experimental photography evaluations (with improvements)

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Experimental Photography

Chloe Stead

Multi- media experiment 1

Here I dotted acrylic paint in a formation that enhanced the shapes of the bubbles.

I edited the lighting on the image on photoshop. It started out a bright white, but I faded it to a duller grey-ish colour.

On photoshop I enhanced the bright colours using the sponge tool.

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How well do you feel you have realised your ideas and intentions and what results have you got? Ensure you talk critically (compare, contrast, assess) about your work. You should reference your influences and assess how your work compares.

When I first began the project, I had a clear idea of what I would like to do. I knew what I wanted from creating mind maps and mood boards, and looking for inspirational work. My main influence, Sebastiaan Bremer gave me a lot of ideas for my work. He inspired me to use paint over my photographs. Sebastiaan Bremer uses a lot of small dots of paints on his own work, which inspired me, and I decided to use his technique.

When I created my mind maps and mood boards I considered aspects such as my colour scheme, shapes and the content I wanted in my images. I thought about my theme and what I wanted my images to tell my audience. I wanted my audience to see that my theme is about fear, and more specifically about the term being “thrown in at the deep end”. I decided on using the colour blue throughout my work, which is commonly associated with water. I also wanted to create shapes that reflect water such as waves.

When creating my mind maps I also considered using some scannography along with multi-media photography. I was inspired to use scannography by Olga Guerra. For my first image I attempted (1) I used scannography. I decided not to use this method anymore because the scanner and the water reacted with each other, and the image came out too blurry to use. I didn’t like the size of the bubbles in this image. Every time I tried to capture in image of the bubbles with the scanner, my the time the scanner had scanned it the bubbles had

(1)

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turned to foam. I decided to use a camera as it is much quicker so I can capture the bubbles when they are at their best, and because the quality of the image was much better when I used the camera.

Another thing that I considered was using food colouring in the water to make my bubbles brightly coloured. This again was inspired by Olga Guerra. Image (1.5) is a piece by Olga Guerra. As you can see she has used scanography, and she has also used some sort of red colouring in the water. I decided I wasn’t going to use food colouring in the end as I liked the rainbow colours the bubbles produced naturally. I realised that I could also edit the colours on photoshop to give my photograph a tint, and I would have more control of the colours that way. Though if I were to have used this idea, I would have put either blue food colouring in to enhance the colour of the water, to make it look more like how we imagine sea water to look. I may have alsoused red colouring, like Olga Guerra has done in this image (1.5). The colourred has connotations of danger, which relates well to my theme of fear.

(1.5)

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On the left you can see a piece of work by Sebastiaan Bremer, and on the right my work. Sebastiaan has clearly used many more dots of paint to make up his work than I have. They appear to be different in size and shape though seem to be strategically placed to enhance the child in the image. Like me, he has also just used white paint. We have also used dots of a similar size for our work, though some of his dots vary. The contents of out images differ a lot. I wanted to keep my images clean and simple. I used as little colour and detail where as Sebastiaan has used images with a lot of detail and colour. I think that perhaps adding a lot more detail using the white dots of acrylic paint, like with Sebastiaan Bremer’s work, would improve the look of my work.

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Qualities:Consider the aesthetic qualities of your work. How does it look? What do you like about it? What are the strongest and weakest elements from an aesthetic point of view?

I think that my final image reflects my theme and the idea I wanted to convey quite clearly. Especially with the shapes I have with the dots. The main theme I chose was fear, though I wanted to show the idea of being thrown in at the deep end. Feeling nervous about trying something new, and feeling afraid of not succeeding. I think that the bubbles demonstrate this idea somewhat. I thought that bubbles might be easier to work with than with water which is why for this image I decided to use bubbles instead of water which relates directly to my theme. I also thought that bubbles were much more interesting. I love the way that bubbles create bright colours on their surface, and I like the shapes they make. Using bubbles enabled me to follow their shapes when painting on my dots to create wave patterns, reflecting my theme a lot. The only problem with using bubbles I think is that they do not necessarily link directly to my theme of fear. Though they have links to water, and they create shapes that I wanted to include in my work, I think perhaps my audience will not understand the message I was trying to put across.

I think that some of my experiments have turned out really well and look really nice. My final piece only has a small amount of detail on the bubbles which I think looks better than my piece with more detail (2) as I think that the way I have done it looksquite messy. The dots vary is size, each wave differs in shape and the wavy lines don’t all go across the page at the right angle. If I had taken more time over it and

(2)

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combination of really dull colours and then really vibrant splashes of colour. I think that it could look better if my images were purely made up of large bubbles rather than some small bubbles, as the smaller bubbles didn’t come out so clear when I printed my images. This was because the printer reduced the quality of the image. I ended up choosing the final image that I did because the bubbles in the photograph were much larger than on some of the other images I took. For example image (2) on the previous page.

especially with my final image. I think that the dots add a surreal element to quite a seemingly plain image.

I really like the images I have taken. The images of bubbles look really beautiful, with the

love the effect that dots have, because though you are painting over it it doesn’t look as if it is covering the image. As you can see with image (2) I have covered a lot of the page with white dots, though it doesn’t obstruct the image. I think the dots look integrated with the photograph,

planned out where I was going to place the dots before hand it would have looked a lot nicer. I

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Consider the technical qualities of your work? How well done is it? What elements are strongest and which could need further work and development? Be sure to use technical terms in your work such as exposure, shutter speed, aperture and talk specifically about any post-production techniques you have used.

For my work I needed to take really good quality images, use photoshop to edit the lighting and colours and then paint over them. I had to have a few practices, playing around with the camera settings and with paint. At home I practiced using scanography to capture my images, and I practiced using a camera.

When scanning my bubbles, I filled a clear plastic container with a little water and washing up liquid to create bubbles. I scanned and photographed the bubbles from outside of the container in order to not accidentally get the scanner or the camera wet. When I tried scanning the bubbles the first time they didn’t come out very clear at all on the paper. The white bubbles and the clear water didn’t show up on the white paper. In order to create a contrast so that the image would show up on paper I decided to put some black card on top of the box of bubbles when I scanned it. This helped the bubbles show up better on paper. One problem I had with taking my photographs from the outside of the box is that you could see a slight glare in some of my images. There is also a logo on the box which I tried to keep out of my photographs. I decided on using a camera in the end because I had a bit more control over the way it looked. The scanner and the water in the container reacted and the images came out too blurry to use. The scanner also made all the bubbles burst. As you can see from image (2.25) I didn’t manage to capture any scan images of large bubbles, (2.25)

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On photoshop I edited my chosen images. I wanted them to appear slightly dull in places and bright in other places. I think I achieved this. The bubbles where they are really dense appear to be a dull grey-ish white, where as there as some streaks of vibrant colour that came naturally from the bubbles. You can see in image (2.5) how at the bottom of the image it is just dense bubble, andAt the top there are larger bubbles and more vibrant colour. I used the sponge tool on photoshop to make the bright colours appear brighter. When I printed my images they initially came out too dull and dark. I practiced painting on them but you could hardly make out the detail so I went back and edited them on photoshop and make them brighter. I printed them out again and painted them.

(2.5)

only small blurry ones. I could have perhaps prevented this by being quicker at scanning the bubbles. Rather than scanning lots of images of the same lot of bubbles I could have made some new bubbles and scanned one image. If the image didn’t come out how I wanted it I could have made new bubbles again, stopping me from capturing images of small bubbles.

At home I also practiced with using the paint over photographs. I experimented with dots, like with Sebastiaan’s work. Looking back at image (2) you can see what my beginning experiments looked like. The dots are quite messy and a much larger than the ones on my final image. I think my painting skills improved the more I practiced. I think that I got so see what size dots look the best, and I think that as my hands got steadier with practice the dots got neater.

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How could you improve your work? Could you develop your work further with additional work? What would you try to achieve with this? Could you undertake further experiments? If so, what would they be?

If I were to do my final image again I would perhaps add a little more detail. On previous attempts my dots of paint looked messy so I was being too cautious this time. I would cover more of the bubbles with the wavy pattern. I may have also added paint elsewhere on my photograph. Another thing that held me back from adding more detail to my image was time. I think that it would have taken a long time to cover my image with white dots, especially as I was trying to be neat. If I were to do another project where I had more time to complete my work I would add more detail to the image. I could have also experimented with different coloured paint, though I would want to stick to blue or grey, which are the main colours I used which are key to my theme.

If I did it again I could have used water colours instead of or as well as acrylic paint. I would have splashed it over the photograph over a certain section, so it looks like something had spilled on it.

Another thing I could have done is done further editing on photoshop to improve the quality. Though the quality looked quite good on photoshop, when the photograph was printed the quality was reduced. I could have put more effort in to improve the quality on photoshop so it looked a little better when printed.

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I never ended up experimenting with food colouring in the water to make the bubbles. I think I probably should have as it could have been really interesting. I could have added another colour to my colour scheme such as red to make my images stand out and stop them from being to repetitive. I think that red would have been a good colour to use as it is often associated with death and danger, this is why it is often used for warning signs and labels. It may make people think of blood also.

I think that I should have experimented with water as well as bubbles as I think that that is a clearer reflection of my theme. I think that if I had done it right I could have made the images look interesting. To make it more interesting I could have incorporated water into an image with a model or another subject.

The photograph on the left is the Photoshop version, and the photograph on the right is the printed version. As you can see the printed version is much greyer than the photoshop version.

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Finally you should consider if the images you have produced fulfil the brief you were set. Do they match the theme? Are they experimental? Explain your answers using specific examples.

I think that my photographs definitely fit in with the brief. I think that the contents of my images were experimental. When I was photographic the bubbles I was much more conscious of capturing the colours and the shapes, rather than capturing a clear image of a bubble. I wanted my images to have a surreal effect, where when you look at it you are not entirely sure what the image is of. I think that by using paint over my images made them look even more surreal. The paint looks integrated with the original image, but you also know that it shouldn’t be there.

Experimental photography isn’t often used for commercial purposes as these types of images don’t provide a clear representation of the subject. My images definitely don’t depict a clear representation of bubbles. The paint over the top of the photograph adds a really surreal element. Experimental photography may be appropriate for some commercial purposes however, such as advertising a band/musician or for book covers. These are both artistic fields, so incorporating a different form of art may be appropriate, depending on the style that the musician or the writer is going for.

Multi-media experiment 2

Blue water colour

Water colour and printer ink mixing, creating colour distortion

White acrylic paint dotted over the sections of the image covered in water colour.

Some dots not just over water colour

Can see movement in the image, created by using the camera set on a low shutter speed

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Like with the pervious experiment, I knew prior to my experiments what colours I wanted to incorporate in my images. I wanted to stick to blue and grey colours to reflect my theme. I knew that I wanted to capture pictures of people as well, as I had decided in my mind maps and mood boards. I also knew that I wanted to capture movement, again to reflect my theme. The theme I have stuck with through out my experiments in water, more specifically the idea of “being thrown in at the deep end”, a phrase relating to fear. I felt that by capturing lots of movement it expressed the struggles you face when confronting your fears.

My main influence for this image was Maureen Gubia. She is an artist that frequently uses multi media. She sometimes will incorporate photography in her work, combined with paint such as oil paint or water colours. Her work inspired me to try using water colours with my work, and perhaps experiment with different techniques using acrylic again.

Initially I though I might try out finger painting over the top of my images using acrylic paint. I did some rough experiments, though decided that it would over power the original image and I wanted to keep it much more simple. I was inspired to try out this technique from Maureen Gubia’s portrait of Noah Lennox (3) where she appears to have used messy splodges and squiggles of oil paint over the image. (3)

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I also wanted to branch out and try something different to my first experiment. I finally decided to use water colours, which is how I came to my final image. Though I still incorporated the white dots of acrylic paint over the water colour.

(4)

I decided to then experiment with acrylic paint further, reverting back to my Sebastiaan Bremer inspired dotting technique. Though I like this technique, one of my images in particular didn’t come out very clearly as the combination of white paint and a light background meant the dots weren’t very obvious (4).

(4.5)

This is another experiment that I did (4.5) with a different photograph using dots over the top like previously. Just like with (4.25) that I did in a previous experiment, the dots came out messy and all different shapes and sizes. This is another problem I faced with using Sebastiaan’s technique. It took me quite a bit of practice to get my hand steady enough so that the dots came out the way I wanted them to.

(4.25)

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The image on the left that you see above is one by Maureen Gubia, and the image on the right is my own work . This particular piece of work was inspiring to me, even though it does not incorporate photography. It inspired me to use watercolour. I think the way we both used watercolour is quite different however. Maureen Gubia has layered it quite thick across the page, where as I have used splashed of watercolour down the page. I think that I prefer the way that Maureen has used watercolour, however I think that if I used that amount of watercolour over my work the colours would have run too much and the image would be ruined. This image also influenced the colours I used. As you can see we have both used blue watercolour. In both of our images there is also a hint of yellow, however in my work that was an accident caused by the ink from the photograph running when the watercolour was applied. Another similarity with these pictures is the content we used. We both used people in our images, and in both our images the people have their heads tilted back.

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The image I have created portrays the message I wanted to get across very well. The colours and shapes I have used really appear to reflect water, and the ghost-like haziness of the girl in my final image shows the fear of death, or of not succeeding . The image captures my models movement which I think shows the struggle for them to face their fear.

For this experiment I played around a lot with the shapes I could makeusing dots. As you can see in image (4.75) I used small shapes and details. I think that these little shapes add something really interesting to my image. In a way they sort of accessorise the image. I have alsoincorporated wavy patterns into my image, which I intended to use throughout my experiments to reflect the natural movement of water, and to make my audience realise the message I was trying to get across. I think in this image though I have sort of gone off my aim and used other shapes such as crosses, as shown in (4.75) and other ridged shapes. I think this was definitely a mistake as it defeats the object of what I was trying to achieve using the dots of paint. The ridged patterns do not reflect the shape of water al all.

A large weakness of my image is that some of the colours were distorted, due to the watercolours and the printer ink reacting and this

(4.75)

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I think that the placement of my watercolours looks quite nice, and it has meant avoiding further colour distortion, though I much prefer the way that Maureen Gubia used her watercolours. She has used a lot more colour, covering a lot more of the page. She used a much deeper blue colour as well. This would have also fitted in well with my theme. It could have been used to express how overwhelmed the person in the photograph is. Using a large volume of the blue watercolour could have shown my audience the depth of this persons problems, or the depth of the water when thinking about the phrase “thrown in at the deep end” which I have used to influence all of my work, and is the message I have been aiming to get across to my audience.

changed the watercolours from blue to yellow and green in some parts (5) as shown in this image. Though these colours don’t look all that bad, they don’t stand out and ruin the image but they were not my intention and don’t fit in that well with my main colour scheme.

(5)

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To achieve the look of haziness and movement in my image, I turned the camera to a very low shutter speed. I set the shutter speed to 6 seconds. In order to just capture the models movementand not my own I needed to put the camera on a tripod to keep it steady. I used a studio so that I has access to a clean white background and good lighting. This improved the over all quality of the image. You can clearly see in image (5.5) the effect that using a low shutter speed and high quality lighting has effected my image. Though parts of the background have a yellow tone, the majority of the background is bright white.

The first part of my post production process which I did on photoshop was fairly quick as all I needed to do was make some colour and lighting changes. The lighting in the studio made the image really bright with warm tones, though I wanted cold blue-ish grey colours with a more faded look. The high quality lighting and the white back drop in the studio made it easier to edit the colours to what I wanted them to be like as I was starting with almost a blank canvas. I was able to create the blue, grey tones in my image on photoshop, as you can see from (5.75). It was beneficial to my project that the first part of my post production process

(5.5)

(5.75)

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Like with my other images I added dots of white acrylic paint. I added it mostly where the watercolours already were. I wanted to give the shapes the drips and splashes of the watercolour another dimension. I really liked using acrylic paint for this as when the paint dried it was stiff and gave my images really interesting texture.

I splashed my image with blue watercolour, only from one corner of the image so I didn’t cover my image. I ran into difficulty when doing this as the printer ink and the watercolour reacted and changed the colours, though my final image was definitely an improvement on one of my previous practices (6). As you can see most of my blue watercolour has turned green. I tried to avoid this happening again by making sure most of my watercolour only covered parts of the image similar in colour to it, though I did not manage to completely prevent this from happening. As you can see from (6.5), my final image for this experiment, I put the blue watercolour just in the corner on the image where there was less colour. However because I let the watercolour drip down the page it ran over some of the bits of my image with more colour and the paint was turned yellow and green.

(6)

was quick as the next part of my post production was to be time consuming.

I printed out my work onto a firm card rather than plain paper. Card is generally more durable, and I wanted to prevent my images from being damaged when painting over them which is why I chose card.

(6.5)

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Comparing my work (7) to the work of Maureen Gubia again (8), she uses watercolour in a much more skilled way than I have in my work. She has used much more watercolour, covering a much larger area of the page. She has created really nice shape, texture and colour in her work. I think that this looks much better than just using a small amount of very watered down watercolour paint. A problem I faced in my experiment was that the colours from the printer ink and the watercolours mixed and the colours were ruined in some parts of the image which stopped me from using too much watercolour. If I were to do this project again I would perhaps try applying the watercolour to the paper before printing on it, then printing my photograph over it. I would also perhaps put my watercolour across my image horizontally rather than dripping down from one corner. Another thing I would perhaps do next time is apply a darker blue shade of water colour. Maureen has used a slightly darker blue than I have which I think improves the look of hers, however I would perhaps go even darker. I think that darker colours have connotations of danger to them which I would like to show in my work in order to get my message about fear across.

(7)

(8)

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I think it would have looked really nice to paint skulls and skeletons over the top of my models. I would have perhaps taken my images with a higher shutter speed so that you could see their faces clearly for painting over them. I may have also photographed my models closer us than I did in this experiment so that their features are much clearer and to allow space for finger painting. Photographing my model from a distance makes them appear smaller on the page. In order to paint over the model I would need them to cover the page so that the paint didn’t cover up too much of them.

For this experiment I would have also tried using different coloured acrylic paint to dot over my image. I think it would look nice with a mixture of white, grey and light blue dots rather than just white dots. Using blue dots could have made it clearer to my audience that I was using the dots of paint in wavy shapes to reflect the natural flow of water.

If I were to do another experiment like this in the future I perhaps may have persevered with finger painting with white acrylic paint like I had planned to.

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In the brief we were set to create experimental photography. Typically I think that experimental photography is fine art, its only use to create emotion and present its audience with a message. I think that my work definitely does that.

My final piece for this experiment is filled with colours and shapes that hint at a message. I think my audience may be able to pick up on why I have used the colour blue, and why I have used wavy shapes through out. The original photograph I used for my final piece is very emotive. The movement is expressive and I think I have captured the desperation and fear quite well. This key aspect to my final image I think will put across my message to the audience really well.

Multi-media photography is a form of photography not often used in commercial work. It allows the producer to add things to the image that aren’t already there, and the image stops being a true representation of the subject in the image, making it useless for commercial work. Using paint over the top of my photograph has added a surreal aspect to my image, which stops the image from being a representation of real life. The slow shutter speed distorts the models features and stops them from looking like a clear representation of a person. As you can see from (8.5) the modelsfeatures are barely visible. It almost looks as if she is just a blur of colour. The water colour and the acrylic paint added makes the image seem completely surreal.

(8.5)

Experiment 3

White dots around the outside of all the leaves

Colours edited on photoshop to make the colours a little duller, and more green less yellow.

Slightly low aperture so all of the colour fades out further away.

Colours did change slightly when I printed my image, and when I scanned the image into the computer.

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I began my experiment with image (a). The image was taken in the same area as with my final image though from a different angle. Though on my final image using a certain angle I have really highlighted the shapes of the individual leaves as they resemble the shape of droplets of water, I think that the shapes in this image resemble flowing water. At this angle, the shapes merge together more and flow across the photograph.

I decided that for this experiment I would try more editing on photoshop compared with previous experiments. As you can see from image (b) that on photoshop I have changed all of the colours of the image to be a mix of deep blue and turquoise, with still some greens and whites left. I created this by editing the hue and saturation. By turning the leaves blue I was aiming to create a more direct link between my theme and the image. Though the shapes I have photographed reflect flowing water, the green colours of the leaves in my original image do not reflect water very strongly. In my previous images I have tried to include natural colours, and I have only enhanced the natural colours on photoshop rather than change them completely, like with image (c). For this image I have only enhanced the rainbows that have naturally been created by the bubbles and the light. Although I like the way that this looks, I feel that this image doesn’t fit in with the rest of the images I have created. It

(a)

(b)

(c)

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(d)

Like with the final image I chose, I used dots of white acrylic paint in order to enhance the natural shapes of the leaves, rather than to create shapes, as shown in image (d). I wanted this image to resemble the natural flow of water, and as you cannot force the natural flow of water I felt it was appropriate to only follow the natural shapes, not force new shapes.

I think that this would have been a good image to use for my final image if it fitted in with my other images. What I could have done is toned the vibrancy of the blue down. Though the colours would still be unnatural, making it different to my other images, the colours would stand out less making it look a little less surreal.

would stand out amongst my other images, preventing them from looking like a set of images, which they are meant to be. If I were to do this project again, I would perhaps create a set of images done similarly to this one. The image definitely fits with the theme, and the colour are very deep and unusual.

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Evaluate: ideas eg analysis, results; How well do you feel you have realised your ideas and intentions and what results have you got? Ensure you talk critically (compare, contrast, assess) about your work. You should reference your influences and assess how your work compares.

For this piece of work I had a very clear picture of what I wanted to create, and the message I wanted to put across, unlike some of my previous pieces. As you can see with images (9), (10) and (11) there is a clear path between (9) and (11), I didn’t changemy ideas at all, I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve. I knew The content I wanted to include in my image and I also knew thatI wanted to use acrylic paint over the top of it. From previous experiments I knew that I wanted to use white paint. I used the paint in the same way as I had done before as well using dots to create shapes. I knew that I wanted to show my chosen theme offear in my image as well. Throughout my images I have been trying to convey a feeling of being “thrown in at the deep end”and in this image I tried to do this by using content shaped like water droplets, and highlighting that shape with white dots around the edge of the leaves.

Compared to my previous piece of work, this was fairly straight forward as with my last piece I changed the image I wanted to use and I experimented a lot with using just acrylic paint, then

(9)

(10)

(11)

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(12)

I got my idea to use dots over the top of my image from some of his work, such as (12). Similarly to this piece by Sebastiaan Bremer, I placed dots over my image that followed that natural shape of the content.

As with my first experiment, my main influence was Sebastiaan Bremer.

acrylic paint with watercolour on both images before achieving my final result.

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For my final image the quality of the image was quite high. I really liked the way that the image started out with really bright colour and faded to black further away from the leaves. It made the leaves really stand out. This is especially seen in my original image (13). I edited the image to give it the colours I was looking for in my work, so I needed to make the colours a little more dull. If you look at image (14) you can see how I changed the original image. Unfortunately some of the colours I worked to achieve on photoshop were lost when I printed out the image to paint over. This was due to printer issues. I tried editing my photograph on photoshop in a way that would make the colours come out of the printer properly, though I could not get the image exactly perfect. In image (15) it shows how the printer has changed the colours of my image that I had edited on photoshop.I used this image because it was the closest I could get to the correct colours. Despite this, I think that the colours white, black and green featured in my image go really well together.

I really liked the way the white acrylic paint came out over my photograph. I placed it around the edge of each leaf following its exact shape. It made the leaves stand out even more. It highlighted the shape that I wanted to highlight in order to portray my message.

(13)

(14)

(15)

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You can see in image (16) how I have used my white acrylic paint.

(16)

Another thing that I think made my image look really good is that the image is completely full of leaves and other than some darker shadowy patches there is nothing else. It makes you feel immersed in the image. It draws your eyes inwards to the dark spaces and it gives you a sense of the depth, and how it is unknown what is further beneath. This aspect of the image is key to showing my audience my message and ideas around fear.

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When talking my photograph the camera was set on quite a basic setting as I didn’t want the content to look true to real life. The camera was set on perhaps a slightly low aperture which gave the image the look of fading out slightly. You can see this in image (17) where the stems fade out to black. I wanted to get this effect as I feel like it would make my audience feel the depth and understand the idea behind my work more.

Most of the work that went into creating this piece was post-production work. Firstly I edited the colours of the leaves on photoshop to make them look much duller. I adjusted the curves, the contrast and the exposure. Image (18) shows how the image looked after I edited it on photoshop. When I printed

(17)

(18)image (18) the colours came out different, the leaves came out a much more yellow colour. This meant I had to spend a large amount of time adjusting the colours to make them less yellow when printed.

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After I had achieved a colour close to what I was looking for originally when I printed my image I had to paint dots over my image around each leaf. Initially I just painted one layer of dots though I thought that the dots didn’t stand out enough so I painted a second layer, again all the way around each leaf.


One big improvement I could make to my work could be to spend more time editing the colours to get them perfect, rather than settling for something close. Editing the colours to how I wanted them originally could improve the over all look of the final image. Another thing I could have done is used another printer to print out my image, as the issues I had were with my own printer. I could have used a college printer, I could have used a friends printer or I could have used a printer at a library or another public facility.

Rather than editing the colours to how I originally wanted them I could have made the leaves appear more blue. This would have fitted in with my theme more as it would have been more noticeable that the leaves looked like droplets of water to people looking at the image.

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Another improvement I could have made is adding more detail to my image with the white dots of acrylic paint. Image (19) by Sebastiaan Bremer is one of the images that inspired me for my own work, though Sebastiaan’s image is far more detailed than mine. He has made much smaller dots, and has used more than I have for my image. I think that my image would look much better if I had added more detail. The dots I have used on my image make the image look quite bold and makes the leaves stand out, where as the dots that Sebastiaan Bremer uses in his work are a lot more delicate. They fit in much more with the content and look almost natural. I would like to achieve this look in my own work.

(19)

Inspired by the amount of detail Sebastiaan Bremer put into his work I decided to do a further experiment on my photograph. For this experiment, shown in image (19.5), I wanted to create the same effect as I did using the white acrylic paint, though with much more fine detail. I wanted the dots to almost blend in with the background, similarly to Sebastiaan Bremer’s work. I decided that in order to achieve this I needed to use photoshop to create the dots, rather than painting it by

(19.5)

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Finally something else I could have done is to have though more about the content of my image. I think that the leaves look really nice and work on an aesthetic level though I think that I could have chosen content that related to my theme much more. I chose the leaves because they were shaped like water droplets, so I could have captured images of actual water droplets instead of things that look like them.

hand. I think that this experiment came out really nicely, though originally I decided that I wanted to create multi media photography so by using this method it contradicts everything I wanted to do in the first place.

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When talking about your work, consider formal elements such as lines, shapes and patterns as well as the colour and contrast and also tone of your image. Think about the composition of your work and where this could be developed.


In the brief we were told to create experimental photography, which is a form of art. Art is work that serves no purpose, only to portray an emotion or message to its audience. I think that my work fits that description. My work has no function, it is not to advertise a product or raise awareness or a cause, it is just to be looked at and enjoyed.

I tried to make my audience realise my ideas about fear and “being thrown in at the deep end” though I think that the message might be quite unclear in this particular piece of work as the content is quite indirect to the message. Though I think through my use of shape, and how I have shown depth and darkness my audience may see what I was trying to put across. In pervious work, like (20)my message has been much more clear. The colour blue is key in the image, reflecting water and the movement captured in the image shows the struggle. So compared to (20), this piece of work is not as strong.

I think that my work is definitely experimental as paint is not normally featured with photography. It doesn’t show how the content is in real life, but makes it seem different and surreal.

(20)

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Experiment 4

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Image slightly distorted from printing and scanning. Quality has been diminished.

White acrylic paint used over the photograph

Shutter speed at 1/4000 in order to capture the water droplets. ISO at 2000 to capture more light.

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I began my final experiment with image (e). The content of this image is extremely similar to my final image, as I was trying to capture falling water. I took the image from a different angle to my final image, as I was facing downwards looking at the pool of water created below. I think that this may have been better than the angle used for my final image. The camera angle is facing straight forward though slightly on an angle making the droplets look as if they are falling diagonally across the page, as you can see from image (f). I think that image (e) shows fear much more as it gives the audience a sense of depth, and more of a feeling of falling down with the water droplets.

Compared to my previous experiment (g), the content is far more direct in showing my theme. The theme I chose was fear, and specifically the phrase “being thrown in at the deep end”, making reference to water. Like the phrase I aimed to make references to water, which I have clearly done so in this image. With the previous experiment I only made a subtle reference to water, by using shape.

Like I did during my previous experiment, I tried out using photoshop more than with my other experiments. During my previous experiment the I decided the colours I used were too vibrant, and that in the future I would use the same colours

(e)

(f)

(g)

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though tone them down. Image (h) shows one of my images from the previous experiment. Image (i) shows how I edited iage (e) on photoshop. As you can see, like with image (h), I have turned it from a yellow-ish tone to a more blue tone. I edited the hue and saturation on photoshop like I did with (h) however I turned down the vibrance.

As with all of my images throughout the project I have painted on dots of white acrylic paint. In most of my images I have just used the dots to enhance the natural shape rather than create new shapes, such as image (g). I have done the same for this image. I have added a small

(h) (i)

(j)

amount of detail to the ripples in the water to emphasize their shape and make them stand out.

Though I think that this image should be very effective in expressing my idea, arguably more so than the final image I have chosen for this experiment, I decided not to use this one for my final image as I felt that the second image I created was far more clear and high quality than this one. Especially in image

(e), the image is very unclear, and you can hardly make out what it is of. The water doesn’t stand out like with the final image I have chosen. I think that although there are many good qualities of this image, this was the deciding factor.

(21)

(22)


This particular piece of work was quite a last minute idea. In my previous photographs I don’t think that my images showed the theme of my work as directly as they could have. The theme I chose for this project was fear, and the saying “thrown in at the deep end”.

I wanted to photograph water all the way through this project to reflect my message, which I feel that I didn’t do enough in my previous photographs. I decided that in order to get a photograph that truly reflected the message I wanted to show to my audience I would need to take more photographs that showed a direct link to water.

In order to get some inspiration for my images I looked back at my previous inspiration, Sebastiaan Bremer. I looked at (21) in my previous evaluation, and critically compared my own work to it. I decided that in order to improve my own work I needed to adopt some of his techniques. I did en experiment before where I tried to copy the way that(22) the dots Sebastiaan uses over his photographs look so faint and almost natural (22). I liked the way this experiment turned out however I had to use photoshop, and I decided originally I wanted to create multimedia photographs so I feel that using this technique may be starting too far from my original idea.

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I did find this image particularly inspiring as the content directly linked to my theme. One issue I face is that I don’t live near enough to the sea to go and take photographs, especially because this was a last minute idea. I needed to take photographs of water close to home. I took this particular photograph on my kitchen counter surface with water from the tap.

I also took some inspiration from the colours Sebastiaan used. I really like the contrast of the very light and very dark places in his image. As you can see in (23) all of the top and centre of the image it is very dark, and the bottom is very light.

Throughout the project I have used dots of white acrylic paint to create me shapes and patterns on my photographs, so for this image I knew prior to taking my photographs that that’s what I was going to do.

(23)

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(24)

(25)

(26)

Qualities: Consider the aesthetic qualities of your work. How does it look? What do you like about it? What are the strongest and weakest elements from an aesthetic point of view?

For this image I really tried to put emphasis on my main message. In my previous image (24) I tried to do this using shape, and the way that depth is shown in the image. In another periods image (25) I tried to do this through colour and how movement is shown. For my final image I wanted to show my theme through the content and movement predominantly.

In my image I have chosen to have falling water as the main feature. The falling droplets of water in my photograph could signify allowing yourself to be vulnerable, or “taking a dive” and trying to face your fears. I think that the droplets look really good, however the droplets closest to the top of the image were not as in focus as the ones at the bottom, which I think slightly diminishes the quality of the image over all.

As I had done in all of my previous experiments I painted on dots of white acrylic paint, creating shapes and patterns with them. I used them to put emphasis on particular shapes within my photograph. In this image the white dots have been used to put emphasis on the downward flow of the water. As you can see in (26) the dots form swirling patterns around each other, which was used to reflect the natural flow of water.

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One thing that I experienced with previous work such as (24) was that the colours of the photograph when (26) printed out looked different to how they were on photoshop. This happened again with my final image. I think it slightly diminishes the quality, however I didn't do anything to correct it this time as I didn't think it was too different to how I wanted it, and I think that that was about as close as I was going to get it to the desired look. As you can see (27) shows the colours of the image straight from photoshop, and (28) shows it when it has been printed and scanned. The colours of (28) look a little duller than (27). I also think that printing out the image has made it perhaps slightly grainy, where as (27) shows how smooth and even the colours looked on photoshop.

(27) (28)

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Compared to my previous photographs where the majority of the work was post production work, I spent much more time focusing on getting the camera setting perfect.

I had to take many photographs before producing this one in oder to get the shutter speed, ISO setting, white balance and angle correct. (29) and (30) and two examples of photographs I took before getting the shutter speed and ISO setting correct. As you can see the water is not as defined as my final image. As the water is pouring so fast and the shutter speed is too slow the camera doesn’t have enough time to pick up a clear image. These images were taken with the shutter speed on 1/2000 and the ISO on 1600. I decided I needed to change the shutter speed setting to 1/4000 and the ISO to 2000 in order to give me the best result. The ISO setting controls how sensitive the camera is to light. I needed to changethe ISO setting along with the shutter speed other wise the camera wouldn't have time to pick up enough light, and the image would be too dark.

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I knew initially that I wanted to use the cloudy light white balance setting. The cloudy white balance setting makes the image look much warmer. I wanted to use this setting to get that nice contrast between the darker and lighter places in the image.

For this photograph I decided to use a different type of lens to previously. Before I used a basic lens, thought this time I decided to use a lens specifically designed to take detailed close up pictures. I chose to use this lens because I wanted to capture a detailed image of the water droplets. The specific lens I used was a Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor.

After taking my photograph I needed to edit my photograph on photoshop. I didn't need to do much to the image as it was already almost how I wanted it. All I did was brighten it slightly, and change the Gamma and Offset settings to make it a little less vibrant. You can see the changes I made in (31) and (32). Image (31) shows the photograph before I edited it at all, and (32) shows the photograph after editing it.

I finally printed out my image, and painted dots white acrylic paint onto it in swirling formations. I didn't plan out where I was going to paint it as I feel that I have had enough practice on previous photographs to know what I was doing.

(31) (32)

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As my idea was quite last minute I feel perhaps I may have rushed myself in order to get the photograph completed in time for the deadline. I did take quite a few photographs before this one, however I could have spent more time taking photographs so I could have had more options. I would have taken more photographs after I found the correct settings, rather than taking them in order to find the correct setting.

A problem I faced with all of my images was printing quality. Such as with my first image (33) where the printer turned the image much more dark andgrey. This time the printer lowered the quality and vibrancy of the colours (34) (35). As you can see in these images the printer had lowered the image quality a lot. Next time I would perhaps try using a different printer. I would find a better quality one, for example at college. I could have also spent more time on postproduction work, compensating for how bad quality my printer is.

If I were to do the image again I would perhaps plan out where I would paint on the dots on acrylic paint. I painted on the dots quiterandomly this time. I knew what shapes I wanted to create but I didn’t plan where. I feel that in order to get the best shapes possible I could have planned out what I was going to do before hand.

(33)

(34) (35)

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(35.25)

(35.5)

(35.25) is a photographcreated by Corrie White.She does a lot of water Photography. Though I thinkIt is clear that we were aiming for different outcomes, looking at herwork there are a few things that could help me to improve my work.It is clear that she has used an extremely high shutter speed in order toget a really defined image of the water falling. The ripples in the waterare also really defined which I think looks really nice. In my image (35.5)the water droplets look slightly blurred, and the ripples don’t look as defined. Like Corrie, I should have used a higher shutter speed to get that definition.

Corrie wont have needed to print off her work, meaning that she hasn’t lost any of the quality from the image. Because I needed to print my work however, some of the colour quality has been lost. Though I needed to print off my work for this particular project, I will take this into consideration for future projects.

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The brief we were set asked us to create experimental photography. As I have discussed previously, experimental photography is a form of art. Art is something that serves no purpose, only to be looked at and enjoyed. Art is also something that shows meaning or a message from its creator.

I think that my work definitely fits this description. I have not created this work with any intention or purpose, only to show its audience a message, and portray the theme I chose. I wanted my audience to feel a sense of vulnerability. I wanted them to understand what I was trying to express using falling droplets of water. I definitely made improvements to the content of my work since my last piece of work (36). For this piece of work I definitely didn’t make it clear enough what my theme was. Therewere some aspects such as the shape, and how I showed depth in my photograph to I felt this wasn’t enough. So for my fourth experiment I thought hard about what I needed to change in orderto make my message clear. The content I used, and the shapes both reflect my theme very well I feel.

The work I have produced is definitely experimental as it combined different media together, which is not commonly done. Painting over the top of an image definitely adds something very different to it. With the paint over the top the image looks textured, which is often difficult to create with other kinds of photography.

(36)

experimental photography evaluations (with improvements)

Education

inspirational work

rightmy work

shapes ofthe bubbles

final image

bubbles createbright

withsebastiaan bremers

sea water

theme alot