I have had an expensive lesson about printing a Blurb book. I received the book I ordered back this week and hated what I'd done to the images. I'd lifted the blacks too far so they had lost their atmosphere. And in addition the font was too big so it looked more suited to a children's book and I didn't like the some of the captions or the introduction. So I've redone it and hope it will be better when I receive it back. I do not want to submit something I am not happy with for assessment and would prefer to simply have prints done rather than do a book I think is rubbish.
I am also perturbed about my decision to do colour now but I am sticking with it. I think the set is more suited to colour and I like some of the rich colours which, as I said in my original accompanying notes, give more life to the images than black and white do. However, it is much harder to manage colour than it is black & white and I think some of the white balance is not quite as it should be despite my efforts. I hope the printed book comes back better now the images have been reedited.
Showing posts with label Colour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colour. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Sunday, 12 April 2015
Quick catch up about where I am Narrative 5
I have come home from Italy with plenty of images and I do think I will be able to complete the narrative assignment with these photos. I need to live with them for a bit before deciding on which route to go. At first I thought I thought it would be a narrative about my time in Italy with my boys but the photographs do seem to focus primarily on my mother - so the narrative is about my relationship with her I suspect.
I am torn between colour or black & white but tending towards B&W for now. I'm quite sad to be converting some of the images as they work so well in colour but the overall tone works better in B&W to be honest - well, that's how I feel for now. I do not have a preference in the main for either and think it's best to see how each project progresses, but it's lovely to see colour images when they work well. (I have just learned about Saul Leiter who was big on colour and I am awaiting arrival of his book so I can write about him, having watched a marvellous documentary - what a lovely, lovely man he seems to have been, quite apart from anything else.)
Here is one image in colour that works very well and consequently I am not sure I will use it at all if I do decide to go the B&W route. It's a shame to have to let go of images that I like so much - but I have to think about the whole rather than each individual image.
That reminds me, I am reading Family Frames which is wonderful although very difficult - there is a lot that goes over my head because I do not have sufficient understanding or knowledge. I am learning all about Lacan and Gestalt theory at the moment - well, I say all about... what I mean is touching on it and getting a tiny inkling. There is so much to learn!! Needless to say what I am reading will inform the way I edit and present the work. I am eager to get the project in but I am learning that images can tell me an awful lot if I wait for some time to pass before beginning to try and understand them a little.
So, I have a rain picture to take, some reviews to write up about photographers, projects as well as the Family Frames book, and of course the editing to do for A5. It feels a bit overwhelming (especially as I also have some paid work to catch up on, although thankfully not too much). I can only do one thing at a time though so will use the time I have and not rush things I think.
I am torn between colour or black & white but tending towards B&W for now. I'm quite sad to be converting some of the images as they work so well in colour but the overall tone works better in B&W to be honest - well, that's how I feel for now. I do not have a preference in the main for either and think it's best to see how each project progresses, but it's lovely to see colour images when they work well. (I have just learned about Saul Leiter who was big on colour and I am awaiting arrival of his book so I can write about him, having watched a marvellous documentary - what a lovely, lovely man he seems to have been, quite apart from anything else.)
Here is one image in colour that works very well and consequently I am not sure I will use it at all if I do decide to go the B&W route. It's a shame to have to let go of images that I like so much - but I have to think about the whole rather than each individual image.
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| Evelyn in Italy (c)sarahjanefield 2015 |
That reminds me, I am reading Family Frames which is wonderful although very difficult - there is a lot that goes over my head because I do not have sufficient understanding or knowledge. I am learning all about Lacan and Gestalt theory at the moment - well, I say all about... what I mean is touching on it and getting a tiny inkling. There is so much to learn!! Needless to say what I am reading will inform the way I edit and present the work. I am eager to get the project in but I am learning that images can tell me an awful lot if I wait for some time to pass before beginning to try and understand them a little.
So, I have a rain picture to take, some reviews to write up about photographers, projects as well as the Family Frames book, and of course the editing to do for A5. It feels a bit overwhelming (especially as I also have some paid work to catch up on, although thankfully not too much). I can only do one thing at a time though so will use the time I have and not rush things I think.
Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Reflection for A4 & A5
For some reason blue and gold are without any conscious planning becoming important colours for me. Many of the images I have taken and like recently have had strong blue tones in them and some have had gold too. There is also sparkle which is quite unlike I me, I just say! It's almost a bit like space perhaps.
Today I was thinking about some characters I have either played or been in productions with, Cassandra from The Woman of Troy & Belisa from Lorca's Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden (and how he tried to please her). The Greek play in my mind is a very red play although Cassandra seems blue - perhaps this is because that's how it was when I was in it - who knows, it was a very long time ago. Belisa talks about Lapis Lazuli, I don't think I even wore blue! - I remember enjoying the feel of those words lapis lazuli on my mouth as I said them. I think these characters are important somehow for the work - probably only as influences but we'll see. I wanted to use Lorca in the Colour assignment somehow too.
I remember Cassandra being delusional, however what she said was true - but no-one believed her. Or pretended not to. Or weren't able to face the truth somehow. So she was deemed mad - to be honest, she seemed mad from what I recall.
I must read both plays and have ordered them. They will be important in both assignments. I am beginning to see A4 as a rehearsal or preparatory work for A5.
The other iconic blue female character from our culture and history is Mary - not sure she started off wearing a blue cape but the lapis lazuli needed to create the paint in her cloak was very expensive and luxurious making it the thing for her. The thing about Mary and her virgin birth that has always struck me is that here we are with this story that we are all told where only a woman who hadn't had sex could possibly be good enough to give birth to God's son - because someone women who have had sex are sullied, not good enough, ruined. It's a powerful story to exist with.
In the meantime I have been distracted and have fallen behind my schedule with the light exercises - I must find a way to get on with these now. Although I am going to need some sun!
Today I was thinking about some characters I have either played or been in productions with, Cassandra from The Woman of Troy & Belisa from Lorca's Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden (and how he tried to please her). The Greek play in my mind is a very red play although Cassandra seems blue - perhaps this is because that's how it was when I was in it - who knows, it was a very long time ago. Belisa talks about Lapis Lazuli, I don't think I even wore blue! - I remember enjoying the feel of those words lapis lazuli on my mouth as I said them. I think these characters are important somehow for the work - probably only as influences but we'll see. I wanted to use Lorca in the Colour assignment somehow too.
I remember Cassandra being delusional, however what she said was true - but no-one believed her. Or pretended not to. Or weren't able to face the truth somehow. So she was deemed mad - to be honest, she seemed mad from what I recall.
I must read both plays and have ordered them. They will be important in both assignments. I am beginning to see A4 as a rehearsal or preparatory work for A5.
The other iconic blue female character from our culture and history is Mary - not sure she started off wearing a blue cape but the lapis lazuli needed to create the paint in her cloak was very expensive and luxurious making it the thing for her. The thing about Mary and her virgin birth that has always struck me is that here we are with this story that we are all told where only a woman who hadn't had sex could possibly be good enough to give birth to God's son - because someone women who have had sex are sullied, not good enough, ruined. It's a powerful story to exist with.
In the meantime I have been distracted and have fallen behind my schedule with the light exercises - I must find a way to get on with these now. Although I am going to need some sun!
Friday, 3 October 2014
Thursday, 18 September 2014
Colour thoughts
My assignment continues to evolve. I don't think this is a bad thing but it does slow me down which is fine if I'm working on my own projects but not ideal if I were trying to deliver a paid assignment with a deadline. I'm struggling to know how to finish the project I have started, how to bring it to a satisfying close. I have taken some risks with the photography and also with a decision I've made to include some images that I have not taken and I'm not sure if this is acceptable or not. I am able to justify the inclusion of those images but who knows if it will be OK. However, all of that is irrelevant if I cannot come up with a way to finish the project.
Each idea I try ends up being rubbish and I think what I need to do is settle on something and try to make it work. Frustrating!!
Each idea I try ends up being rubbish and I think what I need to do is settle on something and try to make it work. Frustrating!!
Monday, 15 September 2014
Black & White - Filters
Take one image if using digital and convert using the presets in Photoshop to Black & White (mimicking the filters one would have used if photographing with film)
Create 5 monochrome versions digitally using the preset settings to emulate filters. This is about understanding colour and tones and 'putting it to work in black & white'. Having done this I am amazed by the differences in each image and think I will pay far more attention to the way I convert images in future, as well as think about what colours to use in the original as the red and green below have adjusted with extreme differences depending on which emulated filter was used. There are many more possibilities available to me that I had previously imagined.
The image is a bit odd, I know. I was playing around with potential props and this is what I came up with. I used it because I quite like it but also because the colours worked well. Would love to say it has some erudite and surreal, intellectual origin but I can't say it does. But I do like to play and see what comes out of it. When I look at this image, perhaps rather morbidly but actually I do find it amusing, I can't help thinking about corpses (my own corpse) in their coffins being outlandishly dressed up and if this were a corpse - she does indeed seem to have a very long green beard! My favourite I think might be the blue emulated filter, although I am also fond of the red filter. I can't work it out.
The image is a bit odd, I know. I was playing around with potential props and this is what I came up with. I used it because I quite like it but also because the colours worked well. Would love to say it has some erudite and surreal, intellectual origin but I can't say it does. But I do like to play and see what comes out of it. When I look at this image, perhaps rather morbidly but actually I do find it amusing, I can't help thinking about corpses (my own corpse) in their coffins being outlandishly dressed up and if this were a corpse - she does indeed seem to have a very long green beard! My favourite I think might be the blue emulated filter, although I am also fond of the red filter. I can't work it out.
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| Original ISO 100 58mm f2.8 1/30sec |
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| Straight conversion in Photoshop under Image and Adjustments |
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| Blue |
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| Green |
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| Yellow |
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| Red |
Friday, 12 September 2014
Todd Hido
Todd Hido is an American photographer and
artist who lives in San Francisco and who studied under Larry Sultan. He was born in 1968 and teaches as well as
practicing and exhibiting. Some of his
work has been used for book covers notably novels by Raymond Carver.
Many of his photographs are of urban and
suburban spaces that give a sense of bleak loneliness, isolation,
emptiness. He also photographs interiors
that convey similar feelings of personal alienation. Nearly all his photographs of buildings are taken
at night or early morning. The lights
are always on inside the houses and apartments he photographs (apart from one image at the date of the interview - link below)
and that luminescence seems to convey a sense of who the humans inside are. The light appears to have personality and
emotion.
One of the most interesting things for me
at this moment as I look at Part 3 of TAOP is the colour in Hido’s works.
He uses analogue film and produces large
highly detailed prints. Light in every
photograph plays a major role and the colour of that light conveys character
and mood.
I have looked specifically at Todd Hido’s
work in relation to my own colour assignment work. The very distinct colour and the way Hido
uses light is extremely interesting and evocative and crucially reminds me that there is more than one
way to incorporate colour into an image.
In addition to Hido’s landscapes he also
produces portraits of women in similar interiors to the ones he makes without
people, images that I find upsetting. I
am particularly interested in these.
When I first came across them after someone on Flickr had suggested I
look at Todd Hido’s work I felt enraged by the images - perhaps, according to a few, demonstrating a naivete in me, as far worse images of women exist in vast quantities, some hidden from everyday life and some blatantly on display as if such images were perfectly acceptable: page 3 models advertised as six foot posters on buses is one example - and in fact Todd Hido's images are far, far more honest and real than page 3 images which are frankly ridiculous, fantastical and offensive. Todd Hido looks at the undercurrent of such images, I think. Some of Hido's images I am referring to paint a seedy, lonely sense of powerlessness. It infuriated me that women should be
depicted this way in this context. I must add that there are also portraits of women in his work who seem empowered and at ease with themselves. However, I am discussing images where that is not the case. I don't think I was enraged
by Todd Hido himself who is merely exploring something that exists in the world and is worth looking at for sure - and I understand that possibly he is questioning a reality and asking his viewers to confront something difficult. But I certainly felt furious by the fact that women in that light should exist at all, dis-empowered, diminished. Maybe it is something to do with where I was at the time. Maybe I'm just being judgmental and censorious. I suspect, however, there is an extremely accurate
reflection of how some men like to see women in the images and of how women sometimes can be.
That women should be there at all, or anyone else for that matter is
enraging. What I see in the images is a
sense of abusive power, within the fantasy depicted, and deep,
deep loneliness in every player within the image – the women, the implied presence of an Other (male) even if he may have left the scene,
the photographer, and finally in the viewer.
There is a desperately lonely and vulnerable sense to many of these
women, isolated, undressed, in bleak rooms. I don’t see strength. One of the things that comes to mind when I
look at the images is that these women were once little girls with dreams and
fantasies and hopes. And that all of
that has become warped, degraded and lost.
Lost hope.
Hido is extremely present in all his images. But this is most apparent in the series where he has taken photographs from behind the windscreen of his car or through his car door window. The texture of the rain falling on the window or of the dirt on the windscreen reminds us of his being there, photographing these scenes. His mood is conveyed very clearly I think. Thinking about the photographer as a crucial part of the whole scene is something I have not considered in depth before, which seems a little odd.
Hido is extremely present in all his images. But this is most apparent in the series where he has taken photographs from behind the windscreen of his car or through his car door window. The texture of the rain falling on the window or of the dirt on the windscreen reminds us of his being there, photographing these scenes. His mood is conveyed very clearly I think. Thinking about the photographer as a crucial part of the whole scene is something I have not considered in depth before, which seems a little odd.
I have returned to these images after
seeing them initially a few months ago because the themes that I mention here –
the degradation of those little girl’s dreams and hope is something that I
think I am exploring in the work I’m preparing for the colour assignment, although certainly from a woman's point of view and obviously with a woman's way of approaching it. It’s difficult to be certain as I’m still
working on it and I’m not entirely sure where it is going (or if I even like
or value it!). But returning to Hido’s work will
no doubt have some impact.
Information gleaned from Wikipedia,
ToddHido.com and an interview from Ahorn Magazine – (2008-11)
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Resolving some issues about colour
I have been racking my brains trying to work out how to fulfil the Colour assignment. We have been asked to provide 16 images that indicate complimentary colours, harmonious colours, contrasting colours and an accent. In addition the subject matter must be varied - so the colours shouldn't all be based on light, or coloured objects. There should be still life and 'found' scenes, the last of which is the most difficult to realise as you have less control - although a fellow student seemed to have done a brilliant job photographing all these elements at a day long event.
I was planning something linked to some thoughts I'd had a few weeks ago and up until last night I was trying to hold myself to that. I wrote a little about it in my previous post. I had 4 sets of images planned or in the case of 'found' hoped for. But the problem was none of the sets was really related although I had tried to convince myself they were all loosely based on childhood or thoughts of childhood, even tenuously. However, I was not entirely convinced.
Today I went to buy some props from the local party store and found myself beginning to get a clearer idea of where I might be heading with this and as a result have adjusted my plans, or allowed them to evolve at any rate. I've dropped certain ideas altogether and linked up other ideas so there is more continuity between each set.
One of the things I was told was not to make this project about COLOUR!!! Well, I have to say at least one set of images is going to be a riot of colour.
There are four sets and in each colours will be either complimentary, harmonious, contrasting or with an accent:
1. Still Life - Preperation
2. Colours 1
3. Colours 2 incorporating light and a gel or a colour filter in Lightroom
4. The final set is the hardest to reconcile. The word 'found' in my mind suggests heading out and searching for images that I come across in the street or shops or parks etc. But if I do that then this final set of images is going to be totally unrelated to the first three and will stand out as something entirely separate and that would be a shame. So I think I am going to wait for my kids to come and inspect what I've been doing, playing with props etc and photograph that. Perhaps it's a bit of a cheat but the photos I take here will be entirely unplanned and spontaneous which I hope gets round it. It will also be a fitting finish to the whole assignment which in the end for me is not really about colour at all but about how I go about producing something cohesive and authentic and creative.
I have had to do some little drawings. These it turns out are a shining example of why I use a camera to try and express myself rather than draw or paint. So I wouldn't dream of calling it a drawing board, rather a squiggle board. It's been very useful as I can see that Set 2 is too dominated by red and it's various relationships whereas Set 3 is too dominated by blue and green. So I must go back to the squiggle board and do some shifting round. Once I've achieved that I will do a shot list for all sets apart from the final one which will just be about finding the four relationship requirements.
I'd better get on with it all as it's due very soon.
I was planning something linked to some thoughts I'd had a few weeks ago and up until last night I was trying to hold myself to that. I wrote a little about it in my previous post. I had 4 sets of images planned or in the case of 'found' hoped for. But the problem was none of the sets was really related although I had tried to convince myself they were all loosely based on childhood or thoughts of childhood, even tenuously. However, I was not entirely convinced.
Today I went to buy some props from the local party store and found myself beginning to get a clearer idea of where I might be heading with this and as a result have adjusted my plans, or allowed them to evolve at any rate. I've dropped certain ideas altogether and linked up other ideas so there is more continuity between each set.
One of the things I was told was not to make this project about COLOUR!!! Well, I have to say at least one set of images is going to be a riot of colour.
There are four sets and in each colours will be either complimentary, harmonious, contrasting or with an accent:
1. Still Life - Preperation
2. Colours 1
3. Colours 2 incorporating light and a gel or a colour filter in Lightroom
4. The final set is the hardest to reconcile. The word 'found' in my mind suggests heading out and searching for images that I come across in the street or shops or parks etc. But if I do that then this final set of images is going to be totally unrelated to the first three and will stand out as something entirely separate and that would be a shame. So I think I am going to wait for my kids to come and inspect what I've been doing, playing with props etc and photograph that. Perhaps it's a bit of a cheat but the photos I take here will be entirely unplanned and spontaneous which I hope gets round it. It will also be a fitting finish to the whole assignment which in the end for me is not really about colour at all but about how I go about producing something cohesive and authentic and creative.
I have had to do some little drawings. These it turns out are a shining example of why I use a camera to try and express myself rather than draw or paint. So I wouldn't dream of calling it a drawing board, rather a squiggle board. It's been very useful as I can see that Set 2 is too dominated by red and it's various relationships whereas Set 3 is too dominated by blue and green. So I must go back to the squiggle board and do some shifting round. Once I've achieved that I will do a shot list for all sets apart from the final one which will just be about finding the four relationship requirements.
I'd better get on with it all as it's due very soon.
Friday, 5 September 2014
My problem with Colour...
... Is that I prefer black & white! I think I do. I love how it shapes shapes and lighting changes and removes the image from reality further. The book I wrote about earlier this evening on Lillian Bassman and Paul Himmel is filled with the most extraordinary black and white images. And I can't wait to move onto a section where I can start to try and figure out how to do some of the things I've seen there. So, perhaps it's been good for me to look at colour like this as it's forcing me to open up how I work.
I've really struggled to find a way to do what is required for this assignment. I am not sure what I've planned is right - I know there is no 'right' but I keep worrying I'm really missing something. I think the only way to do it is with four sets of photos as we are asked to use different lighting, subjects, still life and found images, colour that is about light and colour that is about object based. But the other work I have seen has very similar photographs which is why I'm a bit worried.
I have tried to stick to the original thoughts I had where childhood is the main theme. I'm not sure I'm going to achieve the objectives but since the assignment is due in fairly soon I think I've got to go with what I've got planned. I've a busy few days ahead.
**************
I've been feeling really strange about photography lately. Recently I was just so cross about some dumb mistakes I had made at a shoot with a family. And I'd been feeling disappointed with much of the work I'd been doing for a while, so that by last weekend I was really questioning whether or not I was cut out for that sort of work, but if not that then what? And I knew that just giving up and walking away from one type of photography was not the answer anyway. I actually know much of what was informing this mood was totally non-photography related but it was affecting my work nevertheless.
Mistakes, however, are really important sometimes because they can act as a powerful stimulant to getting things right next time. For various reasons I feel less despondent now having resolved that I actually just needed to take a bit more control over what I was doing. And some clutter seems to have shifted from my mind.
Colour has been quite important to be honest as I have realised how much of a difference it will make to the images I take when working with families. So I've started being a lot more proactive with clients about what they wear and giving them clear instructions before I turn up about choosing a simple colour palette and mixing patterns with block colours. So although some of my lighting has been a bit ropey I can without a doubt see that when client's follow those instructions it has contributed to a more cohesive image and set of images. I just hadn't thought about this before embarking on this section of the course. So that's good!
I've really struggled to find a way to do what is required for this assignment. I am not sure what I've planned is right - I know there is no 'right' but I keep worrying I'm really missing something. I think the only way to do it is with four sets of photos as we are asked to use different lighting, subjects, still life and found images, colour that is about light and colour that is about object based. But the other work I have seen has very similar photographs which is why I'm a bit worried.
I have tried to stick to the original thoughts I had where childhood is the main theme. I'm not sure I'm going to achieve the objectives but since the assignment is due in fairly soon I think I've got to go with what I've got planned. I've a busy few days ahead.
**************
I've been feeling really strange about photography lately. Recently I was just so cross about some dumb mistakes I had made at a shoot with a family. And I'd been feeling disappointed with much of the work I'd been doing for a while, so that by last weekend I was really questioning whether or not I was cut out for that sort of work, but if not that then what? And I knew that just giving up and walking away from one type of photography was not the answer anyway. I actually know much of what was informing this mood was totally non-photography related but it was affecting my work nevertheless.
Mistakes, however, are really important sometimes because they can act as a powerful stimulant to getting things right next time. For various reasons I feel less despondent now having resolved that I actually just needed to take a bit more control over what I was doing. And some clutter seems to have shifted from my mind.
Colour has been quite important to be honest as I have realised how much of a difference it will make to the images I take when working with families. So I've started being a lot more proactive with clients about what they wear and giving them clear instructions before I turn up about choosing a simple colour palette and mixing patterns with block colours. So although some of my lighting has been a bit ropey I can without a doubt see that when client's follow those instructions it has contributed to a more cohesive image and set of images. I just hadn't thought about this before embarking on this section of the course. So that's good!
Wednesday, 27 August 2014
Colour relationships
3 photographs for the first part and 3-4 for the second part.
Part 1
Produce one photograph for the combination of primary and secondary colours with proportions as close to those listed by German poet, J.W. Von Goethe
Red:Green 1:1
Orange:Blue 1:2
Yellow:Violet
The photos I am using for this first part are not the ones I planned at all. I took several on the beach and while they are OK apart from the Red/Green one which was a complete flop, I was happier with other photos that I took during the same week. Although these were not my planned photos I did have colour relationships on the brain much of the time.
Red Green 1:1 - This was taken on my phone and processed using various apps to enhance and bring out the colour, plus blur the background. Not sure if this is acceptable but it's the best example I've got with these colours and proportions. I know you can sort of see the seams as the editing I used for blurring is new to me and I've not done it in a very sophisticated way.
Orange Blue 1:2 - I have actually increased the blue here to make the most of it and bring proportions in line with the list using Lightroom but feel that would be OK since filters or Lightroom are reccommended at the beginning of the Colour section. The first time I processed this image was rather more green to be honest. I didn't take it with the blue-orange relationship in mind but saw it when I loaded the images onto my computer and felt it was a strong image that showed the relationship well.
Yellow Violet 1:3 - This tent is so strange. One minute it looks blue then it looks purple. In the bright sunlight it looked purple but now I'm not so sure. Anyway, there is some yellow in the back ground and I have made the whole image have a violet hue to try and convince myself that the tent is not at all blue in the slightest. How tricky colour can be!
Part 2
Produce 3 or 4 images which feature colour combinations that appeal to you. Make note of any colour imbalance. I have found Colour extremely difficult to get my head round. I can't get into my head what is complimentary and what isn't. I mean I can read in a book that colours opposite each-other on the colour wheel are complimentary but it makes no sense to me - are they, I think to myself? So does that mean that this photo where blue and green are together are not harmonious? Isn't there a silly saying red & green should never be seen? Or perhaps it's blue and green? I must say I would like to be able to put lovely colours together and create a harmonious colour palette but it's going to take a lot of getting my head round it. The storm clouds below seem very dramatic - but is that merely the colour clash - bright green and deep purple/grey or is because you can see they are storm clouds which contrast very aggressively with the sunlight buildings? The colours in the final photograph aren't really colours at all apart from the red - what do black and white come under? Yet those colours work well together and always have done...I think! I don't think I've been terribly erudite in this exercise but colour to me seems incredibly tricky.
Part 1
Produce one photograph for the combination of primary and secondary colours with proportions as close to those listed by German poet, J.W. Von Goethe
Red:Green 1:1
Orange:Blue 1:2
Yellow:Violet
The photos I am using for this first part are not the ones I planned at all. I took several on the beach and while they are OK apart from the Red/Green one which was a complete flop, I was happier with other photos that I took during the same week. Although these were not my planned photos I did have colour relationships on the brain much of the time.
Red Green 1:1 - This was taken on my phone and processed using various apps to enhance and bring out the colour, plus blur the background. Not sure if this is acceptable but it's the best example I've got with these colours and proportions. I know you can sort of see the seams as the editing I used for blurring is new to me and I've not done it in a very sophisticated way.
Orange Blue 1:2 - I have actually increased the blue here to make the most of it and bring proportions in line with the list using Lightroom but feel that would be OK since filters or Lightroom are reccommended at the beginning of the Colour section. The first time I processed this image was rather more green to be honest. I didn't take it with the blue-orange relationship in mind but saw it when I loaded the images onto my computer and felt it was a strong image that showed the relationship well.
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| f1.8 ISO 100 1/160sec 50mm |
Yellow Violet 1:3 - This tent is so strange. One minute it looks blue then it looks purple. In the bright sunlight it looked purple but now I'm not so sure. Anyway, there is some yellow in the back ground and I have made the whole image have a violet hue to try and convince myself that the tent is not at all blue in the slightest. How tricky colour can be!
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| f1.4 ISO 100 1/8000sec 50m |
Part 2
Produce 3 or 4 images which feature colour combinations that appeal to you. Make note of any colour imbalance. I have found Colour extremely difficult to get my head round. I can't get into my head what is complimentary and what isn't. I mean I can read in a book that colours opposite each-other on the colour wheel are complimentary but it makes no sense to me - are they, I think to myself? So does that mean that this photo where blue and green are together are not harmonious? Isn't there a silly saying red & green should never be seen? Or perhaps it's blue and green? I must say I would like to be able to put lovely colours together and create a harmonious colour palette but it's going to take a lot of getting my head round it. The storm clouds below seem very dramatic - but is that merely the colour clash - bright green and deep purple/grey or is because you can see they are storm clouds which contrast very aggressively with the sunlight buildings? The colours in the final photograph aren't really colours at all apart from the red - what do black and white come under? Yet those colours work well together and always have done...I think! I don't think I've been terribly erudite in this exercise but colour to me seems incredibly tricky.
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| Green & Blue |
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| Orange & Blue |
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| Green & Purple/Grey |
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| Red & Cream & Black |
Monday, 28 July 2014
Primary and secondary colours
18 photographs of the primary and secondary colours taken with exposures as the meter reading suggests then half a stop lighter and half a stop darker.
I wondered round a grubby working farm this afternoon and took the following. When my friend heard I wanted to take photographs of the primary and secondary colours she was skeptical and told me it's a proper muddy farm so I might struggle. I was pleased to hear this as rust and grime sounded quite appealing!
I took them all at f1.4, 50mm, and changed the shutter speed to achieve an average meter reading, then set the camera to bracket so it would automatically set itself to take two further shots, one darker, one brighter. I have done very little in post production to maintain the true effect of exposure in camera - a tiny touch of the clarity slider and some sharpening in Lightroom.
The colours are richer or lighter depending on the exposure, so for instance the purple ones might be mauve, purple or lilac depending on exposure. Red loses it's redness when there is too much light or becomes too blue if darker.
I wondered round a grubby working farm this afternoon and took the following. When my friend heard I wanted to take photographs of the primary and secondary colours she was skeptical and told me it's a proper muddy farm so I might struggle. I was pleased to hear this as rust and grime sounded quite appealing!
I took them all at f1.4, 50mm, and changed the shutter speed to achieve an average meter reading, then set the camera to bracket so it would automatically set itself to take two further shots, one darker, one brighter. I have done very little in post production to maintain the true effect of exposure in camera - a tiny touch of the clarity slider and some sharpening in Lightroom.
The colours are richer or lighter depending on the exposure, so for instance the purple ones might be mauve, purple or lilac depending on exposure. Red loses it's redness when there is too much light or becomes too blue if darker.
Saturday, 12 July 2014
Some thoughts for the colour assignment - FRAGMENTS
I have been wondering how to approach the next assignment - Colour. As well as that I have picked up one of the recommended books in a bid to 'put right' my slight lack of commitment to reading, or rather the failure to make time to do it. And thanks to Jayne Kemp, a fellow student on TAOP, I been looking at Alexey Brodovitch's Ballet, a figure who in turn led me to Lillian Bassman & Paul Himmel, who's work I am utterly bowled over by.
In addition I downloaded a biography about Diane Arbus and couldn't help but take a peek and became engrossed (the whys for another blog post), even though I have these other two books on the go (plus a rather difficult and upsetting book about high conflict divorce and the effect it has on children, which I think I have put to one side in favour of the photography books for now - perhaps I have enough of an idea of that for the time being and it's actually preventing me from moving on with this work).
So all these different influences are swirling round in my mind at the moment which will probably go on to inform whatever I end up doing for Colour.
And while I was coming home from a family event today I remembered the sets by Robert Wilson and Robert Lepage both of whose work I was very taken with years ago when studying acting and then working, and obviously taking an interest in theatre - the thing that sprung to mind was the bold colours (and shapes) sometimes used in their set design and overall work.
I am thinking about colour and how powerful it is in creating a sense memory or deeply visceral sensation/ response. Red, white, blue pictures theses directors create with actors, lighting and set design.
And I think I was reminded of them after seeing the work by Jessa Fairbrother, recommended by my tutor. When I went to see something by Robert Wilson shortly after my first son was born (can't believe I left such a young baby, one who refused a bottle, for several hours - I never did it again with him or any of the others at that age!!) there was a female character whose movement was stuccato and unpredicatable: there was a very clear lack of fluidity and it reminded me of my baby son's early movements - the brain and muscles were not yet working together and so an arm or a leg would flail about randomly and unexpectedly. So, Jessa Fairbrother's work, The Rehearsal (dedicated to Augustine) is a series of photos presented in a sequence and almost like a stop frame film but with very big jumps between each image rather than the tiny ones you'd normally expect. This is what bought the character's movement described above to mind I think. Fragmented movements.
The word that has been floating round my head for days is FRAGMENTED.
Like many people I suspect, my own childhood memories are rather fragmented. I have images in my head - a room that feels very orange with soft afternoon light and curtains and a window, or crying whilst wearing a blue long sleeved t-shirt - a memory that is cemented by a photograph of me crying in that very shirt, or the red blood on a black skinned man being beaten and pushed into a van in Cape-Town by a policeman. These are just a few examples of memories from my very early childhood that contain colours in the imagery as well as the words representing colour in the narrative I have in my mind.
The memories are powerful but I can't tell you very much beyond the little scenes that exists in my head, such as what happened before or afterwards.
The reason I think I mentioned the book above that I have put aside for now is that it goes into much detail about how the development of children who are exposed to warring parents or any form of traumatic experience can and often does lead to fragmentation. The adults who seemingly can't help themselves from putting their children through this experience are often fragmented individuals who have failed to individuate fully and reacting in the present to traumatic events from their own childhoods. Events that may have caused some fragmentation which is either never fully resolved or deepens under the pressure of a marriage breakdown.
Fragments of self, fragments of memory, fragments of truth, fragmented movements, fragmented communication, fragmented others
I really want to explore some of the memories, memories that contain colour, memories that are fragments from the past that stay with me always, that I describe with words that represent colour - colours that evoke some sensation, and sometimes quite powerful ones.
I understand that colour can be very evocative either because of the sensation it might trigger or because of cultural symbolism - so for instance blue has classically been seen (due in part to the expense of Lapus Lazuli I think) as powerful, regal, godlike. And I want to try and find ways to explore using colour to communicate something connected to powerful but fragmented childhood memories that have the potential to transport a viewer (audience?)
Am I being too ambitious now - probably?? The feedback I received was that my last assignment had been ambitious even though I didn't necessarily pull it off in every instance - which I agreed with wholeheartedly. However, I am excited by this ambition - now the desire to express something feels not only possible but desirable having just sat, not entirely inanimately as I certainly absorbed a great deal but probably in quite a blocked way, for so long.
I don't know whether to follow in the style of slow shutter speed or not but looking at Lillian Bassman's work gives me tremendous encouragement and inspiration to do so. I don't want to simply repeat myself without moving forward but fear I may do so. I have fragments of ideas but to be honest am not really sure at all about what the final product will be - I like that though. I'm not sure I like the idea of pinning something down to such an extent that there is no room for surprise and invention. I struggled to learn this concept at drama school - always starting with an effective but ultimately doomed idea in my head that was too stifled to grow and exhilarate which was a shame for me then, because had I been able to trust myself and let go I might have enjoyed it all a bit more.
So that's where I am at the moment.
I think the thing to do is get the exercises done over the next two weeks or so if I can before I take the boys camping. Then get all my colours together for the assignment - whatever those colours will be, cloth, make up, props or rooms - perhaps some coloured gels unless I just use Lightroom for that. I certainly need to sit down with the colour wheel, the assignment requirements and some coloured pencils and do some experimenting, drawing perhaps, colouring in. I remember reading that Lepage in a rehearsal will start by getting everyone to draw and write things down on a giant piece of paper - an exercise that potentially unlocks ideas and memories and invention from which the company will then draw upon to begin devising. I might try to do something similar on a smaller scale for this using the colour wheel and pencils - we'll see.
I am aware that much of this reflective post might seem unconnected and perhaps a peculiar swirl of disparate ideas and references but I think it has been helpful to put my thoughts down, and it will hopefully lead to something more tangible with which to work.
In addition I downloaded a biography about Diane Arbus and couldn't help but take a peek and became engrossed (the whys for another blog post), even though I have these other two books on the go (plus a rather difficult and upsetting book about high conflict divorce and the effect it has on children, which I think I have put to one side in favour of the photography books for now - perhaps I have enough of an idea of that for the time being and it's actually preventing me from moving on with this work).
So all these different influences are swirling round in my mind at the moment which will probably go on to inform whatever I end up doing for Colour.
And while I was coming home from a family event today I remembered the sets by Robert Wilson and Robert Lepage both of whose work I was very taken with years ago when studying acting and then working, and obviously taking an interest in theatre - the thing that sprung to mind was the bold colours (and shapes) sometimes used in their set design and overall work.
I am thinking about colour and how powerful it is in creating a sense memory or deeply visceral sensation/ response. Red, white, blue pictures theses directors create with actors, lighting and set design.
And I think I was reminded of them after seeing the work by Jessa Fairbrother, recommended by my tutor. When I went to see something by Robert Wilson shortly after my first son was born (can't believe I left such a young baby, one who refused a bottle, for several hours - I never did it again with him or any of the others at that age!!) there was a female character whose movement was stuccato and unpredicatable: there was a very clear lack of fluidity and it reminded me of my baby son's early movements - the brain and muscles were not yet working together and so an arm or a leg would flail about randomly and unexpectedly. So, Jessa Fairbrother's work, The Rehearsal (dedicated to Augustine) is a series of photos presented in a sequence and almost like a stop frame film but with very big jumps between each image rather than the tiny ones you'd normally expect. This is what bought the character's movement described above to mind I think. Fragmented movements.
The word that has been floating round my head for days is FRAGMENTED.
Like many people I suspect, my own childhood memories are rather fragmented. I have images in my head - a room that feels very orange with soft afternoon light and curtains and a window, or crying whilst wearing a blue long sleeved t-shirt - a memory that is cemented by a photograph of me crying in that very shirt, or the red blood on a black skinned man being beaten and pushed into a van in Cape-Town by a policeman. These are just a few examples of memories from my very early childhood that contain colours in the imagery as well as the words representing colour in the narrative I have in my mind.
The memories are powerful but I can't tell you very much beyond the little scenes that exists in my head, such as what happened before or afterwards.
The reason I think I mentioned the book above that I have put aside for now is that it goes into much detail about how the development of children who are exposed to warring parents or any form of traumatic experience can and often does lead to fragmentation. The adults who seemingly can't help themselves from putting their children through this experience are often fragmented individuals who have failed to individuate fully and reacting in the present to traumatic events from their own childhoods. Events that may have caused some fragmentation which is either never fully resolved or deepens under the pressure of a marriage breakdown.
Fragments of self, fragments of memory, fragments of truth, fragmented movements, fragmented communication, fragmented others
I really want to explore some of the memories, memories that contain colour, memories that are fragments from the past that stay with me always, that I describe with words that represent colour - colours that evoke some sensation, and sometimes quite powerful ones.
I understand that colour can be very evocative either because of the sensation it might trigger or because of cultural symbolism - so for instance blue has classically been seen (due in part to the expense of Lapus Lazuli I think) as powerful, regal, godlike. And I want to try and find ways to explore using colour to communicate something connected to powerful but fragmented childhood memories that have the potential to transport a viewer (audience?)
Am I being too ambitious now - probably?? The feedback I received was that my last assignment had been ambitious even though I didn't necessarily pull it off in every instance - which I agreed with wholeheartedly. However, I am excited by this ambition - now the desire to express something feels not only possible but desirable having just sat, not entirely inanimately as I certainly absorbed a great deal but probably in quite a blocked way, for so long.
I don't know whether to follow in the style of slow shutter speed or not but looking at Lillian Bassman's work gives me tremendous encouragement and inspiration to do so. I don't want to simply repeat myself without moving forward but fear I may do so. I have fragments of ideas but to be honest am not really sure at all about what the final product will be - I like that though. I'm not sure I like the idea of pinning something down to such an extent that there is no room for surprise and invention. I struggled to learn this concept at drama school - always starting with an effective but ultimately doomed idea in my head that was too stifled to grow and exhilarate which was a shame for me then, because had I been able to trust myself and let go I might have enjoyed it all a bit more.
So that's where I am at the moment.
I think the thing to do is get the exercises done over the next two weeks or so if I can before I take the boys camping. Then get all my colours together for the assignment - whatever those colours will be, cloth, make up, props or rooms - perhaps some coloured gels unless I just use Lightroom for that. I certainly need to sit down with the colour wheel, the assignment requirements and some coloured pencils and do some experimenting, drawing perhaps, colouring in. I remember reading that Lepage in a rehearsal will start by getting everyone to draw and write things down on a giant piece of paper - an exercise that potentially unlocks ideas and memories and invention from which the company will then draw upon to begin devising. I might try to do something similar on a smaller scale for this using the colour wheel and pencils - we'll see.
I am aware that much of this reflective post might seem unconnected and perhaps a peculiar swirl of disparate ideas and references but I think it has been helpful to put my thoughts down, and it will hopefully lead to something more tangible with which to work.
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Control the strength of colour
Blogger insisted on adjusting the exposures when I uploaded these pictures and so each photograph looked exactly the same for some reason. Blogger has done this before but rectified itself when I re-uploaded the images but this time it stuck to its incorrect guns. I have therefore provided a link to my site where the colours and exposures will be preserved as they are for certain.
Take 5 photographs: Find the average meter reading and then start at one stop brighter than the original then stop down by half each time. Apart from the fact that the five photographs vary from over-exposure to under exposure what difference is there in terms of the colour?
As well as the different exposures what I have noticed is the tone of the colour. The overexposed photograph looks much pinker, almost peach, and the darkest one loses its luminosity. I prefer the darker two at the beginning of the sequence as they seem much richer and the red is more robust.
Once thing that puzzled me with this exercise (and perhaps I'm going to look like a twit here) but my camera, like most, goes up incrementally in thirds rather than halves (I'm pretty sure). I could not for the life of me find a way to change it in the camera to halves although I know you can in the light meter I own and carry around and rarely use. Also, when I looked in the course folder at the example given they were thirds with two missing from the sequence - f.5 and f7.1. So I was a bit confused by this. I have re-looked at f stop values online and wonder if I'm missing something.
Please click here to see five exposures of the same coloured subject
Please click on the small i underneath each image for settings information
Take 5 photographs: Find the average meter reading and then start at one stop brighter than the original then stop down by half each time. Apart from the fact that the five photographs vary from over-exposure to under exposure what difference is there in terms of the colour?
As well as the different exposures what I have noticed is the tone of the colour. The overexposed photograph looks much pinker, almost peach, and the darkest one loses its luminosity. I prefer the darker two at the beginning of the sequence as they seem much richer and the red is more robust.
Once thing that puzzled me with this exercise (and perhaps I'm going to look like a twit here) but my camera, like most, goes up incrementally in thirds rather than halves (I'm pretty sure). I could not for the life of me find a way to change it in the camera to halves although I know you can in the light meter I own and carry around and rarely use. Also, when I looked in the course folder at the example given they were thirds with two missing from the sequence - f.5 and f7.1. So I was a bit confused by this. I have re-looked at f stop values online and wonder if I'm missing something.
Please click here to see five exposures of the same coloured subject
Please click on the small i underneath each image for settings information
Monday, 23 June 2014
At last beginning to get on with some reading...
 |
|
I
took photos at a wedding for the first time recently. Perhaps because
I've never done it before, perhaps because of my personality, I felt like an
intruder and a bit of a peeping Tom. Not sure this shot will mean much to
the family & couple but it said something to me about my own place at the wedding
and possibly in the world.
******** |
I
felt it was probably time to write up some reflection a I’ve not been doing so
with quite the same frequency as I did to begin with. As I mentioned in the assignment reflection
for Elements of Design, this isn’t because I haven’t been thinking. In fact, perhaps it’s because I’ve been
thinking more, droning on less.
I
think what the last few months of work with OCA has done for me is broaden my
horizons of what is possible quite considerably – and for that I am very
pleased.
I
know I need to read more. Fitting it in
is not easy but I’m getting on quite well with (1) the photograph as contemporary art by
Charlotte Cotton. There is quite a lot in there that I have come across already
which is encouraging although of course much more that I haven’t. All of it is compelling to a greater or a lesser extent.
I
think what I’m most interested in on this course for now is trying to reach something
that is less about the commercial side although that is important to me (and
something I must continue to learn about; marketing, sales, the actual
photography) as I need very much to earn a living in the medium term. But if I can develop the art side as much as
possible for my own satisfaction then that would be great. But I don’t think that will be easy to do – I
find a lot of the stuff I’m looking at quite challenging to be honest although
the Intimate Life chapter in the aforementioned book is far more immediate and
resonant for me than much of the deadpan style I’d read about earlier.
Of
course, I have no doubt the two, commercial and not so commercial stuff will
cross over and may be influenced by one another, and in fact I can see that
happening already. It does feel like
I’m on a very interesting path and I’m enjoying it a great deal even though there
are times when I feel somewhat panicked and like I might have gone off in the
wrong direction.
I'm a bit nervous about the next chapter in TOAP - Colour. Seems all a bit difficult at first glance due to the theory so will need to think carefully about it as I go through.
For now, I
need to get on with writing up two photo books, and reading all the colour information
on the OCA site as well as some more of the
photograph as a contemporary art.
(1) the photograph as a contemporary art, new edition by Charlotte
Cotton, Thames & Hudson 2009
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