of signification' which reflects the codes, values, and beliefs of the culture as a whole." (Clarke 1997:28-29)


I need to take subjective photographs which achieve the purpose for which they are taken. The audience will be able to explore their meaning within the discourse that they create. Both the stories that the image portrays and the intention of the project will be encoded into the photographs, which will be decoded differently by every viewer according to their values and beliefs. That makes this project even more exciting, as I will not be creating just 6-8 images, but 6-8 images with thousands of different meanings.



-Clarke, G. (1997) 'How Do We Read a Photograph?' in The Photograph. Oxford: Oxford Paperbacks. pp. 27-39.

Plan

I have added a trip to Lewes Castle to my plan for the project, as it is the source of some of the most interesting ghost stories in all of Sussex.

Research - Composing Landscape Photographs

I am reading a Landscape Photography MagBook to learn how to capture landscapes in the most effective way possible.

Top tips for Composition:

1. Rule of Thirds
2. Foreground interest
3. Lead-in lines
4. Layers and planes
5. Natural frames
6. Viewpoints

Foreground interest, lead-in lines and layers and planes contribute to depth. This is very important in landscape photography. Many landscape photographs fail because a two dimensional image cannot compare to the real, three dimensional scene. The aforementioned compositional techniques can create a sense of depth within a photograph, which helps the viewer to emerge themselves in the scene.

The MagBook also points out that there are times when artistic licence must be used and rules broken. The example given is when shooting a scene containing a reflection. Sometimes placing the horizon of the water along the centre of the photograph and therefore balancing the scene will give the most pleasing results.

Editing Shop Photos with Photoshop

Using the lessons I learnt from the Photoshop tutorial about colour balancing and creating overlays, I took this photo (top), which came out a dull, yellow colour and made a colour adjustment layer, making the yellows more blue and red. I then made a 50% grey overlay layer, then lightened the elements of the photo that I wanted to stand out. It's still not a fantastic photo, as there was minimal light to work with inside the shop, but it certainly looks better now than it did to start with.

I'm now going to move away from indoor photography, as it doesn't interest me and is not relevant to my project. I do not feel that the shop keeper homework task (this photo was taken from the series I created) helped towards my project at all, so I will use the poor results to continue learning Photoshop basics, but will now move on to practising outdoor photography for my final project shoot.

Photoshop Tutorial

I have been trying to experiment with Photoshop, but I have been struggling a lot so far, and getting frustrated before I can achieve anything. Knowing that my project will be landscape photography based, I looked for some tutorials on enhancing landscape photographs in Photoshop.

This is a lengthy video, but it taught me a lot and I found it quite easy to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fVms2OzWho

Lessons learned:

1. How to make localised adjustments with lasso and marquee tools
2. How to add filters in a subtle way
3. How to add more depth to photos using contrast and colour balancing
4. How to remove elements of the image in an almost undetectable way
5. How to lighten shadows and darken highlights using an overlay adjustment layer
6. Dodging/burning to direct the viewer's gaze to the main subject(s) of the photo

Folktales Mind-Map

This is a new mind-map for my myths and folktales project. I will go to the locations indicated in the outer-most bubbles and take photographs for the settings of the scenes that I will depict. Then I will take photos of the characters indicated in the next outer-most bubbles and use Photoshop to bring the folktales to life.

Portraits

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XHyuCMXU29VnRleThtX1UxSDg/view?usp=sharing">

This is a selection of the photos taken during our workshop on portraits. During this, we focused on portraying stereotypes, and also how 'other' can be represented in photographs; for instance representing someone as old by surrounding them with younger people.

Field Trip

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XHyuCMXU29Tko0SWNuS2dZRWc/view?usp=sharing"> This pdf contains a selection of the photos taken on our field trip. My theme was 'light', focussing on the effects of light, as I was watching how the landscape was affected by the sun rising, and found that it made even discarded litter look beautiful somehow.

Ghosting Tutorial

I have found a perfect tutorial online that goes through the process of creating a ghost effect in Photoshop. Using this, I should be able to create my own ghost for my Sussex Folktales series.

Photoshop tutorial

Sussex Myths and Legends

Sources of stories for my final project.

Sussex Haunted Heritage names Michelham Priory as "one of the most haunted place in Sussex.
Folklore of Sussex speaks of many myths based in Sussex. Among these: Spring-Heeled Jack the Bogeyman, Witches in unnamed villages who could transform into hares, Pharisees (Sussex dialect for fairies) around old earthwork near Arlington, and many more.
The Sussex Express posted an article about the folktales and myths of Sussex, speaking of fairies on Mount Caburn, usually seen at sunset.

• Munn, D (2006) Sussex Haunted Heritage. Sussex: S.B. Publications.
• Simpson, J (2009) Folklore of Sussex. Third edition. Gloucestershire: The History Press.
• http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/county-news/sussex-folk-tales-and-myths-reveal-world-of-ghosts-and-fairies-1-5371055

Aperture Controls

To 'step up' the aperture it to increase the f number, which closes the lens of the camera. This makes the depth of field (focus) deeper, so that elements at the forefront and in the distance of the photograph can both be in focus.

To 'step down' the aperture is to decrease the f number, which opens the lens of the camera. This makes the depth of field shallower, so that usually only a very specified point in the photograph is in focus.

I enjoy utilising depth of field in my photographs. I like the effect of a shallow depth of field - it is a good way of focusing the attention of the viewer on one element of the photograph, which can be useful.

These are examples that I took, one with a shallow depth of field and one with a greater depth of field:

My Idea

I have developed my idea for the final project. Inspired by the work of Angela Jayne Latham, I have decided to expand my original concept of 'Haunted Photography' to include tales of all local folklore. Sussex has a rich supply of myths and legends that describe fairies, ghosts, giants, witches, dragons and more. I see this as a rich, cultural basis for a photography project.

This photograph is an example of what I hope to achieve. It captures the spirit of the place, literally depicting a 'Fairy Glen', which is pleasing to the viewer and encourages reminiscence of the history of a place and the tales that have been told of it.
Image copyright Angela Jayne Latham. http://www.celtic-photography.co.uk/the-magical-glen

Inspiration

Another landscape photographer whose work inspires me. The images that he captures share his stunning view of the world, a perspective which many of us may never have experienced without these photographs. These really are enough to inspire me to become a photographer, and they certainly act as encouragement on a rainy day. These allow people to truly understand the beauty of the planet that we live on, which is so important to me when it comes to photography.

http://www.antonyspencer.com

Vernacular Photography

I have been researching Vernacular photography for our presentation this week.

"Vernacular photography refers to the creation of photographs by amateur or unknown photographers who take everyday life and common things as subjects." (source)


Together with the "domestic and functional" definition of vernacular, I conclude that this genre of photography aims to document everyday life for the purpose of historical record. This could be in any form, from family photo albums to government records.

Each of us looked at a particular photographer whose work relates to Vernacular photography. I looked at August Sander, a German photographer of the twentieth century, who set out to create a portrait of German life. He took over 40,000 photographs, which now, when observed as an archive, serve as an enlightening historical record of all planes of life in Germany in the 1920's and 30's. The photographs captured, not the necessarily the personalities of the subjects - which are best captured when the photograph is unexpected, such as mid-laugh - but the way in which they presented themselves to him, and therefore what they aspired to be. This teaches us more about the emotions of early twentieth century Germans than many other forms of record of that time.

Haunted Photography Mind-Map

I have begun to put some ideas together on a mind-map about creating a set of photos that explore 'haunted' locations around Sussex. These places are linked to that past in a way which I find fascinating, and I feel that experimenting with ways of representing 'hauntings' within photographs using photographic techniques and photoshop would widen my skill set and allow me to explore the meanings behind photography. For example, in the book 'Ways of Seeing', Berger discusses the ways in which photography can link us to the past, stating that an image becomes a "record of how X had seen Y... increasing consciousness of individuality, accompanying an increasing awareness of history." Using this idea, I can use photography as a medium to connect people to the historical events of cultural locations around Sussex.

Technical practice

 To practise getting to grips with the effects of changing the shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings of the camera to achieve different exposures, I spent some time trying to photograph a celestial phenomena on a slightly cloudy night. This was a good exercise, as the settings have to be just right to achieve a successful photograph. I was pleased with the results.

This was taken with a slow shutter speed (1"), medium aperture (f/5.6), and a high ISO (1600), meaning the camera captured the light of the moon and Jupiter for one second, and the high ISO made it sensitive to the light that it received, resulting in a bright photo.

This was taken with a slightly larger aperture (f/4.0) and a much lower ISO (400), meaning that the lens let in more light within the second, but the camera was less sensitive to it.

This photo, taken with a very slightly larger aperture (f/3.5), makes it possible to see the halo around the moon - a phenomena caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

This was taken with a much faster shutter speed (1/125), a much higher aperture (f 8.0), and a lower ISO (100), the results showing much more detail of the lunar surface, despite the thin cloud cover.