Photoshop Joiners

This is a David Hockney style joiner image that I have made myself in photoshop and all you have to do is open up photoshop, select the photographs you want to use, hopefully of the same thing just taken in different angles so they don't all look the same.
First of all you open photoshop and click on Files then Scripts then Load Files into Stack and then click Attempt to Automatically Align Source and then click OK.

Secondly, you can experiment with the different layers you have turned on or off and you can select the move tool to move around each different image if you want to. Then you can experiment with adding a drop shadow to the image by clicking fx in the layers panel and this makes the image look more like a collage. After this, you can add a new layer by going to Layer then New then Layer from Background, which gives it a nicer background and you can change the colour. To do this you click Edit then Fill then Use Black. Lastly, you can flatten your image which means there is no other layers and no other alterations can be made, to do this select Layer then Flatten Image and then finally save it as a JPEG and go to File then Save As.

Lighting and Props

Soft Box

Soft boxes are used to soften lights, you put it onto the light and face it on the background or the subject you are photographing to give a softer light. It also diffuses the light so it covers a wider space. If you use a few soft boxes, the photograph will turn out evenly lit, soft boxes can also appear to give a photo a more 'clean' look. 

Beauty Dish

You can get beauty dishes in many different sizes and lights up the subject directly, because of it being round in shape it creates a more even light all around rather than creating shadows. This light is very bright and is good for covering up imperfections if there is any. 

Small Reflector & Honeycomb Grid      

The small reflector is like a spotlight and focuses just on the subject, it is good for low key lighting as it creates a lot of shadow and only creates light where you want it to. The honeycomb grid allows the light to create a focus on the subject of the photo.

     

                                                                          

Manual Camera Settings

Today we went into the theatre and experimented with our manual camera settings. We learnt how to set our camera to the right aperture and shutter speed to get the correct exposure, not too dark nor too bright. I used 1/60 for the shutter speed, f5.6 for aperture and my ISO was set to 400. With these settings the picture had the right exposure.
I then changed my shutter speed to experiment with under exposed photographs and over exposed photographs and again, photos with the correct exposure.

These photographs have the correct exposure.

I took both of these images with the same shutter speed, aperture and ISO. My shutter speed was set to 1/60, aperture was f5.6 and ISO 400. These photographs have the correct exposure as they are not too bright or too dark. They have good lighting and you can see the object in focus clearly.

For the photograph on the right, it is under exposed and for this I had to change my aperture to f8 and then take the photo. Changing the aperture means adjusting how much light is let into the image so I changed the aperture to let less light in which resulted in an under exposed photograph.

For this photograph on the left, I changed my aperture to f3.5 which means more light is being let into the photograph, this resulted in the photo being over exposed, this hides features of the face and as you can see from the photograph, her hair and hand blends in slightly with the background.

 

For these photographs I was experimenting with my ISO setting, for the over exposed image on the right I changed my ISO to 3200 and as you can tell from the photograph it's really bright.

This photograph on the left I changed my ISO to 100 and there is hardly any light being let in, the photo is very dark and you can barely make out where Nicola is stood.

Shutter Speed Experiment

Experiment 1: Camera Shake

The shutter speed in the blurred pictures is set to 1/30 which is slow, I then shook the camera at the same time as taking the picture which gave it the blurred effect. Personally, I don't like these pictures because of the blur and it just doesn't look like a good quality picture as it's not in focus.

For the clearer picture I used a faster shutter speed, 1/600 which meant I could make sure the picture was more focused and clear which I think turned out much better than the others.





























Experiment 2: Abstract Motion Blur

For this experiment, I set my camera to shutter priority and set the shutter speed to 1/8th second. There was 4 parts to this experiment. The first thing we had to do was take a picture of somebody whilst zooming the lens, the second was to take a picture and rotate the camera at the same time, thirdly take a picture whilst shaking the camera and the fourth was to take a picture whilst zooming and rotating the camera. I think that my pictures were successful as it created the right effects and the right sort of blur.

 















Experiment 3: Light Painting

For this experiment I went into the studio and turned all the lights off as you need complete darkness for light painting to be successful, for this I set my camera to Manual and the bulb setting with my aperture on f8. I then used the light on my phone to write my name and some other peoples names who were in my group. My photos were successful as you can clearly read the images and what they're meant to say. Light painting is fairly easy if you know how to use the right settings on your camera.

Experiment 4: Ghosts


For this experiment, I had to use the classroom, I set my camera to Shutter Priority with a shutter speed between 4-8 seconds. I had to use a tripod for this experiment as the camera needed to remain absolutely still. There was four different stages to this experiment, first of all the person in focus had to rush out of the shot. Secondly, I had to repeat the first step but changing the shutter speed then for the third step, I had to make the person appear more transparent, like a ghost. Lastly, I had to make the person appear more bold in the photo, I think my photos were successful because they turned out how they needed to. 

 












Experiment 5: Frozen Motion

For this experiment I had to be outside, I needed a fast shutter speed so I used 1/500th second. I then took a picture of somebody jumping off the steps outside college and because of the fast shutter speed, it froze the motion and captures him in mid air. The second photo I took was of the same person but running this time and again, the motion was frozen. I think my photos were successful because the experiment was based on freezing a motion and that's what my photos did.

Experiment 6: Panning

This experiment was the last one and for this I set my camera to shutter priority and used a shutter speed of 1/30th second. This involved taking a picture of somebody running but rather than holding the camera in one position, you had to follow them with the camera to create the panning effect. It shows exactly what is happening in the photo but with a blurred effect to show movement. I think my photo is successful but if I had the opportunity to take it again, I would try to make the image sharper and less blurred. 

Composition

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds involves  using a grid made up of two vertical and two horizontal lines, which enables you to position objects in your picture to make it more pleasing to the eye. It creates balance and harmony in the photo because there is something interesting happening in each section of the photo. 

Leading Lines

Leading lines uses lines within an image to lead to something at the end and centre of the image, which is the main focus but you notice all the other things in the image before noticing the main subject. Any number of things can use leading lines, train tracks or bridges.

Even and Odd

This rule basically means by using three things the same but different colours for example, it makes it more interesting and pleasing to the eye, whereas if you used all the same colour it creates symmetry and less interesting. Using odds draws the viewers attention.

Triangle Rule

The triangle rule is a really good composition technique. It works best when you have three main subjects in focus but that isn't necessary. By using a triangle, it fills the frame very well and creates a great photo for the viewer, using the triangle rule isn't always done purposely but                                                           either way, it usually turns out                                                             quite nicely.

Leading Room and Space

 Leading room (and space) uses 'white space' in the direction that the subject is facing or in front of the object that is moving, this is shown in the picture to the left. By using this technique it really can alter the mood of the photo, it can make it feel relaxed and like there's a lot of open                                                               space.

Photoshop: Retouching

Retouching

 The picture on the left is the original photograph and the first blemish I am going to fix on photoshop is the freckle on her nose shown in the picture on the right. To do so I will use the healing brush tool. With this tool you select a good section of the persons skin and replace the bad part with the good part selected.

                                                   

As you can see now on the picture on the left, the freckle has gone and you can't tell where it was to begin with.           This is what the healing brush tool looks like.













Retouching is used by all magazines to make models look perfect, it gets rid of any slight imperfections and makes skin look flawless.

 The picture on the right is the freckle that I am getting rid of and the picture on the left is how it looks once I have used photoshop to get rid of it.

On this picture there is only a slight blemish under the lip but you can still use photograph even for minor improvements. On the right is the retouched version where you can clearly see the blemish has gone.





There is 3 tools I have used to fix these pictures, firstly there is the spot healing brush which is very easy to use, you just click the spot or freckle that you want to get rid of and it disappears. The icon for spot healing tool looks like this ...

The next tool is the Healing brush, which is a bit more difficult to use but easy once you know what to do it is easy enough and to use this you select a good section of skin and then click on the part which you would like to replace and it does it for you.

Lastly is the Patch tool which allows you to draw around a section of skin and then move it to a different part of the face and it then also disappears and the skin is retouched and looks flawless. This is the more advanced tool of the three but it often works the best.

                                

High Key and Low Key Lighting

High Key Lighting

We went into the studio and got to experiment with high key lighting to try and get the right exposure and see what sort of photos we could take with the right equipment. High key lighting involves using two lights, one light covered with a soft box which is shone onto the backdrop to make it bright and then another light without a cover is shone onto the object of the photo to make it even brighter. The light without a cover is connected to a light sync which is also connected to your camera to set off a flash when you press the shutter. High key lighting creates a bright airy feel to the photograph.

We also got the chance to experiment with Low key lighting, which is usually taken in darkness with a black background and just a light to create shadows on the subject. The light is placed at either one side or the front or back of the subject to create a shadow and a sort of mysterious look to the photograph.

Angles, View Point and Cropping

Degas

Degas was a French artist who focused mainly on Dancers and can be described as an Impressionist, which means painting the realities of the world as inspiration. The majority of his paintings are dancers performing showing movement, the same way you could with photography, all of his paintings are very life like. Degas originally wanted to paint history pictures but once photography was invented, it produced new ideas and ways for painters to try and create new paintings.
The painting on the right is based on the sculpture Degas made when his eye sight began to deteriorate, it's a 14 year old ballet dancer named Marie Van Goethem.

                                                                                    Painters would create an idealistic image of what they thought was 'perfect' which meant everything was centred and nothing was cropped. Photographers came in and showed that for a photograph to look good, it didn't have to be 'perfect' you could crop and leave spaces in the picture and it could still turn out just as good as a painting that was done without cropping or spaces.

Early Kodak Photographs 

 Kodak cameras were very popular                                                      because they were portable and cheap and perfect for amateur photographs, the people                                                         using Kodaks just used them for general photographs                                                           when they were on holiday or on     days out. The amateur photographs being taken with Kodaks proved that professional photographers could make more 'errors' and tilting the camera to one side, to make the photographs more abstract rather than picture perfect, as paintings used to be. Paintings and Photography both influenced each other in showing that their work didn't have to be perfect, it could have 'faults' but they didn't necessarily make the photographs or paintings unpleasant.

Angles, View Point and Cropping

In these two photographs I was using camera height by looking up and looking down on the subject of the photograph. When I took the photograph on the right, I also tilted the camera slightly to make the photo appear a little more abstract but as Poppy is in the centre you are still drawn to her and that was the aim of the photograph.

 In this photograph, I went to the top of the stairs on the bridge and looked down at Ellie, I think the photo is successful in the fact I have used camera height but I think if I was to take the same picture again I could ensure that there isn't any other objects in the photo so the main focus is on Ellie only. Personally, I don't dislike the photo but I think it would look much better if the table and other objects weren't in the way, also if the windows behind Ellie weren't in full view.

This is another shot using camera height and I really like this picture. I like how there's nothing else in the way of the photo other than the trees branches and leafs which means all your attention is solely on the tree itself.




                

The next thing I tried out was camera angles, basically just taking a picture but rather than taking a straight shot, you rotate the camera just to make it look a bit different and slightly abstract. On the right I took a portrait of Ellie, I quite like the photo and I think it looks much better as oppose to it being a straight shot as it gives it a slight edge and more intriguing. I like how the background is blurry and she's central to the picture as it makes you much more drawn to her.


This photo on the left is the sports building and although I don't think it's a great photo I do think it looks half decent, especially with the tilt on the camera, however if I was to take the photo again I would definitely not crop as much out just because I think it would look better with more of the building showing.

All of these 3 photos are using in-camera crop which I think worked well with the second and last photos but I don't really like the first one although I think by cropping the top of her head it draws attention to her face and the fact her hand is covering her face up. Plus the background is boring and apart from her hand drawing attention to her face, there's not much else going on.
                                                                                     




In the second photo I think it's a really good shot and there's a lot of focus on the camera which catches your eye, especially with the background all being blurred, I don't think the effect would be the same had her whole head have been photographed. It draws your eyes directly to the object of the photo and its bright and there's more going on.

In this photograph again, I have cropped the top of her head off which draws attention to her hat and brightly coloured hair, which also matches the colour of the leaves, the leaves are bright which also captures your attention and draws you in. I don't think the effect would have quite been the same without the cropping.