Final images

For my final images I decided to shoot buildings in a certain location in Preston town, the main focal point being the Harris Museum. When out shooting these images, using the Harris museum as the main focal point I photographed different angles of this building, and then photographed different aspects of the town around the museum, things such as different buildings around it, the guild hall etc. From developing my shoots further from my experimental shoots I have shot a successful set of images within photographing for my final images. As it wasn't complete daylight whilst shooting this images I had to use a wide aperture and an ISO of about 400, as well as capturing some moving objects within the images which meant I have to use fairly fast shutter speeds to capture them still and not capture the movement. 

What I will do with these images is present them as an installation. My plan for this is to print them out and remove some parts of the images, which may include just leaving certain things within the images, cutting out the sky or some buildings so there are certain aspects that stand out. With this I will create a joiner style piece but as an installation but only choosing a certain amount of images from this shoot. As some of the images will over lap with some aspects of them I will place them in a good position to make it look as though to show them the same thing has been photographed from different distances and angles and I will also show the harris museum from different angles as well as this being the main focal point of the piece and the rest around it showing this building and all the interesting things around it. I feel that this idea will work out as a successful final image and will be presented well and interestingly. 

Shoot 2

For my second experimental shoot I went to Manchester to shoot images of more buildings. Moving on from my first experimental shoot I feel I have developed on further in photographing different buildings working towards creating images for my final piece. Throughout this body of work I have photographed many successful images. I feel I used good composition whilst taking these images. I had to use a wide aperture and a high ISO whilst shooting most of these as it started to get dark therefore the camera settings I had for the first few images would not of worked and would of produced very dark images, therefore I used these settings to create the correct exposure. Doing this shoot has given me a bigger body of work and more experience and experimental work towards creating my final images.

Digital media

Digital media is used in photography in many ways, for example within this magazine cover photoshop has been used within it, by being used to edit the model as well as to help create the magazine cover by adding in the text etc. Using photoshop within this kind of advertisement has its advantages such as using the tools to edit the celebrity within the image, tools such as airbrush will be used, which works to an advantage because it will help to create a better look and sell the magazine, but on the other hand is sending out a bad message as its not all true. Photoshop is also used as an advantage within this advertising purpose because within it we can do suff such as make the title look as if it is behind the person on the cover, which makes it look more realistic and professional.

Another example I have found is this McDonalds advertisement where photoshop is used massively to help advertise one of their burgers. Within this advertisement photoshop has been used to turn the fish bowl into the shape of a burger, but with the water and the fish still inside it to represent the 'Filet-O-Fish' burger, this has been used to a good effect because it will bring in an audience, its something that is out of the ordinary and photoshop has contributed towards this, by creating something that could never be created by hand but only by digital media.

Black and White Film Grain

When creating a black and white film grain image in photoshop, the first thing you need to do is open up the image in photoshop, change it to black and white using the adjustment bar and not an adjustment layer, unless it is already black and white. Then add a new layer and name it film grain.

After

-open up image





-new layer
-rename film grain
-edit, fill, 50%gray
-change opacity to overlay
-filter, noise, add noise, tick monochromatic, change amount

Text overlay

The aim of this task was to create a set of text overlay images using low key lighting. First off I needed to create the low key lighting images, which I did by going into the studio, using a background and only one light. I moved the light to different positions, which created different amounts of light and shadow on her face. I made sure I had a good small set of images before leaving the studio and going to use photoshop. In photoshop I edited the image black and white, I then found text from a song of the classmates choice. I took this text and brought it into word, made it a size I felt would help to create a better image. Whilst correcting the text throughout these 3 processes, I chose two different typefaces. Once I had the text how I wanted it I took a screen shot of it and dragged it into photoshop on top of the portrait. I positioned it over the portrait, then changed the blending mode to 'multiply'. I then erased the text from where I didn't want it to be. 

I have created three different images using text overlay, using different photographs, different typefaces and positioning them differently. I feel that the third one is the most successful, as the text typeface fits in well with the image and creates a good style. Although these images are successful on the what they intend to do I don't like the images as a whole, I felt that I could of got better portraits and her facial expressions don't match up with the style of the images. I also would change the way i added the text to make it more of a style that I like.

Photoshop techniques

Polaroid
To create a polaroid style image in photoshop you start off by opening up the image in photoshop and using the crop button, crop the image to square on the part of the image you want to use. Then create a new layer, then using the gradient tool, select colours you want to use that will work best to create a polaroid effect. Then apply the gradient by dragging it across the image in the direction you want it to flow. Bring down the opacity so that both the image and the gradient colours are visible. Next is to add a border, which is done by selecting image, canvas size, and add on 5cm to the original size, then proceeding to add another 10cm to the bottom by repeating the same steps, but where the small graph is at the bottom, click the top arrows to cancel them out and only adding 10cm to the height. Once all these steps are followed you can then add text using the text tool, which results in a polaroid style photograph.

Vignette
To create a vignette open up your photograph into photoshop and select the elliptical marque tool, using this drag the shape around the image from the corner. Once you have this shape in the position you would like it to be, go to select and inverse, then select again, modify and feather. Choose the pixels and select ok, make sure your colour is on black (or the colour you want to use), press cmd and backspace on the keyboard and then change the opacity to what suits your image.
































Cyanotype
To create an cyanotype effect image simple change the image to black and white(unless it is already), add a new layer, fill with solid blue and change the opacity. This creates an image with a nice blue effect.

Old fashion/sepia

To create an old fashioned image using background layers and the sepia effect, you must have the image you want to edit, and an image of a crumpled piece of paper or anything you feel would work well with this. Open up the main photograph in photoshop then place the paper image over the top and change the blending mode and opacity on this layer so that the paper image blends in nicely with the main photograph. Too add the sepia effect select image, adjustments, photo filter which will bring up a box, choose the sepia filter and change the colour density to suit how you want it. 

Experimental images

For my first set of experimental images I went out into the college and shot as many different buildings as I could find, at different angles to experiment and see what kind of buildings I would like to shoot for my final images. I feel that this shoot was successful and I got a good amount of experimental images. I explored as much as possible using a range of different buildings as well as shooting techniques. After this experimental shoot around college it will help me to move forward and continue to shoot experimental images and develop into creating my final images.