In this image, I like how nature and humans are combined, by the train track surrounded by the tops of trees. It could be improved by being slightly more in focus. I would also change the black and white balance, to add a little more brightness.
This is my favourite image that I have ever taken, because of the huge amount of detail. Each persons face, the colours of clothes, and the different kinds of people. The bus down the middle of the road creates a balance, which makes the image even better. It is centred to the road, and the church on the right side of the road at the back, makes seem uneven at the top of the image. I like how there are buildings and signs, and a single tree on the left, and many trees on the right, as it creates a sense of differentiation between humans and nature.
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I like the background blur in this image, and how clear the front in is comparison. the small details look great in front of the bridge behind. It could be improved by being taken from a better angle.
This is another of my favourites, because of many reasons, such as, the windows on the right side of the image, because they are all open, the clock right in the centre of the image, and the small details within the bright, like the plant pot on the left. It could only be improved by being slightly more zoomed out, as I want the top of the bell in the image too.
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I like this image a lot because of the strong reflection of the bridge, and the contrasting white sky and black pipe. I would improve it by retaking it, slightly to the right, to avoid getting the house on the left in shot. I like how the red/brown brick looks with the small patch of green grass, seen on the left of the image. The details of the brick stand out against the plain sky and gentle water.
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I do not like the colours in this image much, although I like how the focus of the image is on my grandfather. The green of the tree and the blue of his shirt work well together. To improve this image further I would retake it without the other two people are not in in, and I would place the camera more central to the middle of the street.
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I chose this artist because of his the blur in his images. If is done by using rain, wet glass, and a shallow depth of field. This creates a mysterious feel to the images, and makes them seem more aged. His images often contain the colour red, which creates unity within his compositions. other images have a good dynamic range, for example, the top row, second from the right. The white building in the top left corner contrasts nicely with the dark road and silhouette. I could emulate his work by taking photographs in Preston white it is raining. I would have to use a tripod to avoid motion blur.
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I don’t have a philosophy. I have a camera. I look into the camera and take pictures. My photographs are the tiniest part of what I see that could be photographed. They are fragments of endless possibilities. I go out to take a walk, I see something, I take a picture. I take photographs. I have avoided profound explanations of what I do. |
This is my favourite of the shoot, because of the light coming from the window, bouncing off my glasses. The Bokeh effect was done by placing a plastic sheet, sprayed with water, in front of the camera.
This image was not put into black and white, rather had the vibrancy fully reduced. This left no colour, except for the yellow light coming from a classroom window. I like how the water droplets frame the circles of light.
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In this image, I like the contrast between the bright yellow light, and the dark sky. If the noise was reduced, it would be a little better. The green light in the window is coming from a classroom window, the green most likely is the map that is on the wall, and I like this because it was an accidents connection to geography, with ties into urban environments.
The dark reds, mossy greens, and deep blues in this image really tie it all together with the intent, to create a dark, mysterious sense that almost hides the shadowy figure.
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This image went well because of the contrasting colours, bokeh effect, and mood to the image. It portrays a sense of longing, because of the figure stood in the dark looking towards the light. The dark line above the figure's head forces the viewer's eyes down onto the subject, and away from the sky, then the eyes are led to the window, by the small spots of light, become more and more abundant, closer to the window. This is the effect of the bokeh. As the viewer looks at the image for longer, they may realise that the figure is sat on the ground. This exaggerates the sense of confusion and mystery.
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Artist investigation / Saul Leiter / Semi AnalysisSaul Leiter is the photographer of this image. The image was taken in 1960, and is called 'Snow.' The genre of this image is portraiture with a specific focus on urban environments. The props in this image are only a window and what seems to be a car in the background. The two figures appear distorted and abstracted by the condensation running down the window. I felt this picture may have been taken in a street or outside a café.
The composition of this image shows a person turned side profile from the camera, stood behind a fogged up window with fragmented writing on it. The rule of thirds has deliberately not been used, as the subject is stood slightly to the right of the frame in an unorthodox manner for this period of time (1960's). The images was taken at the viewers eye level, to make the viewer feel like they are stood behind the window gazing out at the figures. The most striking part of the image is the use of the foggy condensate on the window. This photograph was taken from a far distance, which implies that the two individuals did not know that the image was being shot. It is ordinary, mundane and in some ways dreary however I feel Saul Leiter intentionally wants this because he captures the distorted figures obscurity against the grey contrasts of their environment. Cleverly, in terms of colour, Leiter uses mustard yellow against mossy greens, on a backdrop of muted grey tones. I think this makes the image subtle yet powerful. Another person has been half cropped out almost to obscurity, which places more focus onto the main subject matter (the figure), then my eye is drawn to the other main components which include the mustard yellow van and the fragmented lettering in the foreground. There is a slight line above the subject's head (deliberate use of framing) which pushes the focus down onto the scene. The photo has been taken with natural light on what appears to be an overcast day. I can tell this because there are no harsh shadows or contrasts. The direction of the sunlight leaves the image looking moody and atmospheric. To emulate this photography myself, I would use a café window on a grey rainy day, seeking out condensated windows. I would need to place the camera on a table to ensure everything is in focus, avoid using flash (perhaps a diffused off camera flash) and have a larger aperture to let more light in. Leiter's intent in the image was to create an sense of mystery. This creates questions in the viewer's mind such as "What are they looking at?" "Where is the picture being taken from?" and "Does the subject know that the picture is being taken?" Also, questions about the text on the window are possible, as they are partly cut off from the image, and has been weathered to the point of coming off the window. The dark figures against the yellow car could represent how light often is kept in the background, out of focus, while darkness is placed front and centre. |
I got immediately attached to Leiter's work, but didn't understand why. As I did more and more research into his work, and the made connections within it, I noticed the red/yellow colour schemes within most of his photographs. Also, a blur or haze is seen in an amount of them. This is significant to me because the colours, and blur, make all his work look very similar to the cover art of a song I have become very attached to, Stars Will Fall, by Duster. I correlate this song with the feeling of watching parents cry, as no more than 3 days after I found the song, I watched my father cry, the day after that, my father figure cry, and the day after that, my mother cry. Later on, in January, I saw my stepfather cry, and my first thought was this song, and this artist. Since then, the song has always made me feel this calm, aching sorrow for the people I saw in pain, adults who never cry. This feeling is reflected into the work of Saul Leiter, for me. The work feels very personal and emotional to me, because of these tears I witnessed.
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I chose this artist because he does not always use the rule of thirds. I find this interesting, and looks good with his style of photography. I like the cloudy, dark images, and the small flashes of colour in others. I could emulate his work by taking photographs of a city, some in black and white, and use motion blur. https://iphonephotographyschool.com/cocu-liu/
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“The best camera is the one that is with you” Cocu Chen Liu |
Cocu Liu is the photographer of this image. It was taken in San Francisco, on an iphone7 plus. The building seems to be distorted, because of the motion blur, and double exposure. There is an impression of a face in the bottom right corner.
the composition of the image is a crowd of people, in front of a tall building. The entire image is distorted and warped by motion blur and/or double exposure. In this image, the rule of thirds has been used, this is shown by the centred building and sky that covers 2 thirds of the image. the image was taken from approximate eye level, it may be slightly above eye level. This gives the effect of both being a part of the crowd, and standing above them. The photograph was taken from a far distance away from the building, this ensures that the whole thing is within the image, framed and centred. The blurring of the image gives the effect of dizziness and uncertainty. This could be there to give the effect of being anxious, afraid, overwhelmed by the crowd/city. Most of the image is dull in colour, apart from the blue sky and orange trees. There are other reds and browns within the image, which contrast against the light blues. This contrast between the colourful nature and monotonous city creates a sense of unbelonging. The sky frames the building, and the blur hides the faces and cars in the foreground. This leads the eye to focus on the building, and move down towards the ground. Then the eye moves towards the ghost of the building, and the faint road sign beside it. There is a triangular shape to the building, which leads the eye upwards, again. The image was taken outdoors, during the day, but the time of day is unknown, due to the lack of shadows and obvious sunlight. This makes the viewer searching for a source of light, only to unsuccessful. The only light within the image is coming from the hidden sun, and cars. To emulate this image myself, I would take an image of a tall building, without a tripod, and a long exposure time, slightly moving the camera. This would give the blurred and distorted effect. The intent of the image was to create confusion, and questions such as "Where was this taken? What does the sign say? and Who is in the crowd?" I like this uncertainty. The colours also reinforce this, the viewer may wonder why the human aspects of the image are so dull compared to the natural aspects. The focus on the human side makes his feeling even stronger, the feeling of confusion, and curiosity. |
I chose this artist because I like how geometric and bright the shapes are. The solid backgrounds, few details, and one or two subjects, make his work easy on the eyes, and relaxing. I could emulate his work by taking pictures in Preston, when the sun is out. I would use a low ISO, quick shutter speed, and a large aperture. During editing, I will likely increase exposures, clean up spots, and reduce noise. Cambas uses colour in his work, quite significantly. Each image has a different focus colour, which creates contrast in his work.
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https://tomascambas.com/ |
Lee Friedlander / Tomas Cambas / Saul Leiter Comparison |
This image, of Cambas', has both bright and dark tones, shadows and obvious highlights. It is correctly exposed, and has an even amount of light and dark. This image includes some plants, and litter. This is juxtaposition. There are no words or drawings in the image, everything there is natural wear-and-tear of the city, apart from the spray painted rectangle in the right centre. This is likely graffiti, which is a negative thing is today's urban environments. The graffiti is done only on the dark side of the painted wall, this highlights the negativity of graffiti. The bright side is cleaner and less touched. The scratches and diagonal lines on the darker side make this idea stronger. The separation between the dark and light side of the wall is not neat, or straight, and so breaks the rule of thirds. The ground in the bottom of the image breaks this rule even further. The larger plant on the right side of the image make the image uneven and unbalanced.
This image, taken by Leiter, is underexposed, dark, and muddy. The colours are all blacks, whites and greys, apart from the bright red umbrella. it has mostly dark tones, and limited bright tones. There are no plants in the image, the only natural thing is the snow, which has been thinned and greyed by people walking over it. On a condensated window, a popular thing in Leiter's work, There are words, symbols, and games of noughts and crosses drawn. Sections of the condensate are wiped off, this could be because someone disagreed with what was written, or didn't like the symbols or drawings on it, and wiped them away. This is a very human, childish thing to do. Also pictured, is a person, wearing blacks and greys, holding a red umbrella. Umbrellas are used to protect someone from the rain, a negative thing, so it being the only coloured thing within the image expresses the positivity of being kept warm, dry, and happy. The dark clothes oppose the red umbrella, this highlights the idea of attempting to hide from the cold and dark using light, but being stuck. The persons legs are slightly showing, and are in colour. This would make them feel more cold, but the colour expresses warmth. Again, this is juxtaposition. Cambas' image is brighter, but contains no people. This is different to Leiter's image. leiter's contains writing, but no plants. The background of Leiter's is grey, and is changed by the actions of people. Cambas' image has no background, as it contains only a brightly coloured wall, and the ground below it. Cambas' image seems to be more edited than leiter's due to the bright colours within the image. Leiter's is a more dynamic composition than Cambas', and Leiter's has colder, duller light than Cambas'. The forms and shapes in Leiter's image are more loose and misshapen, Cambas' image has blocky, fixed forms and shapes. Leiter's image has more noise than Cambas'. The images are similar because they were both taken in the city, and both contain walls, some form of nature, and some form of human interaction. Both images are taken from approximate eye level |
The work of Lee Friedlander is varied, but I am mostly focused on the cities that he has photographed. I chose this artist because of how his work ties in with my previous artists, how old the images are, and how unusual they are. The fact that they are in black and white is different to all of my previous artists, which I appreciate. To emulate this work i would need to either set my camera to black and white, or edit them after the shoot. I would include sharp shadows and people within the images. I like the social aspect of freidlander's work, it portrays a sense of humanity and society.
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“I always wanted to be a photographer. I was fascinated with the materials. But I never dreamed I would be having this much fun. I imagined something much less elusive, much more mundane.” – Lee Friedlander |
I like this image because of the colours and tones within it, the reds and greys work well together. I would improve the angle from which it was taken from.
This image is well balanced, I like how one side is ghostly, and the other full on. I would improve the symmetry of the background in future editing. The dark browns against the light yellow works well in my opinion,
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I like the ghostly effect that the editing gave this image, and the darker blue stripes along the sides. I would improve the saturation of the image.
I think this image would look better rotated clockwise, so the centred darker triangle is at the bottom. I like how there are triangles within the banner triangles, as it creates more of a balance and connection.
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I like how this image contains both cars and a building in the background, and how the red lights and red roof work together. I would centre the image a little more in editing.
This image is my favourite because of the repetition and symmetry I created in editing. I like the colours and details of the building. The birds all edited together creates a strange and mysterious feel to the image.
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I like this image a lot, because of the colours, contrast, shapes, and symmetry/repetition.
The dark greens, medium blues and black all complement each other in my opinion. This is because of the varying brightness of the colours, from medium to complete dark. I lie how the blue and green are situated in the centre of the image, while the black borders and frames it. The general shapes seen in the image are ovoid, triangular, and rectangular. The visible portion of the blue sky is an oval, the tops of the columns are triangular, and the columns in themselves are rectangles. The repetition of the images makes 4 of the birds blend into each other, which I think is interesting. The repeated columns stand out within the centre of the image, and draw the viewers attention. The angle of the image creates the illusion of looking straight up at the trees, and straight across to the building. This creates an interesting and strange perspective, which I like a lot, especially when it is combined with repetition and surreal edits. |
Top left- I like this image because of the contrast in colour, and the gradient of reflection intensity. This means how the reflection is very strong in the bottom left, and gets gradually weaker towards the middle right. I also like how the left side of the image is significantly darker than the right side.
Top middle- I like this image a lot because of how clear and focused the reflection is. The blue toned shadows work very well with the orange/yellow reeds and water. The distortion in the top right shows the movement of the water, which creates a clear line within the image, and 4 clear sections. Top right- This is the most popular image in this composition, because of the overall red tone, and the clear, splitting reflection. I like how vibrant and sunny the image is. It feels very sharp, and angry, because of the sharp plants and red colours. Bottom left- This is my favourite of the shoot, because of the warped, distorted reflection. I like how you cannot see the trees in themselves, only their reflection. this creates a mystical feel to the image. I like how there is such a strong contrast between the sky and the dark trees. This image cannot be recreated in any other season, which a =appreciate. it was taken in the end of winter, when the trees are bare but the sun is out. Bottom middle- I dislike this image the most out of the 6, because how the exposure doesn't work well throughput the entire image. the top left is overexposed and the bottom right is underexposed. Despite this, I like the dark middle and bright top and bottom. this creates balance. The distorted reflections look good too, along with the clear, focused bank of the water. Bottom right- This image is not well focused, and is too bright. The increased contrast, done in editing, make the barrier/fence and the bank look almost completely black. This increased exposure made the plants on the top left look overexposed and to vibrant compared to the dark plants. Although, I like how the reflections in this image work, they were my main focus when taking the image. |
"haunt the places that haunt you"- Stephen Gill
I like this image because of the combination of dark and light, gentle colours. The overlays create contrast and depth to the image. The leading line running slightly to the left, on the lamppost, and on the lean of the trees' leaves, create interest for the viewer. I feel that this image emulate the work of Gill well, with a touch originality
I love the sepia tones in this image, the browns work well with the black overlay. The circles oppose the leading lines of the path and fence. The fence portion of the overlay blends in well with the dark, almost black, leaves. This reduces the cut-off effect. It could be improved by making the overlay stand out more, by reducing the brightness of the background
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I like the sepia tones within this image, they work well with the black overlay. Within this overlay there are a combination of both circles and straight lines which complement each other. The dark leaves in this overlay are opposite to the light, hazy leaves in the background. I could improve it by making the overlay less grainy.
The positives of this image are the bright greens, black overlay, and foggy, blurry background. I love how the colours work together, and how soft but bright they look. The way that the circles in the overlay contain my father and dogs, makes the image very sentimental to me. it could be improved by altering the fence portion of the overlay, as it has jagged edges which do not fit with the softness of the rest of the image.
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This image is the best in my composition because of the contrasting yellow and black tones, the opposing shapes, and the foggy feel to the background.
The colours create a calm, gentle theme to the image. This may influence the viewer to focus on and look more at the black, overpowering overlay. The effect of this is that the image is more interesting and holds the attention of the viewer for longer. Part of the overlay is the frontal leaves, which almost look like they are part of the background image. This creates depth to the photograph, which improves the likeness to Stephen Gill's work The leading lines in this image are present towards the bottom/middle, as the top portion of the fence and the supporting beams of said fence. The clash with each other, going both horizontally, and vertically. The crosses and diagonal lines in the fence portion of the overlay further exaggerate this effect. The circles in the overlay clash with the straight lines in the rest of the image. This increases the contrasting ideas within the image. Also, the strong focus of the fence, and blur of the background increases the structural contrast/ |
In this image I like the combination of pinks and blues. The leading lines are the metal bars and the light running down the right of the ceiling. I could be improved by changing the colours of the people's clothes who are at the right hand side.
This image contains blues and reds which contrast each other. This is a positive because it creates a sense of interest for the viewer. The right side is quite overexposed, but this furthers the contrast, and creates a higher tonal range.
The leading lines within this image are present in the centre, and make the viewer wonder where these lights are leading to. The yellowish-whites stand bright against the black edges of this image, and this creates a framing effect. It could be improved by being taken at a different angle. as it is slightly tilted to the left.
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This image is very linear and bright, as I intended. I like the intense blues and whites that are present throughout the image. It could be improved by being slightly more centred. The distortion on the right corner also bothers me.
The bright and deep reds within this image make it stand out within this composition. The leading line on the left hand side alters the reflection that is shown, an creates repetition. The lack of contrast within this image creates sameness, and romanticises the image, given that all the colours are tones of red.
This image is the most successful of this composition. I love the reddish tones against the white sky, and blue reflection in the window. The edge of the building lines up with the edge of the tree, and this creates a leading line.
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This is the original image.
First, I increased the brightness and contrast within the image. Then I changed the hue, saturation, and lightness. This brought out the reds and oranges, and lowering the lightness slightly made the building stand out from the bright sky. Next, I increased the vibrancy which made all of the colours pop, and increased the contrast even further. Finally I changed the temperature and tint to increase the amount of red within the image. I like how there is a contrast and union in this image, the white and blue sky contrasts the reds and oranges, but said reds and oranges unionise with each other. The shadows and highlights are now more apparent due to the higher exposure and contrast. The details within the window (reflections of branches,) connect the two opposing sides of the image. |