Looking at the work of Jerry Uelsman...

Browsing the internet the other day I came across the work of Jerry Uelsman.  I think I may have seen some of his images before but didn't know who created them.

I think his images are very surreal.  They are also interesting in relation to this course and to 'ethics' when you consider they were not manipulated digitally.  I suppose most people believe the digital age gave birth to image manipulation.  However, this is not necessarily the case.

Looking at Graham Clarke's The Photograph which is a history of photography dedicating a chapter to each genre, image manipulation began in the early 1900s possibly with Alvin Langdon Coburn's vortograph.

I am still not sure where I stand on the entire manipulation thing but I can say that I am less resistant to the idea of manipulating images.  I can actually see the benefits now and also the fact that manipulation and the use of Photoshop doesn't mean you are cheating in any way.  It is just another part of the creative process in the piece of art you are making.

Back to Uelsman, I really like the dreamy feel to his work and I can see how his influence could work on 'Project Time'.

I also like the way the manipulation is subtle.  It almost looks like it has been painted/sketched.

http://www.uelsmann.net/

Researching assignment 4

Assignment 4 is all about using all the tools available to you to create a 'fake' or manipulated photograph.

As most of the work of photographers that I like does not use a lot of manipulation I decided to buy some Photoshop magazines for inspiration and I suppose guidance.

Some months ago I attended a seminar by Scott Kelby who is big into Photoshop.  The CD that was part of the seminar notes is a good resource for basic retouching especially for portraits.  There is also a section on compositing.

At the seminar he had a special guest - Glyn Dewis - who is a photographer, retoucher and Photoshop trainer.  He shoots a lot of promotional and commercial material and when I saw a section by him in Practical Photoshop I decided to buy that as a starter.

His 'How to create a portrait with punch' was interesting and although I liked the final image I was keen on attempting it myself.  Although the instructions were clear enough my portrait didn't look as punchy as his.  Perhaps my model just lacked that certain 'punchability' or else I just missed something along the way.  I abandoned the idea either way.

I liked some of the images that readers have sent into the magazine and I also found some of their ideas more inspiring than the real articles and 'how to' sections.

The challenge in the previous issue was a poetry inspired challenge.  The results in the issue I had were really good.  I liked the introduction of text to the image.  I felt that this was particularly relevant to my assignment.

I think I need to continue to buy Photoshop magazines to keep an eye for these types of images and to keep my options open as to how they would work in my own photography.

Thoughts on my personal project

I have been giving some thought to my personal project over the last few days and put together a short brief and some preliminary ideas.

The assignment

To create a series of 10-12 images from a theme of my choice applying what I have learned from this course. 

My personal brief

To date my assignments have been based on real objects/subjects – things that we can see.  I have set myself the challenge of working on a theme that cannot be shown directly but can be illustrated through the use of symbols and creative illustrative techniques.  I feel this will give me a good opportunity to utilise what I have learnt on the course giving me a greater creative freedom to explore a particular theme.

I have chosen the theme ‘time’ for this project.   I want to produce a series of images that capture and illustrate the essence of time, its effects, passage and cyclical nature.  Time is ever flowing but we are often unaware and oblivious to this.  The times when we become aware of the passage of time is when we haven’t seen someone for a long time and we see how they have aged or changed.  I also would like to explore how we tend to represent time and try to contain it – hours, days, months, seasons and years. 

I would like to look at what time means to me personally and show this in my images. 

Research

As part of my research and a basic starting point I have made a list of all items/symbols we would associate with time. 

General

• ·         Clocks – hands on clock, digital clock
• ·         Hourglass
• ·         Calendars, diaries and schedules
• ·         Decay
• ·         Graveyards
• ·         Newspapers
• ·         Passing of time, history

     Contrasts

• ·         Old and new
• ·         Young and old
• ·         Day and night

Camera specific

• ·         Shutter speed – extrusive time, frozen time,  still time, long exposures
• ·         Photographs are static how do you capture the flow of time?
• ·         Opaque and transparent – while some pictures draw you in others prevent you from moving into the frame
• ·         Colour V monochrome

Shoot specific

• ·         Street photography – capturing fleeting moments
• ·         Still life/studio work
• ·         Landscapes
• ·         Day and night
• ·         Times of day, year
• ·         Weather
• ·         Planned and unplanned shoots

As part of my research I plan to carry out a number of recces for planned shoots, identify possible still life compositions and undertake some random street shots where appropriate.  

Presentation

I believe presentation will contribute to this piece of work.  I have seen from the exhibitions I have been to the effect of colour and black and white prints together with the size of prints.  I would like to see how I might incorporate this into my work. 

I would also like to consider the use of dyptychs. 

Ethics

In relation to ethics, I believe that working with the time theme will present a few ethical dilemmas with regard to representation and will therefore help me identify where my own ethical boundaries lie.  It will not be a case of shooting a subject but looking at a concept and visually portraying it in a variety of ways. 

Exercise: Alteration

For this exercise I had to take an image and remove a subject from the picture.

I chose this image of a gravestone.

I think the image would look a lot better without the distracting gravestone in the background.

Before

After

I used the clone stamp tool to remove the distracting headstone in the background.  I think although this alters the picture it enhances it.  

Experimenting with HDR

I have never really played around with HDR in my images preferring to go for a more natural looking.  However, I thought I would give it a try to see what my image from the previous exercise would like in HDR.

This first image was converted to HDR using the Photorealistic preset.  I don't think it looks too realistic myself, the blues in the sky are somewhat unnatural.

Using the More saturated setting in the Presets this looks very unrealistic.  

I'm not quite sure where I stand with the surreal effects of an HDR image. Perhaps it works better for some images that others. Perhaps it's something I should experiment with some more.  

Exercise: Addition

For this exercise I had to look at taking a landscape picture and changing the appearance of the sky.

From a shooting perspective I used a tripod to take a series of images at different exposures with a view to producing two images - one with the sky exposed correctly and the other exposed for the land.

For the land exposure I used the average meter reading from the camera.  For the sky I under-exposed by a stop.

Exposed as per the average meter reading

One stop under-exposed

Photograph adjusted in PS using the eraser tool.  

Another way of changing the sky is to use the Magic Wand tool to select the sky using the lasso tool where necessary to include or deselect elements accordingly.  Once the selection has been made you can the save it and delete the sky from the upper image.  This will leave you with a similar image to the one above.  However, you have more control over the image selection using the Magic Wand tool.  It is also a quicker way of achieving the result.

Image adjusted using the magic wand tool.

Adding a new sky to the image

There is also the option to add a different sky to the image above.  This too is intervention but unlike above it it not at legitimate.  You are taking two images one with a better sky and adding that to your landscape.  Above you are taking two images of the exact same scene which capture the full range of brightness in the image.  This seems more like a natural process.  

With sky replaced

I'm not so sure that this works.  Perhaps I would need a sky with more white in it or even a brighter sky.  Maybe because I know the sky does not belong to the image I know that it is not right.  The reflection of the clouds is not mirrored in the water correctly.  

I don't think that replacing the sky is something that I would ever really want to do with my photographs.  I feel that it is a step too far.  

Exercise: Enhancement

This exercise involves making changes that many would say go beyond reality.

I had to photograph a close up head and shoulders portrait in natural lighting for this exercise.

The first selection is basic dodging where I have to draw attention to the face by adjusting the brightness and contrast.

The second selection and adjustment is of the eyes - by exaggerating the colour of the iris by increasing saturation and brightness.

And then by using the hue.

This is the original picture.

Original 

With brightness and contrast increased.  This brings out more definition in the face but the difference is subtle. 

The difference between the original and the image that has been adjusted is very subtle and can be seen close up.  I think that the difference would be less subtle if the subject was more in the shade.

Here is an example of the subject shot in deeper shade.

Original

With the brightness and contrast adjusted. 

The second image shows the effects of the adjustment more.  I think both look natural and the adjustments enhance the image.  

In this image the colour of the iris has been exaggerated using brightness and saturation.  Personally I think this looks fake.  The eyes stand out and look slightly odd.  

The colour of the eyes here have been changed using hue.  Again they don't look natural to me.  

I feel that simple dodging and burning techniques produce natural results therefore I would see them as acceptable.  However, when you start changing the colour of the eyes the image starts to look tampered with.  

In saying that there are instances where I would consider adjusting the colour of the eyes.  If you are looking for a creative effect with a high key black and white image colour in the eyes however unnatural looking would be interesting.  The very fact that the image is black and white makes it unnatural as it is not the way our eyes see what is in front of us.