visual commuications research blog 1

Don Mccullen was a British photojournalist who was originally from London. Who specialised in war time photography his career being in 1959 when he did his national service where he worked as a photography assistant. He failed to pass the theory paper he needed to pass in order to become a photographer in the RAF as he had dyslexia so he spent more of his service in the dark room. This was when he had brought his first camera which was a  Rolleicord. In 1959 a photo he took of a London  gang got published in The Observer. Between 1966 and 1984 he worked over seas as a correspondent he is most famous for his work he did of the Vietnam war.




Dom Mccullin said he felt photography had been hijacked because of digital photography.
 As he shot in film and uses a dark room. He said "digital photography can be a totally lying kind of experience, you can move anything you want … the whole thing can’t be trusted really.” however he does shoot with digital camera "because of the pressure of people wanting things now" but he does feel more comfortable and prefers working with film. "recalling one of his best experiences this year, standing on Hadrian’s Wall in a blizzard. “If I’d have used a digital camera I would have made that look attractive, but I wanted you to get the feeling that it was cold and lonely,” McCullin particularly dislikes how digital cameras allow for manipulation of colours. “These extraordinary pictures in colour, it looks as if someone has tried to redesign a chocolate box,” he said. “In the end, it doesn’t work, it’s hideous.”




These images were very shocking to the people of the world as they showed really life and it was very graphic what he took. He didn't not want to paint over any of it and really wanted to shock the world. His images are very dark and show great emotion and have a great sense of fear to them. I like the way he photographed both side of the war as this showed an unbiased eye to the war which I think is what the observer were looking for when recruiting photographers for this. I also feel this job needed great courage when taking photographs as it was a very scary situation to be in and Don Mccullin was really thrown into the deep end and almost needed to have the same courage the soilders.





I find his portraiture work very dramatic and very striking. They are very graphic and all of them are full of detail.The images show so much emotion within them especially in the eyes as they all have
a glimmer in them. You can see the fear in their eyes. All of his portraits are framed so they are central and fill the frame I think this makes a lot more impact on these images as it makes you focus on the person and not what is going in the background.

Research blog 3 Patrick Rochon

" To me light painting is an expression of ourselves, it about the trace we create and leave behind" I think this is a quote that relates deeply in his work as you can almost see to the souls in the way the he has got the models to look directly into the eye, the expressions are almost see threw, they show no emotion they almost look transparent. he went on to say when he started out light painting he discovered a way to play with magic, it's like taking a picture of something that doesn't exist like creating without seeing. I think this reflects in his work as they do appear very magical they almost have a fantasy feel to them.

He became light painting in Montreal in 1992 and five years later he came to understand he was a light painter and decided to dedicate his work to light painting and leave other kind of photography behind him. I like the fact he did this as he has the attitude that if you love something and are passionate about it you should stick to it. Even though i still think you should always push your self out of you comfort zone however he tried other kinds of photography and felt most comfortable doing this kind. I think his passion in art reflects greatly in his work as his work is very artistic You can tell he has thought about these images greatly.





He has also used the element of light to look at beauty to, by having very glamorous shots and creating this beautiful light trails around them i really like the way he's almost sculpt the light around the face in the 4 image and by covering the eyes and making them sunken or black out this adds a element of eeriness to it. i love how dark the image it yet it has this  bold red in it making it striking and stand out. All the images are quite atmospheric I also like that you get to interpret what you may think the light represents and it is an unclear narrative. These images are truly stunning I love the element of glamour with these really staged and posed shots.




The spirit of light



this series is based on the free fall of movements with a light tool in hand in complete darkness and using a long exposure. I really like these images I feel they are so unique as they are light forms. They almost look unreal and some of them with the way the light is formed look like smoke creating textures that are not usually associated with light this is done by the long exposure the colour in these images are amazing they are so bright I feel they may have been manipulated in Photoshop.

I started off by brainstorming some factors I thought made Patrick's work unique and inspiring what things make the work stand out to me I then went on to think what elements I could use to create images of my own.  I chose to go with portraits as I really like the ones he did and obviously light as it was the main key feature. I decided I wanted to get the light over the portrait using image manipulation as I thought this would create for striking effects to my images.

here are some of my images from my test shoot as I wanted to practice painting with light and I always experiment with bokeh which was shooting out of focus light and it creates little bubbles of light. I think is very flattering and makes your image very soft. I really enjoyed look at these to different practices at using light in photos I thought they both worked really well as they were both shot at night I need the right settings to achieve these images I used an aperture of 4.5 and I used a slow exposure for the painting with light as I needed to capture the action.



To create my final images i will manipulate my images in photoshop by adding to images together and then changing  the opacity of the top layer which will be the image of light I think this is a really good method to use as it is fairly simple yet looks effective. I will take my portraits with a flash gun as i would like soften the face as i will convert it into black white as i feel this will make my images more atmospheric.

These images were influence by Patrick Rocohon who dedicates all his photography to painting with light. His images are truly striking and stand out from.  His images look very professional and have create detail to them. He says that " light painting is an expression of ourselves" I believe this is true as it really depends on how you move the light and what you want to create with it. I wanted to create something like Patrick's work as i did find it very inspiring when doing my research and felt it was something i would like to have a go at.
After i had done my research i started to brainstorm elements i go look at with this kind of photography. I really like his portrait images and obviously light would also be one of the main factors in my images. I thought about how i was going to achieve these images even by long exposures or by image manipulation and i chose to go for manipulation. I thought about different kind of lights i could use and i chose to go with painting with light and then bokeh which is out of focus light that makes it look like little bubbles of light. I think bokeh can have a very calming effect and can make some stunning images. Painting with light is created by using long exposure why your camera is on a tripod and moving a torch around.This creates trails of light i had done this before and really enjoyed experimenting with both so i wanted to do it again and include it in my work.
I did some test shots of painting with light just so i could get my settings right i used a exposure time of 20 seconds as this was long enough to catch the light trails and create good solid lines. My aperture was f8 as this gave me detail i needed. I had no really trouble with my test shoot as i had done this before and knew what i needed. My iso was set 100. To take my portraits i used a flash gun as i wanted soft light all over the face.  I also shot at f5 1/40 of a second and iso 100 it took me a while to get my settings right as it was fairly dark when i took the images which is another reason why i used the flash. i manually focused my images as i thought this would make them really crisp and clear.
When it came to placing my images together i went into Photoshop and firstly converted by portraits into black and white as i thought they would look more atmospheric. I then opened the images i had chosen of the light and and then i went onto place and dragged the light into the portraits and then i changed the opacity of the image. This created almost like another faded layer to my images. I think these worked well and the method was fairly easy to do. I do think the bokeh image worked a lot better as i like the colour in the images with the black and white and i think this looks very soft and calming. The painting with light image i do however feel it is a bit harsh i do wish i had made the opacity and little lower on the light trail.
Overall i have mixed opinions about my images i do prefer the bokeh image more and do feel like they may of looked better with studio shots even though the flash did make my images a lot softer.
i feel like the light trails is really to hard on the face. I also feel i could of experimented more with colour like Patrick Rochon did. The images do work well together however i feel like i could of achieved better if i had done studio shots. Doing work inspired by Patrick Rochon has really taught me to experiment with light more as you can create some amazing forms with light. Next time i would defiantly look into using studio shots and brighter colours and maybe look at trying to do it in camera by using long exposure and drawing the light around the person. I feel by images could of been better for this assignment if i had thought more about different ways to make them stand out more and explore different techniques.

Final Studio practice blog 2 Martin Waugh

Martin Waugh 

Martin Waugh uses elements of art and science to create these images. He quotes that " in history water has calmed the soul, soothed the spirit  and healed the wounded" i feel he portrays this in his images as they are very calming colours with a lot of blue and pinks and as the movement of the water is very rhythmic.He creates this with the method of high speed photography that makes it possible to create these stunning images as it freezes a moment in time that we would necessarily see with the naked eye. I really like the way the images look as they look effortless even though a lot of effort would have gone into these. They are fun and playful images even though they have a calming and peaceful feel to them i also like the mixture of colours in them and its not just one blocked colours yet they are all very basic and pastel i also really like idea you never get the same image twice these are really unique image. I think these images were created using an off camera flash to illuminate the water.  he experiment with other materials such as oil and balloons however he felt he did not get the best effects and the one he wanted with these materials as he found the oil was to thick. He is that precises with his work that he can up to a degree can control the shape of bubbles he wants by changing the timing of the drops the drops are thickened by liquid soap as it creates more shapes and more depth and impact to the water.

These are really striking images as they are so unique and original and the timing in these images are amazing they are someone impossible to see with the naked eye.Some of his images almost look like flowers with the drops he has created which i like as that brings another narrative or theme to the images,He would use a very fast shutter speed to create these images and would of synced the flash in he uses basic photo shopping to edit his images as he does not want to take away the natural beauty of the images. I think he background in science has really gave him an advantage when creating these images as he is able to understand the forms in these images and the way the bubbles move and i also think that is why he is so precises when creating these images.One of his other inspirations was kayaking as he rode many of the white water rivers where he loved all the bubbles created when doing this sport.His work has been in exhibition's in many places and i really quite famous. I really like this idea and i really like the idea or creating this off nature forms and focusing on colour as an element if i was to do this i would do a more basic version as i would not have the photographic equipment he has. however i do feel i could create this at home with an off camera flash. 

i really like this image as i feel it has lots of character to it the colour are amazing and strong and bright there is an array of colours within the images the image looks so perfectly done and precise. the images look effortless yet so much thought would of gone into it. This image almost looks fantasy like with all the colours like pink and blue it is a very light pastel image. The water droplet almost looks like glass giving it a fragile feel to the image too. 

i really like how he has the light field technique for this image with the very light reflective object but the dark background with the vignette. I think again this image looks like glass which i find amazing as it looks so fragile and this image is very high key which i think adds great detail to the images. They are so crisp. I think the reflection also plays a big part in this image as it is bang on. I am not sure if this was done manually or manipulated in Photoshop. This image again is striking just like all of Martin Waugh work however this is not striking because of the use of colour, 

 the depth of field in these images is amazing as it is so shallow creating this huge blur which brings your eyes to focus on the center of the image again the image is so clear and crisp.  I especially like this image as it doesn't look real. Although it has been created naturally by having a map as the background the water drop as it is round creates the image in a sphere, i like the way he has created almost little mini planets using this technique i think this would be fairly difficult to achieve but would be interesting to do and the effects of it are amazing they are so unique. I would like to have a go at this in the future as i do feel it would be different to do and a challenge, 

I really like the red in this image as it has a brassy tone to the image to it and i also like there is only one colour tone to the image. I think using a macro lens was the main key in all these images as without this you wouldn't be able to capture the image so clearly and you wouldn't be able to to capture something impossible to capture with the naked eye.

I then went on to research how these images where created and what i would need.

what i will need: 

my camera

a macro lens 

a flash or flashes 

remote shutter 

tripod

a container 

card 

water 

something to pour the water from

Your camera should be set to f.8 and 1/200 which is a really high shutter speed so you capture the action 

 You should start by setting up you container and your water and your camera on the tripod with the correct settings you would then would set up your flash so it was on slave mode and set it up in the right position.Then you simply fire the remote shutter why you poor the water into the container.  

during my images i want to focus on colour and sharpness as i feel these are two main factors in Martins work they are the two key elements that make his images so striking and amazing and this is what i think makes them very inspiring they show ambition  and determination in his images as he gets the precise moment in the drop and creates the most amazing forms.

Test shoot.

 

here are some of my test for this style of photography I feel they worked well, this was mainly to  get my settings right and my focus right as I used manual focus on these I also needed to get the flash in the right position I used  a pen to focus my camera as I wanted crisp images some of them were still a little out of focus. I ended up using the settings iso 100 f.8 and 1/200 of a seconds as this was quick enough to capture the actions I always tried putting it on continuous shoot however the flash was not fast enough so we set the flash to slave and set my camera so that it set off when I pressed the shutter down. I feel my test shoot went well as I got my settings right fairly quickly and they worked well the set up we used was fairly easy to do I placed my camera on a tripod so I did not catch any camera shakes while shoots and then I placed the frying pan on the side with a piece of coloured card behind the frying pan and the flash on one side of the frying pan then I had some help pouring the water in why I pressed the shutter.

I looked at the work of Martin Waugh who is a german photographer who focuses on photography to do with water. I was amazed by how crisp and clear the images were and the colours where amazing in the images as they were so vibrant and the colours were really vivid his work was like anything I had seen before they were completely unique which is what i loved about his work.From my research I discovered that Martin was very precise and had done so many that he knew when to drop the water to create a certain shape. I thought the dedication to his images were truly inspiring. I then went on to research how he created these images, it said he had used soap to thicken the water so it made more of an impact when it hit the surface. He used a external flash in slave mode so that it could be fired when the water was dropped. I also looked up what equipment I needed to create these stunning images. I then realised he had used a lot of professional equipment so I needed to think of ways I could re create these images with thing I had access to. I watched a video on his technique and figure out I could do it using house hold equipment however I wouldn't get the exactly same look as Matins work.

I brainstormed the key elements of his work and decided that colour and water were the main factors that made his images amazing and that I need to be able to capture the right moment so it looks like I have frozen time and something impossible to see with the naked eye. I  decided I would use strong colours such a blue green and pink and also grey as I thought this would add a different tone to the image.

I did a test shoot for my images to get all my settings right and to see how possible this was to achieve I started by setting my camera up on a tripod and then got a frying pan an filled it half with water and placed it on the kitchen side, I then placed a piece of coloured card behind the frying pan and then set the flash up on the side, this would bounce off the card when the shutter was pressed so the colour reflected in the water. I set my flash into slave mode so it would be set off when the shutter was pressed down. I shot at f8 as this gave me the detail I wanted but still gave me the blurred background I wanted. I need a really fast shutter speed to capture the action so I shot at 1/200 of a second and my iso was 100. I had to manually focus my camera on a pen first before i shot as i felt auto focus would not pick up well. i used a macro lens other wise i wouldn't of been able to capture these images so clearly as macro zooms in so you can see things impossible to see with the human eye. I then set my remote up for my shutter and then pressed the shutter and began to pour the water into the pan i tried to go onto continuous shoot however the flash couldn't keep up with the shutter This was one disadvantage to the shoot.

When it came to my final shoot i looked at using more vibrant coloured card i could do my settings the same and have the same set up as this worked last time.I again had the same problem when i tried to shoot on continuous so i had to put in on single shot other than that i had no real other problems with my shoot. I had a few images that i like it was hard though as most of them didn't work even though i took loads only a few were successful this shows you have to patience when doing this kind of photography. I picked the ones i felt were the most successful from the shoot that really captured freezing moments in time. I then went on to edit them only by adjusting the curves in photoshop as i felt the colours could be a little bit more vibrant. I feel my work is not as crisp and clear as Martins work and i would like to work on that if i was going to this again, i feel like with this kind of photography the more you do it the better you get it at it. It was challenging to do but i enjoyed being pushed out of my comfort zone it was interesting to learn a new skill and thing i could apply to my work in the future. I am really pleased with the outcome of my images as i feel like i got the theme of colour and i feel like i would improve with practice.