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Experimental Photography

(Ashley Boyne)

Use this slide to annotate your final image

Hybrid Moments

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Evaluate: ideas eg analysis, results; My initial plans were to shoot candid images in monochrome, this was going to be done with a slow shutter speed to create a blur/reflection effect. The subjects of all my photos were going to be people, sat or stood alone at the time of the photograph. Upon production starting these plan soon rapidly changed.

I used a volunteer to be the subject of the photo. This, I felt would create a greater opportunity to maximise the blur effect to it’s potential - whilst staying within my capabilities. In post production, the idea of keeping the photos in monochrome was also scrapped. Instead I made the decision to add colour to the picture as I felt it would compliment the other effects I had planned for the picture.

I am extremely pleased with the results of this picture. Although the production changed direction from the initial plan, the new techniques and tools I have discovered and used for the first time, have made the project worthwhile.Qualities:Consider the aesthetic qualities of your work. How does it look? What do you like about it? What are the strongest and weakest elements from an aesthetic point of view?

I am happy with the aesthetic qualities of this piece of work. I feel the subject in the forefront and his reflection in the background compliment each other well. With the forefront subject being of low opacity yet higher detail in the face and the background subject being of a solid (high) opacity yet being low detail in the face, an effective aesthetic quality is created for the viewer to enjoy.

Consider the technical qualities of your work? How well done is it? What elements are strongest and which could need further work and development? Be sure to use technical terms in your work such as exposure, shutter speed, aperture and talk specifically about any post-production techniques you have used.

For this photograph, a slow shutter speed has been used to the great benefit of the photo. The technique was not something I had experimented with prior to this project. Considering this, pride is something I can feel when surveying the end results of this technique, on my image. Another strong aspect of the final product, is the use of the cloud tool from within the filters. The clouds add a certain murkiness to the image, this helps to add a sinister darkness to the photo. This darkness added in with colours of the photo and the suspicious character in the background of the photo, help to form a new meaning to the photo and add more depth and quality. Another tool that helped add quality to the photo was the ‘posterize’ feature in Adobe Photoshop. This made my image brighter in colour –especially in the face of the front subject. As well as this, posterizing helped to make the image as a whole, more defined. Inverting the photo was they key tool in changing the image into the final photograph it is, adding the ‘fiery’ element to the photo.

To develop the image I would have used the filter tools more extensively. One of the filter tools I would have used, definitely would have been the liquify tool. I would have used this on the background reflection of the subject, disfiguring the face to add a more creepy reflection to the image, in turn creating an image with more depth and meaning to it.

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How could you improve your work? Could you develop your work further with additional work? What would you try to achieve with this? Could you undertake further experiments? If so, what would they be?

To improve my work I would try a whole new host of techniques. I am quite limited in the techniques I currently use on Photoshop. To achieve this I would edit some of my photos differently perhaps using techniques such as: monochrome, pixelate or work with the noise technique.

I could undertake further experiments, these would be done in a photography studio, this would help increase the quality of my photographs and would lead to a greater slower exposure technique. This would be helped by the light setting being vastly improved compared to the original setting of my photographs; a college corridor.

When talking about your work, consider formal elements such as lines, shapes and patterns as well as the colour and contrast and also tone of your image. Think about the composition of your work and where this could be developed. To develop the photograph I would have made a stronger contrast between the colour of the two people seen in the photo. With the clearer image at the front becoming brighter and the background image becoming darker. As well as this I would have given less detail to the background image, this may well have improved the aesthetic of the photo greater. In my initial ideas I had planned a sinister photo, this was my reason for adding the cloud effect. To increase the sinister effect I could have darkened the photo this would have heightened the tone that I was targeting.

Finally you should consider if the images you have produced fulfil the brief you were set. Do they match the theme? Are they experimental? Explain your answers using specific examples.

I feel as if my experimental photography has met my brief stipulations. Looking at the theme of discovery, this was met because the technique I used was something I Hadn’t used or experimented with before. Also in the brief was the stipulation of manipulation. I met this by manipulating with the speed I around my subject when taking my photographs, this was to experiment with a blur effect. The blur effect changed in effectiveness in correlation with how slow or fast you walked. Other things in my experimental photography that I manipulated included: shutter speed, lighting and the posterizing technique.

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Static Age

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Evaluate: ideas eg analysis, results;

For this photograph the idea was to use a slow shutter speed to create a subtle blur effect. Following this I would use the Photoshop program to experiment and discover new tools and techniques I had not previously used. I used a volunteer to take the photos with, this way I could get someone stood still to maximise the blur effect. If I had chosen to take a candid shot of someone mid-shot they might walk away mid-shot, making getting a useable photograph much more difficult. Looking at the results of the production, I believe the final image came out well, creating a nice contrast to the first photo I evaluated.

Consider the aesthetic qualities of your work. How does it look? What do you like about it? What are the strongest and weakest elements from an aesthetic point of view?

This piece of work has been made to have the aesthetic work similar to that of a television with bad signal, creating a static like effect. What I like about this is that the person viewing the photograph seen the basic features of the face but not the precise details. This itself adds to the blur effect as the viewer of the photograph is unable to see the volunteers face in full detail. However, in my opinion the blur effect should have been used more effectively to create a clearer shadow like reflection coming off the shoulder of the volunteer. This is because at the moment it barely recognizable with the shoulder of the jacket the only part that is just about reflecting.

Consider the technical qualities of your work? How well done is it? What elements are strongest and which could need further work and development? Be sure to use technical terms in your work such as exposure, shutter speed, aperture and talk specifically about any post-production techniques you have used.

As mentioned in the aesthetic qualities, I believe the blur effect could be used more productively to create a clear reflection off the volunteers face. To do this I should have taken more photographs with a slower shutter speed. This would have allowed more light to come into the camera and in turn heightened the reflection effect if used correctly. Adding noise to the photograph as well as mezzotint provided one of the stronger elements of the photograph in my opinion. This helped me create a static television like effect. As stated before this is a part of the photograph I enjoyed I something I only though about creating once I discovered and used these techniques and tools in Photoshop for the first time, which is including all previous production that I have completed.

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How could you improve your work? Could you develop your work further with additional work? What would you try to achieve with this? Could you undertake further experiments? If so, what would they be?

If I had time to develop my work further there are a few things I would have changed. Firstly I would have excluded the eyes of the volunteer from the static effect. This would have created an interesting horror-like effect that I feel would have heightened the effect of the photo as well as giving the person viewing the photo more to look at and take in. As well as this I may have chosen to put the photo in monochrome. This would have made the static effect more realistic. If it was possible when using monochrome, I would have left the volunteers face with colour. This, I feel would make the image more powerful and create and interesting change to the standard static television effect, perhaps adding a sense of surrealism to the photograph.

When talking about your work, consider formal elements such as lines, shapes and patterns as well as the colour and contrast and also tone of your image. Think about the composition of your work and where this could be developed.

As stated previously, on the topic of the colour in my photograph, I feel as though I had the chance to go back and develop or change the colour of my photograph, I would. I would do this to create a more realistic static television effect. To do this I would change all the photograph apart from the face of the volunteer, to monochrome. This would develop the photograph as it would then be the same colour as television. In my opinion this was an interesting idea to create, which is why it would have been great to develop it further. As well as this I would have like to develop the volunteers face to have a clearer contrast to the rest of the photograph, this is why I previously stated that I would only leave colour in the photograph on the volunteers face. As well as this I would experiment and try to exclude the mezzotint, noise and static effect form the volunteers face, this would have heightened the contrast between the face and the static effect in the rest of the photograph.

Finally you should consider if the images you have produced fulfil the brief you were set. Do they match the theme? Are they experimental? Explain your answers using specific examples.

I feel as though the photos have indeed met the brief. This is because I experimented and discovered new tools and techniques I had not previously used in any other production. This includes: noise, mezzotint and also the slow shutter speed technique I experimented with to create the blue effect. When using the blur and mezzotint effects I manipulated them to create a realistic as possible static effect. This again met one of the stipulations of the brief; manipulation.

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We are 138

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Evaluate: ideas eg analysis, results;

My idea was to use a slow shutter speed to create a visible reflection of a volunteer. After this I would use Photoshop to experiment with new tools and techniques I was going to discover. Once again I used a volunteer to take the photographs of. This again was to maximize the technique to gain successful results. After abandoning plans during the production of my other photographs to have the finished product in black and white or monochrome, I made sure this photograph I did finish this way.

Consider the aesthetic qualities of your work. How does it look? What do you like about it? What are the strongest and weakest elements from an aesthetic point of view?

The reflection in this piece is a fundamental part to the aesthetic feel of the work. To me, the reflection makes it seem like the work is partially coming off the page, towards the viewer. The noise and black and white colour scheme adds to eerie aesthetic to the work. The lack of colour and detail help give the piece a minimalistic aesthetic. The weakest element from an aesthetic point of view is the sign that can be seen in the background to the right. It is out of place in the picture and does not link to the minimalistic nature of the piece and the bare background behind the volunteer. The strongest element relating to the aesthetic in my view, is the noise. The noise adds a murky and shadowy aura to the piece. This shadow like noise sets the scene for the volunteer to look like, as I have previously stated, out of the piece or shadows if you were to tie it in with the aesthetic of the piece.

Consider the technical qualities of your work? How well done is it? What elements are strongest and which could need further work and development? Be sure to use technical terms in your work such as exposure, shutter speed, aperture and talk specifically about any post-production techniques you have used. Regarding the technical qualities of the piece, I feel the two elements that made the piece work are: the use of shutter speed and the use of the noise tool. The shutter speed for this photograph was the lowest used out of all my photographs. This led to a successful reflection technique being able to be seen clear and visible to great effect. The noise helped to create a blackout effect around the borders of the piece, this helped draw focus to the centre of the piece where the volunteer can be seen. These blackened out edges help the middle of the page to jump out and look a lot more significant than it may have done otherwise. To develop the piece I would have changed the setting of my piece to somewhere in the college with a clear background. This is because the sign in the background creates an unwanted distraction as well as not linking in with the aesthetic feel as well as overall aura of the piece.

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How could you improve your work? Could you develop your work further with additional work? What would you try to achieve with this? Could you undertake further experiments? If so, what would they be?

If I had the opportunity to develop my work further there are a couple of things I would change about this piece. Firstly, I would choose a different setting for the photograph to be taken in. I would move to a setting in the college such as the photography studio. The benefits of this would be that I would have a blank background to provide no distractions to the piece as well as maintaining the aesthetic of the piece. In addition to this the studio would allow me to have better lighting. Better lighting would allow the volunteer to appear brighter and reaffirm my intentions of him being the subject and topic of the piece. Away form the studio, something else I may develop was to try even slower shutter speeds to see if I this would increase or decrease the quality of my piece.

When talking about your work, consider formal elements such as lines, shapes and patterns as well as the colour and contrast and also tone of your image. Think about the composition of your work and where this could be developed.

In my opinion the tone of my piece has ended up finishing as one of horror and overall eeriness. This been helped by the contrasting black and white colours used. As well as this the noise used as created a white glow like shape surrounding the subject of the photo. This was something that was not intentional at the time but looking back in retrospect, could be developed. I would developed by giving it a stronger glow and removing the sign in the background which threatens the whole believability of the glow, which in turn threatens the horror and eeriness aura of the piece.

Finally you should consider if the images you have produced fulfil the brief you were set. Do they match the theme? Are they experimental? Explain your answers using specific examples.

Once again I feel as though my piece has met the stipulations set by the brief. In terms of discovery I tried to create a reflection effect that I had not previously tried. This was done by manipulating the shutter speed and lighting to maximize the results to the point I felt necessary. As well as this I found myself walking around my subject at different speed, manipulating the pace of my walk to help find a suitable reflection effect that was imperative to the piece.