Exercise: Improvement or interpretation?

Outline: Take a photo of some sort of portrait in a setting and using the lasso tool or masking brushes to manually select the person, adjust this area to make it stand out more clearly.

I used a photo from my photo library for this exercise. The image is only of my dog in the garden but I purposefully used a photo that was over exposed with lots of highlight clipping to show the effect better.

Here is Lucky looking rather grey and with highlights blocking out some detail due to the over exposure. To make Lucky stand out more in this image I firstly used the 'magnetic lasso tool', that I have available in Photoshop elements, to outline the dog.

This took a few attempts to get the lasso only around the dog. Due to loss of detail and tones, the outline kept including grass and leaves as it couldn't differentiate the border between the two. But by zooming in and taking my time, I got a pretty good outline.
Now that the dog is highlighted, I adjusted some elements to make the dog stand out more from the background. I darkened the highlights as well as decreasing the brightness and increasing the contrast.

 This made the dog darker in appearance and toned down the overexposure on him, making the tones and shadows increase and giving Lucky his black colouring back. By doing this some of the detail has been restored also.

Conclusion:
This was a good exercise to undertake. I still feel that this effect is an innocent and legitimate adjustment because as with the previous exercise, I believe this is just enhancing the image and not actually altering the physical appearance of the subject. Should I have changed the colouring of the dogs fur by altering so much the dog appeared golden in colour then maybe we would be bordering on falsifying again, as stated in the previous exercise. The photographers eye is capturing an image and sometimes equipment/nature can alter the original vision, for example overexposure, dust on the lens, not enough light. I think little adjustments like this to enhance the 'overall image', as opposed to enhancing the actual subject's features, to make it more appealing to the viewer is only natural completely justifiable.

Exercise: Correction.

Outline: Use two images from your photo library, one with dust specs and one with lens flare. For the dust correction one, use the software's built in tools and for the lens flare one, use the clone stamp to correct the apparent blemishes. 

I searched through my photo library and couldn't really find any images with dust specs from the lens. I did, however, find an image from my library of assignment 3 images which had a lot of dust specs on the subject so I figured this would work just as well.

Although the dust specs are not from the lens, there are many visible in this image from dust on the surface and subject. The black background has a number of white specs, as does the nectarine. I used the spot healing brush in photoshop on as many of the white specs as I could and this had a dramatic result.

As you can see, the image appears a lot 'smoother'. All the specs have been 'corrected' and the healing brush has altered that spot to blend into the surrounding. This allows the subject to appear less flawed.
I attempted to correct this image using the clone stamp tool as well, but that was completely unsuccessful. I found that I had to be more careful to what I replaced the small spec with and it turned into a bit of a mess if i'm honest. The shadow and reflected area, along with the light reflection was difficult to alter getting the small area to match entirely to it's surrounding and I ended up with light bits where it should've been dark etc.

For the lens flare image, I have used a photo of a recent sunset. There is a very noticeable flare at the bottom of the image which, in my opinion, ruins the photo.

I followed the technique in the exercise, 'using the clone stamp tool  set to colour to integrate the flare polygons to their immediate surroundings and then set to darken with a close neighbourhood source', on the flare in the image. This wouldn't work with a spot healing brush due to the size of the flare and detail in the image.

This is the result and I can admit it looks great. The flare has been removed and is no longer the focus of the image, as in the previous version it took focus from the scene.

Conclusion:
I think that both correction techniques are quite innocent used in this manner. As stated the specs in the first  image were from dust on the scene but I still feel that removing them has bettered the image and is more a case of tidying the image than actually altering it.I feel the same about the lens flare too as this kind of alteration doesn't alter the appearance of the actual subject, only the flaws of the equipment/surroundings.
Depending on what the 'specs' you are removing/altering are could create a whole other argument though. As in the age old issue of retouching and airbrushing models in magazines. This is don't agree with as such because there you are actually altering how the model looks to create someone who, in fairness, doesn't actually look like that. And if they do that in a marketing campaign then you are falsifying the 'results' of the product, say for example make up, hair colourants, lawn products etc.

And I got it!

Quick update....
I got the internship! I am now an official intern photographer for Altsounds! And yes, I'm really happy about it. It's extra work to fit in to my already busy schedule, but as I've posted before, I'm really passionate about gig photography and feel like this is really a big deal with a little foot in the door to get to do what I really want to do. The experience is great and I really enjoy it, but the only issue is time. As an intern we are expected to keep minimal input to the site and time is a big factor, but I can only do my best.
I will continue to post any interesting news as and when, but for now.....celebrate :)

Spring 2012.

Well, assignment 3 has been submitted and I'm really happy with my progress in the course so far. I find that I am very 'Photography' lately. I have recently photographed another friends wedding and I must say that I'm so happy with the images. I was happy with the family wedding i did in december but this one, even more so. The images were beautiful and boosted my confidence a bit.
I have also been doing work for a music website who I am currently in a trial period for becoming an intern photographer for. Have done one gig for them so far with another scheduled for two weeks time. Another friend has also asked me to photograph her wedding next year so I feel like things are moving really well with it all.
I am working hard at the moment and although busy and unpaid, it's really fulfilling.

Here are the images I took for that first gig, all up on the website. Will post anything else I'm upto as and when.

ASSIGNMENT 3: Monochrome.

Outline: Choose a subject and take a series of photos to be viewed in black and white, focusing on shape, tonal contrasts, form and texture.

I thought about this assignment for a while, as I wanted to photograph a subject that would convey all the above requirements. As I have said before, I am a big fan of black and white photography and am interested in the techniques used shooting in black and white to embrace the subject.

I decided to focus on shooting fruit or vegetables, funnily enough because this has a vast range of colour. And I mean in the sense that , there are a lot of tones open to black and white interpretation. Added together with the fact that this subject would have a lot of shape and form to emphasize as well as a range of textures to enhance.

I took a variety of images for this exercise, choosing to alter focal length, camera angle and lighting to find the best outcome. I then chose the image I felt worked the most. Then during editing I was careful to make any adjustments needed, paying particular attention to contrast and the channel sliders. These were a necessary part of my editing. Using the sliders to was an important feature to alter the tones of the different colours of the fruit and also to create my own personal interpretation. I did experiment with key but found this was an effect that was not relevant to the outcome I was looking to achieve.

The main outcome that I wanted for this series of images was to show the fruit behind the colourful exterior. I wanted to emphasize the textures and for the viewer to be able to 'feel' the texture of the food through the image that they see. Secondly, I wanted the viewer to be able to see the difference in colour through the tones of the black and white photograph, and to be able to notice that different colours were present in the image without seeing the colours. Finally, I wanted to try and make the subjects appear more realistic through shape and form. I wanted to make sure that the subject didn't look too flat and the form of the subject was heightened and not lost.

These are my final images:

Updated images to reflect on tutor Feedback:
I altered the images of the mushrooms and created a new 'fully lit' image as suggested. Taking on what my tutor has said I used a homemade reflector to elminate some of the shadow and to create more form. To amend the mushrooms image, I used smaller mushrooms and used a longer focal range. There I tried to capture the pattern and texture of the mushroom with out the need to create a 'macro' effect image. 

I did not re take the nectarine image with full lighting but I did use a baby tomato in a light box as well as a homemade reflector to create minimal shadow in the image and to highlight the form of the tomato this way. 

Prints: I have just received my prints back and the main thing I've noticed is that the prints appear darker than the images do on screen. I used a different printer this time on the advice of my tutor because the prints for assignment 2 were not as clear in print as they were on screen. I am happy with the prints overall and there's only one image that I'm concerned about but I will await my tutor feedback and see if she shares that concern.


Tutor Feedback:

Overall Comments 

Thank you for submitting Assignment 3, Amanda. You are working at a good pace and making speedy progress.  

Again I am concerned that the quality of print that you are submitting is not matching the quality that I am seeing on screen. I note that you have switched print companies for this, but it maybe that you need to upgrade a little from the local Tesco etc service. Perhaps finding a company in your area that works with professional photographers may be the answer or trying an online service, such as ProAm where they are used to working with capable photographers. 

In the meantime, it may be worth sending your work through to me electronically to avoid additional expense. 

Feedback on the assignment 

Elements to consider with your assignments: 

This assignment is about the creative effects of working in monochrome. To achieve high quality images you should consider form, tonal contrast and texture.  

Your assignment in connection with the above points 

You have chosen some great subject matter to work with for this assignment. The fruit and vegetables have really given you scope to work on your compositions, giving consideration to angle of view and filling the frame appropriately. You have made some good choices through the work, producing interesting pictures. Light and shade have been used very effectively to give a strong impression of texture in a number of the shots.  The detail on the fruit shots for instance really helps the success of the shot. The shiny pepper pictures are particularly lovely: Very ‘Edward Weston’ in style. 

For the mushroom shot you have got a little too close to your subject and this has resulted in a lack of clarity. You could strengthen this work by re-taking this shot, using much smaller mushrooms and working at showing a pattern from a greater distance. You could also think about using a reflector for this kind of work, reflecting light back in to areas of deep shadow. A simple home-made reflector would be enough to build on the range of tones visible across the frame. This would have helped with your picture of three peppers, where there is an area of black shadow in the centre of the frame. 

Think back to the work that you did on the Art of Photography course, where you looked at the setting up lighting to achieve the ‘form’ or three dimensional aspect of your subject. The peach (?) picture is starting to show evidence of form and it may be nice to build on this further and show one of the items lit to full effect. 

However, you have some nice work in this selection of images and I can really see an improvement in your photography. 

Summary 

Suggested reading/viewing  

Have a look at Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham images and add examples to your log. 

Learning Logs 

You could include a little more technical information on the individual shots in your supporting notes.  

Please refer to my notes on the previous assignment with regards to increasing the research side of your blog.