AS Photography students bloggers 2019 - 2020

Exemplars

Grade A students (2018)

Component 1
Kate Watson
Teddy Rezaei


Component 2


Kate Watson
Teddy Rezaei


Component 2 exam

Teddy Rezaei
Kate Watson


2019 student work


Component 1


Jaizy Bell
Hannah Geraghty
Cassie Gordon
Lily Hoyle
Ella Grace Forsyth
Amalia Morar
Leah Newson
Kelsi O'Connor
Kelsi O'Connor2


Component 2

Jaizy Bell
Hannah Geraghty
Cassie Gordon
Lily Hoyle
Ella Grace Forsyth
Amalia Morar
Leah Newson
Kelsi O'Connor

Kelsi O'Connor2

AS Photography 2018 - 2019

Component 1



Amelia Bangert

Amy Battelley
Samantha Burton

Taylor Cable

Hannah Cannell

Alice Grover

Pranav Khetia
Joseph O'Boyle

Teddy Rezaei

Rebecca Russell

Phoebe Wade

Kate Watson

Olivia Whittome 

Component 2



Amelia Bangert

Amy Battelley
Samantha Burton

Taylor Cable

Hannah Cannell

Alice Grover
Pranav Khetia

Joseph O'Boyle

Teddy Rezaei

Rebecca Russell

Phoebe Wade

Kate Watson

Olivia Whittome 






Component 2 - Exam



Amelia Bangert

Amy Battelley
Samantha Burton

Taylor Cable

Hannah Cannell

Alice Grover
Pranav Khetia

Joseph O'Boyle

Teddy Rezaei

Rebecca Russell

Phoebe Wade

Kate Watson

Olivia Whittome 

exemplar work diary blog post for 2016-2017

Portraiture.

Portrait Definition - 

Portrait - A painting, drawing, photograph often focusing on an individual.

Portraiture - The art of painting or taking photographs.

My interpretation of portraiture - Any form of image documenting a person or something representative of that person.

Photographer Research - 

Alec Soth - 

Born: 1969
Died: N/A
Place of Birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Occupation: Photographer
Group: Magnum Photos

• Soth's work had been referred to as cinematographic and almost like a fantasy.
• He is a member of Magnum Photos.
• His work features the ordinary people and everyday objects.
• Soth has said that he wants his work to display a "narrative arc and storytelling". 
• Soth has photographed for many publications within the field of newspapers and magazines. 
• Soth founded the publishing company 'Little Brown Mushroom' where he published people who work in a similar narrative way to himself. 

Alec Soth Examples:

This image is part of the series "Sleeping by the Mississippi" with the subject of the image being an apt fan of aviation. The muted colours are like that of a polaroid picture which are often associated with intimacy between friends and family photography. Soth, therefore, creates an individual narrative and shares intimate nature with his subjects. 

This photograph depicts convicts completing rehabilitation and work in Kentucky. The parallelism between the convicts and the holy cross could be considered a juxtaposition as often crimes are considered sins. The image also depicts a repentant nature implicitly. The narrative is open and could unravel in many ways and therefore keeps the audience intrigued. 

This final image is variant from the other two. This photograph is from the series "Songbook" which is a black and white series. The work features stark contrasts between youth and aged and their cultures in my opinion. 

Richard Avedon:
Avedon is a portrait photographer who focuses mainly in the black and white genre. The three images below are featured in a series entitled 'In the American West'. Like Soth, Richard Avedon studies regional identity, specifically in this series, and evokes a series of questions within an audience. The black and white appears to have been used to exaggerate the forms of the human body in the portraiture but could also symbolise something more deeply about how skin colour is irrelevant.

Low 

Thomas Ruff: 
Ruff employs a deadpan appearance within his portraiture that are reminiscent of a passport photo. It could be argued that Ruff defies gender norms by giving female subjects a blue background whilst male subjects are given pink. Ruff, unlike a few of the other photographers featured here, focuses on ordinary people rather than the lifestyles of the rich and famous celebrities. Thomas Ruff is sometimes questioned as a photographer due to his style that is considered controversial.

Key Lighting Contact Sheet - 

Portraits - 
All of these images were taken in the studio on a Canon EOS 450D. Using the mono-block with a snoot placed on the end to create a modelling light I used the settings of ISO: 200, shutter speed of 1/125 and an f/stop value of f/16.

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Portraiture Straight Images / Work Diary - 

Portraiture - 

Thomas Ruff

The above images are in the style of the portrait artist Thomas Ruff who focused on deadpan expressions with contrasting vibrant backdrops.  I like these images as the composition and colour are reminiscent of the photographer Thomas Ruff. I am pleased with the visual outcome although I believe that it could be improved using a variety of background colours. These images were taken in a studio using the settings 1/125 shutter speed, ISO 200 and f/22 on fully maul settings using manual focus. I believe my attempt was reasonably successful in acquiring a pastiche of the photographer who served as inspiration. The images replicate the passport style size of pictures, the deadpan expression and the vibrant highly saturated backgrounds. 

Richard Avedon -

The above images were taken in the style of Richard Avedon's series focusing on the 'American West'. I like this image as it demonstrates the basic composition used by the photographer Richard Avedon. Avedon also often included props relating to his subjects and thus I included the prop of a camera to obscure the identity of the subject and show how photography takes on a large role in their lifestyle. This image is successful due to the use of vignette, highly contrasted black and white through levels and the central composition of the subject. However, I think that during editing I have made these images too dark and if I was to improve upon them I would adjust the contrast in Photoshop. 

Progression - 

To improve from my current Thomas Ruff inspired final outcomes I would retake the bottom left hand image as the subject does not conform to the same composition and facial expressions as the other three.    To improve my second series inspired by Richard Avedon I would not edit the final images as much as I have. The final images vignette is too far in and shrouded the subject of the image. 

Portraiture Contact Sheet - 

Portraits -   contact sheet

Portraiture Image Bank Continued - 

Portraiture -  

Annie Leibovitz:
Annie Leibovitz photographs mostly famous faces such as Anne Hathaway and Adele and also does photography for publicity such as the first image feature below. Leibovitz did the publicity photography for 'Les Miserables'. Leibovitz work focuses significantly on the use of light and the saturation of colour. As a photographer I find Leibovitz's work to be fascinating through the use of the formal elements such as colour within her portraits.

Thomas Ruff: 
Ruff employs a deadpan appearance within his portraiture that are reminiscent of a passport photo. It could be argued that Ruff defies gender norms by giving female subjects a blue background whilst male subjects are given pink. Ruff, unlike a few of the other photographers featured here, focuses on ordinary people rather than the lifestyles of the rich and famous celebrities. Thomas Ruff is sometimes questioned as a photographer due to his style that is considered controversial.

David Lachapelle:
Lachapelle is an extremely controversial photographer often focusing on extreme circumstances of the nude human form. Lachapelle is also a celebrity photographer who uses bold colours and out of the ordinary ideas whilst studying the human form and identity; working with celebrities regularly, Lachapelle, provides an interpretation of a famous face that the public may not be familiar with.

Alec Soth:
Alec Soth studies identity through his portraiture with some of his books being entitled 'Broken Days', 'Dog Days Bogota' and 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'. Most of Soth's works study regional identity and appear almost like a polaroid picture due to the hue and saturation of the colours; as a result Soth's works evoke an almost nostalgic feeling in the audience.

Richard Avedon:
Avedon is a portrait photographer who focuses mainly in the black and white genre. The three images below are featured in a series entitled 'In the American West'. Like Soth, Richard Avedon studies regional identity, specifically in this series, and evokes a series of questions within an audience. The black and white appears to have been used to exaggerate the forms of the human body in the portraiture but could also symbolise something more deeply about how skin colour is irrelevant.

Portraiture Image Bank - 

Matthieu Bourel:

Matthieu Bourel uses pre-existing photographs which he then dissects to reveal the underneath layers to evoke a sense even unity even in diversity. Most of Bourel's portraiture features vintage period famous actors and actresses well known to the public which he then manipulates.

Dan Mountford: 

Dan Mountford uses the medium of photography but focuses on a technique referred to as 'Double Exposure'. 

Photographer's Research

please see below an example of photographers research conducted by an AS student.

I have outlined a code below whereby 

red = connotation

blue = denotation

green = context 

Research Notes: Ansel Adams - 

Photographer Research -

Ansel Adams - 

Born: February 20th 1902
Died: April 22nd 1984
Place of Birth: San Francisco, USA
Occupation: Naturalist Photographer, Environmental Activist
Notable Places Featured in his Photography: Yosemite National Park
Groups: f/64

• Ansel Adams was the son of a Lumber Business owner which eventually Adams was to inherit until he became an environmental activist.
• In 1916 Adams began developing his passion for photography following a trip to Yosemite National Park.
• Adams learnt darkroom techniques, read magazines and attended a photography club in his early years as a photographer.
• Ansel Adams sold his early works in "Best's Studio".
• Adams later married the daughter of the owner of "Best's Studio" and inherited the business following his father-in-laws death in 1935. The business is continued today under the name of the "Ansel Adams Gallery".
• Adams first professional breakthrough followed the publication of "Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras" which lead to multiple other commercial assignments.
• Adams joined other photographers who were using their work to affects social and political change and became an environmentalist photographer.
• Adams died in 1984, aged 82, after a heart attack. 

The f/64 Group:

Ansel Adams founded the f/64 group which consisted of 7 San Francisco photographers. The higher the f/ value the wider the depth of field meaning more of the image is in focus. These photographers ensure that they have all of their image in focus with extreme detail so that when it comes to the zone system more tone and depth can be created.

1. Ansel Adams
2. Imogen Cunningham
3. John Paul Edwards
4. Sonya Noskowiak
5. Henry Swift
6. Willard Van Dyke
7. Edward Weston

The Zone System:




Translation of The Zone System to Modern Day:
In modern photography the zone system would be most relevant in the editing process of images for example in Photoshop. To achieve the effect of Adams a modern photographer could use histograms to change the tonal contrast of the image to create depth, add drama and improve the subject landscape of the photograph.


Pre-visualisation:
Pre-visualisation refers to picturing how the image will appear as a finished product before it is captured and developed.

Whilst, it can be argued that the concept of pre-visualisation is archaic now due to the use of DSLR cameras rather than film it can still be applied to modern photography. A photographer should pre-visualise how the image will appear after being edited, for example into black and white and through the use of histograms for tonal contrast, and assume how they can best take the photograph.

Ansel Adams Examples:

This image is extremely intense through its use of contrast and tone. The shape of the subject of the image is dramatic and the implementation of the zonal system provides a variation of tonal areas from near black to slight tone. The composition is also well thought through as it complies to the three-part grid system which takes the viewers eye throughout the entirety of the image due to the various focal points. 

This image is also dramatic due to the use of highly contrasted areas. Whilst some may argue that the image does not feature that interesting a subject landscape the zone system and development process feature significantly in this photograph. The leading line of the sand dune draws the eye along and through the image giving it depth whilst the lines on the dune are exaggerated through near black zones and what appears to be pure white zones. 

Finally, this image like the others taken by Ansel Adams, is intense and brooding. The leading line of the meandering river takes the viewer through the image as if they are participating in the taking of the image like Adams himself; the use of the leading line adds depth to the image. The near black zones of the trees cast silhouettes that create an eerie yet beautiful atmosphere within the image whilst the pure white zones on the snow-capped mountains add a sense of conflict between light and dark.

Creating a Lighting Diagram

Creating a lighting diagram.

Creating a lighting diagram could never be easier using l​http://www.lightingdiagrams.com/Creator  simply select from an array of studio light graphic designs and place them around your subject.. 

You then need to save the file as a jpg or png