Studio Strawberrys

This is a shoot I have done in the studio using a torch to try and play with some light painting that I found online (see previous posts) I wanted to create a red trail of light around the strawberry however this was quite unsuccessful. I lit these photographs with a torch light as I wanted to use it to highlight only certain parts of the strawberries.

What I managed to achieve was creating some macro shots of the strawberries with the focus on the details in the seeds and I also experimented with some styling as I included strawberry flavoured sweets and cupcake wrappers.

I think the cupcake wrapper shot looks too abstract to be used as a final because at first glance it is not possible to understand what it is this was pointed out to me in the crit that we had where I showed my  strawberry shots off.

Another few comments were made about being careful when using a shallow depth of field as I had placed the focus in slightly the wrong area that it should have been (more in the middle of the frame than the foreground)



My Outcomes

These are some of my outcomes for this shoot:


This photograph uses extreme macro to get up close and personal with the strawberry's seeds:

I then placed the strawberry into a cake wrapper to signify strawberry flavoured cake:

With this photograph I have taken more care to style the strawberries using a variety of props such as doilies, sweets, wooden frames and a chopping board. I like the effect of the bokeh effect in the first image however the exposure is incorrect. I think the most successful of this shoot was the final image because of the styling and the correct exposure, unlike the others this photograph was taken with a studio flash rather than the torch light I used for the others.

Editorial Evaluation

For this Editorial project I have looked at how people are changing as they become active on social media sites.  I looked at how people portray themselves online: many people edit their lives down and only show the best of themselves because they do not want people to see their real lives. My photographs look at how people are becoming lost to the version of their world they have created digitally and I feel that my photographs show this through the use of shallow depth of field with the focus on the mobile phone.

I have been influenced by society and modern culture: it is acceptable to take a ‘selfie’ during any activity and all ages can be involved; the only limit is the length of your arm. Many celebrities and powerful political people are becoming involved and the genre quickly became instantly recognisable by the simple styling of the photograph. Personally I do not understand the obsession with taking ‘selfies’ throughout the day just to post online for fun but exploring my own self-image during this project was intriguing.

I feel that my final outcomes have been successful in showing that people are losing themselves to technology, the depth of field showing the person through the phone was a symbolic way of showing people online because many social media sites have apps that can upload photographs straight from phones. My first idea I tried for this project was not as successful as I hoped for because when I showed people my work they did not see the image in the same way that I did so this made me stop and rethink my idea to find a way that people would be able to see my idea more clearly.

My images could have been improved if I continued with studio shooting as I feel these are more successful in showing the person becoming lost to the social media sites because the plain background makes them appear as though they aren’t in a location anymore and have been taken into the digital world.

I have used many different techniques for this shoot as I have explored a few possible ideas for my project. I enjoyed being able to develop my technique from in the studio to going out on location; in the studio I was shooting on ISO 100 and this meant the shutter speed was slowed down so in many of the images there is slight movement with the phone so the screen looks distorted. While I was on location I was using the natural lighting available so I raised the ISO and this allowed me a faster shutter speed that stopped the motion blur.

I did not encounter any major problems however one slight problem was that I struggled to manually focus the image so that the phone was sharp as the person could not remain still and each model was stood in a slightly different position so the focus point was constantly changing, to try and get the phone in focus I took multiple images changing the focus each time.

The weekly group critiques we had helped me to focus my idea as people did not understand what was I was trying to show with my first idea as I think I took the idea too far and did not make it literal enough to be easily understood. In a tutorial we discussed ideas how to improve my technique so that I was not getting motion blur, this helped me to greatly improve my photographs, as the focus of the image is more obvious.

I think this project has helped me improve my studio skills as I do not use the studio often and trying a new technique in the studio was difficult at first but once I got back into the studio I really enjoyed it.

This project as challenged my ability to work with models who I have never met before as the many of the models from the studio shoot were from around the university building and I have never talked to them before.  On location I was challenged again because I was working with younger models who did not want to sit still and pose for long while I was struggling to focus manually.

If I had the chance to start this project again I would not spend so long trying to make my first idea work and go right ahead with my second idea because this worked faster and easier and I feel that it gets my idea across that people are becoming lost to technology and social media sites. 

Editorial Final Five

Martin Wilmsen - Biker Portraits

The shallow depth of field in these photographs are similar to what I am shooting, although in these images the entire face is in focus and has not been obscured the effect is still similar to what I would like.

I think the lighting that's been used helps to bring the focus onto the face as the biker has a halo around him which brings the viewer in. The colours used look muted and toned down which gives a calm and neutral atmosphere (many people stereotype bikers to be loud and aggressive and these images don't make me feel like that).

Shoot Five

These images I have taken some more of my family because I was not happy with the amount of grain in the image because I had the ISO on around 3200 because any lower and the image was not exposing correctly. To correct this I shot earlier in the night when there was more light available and I also turned my camera from Manual to AV (I have been shooting in full manual for so long I have forgotten that I have other available options - whoops!) this meant I was not worrying so much about trying to work out the shutter speed as the lighting changed and I moved around the living room.

I have also asked my neighbor to model for me so that I can show a wider range of ages.

In the first five images I have asked my cousin to pose with my phone showing a selfie of him, although keeping a three year old still long enough to manually focus on the phone was hard I like the images of him looking through the photo album on the phone as it shows that even at three he can understand the mobile phone enough to be able to look through photographs to find himself.

I included the photograph of just the phone by itself because I liked how the shallow depth of field draws the viewer and in because there is no sign of the person in the photograph or of the owner of the phone.

The last two images are more of the people posing with the phones, in one image the model did not want to be photographed as they were but they had a "pre-approved" image that was taken previously before a date night. I think that this speaks more about how lost we are because the model wanted to completely change the perception of her by using a different selfie and not show people her everyday look, I think it shows just how much people edit their lives down for the online world because they do not look "perfect" everyday.

Shoot Four

These images I took during one night that my family were visiting, I think that showing a range of ages all taking selfies and becoming lost to technology is going to be more effective than just asking young adults who the technology is aimed at.

Noah Kalina's - Everyday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPPzXlMdi7o

In this video Noah Kalina has taken a 'selfie' everyday for 12.5 years and has compiled them in this video, this project is not the only one of its kind however it is the longest I have seen the project being completed for.

I think it's extraordinary to see the changes that he goes through over time as during the course of his life he won't see the little changes that happen daily (the effects of ageing) however watching the time lapse video of his life it becomes obvious that he is changing.

First Ever Selfie?

http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/robert-cornelius-self-portrait-the-first-ever-selfie-1839/

Although the genre of 'selfies' did not exist when photography was first invented there was self portraiture and Robert Cornelius did just that, he exposed the film himself and posed for a minute to get a photograph of himself.

The image is thought to be the first photographic portrait taken, showing that 'selfies' have been around for longer than we thought. Self portraits were common when photography was just starting out because it was easier for the photographer to model so that they could practice techniques and exposures.

Not everybody agree's that this image is a 'selfie' because of how the Oxford dictionary has defined the genre, according to the definition given I would say that this image is not a 'selfie' but a self portrait, however this image predates mobile phones so I think that the image can be classed as a 'selfie' because of the limited technology available.

#trulyrich

Chevrolet

This two minute commercial for Chevrolet shows us how the world is happening around us while we are taking pictures to post online, sometimes while trying to take the perfect image we forget that imperfection is part of life and that we should celebrate it.

This commercial shows us that we should not try and show off for people online but we should be enjoying the moments we are trying to capture.

The narrative in the advert shows a family who are enjoying daily life, but it shows the mum is missing out on laughing with the kids because she is trying to take the perfect image of the cake and how the dad isn't playing with his kids because he is taking pictures.

Other short clips were also made for the campaign, some show a series of "perfect" images but then the last image shows what truly matters; for example the window seat clip shows many images looking out from an aeroplane window seat however what really matters is that you are with somebody you care about.

http://stocklandmartelblog.com/2013/11/21/lauren-greenfield-shoots-stills-directs-commercials-for-trulyrich-chevy-malibu-campaign/


Lauren Greenfield

She has directed the commercial and she has used some of her own images as the selfie that the model has took, she says she looked at how the models would take pictures of themselves or how the dad would take pictures of the children and tried to make her images look as candid and real as possible, I think this has worked because all of the images look as though they are real and have been taken by the family. She says that she was going to let the images be taken as the shoot was acting out however she realised that the photographs would be a key aspect of the advert so she has used a combination of both her own work and letting the photographs been shot on set.

Selfie City

http://www.selfiecity.net/


This website shows the details of research done into THE SELFIE.

They have compared thousands of selfies from cities across the globe and have made an imageplot which is a large grid of all the selfies and how the people have posed themselves (head tilting). The graphs can be compared to see how the cities have different social standards on how they want to be perceived.

Through surveying selfies they found that many people tag images as selfies even if it is of food, pets or places.  They also looked into the age range of selfie takers and the gender percentage, they found that in younger people there was a higher percentage of women, but there was a higher percent of older men than older women.

Shoot Three

These images I took in the studio using a shallow depth of field (f2.8) I have chosen to focus only on the phone and the hand that is holding it to show how people have become obscured by their images they display proudly online, I am showing that people are losing focus and becoming lost to how many "likes" they can get on a photograph. I wanted to show that the person has become lost and I have done this by shooting in the studio on a plain background.

Kanji Ishii

http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-860-898-31-85-view-beautiful-still-life-profile-ishii-kanji.html#photo

The composition used in this image is very well thought out as it looks natural as though the model has just been handed the tablet and she is holding the tablet as though she is looking at it from the viewers perspective, this draws the viewer in as they feel like they are becoming the model in that they can have the products that are being advertised. I think this image shows how society is changing as an advert for jewellery is being advertised through a piece of technology.

Tutorial

Notes :

research into the "fetishization" of the phone

develop the technique so that flash exposes the person / phone in one (to stop phone shake)

compare a 'selfie' with 'straight' portrait (ask the person to have a natural expression)




After the tutorial :


I went straight to the technicians to see if they had any technique ideas about being able to one have a faster exposure and they said increasing the ISO might work to show the phone screen as well as the person, or to just ask the person to be reaaaally still.

Shoot One Reshoot Outcome

These are the best images I took for the re-shoot of the keyboard shoot :

Shoot One Reshoot

In this shoot I have included my iPod on the table to show that I am completely surrounded by technology. I have used an Apple iPod in these images because Apple is a major company and their products are easily recognised, I have also changed my lock screen image to an image of their logo just so that people can instantly name the brand.

These images are a preview of what I have taken (these are photographs taken on my phone so that I could quickly upload them onto my blog) I have taken the images on my phone as well as the camera because I wanted to be able to show I had done work incase anything went wrong or I left my card in the camera (which I had for the group crit) 

#SelfieSchool

(yes really)

http://www.dailydot.com/lol/selfless-selfie-school-lessons/

As part of social media week Oliver Lang hosted a gathering to celebrate their phones camera quality and invited people to get together and take selfies,

" If people are taking photos of themselves with art, they might as well take good ones, he told me. " Here

Daniel Lindh

http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-860-898-31-85-view-beautiful-still-life-profile-lindh-daniel.html#photo

These images are of the models who are glamourising the object they hold, they look like advertisements that could either be for nail polish or for the objects, they are useful to me because I can create similar images by highly glamourising the model and the environment or taking a documentary approach and show the object being used in its natural environment and not making the model made up and fake.

Look Down ('Look Up' Parody)

In this video the guy is saying that the times are changing and our social interactions are changing, not everything has to be found locally, being online is broadening our horizons and letting us contact people we would not normally have access to. Things are being made more easily available with the invention of apps and new technologies, we do not have to stick to what we know but can spread out and find people in other areas.

This video makes me think more about technology than the original because now I have watched both I am comparing their opinions and drawing from my own life experiences with people online and I feel that we should exclude ourselves from social media however we should not become dependant on it to the point we do not have a life outside virtual reality.

Hermione Hodgson

Studio Riley project


https://www.behance.net/gallery/15293407/Studio-Riley

This image is another example of what I am wanting to create with shallow depth of field, the person is not focused on and the entire focus is on the phone he is holding.

Junichi Ito

http://theredlist.com/wiki-2-16-860-898-31-85-view-beautiful-still-life-profile-ito-junichi-1.html#photo

The first image below is similar in style to what I am going to do in another of my shoots, I am going to arrange the photograph so that there is a model who is eating the keys so that people will be able to connect to the image more as it is more literal.

The other two images caught my eye as they are both hands posed with technology.