Evaluation ♥

When looking at the images I have created by using my own ideas, it shows that I have learned many skills from using the photo-shop application. I chose to base my images on Sports photography as ‘Converse’ is a baseball make and is very popular for the sport in many countries of the world. However, once I had finished with the editing of my photos I realised that my images weren’t just based on sports photography, it was now being captured as a whole new specialism of which is fashion. The audience that I have chosen to base my images on would be people interested in sport ages 10 + as I believe that the shoe is a reasonable option of people of any age. The Converse all star would be for working class as the shoe is affordable and also I would say Converse is not the upper class stereotypical type of shoe. As the shoes are colourful and bright, I was hoping to bring a sense of ‘excitement’ to the people looking at my images. I think my portrait that I created would look good being advertised in either a sport magazine and magazines such as ‘zoo and nuts’, or even a catalogue. Many people would enjoy seeing all of the different colours that are available for sale. When talking about the history of the shoe, it all started in 1917. Basketball was revolutionized by the introduction of the world’s first performance basketball shoes, the Converse All Star.

The next year Charles H. Taylor, who is a basketball player from the Akron Firestones, bought his first pair of All Star shoes, and while wearing his Converse shoes, he introduced basketball as a sport to Americans across the country. That is where the Converse phenomenon expired. I’ve learnt many things from creating the images on the theme, ‘Converse’. I’ve learnt to manipulate photos, by being able to change colours, remove dirt from an image for example the dirt on the shoes. I’ve also learnt how to remove certain parts of an image, for example when I took a picture of the converse, there was a pen in the picture, of which I then chose to remove in the editing process.

I enjoyed taking the photo’s as it was really fun thinking of different ways to position the feet in the images and also had fun changing the different colour shoes with different types of patterned socks. Overall I believe it went really well and I think people will enjoy looking at my collages I created.

Be able to plan and produce photographic images for a specified purpose ♥

1. I wanted to create my own images for the specialism sport. I chose to advertise the baseball make ‘Converse’, and decided to give the shots a more experimental approach by getting my brothers and me who advertise the shoes, to wear weird and wonderful different types of socks, ranging from different colors to different lengths. I also used 6 different style of Converse shoes to advertise the brand, to show that it comes in many different types. I took many different photographs, however for my first image I decided to collaborate them all together by making a collage of the images. I believed that the final ‘collage’ would be effective as it shows most of the images I photographed, therefore the picture would look ‘Converse Crazy’, and I believe it shows from the final piece, the enjoyable time me and my brothers had when taking the photographs.

Research

The image that inspired me to base my photo-shoot on the make ‘Converse’, was an image taken by a photographer named Jessica Joy. Jessica lives in Roseville, USA and bases most of her images on her favourite style of art which is surrealism. I searched on Google to find various images that I could maybe find as an inspiration for me to use in a photo-shoot. The image below is the photo that inspired me.

I enjoy looking at this image as I believe it tells a story behind it. The background is plain and simple and then you are struck by the bold blue image of the shoe which stands out and gives an edgy feel to the picture. I also came across other photographs when searching on Google that gave me different ideas for my shoot. I then felt that I wanted to construct a collage for my first piece as it would show many different types of images all collaborated together as it would look cool. Here are other images I found on the internet when searching for the topic ‘Converse photography’.

When i look at the images above, I think about having a fun time, as the colours are vibrant and I found the collage on Google after already deciding to make one myself. However, the design of the image is one that I would like to use ideas from. The photographers of the image obviously enjoy working with colour as the pictures are very bright and also imaginative. I decided to pay homage to the images above as I enjoy the work that has been created.

Image 1 ♥ :

From the first glimpse of the image it looks as though there are many more than 6 pairs of legs, it’s almost is portrayed as an illusion. Hopefully the collage makes people smile just from looking at it.

Image 2 ♥ :

I really like the way this image has turned out. I know that Converse is a very popular make therefore I wanted to create a message beyond the picture. Me and my brothers stood in this certain way when posing for the photograph to show that the shoes all join together as a team. The shoes link together and therefore link people together. I edited many things to make the image finally look this way.

The image before it was edited -

I changed the colour of the carpet to make the image more effective and also cropped the picture as I wanted the iage to be close up. Also there was a pen on the floor that disturbed the picture, however I didn’t want to delete the photo as I like it so much, therefore decided to improve the image instead of delete it.

Image 3 ♥ :

I like this image because of the way the shoes all link together. As the shoes are overlapping it creates a casual feel to the photograph and makes the shoes look like something comfy to be wearing.

My own try at Photoshop ♥

This is the original image of Angelina Jolie posing for a fashion magazine. I have photo shopped the image and made it my own. I made the image black and white by using the ‘hue & saturation’ tool, I believed this made the image more effective and made the bold colours of which I added to the face, stand out more. I changed the colour of the lips, and also made the eyes a more vibrant colour by using the ‘Eliptical Marquee Tool’ which created the shape of the eye, then I went on to change the colour.

I also removed the tattoo from the image by using the ‘spot heeling’ brush tool, however I don’t feel that I used it effectively as the part of the image is very blurred and not a sharp image anymore. Maybe I should have used a different tool for example a ‘clone stamp’ photo tool to make the removing of the tattoo more effective, however it was one of my first times using the photoshop application, and with more experience I will learn from images that I have produced such as this one and know how to improve my next caption.

Being able to use photographic equipment and apply photographic tecniques ♥

Lenses - When talking about the lenses on a camera their are different types, which makes the lens capture the image in a different way. Firstly I will be speaking about a wide – angle lens. Wide angle lenses are used for the photographer to be able to shoot a larger image without moving the camera backwards, therefore being close to the object photographed but having a wider view.  When referring to a ‘wide angle lens’, it refers to the term ‘angle of acceptance’, this defines the area that is seen through the lens.

Aperture

The camera lenses main function is to collect light.  An aperture in itself is a hole or a type of opening which light travels through. The aperture of a lens is the diameter of the opening when taking a photograph. The larger the lens opening the more light that will reach the image sensor. The more narrow that the aperture the darker the image. This therefore shows that a wide aperture would create an image that is sharp around the image that the lens is focusing on and blurred otherwise. An example of using a wide aperture lens is shown below…

Shutter speed

Another word for shutter speed would be exposure time. The slower the shutter speed the lower the effect of the picture. Slower shutter speeds are often used in low lighting conditions, and the faster the shutter speed the more detailed the photograph will become. The shutter speed is measures in seconds, an example of the time it would take for a photograph to be taken when pictured in sunlight would be  1/125th of a second.

This is an example of a fast shutter speed image.

Photoshop ♥

Understanding different styles of photography ♥

‘ Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past. – Berenice Abbott

For this task, the two types of photography that I’m choosing are fashion photography and portrait photography. Each in them self very similar, however they are a millions miles apart when considering contrast, exposure and lighting. Fashion is almost like a drug, no matter where you are it’s around you, for example high street stores, magazines, billboards, advertisements. Each of these categories portray the revelation of Fashion to us and makes us as a society want to look like the ‘perfect’ model who is being photographed, therefore we will buy the ‘pretty dress’ being shown, to make ourselves think that we could look the ‘pretty picture’. A portrait photograph mainly focuses on the emotions of the person and also most portraits shows a person looking directly at the camera.

Fashion: Fashion is a influential part of society that has an impact on every individual, each with their own style, however this style will ultimately become a fashion. I have chosen fashion photographer Miles Aldridge to talk about, from searching through various images on Google, i felt that he’s images attracted me and came as an interest as they stood out.

Here are some examples of Miles Aldridge’s work:

Miles Aldridge, a very successful photographer was born  in the city of London in 1964. He moved to America to fulfill his dreams and has published his photographs in well known magazines such as American Vogue, The New York Times and many more influential magazines in America. Miles Aldridge’s choice of location is key to success of his images.

I like this picture as it stood out when I was searching for various beauty images, I believe that Miles Aldridge has a very exaggerated type of work as the pictures are colorful and out of the ordinary. The images are very out of the ordinary, which I believe is much more effective. The image has been edited vastly by photo shop, the whole face has been removed and the lips are the only part of the face left showing. The black background to the image makes the purple color of the lips stand out and seem effective. The outline to the lips has been carefully edited as you can see from the image as the outline seems an almost perfect shape in contrast to the black background. The lighting is based behind the photographer as you can tell from the shine that is shown to us on the lips.

Miles Aldridge’s choice of location is key to success of his images.

This image is  a classic example of fashion being exposed. The model wears a bright red dress whilst standing in front of a dull, Grey background, this makes the viewers eyes draw to the dress as it stands out. The model stands with a firm and assertive posture, expressing the confidence inside. She almost makes you forget about the harsh back lighting.

The image above is another example of the extravagant work by Miles Aldridge.

Portrait photography:

Lara Jade – Beauty portaits

Lara Jade, aged 20 lives in London and her passion is portrait photography.  Each photograph taken  of which she adds to her outstanding portfolio is shown to all internet users, hoping that one day she’ll make it international.

This picture inspires me as the black and white effect gives the picture extra emphasis. I like the way  Lara Jade uses the leaves to cover her face, it makes it look as though there is a secret behind the picture. I believe that the photograph portrays beauty in a very natural way.

Here are portraits that feature myself taken by Photography student Jessica Starkins, (http://jessicastarkins.daportfolio.com/ ) I chose these particular ones as they show emotions.

A day around Harlow College ♥