Shoot 1 - A Bright Perspective

A Bright Perspective 

This is my first shoot within the exam and I have titled it 'A Bright Perspective'. The shoot shows 'camera obscura', a technique I have been using to illustrate my exam criteria of 'transformations'. The reason I have called this shoot 'A Bright Perspective' is because when carrying out the technique it was a very sunny day, leading to the result of my camera obscura being extremely detailed and saturated. Alongside the projected landscape I decided to have a human subject that I used to show a narrative. 

Inspiration 

Throughout this shoot I have been inspired by the work of Abelardo Morell and Marja Pirila due to their work involving camera obscura. 

Abelardo Morell 

Abelardo Morell concentrates on the projected landscape as his images don't include people. I have been influenced by the composition of his work as he carefully chooses where in the room the landscape would work best. I have kept this in consideration during my shoots as I have looked at using furniture to show the 3D effect of the projection and the corners of rooms, showing how the landscape moulds. Below are some examples of his work: 

View of Central Park looking North - Fall 2008 

Clearly shown above, Abelardo Morell uses the corners of the room, showing the landscape engulfing every wall. I feel this is much more powerful than photographing a small section of one wall. 

Landscape where Galileo died in exile - 2009 

This photograph shows how the landscape outside works with the furniture in the room. The very tip of the tree's reach the bed as though they are reaching for the pillows. I feel by using the landscape in this way it makes the image interesting and thought-provoking. 

Marja Pirila 

This shoot was also inspired by the photographer Marja Pirila. Her work is different to Abelardo Morell's as it includes a subject, usually a person within the image showing a narrative. This has inspired me in my own work because I have decided to start using a subject doing activities to further develop my photographs. Below are some examples of her work: 

Reilika and Reno - 2002 

This is an example of subjects used in Marja's work and I believe it works very well as the viewers attention is split between the landscape and the subjects. I like the realistic feeling of Pirila's work, nothing in the setting is perfectly placed, it seems very natural. There is even slight blur on the ladies hand where the long exposure setting needed for camera obscura more often than not produces blur. 

Anu - 2004 

The power of colour is something I have also picked up from Marja Pirila's work. She often uses complimentary and saturated colours to set the image off. This can be seen above with the subtle use of complimentary colours from the girls ginger hair and the trees on the wall. I have tried to pay close attention to colour in my images however most of mine are quite subtle. 

Contact Sheets 

The images in red boxes are the ones I will be using as my straight images. 

Straight Images 

Below are my straight images from the shoot 'A Bright Perspective'. Straight images are un-edited therefore they don't show any development I would like to do on them. The photographs are underexposed, which was my goal for these images, because by having them underexposed I can work with them in Photoshop without loosing much detail. I have discovered this after much experimentation, it is best to have a sharp image and brighten it than extend the shutter speed and have a blurred image. 

Linking my work to research (AO1) - 

As you can see above the 'straight images' I have chosen from this shoot display the technique, camera obscura. In two of the images I have my subject (my sister in this case) who is showing how she belongs in the room. This is influenced by the work of Marja Pirila who photographs people in their own homes, usually their bedroom, to show their natural setting which is the concept I have adopted above. In terms of Abelardo Morell, the other two straight images are of the room and one of an easel, further displaying the way the subject lives within this setting. 

Camera Settings & Technique (AO2) - 

In this shoot I was using the technique camera obscura, whereby I covered every source of light in a room and created a lens on the window around the size of a 2 pence coin. This acts as a pinhole camera and the light that is let in is shown in the form of the landscape outside. This technique requires a long exposure time for the camera to absorb the light therefore I used a tripod to ensure that my images weren't blurred. This is crucial in this technique as it is impossible to keep the camera perfectly still for a prolonged period of time. 

In terms of my camera settings the only aspect that stayed the same was the aperture which I tried to keep at F20 or F22 to ensure that the images weren't noisy. My ISO varied between 100 and 400 depending on the amount of light coming through the lens at that particular moment and whether the photograph was going to be of a subject. If it did include the subject then I would put the ISO higher allowing me to have a shorter shutter speed, preventing the subject getting uncomfortable and moving. Lastly, there is the shutter speed used, the most important aspect of this technique as without a long exposure it wouldn't be possible to produce the image. All of the speeds used were over 1 minute going up to 2 minutes 30 seconds in some cases. 

Editing (AO2) - 

I have edited three of my four straight images, as upon closer inspection I felt that the last image was to blurred and lacked detail. Below I will demonstrate the stages I took with one image, however all of my editing processes were similar. 

Original image 

Step 1 - 

The first thing I did in Photoshop is open the image into the section where NEF files can be edited in closer detail. The main aspects I changed in this section were the exposure, contrast and the highlights. All of these are brightening factors expect contrast which was used to bring detail back. I needed to do this because the original photograph was extremely underexposed. 

Step 2 - 

The second thing I done was crop the image as there were things at the bottom of the photograph that I didn't want to keep in and a shadow at the side. I cropped the image as much as I could without loosing my subjects feet, to erase the rest I used the patch tool to alter the colour and then the dodge and burn tools to make it appear smoother. 

 Step 3 - 

The next ting I did was only a small alteration where I increased the saturation. I did this because I feel that the camera didn't pick up the brightness of the camera obscura like it was displayed in the room. Therefore I brought this effect back. 

Step 4 -

Lastly, I done another small alteration by using the 'colour balance' tool. With this I moved the bottom bar more towards yellow from blue as during the editing process I felt the tint had been changed. 

Edited image 

Computer experiments (AO2) - 

Below are the two computer experiments I done using the images taken in shoot 1. I decided to bring a direct image of the landscape into the camera obscure photograph and use mirroring to transform one of my subject photographs. I have explained how I achieved this along with screenshots in the post 'computer experiments'. 

This is the first edit I made, as you can see it is a 'double landscape' whereby an image of the street directly and the camera obscura have been put together. I decided to do this as I thought it would be an interesting idea to show what the landscape outside the window actually looks like in comparison to what is produced in the dark room. Although the image looks slightly complicated I think it forms a very interesting and detailed show of a landscape in a very original way. What I like about this edit is the fact that the bottom landscape blends into the background therefore reflecting the way a camera obscura works. This in one of my favourite edits that I have produced so far. 

This is my second experiment using images from shoot 1. I feel that this image is very intriguing and looks almost like an illusion. I decided to mirror this image because where the houses touch in the middle they appear to be coming out at different angles making the room look much longer than it actually is. I feel that this experiments with the use of mirrors that some photographers use in their camera obscura work. It expands on the idea of using interestingly shaped objects or rooms to see how the landscape wraps around them. I feel that I have created this concept through the use of photoshop however still keeping my subject as a focus of my work. 

Physical experimentation (AO2) 

I have completed a physical experiment for this shoot by adding a window frame to the image of choice. I done this by measuring how big I needed it to be, then cut it out of white paper and stuck it onto the image. The image below is the result: 

I decided to do this as I feel it brought the actual view from the window in with the view from inside the darkroom. I like this idea as I have centred most of my project around bringing a person and their interior and exterior environment together through the use of camera obscura. Therefore, by bringing the window frame into it too, it adds anew dimension to the meaning by showing what they see when looking out of their room. I like the outcome of this image as it is interesting and takes a close look to figure out what it is actually showing. 

I have slightly edited this image in Photoshop by smudging the frame to make it appear smoother. I have also increased the saturation of the photograph in order to bring back the colour that was lost through scanning the image on the computer. 

Final edits 

This is one of my final images from this shoot because I think it's original, it shows the camera obscura landscape quite close-up. I like the fact that the roof of the house is close to my subjects head and the point comes down past her shoulders, this makes the composition of the image very aesthetically pleasing. I feel that the contrast between the blue sky and the red brick house are crucial to it being seen beside my subject. In regards to the person, I recognise that they are slightly blurred, this is due to the long exposure time. However, that being said the blur doesn't ruin the image it fits in, the slight distortion of my subjects face makes them blend in with the hazy background. I feel that this image perfectly displays the title 'A Bright Perspective' as it is just that, an extremely bright and clear day that can be seen in the bright blue sky. 

This image encompasses everything I have learned from researching Abelardo Morell and it is definitely one of my favourites. The landscape that has been projected in this image is so sharp, bright and detailed, everything that I have been aiming to achieve. I feel that this photograph shows how I have refined my technique throughout the preparatory shoots and have been able to achieve some of the best work so far. The landscape seamlessly wraps itself around the room, curving around the wardrobe and not missing a spot, this really puts into perspective the bringing together of interior and exterior living environments. This image will be perfect to work with in physical and computer experiments. 

Lastly, there is his image which again I recognise there is blur in my subject. In this case it works because the rooftops are covering the subjects face, making it unclear whether movement is causing this or the landscape. This image is similar to the one above in terms of composition however I felt it was important to show the person that lives in this environment, in the style of Marja Pirila. I feel that by having my sister in the room it brings character, it doesn't just appear empty there is a personality that lives there. I also think the height of my subject relevant to the landscape is important because it follows in a line, whereby the two overlap in the middle, a good composition. 

Critical evaluation (AO3) - 

I feel that this shoot went well and is definitely an improvement on my preparatory ones. I have managed to refine my technique and create a more detailed and saturated landscape than I have before. To do this I have decreased the size of the lens I use so the landscape comes out sharper. I have also altered my camera settings especially in terms of ISO (light sensitivity) to ensure there isn't any noise in the photographs. However, there are some criticisms I have of this shoot, one being the blur in some of the photographs where my subject has moved, I feel that images with a subject require a higher ISO and shorter shutter speed to avoid this problem. Another aspect I need to work on is the exposure of the images as all of them were underexposed, although I can fix this in Photoshop it would be good to have the detail and correct exposure when opening the photographs.