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Experimental Photography

Ryan Goldsmith

(Experiment one shots)

(Experiment one shots)

(Experiment shots)

1st final image

All the motion in the image has been frozen still and you can see all of the surreal shapes and formations that are caused by the disturbance in the liquid.

I have chosen to adjust the colour of the overall image to a sepia style of finish. I feel that this works well and is a great and subtle use of contrast in the image, this is because if the photograph was taken when images were sepia in colour then there would not have been sufficient cameras with the required shutter speed, ISO etc. to actually capture the image. This image is one of my

favorite shots from this experiment due to the fact that there is so much information in the image. You can see how the foreign object is cutting through the water and the trail it has left behind.

There are a nice range of different tones running throughout the image which help to give that feel of movement. I feel that with the overall colour of the image these tones are quite soft and are aesthetically pleasing.

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I feel that this image somewhat goes with my initial plans that I devised last week in that the image shows how things work. This is shown by you being able to see the displacement of the water and the disturbance caused by the object protruding through the liquid. I think that the contrast I have got within m image also falls into the category of what I was trying to experiment with but rather than using contrasting objects I have used contrasting styles that make up one image. Boris Bos is a photographer that likes to make similar images to the ones that I have created, in some of his images he uses the simple combination of dropping apples into water with a black background to get this nice effect of the disturbance in the water. I chose to vary the objects in my imagery and used things like money, lemons, limes, candles and other glasses. My images used a white background which in some of the images meant that some of the focus was lost into the background away from what I was actually trying to show.

I feel that the image is easy on the eye and there is a nice feel to the image as a whole. I think that I got the totes right for the image and what I wanted. However on thing which displeased me throughout most of my images was the amount of noise that there was, I have tried altering the colour and exposure in all of them to try and help to mask the issue as best I could and for some of the images it has worked well. This image has noise in it but with the sepia effect it doesn’t look out of place because it gives that nice grain effect that would’ve been seen in images of a sepia nature. The strongest element of my image is the movement of the coin through the water and the shapes that it created with the dispersing of the water.

With regards to the technical aspects of my image they have all been executed as well as they could’ve been with the resources and shooting space that was available to me. I used the highest shutter speed that I could get which was between 1/5000 and 1/6400 depending on the time of day and the ISO was on 6400 which was the highest possible to accommodate for the lighting. The fast shutter speed allowed me to render the movement in the image completely stationary. I feel that the capture of the movement is the strongest element in my image as it allows you to see things which would otherwise be impossible to see with the human eye. I think that the most important part of my image that need improvement would be the lighting, this is because the stronger and better the lighting the higher I can take the shutter speed therefore the cleaner the image, this would also result in there being less noise in the final image. With this image I used the exposure alteration available in Photoshop and I turned the exposure up to lighten the image and help to bring it out more. I also altered the colours of the image and added a colour filter to the image, I then used the colour sliders which allow you to choose the amout of blue, cyan, yellow etc. that is found in the filter, this finally gave me this sepia like finish.

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I think that my work could be improved in a few different ways, one of which is the framing of the images in camera. Some of my images have been cut off slightly and therefore don’t have that professional and clean feel to them. I feel that with these sorts of images it is imperative that you get the framing right in order to catch all of the action in your shot and get the full effect of the subject. Another way with which I could improve my work would be to improve the lighting of the shooting area allowing me to use a faster shutter speed and hopefully reduce the amount of grain found in the images, this will also help with how crisp the freezing of the movement in the image is. I think a way I could maybe improve my work would be to use more post production in Photoshop to just clean up the images slightly crisper. I think that I could do more experiments to explore this fast shutter speed style of photography, a couple of ideas I have had are to use different liquids and containers in the images and also to reverse the process where the liquid is dropped onto the solid object rather than the other way around, I feel that this one could be very interesting to try out.

The colour in my image is very important to the overall finish of the piece and is the main aspect of contrast in it, the sepia nature of it helps to give the old feeling to it. The shapes that have been formed throughout the image are also interesting because of the unique nature of them and they way with which they flow through the water, also when you think about it these exact shapes will be totally unique. I like the composition of the image and the way it fills the frame, I feel that there is just the right amount of background in the image so that the main focus is not overpowered. I feel that there is a strong focal point in the image and that is the movement of the coin through the water, this is what draws your eye straight in.

I feel that the images that I have made do fit into the brief, they explore the way that liquids can be manipulated and the way that they move when they are disturbed by a foreign object / source. They are experimental and the look at how different things effect the liquid. I think that the pieces using the money are a good example of this because it isn’t something that you’d normally see or do therefore making what is created far more interesting.

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Second set of images

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Final Images 2

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Image analysis

Apple frozen in mid air perfectly sharp. This is a great example of using high shutter speed photography

The water disruption in full swing showing the displacement of the water and all of the different shapes and forms which have been created by the foreign object forcing its way through the water.

The three images one after another help to give the sequential effect and give the images a flow even though they are three separate images frozen still.

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I think that with this new set of images I have managed to improve it in a few ways. One of the main concerns that I had from the previous images was the amount of noise within the images and how much of an impact that had on the overall quality of the image. I have managed to nullify the noise in my new images for the most part. This was done by using the Photography studio within the college so that I had access to sufficient lighting to allow for a faster shutter speed and reduced noise. I think that the images have a cleaner more professional quality to them which improves the aesthetics of the images. I think that the exposure and the clean nature of the frozen movement are the most pleasing aesthetical qualities of my work, this also made the post production work a far lesser task as all I have had to do to these images has been very slight rotations and cropping. For this final selection I have chosen to make a triptych sequence which shows the various stages of the falling object going into the water and creating a disturbance which has been frozen within the image, this gives a nice flow to images and gives that sense of progression.

I think that the technical elements of my images are strong, I feel that I used the correct settings for what I was trying to achieve, the ISO was as high as it could go at 6400, the shutter speed was also as high as it could go at 1/8000 which was more than fast enough to ensure that the movement within the image was stopped still. I also had a very shallow depth of field with the aperture set to F5, this all ensured that the resulting images were properly exposed and of a high quality, this is a lot different from the images from the other set which had to have their exposures changed in Photoshop and contained a lot of noise from the lack of lighting.

In terms of post production on these final images, there wasn’t a lot that needed to be done. The images just needed a slight rotation to ensure that they were aligned properly, the images were then all layered on top of each other and the opacities changed. This was done so that I could use the free transform option to ensure that all of the images had the same proportions and they all looked as though they were all from the same set.

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I think that my work could be improved by making the action within the photographs more pronounced so that they create a more dramatic image. A way of doing this would be to use a bigger container for the liquid. I could maybe use a different colour liquid which would enhance the stimulation of the image. I could change the object and the size of the objects to see what kind of different effect that would give me. I think if I was to take on another experiment it would most likely be similar to the ones I have done previously and just trying to adapt and improve on them to make the strongest images possible.

Within my images there are many different shapes and formations that have been created in the water which help to create various points of interest right the way through the images, this means that there is a lot of information in the photographs and even the negative space in the images helps to add to the balance of the images. Using bright objects like lemons and apples helps to add an element of contrast to the image and helps the object to stand out and also to draw attention to the focal point of the image. I think that the composition of the images is strong and it all has a very nice balance to it, the vase is the main aspect of the images and then there is just the right amount of space around to give some action out side of the vase like water droplets.

The images that I have made meet the desires of the brief due to the experimental nature of the images. The images help to show what happens when a solid, like an apple is dropped into a liquid and what effect this has. They are experimental even though I’ve done this before. I have increased the shutter speed and improved the lighting so that the images can be improved upon. I think that these images are the type of thing which would fit into a location like the one specified in the brief as it has a nice light feel to them and would work well as a wall display.

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Third set. Close crops

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Final image 3

All of the action within the image has happened on the left side of he vase so by cropping the image down this has allowed the image to focus more on the intense part.

Object frozen still in the image as it falls through the water. (good example of high speed photography).

The cropping has allowed me to eradicate all of the negative space within the image and give it a much stronger focal point.

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I think that the ideas that I have had about this particular set of images has been well executed. The aim was to use the aid of cropping to help and focus more on segments of the image and make tem have more impact than the previous images. I think that the resulting images have been a success and have helped to shed a different light on the images. I think that one thing I would've liked to have seen would be to have some even closer crops of what is going on, I think that this could be interesting to see what different shapes and effects happen within a smaller space and allow us to see in more detail what is happening. I think that I could also have experimented with a few different effects, filters, colour alterations etc. to see what difference this made to the overall image. I didn’t take any influence for these crops these were simply just another way of experimenting with the technique that had already been enforced and looking at ways to adapt and move on.

I think that this image is very easy on the eye and it has a nice subtlety to it. It makes the viewer look right the way through the image and follow the path of disturbance, this is good because it allows them to take in all of the available information within the image and means that the image will be stimulating wherever they look on it too. The bright vibrant colour of the apple with the water works well and creates a nice contrast therefore making the apple stand out. The detail within the image is also a point of interest, you can see the bubbles along the underside of the apple as they’re being forced around and up to the top, this is something that you wouldn’t be able to capture with a slow or average shutter speed so is a great example of the type of movements you can capture with an extremely fast shutter speed. One thing I am slightly displeased with is the reflection from the lights showing on the vase, I think that this just slightly tarnishes the image.

With regards to the technical aspects of my image it has been done very well, all of the correct settings and equipment have been used in the process to ensure that I got the cleanest image possible. I think that the strongest aspect of the image is the action which has been captured as this is something which was previously not as sharp in the first set of images. One are which could be slightly improved would be the lighting set up to try and eradicate the reflections on the glass which cause a slight blemish to the final product. The only post production done on this image was the cropping of it, however in the rest of this set of images I have used the adjustment to change the image to black and white and I have also added a filter to give them a retro vintage feel.

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I think that one way I could improve my work would be to get in closer to the action and see in even more detail what is happening within the image. This would help to give more of that surreal and abstract look to the images as it may be unclear what is actually happening in the image you might be left guessing and trying to figure it out making the image more interactive. I think that I could develop this work in the future by using more abstract and unusual objects, this might help to add to the strange nature of what is created in the liquid. If I was going to undertake further experiments I think I would try to veer away from this technique and try something different like bursting bubbles or water balloons, this would be interesting to see what happens but would most likely have to be done outside to accommodate for the inevitable mess it would cause.

The most interesting aspect of this images is the shapes which have been created within it, this is because they are unusual shapes which you would not commonly see elsewhere. They help to draw the viewers attention to the image and make them inspect the detail. I think that it has been composed well and that there is a nice balance between the red of the apple and the lighter tones of the water and highlights, this also offers a nice contrast. The different tones within the image are nice and pleasing on the eye speaking from a purely aesthetical point of view. I think that the image would work better if the apple was more centred so that I could crop out the side of the vase to just allow me to have the apple and the water.

I feel that these images have fulfilled the brief and are exploring new realms of the images I had. They take a closer look into the detail of the disturbance. These images help to reveal and expose a different way of viewing the action. This is a new technique for me so was in turn an experimental process allowing me to see what I could come up with. I think the way in which it showcases the action in the images is new to my image making and was successful overall.

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Additional images

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Additional images