IMAGE AND TEXT Assignment : Task 18 & 19 : Wide Angle vs Zoom

Wide Angle Photographs (18mm):

These wide angle shots seem to be brighter, clearer and have more depth than the zoomed in shots. The wide angle shots don't cope very well with being close up to things, as the lens is so close to the subject it is hard to focus. The advantages of using wide angles are that the colours seem brighter and clearer and the images have more depth. Disadvantages of using wide angles is, because they have more depth, they can make people/subjects look larger than they actually are. This is why wide angle shots wouldn't be great for photographing heavier models because it would make them look huge.

Telephoto Photographs (55mm):

I have found from using a zoom that the colours seem a little bit dull and dark, but when zoomed in on close things the lens is able to focus unlike when using a wide angle lens close up to something when the lens struggles to focus. The advantages of using a zoom is that it is better at focusing on more detailed things. This type of photography would be good for photographing models and making them look slimmer.

Wide Angle and Zoom next to each other:

Wide:

Zoom:

In these photographs, the top image is a lot more aesthetically pleasing because it is more clear and the lighting is a lot nicer.

Wide:

 Zoom:

These images have worked out the same. The image is completely changed - one is bright and clear and the other is quite dark and dull. Also, although the models head is in the same position in the photograph, the things in the background appear a lot larger in the telephoto end (55mm).

Wide:

Zoom:

Here when using the wide angle (18mm) lens, it has struggled to focus because the lens is so close to the model, however, when using the telephoto (55mm) lens, because it has a reasonable distance between the camera and the model, it is able to focus and capture her features clearly. 

Wide:

Zoom:

Here is another example where the wide angle lens makes the image appear more clear and bright than the telephoto lens. 

Wide:

Zoom:

The telephoto lens (55mm) can cope a lot better with focusing on detailed areas than the wide angle one (18mm). This is because with the 18mm one the photographer has to get right up to the subject to get the same image and therefore the lens struggles to focus. 

Wide:

Zoom:

Out of all of these shots, these are the first ones that don't really look much different between wide angle (18mm) and telephoto (55mm) lenses. The only difference I can see is that in the wide angle lens the models face looks slightly larger than the telephoto lens. 

Wide:

Zoom:

These images show that using the wide angle lens close up makes things look bigger because the wide angle image seems to have a curved keyboard whereas the telephoto image appears to be a lot flatter. 

Wide:

Zoom:

This is a very good example of how using different in-camera techniques can change the appearance of a model. In the wide angle image (above) the model looks slightly larger than in the telephoto image where she looks very petite. This technique would be good to use in clubs where people want to look slimmer and if they look slimmer they are more likely to buy the photograph if it is more flattering of them. 

Wide:

Zoom:

Wide:

Zoom:

Here are two sets of examples of how using wide angle and telephoto lenses make the face look slimmer. The wide angle lens (18mm) makes the face look larger and almost more three dimentional. The wide angle lens (55mm) makes it look a lot flatter and slimmer. 

Wide Angle - Waist Height:

Wide Angle - Low shot:

Wide Angle - High shot:

Here are some examples showing how using different lenses and angles can alter the appearance of a persons height. The waist height images show a persons height as it is. The low shots make the model look taller and have longer legs, and the high shots make the person look shorter. These types of techniques would work well for fashion/editorial/advertising photography because the photographer could make the model look taller etc.

Zoom - Waist height:

Zoom - Low shot

Zoom - High shot

Using the same techniques as above but using the telephoto end of the lens (55mm) doesn't give the same dramatic effects as the wide angle lens. 

DOCUMENTARY Assignment : Part 2 : Task 5 : Editing Process

First I opened the image and selected Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels

When the histogram appeared, I selected the individual colours (red, green, blue) and adjusted the levels by sliding the arrows across the bottom so that they are pointing at where the histogram starts instead of at the end of a flat line. This alters the colours making them look slightly more vibrant and appealing.

Then I went to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves

When the histogram appears it looks like this - a straight diagonal line.

I created adjustment points on the line by selecting a point on the line and dragging it. Here I have selected two points - one to make the light bits lighter and one to make the dark bits darker.

These two processes make images look more vibrant and professional.

I use this process on all of my photographs in my final set of images representing Person X. 

IMAGE AND TEXT Assignment : Task 9 : Proposal

For the next set of images I would like to produce, I want to try and use both traditional in-camera techniques and modern digital in-camera techniques that are colourful. I would like to use colour within my images because I think that the student life is quite colorful.

A student may tell you that it is very dull and boring, however, students experience the joy of being educated – a very interesting and fun experience to expand the knowledge to further them in their career paths or just for personal knowledge gain. They are usually also at an age where it is a lot of fun, they are usually living with their parents, and possibly have part time jobs, so at an age where they are earning money and having a good time but not quite paying their own way, so life is usually quite care free for students. I very much enjoy being a student, I love learning about something that I am passionate about and constantly feel good about improving my knowledge and skill in a particular subject. I also like the other sides to student life, e.g. going out eating or drinking, or just being with friends or peers in or out of the college environment. I would like this to be reflected in my photographs so I am going to create imagery which is very colourful to show how exciting student life really is.

I will use different coloured filters and coloured vignettes to create different effects and moods within images. Using traditional in-camera techniques, I will use things such as coloured transparent sweet wrappers, cling film with colours painted onto them using things like nail varnish, pen, lipstick, etc. I could mix Vaseline with coloured eyeshadow or lipstick to create a coloured blur around the lens when applied to the filter on the end of the lens. For modern digital in-camera techniques I will use Photoshop to apply different coloured effects on top of my images. I will use things like solid colour filters which can be reduced in opacity to reveal the image underneath and show it to have a tint. I could also use the eraser tool with a solid colour layer working from the centre outwards to create a coloured vignette. I could also apply a gradient over the top of my image to show different colours depending on the subject matter in the photograph, I will then alter the opacity to reveal the image underneath with a tint of more than one colour.

I would like to try and show lots of different aspects of the student life within these images: college and study work, meeting with friends, eating lots of food, possibly students in the work place. I think colour represents the student life really well and my images will hopefully look really good as a set. I will take what I have learnt from experimenting with other techniques and use that in photographing this set of images representing student life.

STUDIO TECHNIQUES Assignment : Task 7 : Final images

Here are my final set of images - we were asked to select 5 but I have chosen 7 because I couldn't narrow it down to 5! I think this set of photographs work really well together and all add something different to the set. They show different angles of my model, the makeup she was wearing and the feathers working for the shoot in different places.

DOCUMENTARY Assignment : Part 2 : Task 6 : Investigating different ways of presenting work

Here are my final images which I have edited using in photoshop using an action I created. The action was to increase the contrast in the image, then make it black and white. I applied the action to all of the images to create unity within the set and bring them together more. I find this way of using photoshop interesting, however, I think I prefer editing the individual photographs because they are all different and have different lighting/subjects to a default effect doesn't always work for making them all similar as it may make some images too dark or too light. Some of these images look really nice in black and white and are very aesthetically pleasing, however, some of the original images (e.g. the one of my mum's jewelry and the colourful beaded top) look better in colour.

Photoshop Actions : Contrast / Black & White

Here I was testing out how to create actions using Photoshop which then could be applied to multiple photographs to give them a similar finish and then they could be put together as a set of photographs. The action that I created was a Contrast / Black & White. For this I selected Window > Actions > New Action > Name : Contrast / Black & White > Record. After that point, Photoshop was recording everything I did so that it was a default action. Everything I did would then be ready to apply to other photographs to give the same effect. Whilst my action was recording, I selected Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Contrast - and increased the contrast up to it's maximum. I then selected Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White. I then pressed the stop button so Photoshop was no longer recording the action. 

Here I have applied the action to two different photographs. I really like the effect on the top image of the wheel because it seems to have intensified the sky. 

DOCUMENTARY Assignment : Part 2 : Task 5 : Final Images

Here is my first set of final images for 'Person X'. These images are to show the different aspects of my mums life. They show different environments - work and home. I really like the images taken of photographs of my mum. Unintentionally, the images taken at her work seem to be more dull and not as interesting as the ones taken of the home environments and different things around the home. I think that this works because she doesn't hate her job but she doesn't really enjoy it, and they make her home life look more vibrant. I think these images work as a set because I have used a ordered pattern of work, home, work, home - although, the last few images are all home. I think that I may remove some of the images from the set so there is less of them and possibly make the set more powerful. I will examine the set and remove any that are vaguely repetitive.