Matthew & Gareth

Straight from Photoshopping to more shooting!! After countless reshoots of the dog, we were kind of frustrated with it, so decided to change the model to see if it yielded better results… as well as changing the composition to a more lonely and simple long shot- the runners and obstructions from before were somewhat similar in style to our rabbit shoot- so we made it more subtle- and we really like the loneliness that is portrayed from the long shot!

We also tried using some litter and seeing if it helped… and somehow managed to capture the thrown McFlurry carton flying over the box! :D

We were really happy with the long shots, and as usual, the close up took a bit more work- perhaps it was the location- lighting was always a struggle, but we managed to salvage what we had and did manage to get a winning shot…

We are very pleased with the outcomes from today’s shoot, and after more photoshopping will be ready to print! :D

For the past 3 days, Matthew and i have been attending the Photoshop Workshops, where we touch up our photos, and create richer, bolder images, which will be display on April 30th at Oxford House. [There are no photos in this update; you’ll just have to come see them when they’re up in the Exhibition Space.]

On the first day, I went to the workshop by myself, as Matthew was still in Sweden. I arrived at Central Foundation Girl’s School, a large building, with a huge Design and Technology Department, which was to be our workshop for the coming days. A room full of iMacs, it had it’s windows blacked-out, and a high ceiling. We set to work as sooon as we entered, I am a PC user, so getting to grips with the slight differences in a Mac took some getting use to, but I got there eventually. I often use Photoshop in my art work, as a means of distortion, and so this week has proved incredibly insightful. Our changes are very subtle, because, as photographers, we want the image to be realistic. We want it to look focused, and relevant. However, our subject matter requires a more intense finish. We wanted a brash look to our photos, not so they are burnt out and a mass of colourful pixels, but with strong shade, and rich midtones and highlights.

Working with our photos, we found a natural colour scheme developing between all the compositions. Our Horse shoot seems to be really push shades of Brown and Blue, while our Pig shoot emphasises shades of blood, and synthetic pinks, clashing with the tough, durable nature of the mechanical and sterile, stainless steel. Our Rabbit Photos focus on Whites, Off-Whites and Browns, reinforcing the high-end neighborhood in which we shot the photos. [Our Dog shoot, to be re-shot for the 5th time tomorrow, we feel will really show off the organic, natural tones of our local park. The green grass, with small patches of brown, murky mud appearing throughout. We subtly enrichened these colour schemes, but looking out for any washes in our photos, and omiting them with the Colour Balance Tool. Often, we were filtering out yellow, due to how the sun appeared on our models and the settings. I feel these schemes work incredibly well, and, in the exhibition, I look forward to seeing the four panels together, working with each other and changing as you walk past.

We also learnt the importance of great skills in actually taking the photographs to start off with. We now know why it was so important for our images to be in intense focuse, and why the lighting truely matters. There is onyl so much Photoshop can do to an image. You cannot sharpen an out of focus image; how does the computer know that the mass of grey fuzz is meant to be one crisp object? It doesn’t, so we found it much harder to work with less accurate photographs, and found it incredibly easy to achieve beautiful effects with images which had been captured perfectly. Our pig close up, for example, had truely focused eyes, eyebrows and eyelashes, so, when sharpened, and made brighter and more intense with the Curves tool, they stood out and completed the image.

Before and After:

What was so important, in this week, was that everything we did, should be subtle, and realistic. We had alot of trouble with our Horse image, and spent the past day and a half working on that sole image. The background was farr to bright, for what appeared to be a flat, darker close up. We went about brightening the mdoel, and dimming the background, resulting in a far more realistic composition. However, such drastic changes left us with nasty, crisp cut out lines, so we used to clone-stamp tool for hours on end, recreating the edges. This tool also proved useful in us omitting any blemishes, spots, or areas of the photo which we felt just didnt work. A car aerial for instance, appeared to be sticking out of our models head in one shot. A few mintues later, and it was gone, neatly covered up, by gently covering it with the Clone Stamp.

These Days have proved incredibly insightful. Photoshop has such a great power, and we feel our pictures look 10x better as a result of using it subtly and to great effect.

Taking advantage of the day off school we set off to do what will hopefully be our last and final shoot for this project. Thankfully, the weather was on our side (only until about noon though!)

We tried shooting where we originally planned, but the lighting was unbearable, the contrast in light and dark just didn’t work… Everything was there, a spontaneous bike, parked cars and trains in the back… everything but the light…

We quickly changed location which was much better and managed to play around with the location… the shots came out better- and after more experimenting, we felt one of them could really work for the exhibition!

Of course we had lots of blood for our horse model… his hands were caked in it hence the paper towel bandages…

Our close up shot was again more difficult to shoot, and spent the majority of the time sorting out lighting, exposure and everything else… on top of that manage our model’s expressions of sadness and pain.

Overall it was a very successful day, and we do feel we have some good shots… now we cannot wait to edit them and make them even better… Woo! Post production!!!

WE WERE ABLE TO SHOOT AT THE MEAT MARKET STALL! I KNOW, RIGHT? WOO!!!

The location had a brash, organised and clinical feel to it. The moment we walked in, we were bathed in bright light and upon taking a few test shots, thought it could really work for this shoot. The red aura that bathes the image are effective, and we were happy to be allowed to shoot at all!!

We started off just on the other side, trying all we can to play with angles, perspective, and getting the technicals right… and although we got some interesting shots, it wasn’t enough… Luckily, the butcher was very nice in letting us shoot from the other side :D

We were able to get some much more dynamic images from this viewpoint, and as if the pig was actually on sale, and part of the produce!! Whilst the shots are overexposed, we really like the brash finish, and the obstructions that our eyes pass through finding the focus.

Our close up shot was successful as our model was extremely emotive and was most helpful and patient with us~THANK YOU SO MUCH!

There are many shots from this shoot we feel could be part of the final exhibition, so we just want to thank especially the butchers and our model for all their help so that we could accomplish all this!

On the first sunny day of 2010, Gareth and I, along with our two models to Montague Street (Russell Square), a classic street of character and wealth. Our idea for this shoot revolves around the fashion industry and fur hence this being our backdrop to our second shoot, featuring our “rabbit”, George, and our wealthy-rabbit-fur-wearing DIVA, Chloe!

We met with Dodge and quickly set up and began shooting. Chloe was too happy to begin with, and after some “diva lessons” from our very own Dodge, Chloe quickly turned it up with her fiery gaze…!!

Here is Chloe’s expression progression throughout our shoot.

Expression was a large THING of the day, as for our close up shot, we needed the correct expression from our “rabbit”. One that beckoned us to feel sympathy and really reach into the heartstrings of the viewer and pull it!

Here is a range of expressions we got from George. Can someone work out what that middle one is!?

Anyway, we tried the shot at a variety of angles, firstly front on. With this shot, we were able to see everything and capture that moment our rabbit and diva brush past each other… We tried this shot for perhaps WAY too long, as the constant flow of prying pedestrians and curious cars meant we had to be extremely patient.

We changed the angle of our shot and felt this was much more dynamic and playful. There was much more scope. In this way, we leave the rabbit in the background and focus on the diva, and reflects the way they cannot be heard.

We did move on and try incorporating the zebra crossing as Dodge suggested, but the onslought of cars made this nearly impossible, and the positioning of our rabbit and diva was also a bit odd… plus, it would not be safe to have our masked model cross the road! Hence the following shot was taken, trying to keep rabbit on one side, but it looks more like a rabbit-lollypop-lady.. :P

We also tried finding an angle to include a nearby bistro cafe and a hotel, but it looked really strained as we avidly tried avoiding their big named canopy.

Our final shots were the close ups which required “THE” expression and after the advice of Dodge from our workshop, we decided to have the model look straight at camera. We experimented with a range of facial angles and expressions… and hopefully in there there is one for our final exhibition!

Overall, I felt it was a very productive day and definitely learnt ALOT about managing a shoot, communicating with photographer and models, especially directing, and gives me the confidence for the next shoot, as I am more aware of location and being able to see different angles and shots we can experiment with.

Finally, I just want to thank again, Dodge, for being on location and providing us with immense help and direction; our models for being patient and agreeing to help us! I definitely had fun, and hope you guys did too!!

~Matthew

Yesterday, Matt and I went back into Liverpool St. Station, and had our second photography workshop. It started with us arriving just before 11:30, and then, a steady stream of the others came through. I didn’t expect it to be both photography and film groups, so it was really interesting meeting them and finding out more about their projects and where they are in their projects.

After that, we divided into our separate groups, and went through where we all are in our projects, any outstanding issues or problems. A delicious lunch followed, and then we got our cameras out and learnt a few more things. White Balance was the major issue of the day, where we learnt how to achieve the correct tone to our pictures. Previous white surfaces sometimes came out blue, and artificially lit rooms came out with a clunky, stodgy wash of yellowy-orange. Not any more! This technique will save us time and effort in post production, which could be spent doing other things. Set with our newly acquired skill, we were given the task of creating seven photographs, with the requirements that they must be: colorful, sharp and crisp, and have accurate white balance. Following our 30 minitues of project time, we had a large group debriefing and then we went over the pictures we took.

Yesterday was a brilliant opportunity for us to feel even mroe confident with our cameras. We have developed our skills further, and learnt vital techniques which could save our photos in the future.

Thanks to Dodge, Satu and Emma.

So yesterday we went out on our first proper shoot in the snow! It was so tiring, but so rewarding seeing the results. After a day of rest, I managed to sort them out.

We tried a range of things, and here are some of our experimental test shots… (sorry you will have to wait till the exhibition to see our final images!)

This is the first shot we took. There is something quite grabbing about the simplicity of the shot. We tried having a “runner” as well and a range of other poses which broke the image up also.

Another experiment we wanted to try was to have some obstructions, and the idea that you have to work through the image to find the focus. We really liked how it worked on our test shoot a few weeks back, and tried repeating it again. Some of the shots worked, but the overall composition was not as interesting as it could be. The model was a bit too far away!

Moving on to our close up shots, we also tried a number of things, dealing with background and foreground, expression… and it was much more challenging. There was quite a lot of testing and working things out…

Here are two examples of things we tried:

It was a great learning experience doing our first shoot yesterday. There are so many more things to consider on our future shoots! Also, it will be important to keep our images consistent in terms of composition so they fit in as a series.

Overall, the day was immensely fun and I am personally very pleased with the results.

-Matthew