Documentation Of Photography

Henry Cartier - Bresson

'For me the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity, the master of the instant which, in visual terms, questions and decides simultaneously. In order to give a “meaning” to the world, one has to feel involved in what one frames through the viewfinder. This attitude requires concentration, discipline of mind, sensitivity, and a sense of geometry. It is by economy of means that one arrives at simplicity of expression.

To take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in a face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.

To take a photograph means to recognize, simultaneously and within a fraction of a second‚ both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning.

It is putting one‚ head, one‚ eye, and one‚ heart on the same axis.'

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.
Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again.
The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality.








Henri Cartier-Bresson was born on August 22, 1908 in Chanteloup, France. A pioneer in photojournalism, Cartier-Bresson wandered around the world with his camera, becoming totally immersed in his current environment. Considered one of the major artists of the 20th century, he covered many of the world biggest events from the Spanish Civil War to the French uprisings in 1968
Widely considered one of the leading artistic forces of the 20th century, Henri Cartier-Bresson was born on August 22, 1908 in Chanteloup, France. The oldest of five children, his family was wealthy—his father made a fortune as a textile manufacturer—but Cartier-Bresson later joked that due to his parents' frugal ways, it often seemed as though his family was poor.
Educated in Paris, Cartier-Bresson developed an early love for literature and the arts. Creativity was certainly a part of his DNA. His great-grandfather had been artist and an uncle was a noted printer. Even his father dabbled in drawing.
As a teenager, Cartier-Bresson rebelled against his parents' formal ways. Early in his adult life he drifted toward communism. But it was art that remained at the center of his life. In 1927 he began a two-year stint studying painting under noted early Cubist, André Lhote, then moved to Cambridge University to immerse himself further in art and literature courses.

Low Key Lighting TE Work Diary

In this lesson we were given the task of taking portraiture photographs using Low Key Lighting. We used a shutter speed of 1/125, F-stop 16 ad ISO 200.

As previously said, I really enjoy human photography, I like to be able to explore the vulnerability, the purity and innocence of it all. Sometimes those aspects cannot be displayed, however, in this portraiture lesson I found themes of distance, natural beauty and hidden emotions.

In order to take this photos we were given the ask to set the studio up. Here is a photo of the setup:

After correctly setting up, We proceeded to take the photos. Here is one photo I really liked:

This is the original. 

This is the Edited.

I really liked this photo because it is deadpanned. Her eyes are sharp, focused. To me, it looks like she is trying to tell me something; she is trying to convey an emotion that words couldn't possibly do justice, yet I am to find out which emotion that is. 

I think the edited version is much better, I lightened it up a little bit just so you can see her face a little clearer. I made it black and white because I think that portrays purity a little more.

Unfortunately, I did not like this photo:

The reason I did not like this photo is because the girl is half blinking. I also do not like the lighting in this. Because of the bad lighting and blinking it makes the photo looks unprepared and disorganised. To me, looking at the photo makes me a little nervous, I can just keep picking imperfections out which I should not be able to do. The girl in the photo, is pretty no doubt, however she herself looks too caught of guard.

Progression

Next time, I would like to experiment with using more than one person at a time, maybe making the shots a little more fun rather than just being deadpanned or sad emotions. I would also like to try and explore innocence and human form more, however I know this would be hard to do since most people are not comfortable in their own bodies, and it would not be appropriate to shoot in college. This would have to be an out of class project.

Here are some photos I would like to use as inspiration for next time:

Low Key Lighting Contact TE Sheet

Low Key Lighting TE Straight Images

This image was one of my top 5, the reason or this is because I like the way that the girl is staring out, into distance. She looks natural, though I know the picture is posed, it also isn't. I asked her to just be neutral, and whilst she knows someone is capturing her, it also shows someone trying to cover up a feeling in front of others.

Completely different to the first photo, in this one the girl is  deadpanned. Her eyes are sharp, focused. To me, it look alike she is trying to tell me something, she is trying to convey an emotion that words couldn't possibly do justice, yet I am to find out which emotion that is.

I really like this photo; the hair is curled to  perfection although it is natural. I like the fact that only from the nose down is visible. This to me lets the viewer, view the photo however they wanted. The eyes are the window to the soul, but without any eyes penetrating you, it is up to you to decide on the emotions of the person. And what you decide, is a reflection on you. 

Distance, distance is a common theme though out this shoot. I believe there is something very intriguing about people looking away, consciously or unconsciously. To me, if I cover the eyes, her mouth posture looks happy/posed, however, when I cover her mouth, her eyes seem to be fearful, reserved, looking a little lost. 

This is another photo I liked. I like this one because though you can only see half of the girls face, and whilst her eyes are suppose to be lost in the shadows, the iris (coloured part of an eye) is piercing through. Her eyes look blue, which would be due to the effect I edited in (in actual fact, her eyes are a dragon green).

Low Key Lighting TE Image Bank

I chose this photo because I like the fact that the women is looking up into seemingly oblivion, it allows the viewer to create a whole scenario of their own. I also like the way the womans hair is highlighted in light white tones whilst half of her body bends into the negative space.

I liked this photo because I think it makes the lens stand out really well. It looks bigger than it most probably is, the red lined rims stand out whilst the structure looks strong.

I love this photo because again the woman is staring out into what only she knows.  The shadowing enhances her cheek and collar bones, also her jaw line , though her jaw line is only visible from halfway and out as the start it hidden in the negative space. This photo to me screams vulnerability, but the beautiful kind.

This image stood out to me quite a lot. This is because I feel like the mans stare is hard,  cold, strong, it feels as if he is looking right through me and whilst that fascinates me it also shows how much emotion the photographer was able to capture.

Again, I really like this picture because of , mainly the eyes. The cats eyes area a yellow/ lime, which stand out strong against the ginger fur and negative space. The cat looks focussed, undisturbed and I think that kind of concentration can be hard to capture.

Touch Up Skin TE Editing

Touch skin.

image mode, CMYK colour, (in the channels not layer)  select yellow layer, cmd A, cmd c, go back into layer, cmd alt Z (step back) cmd v,  re name flaws, cmd I (inver), (blend mode) soft light, opacity, add layer mask (invert mask) alt add layer mask, make sure background is white, select brush, make it big, 50% opacity, paint the skin. Cloning out wrinkles and blemishes cmd j, re name-wrinkles and blemishes, spot healing brush, alt and drag, go over any imperfections, reduce opacity, fill colour mask with grey.

 On the left is a screen shot of the patch tool which allows me to rid of wrinkles or blemishes. This tool was very useful and enabled me to strip away any unwanted marks such as eye wrinkles. On the right is a picture of the layers I have.

At the very top of the page, my unedited picture is on the left whilst the edited picture is on the right. Although the photo clearly shows a beautiful girl with next to no flaws, I was still able to void any marks that wouldn't be counted as the societies ideals of 'perfection'. Granted I do prefer the most natural look someone could possess, however, the edited image; I guess is an enchaining media accepted photo. I like the fact that she still looks natural despite the edits, which is more of a reflection of the girls ability to remain naturally beautiful. 

Irving Penn Research

Irving Penn was an American Photographer who was known for his fashion, portrait and still ice photography.

 Penn worked for two years as a freelance designer and making his first amateur photographs before taking his position as the art director at Saks Fifth Ave. He worked at sake for around a year before leaving to spend a year taking photographs and painting in Mexico, also across the US. 

Penn returned to New York being offered a position as a n associate for Vogue Magazine At department. He worked fro magazine layouts before he was promoted to actually being  photographer.Irving's first Vogue cover was displayed in 1943, he then continued to work for the magazine throughout his career plus his independent advertisement work for clients including Issey Miyake and Clinique.

Finally, in 1950 Penn founded his own studio where his career kicked off. Penn's work had been exhibited internationally and continues to represent the art of photography.

Low Key Lighting TE Definition Post

Low-key lighting makes the most of dark tones and shadows to create images with drama and atmosphere. Unlike high-key photography, which requires plenty of natural or artificial light, a low-key lighting shoot requires very little. The backdrop needs to be mostly hidden in the shadows, while particular features on the subject are illuminated to make them stand out. This means that when you’re shooting low-key portraits you don’t need much in the way of lighting kit – a single flashgun mounted off-camera will be adequate.

Beauty Dish Definition Post

A beauty dish is simply a shallow parabolic disk that attaches to a light source. There is a plate covering the flash head – this causes the light to reflect back into and out to the sides of the main dish. Most of the light is aimed forward at the model because of the size and curvature of the dish.

Honeycomb Definition Post

The honeycomb grid is a tight structure of a similar shape to the honeycomb made by honey bees. It’s affixed to the front of a studio strobe. Or it can be fixed to an off-camera flash. The light shines through the grid and creates a tight beam of light. The aim is to create a focused beam with little diffusion. It is effective in creating such a beam, but it is not as intense or focused as a snoot.

Snoot Definition Post

In photography, a snoot is a tube or similar object that fits over a studio light or portable flash and allows the photographer to control the direction and radius of the light beam. These may be conical, cylindrical, or rectangular in shape.

Editing Definition Post

• 72ppi - general convention uploading images which are viewable on the screen e.g. website
• 300ppi - convention can be used for printing 

White Balance

White balance is the process of removing unrealistic color casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in your photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the "color temperature" of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light.

levels, middle sampler, click on part of image.

Dodge

making the image lighter 

Burn

maker the image darker

Vignette

making a focal point with the surroundings dark

Editing

• Screen shots
• Before and after
• evaluation

EVALUATION

After editing the studio photo, I think I can say that I prefer the photo edited. I like the way that the colours are better defined rather than being neutral. In oder to produce the image like I have, I first made a background copy of the original just to be safe. Then i went onto curves; dragging the line down made the contrast and colours darker. Exposure had to be taken down too since if it went up the picture would be very light, possibly white. Lastly I used the brightness and contrast tool, taking them both down however the brightness was only a little bit.

EVALUATION

I personally prefer the unedited image. This is because I do not like the fact that in the edited version, the face looks too dark. The blue creates a tired look, however I do prefer the background in the edited version. 

EVALUATION

Portraiture Location Work Dary

In todays lesson we were asked to take another shoot of portraiture, however this time it was Location.
We went around campus finding some places that would look as good backgrounds.
I like taking portraiture photographs since I enjoy capturing peoples raw emotions, or even faked. Portraiture is a theme of human photography and thus being my favourite type of photography.

Here is a photo I liked:

I like this photo because It seems as if the girl Is almost smiling but not quite. Her eyes are directed straight into the camera giving it the effect that she is looking you straight in the eyes. I think the photo shows an underlying quirkiness; it shows a girl trying to be serious but evidently finding the situation funny.

I do not like this photo:

I do not like this photo because I feel like it is lacking in any significant emotion or focus. I think the centre point if the image is her nose which isn't a bodily part that displays anything worth mentioning. I think the photo would be better if the camera was a little more keel with her head, however, since the girl was a lot taller than me it was difficult to get the heigh and levels right.

Progression

Next time I think I would like to stick to a themed background with a lot of different people to vary. I would like to do it with a field in the background, however, I would like to do it with other people busy in the background - not just a clean cut image. I would also like to change the way most of my expressions are in the photos. I would like to do it naturally rather than telling the person; making hem laugh, telling them an in depth story, capturing them when they don't even realise.

Here is are some examples:

This is my step-by-step editing of a portraiture photography and the final effect.