Electronic Portfolio

Electronic Portfolio 

Final portfolio from laurenoakleyy

Degradation of Flowers Video 

Carlotta Magaigo - Experimentation

Carlotta Manaigo 

I recently came across the work of Carlotta Manaigo. What I can gather from her work is that she photographs mainly fashion models however sometimes links them to landscape or object photographs that reflect a similar feeling. The way Carlotta has set her work out on Tumblr shows this idea seamlessly, as you scroll through her work, fashion or model images are reflected by a photograph with a similar tone, pattern, shape or colour making the photographs link perfectly. 

Here are some of my favourite examples - 

This image was actually put together with an editing process as it is one file and doesn't have a gap in the middle. Despite the patterns of the images being slightly different the contrast between the beige tones and the blues stays the same. This gives both images a neutral effect, tiring them in nicely. 

I feel that the tone and temperature of these to images are very similar. The grey, muted building contrasts with the boys pale skin, both very cold and faded colours. I believe the image of the boy injects some life into the comparison due to the slight colour coming from his ginger hair and freckles. 

Lastly, there is these two images placed next to each other with an obvious link. I think what ties the images together is the firstly the pattern of the windows and the purse. Both repeating triangle shapes over and over again to get the repetitive effect. What also links the photo's together is the urban feel to both, the building we can tell is urban and it appears to be high-rise and very modern, something you would find in a city. The female seems to be wearing quite fashionable clothing, perhaps something a business women would wear within the city. 

My Interpretation 

The images below are my interpretation of Carlotta Manaigo's work whereby she makes diptych images by combining two images of similar colour or pattern. I tried to recreate this with the images that I have taken throughout my project that I believe link.

This photograph I put together as I think the colour of the lipstick and top of the first image and the colour of the flower match. When I put these together in Photoshop, although there was a pink theme running through them I still felt that the temperature of the photographs was quite different. Therefore I used a pink hue to change the tones of them, making them tie together much better. 

This image I put together because of the predominant green tones in both. As you can see there is a green bush behind my model and the tree and grass stands out the most in the other image. When editing these photographs together I noticed that the first image was much brighter than the other, therefore I decided to bring the brightness of the photo down giving a much paler and duller look, making it link to the second image.



This last diptych has two images from the same shoot, both from shoot 8 (the snow day). I decided to link these two together on this fact alone, they both portrayed the same weather, in the same location with a similar tone. I made the decision to convert this edit to black and white to make the temperature of both photographs the same. I found that this made the whole image more in unison.

Computer Experiments

Computer Experiments 

Computer Experiment 1 - 

My first computer experiment was from Shoot 9, in this shoot I recored the degradation of a bunch of flowers. I shot these flowers over a 3 week period of time in the same position to ensure that I could use the image to show progression when it was done. I firstly tried to display these images in a sequence however this didn't turn out the way I wanted it to as there was a slight colour change between each image, as shown below:

I wasn't happy with this edit as I do not think it displayed my idea in an fictive of original way. Therefore, I decided to use Premier Pro to turn these images into a video. 

Step 1 - I edited the images in Photoshop making them all the same temperature and the same hue. This ensured that throughout the video there wouldn't be a jump between colours. 

Step 2 - I opened my images in Premier and dragged them into the play reel, from here I layer them out so that each one of them was displayed for 30 seconds, 15 of which was the image fading out to display the next. This is shown in the screenshot below. 

Step 3 - The next step was putting in a luma curve onto each of the images to make them have a vignette effect. To do this I pressed on the video clip that I wanted and selected the luma curve and ensured that it faded in with my image, this made the transition seamless. 

Step 4 - The last step was to then export this video to YouTube to ensure that it is viewable in my Blogger. To do this I saved it as a YouTube 1080p HD video and uploaded it to Youtube. This is what you can view below: 

Final piece - 

Computer Experiment 2 - 

This was one of my images from Shoot 8, The Snow Day. As you can see it is a simple image that is predominantly black and white, it's quite flat due to this as there isn't much tonal range, therefore I wanted to experiment with the image to see where I could take it. 

Step 1 - I opened the image into Photoshop and as it was an NEF file I was able to correct the exposure to how I wanted it. 

Step 2 - The second thing I wanted to do was add a curve to the image and use the circle gradient on this. By inverting the mask I was able to keep the middle of the image the same but make the outer edges darker, like a vignette. 

Step 3 - I liked the effect of the vignette as I believe it added depth and a tunnel effect to the centre of the image. I then wanted to experiment with the colour of the photograph making it have a blue tint to increase the 'cold' look of the image. I done this by using the Photo Filter tool and electing the 'Cooling Effect (80)'. 

Step 4 - I realised that this was quite saturated and a little overpowering, making the image almost unrealistic, therefore I used the saturation tool to counteract this.



The image below was my final product and I really like how it turned out compared to the original image:

Computer Experiment 3 - 

The third computer experiment I done was inspired by Carlotta Magaigo whereby she made diptych's out of two images that matched similar colours. Below is what I made -

I made these on Photoshop by editing two images together like a collage. I have a separate post explaining how I achieved this titled 'Carlotta Magaigo Experimentation'. 

Computer Experiment 4 

Above is the original image that I worked with to experiment with the use of photo filters to see how it effected the overall feel of the image. 

This was the first step I took. The screenshot above is the result of dodging and burning I mainly focused on the shadowed area in the middle by burning it I managed to tone down the brightness that was coming off of it. I then dodged the tree's in the background bringing some of the detail back from the dark areas. 

I then tried out some photo filters to see what the result would be. The one I decided to use was the Warming Filter as it gave a warm autumnal feel to the image. This linked in to the first part of project which revolved around documenting summer to autumn. I think this does that well as it gives the image a warm feeling and makes the green forest much softer. 

This was the end result, I think that this warming filter worked much better than the others as it fit into the theme that I wanted to explore throughout the project. 

High Key Lighting

High Key Lighting 

Definition - High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce the lighting ratio present in the scene. 

Image Bank 

How to shoot High Key Lighting 

      The image above shows the set-up in the studio that is needed to take a high-key lighting photograph. There are two lights that are behind the subject which are directed at the background. There is then one that is on the subject, both of these lights will be at different strengths, this is due to the lighting ratio 2:1. The lights at the back will need to be double the brightness of the front in order for the background to appear white in the photograph. The front light will be half the power so to expose the subject but keep them separate from the background. 

My Images 

      The images above were my attempt to show different high key lightning's. All of the images were taken under the camera settings of F8, 1/125secs and ISO200, however each time I changed the back lighting to get a different effect. The very first photograph was taken when the back lights were on 1/8 giving the backdrop an aperture of F11. This was the brightest that the images would be due to the background being blank white therefore extremely high key. However I do think that this brightness gave the photograph a hazy and washed out effect on the subject. The second photo was taken with the back lights on 1/16 giving an aperture of F8, this was the middle of my experimented pictures. The only slight change was the shadow that appeared on the right side of the white background, showing that there is in fact a background not just blank space. Lastly there is the photo that was taken at 1/32 on the back lights, with an F stop of 5.6, this made the background look almost grey as it wasn't strong enough to over expose it. 

My Set-up 

Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation 

      In my project, I aimed to document the changes from autumn to winter by photographing the evolving landscape. To do this I wanted to photograph in different weathers to demonstrate the shifting of time, this resulted in the pictures becoming bleaker as the shoots went on. This was also reflected in the colour of the images, the first few shoots displayed bright autumnal tones whereas the last few have been mostly grey, dark colours. I believe this showed what I wanted to document in a visual way. Overall I think shoot 1, shoot 5 and shoot 8 were the best ones I done as they show the vital points of change. They range from a full, green forest to a dull, grey and rainy day to lastly snow at the height of winter. These are all very different and range in terms of colour and saturation from lush greens to grey and the bleak white of snow.

      In terms of my portfolio I tried to make it tell a story from the autumn to the winter. All the while showing the degradation of nature, the dying of plants and the draining of colour from the landscapes. I believe that this signifies the stages of life we go through, from vibrant youth to growing old later on in life.  Therefore when selecting the images for my portfolio I wanted to choose ones that told the story, similar aspects of the landscape such as trees recurrent throughout to show how they change. Important moments that show the coming of winter such as muddy puddles signifying rain, the snow signifying the extremely cold temperature of winter. All of which fit together to show the documentation of the transition into winter.

      My project works cohesively as it tells a story, it doesn’t just show landscapes. I tried to incorporate objects that link to what I was demonstrating in order to add substance to my work and break up the landscape photos. From start to finish you can see how my project has progressed, my idea developed throughout but sticks to the original theme.

      There are two main photographers that my work has been influenced by, one being Ansel Adams and the other being James Ravilious. Ansel Adams is one of the most famous landscape photographers, influencing many people to take up the style. His work is effortlessly composed with every part of the image in focus. He worked in black and white therefore concentrated a lot on his tonal range with a system called the ‘Zone System’. This is something I have been concentrating on throughout my work, ensuring that I have a good exposure so that there are shadows and highlights perfectly balanced. This has helped massively in Photoshop as it gives me a lot more scope to change around. 

Secondly, there was James Ravilious who photographed landscape but also included people within the photos. I discovered his work around halfway though my project therefore the second half incorporates a few people into the landscape as I thought this told more of a story than just the landscape itself. The people in the photos were all very natural, there was no posing or setting up a shot they were all taken in the decisive moment, this is the style I followed in my work.

      Overall throughout this project my technique and style has evolved. To enhance the quality of my photographs I started to shoot in raw using NEF files, this allowed me to use different tools before opening my image in the main part of Photoshop. This has really made a difference as it has allowed me to gain a better exposure than I would do with a normal file. Secondly, I now use a tripod to take my images; this has then allowed me to explore the right settings more. For example to get optimum sharpness and depth of field I have been using an ISO 100/200 in most cases, an aperture of F22 and the shutter speed that matches accordingly. These settings have meant that my shutter speed has been multiple seconds; therefore the tripod has come in useful for eliminating the chance of blur.

If I had more time available to me I would like to explore some physical experiments to demonstrate the change of autumn to winter. I think this would be very interesting, as it would incorporate quite a lot of emphasis on colour and texture. 

Project Image Bank

Project Image Bank 

Frosty weather, slight white colour coming from the frost on the ground. 

Low sun, shines though the trees giving a dispersed effect. 

People in the image look small, tells a story, original, works with the landscape

shows extreme British weather, water frozen in time. 

fog giving a misty appearance, interesting perspective. 

reflection, simplicity, effective, colour works against the water. 

saturated colour, warm, detailed, interesting perspective. 

close-up, texture of bark, colour introduced through leaves 

soft, tranquil, distance effect, colour theme ties together. 

back lighting creating harsh shadows, effective, powerful. 

curved leading line, detail as the image distances, amazing contrast. 

idilic, unreal, detailed sky, change of texture and colour between the two sides.