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Photography Report
Photography is a medium used across many industry’s like
journalism, advertising and art. This report will look at the
invention of capturing images and techniques involved in available
light photography. Then discus how photography communicates,
finishing with a deconstruction of the panoramic image Proud?
The name photography derived from Greek words meaning light and
draw. A quest to capture images has been recorded as early as
ancient Greece with no successes until the 11th century with the
Camera Obscura. Projecting images into a darkened room onto a wall
by using a pin hole. By the 17th century the camera Obscura was
made small enough to become portable devices, using lenses. In the
1830’s, images were captured onto plates using chemical reactions,
with no fading like previous attempts. Techniques continued
developing from Daguereteotype to Wet plates until the 1870’s. Dry
plates were introduced improving photography dramatically. The
plates could be stored over time, unlike the wet plates that had to
be made and used straight away. This brought freedom, smaller
cameras and shorter exposure times, introducing mechanical shutter
speeds to camera’s. George Eastman started the company Kodak. Using
film Eastman replaced plates for good, film has been used ever
since with digital photography introduced in the 1990’s.
When using available light it can often be too bright or dark
creating issues for the photographer. Don Marr (2009)looks at ways
to control light using simple techniques. Overcast days are
notorious for causing flat, dull photographs one reason being the
lack of shadows. Subtractive techniques help by blocking light
adding shadows, creating dimensions and depth. Another method is
using tunnels of light. Photographing your subject by a window or
open door creates a tunnel lighting effect. According to the book
Masters of Photography (2008: p.220) Willy Ronis was “One of the
most interesting of the French humanists, Ronis was able to
translate the movements fascination with the lives of ordinary
French people into images of lasting significance,”
Left, Willy Ronis. (1949). Le Nu Provençal Gordes, Ronis Used
the tunnel method perfectly. What would have been an under-exposed
lifeless image become something of beauty. Ronis had the ability to
use a full palette of Grey’s and his musical background helped with
his composition and form. The images he produced often using
darkened rooms with the subject lit by a single source of light
were stunning and communicated life in France over the 40’s and
50’s.
In camera controls are used for controlling the amount of light
that enters the camera and the speed involved in exposure. The
Aperture controls the amount of light entering the camera. The
smaller the aperture, the larger the opening for light to enter.
This also controls depth of field. Ronis’ picture has a large depth
of field, to take the same image today a small aperture would be
used. Aperture works is in f stops that indicate the size of the
opening of the lens. They double or half at each stop.
The shutter speed works in the same way, doubling or halving at
each stop. The shutter controls how long the light is exposing onto
the chip at the back of the camera that captures the image. Shutter
speed also has another role.
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Using a slow shutter speed creates motion blur. The faster the
shutter speed the crisper the image. The picture to the right named
‘Girl on a ‘Space hopper’’ was photographed by Sirkka-Liisa
Konttinen in 1971. “Taken over an eleven-year period beginning in
1970, the Byker pictures are a defining example of community
photography.”
(The photo book 1997: p.250)
The girl is suspended in time with no motion blur, in a deserted
street. She is jumping for joy yet the image has a sense of ending
and loss of what was once good.
ISO controls the amount of time the chip in the back of the
camera reacts to light. As you increase the ISO it captures more
light but looses quality of image by grouping pixels and resulting
in a grainy effect.
Using the Kelvin scale to white balance, the camera aims for a
mid day temperature of around 4,000k to 6,000k. By manually setting
the white balance, the camera will add blues (when set below
4,000k) or reds (when set above 6,000k) to produce a mid day
temperature.
Filters are often used in available light photography, for
example, UV filters work by removing short light wave
Communication is essential to great photography, Roland Gomez
(2010) states “The greatest photographers in the world have three
things in common, a creative eye, the comprehension of their
equipment and the ability to communicate both to their subject and
the intended audience - or as i like to say the three C’s of
photography, creativity, comprehension and communication.”
Left Eve Arnolds, Marylin Monroe, Hollywood (1960)
Marylin Monroe is known for her hatred of how she became nothing
but a sex symbol to people. Eve Arnold captured this to reveal to
the nation that Monroe was a human like everybody else and not an
object. The communication is put into context by the arm coming
across to adjust Monroe like a prop. Monroe looks fragile and alone
which reflects her mental state at the time.
Context isn’t just about the situation in a photograph its also
about influences for example from history. Masters of Photography
(2008: p.220) talks about how Ronis had an early fascination with
Flemish art which comes across in many of his street scenes “...a
Bruegel painting in their animation and apparent
orchestration.”
lengths reducing lens flare. Polarizing filters are used to push
contrasts apart, darks become darker and whites become lighter.
Certain filters reduce the amount of light getting into the lens.
These work the same way the camera controls, work in stops. This is
so photographers can use aperture and shutter settings to achieve
there composition and avoid over exposure using filters.
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Content and Form are the, where’s, what, when, how and whys of
photography. Take the image to the left, Count De Montizon, (1852).
The hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens. The content, a sleeping
Hippo and viewing public taken at regent park. The form is made up
of colours, lines, shapes and patterns. The vertical bars holding
back the public above a horizontal, smiling hippo with the warm
tone giving a relaxed feeling. What the image communicates is that
the hippo is relaxed and happy in the knowledge that the humans are
safely locked away behind bars.
John Harvey (2009) talks about certain rules of composition in
photography based on tends. An example of one of his rules for
creating a three dimensional style is using silhouettes creating a
sense of depth of field. The rule of thirds is also a part of
composition, as well as motion, symmetry and patterns. There are
many rules but as John Harvey (2009) states in his blog, rules are
meant to be broken.
Proud?
TechniquesTaken on an SLR Canon the photographer captured motion
blur in the left tree and depth of field by using 1/10 shutter
speed and f5.6 aperture. As the image moves out from the center
point it begins to loose focus achieved by a manual focus, in order
to avoid banding and create depth of field. The camera was mounted
on a tripod and took each photograph from the same point, then
stitched together in Photoshop. The bend has been achieved because
the wall gets further away from the camera as it turns. The image
has been changed to black and white in Photoshop using adjustment
tools.
The panoramic is based on the emotions and thoughts people have
when a loved one dies, not the death itself.Looking at previous
photography about death. The Victorians took pictures of there dead
family members dressed as if they were still alive. Not to remind
them of their death but to preserve their living memory. When taken
with the living due to the slow exposure of the old cameras the
living were often blurred while the dead stayed crystal clear.
Proud? Has a similar effect from the motion blur in the tree and
loss of focus as it moves away from the center.
[photography]. available at. Jamie Frater, (2012). Memento Mori:
Victorian Death Photos.
http://listverse.com/2012/10/24/memento-mori-victorian-death-photos/
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Looking at Bert Hardy’s (1948) Leap Frog, above, the picture is
at a graveyard yet the communication is not about death. The boys
from Glasgow playing in the graveyard represent, a youthful naivety
and disregard of conventions.
Proud? Has been based around the photographers feelings about
the loss of her father. Having died before she achieved anything,
the scarf represents the question, are you proud?
The unorganized arrangements, and darker contrasts away from the
wall to the right represent her past. The organised left side,
lighter contrasts and motion blur in the tree represents her
future.
Disregarding the rule of thirds in order to dramatize the
bending wall and the loss of focus from the center outwards takes
the image out of reality to communicate the photographers
narrative.
The use of Black and White puts the image in context with
historical influences. The Whites to Grey’s almost blending
together generate a feeling of stepping out of reality into the
mind of the photographer. There is an almost symmetrical form to
the image. The paths at each side represent the feeling of all
roads leading to this question. The faceless mourners to the left
adds a heartbeat to the image which helps the audience to relate to
the narrative and add interest to the image.
Photography has developed rapidly from early camera Obscura’s to
digital SLR’s. Using photography to communicate has been a part of
the medium since the beginning. Content, Form, Context and
Composition are important in the process. As the panoramic Proud?
Shows, considerations and implementation of these methods will
reflect into the communication and narrative of the image. Even if
all images are open to interpretation.
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Reference listCitations
Don Marr. (2009). Available light, Photographic Techniques for
using existing light sources. Amherst Media, Inc.
Editors of Phaidon Press (1997). The photo book. Phaidon Press
limited.
John Harvey. (2009). Learn Photo Composition.
http://www.johnharveyphoto.com/LearnComposition/
Reuel Golden. (2008). Masters of photography. Carlton Books;
Reprint edition.
Roland Gomez. (5 may 2010). Communication is Essential to Great
Photography .
http://rolandogomez.net/2010/05/communication-is-essential-to-great-photography/
Images
Bert Hardy (31 Jan 1948). Leap Frog. [photography]. available at
Getty image
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/group-of-boys-from-the-gorbals-play-amongst-the-gravestones-news-photo/2639130
Don Juan Carlos. (1852). The hippopotamus at the Zoological
Gardens. [photography]. available at. Mark Brown. (2009). Rarely
seen photographs at British Library will provide window to the
past.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/aug/04/british-library-photography-exhibition-victorians
Eve Arnold (1960) Marylin Monroe, Holywood. [photography].
available at. Strongly Worded Letter. (2008). Studio session LA.
http://clydetombaugh.typepad.com/strongly_worded_letter/2008/03/all-about-eve.html
[photography]. available at. Jamie Frater, (2012). Memento Mori:
Victorian Death Photos.
http://listverse.com/2012/10/24/memento-mori-victorian-death-photos/
Photo Willy Ronis (1949) Le nu provençal, Gordes, .
[photography]. available at. pleasurephotoroom (2012)
http://pleasurephotoroom.wordpress.com/category/willy-ronis/
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen . (1979) girl on a space hopper.
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http://www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/byker/exhibits/girl-on-a-spacehopper-at-the-bottom-of-janet-street-backlane-1971
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