Quentin Jones

Quentin Jones is an artist that uses different medias to create images. Below is an image that she created that I think relates well to my chosen theme of fashion :

 

I particularly like this image because of all the different colours in the bag. You can see at some parts of the picture how the images aren't in line with each other, but I like that because it draws your attention to it, and it makes you think why the artist created the image as she did. 

Here is another one of her pieces :

I think that this also relates well with my chosen theme of fashion. I like how they are all completely different images that work together effectively in one picture. I also like how the cup is overly large compared to the model, as I think that this creates an interesting effect. 

 

I had a go at creating my own version of the second picture above by cutting out images from fashion magazines and sticking them on the same piece of paper. Although my version isn't similar to Quentin's, I think that it works well because the images are all of a similar size, when in real life they wouldn't be. My version is shown below :

 Above is the unedited version. I wanted there to be some space between the images so that I could later edit it on photoshop if I wanted to, as I did with the picture below. I found some galaxy style brushes and decided to put them on the image, and changed the layer type so they were more subtle.

AS-A2 PROJECT

Click here to see my AS-A2 project page.

New Project : Exam Theme

Exam Theme is here. The theme is Encounters, meetings and experiences.

New Project : Life Cycles

My new project on Life Cycles can be found here.

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.

2012 Targets.

Here are my New Year Resolutions to help me with my course :

1. Spend more of my free time dedicated to taking pictures and working on my blog and in my sketchbook. 
2. Be more experimental in my photographs and try out different effects.
3. Learn how to use my cameras better so that I can change the settings on them and create better photographs.

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. 

Looking at artists: Patrick Rochon

Patrick Rochon

'Usher Tour Visual Light Painting' 

(part of a series)

CONTEXT

Patrick Rochon is a well known photographer best known for his light paintings. This series of photographs of a Jaguar XKR car were taken between 2010 and 2011, and were used to create visuals for the Usher tour.  However, these photographs were unfortunately not used, but they still remain as a collaborative collection of photographs. This technique of photography has been around for a while, but the bright colours that are lighting up the car make it look like a fairly modern technique. Rochon has been doing light painting photography since 1992.

AESTHETICS

In this series of photographs, blue and purple neon lights were used to create the dramatic effects. This was made by having the studio pitch black so that no other light would ruin or affect the picture. There were several cameras on the car each taking pictures from different angles and views as the light was painted (below there is a video on exactly how this series was made). The camera(s) were set to a very slow shutter speed (it might even have been on the B setting, where you can keep the shutter open for as long as you want), and as the shutter was open, people moved around the car with the purple and blue lights to create this effect. I think that it is really effective as the light shows the silhouette of the car, for example the curves of the car, and the rest of the photograph is pitch black, which draws attention to the car and the lights rather than anything that was in the background (if you could see it, that is). The composition has been structured well - there is a sense of a good use of the space, as the car takes up the majority of the photograph. There isn't too much black space, but the car isn't taking up all of the space, which works perfectly well.

MEANING

I'm not sure that there is any specific meaning to this collection of photographs. They were originally made for a tour, so that I think that they were created to draw attention, but nothing more. The car could symbolise something, but from the photographs or the artists comments about the series, it is not entirely clear if and what the message behind the series are.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

I personally really like this series of photographs. I like all of Patrick Rochon's work, as I am interested in learning more about light painting, as I think that it is a simple yet very effective way to approach photography. I think that the colours work well for this, and that the use of light has not been 'over used' in this photograph, as I think that that would spoil the simplistic theme of this. 

Click here to view the video on how this series was made.

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.

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.