SLR Tests : Olympus OM 10

This series of photographs was taken in the dark, without flash, and only using a torch for effective lighting. This was a fun experimental project as we had control of our own lighting. 

This is the contact sheet that I created. I was sharing my camera (Olympus OM 10) with a friend, and we were taking the pictures of each other. I think that an improvement that I could have made would be to straighten up the film strips so they fit better on the photo paper. I perhaps should have split them up so that you would be able to see all of the photographs on the film strip. 

Unfortunately, the process of scanning this in doesn't do this picture justice. I thought that the contrast in this picture was really clear and good, and I think that the torch light made a really nice effect. However, I think that this photograph came out darker during developing then I had hoped.

This picture was originally the same size as the photograph below, but I decided to crop it to just the person, and not showing the torch in the photograph, as I think that this worked better and looked more professional. The contrast isn't so clear on this, but I still like the effect that it creates.

This is with a darker contrast, and I think that it creates a nice effect, as you can really see the light that the torch is creating. However, I think that I prefer it when there is less contrast and the photograph is lighter, such as the one below. 

I personally really like this photo, as I think that although it is supposed to be much darker, I think that it works. 

This is one of my favourite photographs that I took during the lesson. Although it is a little blurry, I think that it creates a nice effect. I think that how her face is just lit up and she's looking away from the camera, looks really good.

Snapshot Photography : Photographs from the past.

 This photograph was taken last year when I visited Cornwall. It was a fairly sunny day, and to me, the lighting seemed just perfect for this photograph. 
I actually edited this photograph on photoshop and added a picture of a passing train on top for my previous theme, Journeys, however I think that it also works for the theme of Light as the light from the train creates and interesting effect. The picture is shown below :

~

 This photograph was taken during a walk in the Spring. I found an apple tree and decided to take some shots - this is just one of them, but I think that the way the light is hitting the leaves and the apples is really pretty. 

This photograph was taken on Halloween. I had carved a pumpkin and when it became dark outside, I decided to take a photograph of it. I think that this works well for our theme of 'Light' as you can just see the light from the candle in the pumpkin and there isn't another light source, which makes this quite 'spooky' - perfect for Halloween! This photograph appears slightly blurry but I think that is because there isn't a lot of light available. I wanted the only light source to be from the pumpkin, to give the full effect. 

All of these photographs were taken by myself on a Fujifilm Finepix Z camera. This camera is only 7.0 megapixels but I think that it can take good photographs if you take the time to focus it, and good lighting helps.

Looking at artists : Pablo Picasso.

Click on the photograph to be redirected to the original source.

(Was not able to find a title for this piece)

CONTEXT

This light painting is by Pablo Picasso, a famous artist known for many of his abstract paintings. He isn’t as known for his light paintings but they are still styled towards his usual theme of abstract creations. 

AESTHETICS

This light painting photograph would have been made by using a very slow shutter speed. This would have most likely been taken using a film SLR. While the shutter is open, Picasso would have used either a torch, candle or something of that sort to create this abstract piece. In this, you can see two images of the artist, as the camera would have picked up him moving while the shutter was open, so not only can you see him standing still, you can also see him moving around with whatever he is using to make the light drawing. The composition in this photograph is good - there is a sense of the space in the setting being used well. The artist and the painting are pretty much central, but because there are objects around the centre in the background, all of the space is being used particularly well. The colour in this photograph, perhaps because of the time of day (this would have taken some time, so if the sun was setting, or rising, it would have had an effect on the lighting in the photograph), is slightly faded and there is a purple/pink gradient tint to the whole photograph.

MEANING

This photograph, I think, fits into the category of Portraiture, as the artist is included in the photograph, but I think it also fits into a category of Abstract, as the artist is best known for his Abstract paintings and work in general. I can’t quite make out what he has drawn, but to me it looks a bit like a figure. The thing about Picasso’s work, is that it can look like more than one thing, and can look and mean like different things to different people, depending on their age, gender or even at what point in time that they look at it.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

I personally quite like this piece by Pablo Picasso. Although it is not my favourite piece of light painting work that I have seen, I like the fact that you can see him drawing the painting, and that he is blurred and also that due to the slow shutter speed, it makes two of him appear - I think that this is quite effective, and makes it look like there is more than one person painting the image. The blurriness and the fact that there are two of him makes the image seem somewhat ghostly, which I think gives the photograph a nice ‘atmosphere’, if that is at all possible.

Looking at artists : Janne Parviainen

Click on the photograph to visit the artists' flickr page.

CONTEXT

This series of light paintings was done by Janne Parviainen. I have chosen the piece ‘Family Meeting’ from the collection. 

AESTHETICS

This has been made by having a very slow shutter speed (this one was 567 seconds long) and while the shutter is open, glow pens/lights of different colours are used to draw the skeletons. There are also real people sitting down at the tables, so I think that they drew skeletons with the glow pens makes the photograph become ghostly and mysterious, which I think is a good effect and idea. The time of day appears to be late afternoon, when the sun is setting, which works particularly well for the light painting to show up strongly in the photograph.

MEANING

I think that there is a meaning behind this photograph. There are real people involved in this photograph as well as the skeletons. The skeletons could be symbolising people or friends that they have lost, or even family members (as the title of the piece would suggest, being titled ‘Family Meeting’). It could also be suggesting that there is more to a family then just the people who are alive in it. I think that this is a strong and powerful meaning.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

I personally love not only this piece, but the entire series/collection. I think that it is a really unique and different technique to photography that I find really interesting. It has inspired me to try my own light painting as I think that it would be something new and different for me try. I also love how these photographs have not been edited - that they are straight from the camera.

Light Mood Board

Moodboard for the theme of 'Light'.

This moodboard involves light paintings, images of the moon and moonlight, candles (also candles in pumpkins), tree lights and natural light. 

Links to artists work :

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Light Mindmap

This mindmap involves lists of artists related to the theme of 'Light' and also types of light photography. This will be good to refer back to during the project for help on what artists to analyse, and will also give me inspiration on different types of light photography. My favourite type of light photography at the moment is light painting, as it looks like an interesting and also fun project.