Print Technique 3

Repetition:

Firstly, I clicked the button 'file' at the top of the page, I then clicked 'new', this brought up a menu which looked like this: 

A width of 1400 pixels and a hight of 955 pixels is what I used to create my canvas, this gave me a rectangular shaped white square on my screen. After this I opened up the image I wanted to use to complete my repeated image. I then held down cmd A, and then pressed cmd C on the image in order to select and copy the whole image; next I clicked onto my blank canvas image and then pressed cmd V in order to paste my image. In order to resize my image I then clicked cmd T, and held down the shift key in order to resize my image in proportion, I then placed my image in the top right hand corner of the box:

To then replicate this I clicked cmd V to paste the image again, whilst going through the same process of the previous image by clicking cmd T to resize this and dragging this into place; however to make the images reflections of each other this time I must drag the dot on the left hand side of the image over and across the photo, so it flips the image, so the creation now looks like this:

Next I clicked cmd V again to paste a new image, however this time I needed to flip the image upside down, therefore I dragged the dot that's at the top of the image down, so it flips the photo upside-down, giving me the following result: 

For the remaining square I again held down cmd V and dragged my image into place, whilst flipping the image upside down and turing it so that it is mirrored. The following image shows the final result:

why i like image.....

Below is the original image prior to it being repeated:

I also tried this print technique with an image from my shoots (shoot one), this is the image before the manipulation:

Below is my final image once I had repeated it:

I like the overall appearance of this image, as the repeated pattern makes this photograph more edgy, corresponding with the sharp connotations associated with the image, due to the object (cactus) obtaining spikes. The pattern which is created symbolises confusion, as the image is not clear, subsequently this change in physical appearance may symbolise the view humans obtain of nature (confusion.)

Shoot Thirteen - Work Diary

In this shoot I wanted to further explore macro photography through looking at organic objects, however in this shoot I wanted to progress my work by looking at rotting fruit, I used the same fruit I used in my shoot number 12, to investigate how fruit would look once it had turned mouldy. I believe that by looking at the fruits once they had started to decay would adds the connotation of death to the images, and it would allow me to explore the organic objects in various forms (alive and decaying.) Nadege Meriau was an inspiration fro this shoot, as her images are often dark, and hellish which create the connotation of death likewise to what I wanted to create within my images for this shoot.

The objects I used in order to conduct my shoot are as follows: a pomegranate to photograph, a reflector dish to project light onto the front of the object, a camera to photograph the images, a tripod to keep my camera still, a table to place the object on, a light reflector to reflect light back onto the object, a black back drop to enhance the low key lighting, a reflector dish to attach to my studio light, a light meter to record the lighting settings I would need on my camera and lastly a knife to cut open the object itself. 

My best image of this shoot:

This photograph is my most effective of the shoot as it's extremely ambiguous, and dark representing death and decay. The darkness of the image amplifies the connotation of death, as the viewer cannot see the whole of the image; despite this what the viewer can see is thick green mould which is surrounding and suffocating the object (pomegranate.) The connotation of death shows how even organic objects have life, and live likewise to us, therefore this creates an uneasy feel in the viewer when the pomegranate appears to be decaying, like a corpse would when an individual has passed away. Moreover, the arch-like shape of the object symbolises an arch to hell, as this corresponds to the connotation of death. I shot this photograph on the camera settings of ISO 200, F 32, and a shutter speed of 1/250. My high aperture allowed me to have all of the object in focus, giving me a wide depth of field, in comparison to a lower aperture which would have resulted in a narrow depth of field.

My worst image of this shoot:

This photograph is my worst image of this shoot, as it's extremely dark, resulting in there not being as much detail as I would have liked within the image. Moreover, due to the darkness of the image it's completely impossible to deduce any connotations from this, as the viewer can barely see anything to deduce this from. If I was to reshoot this photograph I would have moved my studio lights to focus more onto the inside of the image in order to brighten up this image, and obtain more detail from within the image. Furthermore, I would have shot this photograph at a different angle, from above looking down into the inside of the pomegranate, so that none of the skin from the outside would be in focus. 

Studio Equipment:

Snoot- a tube object which fits over a light in order to allow the photographer to control the direction of the light more precisely.

Reflector dish- a reflective surface which fits over a studio light, and is used to project light onto the object.

Tripod-  a stand which holds a camera on top, in order to keep the camera still to prevent any blur that may be caused. 

Shoot Thirteen - Straight Images

All of my straight images below explore the idea of 'death', through the use of mouldy fruit (a pomegranate.) Overall all of my images below use low key lighting, in order to mirror the death theme further through the use of the black, which links to funerals in the viewers mind, again linking to the idea of loosing someone/something. In order to achieve the mould I left the fruit cut open for a week in a dark/warm cupboard in order to allow the mould to sprout; the mould is evident in all of the images below profusely as the green-blue mould contrasts the red-orange of the pomegranate effectively. I wanted to shoot with the negative space surrounding the object in order to create the idea that the black aroun dth object is the individual's attending the funeral of the object in colour and focus (pomegranate.) 

ISO - 200

F - 32

Shutter Speed- 1/250

ISO - 200

F - 10

Shutter Speed- 1/125

ISO - 200

F - 25

Shutter Speed- 1/250

ISO - 200

F - 25

Shutter Speed- 1/250

ISO - 200

F - 25

Shutter Speed- 1/250

ISO - 200

F - 25

Shutter Speed- 1/250

Shoot Thirteen - Contact Sheet

Print Technique 2

Selective Colour:

Firstly, I opened up the image I wanted to edit in photoshop, then I clicked on the circular button in the bottom right hand corner of the page, the button looks like this: 

After opening up the list of options you must click on 'selective colour' then a table pops up on the page, which looks like this: 

The section where it states 'colours' is where I selected which colour I wanted to adjust, once I selected the colour I then dragged the cursers that are below (cyan, magenta, yellow black) to change the colouring in the image. 

Before:

After:

It's evident in the before and after images that once the image was edited it is brighter, I used the selective colour tool to saturate the colours within the image more; I wanted to edit the colours subtly and not make this photograph appear too 'fake' and artificial. I changed the green, yellow and red colouring in the image as these colours are the most prominent in the image. By making the colours brighter this changes the overall meaning of the photograph, giving the image a happier feel through the use of saturated colours. 

Computer Experiment 1

Smudge tool: 

Above is the image prior to editing, whereas the image below is after the photograph was edited. I didn't want to make a significant difference within my image as I didn't want the photograph to drastically change, however I believe that by using the smudge tool to slowly change strings hanging from the ceiling of the squash it enhances the ambiguous and confused effect that I wanted the image to portray to the viewer. The slight smudge enhances the confusion as when objects are usually blurred or out of focus, this removes part of the identity within the image; therefore, within my image I believe this is removing the identity of the squash. 

Computer Experiment 5

Selection Tool:

The above photographs are my two original images which I used to create the overall image below. I created this final image by using the selection tool to select certain parts of the first image above (the white flower), and then using the curser to drag these flowers over onto my base image (the second image above), I completed this several times, whilst strategically placing my flowers onto the image and resizing them using cmd T. I believe the overall final image )as shown below) works well as the new edited flowers appear real, not artificial. When placing the new flowers onto the image I was extremely careful to ensure the shadowing on the flowers match those which are already in the image, this allows the image to flow as a whole more effectively; if I needed to edit any of the flowers I would select their layer, and use the 'curves' tool to do this. The overall image has more detail than its original image and is also more aesthetically appealing due to the mix of colours.