My Five Final Photographs

Here are my five final photographs on the theme of 'Fairytale':

 This photo was taken on a beach next to a castle. While it is fitting in the theme it is also an interesting photograph as there is a large contrast between the rough and sharp plants going up the hill and the peaceful blue sky. I also liked the light on the castle because it is very bright in some bits where the light is hitting it but there are also a lot of shadowed areas.

 This photograph of a swan was taken by a small pond. The thing I like best about this photo is the ripples shown on the water, they give the photograph another interesting aspect. I also like a how the swans beak creates a small pop of colour.

 This photograph of my friend fits in with the theme of 'Fairytale' because it is in the style of Snow White. The main focus of the picture is the hands holding the apple. I used depth of field to concentrate on the main focus. I also decided to only use the lower half of the models face to concentrate the eye on the main feature of the photo.

 For this picture I decided to take a lower angle so that the models face is covered by the book so that the main focus of the photograph is the book and the viewer isn't distracted. Whilst editing the picture I played around with the colours to bring out the tones in the book.

The main thing I like about this picture is the colours, the whites of the hand and the white of the bit that has been bitten out of the apple and the red of the berries in the bush and the bright red of the apple bring your eyes through the photo.

The theme I chose was 'Fairytale'. I chose this theme because I thought it would give me a lot of creative freedom to explore a different kind of thing and produce something interesting. I am pleased with the final result of these photos as they look at different aspects of what 'Fairytale' could be.

Light

Light is one of the main key factors to keep in consideration when doing photography. There are three types of light in photography: natural light, artificial light or a combination of the two. And there are three things to think about when working with light: the direction from which the light is coming from, the colour of the light and the strength of the light.

Photographer: Matjaz Carter

Light in a photograph is either hard or soft light, this is decided by whether it has heavy shadows or not.

The direction of the light can give the photo a certain effect, these are the different directions light could be coming from: high, low, in front or behind. You can manipulate which  direction the light will come from by using a flash or moving the subject or your own positioning.

The colour of light can also give a picture a certain mood or look. when we are looking out to different places at different temperatures our eyes are constantly adjusting to the light. Digital cameras do this by using white balance. White balance is a feature that changes the colour of the light. this isn't necessarily a good thing because it can change the look of a picture.

I think that light is a very interesting aspect of photography that can be manipulated in certain ways to create the photograph that you envisaged.

Sources:

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/natural-light-photography.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Light-in-Photography

Focus

When taking a picture photographers have to decide what they want the focus of the picture to be. This can be manipulated by using the focus, this is what you want to be clear in the photograph. If something is in focus then it is the clearest in the photograph and something that is out of focus is blurry.

Photographer: Cayusa

In some situations you might want everything in the picture to be in focus, like if you are taking a picture of a landscape and you want it to look the same way it does to the human eye. The aperture is the main way of controlling what is in and out of focus or if you are using the correct terminology depth of field. For this type of picture you will have to set a small aperture and begin by putting the ISO on the lowest setting to give the most amount of detail and the least amount of sound.

Sometimes you will want a shallow depth of field for a portrait. Using a wider aperture will make your picture more interesting to look at and will show the viewer the thing that you are wanting to focus on in that picture. this works best with a telephoto focal length lens because if you get too close to the subject you will reduce your depth of field.

After finding more out about focus I think it is a really important thing for photographers to learn about if they want to make impacting and more interesting photographs. 

Source:

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/10/01/best-camera-focus-techniques-10-surefire-ways-to-get-sharp-photos/

Exposure

Exposure is one of the most important aspects of understanding photography. Exposure is the process of letting a certain amount of light in the cameras lens. The key to getting the correct exposure is by balancing the three main elements, they are shutter speed, ISO and aperture.

If a photograph doesn't get enough light then it is underexposed and if the picture is too bright then it is overexposed. What is a good exposure? There is no 'correct' exposure, only the one that looks best. The goal is to get the medium between underexposed and over exposed.

What affects the exposure?

To get the right amount of exposure you have to balance the aperture and the shutter speed and ISO. when you do this you control how much light goes through the lens (aperture), the length of time the light passes through (shutter speed) and how sensitive to light the light sensor is. When you adjust all these factors you can achieve the exposure you desire.

I think that after researching exposure I have a clearer understanding of the fundamentals of photography.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_%28photography%29

Macro-Photography

Macro-photography is extremely close-up photography where the subject in the photograph is life size or larger than they are in real life. They are also normally high quality images. The subject of macro-photographs are usually very small things like insects or plants.

 The term photo-macrograph was proposed in 1899 by W. H. Walmsley for close-up images with less than 10 diameters magnification, to distinguish from true photo-micrographs.

Most DSLR cameras how have a macro mode allowing users to shoot macro-photography easily but for even better quality images photographers use special macro lenses. Macro lenses have a long barrel for close focusing and optimized for high reproduction ratios, are one of the most common tools for macro photography.

How to begin doing your own macro-photography:

Put macro mode on your camera and adjust the lens to focus on your subject. Unfortunately when you engage macro mode on most cameras you will lose control of exposure and shutter speed.

With any lens fixed to the camera, engaging macro mode on the camera commands the lens aperture to close to its minimum, so extending the depth of field and allowing you to move closer to the subject.

The best thing to do would be to by a proper macro lens but these aren't cheap so see if you are interested in Macro Photography first before you purchase such an expensive piece of equipment.

I really like macro-photographs because they show you the tiny details in things you wouldn't notice normally and after researching it I would like to try doing some macro–photography for myself.

Sources:

http://digital-photography-school.com/macro-photography-for-beginners-part-1/

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macro_photography

DSLR Camera

A digital single lens reflex or DSLR camera is a type of camera used by professional photographers and most people that are interested in photography. The significant difference between a DSLR and a standard compact camera is that you can remove the lens. This enables you to use all sorts of different lenses which allow photographers to create the picture they envisage.

So how do they work? The light comes in the lens and in the camera there is a mirror. When you take a picture that camera flips up and down, this mirror reflects the light up to the top of the camera into the pentaprism allowing you to see what you are shooting through the view finder whereas with normal cameras when you look through the view finder that isn't exactly what you are seeing through the lens because the view finder is slightly off center.

DSLR cameras have improved greatly over time and can now produce extremely good quality photographs and video. With a DSLR camera you can edit pictures straight after taking them and store lots of high quality photographs.

I have a DSLR camera and I think it is great. Its many features allow me to manipulate the pictures I want to create by, for example, focusing on a specific subject or adjusting the shutter speed and exposure.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera

Point and Shoot Cameras

Most people own point and shoot camera. These simple cameras have automatic settings which mean the users don’t have to worry about exposure or shutter speed. This means they are very popular with people who consider themselves amateurs which is why they are very useful for documenting things like holidays, birthday parties and school graduations with ease.

Here are some tips for using a point and shoot camera:

Don’t over use the flash. With most point and shoot cameras the camera will usually put on the flash automatically but it is normally not needed. You will usually find that you will over expose your shots when you don’t need the flash on because when you put the flash on the camera can only use a fairly slow shutter speed.

Invest in a small tripod. If you use a point and shoot camera you probably aren’t extremely interested in photography but you can buy a small inexpensive tripod that will improve your photographs. There are times that you might want to use a longer shutter speed and a tripod will avoid blurriness.

Use the zoom. When you are taking a picture don’t get really close to your subject or you could cast a shadow on your shot or go out of focus.

I think point and shoot cameras are good for people wanting to get into photography as they are reasonably inexpensive but they are declining in demand because people can now easily use the camera on their phones because they usually have around the same picture quality.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-and-shoot_camera

Camera Phones

Almost all mobile phones have cameras on them now days. The most popular type of mobile phone in the UK today in the Iphone 6 which has an 8 megapixel camera which is a good quality. Now everyone can take high quality photographs with the small devices that we carry around everywhere. Now days no one has the problem of forgetting to bring a camera with them.

The first mobile phone with a camera was the J-phone which was sold in Japapan in 2000. Since then camera phones have became more and more popular through the years and now every phone has one. Most camera phones have a fixed lens, the ability to focus, flash, filters and even things like panorama. Now with social media we can instantly share our photographs with the world straight after taking them. The camera phone has a had a large effect on the camera industry. Now people don’t feel the need to spend money on cameras. Why would they need to spend a lot of money on an item that they will have to carry around and take time moving pictures from their camera to their computer when they can just use the phone that they have anyway?

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has one of the best cameras, here are some of its qualities:

CPU: 1.5GHz Snapdragon MSM8960 dual-core
Camera: 41MP PureView
Display: 4.5-inch AMOLED PureMotion+, 768 x 1280 resolution
Capacity: 32/64GB internal, no microSD
Dimensions: 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm
Weight: 158g
Extras: Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11n, NFC

I like the fact that everyone has cameras with them now as people can capture any moments of their lives easily but I also think it is a shame that the camera industry has to suffer.

Sources: 

http://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/mobile_tracker/

https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-6/specs/

http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/best-camera-phone-6-handsets-tested-904250

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_phone

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/mobile/phone/lumia1020/

The Polaroid Camera

The Polaroid is a recognizable type of camera. What differentiates it from other cameras? Well, with a Polaroid you can print off a picture out of the camera as soon as you have taken it. The first Polaroid was created in 1947 by the American scientist Edwin H. Land. Before the Polaroid, when you took a photo you would have to wait until you filled up all the film on your camera then get it developed. This lengthy process was happily avoided as the Polaroid essentially has a tiny dark room inside of it and can print images out instantly.

But how do these cameras work? It’s all in the film. As soon as you press the button on your camera the shutter quickly opens and closes to catch the picture. It takes in the light and prints it onto a silver compound.  This is when the photo develops. On the film there are three silver compounds. These compounds are sensitive to blue green and red light. There are four chemicals waiting to react. The developer layer, the acid layer the timing layer and the image layer. The chemicals get set off by reagent. Reagent is a substances used in a chemicals to detect, measure, examine or produce other substances. After you take a picture and the image is captured on the silver compound the Polaroid film is sent out through two rollers. These rollers push the reagent onto the white plastic borders onto the silver compound.  The reagent then causes the four layers to react, this then causes the silver compound layers to process. Producing blue, green and red light pattern which turns into an image.

The Polaroid camera became less and less popular as digital cameras and mobile phones have become more popular. I think the Polaroid is a very interesting invention and I think it is interesting how they were invented in the 1940s and are still being produced today.

Sources:

http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Polaroid_Camera

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2400059/Return-Polaroid-Fujifilm-resurrects-iconic-camera-print-card-sized-photos-instantly.html

The Brownie Camera

The Brownie camera was introduced in 1900. The first model was a very simple cardboard box with a lens. It took 2 ¼ inch square pictures on 117 rollfilm. It was very easy to use and was first priced at £1.

The Brownie was well known for being cheap and accessible, their slogan was "You push the button, we do the rest." The camera was named after a famous children’s cartoon so the camera would appeal to kids but it turnd out to be popular with all ages.

With such immediate success Kodak went on to produce many new versions of the Brownie including the Six-20 Flash Brownie and the Brownie Starflash. They went on to give much better picture quality and included features like a flash.

Here are some pictures taken with Brownie cameras:

 

Photographer: Peter Clarke

I think that popularity of The Brownie Camera was very significant for the world of photography because they made taking your own pictures easy and cheap, meaning more people could try photography.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_(camera)

Celebrity Photography

Celebrity photography is a subsection of portrait photography and photojournalism. It is simply pictures of celebrities! There are three main sections of celebrity photography; celebrity portraiture, event photography and paparazzi photography.

Celebrity portraiture is when a photographer creates a set and photographs a celebrity. These photographs are usually used for press, as journalists can use these in their articles for magazines and blogs ect.

For big events such as award ceremonies and premieres you need photographers to document the event and take pictures of the celebrities to share with the world. This is what the red carpet is essentially for, for celebrities to walk out and be interviewed and photographed.

Paparazzi's tend to be looked down on as they are known for being intrusive or rude. If you are a paparazzi your job is to photograph celebrities whilst they are out and about to sell to publications. But most of the time these celebrities don't want to be photographed and won't wait for pictures to be taken. Also paparazzi's sometimes intrude on celebrities personal events such as weddings or they will sneak onto their property.


A celebrity photographer that I like is Martin Schoeller. Martin Schoellar is an acclaimed photographer who has photographed many people from Barack Obama to Angelina Jolie to Robert De Niro. He has become famous for his "hyper detailed close-ups" which are portraits with stong lighting and as you can imagine and very close-up. He also does a lot on conceptual photography. Here are some examples of his works:

Photographer: Martin Schoeller

Photographer: Martin Schoeller

Photographer: Martin Schoeller

Although I'm not particularly interested in celebrity photography as a whole, I really like Schoeller's work because he takes a very different approach to this genre. He focuses more on the art of photography than making the celebrity look good.

Sources:
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/jesse-eisenberg-celebrity-portraits-martin-schoeller
http://www.awwwards.com/creative-celebrity-portrait-by-martin-schoeller.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_photography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Schoeller

Portrait Photography

Nothing can show emotion and feeling through an image like a face. Portrait photography is a genre of photography where the picture is of a face but can include the rest of the body and the photographer can bring in other elements to the picture as well.  Portraits can be used to document people, remember faces and create art.

I think one of the most influential Portrait photographers is Steve McCurry. He is an American portrait photographer. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1950. McCurry grew up wanting to be a filmmaker but instead went on to study Theatre Arts and then got a job as a photographer for the Penn State Newspaper. After this, he became a freelance photographer and went out to India. He began his career when he crossed into Afghanistan immediately before the Soviet Invasion. His photographs from this time were shared around the world. He went on to work in other wars in places like Iran, the Philippians and Afghanistan. He takes a different approach to most war photographers. He focuses more on the after effects and more specifically the people war effects.

He said: “Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. I try to convey what it is like to be that person, a person caught in a broader landscape, that you could call the human condition.”

He is most well-known for his photograph called Afghan Girl:

It was first published in National Geographic. It was taken in a refugee camp near Pakistan and is become a very famous picture. The matching colour of the girl’s bright green eyes and the wall behind her and her striking stare make this photo extremely memorable. 

I think portrait photography is interesting because so much can be said through an expression. In the case of ‘Afghan Girl’ it can move people and tell them about things going on in the world but we can also look back from portrait taken years ago to see how the human race has changed.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_photography#Senior_Portraits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McCurry

http://www.boredpanda.com/top-10-photographers-for-travel-portraits/

Photojournalism

You can say a million words through a photograph, you can tell a story through an image and you can bring out feelings through a picture. This is what photojournalism is essentially for; to evoke emotions and inform you on an issue or event. Just like how an author for a newspaper or magazine will go out to gather information on an event such as a celebration, premiere or a war, a photographer will go out too. Photojournalists can have the power to remove themselves from whatever situation they are in to get a good picture. Some photographers go into some of the most harrowing war zones and have to get up close and personal with conflict to share with the masses.

There are many famous photographs that have opened the eyes of the public to issues around the world, this being one of them:

Photographer: Stuart Franklin Magnum

This photograph is of Tienanmen Square where a student stood in front of tanks in protest. It was taken in a time of oppression for China and gave this picture gave the Chinese people hope.

A famous Photojournalist is Robert Capa. He was born is Hungry in 1913 and is famous for documenting five wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese war, World War 2, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the First Indochina War. He revolutionized photojournalism as he took a different approach to others of his time. He got close to the danger without taking a removed approach showing what these experiences would have truly been like.

Photographer: Robert Capa

Here is a photograph taken by Capa of the 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division landing on Omaha Beach in 1944. This photograph shows how close he did get to the danger. He famously said "If your photographs aren't good enough,your not close enough."

Photojournalism can be quite a controversial subject for some people. For example a photographer could be in a war zone and have to go up to a grieving mother and take a  close up picture of her tear stained face while she is sobbing over the loss a family member, her home or a  friend. Most photographers can’t even ask for permission because of the language barrier. It is also argued whether or not it is ethical to take pictures of dead or injured people, some saying that it is important to show the seriousness of what is happening while others say that it is disrespectful to the people in the photos.

 Another controversial issue with photojournalism is how truthful these pictures are. A photographer can leave in or take out anything they want in a photograph. Now days with Photoshop it is now easier than ever to alter a picture to make it more effective. Not necessarily as truthful. 

I think that photojournalism is vital for truly telling people what is going on in the world and is also very useful for looking back in history to see accurate depictions of famous events.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Capa

http://www.robgrimesphotography.co.uk/people-who-inspire-me-robert-capa/

http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/2007/03/21/tiananmen-square-1989/

Street Photography

Street photography is a genre of photography that is exactly what you think it is, photographs taken in the street. These photos are usually in an urban setting and depict objects or people going about their daily lives but with an artistic edge. Good street photographers can pick out unique or interesting occurrences that they see and photograph them in time, as everything (especially in busy streets) moves quickly. 

An influential street photographer that I like is Eric Kim. He is a popular photographer with a large online presence, he has a blog with advice for other street photographers and his own portfolio, a youtube channel and other online profiles. He has helped many other aspiring photographers through his many tutorials and work shops. This is an example of one of his pictures:

I like this picture because Kim has captured an interesting looking woman by chance and without set up. I also like the light coming trough her hat, creating a lens flare. The triangle created between the three faces and the triangle between he woman's hands and face lead your eye around the picture and is aesthetically pleasing.

Problems with street photography are that everything is moving quickly so you have to be quick with deciding whether or not to take the picture, from what angle, the list goes on. Therefore you can't stop to choose the perfect aperture and shutter speed. Another problem can be privacy, you are allowed to take pictures pictures of people on the street but they might not always react well to being in your photos. You don't know how everyone will respond when you take a picture of them. When asked if he gets any bad reactions from people taking pictures of them he said:

'Believe it or not, the majority of the reactions I get from photographing strangers are quite positive. My rule of thumb is whenever I photograph somebody, I make eye contact with them after, smile, and say "thank you".'

I like street photography because it can capture a quick moment in time that can tell a story. You see many interesting characters in the photographs and can encourage you to see things in a different light.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/21532400

http://www.streethunters.net/blog/2014/03/26/10-most-influential-active-street-photographers/

http://www.adammarelliphoto.com/2012/06/introduction-to-street-photography/

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/

Fashion Photography

Fashion photography. We see it everywhere, from the giant billboards you see of the angsty high fashion models glaring down at you, to the smiling toddlers in clothing catalogs. Fashion photography is simply a genre of photography that advertises fashion products but seeing as advertisement is such an incredibly important aspect of the fashion industry so is the photography.

The main things to remember when doing fashion photography is selling the product. It has to be clear what the main focus of the photo is, using the most flattering angles and light is a good idea when taking pictures. You also want the people you are selling the fashion item to to want to be like the model in the picture, this is why the people you usually see in fashion campaigns are drop dead gorgeous, super skinny, unreal, high-breed of humans. The goal is to make you want to do anything to look like these people and the most obvious thing to do would be to buy the clothes they are wearing.

This photograph by Mark Delogn is a great example of fashion photography. The simple monochrome colour scheme and the  plain background keep your focus on the main subject of the picture, the clothing. The photographer was very clever with using black and white filter to show the intresting textures and gives the image and elegant and classic look.

Fashion photography is mainly used for advertisement but I think that it can still be beautiful and artistic at the same time.

Editing Photographs, Before and After

After taking a photograph it is usually a good idea to edit to improve it. With editing you can emphasise the colours, textures or subjects you like best in the picture. Here are some of my photographs that I have used iPhoto to manipulate to improve them.

This photo was taken in the Edinburgh train station. I thought the linear quality was interesting but I thought that editing it could make it more effective. I firstly straightened the picture slightly to look more aesthetically pleasing. To make the picture more dramatic, I decided to make it black and white and increasing the contrast. I think the edit was successful because it became more intense and complex.

This picture is of a painted wall in the Edinburgh City Art Center cafe. The original picture had quite dull colours so I decided to intensify the colour  and increasing the warmer colours. I thought the rough texture of the wall was really interesting and I wanted to emphasise this aspects of the picture. I increased the definition and contrast and I think the result is very effective. 

This photograph was taken outside Victoria Park in Bath. The tree on the left hand side had intense red  leaves that didn't show up strongly on camera so I increased the contrast to bring out the sharp colours against the dark shadows. I thought that there was too much of the shadowed side of the tree in the photograph so I cropped out some of the left side and some of the sky because it was grey and dull. I think the final photograph is much more effective than the original because you are more focused on the main subject of the picture and the colours are more intense.

Long Exposure Photography

Long exposure is a genre photography that uses a longer than usual exposure time to emphasize movement in a picture. It is often used to give the effect of flowing water looking smooth, streaks of car lights or trails of people. 

How to take a long exposure picture.

You need:

·        A camera.

·        A tripod, it is very important to keep your camera still as the slightest movement could spoil a picture.

·        A remote, this means that you can take the picture without moving your camera when you press the button to take a picture.

·        A filter, so you can have a long exposure and not let in too much light.

There are 3 things you need to take into account whilst taking a long exposure picture to let you know how much time you should be leaving the shutter open:

·        Exposure: You don’t want to much light coming in so you need to be aware of how much daylight there is, what aperture you’re using and what your ISO is.

·        What do you want your final image to look like : How much blur do you want in your shot. Depending on how long you leave the shutter open, the more your image will be blurred. You can blur things out a little, a lot or make them totally disappear.

·        How fast is your subject: you will have to adjust your shutter speed depending on if your are shooting a fast moving object like a car or something slower like a human.

I like this genre of photography because it can be difficult to show speed or movement in a still picture but through this clever use of exposure and shutter speed photographers can create this surreal and dramatic image that clearly convey what is happening in the picture. 

Here are some of my favorite long exposure photographs:

Photographer: Bill Wadman

Photographer: Cameron Jung

Photographer: Darren Moore

Sources:

http://digital-photography-school.com/8-tips-for-long-exposure-photography/

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2014/10/24/long-exposure-photography-how-to-set-up-your-camera/