Hannah Cannell AS Photography Exam: Sky: Work Record 2

Plans for shoot:

In this shoot i will be looking into taking pictures of just clouds, hopefully creating a moving effect. This will help me focus on Edward Steichen and Ansel Adams when editing.

Research Influence:

Ansel Adams:

Ansel Adams was an american landscape photographer, best known for his black and white images of the American West.

Ansel Adams, along with Fred Archer, made the technique called the Zone System. It is an approach to a standardised way of working that guarantees a correct exposure in every situation, even in the trickiest lighting conditions such as back lighting, extreme difference between light and shadow areas of a scene.

This technique helped me know how I was going to later edit my photos as I hoped to use the Zone system throughout my work.

Edward Steichen:

Edward Steichen was a key figure of twentieth-century photography.
In his youth he was perhaps the most talented and inventive photographer among those working to win public acceptance of photography as a fine art. He went on to gain fame as a commercial photographer in the 1920s and ’30s, when he created stylish and convincing portraits of artists and celebrities.
One thing i liked about Edward's photographs is how they focus on clouds alone and create a more unrealistic view. For example, his photo of above clouds in the sky. One image that inspired me is the one below, where the photo looks like the clouds are moving away from the audience.

Contact Sheet:

Best Images:

Images That Need Improving:

A01: Demonstrate how your work is influenced by an artist you have researched.

My work has been influenced by both of the photographers researched. Ansel Adams has influenced me as I tried two capture as many tones from the Zone system as I could. Below is a screenshot of how I burned and dodged a picture and then the analysis of it to the zone system. Edward Steichen has influenced me as my final edits look like they are old photos taken on film. I like this effect as it makes the sky look more dramatic and mysterious.

A02:Demonstrate your ability to experiment and Review and refine your work as it develops.

Below are my settings for my best images, I think my choice in settings worked well. However, if I was to redo this shoot I would like to try to expand more on the depth of field, using higher f stops like 22.

Setting of best images:

One:

Shutter speed= 1/400
Aperture=f/10

Zoom=38mm

Two:

Shutter speed= 1/320
Aperture=f/9

Zoom=70mm

Three:

Shutter speed= 1/400
Aperture=f/10

Zoom=70mm

Four:

Shutter speed= 1/640
Aperture=f/13

Zoom=112mm

Editing:

Just like my last shoot, to edit my photos I have first turned all of them into black and white. After this I selected the curve tool and look at how I could make the photos darker. In most cases, I then had to invert the curves to start burning and Dodging, due the curves making some parts of the image too dark or making them silhouette. After this I changed more things like the levels, contrasts and added a brighter curve to bring back some of the white patches. This can be seen in the last screenshot below, where there is an original black and white version of the image and the difference after burning and dodging.

This screenshot shows the original image in black and white, whilst the next image is a screenshot of after i added the curves. The significance in the difference is massive. I wanted to add these in to show how the small steps in editing can effect a photo. The first image is a boring pale sky, whereas the second image has power, is mysterious and dark.

Looking into editing photos from my Preparatory shoots:

After editing my images, I found that I didn't get the moving clouds effect I wanted to find after looking into Edward Steichens work. I had previously done this in a preparatory shoot, Shoot 5, when looking at a sunset. So I decided to edit some of these pictures into black and white and see if they create the idea I wanted. I found that editing these pictures did give the effect i wanted, however I feel that i lost the old film photo effect i like.

Original:

Edits:

A03: Reflect critically on your work and progress.

I think my second shoot went well and captured my idea of a dark atmosphere with a powerful sky. I think i have made a great progress from my preparatory shoots and have created photos to my best ability. Over the time of this shoot and the editing process, you can see how my photos have improved and look a lot better. This shoot has linked to the exam paper as they can be connotated to show a 'drifting atmosphere sky' like Brain Eno

About my best images:

I believe my best images have produced the best connotations of a dark sky with power. This is because they present dark clouds. I have enhanced this through my editing by burning and dodging some parts of the clouds to look darker than others, making them fuller and more overpowering.