Straight Images - Contrast Outdoor 1

Research On Eddie Adams

Eddie Adams:

The reason I choose this photographer was because he took lots of controversial images of the Vietnamese war. He has both photos of American soldiers, Vietnamese soldiers and images of Vietnamese people in his images as well which makes his photographs fairly unique.He also captures some very gruesome images of what happened to some people during this war.

Eddie Adams worked for Associated Press in the  Vietnam War when he took his best-known photograph. General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan shot a Vietcong prisoner, Nguyễn Văn Lém, on a Saigon street, on February 1, 1968. The reason I like this image is because it shows one of the things that was viewed as acceptable during this time and also shows how terrible the war actually was.

In this photo we see Eddie Adams  photos of other combat photographers preparing to go out on a mission with the platoon they were attached to.

Here we see that Eddie Adams has taken a photo of  a bound Vietnamese soldier who looks like he is about to be taken to an American outpost to be interrogated by the USA army.

This image is rather interesting because I have seen the description of this photo form both a Vietnamese perspective and a westerner perspective and they are both very different. The Vietnamese perspective is it is an image of an American death squad entering a village to kill the inhabitants. Where as the westerner perspective is it is American solders saving a village from a Vietnamese raid.

In this image we see that Eddie Adams has managed to capture an image of a drill sergeant shouting at a
soldier about something. This was done to break a soldiers civilian mind set. 

One of the brilliant things about all of Eddie Adams is they are all an excellent example of tone. All of the image where taken in black and white which means they have lost all of their colour information. Either way I think that this makes the images stand out to the audience. This is because by getting rid of the colour of the image it allows the viewer to fill in the blanks in their mind which makes the image rather interesting because it becomes a sort of game. Filling in the image is rather easy because Eddie is very good at capturing emotion which means it makes it rather easy for people to find out what would have been happening when the photo was taken. 

This photographer has influenced me to try and get photos in black and white, this is because in Eddie Adams work he uses the absents of colour to show the emotion of the people within the images. The reason this is a good technique is because without the distraction of colour people can focus more on the facial expressions of the people involved in the photo and can see more easily how they react to their surrounds. It also makes it easier to take a photo because light is less of a need for this type of photography because it is black and white and sort of auto does it which means if you see a good emotional image you can quickly take it.

In summary this photographer is very good at capturing peoples emotion and what peoples after emotion would be. This is known because the emotion captured is so strong you can tell what their emotion dirrecly after it would be. This is a rather impressive technique that he does very well with all his work and would be a hard thing to try and repeat.

Image Bank - Back Of Head Portraiture

Here are some photos of the back of peoples heads. Back of head photos are when you take a photo of the back of someones head. The reason that people do this is because it takes focus away from the face and focus of actually taken a photo of the shape of the head. This makes taking a photo of the front of someone easier because you can get the correct position for their head and then you can focus on the face.

Here we see the photographer has taken a photo of the back of a person on a white background and has decided to take a section of the hair and have that on the left side, keep a bit of shoulder and have a blurred background as to add to the interest of the hair style.

Here wee see the photographer has taken an image of more of the back of a person and has included a green tint. We also see that they have starched their arms up and that we can see quite a bit of their back.

In this image we see that the photographer has taken some photos of the back of someones head at the sea-side and has made the background look grainy.

In this image we see that a person has shaved their hair and then decided to get a tattoo of a barcode on the back of his head. This gives the view a point of interest on which they can focus on.

Here we see the photographer has taken a photo of a woman with curly blonde hair and what looks like at the bottom a wedding dress.

This photographer has taken an image of a girl in a forest and decided to change the tone of the image to black and white to match the background.

Work Dairy - Portraiture Back Of Head

Evaluation:
In this section I liked trying to get a blurred background. It was hard to achieve this without my normal camera because the college cameras do not have the same setting as my camera. When I was editing the photos it was strange to do because it was the back of someones head which is an odd photo to take but I think I managed to edit some of the photos correctly.

In this image I like how the back of a persons head is in focus but the background is out of focus  

In this image I like that the background is still blurred but you can easily identify what is there and you can still see the individual objects and they haven't all blurred into one cloud like the one above.

Progression:
If I were to continue to do this then I would like to take photos of people who have interesting heads and different hair or no hair.

What makes this image of a bald man so strong is the use of light to exaggerate the shape of his head.
I think this was lit from behind and low down to do this. 

Sometimes you can't tell who people are from behind especially if its just a head shot.
But some people are so famous its obvious. I also like the side lighting on this.

Work Dairy - Studio Portraiture Back Of Head

Evaluation:
The thing I liked about this section of my photography A level was taking photos of people from the back.  Just using different backgrounds can give a totally different feeling and mood to each shot regardless of the person chosen.

In this shot I choose a reddish pick backdrop. The colour complimented the models hair and gave a warmth to the image that I would not be ale to achieve otherwise. I achieved this by using a reflector and lighting from one side so some light would bounce back into the hair. I also lightened the shot in photoshop.

In this image I did the reverse of the first shot in that I chose a black background and had my model wear black clothes.
I only lit her hair and then in photoshop turned up the shadows to leave just the back of the head lit. This draws the viewer to the head only which I like.

Progression:
If I were to continue to do this in a studio I think I could have more fun with it like in the example below. You could make this into a series and by using people like punks, skinheads, goths and other people to make an interesting  series of images without ever seeing a face.

Here is a very interesting image where the photographer has put on the models clothes back to front. I think thjis image is hard to look at as it messes with the natural order of things.  This could be turned into a series.

By using people from different ethnic backgrounds we would get a great variety of hairstyles. This photographer has shot this man on a white background to emphasise his dark hair with tights curls. By showing a little of his skin we can see that the man is black. It is a bit of a boring shot from a photolibrary. But does get over that this  black man is a white collar worker so is making a point.

Straight Images - Portraiture Back Of Head

Straight Images - Studio Portraiture Back Of Head

Definition - Portraiture

Definition:

Web Definition:
Portraiture is making a vivid or detailed description.

My Definition:
Portraiture is the act of taking a photo of a subject with lots of description.


Picture,
Image,
Portrayal,
Outline,
Sketch,
Likeness,
Illustration,
Presentment,
Representation.

Here we see the photographer has taken a very rugged photo of Daniel Craig so that the viewer can look at the picture in lots of detail and can analyse the colour scheme used in the photo.

Here we see the photographer has removed most of the colour except for the eyes. This gives the viewer a point on the photo where they can focus on and look at the detail in the photo using the eyes as a reference point. 

Here we see a photographer has taken a photo of two well known actor, Danielle Radcliffe and Emma Watson and has combined the two faces together to create a new portraiture image of  the two actors.

Here we see another famous actor who has had their photo taken in black and white which takes the viewers attention away from everything else so they can see more of the photo without the distraction of colour.

Work Diary - Shape

Evaluation:

There are many "Formal Elements" in photography and in this section I looked at Shape. I enjoyed going out and finding strange and unusual shapes to photograph and then coming back to do some creative editing with the strange photo I had taken. I also enjoyed finding out new features on my camera which I had been previously unknown to me.

In this image I liked the single round object an a wall of square bricks. The slight sooty discolouration round this vent makes the disk almost like its floating by the wall. I emphasised this by adding more contrast to the image.

In this photo I like that I can see two circles one made made and
the other created by the condensation of the water under the glass
plate. Back in the studio I isolated this and made the montage you see below.

By using a vignette and cutting out with a large feather I made this montage. I like the colour and overlapping metal whic make the image almost look painted.

Progression:
If I were to continue with this subject I would like to take photos of unusual shapes both man made and natural.  I think the contrast between each would make a good project. In the example below I like the softness of the organic shapes and the natural intense colour of the plant.

I really like the way the water droplet clings into the petal and reflects the word around. I think this was probably set up and that the photographer used a tripod to get the shot.

Being at the right place at the right time and with a camera is often luck. The shape of this cloud looks like it should be man made so, for me blurs the difference between man made and natural objects.

Image Bank - Portraiture

Here we see some Portraiture of some fomous people taken from the internet. We can also see that most of them are in black and white because it eliminates the possibility of the viewer not identifying the main point of the photo.

Here we see an image of Harrison Ford. We can see that this image has been made to look old by using black and white and an orange tint.

Here we see an image of Johnny Depp as Edward Scssor hands, because this photographer has taken it in black and white we can  identify more of the persons facial features and the had more because the colour doesn't take away from the features.

In this image we see a photo of a side on Emma Watson. This shows us that because she is doing a side on photo it shows that she is hiding something.

This photgrapher has taken a photo of Anna Torv as she smiles at someone in the distance.

Here we see a photographer has taken a normal portrait photo of a person in colour and have edited it heavily.

In this image we see a front of photo of Chridtopher Walken in black and white, because it is black and white we can identify all of his facial features.

My Top 20 Photos

My Top 20 Photos from Kirito1337

Straight Images - Shape