Final post

This is my final post for this blog, I submitted assignment 5 to my tutor some time ago (1st October) and prior to that completed all of the exercises and my web site - I just never got around to completing my blog.

Referring back to my aims for this module, I would say I have had mixed results:

1. I still lurk around the OCA forums but have only contributed on a few occasions.

2. I loaded TAOP assignment 1, plus feedback, onto the website but found the format cumbersome. I have created a Flickr account this year and joined the OCA group, so I will investigate uploading my assignment work there.

3. Blogging - I don't think I'm a natural blogger. I find writing my thoughts on the web a very premeditated thing to do, because for them to make any sense they need to be clear, concise and orderly. My thoughts don't usually happen like that; they tend to be confused scraps of thoughts that may or may not coalesce into something tangible. I have a scruffy pocket book (the A5 Black 'n' Red from the OCA) that I use to think in - this book contains lists, ideas for images and rough layout drawings; correction for images and much more. But none of it very ordered. I wonder whether it would be appropriate to scan pages from my book and load them into my blog?
I have started P&P and intend to continue blogging, because I think being able to relax into a blog would be a good thing.

4. I have been much more structured this year and, with the exception of 1 month out, have maintained a reasonable pace throughout the course.

My intention is to submit my DDP work for assessment in March 2012.

When I set up my P&P blog I will return and add a link here.

Thank you for your time.

Exercise 25 - a web gallery

When I first received my file for DPP I read it through, cover-to-cover, before starting any exercises. This last exercise created a degree of panic and I was straight down to the local library scouring all the 'build your own website' books. Armed and dangerous, well... not really armed - but very dangerous, I found Go Daddy and purchased a domain for my website - "pepperdog19". Now satisfied that everything was going to be OK, I settled into the new course.

Some time later, I glanced at my web page only to find that Go Daddy were using to advertise dog products - did you ever???? This had to stop, I needed to load some images onto my photography website. All I needed was the load button...

After another visit to the library and some quality book time reviled that this was nothing like Flickr! A big thank you goes out to my fellow OCA students and the links to their blogs. I very quickly found Weebly and calmed down, only to be irritated when I found out that I didn't need a domain. But having bought it, I was going to use it. Flipping back-and-forth between Go Daddy and Weebly I linked my domain to my web site, thankfully quite a simple process.

In my Weebly account I selected a standard format for my web layout, I found that I didn't quite like the layout and started to tweak the HTML code to change colours and relocate tabs - it was great fun. The directions on the Weebly site couldn't be easier and it took all of half an hour to set everything up. Unfortunately, it then took hours and hours while I faffed about and made totally unnecessary adjustments to my site. A great learning experience nonetheless.

The name of my site is Pdog19 Photography and it now holds my images and does not advertise dog shampoo.

Exercise 24 - sharpening for print

Leaning Gate is an image I selected for inclusion in assignment 5. Below are a number of sharpening iterations.

Image as taken

Image as submitted

Image corrected as per feedback from my tutor

Image over sharpened

The acceptable or appropriate degree of sharpening applied to any image is very subjective. Feedback from my tutor would indicate that a number of my images could do with a touch more sharpening. I would certainly agree that sharpening, as well as defining edges, also adds life to a flat image.


Clearly the last version is very, very badly sharpened and hopefully nobody would actually sharpen their images this much. However, it does remind me of some of the HDR images that populate the web nowadays... So, beauty and art is definately in the eye of the beholder.

Exercise 23 - alteration

Original image

Cloning out various blemishes in an images is 'normal' and I don't really think about, so when asked to remove such a large section of the image I just thought more cloning. However, once I opened the image on the pc and started the removal process I got stuck.

Ø         What did the underside of the table look like?

Ø         Without reflections, what colour were the seat and the table top?

Ø         What about all the damage to the varnish on the table?

Ø         Where was I going to find all the replacement brickwork needed?

So I started slowly and removed an arm.

Vanishing

I certainly wasn't difficult, I think time consuming and somewhat tedious are rather better descriptors. As long as I didn't try to copy too much, in any one replacement, the brickwork looked normal. It was much easier to copy a full line of bricks from one area to another; but zooming out form the image it clearly looked like the bricks had been copied.

Something I became very aware of - very few lines are actually perfectly straight! This mades things  lot easier.

Reflections

I think removing the reflections were by far the trickiest. In terms of the potential cloning material available, it was less than 50%. This meant that the size of the 'pick and place' pixels significantly reduced and thus took a lot longer to complete. In terms of the image a lot the damaged varnish, and thus character, was lost. 

Empty seat

Overall its not a bad attempt. However, I think the resultant image is flat in comparison to the original, removal of the reflection and the shine dulled the image. 

Comparing just the last 2 images, the reflection alone makes the image more interesting. I appreciate that the lines are not quite at the correct angles, but the reflection might be of the window.

Currently in the Pdog19 library - May

Why Photographs Work by George Barr
(2011, Rocky Nook Inc)

"With guidance from Barr, we learn to decipher that certain intangible 'something' that makes an image go beyond the ordinary. As we gain an understanding of and appreciation for the elements that make an image truly great, we are bound to improve our own images as well."

I'm not sure about the first sentence of the review above, but I do agree with the second one. And whilst I didn't always agree with Barr, I was able to follow all of the points he was making. I enjoyed reading this book.

What makes this book different, is that each of the photographers contributing talks about how they came to create the image - ideas, techniques and gear. In addition, they also include photographers that have influenced their work. As such this book provides a mass of very interesting information.

The only criticism I have is the thickness of the paper, you can actually see ghost images and text through the pages. This book is currently on sale (45% off) at £16.98 with Amazon, full price being £30.00. At sale price the quality is passable, at full price I'd have sent it back.


Capture the Moment - the Pulitzer Prize Photographs (updated edition)
Edited by Cyma Rubin and Eric Newton
(2003, The Freedom Forum Newseum Inc with W W Norton, New York & London)

"This book tells the stories behind the photographs that won America's most prestigious journalism award, the Pulitzer Prize. Great photographs change the way we think. Quickly and clearly, they say that war is brutal, victory is sweet and life is fragile. Great photographs change lives, even the lives of the photographers who take them."

Raw and disturbing is the best way to describe the images in this book. Some of the photographs are composed and technically good, but the majority just "capture the moment".

"Great photographs change the way we think" - I'm not sure that these are great photographs, or at least not great in the way I would mean. Did they change the way I think? Well, they gave me more to think about. War and human suffering were a long way away and then they were in my face.

"Great photographs change lives, even the lives of the photographers who take them." I would have thought especially the lives of the photographers who take them. I don't believe that people who live through these situation could be anything but changed. Unfortunately, I am less convinced that they change the lives of people in general. Does a book like this, whilst shocking, have enough weight/sway to influence enough people to facilitate real change?

In addition, I am concerned about the graphic nature of the images - they are not from a film or a computer game, they are real life. People are already becoming de-sensitised to blood and gore, exposing them to this type material would just further de-sensitise them. Longer term, what would be required to shock somebody enough to drive home atrocities?

Exercise 22 - addition

First section - Haven, South Shields
The sky was loaded with large heavy clouds, but at the same time it was very bright and the reflection off the wet sand almost blinding as such the best way to capture the scene was to bracket. I waited until the sun was just starting to move behind some lighter clouds and took five shots using exposure compensation (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). I then blended these in Photoshop and in Photomatix using "Exposure Fusion".

For this first photograph I selected the +1 exposure for the sky and the -1 exposure for the beach. Initially I thought the result looked good - after seeing the Photomatix version I'm not so sure.

Blended in Photoshop

I used all 5 exposures for the Photomatix conversion and it produced a better final image - interestingly, I think the first version more accurately records the day. Nonetheless, this image is more subtle with a greater range of colours. The darker clouds on the LHS have more texture and don't look anywhere near as foreboding; similarly the sand is lighter and less mud-like in colour because the reflection of the sky can be seen.

Blended in Photomatix - exposure fusion

I have never used this function in Photomatix before, it's a nice tool to have and I'm very impressed with the results.

Second section - Litchfield Cathedral

Litchfield Cathedral

This was taken on a beautiful day - ideal for site seeing, but rather boring for photography.


New sky

Modified image

Since the original image was taken early afternoon there were few shadows to be seen, this dictated the type of replacement sky needed and the type of clouds that would be suitable. This new sky makes the images significantly more interesting.
I have also slightly straightened the verticals. As part of the process I also cropped out the bit of grass at the bottom of the image, this made the whole thing feel very sterile so I put it back in.

Exercise 21 - enhancement

Original image



As shot

Selection 1 - full face

Having done very little portraiture, I really enjoyed this exercise and learnt a lot. Adding contrast adjustment alone altered the image significantly, bring it to life and creating an almost 3D effect.



With brightness/contrast adjustment

I'm not sure that I would consider this type of alteration as 'tampering' in the truest sense of the word; I think more along the lines of 'making the most of what you have' - rather like women wearing makeup.

I have subsequently revisited some on my better head shots and given them a make-over. Fascinating stuff!





Selection 2 - eyes only

Quite often I increase the saturation in my photographs, sometimes generally and sometimes a specific colour. I don't recall every having saturated a selection.

Real

Blue 

Saturating eye colour - does this fall into the 'tampering' category? Possibly.

Green

Changing eye colour - does this fall into the 'tampering' category? Almost certainly.

Besides which, it was actually quite disconcerting looking at my husband with the wrong colour eyes.

Having said that, if the colour change was effected on clothing I don't believe this would fall into the category of tampering.

Time for a pertinent aside: Whilst shopping in-store I saw a photograph of a model wearing purple shorts, unable to find said items I asked for assistance. The lady directed me to blue shorts, when I queried the colour she replied that "a lot of people had commented on that". I didn't buy the blue shorts.

I think this is where the boundaries start to blur and a lot of the time I don't think there is an absolute answer - if there were we wouldn't be doing this exercise.

Is tampering wrong?

Yes, if what you are doing is morally wrong - lying to defraud or to cause harm.

No, if you're selling a dream...

Lets face it, we all know that you shouldn't believe anything your see/read in the newspapers or any other form of media for that matter. I could continue on this theme but no doubt it would become very cynical, best just to leave it at: Buyer Beware!