PHOTOGRAPHY BVA 232 MAGAZINE AND REFLECTION

PHOTOGRAPHY BVA 232 MAGAZINE AND REFLECTION

BODY OF WORK

Haunting verses angelic

Landscapes with human element to depict haunting and angelic theme.

Comparing black and white film and digital images

In my photography project, I wanted to explore what style of image evoked emotions. This has been explored using mixture of colour, muted colours and black & white images.  The theme for my project was a contrast between haunting and angelic style. This was achieved by the model wearing different styled clothing and locations that suited that theme and final colour output.  I wanted I explored the process of Digital format as well as black and white medium format film. 

Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge Hannah Cormack for her being my model for this project, she was amazing and put up with extreme weather conditions and challenging locations.

Kelly Cormack for being my assistant on the photo shoots, just like old times.

Chris Macdonald who taught me so many new digital, film photography skills, Adobe Photoshop techniques, photography methods and techniques, including natural and studio lighting.

Thank you

All images are copyrighted to Gayle Clearwater © 2019 

These photographs were taken out at Awarua Bay Road, Southland.  This series of photographs were taken at 1pm, with scattered cloud and natural lighting.  I mirrored my digital camera ISO settings with the film and then metered the subject and adjusted my digital cameras exposure to get correct exposure for the film.

I wanted to explore what style of image evoked emotions.

This has been explored using mixture of colour, muted colours and black & white images.

Also editing in Adobe Photoshop.

Top Left: original colour image.

Top Right: I muted the colours, by removing selected colour tones in photoshop.

Bottom Right: I added a gradient filter to give the scene a more haunting effect.

Opposite Page:  Final image I added a blur layer, which I felt this gave the image the effect I was wanting. Photos were taken at 11am with natural lighting.

Page 1:  Content page: pages 2 - 11 were taken on the same day.

Pages 12 -7 were taken on the same day 

Page 2: Location Awarua Bay, Southland.  Comparing film and digital black and white. A selection of Pentax 67 Ilford HP5 Plus and Canon 70D images.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 1.30pm and 2pm. 

Page 3: Location Awarua Bay, Southland. Digital black and white image.   I choose this as my main image, as the model is intensely steering into the camera and the whites of her eyes are the main focus.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 1.30pm and 2pm. 

Page4:  Location Awarua Bay, Southland. I choose this as my main image, as the way the light falls across her face. I faced the model towards the south where there was a clearing in the plantation. I muted the colours on this digital image to evoke a more haunting scene.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken between 2pm and 230pm.

Page5: Location Awarua Bay, Southland.  Comparing film and a selection of digital black and white and muted colours. A selection of Pentax 67 Ilford HP5 Plus and Canon 70D images.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 2pm and 230pm.  Model faced to a clearing to the south in the plantation which helped natural light fall on her right side.

6: Location Awarua Bay, Southland.  Comparing film and digital black and white. A selection of Pentax 67 Ilford HP5 Plus and Canon 70D images.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 12.30pm and 1.30pm. 

7:  Location Awarua Bay, Southland. I choose this as my main image, as the way the light falls on her face, you can see her makeup stands out and the way the sun is high in the sky.  I feel you have the emotion of taking the moment while soaking up the midday sun.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 12.30pm and 1.30pm. 

8: Location Demolition World, Southland. I choose this as my main image as I muted the colours on this digital image but kept the colour in the candles.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken between 3.30pm and 4.30pm.  The day had become cold and overcast and this worked perfectly as it gave the images a sensation of despair. 

9: Location Demolition World, Southland.  Comparing film and a selection of digital black and white and muted colours. A selection of Pentax 67 Ilford HP5 Plus and Canon 70D images.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken between 3.30pm and 4.30pm.  The day had become cold and overcast.

10:   Location Queens Park, Southland.  Comparing film and digital black and white. A selection of Pentax 67 Ilford HP5 Plus and Canon 70D images.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.00am and 12pm.  As the sun shone through the trees to the north it was very bright, the umbrella worked well as a diffuser on the model’s face.

11: Location Queens Park, Southland. Digital black and white image.   I choose this as my main image, as I like the contrast in the white clothing and the strong shadows from the trees.  The path leading away in the distance Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.00am and 12pm. 

Page 12:  Location St John’s Cemetery, Southland. Digital image with selected black and white areas and colour.   I choose this as my main image, as I found the cemetery images created an angelic and haunting scene.   Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.30am and 1pm. 

Page 13: Location St John’s Cemetery, Southland. Digital image with selected black and white areas and colour.   I choose this as my main image, as I found the cemetery images created an angelic and haunting scene. I added the sky to give it a more dramatic feel.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.30am and 1pm.    

Page 14: Location St John’s Cemetery, Southland. Digital image with selected black and white areas and colour.   I choose this as my main image, as. I felt being selective where I made the image black and white and kept the colour as I found the cemetery images created an angelic and haunting scene.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.30am and 1pm. 

Page 15: Location St John’s Cemetery, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white and the only colour I kept in was the sun flare as it gave it a surreal feeling and the way the light feels on the model’s side helped draw your eye to the rest of the image.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.30am and 1pm. 

Page 16: Location St John’s Cemetery, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  I used neutral density filters, so I could cut down the light and slow down the shutter speed.  I then used a tripod and zoomed out as the picture was being taken to create a ghosting effect.   Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.30am and 1pm. 

Page 17: Location St John’s Cemetery, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  I used neutral density filters, so I could cut down the light and slow down the shutter speed.  I then used a tripod and got the model to walk towards me as the photograph was being taken.  The blurring creates a haunting ghost like image.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 11.30am and 1pm. 

Pages 18 & 19: Location Wills Road, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  I explain on page 19 what I wanted to explore and the process. Page 20:  I choose this as my main image, as combing all the techniques on page 19 and adding a layer filter radial blur, this gave the image so much more depth and an evoking a haunting sensation.  Natural lighting, photographs were taken at between 10am and 12pm.

Pages 20 & 21: Location Wills Road, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  By adding a layer filter radial blur to page 21, this gave the image so much more depth and an evoking a haunting sensation.  Page 22 is the same image just without the radial blur filter, I choose both these images as I like the way the natural morning light is coming through the trees and the flow of her dress as the model runs through the plantation.  Photographs were taken at between 10am and 12pm.

Page 22: Location Wills Road, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  By adding a layer filter radial zoom blur gave this image so much more depth and an evoking a haunting sensation.   I choose this image as I like the way the natural morning light is coming through the trees and the way her train on her dress is flowing behind as the model runs through the plantation.  Photographs were taken at between 10am and 12pm.

Pages 23,24 & 25:  Location Wills Road, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  I choose these images as I like the way the natural morning light is coming through the trees and highlighting her hair and define her shape amongst the blue gum trees.  Photographs were taken at between 10am and 12pm.

Pages 26 & 27: Location Wills Road, Southland. Digital image with mainly black and white selected muted colours kept.  I choose these images as I like the way the natural morning light is coming through the trees and gently falling to right.  With the model sitting down amongst the foliage and her clothing flowing around her, I think the perspective when the images were taken creates a peaceful angelic feel to the image.   Photographs were taken at between 10am and 12pm.

Page 28 & 29: Camera and lighting information

Page 30:  Acknowledgement

 PROPOSAL 

REFLECTION 

I found using the medium format camera was awesome and I felt like a kid in a lolly shop waiting on the images to get developed and then scanned to see how they turned out.  The whole process was fun, from loading the film and winding on the film, to taking the photo and the clunk noise as you wind on the next frame.  I had never used a hand held meter before I took on this project had always relied on the metering system in the camera.  I'm so going to add this to my wish list, its a must to have in your camera gear.

                

Hand held meter I used.

The smell of the chemicals and the darkroom brought back a lot of memories as I use to develop all my own black and white film and images years ago.  I use to set up my darkroom in my kitchen.


I really loved this project and it took a bit to get off the ground, but I feel it worked out in the end and only having one model for the series I believed worked well.

DIGITAL IMAGE

MEDIUM FORMAT FILM

             

     MEDIUM FORMAT FILM

 DIGITAL IMAGE

I would have to say film has a better range in contrast, tonal range and the detail in the picture, compared to digital format.  Maybe if I could compare medium format for film and digital may make a difference.  You have your instant image with digital and can learn where you went wrong or right, where film makes you think about the shot  a whole lot more.