6 weather photo task

We had to take 6 photos to do with weather.

I took a picture of my umbrella because it's been really rainy recently. I liked the light and darkness in the photo:

 I took a picture of a broken plant pot that was broken in the strong winds recently. I liked the shadows in the picture:

I took a picture of overturned cones from the wind in a puddle of water. I liked the contrast between the orange and the ground:

 I took a picture of the dark sky and street light because due to the Winter weather it gets dark very quickly now. I like the red tinge to the photo:

I took a picture of the empty bike stands at the primary school because normally they are full but because of the wind they are empty. I liked the colours of them and the shadows they produced:

I took a picture of my little sister Miriam bundled up in her Winter clothes because of the cold. I liked the way that she was a different colour to the background:

Photo experiment

 

 

 

This is the original photo that I used:

 

This is the photo that I turned it into. I changed the hue and saturation of the photo so that the colours were different. I also used the curves tool to get the right balance of colours. I then used the quick selection tool to select the lampshade. I pressed ctrl+J to create a new copy of the lampshade. I did this twice and created the three lampshades in a line. I then used the colour picker to select the right shade of black. I then went around the top of the lampshade so that the three were just on a plain black background.

 

Celebration of the everyday photo task

Our task was that we had to take photos of things we see everyday but make them look exciting. 

I chose to take this photo because I liked the way the monkey looked and I liked the angle I was at to take it:

 

I took a picture of my kitchen cupboard. I thought it would be a good image that I could Photoshop and I liked that you could see the shelf through the door:



 

I took a picture of my oven hob because I liked the way it looked when I was close up to it, I also liked it better when it was at a slight angle:

 

I took a picture of my kettle because I wanted to try and get the Russell Hobbs logo in focus, I wanted to get the bottom of the kettle to get it at a more interesting angle so that it was a better photo:

 

I took the picture of my floor and table because I wanted to get the floor in focus rather than the background, I had to lie down on the floor to get this angle. I liked that I managed to get the dog hair on the floor in focus:

 

I took a picture of my door stop because I thought that the dog would make an interesting photo, I tried to make the dog look bigger than it was by taking a picture of it from a lower angle:

 

I took a picture of my lamp because I like how sparkly it is, I liked the way that the light was hitting off of it:

Disposable Camera

Disposable cameras are cameras that are used just once. This is why they are known as 'single use cameras'. They are a very cheap method of photography because they don't have that much special technology in them. They are simple, they have a roll of film inside them which must be rolled back after each photo is taken. This roll of film is placed on a spool inside the camera.They have a flash that can be used by sliding up a button, and they have a fixed focus lens. This means that after it is built, the focus is never changed in the lens of the camera. The cameras are unable to zoom in or out so if a close up picture is wanted the person must walk up to the object to take a  picture of it. The person is also unable to see the pictures until after they have been developed. To take the photo they must look through a viewfinder.

Disposable cameras are often used in situations where you wouldn't want a real camera to be stolen or lost e.g. on holiday. They are also often used at weddings as many decide to place them on tables so people can take photos for them. They can often be recycled as after the film has been taken out to be developed, another can be put inside to take its place. For the photos to be developed, the cameras need to be handed into a shop where this can happen. Each camera tends to have around 27 exposures.

These cameras are a cheap way to take photos and it doesn't matter as much if they get lost or stolen. They can still take good photos even though the don't have fancy equipment on them and it is easy for them to be developed as all that needs to be done is for them to be handed into a shop. However, it is harder to take good quality pictures on the camera as there is no way to change the focus or zoom in. They are also decreasing in popularity which makes them harder to find to buy and also harder to fins a shop to get developed. There is also a waiting time for the photos to be developed which you wouldn't have in a digital camera.

However, although there are many negatives to using disposable cameras, I think that they should come back and be used by more people. I think this because they are a fun, cheap way of taking photos and it means that there isn't a storage problem like there is on phones and digital cameras. There is also a hard copy of the pictures instead of seeing it on a screen which I like better. They are also good for children as it is better to let them take photos on a cheap, single use camera, than on an expensive phone or digital camera.

   This is a photo of a disposable camera inside its box:

This is a disposable camera, the flash button can be seen here, as can the small, fixed focus lens and the viewfinder:

These are photos taken by a disposable camera, they were taken at a festival. It can be seen that there is a lower quality of pictures as they are slightly blurry. However, these look like they could be a normal selfie taken by a phone as they still look quite good. This shows how fancy, expensive equipment are not needed to take a good photo and that a cheap, disposable camera works just as well:

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_camera#Common_uses

http://weandthecolor.com/disposable-camera-project-dcp/31424

 

Journey to QMU task

We had to take 3 photos of our journey to and from QMU.

The first photo I took was of the hillside and sky, I liked it because the hillside was black and in shadows:

The second photo I took was of the bus chair. I tried to get the chair in focus and the rest not in the photo:

The third photo I took was of my shoulder and the window. I liked it because my hair was in focus:

Patrick Rafferty - Photographer

Patrick Rafferty is a photographer based in Hawick. He believes that photography begins at the first camera a person has and that it is all about the mindset that you have. He spent a lot of time just practising taking photos and spent a decade perfecting black and white prints in dark rooms. 

To make money he takes photographs of babies, weddings and people. He runs a classic 'high street photographer' business so that he can make money to take trips to places like Barcelona where he can take photographs because he loves to take photographs. These are his uncomissioned work. He tries not to photoshop his work and takes photos of what he finds interesting. He loves to go to big cities like Barcelona where he can take lots of street photography. 

The first picture that I chose was from Patrick Rafferty's website from his landscape prints. I like that there is lots that can be seen in the image and that the colours go from light to dark with green all the way through the picture. However I think that the picture could have looked just as good with just the bridge in the shot. 

 The next picture that I chose was from Patrick Rafferty's Facebook page. It was from one of his trips to Barcelona. I like it because the girl is looking directly into the camera. I like how the expression on her face I slightly unhappy and I also like that it is in black and white. I think that it adds to the photo and makes it look better.

The next photo I chose was also from Rafferty's Facebook. I chose this photo because I like the way that he has captured the image at the perfect time. With the cat having a displeased face and the woman looking loving towards it. However I think that it would better if it wasn't in black and white but was in colour.

I chose this picture from his Facebook. I like it because the rain is so heavy and makes it look like some sort of painting. I like that the street seems quite dark and that the woman is wearing bright pink which makes her stand out more and the attention drawn to her. Rafferty has managed to capture the image at the perfect moment.

Source: http://www.raffertyandrafferty.com/
https://www.facebook.com/patrick.rafferty1?ref=ts&fref=ts

Photos of myself

I tried to play around with where the light was coming from and the angles I was taking the picture from. I decided to try this out on myself because I had no one else I could photograph.

3 Portrait's Task

We had to take 3 portrait photos of people for our homework task. We were supposed to think about lighting and angles and try to get the photos to represent what they are like if we could.

I took a photo of my friend Hannah. I took a picture over her shoulder as she looked into a mirror to try and get a cool angle. I also made her look in the mirror because she always takes ages to get ready:

I took a picture of my little sister Miriam. I took it when she was sitting watching TV because she does that a lot. I also thought that the side angle made the picture better:

I took a picture of my big sister Rachel. I liked that the light was shining behind her and that the photo was from the side. I also liked that it was much brighter in the background but her person was much darker. I took it when she was sitting looking at her iPad which she is on a lot:

Portraits

 We had to take 3 photos of another person in a studio like situation. I took pictures of Katie. The only picture that I don't really like is the first one, this is because I don't like the angle that I made her look at. I like the other pictures better.

Rankin - photographer

Rankin is a portraiture photographer who also does some fashion photography. Over the years of his career he has published over 30 books ad has his own London Gallery. He recently decided to move into TV presenting to show his studies of photography. He also developed Rankin Film Productions where he has developed adverts, short films and directing TV music videos. He posts the pictures he takes on his websites and they show his portrait and fashion photographs.

One of the photos I chose is from the portrait section of Rankin's website. This portrait is of Stephen Graham. I like it because it has been used using a slow shutter speed. This means that the person can move and create a ghostlike effect. With it being black and white it makes the movement and ghostlike effect more dramatic and I like that about the photo. I also like the different faces that are shown across the picture and how they are each slight different. I don't like, however, the lapels of the jacket being repeated along with the faces. I think it would look better if the bottom half of the photo was just pure black.

Another photo from the portrait section of Rankin's website I chose is of Justin Timberlake. In this photo Justin Timberlake is dressed like a cowboy and has multiple lights shining in front of him which illuminates his shadows on a white background. I like the contrast of the shadows on the background and how on each shadow there is a different picture making it look like multiple people rather than just one person. I don't like, however, the look of the boxes that he is standing on.

Another photo I chose was from the beauty section of Rankin's website. This photo is of a girl with a bow tie who has mascara on her eyelids and the girl looks slightly boyish. I like that the colours are light and that the boy tie matches both the jumper and the hair of the girl. There is a balance of colours which I think makes the photo look better. I also like the way the girl looks a little messy in her appearance with her hair messy and her make-up messed up.

 

 

The last photo that I chose is from the menswear section of Rankin's website. It is of a guy with a bowler hat and an umbrella. I like that photograph is in black and white. I like the contrast of the white background and that half of the mans body is in the light. It contrasts with the umbrella, hat, face and neck with them being almost completely black. I like the amount of contrast within this photograph between the black and white colours. The pattern on the shirt also adds to the photo and makes me like it more.

 

 



A day in the life

Every Monday morning I wake up to multiple alarms blasting out American Idiot by Green Day. This goes on from 6:45am to 7:30am. I'm always still tired even though I've slept for what feels like forever. Once I'm up, I think about the weird dream I've just had. Yesterday's was about how I got lost in a big city with a river running through the middle of it when my friends were annoyed at me. Most of the dreams I wake up to are amusing as I wonder how my mind has come up with these things. I remember once having a dream about how Robin Hood saved me from falling into a river of lava. So that's why I always try and remember my dreams, everyone else finds them just as amusing as me.

Once I'm downstairs I eat my breakfast as fast as I can so I can leave the company of people again. I get very grumpy in the morning. I am not a morning person. I try to make myself presentable before I rush out the door to catch my bus which always seems to leave and arrive at the stop too quickly. I hate that because I know if I don't leave the house at exactly 8:15am I will miss it, and will then have to have an angry conversation with my mum about how she needs to give me a lift to school.

Then I'm in school and I feel like sleeping. I make boring small talk with most of my friends about how their weekends were even though I don't really care that they just sat around and watched Netflix all day. I don't care because I already know this from the boring snapchat conversations we've had over the course of the weekend. I'll work hard in my classes and even though I sit and chat with my mates, I still manage to get through my work quickly.

Then, at last, it's lunch. It's the time of the day where you get elbowed and punched and shoved around in the queue as people don't seem to understand what a queue actually means. It's the time of day where you can spend almost half your lunchtime waiting to get food because so many people just push in front of you and there's nothing you can do to stop it. I hate going in the queue's at lunch time because there's no guarantee that even when you do get to the front, that you will get the delicious Monday special of macaroni cheese. No, after waiting almost half a hour to get your lunch you have to get a boring hot dog because there's nothing else left to eat because everyone who's budged in front of you have managed to get the food that you, yourself were in the queue waiting for, for so long. And even then after the disappointment of not getting the food you were hoping for there's a high chance there won't be any good tray bakes or bottles of water left because the schools shipment of food hasn't fully arrived yet. This all adds up so you can't get the meal deal and so you then have to pay more for the food that you never wanted in the first place. That's why I hate lunchtimes. After that I get to sit with my friends listening in on their conversation because our group is huge and sits at one big table and so its hard to actually talk to anyone you like. Monday lunchtimes are just disappointing.

Then as it gets to the end of the day, I get happier, because I know what's coming. I have my stuff ready to leave as soon as then bell goes. And then, when it does I walk straight to the bus stop. But the bus I get on Monday is not the bus that takes me home. The bus I get on Monday takes me to Melrose, where I get to see my friends and help run the junior session of Borders Youth Theatre. As soon as I walk in (after I've quickly changed out of my school clothes in the bathroom) Hannah comes up and hugs me and I know my day is going to get better now. Hannah and me lead part of the drama session together. I like doing that. When the kids are working on a task Hannah, Amanda and me all sit and chat about things. These conversations always make me laugh. After juniors is finished, Hannah and me go out to the shops and get milk for Amanda's tea and a drink or something for me. It depends on what I'm feeling like. We come back and it's time for seniors. We don't lead this session though, we take part in it. I love going in a group with Amy and Hannah, we always seem to come up with hilarious ideas that make us all cry with laughter. Once we included a choreographed dance into our drama sketch, another time we did a puppet show using props we'd brought in, and another time we did a sketch about a robber getting chased by the police but then run over, it was silent for the second half, but just ended with Amy saying in a funny voice "dead". We find all of these hilarious and no matter how my day has gone so far, these always make me feel better. When at last it's time for BYT to end, I hug everyone goodbye and let my dad take me home to my mums. I don't like this part of the day because I know my good mood is gonna be taken away from me once I get back home.

When my dad drops me off I get in and the house smells from whatever my mum has cooked for tea. It normally smells bad because she's cooked some weird foreign dish with meats she knows I won't eat. I hate dinnertime. It's always filled with my mum and mark (her boyfriend) making small talk about their days. When it's over I go up to my room and I finish any homework I have to do for the next day whilst watching something on Netflix and snapchatting Hannah. I find that by having something on in the background I can do my work better. Lately I've been watching heroes, I'm on the second season now. When it gets to 10 I shower and everyone else in the house goes to bed. But I'm wide awake, and I know I won't be able to sleep for a while. So I stay up and I watch some more Netflix and chat with people and maybe even make a phone call depending on how much minutes I have on my phone. This month I used most of my 500 minutes within the first few days. I have 14 left to last me 5 days. When I finally get tired, I plug in my phone and my iPod and lie down to sleep. I remember to put on my alarms for the next morning. Then when I wake up, the day starts again.

Sam Cornwell - photographer

Sam Cornwell is a photographer who recently has moved from America to Hawick in Scotland. He specialises in wet plate printing, disposables, non-lens based film, astrophotography and abstract video pieces. He doesn't use photoshop and doesn't put filters onto his photos. He prefers to use the photos as he took them in their original form. He also studied the history of chemical based capture of light and likes to think about the story of the picture and how it can be expressed.

He has used disposable cameras for a year so that he could get back to the traditional rules of photography and back to the basics and not have all of the new technological advancements that are in cameras today. Although he does keep up with the new technological advancements in digital cameras.

Some of my favourites of his photos are the ones he took of the sky, like his condensed landscape triptych, transit of Venus and solar eclipse photo sets. My favourite are his condensed landscape triptych photos. These photos took him 3 years to produce as he took a picture of the same sunset in 3 different places.
The first of this photo set shows a completely black canyon with the moon showing in the corner. I like it as it shows the lightness in the sky and moon compared to the blackness of the canyon.

 

 

The second of the photo set is my favourite, as it shows an orange sky and the city of Chicago. It makes the city seem as if it is almost floating in the sky and the dark blue on the ground contrasts well with the sky. It is my favourite as it makes the landscape and city look amazing and the contrast makes this more effective.

The third photo of the set is of the cloudy sky and shows the sky go from orangey pink to grey with the sun a pink colour. It shows the sun setting into a grey haze in the sky. I like this picture as it makes the sky look foggy and misty and hazed over, also because of the colours the sky and sun make and how they mix together well.

These photos were taken using extreme telephoto lenses which is an unconventional use for these types of photos due to the way the lenses condense colours before the processing takes place. This means that the 'photographer pop' is not required. I, however, like the way these lenses have been used to create the pictues of the sky. I think the unconventional way that Sam Cornwell has used to take the photos has been successful and has created very good photos.

Another of my favourites of his photos is from his pictorial set. It is the picture of the dog. I like it as the dog is the centre of focus and the rest of the picture is out of focus. It effectively shows the depth of field in the photograph. I also like it because the dog looks so quizzical and confused as to why he is being photographed. Sam Cornwell, however, makes it clear that this is not in fact the story of this photo. He states that the story is that this dog is scared and shivering from its fear. he states that the dog is holding coins for its owner. The photograph was taken on a Canon EOS 40D which is a type of digital SLR camera. This effectively shows how cameras people regularly use that aren't that fancy can take good photographs that show the depth of field and a different viewpoint of a photo.

 

 

 

 Source: samcornwell.photography

 

A few photos

I went to Berwick and took a couple of photos :

 

The first was of a tree beside the river which I thought looked really pretty with the way the light was hitting it:

The second was of the river and the bridge across it, I tried to make the bridge the focus of the picture rather than the river itself: 

Disposable Camera Photos

We were tasked with taking photos gradually on our disposable camera and then getting them developed at a much later date. We had to write about what we thought when taking the photos and why we took them, and then compare the photos with what we said when we got them developed.

Photo #1 : I tried to take a picture of how pretty the sky was, it was dark blue and had lighter blue waves going through it and I tried to capture its prettiness.

Photo #2 : We had to take a photo about the word 'hospitality' . I thought I would take the picture of my welcome mat because to be a hospitable person you have to be welcoming. I took the photo from a low angle and tried to get the mat in focus.

Photo #3 : We had to take a photo based on the words 'room with a view' . I decided to take my picture from the top flirt of my school building. I took the picture of both the window panel and of the view seen through the window. I tried to focus on the window panel rather than the view. 

Photo #4 : We had to take a photo based on the word 'spicy' . I thought that I would take a picture of a glass of water. I chose this because if something is spicy, then it is hot, and so water will cool it down. I thought I would take a picture of something different than what anyone else would take. I took a picture of it on top of a mirror and tried to get the reflection in focus rather than the actual glass.

Photo #5 : We had to take a photo from a birds eye view. I decided to take my picture from the top of the ladder to my room. I took a picture looking flat at the ground so that I could see the full length of the ladder and of the floor. I tried to get the ladder in focus.

Photo #6 : We had to take a photo from an ants eye view. I decided to take my photo looking up at an apple as if it were huge, as an ant would see. I took it close up to the apple and from the bottom looking up and tried to make the apple look huge. 

Photo #7 : We had to take a photo with a blur. I tried to take a picture of my little sister with the background blurred. I tried to keep the camera pointed at her and focused as I walked round her creating a blur behind her.

Photo #8 : We had to take a photo to do with the word speed. I decided to take a photo of my sister playing her violin because she can play very fast. I took the photo looking up at her face from the top of her violin. I tried to get her face in focus rather than the violin.

Photo #9 : We had to take a photo to do with the word energy. I decided to take a picture of the river I walk past when I walk my dog. I took it because the river has lots of energy I tried to get the rocks in focus in the river rather than the flowing river.

Photo #10 : We had to take a photo to do with the word claustrophobia. I took a picture from inside my wardrobe with only a small crack of light showing. I tried to get my knees in focus because they were up in a ball. I took it because if you are claustrophobic you wouldn't be sitting in a wardrobe in a tight space.

Photo #11,12&13 : We had to take photos under the theme, close, close and closer. I took a picture of a candle I have in my house. I tried to take them at different angles to make them more interesting pictures.

Photo #14 : I took a picture of the gear stick on the car, I tried to take it at a different angle so it would look cool

Photo #15 : I took a picture of the wind mirror and the reflection of the street in the car

Photo #16 : I took a picture of my friend Grace sitting on her chair, I tried to make her in focus rather than the background

Photo #17 : I took a picture of the stairs, I liked the way that they curved and tried to capumture that in the picture 

Photo #18 : I took a picture of my dad sitting on the chair, I tried to make the light look nice

Photo #19 : I took a picture of my brother as he stood posing for me, I took it portrait and tried to get him fully in the picture

Photo #20 : I took a picture of the school canteen through the bars of the railing upstairs. I liked the different angle that the canteen was being viewed at.

Photo #21 : I took a picture of my friend Oli as he stared at the AstroTurf pitch in the distance. I liked the way that he stood out from the background of the sky and school and I tried to make this come across in the photograph

Photo #22 : I took a picture of my friend Oli on the stage of the school. I liked the position that he was in and how he stood out from the red curtain on the stage.

Photo #23 : I took a picture of my friend Oli from in the library looking up at him standing over the railings in the reading room. I liked the lower angle of the photo and how I was looking up at him to take the photo.

Photo #24 : I took a picture of my friend Oli in front of the school. I liked the facial expression he had on his face as he pointed towards the school and tried to capture this expression within the photo.

Pinhole Cameras (Chemical Photography)

Pin hole cameras - also known as camera obscura - is a small box or can which is completely black inside. the box has a shutter at the front and a tiny hole in the centre at the same end. Because of light an image is created on the wall of the box but upside down. This was the first form of photography and has very basic principles of photography.

A pin hole camera can be made very easily by hand. To make one you can get a small can to be used as the camera body, but this must have a tight fitting lid e.g. a clean paint can. The outside and the inside of the paint can should be fully painted black to make the box "light-tight". The film for the camera is attached to the inside of the can's lid, opposite to the side of the pinhole. The hole has to be cut in the centre. for the best picture results the pinhole should be roughly the size of a number 10 needle and the film should be distanced from the pinhole by around 3-6 inches. A dark piece of paper should be placed hanging by tape over the pinhole to be used as a shutter. For the pictures to be clear the camera must be completely still when the shutter is open. For the picture to be taken, the shutter should be pulled open for a few seconds before it is shut again. This should happen a couple of times so that the picture can be taken.

Pinhole cameras can be used for a variety of reasons, they are very inexpensive as they can be made easily by hand and they are also a very simple method of taking a photograph. They can show people how the very first pictures were made. I don't think that this is the best method of photography as the photographs will most likely be bad photos and it will be difficult to make sure the photograph that you want has been taken as you have to lift and shut the shutter multiple times for a specific length to get the photograph to take. It would also take a while for the photograph to be processed so you wouldn't be able to see what it looks like for a while. However, I do think that it was a good method for when it was first introduced and at the time was a complex and interesting feat of technology, I just don't think that the same applies now.


                                        Below: a pinhole camera made from a box and tape

Below: a pinhole camera made from a can, like the one explained

Below: a pinhole camera made professionally

Below: a diagram showing how a pinhole camera captures an image

sources: http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholecameras/whatis.html

http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Pinhole_Camera.htm