Layers task

For this task I dragged opened the brick wall photograph in Photoshop CS5.  I then opened the photograph with the 3 children on and the flower photograph.  I dragged the brick wall photograph onto the flower image, then dragged the children image onto the wall.  I then used the Opacity button and set this to 42% which merge the images together.   Each of the 3 photographs is a separate layer so if I wanted to move them around I had to click on the relevant layer shown on the right hand side listed under Layers and then onto the photograph where the layers were and could move it around. 

Layers Task

To obtain this image of layering photographs onto one another I opened the brick wall photograph in Photoshop CS4.  I then opened the photograph with the flowers on.  I dragged the brick wall image onto the flower image.   The brick wall was slightly smaller than the flower image so I ticked Show Transform Controls and then dragged it to the same size of the image underneath.   I then used the Opacity button to blend the two together until I had the desired blended effect which looks to me as if the flowers have been painted onto the wall.  

Research 7 - Sally Mann

The first book I picked up of Sally Mann is titled Immediate Family and left me felling uneasy.   All images are black and white and as the title implies are photographs of Sally's immediate family, primarily her children.  I was uneasy as many of the images were of the children without clothing, with nothing hidden.  My reaction was to take the book back to the library !  However, I was back at the library a few weeks later and read the Source magazine in which there was an article about Sally Mann.  I read the article and felt I should view the book again.   There are some stunning images in there - i have selected a couple of my favourites and put them in my scrapbook.   They are titled: Easter Dress dated 1986; it is a country location in a back garden showing a washing line with one dress hanging on it, 3 children and 1 adult, presumably granddad.  The lighting is stunning, it catches the hair of the two girls and encompasses almost half the picture diagonally.  One girl is proudly holding her dress out to the side for the camera whilst the other two children seem oblivious to the camera.  The depth of field is fairly wide focusing on the little girl in the foreground; the fence keeping the children in the garden is in focus and then beyond the landscape starts to blur.   The picture is simple, has fantastic colour and varying shades of black and whites and greys.     Other pictures in this book include The New Mothers again taken outdoors with props including pushchair, dolls, sunglasses and a fake cigarette.   The picture was taken in sunlight, with shadows on the grass and the girls.   The image which I am specifically uncomfortable with is called Rodney Plogger and is a picture of one of Sally's daughters standing between the legs of a male whose hands are placed over the little girls. What was the purpose of this picture?   To show the proportion of hand size between the child and adult?  There are other images I am still not comfortable with but I felt it important to discuss not just the images I like but those I don't.   The pictures were taken in the 1980s which was a time I myself was growing up and images were taken of children in the bath, in the sink but times have changed so much now that these images would be considered wrong or inappropriate.  Or is that just my opinion?   Sally has done a few books, others include WHAT REMAINS which contains photographs taken at the Federal Forensic Anthropology Facility known as a body farm.   Pictures include a covered up corpse in a wooded area which looks amazingly peaceful.  Others are of bodies decomposing.  The texture of the skin is so life like (orange peel and dried out).   Again the pictures are all black and white or sepia which gives an impression of times gone by.  Some pictures are so dark you have to strain to make out the image.    Sally Mann was born in 1951 in Virginnia.  She has to date refrained from using digital cameras, instead preferring to stay with traditional photography.    A woman after my own heart; I feel this digital society and subsequent manipulation of photographs is cheating !!   Maybe it will grow on me.  I have put in my folder some copies of her photographs that I have referred to in this blog.

Manipulation Task 2 - 2 images

This task involved having 2 separate images and creating a new image from them.    To do this, I opened both images in Photoshop CS5.  One image is of a monkey at Twycross Zoo.  The image was too dark so I lightened the image initially by clicking on Image, Adjustment, Brightness and altering the brightness.  The second image is of a white brick wall which i wanted to put the monkey against.   Using the magnetic lasso tool, I "drew" around the image of the monkey using the mouse and then copied and pasted it into the second image.   I clicked on the transform control button.  I then added some text, very simple text, in yellow and written backwards.    I have not spent hours on this image as I am getting used to the settings however I can see and will show in future manipulation just how fantastic it can be.

Manipulation Task 1 Filters

This second picture which I split into 6 sections and applied filters to is also one of my 6 photographs for my People theme.   

I opened the Photograph into Photoshop CS5.  I recorded what I did with each of the six sections as follows: the first section I selected Filters, Stylize, Glowing Edge.  There were then 3 options: Width which is set to 6; Brightness which I set to 13; Smoothness 4.   This has given the image of the elephant being hollow rather than a soft and solid.  Section 2 I selected Filters, Sketch, Chrome.  I changed the Detail to 6 and Smooth to 0.  Section 3 I selected Filter, Stylize, Trace Contour.  Section 4 I selected Filter, Texture, Mosaic Tiles - tile size I set to 5; Grout Width 4 and Lighten Grout 8.   Section 5 I used the Smudge Stick filter and Section 6 I used Chalk and Charcoal.   If at any point I wanted to undo something I could use the history and remove what I didn't want.  

Manipulation Task 1 Filters

I have never used manipulation software of any kind so this is new to me using Photoshop.    The task was to take an image and crop it into 6 sections and in each square section use a different filter to get familiar with them.  I dropped an image onto Photoshop CS5 to open it.   Then using the marquee tool I selected my first section.   Then I clicked on filter and there was a very long list of filters.   I selected the Artistic filter and film grain for the first section.  I repeated the selection process and used the following filters: neon glow for the second section; stained glass for the fourth section; diffuse glow for the fifth section and half tone for the sixth section.  I did also change some of the settings within each filter but didn't record it on this picture.    I have shown above the before and after photographs. 

Research 6 - Dorothea Lange

Dorothea Langue was born in 1895 in New Jersey and died in 1965.  Known for her work as as social documentarian during the Great Depression of 1930s her most famous photograph is titled "Migrant Mother" taken in Nipomo, California in 1936.  It was first published on 11th March 1036 in Sanfrancisco News.  It is a documentary style photograph. 

http://masters-of-photography.com/L/lange/lange_jr_butler_full.html

http://dorothealange.posterous.com/blog-post-title-4536

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=136692

http://collections.mocp.org/detail.php?type=related&kv=7343&t=people

Another photograph I looked was titled "Death in the Doorway".  The tone of the picture is light and the body is rolled up in a striped blanket.  She titles her pictures in a kind of what you see if what you get.   The photograph again has been closely cropped - it is actually of a church and this is the doorway (copy of full picture below).  If the picture had not have been cropped the body is barely noticeable.    Although the image is titled Death in the Doorway, I did read somewhere else that no-one was sure if the body was dead.  
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5123355

Death in the Doorway

One final photograph that I looked at is titled "Father and Child" taken at a hurling match in Ireland in 1954.  There is a copy of this photograph in my folder.  The photograph reveals only the back of the father in his full length coat with pattern clearly visible.  The father has his hands behind his back and the child simply has one of his/her hands in the father's.   The photograph is very touching and the proportions of the hands the large and the small are riveting.    The photograph was published in LIFE magazine and it was one of her assignments for them titled "Irish Country People".

Photograph of Dorothea Lange

Her work has been exhibited all over the USA and Europe.  



Migrant Mother



Another of her photographs J.R. Butler taken in June 1938 fills the frame and gives the impression that Mr Butler had tanned, weathered skin.  I discovered that the photograph had been closely cropped - looking at the cropped photograph above I imagined the man to be in scruffy dirty clothes when infact he is dressed in a shirt and tie.  Her photographs were black and white so no digital manipulation would have taken place however there may would no doubt have been work in the darkroom carried out to achieve the required print?  Mr Butler was the PResident of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union.  It was printed  as a gelatin silver print in 1938 and later exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

Research 5 - Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry

I was aware of a photograph of a young girl with piercing eyes who I now know is Sharbat Gula from Afganistan.   I was not aware that this photograph had been taken by Steve McCurry.   This photo led me to look more into his work.   His work is strikingly colourful infact his own website says when you hear his name you think colour and I agree; he does predominantly portrait but he has done other subjects such as elephants, trains.  I feel his style is to capture people in their natural environment, seemingly unposed.  He has published many books of his work, has exhibited all over the world, he holds workshops which members of the public can attend (if you have a spare few thousand pounds..).  He has also worked for National Geographic for over 20 years and is known as photojournalist.  The photograph of Sharbat Gula was first published in National Geographic magazine.  He is a member of the Magnum group of photographers

His work with National Geographic has taken him to many countries, many of them third world and war zones including India, Afganistan, Japan, Burma, Pakistan and Phillipines and given the countries he travels to his subjects can have a sadness about them as the quality of life in these countries is hard (thinking here of war and violence, political regimes that are brutual, lack of food and water and human rights).   His subjects' clothing can be cultural, and what you see is what you get. 

Research 4 - Nadav Kander

I went to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in 2009 to see a portrait exhibition called Obahma's People. There were 52 life sized images of President Obahma's team which had been taken by Nadav Kander.  I had never heard of him until this exhibition.   I felt when I looked at each image I could see the personality (or lack of) of that person.   Whether or not I had it right is another matter. 

Nadav Kander - copied from http://www.prixpictet.com/users_judges/growth/nadav_kander/

He was born in Tel Aviv in 1961 and was 13 when he started taking his own pictures on his Pentax camera.  He went into the Air Force and it was here that he worked in the darkroom producing aerial photographs and at this point he says he knew he wanted to be a photgrapher. 

When he photographed Obama's team he asked them to bring one item with them that would "tell us a bit more about them".   The shoot was done on the set above in Washington and Chicago.  Kander talks about having a connection with the person being photographed.  He photographed up to 13 people per day, some shots taking as little time as 10 minutes; there is 52 in the collection .   The photographs were published in a special inauguaration issue of the New York Times Magazine a week before inaguaration 18th January 2009.   They have since been exhibited in the Birmingham, London and Germany.   Three of the photographs are shown below: Hilary Clinton, Eugene Kang and Reggie Love. 

http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/event/nadav-kander-in-conversation. 

The full set of images can be viewed at http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/magazine/2009-inauguration-gallery/index.html.   On this site there is also a recorded session with the photographer from which some of the information above is taken.

Project - Photo 6- Trish

I asked my friend Trish if I could photograph her as her has she has a style all of her own and is very comfortable in her own skin.  She is 60+ years old, wears Doc Martin boots (pink or black), bomber jacket and chunky necklaces and most importantly of all she enjoys her life.   I went to see her at her home on     October.   I took my Canon 450d camera with 18-200mm lens, and external flash.  I also took several "props" which were a large antique photo frame (just the frame no glass), a small black heart with the word love on it and a single vintage curtain.   The weather was intermitently bright and sunny.   I arrived at around 12 noon and immediately went around the living room and dining room of her house looking to see where the best light was.   The sunlight was beaming through both windows in each room.   Trish asked me if I wanted her to change clothes and I said no.   It became clear later though that she was more at ease when she was "dressed up".   Her house is crammed full of furniture, pictures and ornaments and has a cluttered, cottage feel about it with tiled floors and pine doors.   For my first set of photographs I positioned Trish directly opposite a window and to the side and slightly in front of a piano, sitting her on a chair.  I moved some sheets of music on the piano so they would be included in the photographs.  I stood up to take these pictures.  I had to remind myself to keep talking to Trish throughout the shoot as it's important to build a rapport and put the model at ease.  The first few pictures show she is not at ease as she is slumped in the chair.    I moved her to stand in front of the window and asked her to hold the picture frame so that her head was framed within in.   She had her nails painted pink and I wanted these on show.   Behind her was another piano although it's not clear and on the piano were vases, photos framed both of which I included within my frame of Trish.   After using the frame, I gave Trish the black heart and asked her to hold it near to her own heart.  These pictures didn't work as they looked very posed.  We had a break for lunch and when we resumed Trish changed into a grey dress, fishnet tights and put on her Doc Martin boots and silver chunky necklace.   I positioned her again in front of the window, this time sitting down at the side of the piano against a pine door.  I put the curtain I had brought with me and put it over the door.   Trish turned slighty to the side facing to the piano.   She placed her hands on the piano and moved her head around to try different positions.  I also sat down opposite Trish on a chair to take these pictures.   The final set of pictures I took whilst sitting next to her on a settee in front of the window and in the doorway of the same room.  I took very close up shots of her head and necklace.  I have chosen this picture as one of my 6 as it captures Trish's disposition.  It is colourful, cheerful, and fills the frame - Trish's head fills 2/3 of the photograph, with the other 1/3 filled with the elephants which are out of focus;  the colour of the elephants give added interest; the doors in the background are out of focus, her eyes have some light in them and the lines on her face give an idea that she is a lady of a certain age.    The settings on the camera for this shot are: shutter speed xxxx; aperture    ; ISO   xxxx; focal length    .  

National Portrait Gallery - Research

I have discovered the National Portrait Gallery on line having never heard of it before.  I have used this site to research photographers.   There are hundreds and hundreds all listed in alphabetical order - so many to look at.

I also discovered when on this site the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 which as the title implies is a compeition to find the "best in contemporary portrait photography".   The finalists for this competition are stunning.  There are 3 which show real emotion and tell a story.  The first (shown above) is of a young girl attending a clinic to deal with obesity; the second (shown below) is of two sisters both skinny, living on the streets and in addiction.  The one sister is such a strong image with her upper torso completely hunched over.  There were 2,400 photographers submitting a total of 6,000 images.    Both images have been copied from www.npg.org.uk

Update - 3rd November

I've had a break for a few days from the camera and the computer and need a push to get me going again so I've just got some books out of the library on Sally Mann and Dorothea Lange.   I am still confused about my theme within People or am I just doubting myself???

An evening at Burton Photographic Society

I joined the BPS this year and on 14th October two members Terry Middleton and Ralph Ducket gave us a talk and picture show aimed at newer members of the club.   Terry started the session by going through a brief history of the camera, where it started to where we are today which was interesting as I knew little about the history.   These are my notes from the evening. 


Around 1888 George Eastman developed a camera into which he loaded a light sensitive paper known as film (copy of camera below taken from http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventors/ss/George_Eastman.htm).   This man later created the company known today as Kodak.  The camera was an automatic and did everything for you, you just had to point and shoot.   He also created the "Box Brownie".  

 In the 1970s colour photographs emerged followed by the invention of the SLR camera..  This invention meant that it was a good idea to know how the camera worked as it was up to the user to 'tell' the camera what to do as opposed to just pressing a button.  Terry went on then to talk about the 5 basic settings on an SLR; he also said there are many functions on SLRs that you may not need or ever use. He said he had gone through his manual and highlighted everything he would use.


William Henry Fox Talbot created a camera using camera obscura but had a lens cap and light sensitive paper at the back of his camera (which was a box).   He would take the camera out to his chosen location, remove the lens cap and expose the paper to light, put the lens cap back on, and return to his studio.  He would remove the paper and develop it.    He noticed that the pictures were unsharp and distorted due to the edge of the lens.  He therefore put a metal plate over the lens to cover the edges.   He called this a stop - it removed the blurring on the pictures.  By doing this, he discovered other advantages; the amount of light that the paper was exposed to was less.  He then made further metal plates each with the hole half the size as the previous one.  The smaller the stops were getting the less light was exposed onto the paper.   The invention of the Iris diaphragm set aperture without physical metal stops.  The shutter was later invented to cope with time. Since listening to Terry, I have gained more information on the history of photography and know that the following people played key parts in getting to where we are today (this list is not exhaustive):


Aristosle (4th Century BC),  Leondardo da Vince (AD1490), Robert Boyle (17th Century), Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1827), Louie Dagueere (1829), Frederick Scott Archer (1851), Ernst Leitz (1925), Thomas Sutton.


I have not set out what each of them did as this is not required, however I felt it important to include it as what I learnt in the club was only part of the history.