Shoot 8

Shoot 8

Plans for my shoot

Artist Influence - Ed Ruscha & Andre Kertesz

Andre Kertesz

I have been influenced by Andre Kertesz's work during this shoot but specifically the image above. I like this photo because it incorporates elements of a train station but does it in a very subtle way whilst also focusing on the people that are surrounding the train station. This is something that I would like to do within my shoot and take photos that create a sense of mystery and raise questions as to where the photos have been taken. In order to do this I would like to take photos in a busy station but not capture any photos of the platforms or trains and then use different signs from the station to overlay on top of the image to suggest that I am photographing a train station. I would also like to use the idea of a fairly harsh contrast within my photos. I like the way Andre Kertesz has incorporated a slightly harsher contrast and has made certain elements of the photo very dark. I think that this has been done to draw your eyes to specific parts of the photo like the man in the foreground and the train in the background.

Ed Ruscha

The main inspiration that I will be taking from Ed Ruscha is the composition of his images. Ruscha takes all of his photos directly facing whatever he is photographing. I also like the fact that he uses a wide depth of field and takes his photos quite far away from the petrol station that he wants to capture. This allows you to see the surrounding area and gives you more of an insight as to where the photo has been taken. I would like to incorporate this within my work and ensure that I am taking my photos of a wide area in the train station rather than zooming in or focusing on a specific area.

Contact Sheet

The aim of this shoot was to travel to another station in London that is typically big and has a lot of people. I wanted to capture photos showing the business of the station without necessarily capturing the movement of people. I wanted to mainly freeze action rather than capture movement. I think that this part of the shoot was successful. I then wanted to capture different elements of the train station like signs. This was because I wanted to expand upon the idea of layering closer images with photos that are taken with a wide depth of field. This element of the shoot was not as successful as I hoped because I struggled to take photos of signs with the angles that I desired.

My Best Images

1/15    F/3.5    ISO 100

I have chosen the image above as one of my best images because I feel as though it clearly shows the business of train stations in London. I like the incorporation of movement within the image as I feel it suggests people are in a rush and are moving quickly.  

1/13    F/3.5    ISO 100

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the symmetry of the image. I also like the fact that there are leading lines within the image that are leading up to the platform. I feel as though this draws peoples eyes into the photo. I feel as though this image could have been framed slightly better however this was due to me not using a tripod. If I were to retake this photo I would use a tripod.

1/15     F/3.5     ISO 100

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the way the man has been framed within the photo. I feel as though this makes a change from some of the other photos that I have taken because I froze motion rather than capturing movement. I also like the way I captured the person whilst they are walking because movement is still evident within the image.

1/30    F/3.5    ISO 100

I have chosen this as one of my best images due to the composition of the image. I like the way there are two leading lines within the image leading to the station below. I would like the centre of the image to be slightly lighter however this is something that I can edit in photo shop. An element of the photo that I do like is the light at the top of the photo. I feel this gives the photo a slightly happier atmosphere.

1/10    F/3.5     ISO 100

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the use of movement within the image. I feel as though the image is framed very well with the woman walking in the centre of the image. I like the way the woman is moving however there are people sitting down in the image. I feel as though this creates a good contrast within the photo.

Images that require improvement

1/10    F/4    ISO 100

The image above requires improvement because I was not using a tripod when taking this image therefore it is not composed the way I would have liked. The camera was slightly tilted to the side when I was capturing this image. If I were to have re taken this image I would have used a tripod and composed the image correctly.

1/10    F/4    ISO 100

The image above requires improvement because of the composition of the image. I wanted to take a photo from a different perspective but due to the camera being on auto focus the camera focused on the rail in the foreground rather than the person walking up the stairs which is what I wanted. If I were to retake this image I would have used manual focus on the camera so that I could determine what was in focus.

Camera Settings and Equipment

To complete this shoot I used a canon eos 400d. I used a tripod to capture photos with a wide depth of field however when taking photos that are closer up I decided not to use a tripod. This was because I needed to take photos from a range of angles and a tripod would not have been practical. Throughout the shoot I used a shutter speed of 1/10 to 1/30. I used a shutter speed of 1/10 when I wanted to capture a slight amount of movement. This shoot was not purely focused on movement however I did like the idea of incorporating it in some of the images. Using this shutter speed allowed me to capture slight movement in people walking by. When using this shutter speed I used a tripod to ensure that the rest of the photo did not turn out blurry. I used the shutter speed of 1/30 for photos that I did not want to capture any movement in. This allowed me to freeze motion within the photo. I also hand held the camera when taking some photos using this shutter speed. The aperture of this shoot ranged from f/3.5 to f/4. I used quite a low aperture because the environment that I was photographing was not very bright. This allowed me to let more light into the camera and result in an even exposure. I used an ISO of 100 when capturing these images. This is because there was natural light at the station I was photographing in and I did not need the camera to be anymore sensitive the lighting.

A03

During this shoot I was inspired by the work of Ed Ruscha and Andre Kertesz. Although I have previously looked at these photographers within my project, I wanted to expand upon my work and focus on some more specific parts of their work rather than just looking at it as a whole. With regards to Andre Kertesz the main thing that I feel I focused on with this shoot was the use of black and white within his work. When editing my photos I aimed to create a slightly harsher contrast in certain areas by using the control panel and increasing the black and white within certain colours that are in the photo. When focusing on Ed Ruscha's work I aimed to use the compositional features of his work and incorporate them into my own. I did this by using a tripod and ensuring that I had the photo framed correctly. When completing the edits for this shoot I was very inspired by the idea of displacement and making something that you see frequently, a train platform, become something that raises questions and makes you focus on the image a lot closer.

Edits

First Experimental Edit

1. The first step that I took in order to create this edit was to open the images that I wanted to use.

2. I then copied and pasted the photo of the closer image onto the other photo I was using. Then I altered the image to black and white. 

3. Next I used the ruler to create a guide with even distances between each of the lines.

4. Once I did this I used the marquee tool to select every other rectangle that I had created using the guide lines. Whilst selecting each of these I ensured that the selection was allowing me to add more.

5. I then pressed the backspace key on the keyboard which removed the overlayed image from the selected sections.

Second Experimental Edit

1. Firstly I uploaded the images that I wanted to use to create this edit.

2. I then copied and pasted one image over the top of the other and made each of the images black and white.

3. I then enlarged the canvas size of the photo. This meant that there was a white space around the edge of the image. This was done so that I could displace parts of the photo.

4. I used the ruler to mark out 1cm sections within the image. I then used the marquee tool to select every other section. After each selection I used the move tool to slightly displace that part of the image. I ensured that this part was deselected (cmd+D) before moving onto the next section.

5. Once each of the sections were altered I then created a new layer and placed it underneath the background layer. I then filled this in white. I did this because when I moved the photos there was nothing beneath it therefore it looked unnatural.

My Final Images

Progression

In order to progress onto the next shoot I would like to re visit the idea of movement within train stations as I feel the images that I produced were strong. I would like to continue to use black and white photos however I would like to use the grain effect when editing photos for my next shoot. I did not use this when editing the photos in this shoot.