Photography evaluation

Photography evaluation

The equipment used

Cambo camera stand

Tripod

Canon 5d

Canon SD II

Green screen (chroma key)

Bowens 500w portable lighting 
DSLR camera
Light meter

Lightroom
Photoshop 

I was first introduced to photography in September. I also had my first set of portrait photos taken in October this session was to improve our ability when setting up the camera, lights and our confidence in front of the camera.

For a task that related to Mark and Lance I had to use my photography skills to take horror photos for the theme on Halloween. I used use green screen. Known as chromakey. 

So as photography was taking shape I moved on to light drawing. Light drawing was a simple and enjoyable task. To draw with lights I used glow sticks and torches with colored filters. I had to keep my finger on the capture button of the Canon 5d camera while a partner was drawing with the torch or glow sticks. The rooms had to be in complete darkness and by drawing I mean waving the glow sticks and torches around.

I researched shutter speed/ISO and shutter speed and all that research is on my website.

 To give you a brief example ISO speed affects the shutter speed. ISO is how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light present.

 Exposure is the total amount of light allowed to fall on the photographic medium during the process of taking a photo.

 Shutter speed is a setting on the camera, which controls the length of time the shutter is open.

I moved onto low key lighting. I had a look in a photography books at low key lighting images. I did like low key lighting images. It was a good session but i didn't have many photos taken.

After half term i moved onto stop frame photography. Stop frame photography consists of using objects and people. For example. If i had a football and a net, i would move the ball slowly capturing the balls movement until the ball is in the net. I created a bird stop frame photography. I'm happy with my stop frame photography piece because i thought it was a great idea. 

I was introduced to an editing software called light room, it's much easier than photoshop. 

I then moved onto still life photography. This was a lesson we concentrated on looking at how to set up the DSLR camera. The DSLR camera was attached to a cambo stand. We were shown how to adjust the settings and the camera to the lighting conditions of the room by using a light meter. A light meter is used to measure the amount of light. The light meter is used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph. Once to test the light meter on it will then give you recommended settings (f-stop and shutter speed) which you then input on the camera. Were given a tutorial but then we had to go and do it ourselves, which includes setting the camer settings to the light meter.

Triptychs was my next topic. Instead of taking a photo of someone's body, this was about taking photos of the body separately. (head, chest and legs) doing this gave us the ability to swap body parts around with others. I enjoyed this task it was good. I put a boys head on a girls body. Really enjoyable. We edited the photos in photoshop.



 I then went on to research photographers and there work. I came across David Bailey, here is an image that i tried to emulate. I did enjoy researching David and Steve, and that was my main reason in trying to emulate their work. In order to have these photos taken i had to book the studio.

Below is Steve Pyke's work i researched and tried to emulate.

Finally i was introduced to the work of David Hockney. David Hockney.
is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London. David Hockney has also worked with photography, or, more precisely, photocollage. Using varying numbers ofPolaroid snaps or photolab-prints of a single subject Hockney arranged a patchwork to make a composite image. Below are examples of Hockney's work.

 The picture of the woman above was one that caught my eye. David captures many images in order to create her face. I do like the image and the creativity he has used. Above it a piece i put together using photoshop, we were sent out to capture our own images, and here is the final result.

This year i have learnt a lot. Photograpgy wasn't my strongest subject, at times it was hard to find the motivation and confidence when having my photo taken. I have enjoyed the course and year, i know how to use a camera better and edit photos. What i enjoyed most was stop frame photography, the piece i created with the birds was enjoyable. Throughout the year my confidence has improved, if i were to do this again then i can only hope that i have more photos taken of myself.

David Hockney A Bigger Picture

David Hockney.
is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London. David Hockney has also worked with photography, or, more precisely, photocollage. Using varying numbers ofPolaroid snaps or photolab-prints of a single subject Hockney arranged a patchwork to make a composite image.
Because these photographs are taken from different perspectives and at slightly different times, the result is work that has an affinity with Cubism, which was one of Hockney's major aims – discussing the way human vision works.

Below is a piece i created

 

Animation evaluation

Animation evaluation.

I do like cartoons but I was never interested in how they were made or making my own. When I was told I would be working on animation I sighed because that’s not what I’m interested in. However, this was an opportunity to learn something new and create something. I was eager and willing to participate.

After an in depth explanation of what animation is from Steve, I got an idea of what animation was. Steve also showed me an example of animation, and told me what he expected me to come up with.

I started off my research my learning about a Rostrum camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GftRnVY98o this link is animation created by a rostrum camera. Before the dawn of the digital age there was only one way to get your drawings onto the screen and that was by photographing them one frame at a time on a rostrum camera. 

The rostrum comprised a motion picture camera pointing down at a table onto which the artwork could be placed and held flat under a hinged sheet of glass. The artwork could be panned incrementally to the left or right, up or down, and in rotation, and the camera could slide up or down, away or towards, the artwork to create a zoom effect. 


Rostrum cameras are used for television, filmmaking and animation. (animating a still picture or object) 

If you don’t know what 2d animation is then click this link and press play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P65j2ejRPJQ

Before creating my first piece of animation I had a practice to get the hang of things. I cut a woman and a car from a magazine and started moving it slowly while taking photos of the movement. The camera I used was a canon 600d.

Playing my 2d animation back was actually fun. It seemed so simple to make and I was starting to like animation. I did plan to create a 2d animation involving football but I didn’t have the time and it was time to move on. I moved to the class late and that’s the reason I ran out of time.

After experiencing 2d animation I moved onto 3d animation. I already had an idea of what needed to be done so I didn’t need telling and I just jumped straight into it.

My first experience of 3d animation was taking photos and taking part in moving a manikin. I tried to make it dance. I really enjoyed doing this-but unfortunately I didn’t have time to put my 3d animation together. Green screen is used a lot in photo's, television and films. For example the weather man seems to be standing infron a large map but instead it's a greenscreen or blue background. If you look at the picture below, that is what was used to light up the manikin. 

One piece of 3d animation I did manage to put together and edit was the action figure animation. We had to bring our own action figures in and work as a group of three to create it. 

The 3d action figure animation I feel was a good piece. Obviously there is a lot of improvement that needs to be done within my work, like the quality and the length of the animation. I was happy with the 3d animation I had created though, as I’m a beginner.

I and class mates had a motion capture day playing kinect in the studio. If you don't know what kinect is then i'll give you a brief description. Kinect is a motion sensing input device for the X box 360. Kinect is like the eye toy for Playstation 2 but better and more advanced. Kinect(s) dual camera system allows you to use gestures to control the gameplay instead of using a control or control pad. You can also control kinect by speaking to it and it will listen. (Giving it an order to go on a game)

Kinect is useful in many ways as it can educate you and also be used to keep you fit. The purpose of kinect is to experience a new, enjoyable way of keeping fit-instead of sitting down.

I really enjoyed kinect. The experience was great. Researching Kinect i thought was interesting because there are many purposes for the device.

Within my research i learnt facial motion capture is taking the movement of someones face and converting this into a database with a camera or laser scanners. This database is then used to produce computer graphics, computer animations, movies and games in this case, real time avatars. Motion capture is related to the performance capture but is challenging and will require more attention because of it's requirement for higher resolution. 

I then went to create my stop motion bag. Stop motion is where you take pictures of an object such as a bag step by step moving it slowly into different positions to make it into a film. While creating my stop motion on final cut pro i managed to take some screen shots, the video is posted on my blog. 

I learnt a lot in the process of creating my pieces of animation and research. I’m still not interested in animation but I did enjoy learning about it.
 If I were told to create my pieces of animation at home then I would have a problem, as I wouldn’t have the resources.
 I didn’t have any complications during the process of making my pieces. I edited my animations on final cut pro. Final cut is what I’ve been using to edit my film projects with so I already had an idea on how to edit. When I first used final cut pro, I didn’t know what I was doing but as the weeks passed by I finally developed my skills. 

David Bailey

David Bailey's said himself he had no style, in his younger years Bailey developed a love of natural history this led him into photography. Picasso has had a massive influence on Bailey. 

 In 1959
he became a photographic assistant at the John French studio he then went on to be contracted as a fashion photographer for British vogue magazine in late 1960.

 Bailey is also said to have helped create the 'swinging London' of the 60s. at the height of his productivity he shot 800 pages of Vogue editorial in one year. Bailey's work is said to have thrived the most during the swinging sixties, his work remains timeless and he remains one of the best original photographers. He maintains that his style of photography remains the same I've always tried to do pictures that don't date. I always go for simplicity.

David is regarded as one of the best British photographers.

After researching Bailey's worked, i picked up on the models facial expression. They were motionless. Here is a photo i re-created. My photo's were edited on editing software called lightroom. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gr2dC7NhR6Q#!

I fall in love with them when I'm photographing them, men, women, even dogs sometimes. David Bailey gives his insight on his work. He explains that hard work is needed to create an image. Bailey shows his passion within this interview. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbCm6zyC1Qg&feature=related

This link is Bailey explaining his work in the 1960's and previous people he's photographed. He explains in depth about body language and a sense of coolness within the photo and his inspirations. Many years after Bailey became a photographer. he reiterates his love for photography. 

Brian Smith photography

I have looked at the work of Brian Smith and i like his work. Brian Smith captures bold, graphic and iconic images of celebrities and athletes. Brian has been doing this for over 30 years. I based the photo's i will be taking of my partner on Brian's work.

 

"I've got the greatest job in the world. My worst days as a photographer might be the greatest days in the lives of many people."  -- Brian Smith

I tried to re-create this picture by using my partner Kyle.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pYnd-KdENHE

In this video Brian talks about his work. Brian explains what his work means to him. Brian works with Sony. Brian shows the insight on how he caught the eye of magazine editors. Brian prefers to work without a tripod.

I chose this video because Brian talks about his glittering career in depth.

batman action figure 3d animation

Here is my batman animation 3D!

Stop motion bag

Stop motion is where you take pictures of an object such as a bag step by step moving it slowly into different positions to make it into a film. I will post an example on my blog and explain in detail.

Today I created my own stop motion photography animation. I used a canon 5d camera to capture my photo's shot by shot. I used my bag and phone charger wire, with the wire coming out of the bag.

 Before i made attempts to climb the children's climbing frame, but my feet were too big and i couldn't get my balance. In comparison to my other idea's i feel this idea was the best and worked out well. It wasn't what i initially wanted to do, but i got round to doing something in the end.

Stop motion is a technique used to make a static object appear like it's moving on it's own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.