Illustrated Project Proposal

Illustrated Project Proposal 

Project proposal from laurenoakleyy

Macro Photography

Macro Photography 

Definition - Macro photography is taking photos of an object in incredible detail very close in order to show them in a larger than life size. This kind of perspective would not be visible to the human eye.

This type of photography requires a special lens that is made for macro photography.

Best Images 

       The images below are 'macro' photographs as they are very close-up and highly detailed. They were taken on a macro lens in the studio, therefore with studio lighting. I really enjoy this style of photography as you can get a very abstract approach whereby the object in the photograph is unclear. The first image is very obviously an eye, I love the detail that I was able to pick up in this image as you can see all of the colours in her eye and even the reflection of her eyelashes. The second image shows part of an orange but the up-close nature of the image makes it unrecognisable. This is what I enjoy about macro photography as a simple object can look completely different as we do not see these objects in this way in everyday life. 

Image 1 

Camera Settings - F/8, 1/125secs, ISO200 

        Evaluation -  Personally, I think this image is very intriguing in terms of Macro photography. I really like the in depth and invasive feel of the photo, seeing every detail of Phoebes eye can make the viewer feel as though they are actually being watched. The fine detail of the image is what makes it so spectacular, seeing every tiny bit of colour within the eye and the reflection of the eyelashes on the pupil makes you feel very close to the subject. Overall, I think this is my favourite image from my macro shoot.

        Editing - I didn't do much to this image when editing it as the detail was fine enough to start with. However I did use curves to bring the brightness down, in the original version it looks rather white and washed out, mainly due to being in the studio using studio lighting and a white background. Therefore by bringing the lower and middle part of the curve down I regained some strong colour and eliminated the 'washed out' look. 

Image 2 

Camera Settings - F/8, 1/125secs, ISO 200. 

        Evaluation - With this macro image I took a slightly different approach to the previous image. In this one I wanted to play on the abstract effect this style of photography can bring. Therefore I concentrated the camera on a small section of an orange. This picked up every little detail on the fruit that otherwise wouldn't be visible to the human eye, making it look different and strange in the photo. I like the overall effect of this photo as its more fine art and unclear as to what it portrays and may vary between peoples opinion.  

        Editing - To carry on the abstract effect of this image I firstly decided to convert the image to black and white. I did this by using the 'Black & White' tool as it allows me to alter the concentration of each colour in the image. As the image was majority orange I moved the red setting down to the darker end which made most of the photo a dark grey. I feel that from doing this I lost a little bit of detail therefore I used curves to bring this back. I brought parts of the curve down to the darker area so that the shadows of the orange would be more prominent, this resulted in a very abstract and detailed image. 

Wide Angle Close Up Photography

Wide Angle Close Up Photography

Definition - A wide angle close up shot requires the camera setting to be kept at 18mm on the lens. When this happens the subject directly in front of the camera looks larger than the objects in the background creating the illusion that it is larger than normal. 

      When the image is 188mm it is a wide angle shot, the focal length being this small distorts the image. This is evident when taking portrait pictures as features of the person are enlarged and out of proportion.

My Best Images

       The images below are my best pictures from the 'Wide Angle Close Up' element. To take thee images I had to keep the camera lens on 18mm (the smallest digit) this was to ensure the correct effect was made. When on this setting it is the most zoomed in you can be on a standard lens, this means that the subject in the foreground of the image appears larger than life as it fills most of the frame. The said object will be the only part in focus and will appear bigger or the same size as the background, giving a distorted illusion. I believe the image of the flower precisely portray's this as it looks as tall as the tree's behind it, a larger than life illusion. The other image however is slightly different, the trunk in the foreground looks wider than that of the background and again is the only part in focus. 

Image 1 

Camera Settings - F/4, 1/500secs, ISO3200, 18mm lens. 

     Evaluation - I think this is the best image from the 'Wide Angle Close Up' shoot which is why I decided to edit it. Overall, I think the image holds a fantasy like feel to it with the close-up effect making the flower look as tall as the trees but still holding elegance. Therefore during the editing process, I wanted to play with a 'rose' tint effect and soften the image. I believe this came out how I planned and looks better after editing. 

       Editing - As previously mentioned I wanted to soften this image by using a tint effect. However, before I did this I wanted to sharpen the image using curves, by bringing the curve down it made the pink flower stand out even more against the dark background. The second adjustment I did was use the Colour Balance setting whereby I brought down one of the bars towards the 'magenta' setting which added a pink tint. I think this worked well as it gave the photo a magical and fantasy-like feel.