Black & White retro shoot!

I recently visited Teignmouth (In Devon) & did a shoot. I loved the architecture & buildings. Above are a few of the photos I took in the town. I wanted to create retro looking images, so I adjusted the image to make it pale greyscale and nostalgic. 

Using the infinity table!

I thought it would be a good idea to experiment with a new piece of studio equipment at college! Overall I enjoyed using this piece and definitely want to experiment and explore more into it! I had to adjust the shutter speed and aperture quite a lot and also fiddle around with the soft boxes but it helped me become more familiar with the usual studio equipment! I am happy with the final results for a first attempt. I think I definitely need more practice though! Here's a couple of my final images from the shoot!

My favourite image. Pleased with the tone of the background and the reflections of the items.

Tried creating a completely white background. I found this hard because I wanted the objects in the image to be neutral not really bright. So I had to adjust the shutter speed, aperture and lighting a bit!

Rachell Smith - Influence

Rachell Smith is one of my favourite Portraiture Photographers. She produces very good images and I have been inspired by her work. I do prefer her black & white pieces but that's probably because I prefer photographing in Black & White. She works for magazines & makes editorials. Her work has also appeared on the front of magazines.

This photo looks great in black & white. It makes the image look dramatic and the model looks "fierce". The shadow in the background looks like a vignette bringing the eye to the model's face & facial expression. 

I like how the colours make the image sucessful. If this photo was shot in black & white I don't think the image would be that interesting.

My favourite colour photograph by Rachell Smith. I'm hoping to do a shoot inspired by this photo before I finish this photography course 

My favourite black  & white photograph by Rachell Smith. 

This photo is very simple, but I love the tone of the background Rachell Smith has chosen to photograph the model with. The tone makes the model stand out, but I think it does make her look quite pale. 

Changing the photo in black & white has brought out the texture of the hair and shadows on her face making the photo look more 3 dimensional. 

Portfolio Prep

First piece This was one of my final pieces for Graphics in my first year. I chose to design a Magazine Editorial. I used Company Magazine and designed it in the style of the magazine. I didn't add too much text because it looked too crowded. I decided to keep the text simple but effective. I'm happy with the photos I chose for the editorial. I consider this to be one of my strongest pieces because I love the lighting and how the colours go really well together. I also love the typography, it merges really well with the piece.  My favourite part of this editorial would be the right page, I like how it's only one photo with bold text and how the simplicity makes it effective.  To improve this piece I would focus more on editing the photos to make them look more professional and sufficient.  Overall I am pleased with this final piece.

Second Piece Another final piece from Graphics. It was to design a poster for a Music and Dance festival. My favourite part of this piece would have to be the typography with the 'bubble' around them. If I were to redesign it now though, I would probably change the colours of the text to make it look more professional. All of the photos in this poster have been taken by me at various concerts and festivals. I do think the photos go well with the typography! I am pleased with this final piece but I think I could improve it a little more to make it look more professional. 

Third Piece (1st Part) Here are my final pieces for one of the Photography Projects from last year. I decided to choose the genre of Panoramics and Panoramic Planets. Above is my first piece, it is of 3 panoramas which I took in various places. The top panoramic is of the beach during the late spring, it's in St Ives, Cornwall. The middle panoramic is of a place which was personal to me, I used to visit this place a lot when I was little. The bottom panoramic is of the same beach as the top image but this time of the sunset. My favourite piece would be the middle. I like this piece the most because of the reflections of the sky and clouds in the river water.

Third Piece (2nd Part) This is my second part of the final piece. For this piece I designed 4 different panoramic planets and made each one unique. The first piece is of a harbor in Cornwall, i like this because it looks like a mini world, it looks like a little fishing village. The second piece is in Rougement Gardens, I think this piece does look effective although I'm not too fond of it, it looks a bit simple. The 3rd planet is at the Quay. And the final planet is of a beach looking onto the Tate and other buildings, this would be my favourite because I guess it has a nice feel to it, I don't think it looks that balanced though, but I'm very happy with it. All of these places are significant to my life and they're places where I have developed the most memories and grown up in.

Photoshop Techniques 2

Curves.

Filter - Black & White Gradient Map (plus adjusted brightness).

Hue & Saturation.

Inverted.

Review: I think all of these added effects on photoshop has made the photo look even more interesting. First of all I added 'Curves', this made the colours in the photo look deeper and more vibrant. The second effect was 'adding a filter', for this I used the black & white gradient map and adjusted the brightness a little to make the foreground look more 'eye popping'. The 3rd effect I tried out was 'Hue & Saturation', the pinky purple effect did make it look contemporary, however I thought it was a bit too vivid. The final effect I tried was 'inverting the image', the photo looks quite ghostly. I'm not too keen on the Invert effect.

Photoshop Techniques

Curves

Filter

Hue & Saturation

Inverted

Review: First I tried out Curves, this made the photo look more dramatic and it brought out more colour to the image. I secondly tried out adding a filter, this is my favourite edit. I love the 'lomo' effect added to it. It's made the photo look more vibrant! I really like how this edit has turned out. The third effect experimented with was Hue & Saturation, I think the colours go well together and it makes the photo look surreal. The final effect I tried was inverting the image, I'm not really that interested in this, it makes the photo a bit dreary and boring. I do like the deep blue of the sky just above the land however. I am happy with how these images have turned out. My overall favourite has to be the 2nd one though! I'm glad this effect has worked out well.

Myan Soffia

Myan Soffia is a photographer & artist originally from the East Coast of America and now lives in Los Angeles. She's a self taught photographer. She loves producing photos full of light, colour and imagination. Her work has been shown on Urban Outfitters, ELLE, book covers, calanders and magazines! 

Hollywood

County Line

San Francisco 

Venice Beach

Ketchup

Photography Task.

Our task was to find any 5 words on a page from a book and use them as influences for 5 photos that you had to take.  Here are a few of mine. I kept the part "very old memos" as a theme because I thought the 'vintage' look added meaning behind each photo. :)

"Tea".

"Very old memos".

"Cover Up".

New Media

Fine Art: David Hockney uses iPads and his iPhone to create paintings on the App 'Brushes'. David has created over 100 paintings using the new media. He started using the App in 2008 and released his work in 2010. More about Hockney's Work!

Textiles: Alexander Mcqueen's live streamed Fashion Show. Power of new media and Social Networking like Twitter.

Graphics: Contemporary Street Art in NYC. Pixel Pour 2.0
New York is one of the best cities in the world to view artistic Street Art and unique things! Pixel Pour 2.0 is a pixelated stream of water. "This three-dimensional installation appears to be either the work of artist Kelly Goeller of //kneeon, who produced a very similar installation called ‘Pixel Pour‘ back in 2008, or someone inspired by that work."

Photography: Rankin
Rankin's photography is very unique compared to other photographers. I like his contemporary look to it. 

Interactive Art