I'm finally getting ready to submit my OCA assignment three on colour after a long period of apparent inactivity. Colourblindness isn't something that's immediately obvious, indeed I didn't know I'd got it for many years and it hadn't really caused any problems that I was aware of.
Now this assignment has forced me to confront this issue and try to incorporate colour into my photography.
Back in the autumn, I had the opportunity to visit the Steve McCurry retrospective in Birmingham. I'd seen the 'Afghan girl' like everyone else, and a few other lesser known images of his, but this was a rare opportunity in the Midlands to see the work of a top photographer.
I knew his work was 'colourful', but its only now when I look at his blog (http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/), that I've suddenly become aware of how he used colour as a compositional tool as well as to give balance and contrast in his images. On the face of it, living in a rural area where colours tend to be quite muted is a problem, but I think this is an advantage compared to a city where colourful objects are more plentiful and its perhaps less easy to make colours stand out.
This is definitely going to take effort on my part, but I think I may have just learned a new technique which I'll try to incorporate into my work.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Old new photographs
At the end of 2010, we had a presentation in the village of old local photographs. The suggestion was made that I might have a go a re-shooting some of these.
Here's a few shots to show the concept.....
It hasn't changed much, at least in these pictures.
The idea is to present these and others at the village art exhibition in the spring. Photographically, the focus is more on an historical record than somethat artistic, however there is still scope to apply my vision to the shots.
For instance, I'm asking myself how to present the differences. Do I attempt to replicate the idealised pastoral scenes in the style of Roger Fenton (ref. 'Mill at Hurst Green' from 'The Photograph' by Graham Clarke)?
That would be quite difficult, in particular because cars litter the place, at least at weekends when I'm able to go and shoot. Not only that, there's a lot more vegetation around, obscuring some views completely and giving the place a less well ordered impression. Gardens are generally well kept, but not in the tightly ordered style visible in the original shots.
To what extent do I attempt to hide these changes, for instance by asking people to move their cars out of shot and choosing 'nice' weather to get 'pretty' pictures? Or should I attempt to highlight the changes? Perhaps its inevitable that those differences will be apparent, it just depends how closely the viewer observes the shots. What do you think?
Here's a few shots to show the concept.....
It hasn't changed much, at least in these pictures.
The idea is to present these and others at the village art exhibition in the spring. Photographically, the focus is more on an historical record than somethat artistic, however there is still scope to apply my vision to the shots.
For instance, I'm asking myself how to present the differences. Do I attempt to replicate the idealised pastoral scenes in the style of Roger Fenton (ref. 'Mill at Hurst Green' from 'The Photograph' by Graham Clarke)?
That would be quite difficult, in particular because cars litter the place, at least at weekends when I'm able to go and shoot. Not only that, there's a lot more vegetation around, obscuring some views completely and giving the place a less well ordered impression. Gardens are generally well kept, but not in the tightly ordered style visible in the original shots.
To what extent do I attempt to hide these changes, for instance by asking people to move their cars out of shot and choosing 'nice' weather to get 'pretty' pictures? Or should I attempt to highlight the changes? Perhaps its inevitable that those differences will be apparent, it just depends how closely the viewer observes the shots. What do you think?
Saturday, 12 February 2011
February 2011 - back blogging!
Its been a long time since my last blog. Family issues have taken up some time, as has work. However, its also been a busy time for photography - I just haven't had the time to write it up!
In September 2010, I enrolled on a one day studio photography course in Leamington Spa in the UK. It was designed to give novices the basics of using flash lighting and to show what effects could be achieved. Here are some examples....
We had three lighting setups, a fuly lit white setup with two lights on the back wall and a key light on the subject to one side, a blacked out room with a single light tightly focussed to give the rim lighting, and an intermediate 'hollywood' lighting setup consisting of a single light on the back wall and another on the subject.
It was an interesting experience in a number of ways. First, it taught me a little about the mechanics of setting up lights, controlling their power, light quality and direction. It was also interesting to shoot the models and to start to get experience in direction.
I've since hired some lights for use at home, shooting the kids. The lights I was able to hire were a little too powerful for the size of room, but with a little practice, we got some reaonable results....
What did I learn from it? Well....
1) To shoot a white 'Venture style' image, you need a room which is largely white in colour to avoid any unwanted colour casts from light bouncing around the room.
2) To shoot a dark moody shot, you really need a dark coloured, preferably black room, otherwise the light will bounce and so loose directionality. I experimented with black sheets and a black background I use for photography, but it was never easy to get pure back backgrounds.
3) Working with models can be easy or hard - it depends entirely on the relationship between the photographer and the model and the rappor that the two can develop during the shoot. I might have a go at shooting friends or people I know, but I won't be rushing out to shoot strangers and expect to get good results.
4) A set of 600Ws lights are great in a bigger space but really too powerful for a domestic setting - they also get rather warm in an enclosed space, and that was just the modelling lights!
Altogether a good fun experience. I considered buying a set of lights, but ultimately decided it was better to hire some decent kit (£30/weekend courtesy of the Flash Centre in Birmingham), than to buy kit which is altogether less robust, and which takes up space in the house to store during the inevitable times when its not being used.
In September 2010, I enrolled on a one day studio photography course in Leamington Spa in the UK. It was designed to give novices the basics of using flash lighting and to show what effects could be achieved. Here are some examples....
We had three lighting setups, a fuly lit white setup with two lights on the back wall and a key light on the subject to one side, a blacked out room with a single light tightly focussed to give the rim lighting, and an intermediate 'hollywood' lighting setup consisting of a single light on the back wall and another on the subject.
It was an interesting experience in a number of ways. First, it taught me a little about the mechanics of setting up lights, controlling their power, light quality and direction. It was also interesting to shoot the models and to start to get experience in direction.
I've since hired some lights for use at home, shooting the kids. The lights I was able to hire were a little too powerful for the size of room, but with a little practice, we got some reaonable results....
What did I learn from it? Well....
1) To shoot a white 'Venture style' image, you need a room which is largely white in colour to avoid any unwanted colour casts from light bouncing around the room.
2) To shoot a dark moody shot, you really need a dark coloured, preferably black room, otherwise the light will bounce and so loose directionality. I experimented with black sheets and a black background I use for photography, but it was never easy to get pure back backgrounds.
3) Working with models can be easy or hard - it depends entirely on the relationship between the photographer and the model and the rappor that the two can develop during the shoot. I might have a go at shooting friends or people I know, but I won't be rushing out to shoot strangers and expect to get good results.
4) A set of 600Ws lights are great in a bigger space but really too powerful for a domestic setting - they also get rather warm in an enclosed space, and that was just the modelling lights!
Altogether a good fun experience. I considered buying a set of lights, but ultimately decided it was better to hire some decent kit (£30/weekend courtesy of the Flash Centre in Birmingham), than to buy kit which is altogether less robust, and which takes up space in the house to store during the inevitable times when its not being used.
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