My chosen theme is Light and dark because I wanted to explore something different from what I have done in my work that I have completed throughout this year. Also I wanted to study Light and Dark because I thought it may be a topic I would enjoy like the last project portrait. I thought if I picked this topic I may adapt new skills and may learn more. My research would be about photographers who focus on light and dark and explore why each different photographers have chosen this theme. I will link it to my work and to find out their views and perspective on Light and Dark photography work.
For my photo shoots I will take real life objects, take photograph of them and then use my initiative to create my response to the theme light and dark. I think I'll start by bringing in my collection of shells from different places I've been. I collected these to help me remember my memories and when I grow up they will help me remember my childhood. For this I will need a dark background, lights, tripod and macro lens. Another shoot could be outside, I could look at the trees by the school gate. Maybe a scene outside of school I am thinking about a park I live near and I could photograph it at night and capture the street lights. I could look at it at different times of the day and see what different the light I can capture.
Understanding to edit them on photoshop and make them black and white. For my project I have found two artists which are named Bill Schwab and Robert Doisneau. I will research what has led them to take images that portray light and dark and why have they chosen this theme. I want to explore their work and link it to my work because their work is to me is extravagant to look at.
I am aiming to learn to manipulate the light intensity to make shadows more or less dominant. I wish to change the contrasts on my images, to enhance the features of the image. I will look up tutorials to complete more complex edits. By doing this I could make my final gallery more exquisite and extravagant. I wish to make it look like a professional photographer has taken the images. I am going to manipulate these images by using photoshop tools to change the contrast and brightness. In this project I hope to achieve a full understanding on how light and dark photography works and explore this project throughout. After I finish my whole project I feel that my final gallery will look more professional.
Light And Dark Mood board: Bill Schwab
Photo analysis 1:
This image was taken by Bill Schwab in 1999. It is Titled Darkened lamp which was originally taken in Belle Isle, Detroit. In my opinion I think Schwab has made this for people who find light and dark interesting, who plan in the future to do the same work as him so he could be a inspiration to them. Also people might want to adapt key terminology from his work to make their work look more professional. Bill Schwab was Born in 1959 in Detroit, an American photographer who is known for his emotional, peaceful shots. He is a calming, soothing patient artist. Bill Schwab has chosen to be a photographer because of his grandfather being a photographer in the late 1800s. it is naturally inherited from his family background. He fell in love with photography at the age of 12 whilst making a film. In 2005 he foundNorth Light Presswith the intention of independently supporting and publishing the work of emerging as well as established photographers. I think his work links to social history because of him exploring different locations outside. The image taken in this photograph shows a picture of a still image of a lamp post and in the background I can see fields which are hustling in the wind.( information sourced from internet).
In this image I can see strong leading lines in the center where the lamp post is, I know this because your eyes are drawn to it and it is clear and bold. The depth of field used in this would be F/4 I think because the lamp post is clearer then the background with the trees in. The lamp post is in the foreground because it is positioned in the center, the field where the trees are is in the background because its behind the lamp post and it looks a bit blurred out whereas the lamp post is clear, bright and in focus and the trees are out of focus. The shot is framed because the photographer has added a feature that we don't know and is a mystery for the people who admire his work. In my opinion I think this photographer has used a tripod because it is a still image and helps the photographer achieve a clear shot in the middle to make his work look more professional and create a master piece. He has used a higher ISO because the time he took the image it was night time and the image is grainy and visually noisy the photographer has done this because to make the lamp post stand out and also to make the image look old. The mood of the image is that it was taken in the dark where peace lays where no one is out and about or will go outside at that specific time whereas in the daylight its busy with traffic and many pedestrians walking and in the dark its all peaceful. For me I think he has used auto on White balance because its in the night time and not taken in the daylight which makes it harder to know what white balance it could be. This image can also show rule of thirds at the center because of the way it has been laid out in the foreground which makes the photo look more professional.
Bill Schwab is a very good influence because he may give me tips, ideas and inspiration to do with my project I will be doing and with this help I could magpie some of his ideas and link it to my work to make my work look more accurate. also to use my knowledge that I already have to develop my ideas to make it professional. His strengths could be that he can take clear, On point images and also his light and dark work shows me he has good key knowledge about how light and dark photography contrasts into his work. I know this because he has proven to me that he understands because of the way he has laid out his images. His work may link to mine because for my future shoots I will be taking images of light and dark which is similar to his, to make my work look more professional I will use photoshop to edit specific areas which may look exciting whilst using the edit. The theme is based on light and dark which gives me an idea that when I take my shots its linked with their work. His ideas of a lamp post I could use as near my house there is a lamppost which I could capture the lighting when its dark to take pictures of the sky and where light is to make my work look like his but different images using light and dark so I can expand my knowledge and develop new ideas and edit them to make it look more accurate and precise.
lHorst P Horst was born in Germany and his birth date was 14th August 1906, He died on the 18th November 1999 at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida His original name was Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann but chose to change his name to Horst P horst and was a German- American Fashion photographer who has a passion to make photos of people and different angles shading on the flowers to make them dark or light. by using this Horst P Horst used his own imagination to create his own ideas by not just taking photo but evaluating his knowledge by making the image look better. With other objects example in the picture above there is a bowl and Grapes next to the flowers. The image that Horst P horst has created is a still life image because of the way he structured it and how he laid it out and can see everyday.
In my opinion there's no strong leading lines, I can not really say or estimate whereas what the depth of field could be because of the backdrop in this image is clear grey with bits of shadows in the still image. The structure of the image is that it is in the foreground because for me I can see its closeup not that close but a little bit. This shot has been framed because it is a realistic image and a still life image where people see everywhere for example normally around parks where there are flower beds or just when your walking you see flowers blossoming. I don't think they have used a tripod as the image is already still and is capable to be still and will not fall or anything so he may have kept the objects sturdy, but I may be wrong they might have used a tripod because they may have shaky hands or cant keep still for less then a minute and the Tripod could be very useful by making the picture look more accurate and precise as how the photographer who has taken this image has imagined their work to look like. They might have adjusted the white balance and ISO because they are the settings which control light the Higher the ISO the darker The image, Lower the ISO the more bright it is according to the day. The White Balance could be changed depending on the daylight this photographer may have used his knowledge to take these photos in the daylight then adjust it to make it light and dark on photoshop, But in this image you cant really tell what White balance this could be on because of the clear grey backdrop. By looking at Horst P Horsts image I can refer that the shutter speed may be on f/8 because of the shadows looking a bit shady and color not that bright.
I like Horst P horsts work because his work looks interesting and the skill he has learnt when coming to light and dark photography and he understands I and how he adapted it in adding extra objects like the one above with the bowl and grapes and the flower. I love how he laid his work out in order and how he edited it on photoshop with the shadows making them look bit bright not too bright. His strengths could be that he knows how to structure Light and dark photography and to make it into a professional artist work. They link to my work because my theme is about light and dark also I could compare my work to there's because I can magpie some of his tips to make my work look better and the similarity between his work and mine.
Moodboard Chess piece
I have chosen these images from the internet for some inspiration for my ideas for a shoot.
Project Title: Light and Dark photography aim for shoots: My aim is to photograph chess pieces and perfume bottles for Friday to take photos of. I will use the black objects against a white background and the white objects against a dark background to show a contrast in colour. I will focus on shadows and different ways of lighting the objects. Location: I have decided to take my shoots in pexa. Props/items needed; I will need a chessboard with pieces and perfume bottles for my shoot. Kit needed: I will need A dark Backdrop and Light Backdrop and lighting and maybe a tripod. Camera settings: I will use a small depths of field to make the background blurred out and the chess piece the main focus of the image. White Balance Set for indoors and I will have to change my exposure throughout the shoot.
First Photoshoot off Chess piece
Black and white guitar mood board
first shoot of musical instruments
Musical instrument(Guitar)
Musical instrument (Disc)
MOCK period-1-4 Monday 25th April
Before
After
I have created this edit to show my understanding on how double exposure is used and to explore in further depths I have used my own knowledge by adding extra detail to make my work look more professional. I used the tool image then calculations then adjusted the settings for this outcome to occur. I then placed a layer on top and put it where it would fit and did that2 more times for the lighting to be set like that after that I used a different background a spotlight to make the right side look darker then the other side and the left side lighter then the right. For my final step I decided to add a triangle in the middle to make it look more accurate and to show that each source of light reflects on top of the angle of the triangle and the bottom angle in the middle of the 2 spotlights which have been added to the right side and the left side. In my opinion I think I tried my best to make this edit unique by adding more details and I think I have achieved what I wanted because of the effort I put in for this.
MOCK Period 4-5 Friday 29th April
Before
After
By creating this edit I have used different rages of tools for this outcome. First thing I did Was use the contrast tool and inside the contrast tool I picked the gradient and chose the colour which would be perfect for my edit and I did it 3 times with different colours I tried to Explore my own way how my work would turn out by experimenting different colours and adding them to my image and by that my final outcome has came out as a professional photographers work. I used a tutorial for a little bit of help with where to place my colours diagonal and sideways other then that I didn't really need to use and I used my own knowledge to add in extra detail by adding a neon circle to experiment how my work would turn out and in my opinion I think I have done a very good job at this edit because of the way I have laid my work out and By looking at my 'After'image you can see that the edit looks unique as no one has ever done this edit before and I used my imagination and inspirations to create this master piece.
MOCK Period 6-7 Friday 29th April
Before
After
I have created this edit by using the same tool as the one I edited above this one the Guitar the only difference in this edit is that when I edited this one I used more then 1 background as you can see above there is a triangle a circle and faintly if you look carefully you can see the square i added these additional features because I thought by adding these it may make my work look more impressive and to me in my opinion I think I have progressed by making this you could see the glow off the triangle reflecting on bass outer side and is contrasting. By far the most I think this has got to be my favorite edit so far going on from this project because of the way I structured it differently with more then 1 feature to make my work outstanding and clear. I think I could do better by adding different edit styles not just neon and backgrounds if i added double exposure my work may have looked better im still proud of the effort I put in making this edit because I used my imagination and my own knowledge and explored in further detail with my understanding on neon and backgrounds to portray this edit.
Piano photoshop Edit:
Before:
After:
Bass Edit:
Before:
After:
Chess piece Edit Black and white:
Before:
After:
Final Gallery:
Project evaluation
My chosen theme is Light and dark because I wanted to explore the different types of themes in photography and I think this one was a good choice because throughout my project I found a lot of interesting things like many light and dark objects. The part I enjoyed the most was when taking pictures of musical instruments in PEXA because I thought that was cool and editing those pictures made it fun. I have experienced new techniques throughout this project on photo shop using the gradient tool and have used my further understanding on different ways to edit musical instruments and I think that I have progressed well. In my opinion I think taking pictures and making them clear I might need to focus on that as I sometimes rush taking pictures and I think I need to go a bit more slower and use my time wisely and accurately to make my images look better and in focus. In this project I focused mostly on Bill Schwab and Horst P horst as my mood board was related to that and I researched why they wanted to do light and dark photography and who inspired them to do light and dark photography.
The photographers have influenced me a lot because before the project I was confused on what to do and after researching about these photographers I got more comfortable with the project also they have influenced me to make my images better by exploring the natures of the world and find light and dark objects to make it even better to edit them on photo shop with the black and white filter. The most successful work I have done is the chess piece because in my opinion I have laid them out on the black backdrop to make it look more elegant. Throughout this project i have struggled a little or too because my head wasn't in the process of this new project as for the past 2 months I have been doing Portrait. I have overcome my difficulties as I suddenly got used to it after the past 2 weeks and learnt the process of how light and dark photography work. My final gallery eventually became better afterwards because I got used to the way Light and dark photography after a while the first I did it was a bit difficult understanding what Light and Photography really is and why Photographers have chose that project.
If I had to redo my project I would make it better by adding extra features because I am now capable of making it because I fully understand what light and photography is and how it is made from other photographers such as Bill shwab and Horst p Horst.