Ghost Photography Experimentations

 For this experiment, I decided to try out the ghost photography technique. I took photographs and created a double exposure technique in photoshop. Some of the photographs I took were over exposed as this helped to give a more 'ghostly' effect when I double exposed the images:

For the three photographs above, I took the pictures outside at night time. I thought that this added a unique and mysterious effect as well as creating a more gothic feel to the photograph. I played around with using the flash on my camera - which did give a ghostly effect, however I preferred using the outside light, as this gave a slightly softer effect.

To create this effect in photoshop, open up your two images, and copy and paste one into the other as a new layer. Then change the opacity to around 50%, however this will change depending on your chosen photographs. For some of the images I also changed the layer type to screen, as this gave a more over exposed effect which I think made the ghost effect better and more interesting, as it was harder to see the 'ghost'.

For the two photographs above, I took this photographs inside using softbox lighting. I put them quite close as this gave a harsher effect - which made everything look slightly more doll like - relating to the fairytale idea. The second photograph is more faint which I think creates a more ghost like effect - it also creates the idea of two separate ghosts rather than just one in the background, which I think is interesting.

For the photograph above, I again blended the two images and then added a dark blue layer on top, and changed the layer type to overlay, for a vintage effect. I also then played around with the curves which created a bit more of a blue tone to the image:

This photograph above is simple and is just of the flower headband that I was wearing. I thought it was a contrasting image as it combines both the black and gothic feel with the plain and 'innocent' white background and porcelain skin.

End of Project Evaluation.

Throughout this 'Light' project, I have discovered interesting photographers during my research behind the theme. I have really enjoyed experimenting with light, especially light painting. I like the fact that this project really gave me a chance to properly experiment with both film and digital SLRs. This project also gave me a chance to make my photographs even better on photoshop, and I think that I created some really great effects on it, such as this piece :

I also learnt how to perfect light painting, working out which shutter speeds work best on my two cameras : Olympus OM 10 Film SLR camera, as well as my Canon EOS 600D digital SLR camera. When working with both, I found that the B setting worked best on my Olympus camera, which meant that I could keep the shutter open for as long as possible, although sometimes I kept it open for too long and the picture became over-exposed and not as detailed. With the Canon, I found that using the shutter speed of 10/1 second worked the best for that camera, and what I wanted to do with the shot. I used a red laser pen for my shots, and one of my favourites was this one :

However, I found that it didn't give me enough time to perfect my writing in the shot! I think that it gave a great effect, especially as I shot it in pitch black light. 

Throughout the project, the artists that I looked at various artists that inspired me; Janne Parviainen, Pablo Picasso and Patrick Rochon. I found there work interesting to research and helped me to experiment more in my own photographs. My favourite artist that I looked at this project was probably Janne Parvianinen, as I found the light paintings of the skeletons among a 'family gathering' really inspirational. 

Some things during this project didn't work, I sometimes found that my pictures weren't focused properly, so they came out blurry when developing them. I also found that working out the shutter speed for my light paintings was tricky - trying them at 5 seconds, 10 seconds and 20 seconds to see which worked best. I found that a different time worked best for each separate photograph, so it was difficult to work out which time worked with which photograph, and this took time, but for quite a few of my photographs, the timings worked well. For example, these ones didn't turn out quite right:

Using GlowDoodle

Using the digital SLRs. 

For the next project, I think that I will try and experiment a bit more with my work, and try and improve on the things that don't go so well, instead of just focusing on the photographs that have worked. I will also try and take a variety of different photos, including different locations, and light settings etc...

Photoshop Editing. Film to Digital.

These photos were taken using an Olympus OM 10 SLR film camera. I then scanned them in and edited them on photoshop, adding layers of pictures of Christmas trees that I took recently. The Christmas tree photographs were taken out of focus so that they created the 'twinkle' effect. I like how it looks over the top of these photographs. I chose the layer 'screen' to create this effect. Without the effects, the pictures weren't as interesting or defined. For example, in the top picture, it came out quite out of focus, but I did like the lighting in it, so I wanted to keep the photograph to use in my project. By adding the texture on top, it made the photograph more unique, and you don't focus as much on the blurriness of the picture. In the bottom photograph, the lighting doesn't appear very good. I thought that by adding the texture on top, it would make the lighting of it more interesting. The lines are from the windows that were lit up by the Christmas tree, and I think that they create an unusual yet interesting effect. I am happy with how the photographs came out in photoshop.

Get photoshop here!

Light Painting : Digital

The following pictures were taken on a Nikon D3000. The Shutter speed used was 8/1 second. The Aperture was set to F/3.8 and the Focal Length was 22mm. The ISO speed was 400.

This picture was taken on a Canon EOS 600D. The Shutter Speed was 10/1 seconds and the Aperture was F/4.5. The Focal Length was 30mm and the ISO speed was 320. I used a EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens.

I really enjoyed taking these photographs as I liked having the freedom to experiment. All of them except the last one were taken at College, but the last one was taken at home. I liked trying the different effects and I found that writing with a laser pen on the wall worked really well. I found out that on a film SLR camera, you don't want to keep the shutter speed open too long as it could over-expose the film, however on a digital SLR camera you can keep it open as long as you want, as there is no film to over-expose. I also liked how on the last one, the red laser pen appeared pink, which was due to changing some of the settings on the camera, which happened by me experimenting. I found, however, that sometimes I should have made the shutter speed longer as I rushed to get all of the writing in, so that could be an area to improve. 

This one above, for example, didn't work particularly well. I think the reason that it didn't work as well is because there was too much light source, therefore not showing the full effect of the laser pen drawing. I think that if it had been darker, the effect would have been much better. I do however like the effect of how the face has been blanked out which makes her seem emotionless, which I think is interesting.

The season of lights.

Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 600D
Shutter Speed:1/49 second
Aperture:F/4.0
Focal Length:28 mm
ISO Speed:2500
Date Taken:Dec 25, 2011, 6:25:01 PM
Lens:EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Sensor Size:22mm

Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 600D
Shutter Speed:1/41 second
Aperture:F/4.0
Focal Length:25 mm
ISO Speed:2000
Date Taken:Dec 25, 2011, 4:52:04 PM
Lens:EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Software:QuickTime 7.7
Sensor Size:22mm

Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 600D
Shutter Speed:1/49 second
Aperture:F/4.5
Focal Length:29 mm
ISO Speed:1600
Date Taken:Dec 29, 2011, 4:20:40 PM
Lens:EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Sensor Size:22mm

Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 600D
Shutter Speed:1/25 second
Aperture:F/5.6
Focal Length:55 mm
ISO Speed:3200
Date Taken:Dec 29, 2011, 4:22:40 PM
Lens:EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Software:QuickTime 7.7
Sensor Size:22mm

Make:Canon
Model:Canon EOS 600D
Shutter Speed:1/49 second
Aperture:F/4.5
Focal Length:35 mm
ISO Speed:1600
Date Taken:Dec 26, 2011, 10:51:30 AM
Lens:EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II
Sensor Size:22mm

Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year, especially because there are lots of great photographic opportunities. This year, I really enjoyed taking purposely out of focus pictures of the lights (for example, on a Christmas tree) as I think that it created a particularly effective soft blur which I thought looked interesting. I also really liked taking pictures of candles, as the flickering light created a warm glow to the picture, which I thought worked well with the theme of light. 

Light Painting : GlowDoodle

The following images were made using GlowDoodle.

This photograph was taken using CDs to create the technicolour effect, which I think worked really well 

and I like how it came out.

For this photograph, I used a red laser pen to draw lines on my face. You can pick up parts of my face (it also creates an interesting effect) as well as the light catching on my hair.

For this one, I used a blue UV light (which looks purple in the photographs). I placed the light under my face so it created an almost 'spooky' effect with the shadows, and I moved along the picture to create it 3 times. I then moved again with the light which creates the blurred light, which I personally really like.

For this one, I did the same as the one above, I just decided not to blur it to see how it came out. I like how the two left ones overlap slightly.

For this photograph, I used the same blue UV light as before, and quickly drew around my face, which brought with the line this interesting effect on my face. It makes my eyes look quite effective as well as how the light sits on my face. 

This photograph, however didn't work as well. The problem was that as I was taking the picture, someone else was taking one at the same time with a torch, which ended up overpowering the light I was  using, therefore not creating the effect that I wanted. 

Different Light Types.

Soft Light:
"refers to light that tends to "wrap" around objects, casting shadows with soft edges".
The softness of the light depends mostly on the following two factors:
Distance. The closer the light source, the softer it becomes.
Size of light source. The larger the source, the softer it becomes.
Soft light use is popular in cinematography and film.

Link here.

Hard Light:
Hard light sources cast shadows whose appearance of the shadow depends on the lighting instrument.That is, the shadows produced will have 'harder' edges with less transition between illumination and shadow. The focused light will produce harder-edged shadows. Focusing a fresnel makes the rays of emitted light more parallel. The parallelism of these rays determines the quality of the shadows. For shadows with no transitional edge/gradient, a point light source is required.
When hitting a textured surface at an angle, hard light will accentuate the textures and details in an object.

Link here.

Back Lighting:

Backlighting refers to the process of illuminating the subject from the back. In other words, the lighting instrument and the viewer are facing towards each other, with the subject in between. This causes the edges of the subject to glow, while the other areas remain darker. The backlight can be a natural or artificial source of light.

Link here.

Front Lighting:

Front lighting is where there is either natural or studio lighting placed in front of the subject. This can create shadows on not only the face but also in the background. It puts more focus on the front of the subject.

Link here.

Studio Lighting:

Studio lighting is where lighting is set up in a studio and the photographer can plan where they want the light to be, for example, on the left or right side, back lighting, front lighting, etc... It gives the photographer the freedom to experiment with lighting to see how the photographs come out.

Link here.

Link here.

Natural lighting:

Natural light is a photographers most accessible form of light. It can create quite magical effects (as shown in the example below) for instance, if the light is shining through the gaps in the trees. You can do all sorts of photography techniques: backlighting, front lighting and more just from using the sunlight. 

Link here.

Torch lighting:

Torch lighting is when the photographer takes a torch and places it where they want the light source to be. It can create good effects and also can be very dramatic, as shown in the example below.

Link here.

Laser photography:

Laser photography is mainly used for Light Painting. This is made by using a very slow shutter speed, and painting pictures with the laser pen. You can use different colours and make all sorts of pictures. For example, the light painting below is of Bambi, a famous Disney character.

Link here.

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 :

1. Click here

2. Click here

3. Click here

4. Click here

5. Click here

6. Click here

7. Not available

8. Click here

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10. Click here

11. Click here

12. Click here

13. Click here

14. No link available