Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Couch Potatoe

Thoughts

Four different people were handed sticky notes and some markers with which they had to write down a thought. They were informed that I would be photographing the notes and would prefer them to use seperate pieces for different words. Furthermore they were not allowed to see what eachother had written until after the exercise.

Canon 5D
Lighting Kit, opaque umbrella











These are four very simple images using an opaque umbrella straight infront of it for smooth and even lighting across. I feel these images may be more interesting as a short series rather then individuals, moreover as they are represented here. In addition to the images what is also meant to be interesting here are the thoughts that were put down.However I do strongly believe that there is something missing in these photographs. They are deliberatly a bit dark, maybe that is it? I'm not entirely sure.


 
Above: increase in brightness and contrast, producing a clearer and better image.



Above: The same image in Black and white, which appears extremely boring. 

Shoe

Cannon 5D and lighting Kit used.

I was looking around the house in search of a subject to photograph. I wanted something simple that I could potentially make look interesting. Finally I decided to use this black shoe.


I imagine a shoe has been photographed about a million times, so i didnt want to just take a simple shot of a shoe. My intention here is to show that its a high heeled shoe without actually showing the heel however instead photographing it's shadow. I placed the shoe on a purple scratched surface, for one because I liked the colour and also becayse I liked the scratches. Furthermore the scratches look as though they could have been made from the heel we can't actually see.


I find the second image to be the stronger one because the composition is stronger and the shadow is clearer which better represents what I intended to capture.



Above: Increase in brightness and colour saturation for better results. It brighter the colour pink shows through more, which makes it a slightly more exciting image.


Here (above) I've added some noise, through filters on photoshop to gie it a grainy tv look which I like.



Creepy?


This is actually my favourite image of Douglas on the couch with his tattoo on show. His face in context with his pose is a mix between creepy and funny.


Above I slightly increased brightness and colour saturation of image.
My brother Doug is what you would call football obsessed and has had a tattoo in honour of his team since he was 18, the legal age in Malta to get tattoed. I was adament to get a picture of Douglas bearing his red and green tattoo on the red couch.


Douglas in response to Liverpool's performance this season.



Douglas with bags under his eyes.



Douglas with bags under his eyes 2.


These images were taken using Canon 5D and Bowl light. Simple portraits to practise with lighting and portrait taking. 

Student Life




Couch

The two couches in my brothers house are quite big and an interesting blood red. I noticed discolouring on the bottom of the couch and pointed it out. Trish grumbled telling me it was mould and that the landlord should soon be receiving a phone call off Trish demanding a new couch. I admired her feistiness and replied by telling her I'd be a sap and just leave it, cause I'm pretty shit at dealing with these kind of things.

Anyways, I had the lighting kit handy so decided to record the mouldy couch before Trish gets it removed.





What I find adds to the grimness of these images is the pretty awful colouring of their carpet - it goes well. I used a bowl light for this and a Canon 5D. I wanted to take it at an interesting angle because the subject is something so simple and I felt I was left to make it interesting and those are the pictures I like taking most. If I had to choose one of the two I'd say the first even though anyone whose seen the images seems to prefer the second. I prefer the first one basically because I prefer the composition and lighting.

Brother Doug

I don't particularly like the following image and have nothing to say about it really except that Chris (Earnden) liked it so I decided to take into account another aspiring photographer's opinion and put it up.





I do kind of like the image above however. I like the composition and the background however theres something lacking in this image and I think it may be perfect focus!

A Couple's Morning

My brother lives with his girlfriend Trish and although they share a bed together they still rent out a spare room which means I have a place to crash when I don't feel like walking home in the bitter cold England graces us with. The other night I did just that except unlike other nights, this time I had a Canon 5D with me, Yay!

Pretty much like any other afternoon I woke up before my brother and because Trish's morning was free, Trish too. As a result of them not having a tv I got bored of twiddling my thumbs while sat on the couch pretty soon, which evidently lead to me walking into their room and waking them up with my camera in hand. 



I decided to drain the colour from these images just because it felt fitting, the same way you feel drained when you first wake up.



My brother's face is out of focus in this image but I don't mind because it's Trish's expression thats interesting. You can tell she's just waking up as she squints her eyes from the light and scrunches her face.



Again the focus on this image is lacking, however it is meant to furthermore reflecting the lack of focus in the morning.



What makes this image interesting I think is Trish's eyes. You can't see either of their faces properly but you can see Trish's eyes and you can tell she's laughing at something.

I find the two above work well together. Moreover in the first image Douglas's head is turned away and trish's eye are wide open and in the second image when he looks at her you can see her expression change to laughter.  


Douglas looking a mess and directly towards the camera making it evident he is aware of my presence as Trish tends to his hair it seems.

The last image is definatly the weekest of the five however I thought I would add it none the less.

I like how these images work together. I gather they are nothing special but I think theres something personal about them, particularly because I caught them just as they were waking up, because I woke them up. The facial expressions and mannerisms towards eachother also reflect something personal, there is no doubt that the two people in these images are a couple. You can tell they're comfertable together and comfertable with me in room as they look natural and worn out, rather then trying to sit up and affix an awkward smile on their face or pose in cheesy lovey dovey poses because a camera has been pointed at them.

I hope the lack of colour, the lack of perfect focus and their intention has come across well in these images, however I'm not sure how well they would come across without an explanation being given and people just assuming they are bad quality images.