My Exam Proposal

For my exam i will be going back to my original idea from work record one of a dark mysterious sky, with powerful clouds presenting the feeling that darkness is coming. I have been inspired by Kerry-Ann Hepburn, Masahisa Fukase and Ansel Adams.

Shoot 1:
In this shoot I will looking into sky photography with landscapes, using Masahisa as my influence. I will be going to fields to take my photos.

Shoot 2:
In this shoot I will be looking into taking pictures of just clouds. This will help me focus on Ansel Adams when editing.

Work Record 6- Experimenting

Plans For Shoot:

For this shoot i will be using mirrors to try and capture the reflection of the sky in different a magnification and angles.

Artist Research:

Sebastian Magnani 

Born 1985 in a small village in Canton Valais, Switzerland, surrounded by mountains, Sebastian Magnani discovered photography whilst training as a media designer in 2006. After 5 years as a creative in an advertising agency, he decided 2011 to turn his passion into a profession

Image Bank:

Contact Sheet:

Best Images:

Images that need improving:

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for my last shoot was to photograph different clouds in the Sky though relefections of a mirror. I wanted this shoot to focus more on the techniques that was used in my first shoot . I was inspired from my research of Sebastian Magnani. This photographer also inspired me edit my best images by adapting the contrast and more to show different tones in the patches in the clouds, like shown in his photos.

The images came out as I expected, however I wish I had taken them on a day which was more cloudy so I redid the shoot on another day. I wanted my photos to show an eerie atmosphere through the sharp clouds. I think my images have portrayed this in many ways. For example, not only do the originally photos have dark tones and colours in. The edits still give a contrast between the white and black parts.

Best selected images...

My best images were selected because they were the ones that show my initial process for this shoot. This is because they show the different colour clouds blending together. I like this look at it shows contrast and different tones within one photo.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I used my Nikon D3500 camera to take these photos. I tried to adjust the camera setting, like shutter speed, aperture and ISO to make the photos look their best. However, I can’t remember what every photo was taken in.

The settings of my best images are:

The first photo:

Shutter speed= 1/400
Aperture=f/10
Zoom=34mm

the second:

Shutter speed= 1/400
Aperture=f/10
Zoom=34mm

Third photo:

Shutter speed= 1/500
Aperture=f/11
Zoom=34mm

The fourth:

Shutter speed= 1/500
Aperture=f/11

Zoom=38mm

fifth:

Shutter speed= 1/500
Aperture=f/11

Zoom=38mm

sixth:

Shutter speed= 1/500
Aperture=f/11

Zoom=38mm

seventh:

Shutter speed= 1/320
Aperture=f/9
Zoom=55mm

eighth

Shutter speed= 1/640
Aperture=f/13

Zoom=35mm

ninth:

Shutter speed= 1/500
Aperture=f/11

Zoom=36mm

Editing:

  I changed the levels to darken the darkest parts and to add more depth to the shadows. After i changed the curves to add a more smoother contrast. Lastly, i added photo filters to make the sky more blue.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

         The artist research was helpful as I liked the fact that Sebastian had composed the photo to not be just of the mirror but to also have the background as grass etc. I also found that burning and dodging could help me when editing my photos as well, especially on my first shoot with the photos not turning out as well. 

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of the sky and my research of Sebastian Magnani's work. I wanted my photos to look bright and calm. I feel my best images have presented this well.

Final edits:

Work Record 5

Plans for shoot:

In this shoot i want to photograph moving clouds in the sunset. I wanted to highlight orange tones and the blur of the the movement. 

Research Influence:

Paul Reiffer is a multi-award winning British photographer. He has travelled around the world capturing images of people, landscape and commercial images for many years. Paul Reiffer has lived in 5 different countries, but he will always consider “home” as the South Coast of England where he was born and raised. Paul's ultra-high resolution, large format images are used by some of the best-known brands in the world and appreciated by collectors across every continent. His work has featured in exhibitions all over the world, from Times Square in New York to the Royal Albert Hall and Houses of Parliament in London, with gallery installations in Europe and Asia. Reiffer personally finds that in some situations, for example where there is a high contrast between a bright (sunset/sunrise) sky and dark landscape below, filters are invaluable and a neutral density is a must.

What inspired me about reiffers photos are the way he captures the time lapse of the clouds moving and the high saturated colours in the sunsets.

Image Bank:

Contact Sheet:

My Best Images:

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for this shoot was to photograph a highly saturated sunset with pink/orange tones. In this shoot I would like to capture the different colours of sunsets and the timeline of the colours moving and blended together. To make the camera focus I used trees or an object in the horizon. I was inspired by my research of Paul Reiffer. This photographer inspired me to edit my best images to have more colour and saturation. I also tried to show different patches of colour in the sky like Paul does. The images came out as expected, however my tripod was not tall enough to reach out of the window. 

Best selected images...

My best images were selected because they were the ones that show my initial process for this shoot. This is because they show the different colours blending together. I like this look at it shows contrast and different tones within one photo.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I used my Nikon D3500 camera to take these photos. I tried to adjust the camera setting, like shutter speed, aperture and ISO to make the photos look their best. However, I can’t remember what every photo was taken in.

The settings of my best images are:

The first photo:

Shutter speed= 1/200
Aperture=f/4.8
Zoom=145mm

the second:

Shutter speed= 1/400
Aperture=f/4.8
Zoom=145mm

Third photo:

Shutter speed= 1/250
Aperture=f/5.6
Zoom=145mm

The fourth:

Shutter speed= 1/125
Aperture=f/6.3

Zoom=70mm

fifth:

Shutter speed= 1/125
Aperture=f/4.5

Zoom=70mm

sixth:

Shutter speed= 1/80
Aperture=f/4.5

Zoom=100mm

seventh:

Shutter speed= 1/80
Aperture=f/5.0
Zoom=165mm

eighth

Shutter speed= 1/60
Aperture=f/5.6

Zoom=300mm

ninth:

Shutter speed= 1/30
Aperture=f/5.6

Zoom=300mm

tenth:

Shutter speed= 1/50
Aperture=f/4.5

Zoom=98mm

eleventh:

Shutter speed= 1/50
Aperture=f/4.5

Zoom=98mm

editing:

To get my photos more like Reiffer’s i used Photoshop to change the exposure, curves and even add a photo filter to add a certain colour tinge to each photo. I also burned and dodged a few images to make the images more gradient. As shown by the screenshots below. I also wanted to experiment more on my editing so i added two photos on top of each other, making one at a lower opacity to have the two clouds mixed together and look as if they were moving- just like my last shoot. The end result as this can be seen below.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

        The artist research was helpful as I liked the fact that Reiffer composes the photo so that the sky isn’t the main point of focus. There is another object in front of it that makes it interesting but the colourful sky drags the attention to itself. This connotes a powerful sky that can distract the audience. It also helped when I edited my photos as I used burning and dodging to create patches of different colours like Paul did but more subtle.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of the sky and my research of Paul Reiffer's work. I wanted my photos to look calm and light. I feel my best images have presented this well.

final edits:

Progression:

Moving on from this, i wanted to experiment more in the way i was taking my pictures rather than the editing. To do this i wanted to look into reflections of the sky.