Shoot 1

Shoot 1

Plans for Shoot

Artist Influence - Andre Kertesz & Alexander Rodchenko

Andre Kertesz

My shoot has been influenced by Andre Kertesz's photography. Kertesz takes photos of train stations in many different locations like  New York and Paris. He incorporates the use of leading lines and perspectives to capture train stations in ways that represent what people see almost everyday when travelling. He makes the photos look as though they are from the perspective of someone making their way to work. He also incorporates people within some of his images and uses this as a way of framing the photo. In the image directly above he has used the people that are at the train station in order to create a pattern within the photo. In the first image that I have looked at I specifically like the way that Kertesz has not just taken a photo of the train station directly but has taken a photo of a nearby street with a train in the background. I feel as though this is something that I would like to explore within my project because rather than just photographing train platforms it could be interesting to include stops and stations into my work in different ways.

Alexander Rodchenko

I have also been influenced by Alexander Rodchenko during this shoot. Rodchenko takes photos from different perspectives and incorporates angles within his work that raise questions as to what it is that he is photographing. I would like to use the idea of capturing photos from many different perspectives and use this within my own work. I think the image above is particularly interesting because it is looking at the sculpture from a birdseye view. I feel as though this reveals parts of the object he is photographing that you would not be able to see if he has of taken it from his regular view. This is very effective in making his photos unique therefore I would like to use the idea of capturing something from a different perspective within my work.

Contact Sheet

My first shoot has had successful and unsuccessful elements to it. I feel as though I successfully captured different perspectives within my images. I aimed to take a wide range of photos from many different angles in order to resemble Andre Kertesz's images. I feel as though some of the image were slightly unsuccessful due to the camera settings. When completing this shoot I had to alter the camera settings frequently because I was moving into different lighting environments. This meant that sometimes my choice of camera settings were slightly inaccurate. I also feel like some of my framing could have been improved. This is because I did not use a tripod during this shoot. I feel as though in order to improve upon these images I would like to use a tripod to capture some of the shots in order to get the framing of the photo perfect.  

My Best Images

   F/8    1/200    ISO 400

I have chosen the image above as my best image because I like the composition of this image. I feel as though this photo uses the rule of thirds composition. I also like the way there is use of symmetry within the image because I think that this draws you into the photo. I also like the way hat train doors opening is something that people see everyday however capturing this as an image freezes his part of a persons day and makes it seem unique and special.

F/13    1/500    ISO 400

I have chosen the image above as one of my best images because of the framing of the image. I like the way in which the part of the bridge frames the photo. Also the incorporation of a person within the image is very effective because it draws you into the centre of the photo. I think that the sky within this image is slightly over exposed however I would like to use photoshop to deepen the contrast of the image and bring out some of the detail within the sky.

F/10    1/400   ISO 400

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the angle that the photo has been taken from. I like the way that the photo has been taken from the viewpoint of someone looking over the edge of the bridge. When taking this photo I did not realise that my feet were visible in the photo therefore I will have to use photo shop to slightly crop this image to fix this.

F/10    1/200   ISO 400

I like the way the image above incorporates movement whilst the rest of the background is completely still. I liked the way you can still see the station itself with the incorporation of the train because I feel as though people see trains so often but freezing the train in action could represent capturing peoples busy lives.

F/10     1/200    ISO 400

I have chose this as one of my best images because I like the contrast of the saturated colours yellow and red with the black and white on the stairs. I also like the composition of this image as there is a map in the corner of the frame. I feel as though this shows how many people are able to use trains and the amount of places you can get to on the train. I do feel as though if I were to take this photo again I would step back slightly and include the bottom of the stairs and slightly more of the ground.

F/16    1/200   ISO 400

I have chosen this image as one of my best images because I like the framing and composition of the photo. I think that it is very effective because the model in the photo is in the centre of the frame. I also like the curves of the bridge and the way this curve contrasts the straight lines of the panels on the bridge. The use of line in this photo is very interesting.  

F/10    1/200    ISO 400

I have chosen the image above as one of my best images because I like the way the image has a leading line within the frame of the photo. This is something that inspired me when looking at Andre Kertesz and is something that I wanted to incorporate within my shoot. The image above uses leading lines in an effective way because it draws your eyes into the image.

F/10    1/200   ISO 400

I have chosen the photo above because I like the use of symmetry within the photo. I also like the arrows that are on the sign because it adds different shapes to the photo and I believe it gives the photo context because the viewer is able to look as the image and see where the model in the photo is deciding to go.

Images that require improvement

F/14    1/500    ISO 400

This photo requires improvement due to the camera setting that were used. The image is very under exposed in certain areas.

F/9    1/200    ISO 400

The image above requires improvement because of the camera exposure. I believe that I should have used a higher aperture when taking this photo because there was a lot of light in the image. Using an aperture of f/9 meant that the lens was openly relatively wide. This resulted in the areas of the photo with bright light being over exposed.

F/20    1/500    ISO 400

The photo above requires improvement because it is very underexposed in the foreground of the photo. The sky in the photo has an even exposure however I used an aperture of f/20 which was very high. This did not allow enough light into the camera lens which resulted in the darker areas of the photo being under exposed.

Re-shooting a photo that required improvement

When completing this shoot I took the photo that is located below. I liked the composition of this image however when bringing it into photo shop and seeing the photo on a larger scale I was slightly unhappy with the composition of the image. I felt as though I should have included the edge of the stairs in the photo and stood back slightly. Due to this I decided to revisit a station with the same setup. I wasn't able to revisit the exact same station however I did go somewhere with stairs that were located in the same area of the station.

Below is the contact sheet of the photos that I took:

I managed to capture the photo above which I feel is using the same composition as the original photo but uses a slightly wider angle which I feel is a lot better because you are able to see where the stairs end.

I also captured this photo which still incorporates the stairs however I like the way there is a person framed within the photo as well as a train. Although this photo is slightly dark in areas I feel as though once I have altered this in photo shop this photo may be very successful.

Camera Setting and Equipment

During this shoot I used a canon eos 400d. I decided not to use a tripod for this shoot because I wanted to explore different angles and perspectives during this shoot. I would then like to progress by using a tripod to focus on certain angles that I particularly want to pursue. Throughout the shoot I used an ISO of 400 during the entire shoot. This is because the weather was slightly cloudy and in some situations there was not a lot of natural lighting therefore I needed the camera to be slightly more sensitive to the light. My aperture and shutter speed varied a lot throughout the shoot because I was shooting outside with natural sunlight but I was also shooting inside the trains which altered the lighting conditions. The aperture ranged from f/8 to f/20 however when using f/20 the image was very under exposed. This was towards the start of the shoot and I was altering my camera settings as I continued to take photos. My most successful photos used an aperture range of f/8 to f/10. If I were to have used a lower aperture the images would have been over exposed due to too much light being let into the camera lens. I used shutter speeds ranging from 1/200 to 1/500. I used this specific range of shutter speeds depending on the aperture that I used in order to get an even exposure. I also did not want to use long shutter speeds because this would have captured motion. In some of my photos I wanted to capture the trains movement within the image but I wanted to freeze the motion of the train. This was because I still wanted the train platform to be in the frame of the image.

A03

The main inspiration for my shoot was from Andre Kertesz's photos that he took during the 1900's of train platforms. The main part of his work that inspired me was his use of leading lines and people within his photos. I think that he is very good at taking photos from different perspectives, for example looking directly onto the train tracks and looking down from a bridge. I think that this is something I did very well within my shoot because I believe I tried to shoot photos using different angles like shooting through the different parts of a bridge. I have also been inspired by images that I have used within my image bank. When looking for different images for inspiration a lot of photos of train stations were very cliché however I found an image of a train station is Japan. This is located below. This photo inspired me because although this is a train station it is not completely obvious what this is. I liked the idea of people having to look deeper into an image and having to interpret its meaning for themselves. This is why I did not want to just photograph trains, I also wanted to incorporate other elements like bridges and stairs within my shoot.

Edits

I have attempted to edit my photos in the style of Andre Kertesz. I decided to explore the use of black and white and experiment with the different ways in which black and white can be manipulated within photography.

First Experimental Edit

Firstly I used the black and white filter within photo shop. I altered the different properties and enhanced certain colours within the photo to make that area of the photo darker or lighter. I analysed the photo beforehand in order to see which colours were predominant in the photo. This allowed me to focus on specific colours within the image and edit accordingly.

Secondly I used the curves tool to enhance the contrast of the image. I did this because Andre Kertesz uses a harsh contrast in some of his photos therefore I wanted to replicate this in my work.

I then used the gradient tool. This made the image go from a lighter to dark gradient from the centre outwards. This made the focus on the image on the centre of the photo and draws you into the image.

This was the final edit and I feel this resembles Andre Kertesz's images very closely due to the heavier contrast in certain areas of the image.  

Second Experimental Edit

For my second part of experimentation, I decided to slightly alter the opacity of the black and white filter. This gave the photo a black and white tint to it however the colours within the image are still standing out. Although this does not as closely resemble Andre Kertesz's images as my first edit I like the way you can still see the different colours within the image. I also feel as though this makes the photo look slightly more modern which I believe contrasts Kertesz's images which were taken in the 1900's.

Third Experimental Edit

As a third experimental edit I decided to use the colour filter option. I put the filter over a black and white image because I did not want any other colours to be present in the photo. This was to make the photo look slightly more dated. I chose to use a warm yellow as a filter because the original image has a lot of yellow within it. I feel as though by using a warming filter over the image makes the photo look slightly dated which I like because it gives the opposite effect to my second experimental edit. Andre Kertesz images are slightly dated therefore I feel as though this reflects his photos very well.

My Final Images

Progression

To progress onto my next shoot I would like to take photos of train stations in London. I would like to focus on the work of Ed Ruscha. Although he focuses on gas stations in America, I would like to take the compositional elements to his photos and use this to photograph train stations. Ed Ruscha photographs entire gas stations with a lot of empty space around the subject of the photo. I would like to focus on his use of a wide depth of field within my next shoot.