Contemprorary Photography
Traditional Photography
Traditional VS Contemporary
Traditional and Contemporary landscape photography have many differences between each other for example the way they look with the contemporary more colourful, less grain meaning they are more clear and fine due to the ISO and modern whereas traditional is more old fashioned, less colour and a lot more grain in images how they were shot would be different the traditional would be shot with film and the contemporary digital. The contemporary landscapes are a lot more abstract with playing around with the foreground and background as well as use of depth of field and moving the focus point. The traditional landscapes are a lot similar to one another with what they photograph as its mostly nature as there weren't many city scapes at that time.
Command Words
Identify - An exhibition at the tate of claude monets work.
Describe - There are 3 paintings hanging on the wall with 2 people standing in the gaps of the paintings. the paintings are hung on a dark blue wall and in gold frames with a wooden flooring. both the people are dressed in black clothes with all three paintings having a spotlight shined on them.
Explain - The photographer has done this to highlight and show off the paintings hanging on the wall and taken advantage of the spotlights shining on the paintings as it shows their importance and what a big deal it is to have them there.
Compare - The two photographs are similar as they both have uses of symmetry in them with the 3 windows and 3 people but are both different and photos of different things such as the bottom photo used a different angle and perspective by shooting from the ground looking upwards whereas the top photo is shooting straight on and in doing this they have used similar lighting to highlight different things. however they are different as they top image is more simplistic with the colouring and contrast, the bottom image has used more bold colours and more saturated.
Analyse - The photographer has captured the 2 people looking towards the paintings of the houses of parliament. Monets paintings came to be at the Tate Britain from travelling from the US, France and Germany to London for the first major exhibition and London was also the place where the painter sought refuge and therefore linked to his time here. so the people looking at the paintings is only natural for them to be looking at them as its a big deal for them to be here and how important it is as they havent been seen in the uk for over 40 years.
Evaluate - I think i like the Photographs as both these photos are unique to each of their contexts and show off what they want to portray in a good way and promote both of their events. the top photo is about importance and classic whilst the bottom is more about the celebration of vikings and even though they are completely opposite to one another they share qualities.
Command Words
command words example
Types of Portraiture Photography
Candid - where the person/people may be unaware a photograph is being taken. its very natural and spontaneous.
Posed - where the person/people are fully aware that there photo is being taken and so select a certain body posture or costume.
formal - a posed portrait for business or other formal occasion.
surreal - are created to emphasise the other reality, creative and imaginative. achieved with affects and editing.
conceptual - refers to photos were concept adds a fourth dimension and the hidden meaning of the concept leaves the viewer guessing and open for interpretation. it can be used in advertising photography.
environmental - focuses on the relation of the subject with there current environment.
lifestyle - has an emphasis of the individuals style of living and is common in wedding and family portraiture.
traditional - where the face is the predominant element, purpose is to get visual representation of that person. can be done with headshot, two thirds or full body frame.
fashion and beauty - devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items like hair, makeup, beauty. used in fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle.
abstract - photos are created with a purpose of creating art and not based on realistic
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Candid
Formal
Fashion
Posed
Lifestyle
Portrait Mindmap and Mood board
Abstract
Conceptual
Surreal
Traditional
Environmental
fashion moodboard
pet moodboard
sport moodboard
The three Moodboard ideas i have chose off of my Mindmap are fashion including hairstyles and style the next is pets and lastly sports and hobbies. i chose the fashion idea because i have an interest in clothes and different hairstyles that aren't always the original ponytail and like to learn new braids and plaits and your hair and clothes are what you wear/have that makes up your identity to yourself and others. i chose the pets as i love animals and as pets they can become part of your life and therefor a part of you. lastly i chose sports and hobbies as most people have a favourite sport they like to play or watch and the same goes for hobbies as they help a person to unwind from a hard day at school or work which is important and therefore also a part of you and your identity. i have decided to rule out the sports and hobbies idea as i think it would be hard to arrange and find specific people who do those sports/hobbies and then photograph them in the studio and then outside in their environment. with my other two ideas i have decided to take both of them forward as the fashion i can photograph either in the studio or outside with few issues whereas with the pets i can photograph outside the studio but it would be very hard to photograph them inside the studio and not very practical therefore i have decided to do both ideas with the fashion taking place i the studio and the pets outside the studio at home and do a test shoot for each idea and then decide what i will do for my final shoot based upon the outcome of the images and feedback.
Fashion and Hair Photographers
Pet Photographers
Ideas for test shoot
Nick Ridley
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Nick Ridley has been photographing Dogs for over 30 years and in 1998 he became on of the highest profile photographers in the country. even though he's mostly known for dogs he also captures cats, horses and other various small domestic animals for various clients. he has also held his own photography courses specialising in dogs taken all over the UK as well as writing two books and gundog editor for the sporting gun magazine.
Sharon Montrose
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Sharon Montrose has specialised in photographing animals for over a decade therefore makes her very sought after and has photographed some of the worlds most famous pet brands including pedigree, purina and whiskers. she has also won may photographic awards for her private and public collections and has published eleven books.
Fashion
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Style - casual and fashionable, poses, full length or half length
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Hairstyles - back of head, side view, tilt head, angles looking up at hair or looking down from top of head, headshot
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shoot portrait
Pets
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candid shot of person with pet/s - showing emotion
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pets playing around inside or outside
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pets with owners presence
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calm pets - sitting down or lying down
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side shot
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front shot/focus on facial features
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just head/full body
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shoot portrait or landscape
Test Shoot 1
Annie Leibovitz
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Annie Leibovitz is an american portrait photographer whose work has been used on album covers and various magazines including vanity fair and vogue with her trademark of bold colours and signature poses. she has photographed a variety range of people including the queen, john Lennon, Miley cyrus, adele and many more. she has also won awards for her work as well as been published in several books and major exhibitions around the world.
Tommy Ton
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Tommy Ton is a street photographer from Canada. he photographs catwalk shows as well as the style and fashion on the streets and for clients such as lane Crawford, luis Vuitton, GAP and Club Monaco commissioning him for his unique take on fashion and trends. he continues his ongoing collaboration with brands as well as his own self publishing project.
Nick Ridleys images are very nature orientated in the setting used to photograph and his work with the magazine could have influenced this, a lot of them are also very active with the dogs running around or other traditional compositions. you can get a sense of calm but also adventure depending on the subject he's shooting. i like the different angles used as well as the use of natural lighting which comes with shooting outdoors.
Sharon montroses photographs have a unique style and a sense of fun to them as in a lot of photos the animals/pets are seen having fun and playing around which would make the shoot enjoyable for the owner, photographer and the animals involved. i also like the use of using the studio as it makes your attention go straight to the animals and stand out. i also like the idea of incorporating the owner whether all over the owner of just part as you get a sense of their presence and that they are part of the family. i white like the usage of black and white photos as well as the different filters/colouring.
Annie Leibovitz photography is very unique as it has a certain style and tone to it so it stands out from other fashion photographs work. these 3 images are very classic with the composition a traditional headshot with quite dark colouring to it yet natural and not over the top with makeup etc. they all use a plain background to make the face and its features stand out which then shows the motions on the models faces more than usual and all of these mages have a very similar expression on their faces. i think these photos would have been shot using the studio rather than location to gain these effects, the lighting isn't that harsh as it shows on the skin to but its not to dim either.
Tommy Tons photographs show all the latest fashion and styles from around the world but in a very candid way to him shooting the way he does via streets. i really like his images as they are like high profile photos but different as the models are relaxed e.g checking her phone unlike on a catwalk. the compositions are good as theres not overwhelming shots of the background and the models fit the whole photo with no excess in the photo at the top and bottom.
For my first test shoot of the location i did the idea of pets and i decided to photograph my own kitten and puppy at home. i think the shoot went okay as i was able to get some nice photos of them both. i think it could have been better due to the fact it was hard to get them keeping still due to their age therefore a lot of my images came out blurred and not focused. i also found that my puppy didn't like my camera very much as she kept moving away from me and so i photographed a lot more of my kitten instead. it was harder than i initially thought it was going to be as a lot didn't go to plan and even though i had a lot more ideas to do with pets i don't think it is the initial idea i am now going to go with.
Test Shoot 2
Test Shoot 3
For my first test shoot of the studio I did the idea of fashion and hair. I think the shoot went well but there could be improvements as I had ideas of what id like but it didn't work out when it came to shooting as I didn't have specific and hard to come up with things on the spot. I also found the studio very different to use than on location so I had to see how my photos looked and then adjust accordingly. overall im happy with how my images turned out for one of my first times in the studio and I was able to get a range of shots more so headshot and 1/2 body than full length and able to experiment a bit.
Contact Sheet for Studio Shoot
Cutegirlshairstyles
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cutegirlshairstyles started out by taking photos of hairstyles and then placing them into a photo album for her daughters hair. over time it had developed and in 2008 they had started to record hairstyle in a blog format becoming more popular with there friends, family and strangers asking how to do them. now cutegirlshairstyles is a hairstyle reference for hundreds and thousands of mums and girls all over the world with a successful youtube channel with over 5million subscribers.
For my second test shoot of the location due to my first test shoot not working out and a change of idea from pets to fashion and hair for both shoots, the studio and location. I decided to photograph my little sister Maisie outside. a issue with the shoot i had was more due to the weather as the sun was going down so i had little availability and time to get the shoot done. I think the shoot went not bad considering the fact she was only 6 years old and she listened to what I was saying so its likely that I will photograph her for my final shoot for the location.
even though cutegirlshairstyles aren't an official photographer they have some really nice photos of hairstyles and because they have had to document them they would have had a lot of practise at doing so. i really like the use of different angles and perspectives of the camera and the way the model is positioned either face on, turned around for back of the head, side view etc. all of the photos are really natural and casual and its the actual hairstyle thats the main focus and that you can see all the detailing of them which is because they can show viewers how they should look.
Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. He was mostly known for his black and white landscape photographs which have been reproduced on calendars, posters, books and the internet. he used large format cameras because the large film that was used contributed to the sharpness in his works. Ansel adams founded a photography group which was known as group F/64 with other photographers Willard an dyke and Edward Weston. he also worked with colour but felt constricted by the process unlike black and white where he could manipulate it to get a wide range of bold and expressive tones.
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The bottom photograph of Ansel Adams work is a wide panoramic shot of some mountains. the photo shows a range of tones due to being shot in black and white which is primarily what Ansel adams used. the composition and framing of the landscape show both the background and foreground which shows a horizon line come together as theres no separate part that stands out. as a whole the photo looks grainy due to the lack of details i think this photo would have been shot with a high ISO and a deep depth of field and definitely represents nature and the environment.
Ansel Adams
Edward Weston was an american photographer. who has been called 'one of the masters of 20th century photography'. he photographed many different subjects but had a particular focus on people and places of the american west. some of his most famous photographs are of trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California which is where he lived for many years. Edward weston had a career in photography lasting over 40 years.
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Edward Westons photographs are also black and white showing a lot of tones and contrasts throughout the compositions. Two out of three of the images dont show anything particular in the foreground. the last image however shows a little bit more with a few plants in the foreground as well as a reflection in the lake from the mountains behind. all the images look sharp and grainy rather than clear and defined as the images were taken outside there would be more light so a high iso would have been used.
Edward Weston
I think Helen Dixons photography has a lot of unique colours in the landscapes and i think that would have been caused by the time of the day they were taken as you see a lot of saturation from the sun shining through the clouds. each one of the image below have a completely different composition
The bottom left photograph of the wheel and boat on the beach has a low depth of field of the old rusty cog wheel right in the foreground to show that its come from the boat behind in the background blurred out and that they are linked together. David Bleekers work also shows a lot of different angles and perspectives as this image shows off a low perspective which explains why there are pebbles in the photo. the natural lighting brings out the simple and rustic colours of the shore.
David Bleeker is a freelance photographer who specialises in architecture, construction and documentary photography. he is based in London and has been since 2005 he has been published in numerous magazines, boos and newspapers including the national geographic, the daily mail and time out London. David Bleeker started photography at 17 using a canon ae1 and still to this day uses a canon eos3.
David Bleeker
Helen Dixon
Helen Dixon started photography in 2003. she is a self taught photographer learning through different books, magazines and the internet. she is a landscape photographer using a range of equipment from canon to Nikon and mostly uses the software photoshop for editing images. helen Dixon is a regular contributor for Digital SLR Photography Magazine and has been published in numerous publications.
I think the photographs taken for the landscape project came out quite good but I think they could have been better with the fact that on some photographs in the foreground have posts or polls which coincidently spoils the overall photograph. so to try and fix this I have to try and remember to look at the bottom of the camera screen each time I go out to shoot. I also found it quite hard as the images on the camera looked different on the computer as I thought on the camera they looked quite overexposed therefore it was hard trying to adjust the settings on the camera itself. another thing was trying to keep the brief in mind as well in regards to the traditional style and then the contemporary style without merging the two together. the positives was that I was able to get a lot of different varied photographs to choose from and using a mixture of angles and perspectives and I tried to think about the composition and framing like symmetry and lines. I think they all show the theme of landscapes to some extent in one way or another and im please with what I shot .
Contact Sheet
Contemporary
My Final Images
Traditional
Evaluation
For this project the brief was to take 6 photographs with the theme of landscapes and take 3 in the style of traditional and the other 3 in the style of contemporary. the setting used was the college and its surroundings. I think the brief and project theme was good as I hadn't taken pictures of the college before and hadn't taken any pictures in a certain theme before or having to keep it in mind more the two combined together but I felt like it was a little constricting of what to photograph. there are techniques id like to develop further like camera techniques such as controlling the lighting so it looks as natural as possible and learning to differ from the camera to the computer to make it easier when it comes to shooting. for this project I looked at several different landscape photographers either traditional or contemporary. the first photographer I looked at was Ansel Adams then I looked at Edward Weston, Helen Dixon and lastly David Bleeker. I think they influenced my work by me taking different aspects from each one like from Ansel Adams I was able to get different contrasts and tones and Edward Weston I used ideas of not having too much going on in the foreground, however as both of these photographers have work in black and white I ultimately decided against it as I think it didn't necessarily fit with my photos. with Helen Dixon I went more with the lighting and composition and lastly with David bleekers work I decided with the angles, perspectives and view points to influence my work. i think the most successful part of the project was the outcome of my final images because for the first project i think they fitted the brief and better than i thought they would come out like especially once i looked at them a few times, i also feel like i didnt really encounter any problems when it came to shooting my images only that occassionally people would end up in the photograph but this could be fixed with editing.
I think my photographs from the shoot in the studio came out quite interesting as there were some images i really liked and others i not so liked however i think my photos from this shoot improved from the test shoot i did earlier on as i got to grips more with shooting in the studio and how it worked however i found that some of my photos had the light/shadowbox in the background or to the side of the image so next time i should be more aware of this and remember to check the whole of my frame before i take the image. i also found that some came out a little darker than expected more towards the beginning of the shoot and once i had checked a few of the photos i had taken i then had to do something about it by adjusting the light settings slightly so the rest wouldn't come out as dark. i think the positives of the shoot were that i was able to get some really nice images more so in the headshot style as i think that was what i was more focused on shooting as the photographers i looked at did the same. the outcome of my images shows that i kept to the theme of hairstyle/hair in mind whilst shooting as a lot had the main focus of hair. overall i'm pleased with the outcome of my photographs as it was one of the first times shooting in the studio and hopefully each time i shoot in there my photos will get better.
My Final Images
Contact Sheet for Location Shoot
My Final Images
I think the photographs from my shoot went good as I was able to get a range of different photographs and more of a mixture of both fashion and hair which is what I was going for and trying to keep in my mind. overall the whole shoot went well as I was able to use a lot of different backgrounds however some negatives of the shoot was that the outcome of my photos was that some of my images came out blurry which was a shame when they had a good composition and therefore a good photo which was similar problem to the test shoots for the location and I think this was down to the lighting as my camera found it hard to focus on occasions contributed lack of light due in the same as my test shoot and a factor of shooting this time of year. I thought it might be hard to think and com with poses and positions but I think cause be because of her age it made it easier and so a positive of the shoot were the framing and angles as with the studio shoot i used more headshot style images but in this shoot i did more 3/4 length and full body shots as well as with some of the compositions come across having a narrative which i like as i wanted it to come across in the image. overall the shoot came out better than expected and im pleased with the final images i have chosen from the shoot.
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For this the project the brief was to take 6 photographs with the theme of identity in portraiture and take 3 photos in the studio whilst the other 3 on location. I think the project theme was interesting as at first I found it hard to come up with initial starting ideas as I wasn't sure what to do but I am happy with the ideas I ended up with. my 3 first ideas were sport/hobbies, pets and fashion/hair the idea. the idea I chose was fashion and hair which links back to portraiture and identity as the clothes of a person is apart of their identity and their hair or hairstyle makes up your identity as its either what your born with i.e. natural or chose i.e. died. the settings i used were the studio and my garden at home, it was originally going to be a park which is where the risk assessment was for but i ended up going against this due to it and getting dark. I hadn't taken any photos in the studio or used it before so I found that a challenge and hard to get used to whereas with the location I had done some in the past so I was more used to it. I thin the techniques id like to develop more would be the skills for use in the photography studio so my images better like using the equipment and how changing the settings can affect the outcome of the images, also with the location I think id like to learn more about the flash and see if it makes a difference when shooting in darker places. for this project I looked at several fashion and hair photographers as well as pet photographers due to my original idea of doing two themes one for the studio and one for location. for the pet photographers I looked at Nick Ridley and Sharon Montrose and for fashion and hair the first photographer I looked at was Annie Leibovitz whose the most well known photographer I looked at influenced my work with the classic headshot style and natural look, one of her works was in black and white and so I decided to experiment with one of my chosen final images by turning it back and white also in Photoshop. the second photographer I looked into was a street photographer called Tommy Ton who influenced my images by combining the background with the foreground/model as well as adapting the relaxed and casual vibes that come off the images. lastly I looked at cutegirlshairstyles a YouTube channel dedicated to hair tutorials and decided with angles, perspectives and viewpoints especially to showcase off the hair/hairstyles. I didn't encounter many problems when it came to shooting and the ones I did could be fixed in future photoshoots. I think the most successful part of the project was the outcome of my final images as with the photos added with editing looked really good and overall they fitted the brief ain with the themes I had of portraiture, identity and fashion and hair.
Evalauation
Studio
Location
LandscapeIdeas
plan