One of the first projects I started in third quarter was the prospect of studio lighting. It started off with researching different types of lightings and different types of equipment, those of which include key lights, fill lights, and hair lights. I have been able to understand these lights thoroughly with the physical experience of working with these lights. At one point, I had to identify the lighting of specific photos. That was extremely challenging when it was first presented to me. I attempted it with a multitude of approaches, but it seemed impossible. After Luke had revealed the correct lighting, I was frustrated at myself and my inability to recognize the lighting patterns. Luke then assigned more photos to imitate and I still found myself having trouble getting it right. With more practice, everything I learned from research started to lock in place. I had a better understanding of how to achieve loop lighting and paramount lighting. Looking at the eyes of a person in the photo can help you decipher where to place lights and any other equipment (such as umbrellas and soft boxes). This helped me work on "The One That Got Away."
"The One That Got Away" is a great project for all photographers and non-photographers. It forces you to think differently and use different mediums.
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This is my "opposite sex photo (the format was photograph)." Anika did the make up and transformed Chris into a woman.
The photo of Grace is my "rich and smug" fashion shot.
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I really love my shot of Chris, but I am not that fond my picture of Grace. If I could reshoot it, I would get rid of the stupid shadows on her arm and dress. I like the concept of that photo, but not the execution. I think it gets the idea of "rich and smug" across. I would also try to get rid of all the empty space around her. My shot of Chris was my literal interpretation of opposite sex- a guy who likes to dress up as the opposite sex.
This shot was my film still of toddlers. I like this shot because it captures the relationship between these two children. I know them personally and thus I know the dynamics of their friendship.
This photo was supposed to be a formal mugshot. I don't think it gives off a "mugshot" vibe. I planned to do a side profile to make it more evident, but I never got to. I do feel that it's necessary in order to get the theme of this photo across.
"The One That Got Away" was a great way to put ideas together. I was able to work with my peers and we bounced ideas off of one another. I don't think the quality of my pictures were particularly great, but I think the planning and ideas behind them meant more.
I collected some sources of inspiration throughout the quarter. I was introduced to Yousuf Karsh, widely known for his portraits. During his portrait era of his career, he had 15,312 sittings and produced over 150,000 negatives. Before Karsh photographed anyone, he would thoroughly research them and learn as much about them as he could. He would even try to get to know people who knew about his subjects to learn more about them. It's not just about taking a picture, it's also about building relationships/connections with people because it changes the experience of photography. It also can be useful for future connections because it creates a good first impression (that you even bothered to know something besides their name and position). He did photograph more than just portraits and enjoyed experimenting with optics and surrealism. One of my favorite pieces which captivates his interest in both optics and surrealism is entitled "Elixir."
Another inspiration helped me in starting to explore new terrain was Robert Frank's book The Americans, which I didn't know would be a great inspiration for my next project. This book changed people's views on this nation. His work wasn't new or innovative, but it changed the way people looked at photography, and even our country. Frank was a commercial photographer to make a living, but decided to get his noncommercial work started by traveling across America. Because Frank had his camera with him pretty much everywhere he went, police officers suspected he was a spy. This was true in a way, as much of his work exposed the real ways of America. Frank shot 767 rolls of film making about 27,000 photos. He eventually edited it down to 83 and put them in The Americans. Frank said that he doesn't like to go back and analyze his photos, perhaps because he's done it so many times.
After looking through his book, I was inspired to attempt something along his terrain while I was gone in Italy. Before I left I was worried about not succeeding, so I almost let go of the grasp that I had on this project. When I went to Italy, I just took hundreds of pictures with no particular intentions. Once I came back home, I went through all of them and narrowed it down to my better pictures. I made them all black and white (a property of Frank's work). When I did this, I was only aware of one method of converting to black and white (channel mixing), but Luke told me that there are several other ways. I researched all the possible ways and found that there are seven different methods of converting to black and white, all of which include converting to greyscale, using the hue/saturation tool, LAB color method, gradient map, channel mixer, black and white tool, and twin hue/saturation. I ended up changing my preferred method from channel mixing to using the gradient map.
After finding new ways to make a picture black and white, Luke started teaching me how to edit just to make pictures look better. I've learned that if editing can't save a picture, nothing can. Prior to having this lesson, I knew some rudimentary skills of operating Photoshop. However, Luke introduced how to brush in effects. You load a picture into PS, make a copy of the photo, then you create a new fill/adjustment layer, and let your creativity and imagination wander. After, you go to that fill layer and press command+delete. Once this is done, you can use the brush tool to apply the adjustment wherever you'd like it. Also, cropping is very useful because it helps you capture what you like in a photo and get rid of empty space that ruins the picture.
The top is the before picture, and the bottom is after using PS. I really like how this print came out. The cropping helped established the relationships. For example, the man's wife is take a picture with him, capturing the relationship between the man and the pigeon. I used Gaussian blur to focus on the man with the pigeon and I think it really brought the picture together .
I'm not entirely sure if I'm fond of the cropping in this picture. I kept debating whether I should just have the man on his scooter, or include a little bit of the road in front of him. Without a little bit of space in front of the man, the picture seems crammed in a way, but I tried to make up for that with the depth behind him. I think this is a print that can't be saved with Photoshop, just one that can be trashed.
This is one of my favorite prints. The cropping of the wall that was on his right helped create a new and improved space. Cropping that wall out was a better choice than cropping the other side because the other side adds depth. I used contrast and added it to his face to really highlight the details. The wall to the right of the mime seems too white. I want to go back and play around with the levels and make it a little darker.
For this photo, I cropped the bird out because it ruined the picture. I edited the statue by increasing contrast/brightness and playing around with the levels. I tried to make the sky darker and stronger, but I still want to work on it and see how else I could improve it.
In Q4, I plan to make prints that will be available to purchase. I'm not sure how long this process will take, but in the event that it doesn't take the entire quarter, I want to start a project that encompasses art that reinvents itself. A major inspiration of this idea was Beck's music video for the song "Girl." This is a work in progress and I currently have no direction of where I want to take it. Perhaps I can use photos I already have and have them reinvent itself.
Works Cited
Cole, Tom. "'Americans': The Book That Changed Photography." NPR. N.p., 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 4 Mar. 2013
