Creative Media: Natural Light Portraits

 Yesterday we went out onto campus and with a model (Billie) we created natural light portraits.  We started with setting of F4/5.6, ISO 200 as it was quite a bright day. Auto white balance and exposure compensation on zero to begin.

Before we went out we looked at photographers work from early portraits of David Octavius and Robert Adamson, to images from Life magazine, Annie Leibovitz and David Bailey.

Here is an example from Octavius & Adamson, their images poses were based on paintings, I chose this image as I thought it was a quite impactful shot that clearly has been influenced by Victorian genre painting and tonalism and there is an excellent use of the rule of thirds. This is from the MOMA in San Francisco. 

The Gowan: Margaret and Mary McCandlish, 1843-1847 By David Octavius and Robert Adamson,

I also looked further at Life Magazine images as these stories do really give a sense of the zeitgeist of the time. I chose an image from the Vietnam War.  This image shows the helicopter pilot from the series 'One Ride with Yankee Papa 13' and shows the soldiers through their day.  I chose both these images as they both use available light.  Again the rule of thirds in this image is clear and the framing of the shot with pilot's face as the most dominant part of the image close-up really gives a feeling of connection which is what makes a great portrait.

Vietnam War, LIFE Magazine, Yankee Papa 13

Larry Burrows Time & Life Pictures/Shutterstock

Here are the images I took on the day, I took around 200 shots on the contact sheets.  I created these on Photoshop.

I was quite pleased with the shots I managed to get, it was a good day with some sunshine and I managed to get some in black and white and some in colour.  Here are some of my best shots from the day.

On the colour shots I chose two that I thought stood out and really worked in terms of sharpness, composition and framing.

This shot used a wide aperture at F5 and a fairly slow shutter speed of 1/60. it was nice and bright with no exposure compensation.  The background really lightened the image and I felt this worked well in colour with the raindrop background and light just glinting of the droplets, the model's face stands out well and there is a good use of the rule of thirds.

The second colour shot, I thought the pose worked really well and was from a slightly low angle.  again wide aperture of F5, ISO 200, however in this shot I slightly underexposed at -0.7 this had the effect of slightly deepening the colours.

The black and white shots I had many choices so I will just put a few here.  

In this image, a really good close-up really focussed on the model's face, a good rule of thirds this was a wide aperture at F5 however the background dropped out slightly to create blur due to the focus on the model's face and a short focal length.  I did not use exposure compensation in this shot. 

I chose this shot as I really liked the leading line of the road and the model's pose enhances the line of the shot, rule of thirds again and as the background has dropped out again due to focal length this worked well.

This was one of my last shots and I really liked the clarity of the image, very sharp and clear and the model looking into the camera worked well the line of her body through the shot clear focus at the forefront of the image has an impact.  In this image I had underexposed by -1.7 this gave depth to the darker shades and tones.

Reflection

Overall I am pleased with the outcomes from this shoot, I got some images that have impact, work technically well and if I was using this for a fashion shoot there was some good poses that really worked.  If I shot this again I would have tried further poses and positions on the model and I also would have perhaps included some top-down images (High angle) as I think this would have added to the shoot. 

Advertising: Initial Ideas, Planning and Research

 The brief on advertising is to create an advertisement and so I began thinking about what I would like to advertise.  I have been thinking about the uncertainty in the world, climate change, cost of living crisis, supply chain issues and war.  On an individual basis this can make life feel uncertain, will my home be safe and secure?  What happens if there is an economic crisis?  How will I protect myself and my family?

Schweizerische Nationalbank

So with these thoughts, I considered my own money and how to keep it safe.  So what is the safest place in the world for money? Traditionally Switzerland, as it is a neutral country and it has all those vaults filled with everything. Interestingly now Switzerland has become the world leader in creating digital vaults to hold digital assets; 'Switzerland is successfully positioning itself as a pioneer in safeguarding digital assets and strengthening its role in global wealth management.' (Switzerland Global Enterprise:2023).  Thinking about this it would be a good idea to create a Swiss Bank for not just rich people but for everyone where they could safeguard their money both real and digital/Cryptocurrency for the future. 

I will begin by looking at other banking advertisements and consider who they are for, whether they work and how and where they are advertised.  I started by looking at my own bank and how they advertise. This is Monzo bank that is just through an app with no physical premises. 

Monzo Bank Advert (2024)

Monzo bank advertising in this case seems to be suggesting that you will enjoy relaxing in the sun by banking at Monzo - there is no tagline here just the name of the bank - I personally think if I was a new customer I might want a little more information on why I should join this bank, the man in the picture looks like Gen X so is this an advert for that generation?  I realised then that this could not be the whole advert and I found the advert which is actually a short film and the tagline is 'money never felt like monzo' with the characters doing pleasurable things.  Giving the idea that banking at Monzo is a pleasurable experience.  Again it is selling a lifestyle idea for you to buy into as a customer. 

Going to a more traditional bank I looked at adverts for HSBC.  HSBC pride themselves on being a global brand but who care locally - their tagline here states 'When we see beyond borders, we see opportunity everywhere'  and then next to their logo 'opening up a world of opportunity' the global aspect is highly important therefore these adverts seem to be aimed at people who perhaps travel often, business people and perhaps younger people - students who may live in two different countries. The typography on this advert is much more serious looking than the Monzo which is more rounded and gives a sense of fun. I think in my own advert I would prefer a more fun approach to serious banking!

The adverting adverts encompass this idea further by pointing out that their accounts have no fees anywhere in the world.

The other bank that I use is the Co-operative Bank.  I chose this bank as it was supposed to be more ethical and invested in ethical concerns rather than things that may harm the environment and I do believe this is still the case with this bank 

Co-Operative Advertising Campaign (2022)

The 'Withdraw from this' campaign is focussed on climate change and encourages the audience to withdraw from other banks and join the co-op as it will do better things for the environment.  The co-op bank logo is quite simple and known so although it looks old fashioned it is well known as a brand in the UK. The message in capitals and across the icecaps melting is simple and effective as a tagline. 

The co-op advert film enhances this message and gives further facts about what the bank has done and to reiterate that it does not fund businesses/people who are destroying the environment. I like this as it is why I joined this bank.  I do think though for my own advert I need to focus on once clear message.  

My own bank needs a strong name, a tagline and a good logo to make it work and looking at the other banks here - I would like to target Generation X as I have some ideas about how to market this and I believe Generation X are at a time in their lives where they want to safeguard their money for their retirement and their children who have left home and in these times need more financial assistance with housing and living costs. 

After looking at the research I have decided my tagline should be 'You played, you worked, now rest easy' which is a combination of how Monzo has marketed their bank with a playful, enjoyable experience and I wanted to combine this with security, like in the HSBC advert so I will add as a subheading; 'secure your money in the safest place in the world' or something like this. 

Have decided on the name of my bank which will be 'Plutus' this is the Greek God of Wealth; Plutus was 'a son of Demeter by Iasion, Plutus is the Greek god associated with wealth; he is also tasked with choosing who deserves good fortune. Aristophanes says in his comedy, The Plutus, that he was blinded by Zeus, who hoped that removing Plutus' sight would allow him to make his decisions in an unbiased manner, and select recipients more fairly.' (Learn Religions: 2019)

I felt this name was a good strong name for a bank and had the correct meaning behind it.  

My next step was to just mock up the layout which will look something like this;

The typography I want to be sans serif, friendly, rounded but serious enough to suggest security.  I went through a few fonts/typefaces for consideration as below

I quite liked Elephant however this may be too bold, so I think Rockwell maybe my second choice.  I will try these on the advert and see which version works best. 

This is all my planning my next post will show my process and final piece. 

References

Switzerland Global Enterprize (2023). Switzerland is the world’s digital vault. [online] S-GE. Available at: https://www.s-ge.com/en/article/press-release/202302-homeofblockchainswiss-report?ct [Accessed 16 Jan. 2025].

Learn Religions (2019). 7 Gods and Goddesses of Prosperity. [online] Learn Religions. Available at: https://www.learnreligions.com/god-of-wealth-4774186 [Accessed 17 Jan. 2025].

Practice Advert

 Today we are making a practice advert.  My advert will be a donkey sanctuary charity.  I am going to create this advert on Pixlr.  I will create a logo, tagline and consider my target audience. 

I opened Pixlr, then clicked on 'Create New' and then chose Print in the top menu of the dialog box and then chose A4, added a title and clicked on Background and chose white.  Then clicked on okay to make my canvas, My poster will be portrait so I clicked on 'Image' in the top meu and then rotate canvas. 

I then clicked on File in the top menu and 'open' and chose my donkey image from my desktop which I had downloaded from Unsplash as these are copyright free images and are free to use. I then wanted to add my donkey to my canvas so I went to my donkey image and clicked on 'Select' and then 'Select All' from the top menu and then I went to 'Edit' in the top menu and then 'copy'.  I then went back to my canvas and clicked on 'Edit' and then 'paste'.  Now my image is on my canvas.

The next step was to create a logo on Adobe Express.  So I created a name for my charity and chose the style and the colours I wanted.  

One version was transparent, the other had a background colour, I will now add this to my advert. 

Next I added a new text layer by clicking on the 'T' in the left hand tools menu and then clicking on the canvas.  I then changed the words to my tagline and then I change the colour to compliment my image and logo. I used Beornheard font at 68pts and then I used the alignment to left align the words.  Finally I added further words with a donate now section and used the move and alignment tools to place this ion my advert.

Please see my final advert here which I downloaded as both a png and a jpeg file for higher quality.

Reflection

This was a good practice as it helps me to think about the graphic design and structure of the advert and who my audience are and how I will reach them. I quite enjoyed he colour scheme which worked with of the colours in the image and I think this is simple and clean and would bring donations.

Creative Media: Above & Below - Photography Practice

 Today we practiced setting on the camera for a photography task this was to prepare us for the photography brief.  The brief for the task was to take high and low angle of images of each other.  We looked at examples of this kind of image from well-known photographers. We looked at a range of images by Terry O'Neill, Terence Donovan and Corrine Day.  Here is an example of a high angle image from Corrine day.

Corinne Day, Modern Life is Rubbish February 1991, 2011

black and white fibre based lambda print, edition 23/500, 12 x 9 in / 30.8 x 23 cm.

We all then went out to take images we set our cameras at 400 ISO as it was quite a dull day.  ISO is how sensitive the camera is to light and so if it was a very bright day I want to make the camera less sensitive and I would have used a lower ISO such as 100/200.  I also set the camera to Aperture Priority and set this to a low number so that the lens was wide open with lots of light coming in. Then I could adjust exposure compensation while I was shooting to under or over expose depending on light conditions.  Once I had shot the images (I made around 100) I created contact sheets on Photoshop.

I then chose my two favourite images and I checked the EXIF details of the images.  On my first image

which was from below here

 

These EXIF details show that I was on ISO 400, this worked well on a dull day and I also underexposed so it gives the image a slightly darker moodier look.  I had a wide aperture of F5.6 so the whole image was sharp and clear.  I like this image - the only change I would make it to get closer up as I think that this would have give the image more impact.

On the second image that was from above again I had an ISO of 400 and a nice wide F stop at F5.6.  I think the rule of thirds here works really well with the subject to the side of the image.  The background is not distracting and I think the pose worked really well again I underexposed slightly and I do think this works well as it is as the subject filles the frame and I do think this is an engaging image. 

I then wanted to present my images as a piece of final work so I open Pixlr and created a black canvas.  I then opened my two images in Pixlr and selected each and then copied and pasted them into the canvas.  I then used the move and transform controls to place the images into a pleasing position in the frame and then I added a text layer and using Georgia at 125 pts to add the title and the artists name.  I then went to file and export as png and saved this to my desktop file.  The final result is below. 

Reflection

I enjoyed taking these images, but as this was only a practice we were limited in time so the first image as stated above I would have reshot to be closer so that the image would have had more impact on the audience.  The second image I would not change as I thought this worked very well and was well shot.  I am looking forward to creating my own portraits images with more time through this project. 

Sequential Images Self Study: Monkey Madness

 After sequential image practice in class, we looked at further artists using sequential images and though I have looked at Jurgen Klauke before for this project I was interested in this image from images I showed in class, Formalising Boredom.

Jürgen Klauke (1980) Formalisierung der Langewiele

Klauke has other images from this series and the exhibition blurb states that these images were moving into a more post-punk aesthetic. 'In the three-part photo sequence, the artist himself and another darkly dressed young man are seen attacking a whitewashed brick wall with various weapons, holding a pistol to its chest and driving an axe into it. In the process, the two appear highly concentrated, making the already enigmatic scene even more absurd.' (Artfacts, 2022) I chose this series due to its existential nature, it represents the boredom of society and results in extreme acts.  the characters are isolated and  feels as we are all alone with our own rituals. ‘Formalisierung der Langeweile' is regarded as a milestone in Klauke's oeuvre, marking the end of a narcissistic preoccupation with his own person and a turn towards the examination of society.' (Media Art Net, n.d.)

Jürgen Klauke (1980) Formalisierung der Langewiele

I enjoy making work of my own rituals and one of these is making monkey's I do this as a realxing exercise.  This monkey however was a special monkey for thsi project so he was originally going to e a Bauhaus Monkey based on Bauhaus design.  Bauhaus began in 1919 and was originally an architectural movement that wanted to bring togtehr all artforms in unity. Walter Gropius wrote; 'So let us then create a new guild of craftsmen, free of the divisive class pretensions that attempted to raise an arrogant barrier between craftsmen and artists! Let us together will, conceive, and create the new building of the future, which will unite everything in a single form—architecture and sculpture and painting—and which will one day rise heavenwards from the hands of a million craftsmen as a crystalline symbol of a new and coming faith' (Getty, n.d) Bauhaus aimed to bring artists and craftsman together so they could create a functional design, functionalism was the aim of the movement.  I wanted to consider these ideas including some of these images whilst creating my monkey.

Bauhaus Design 

Bauhaus Ausstellung 1923 (Bauhaus Exhibition)

After considering these ideas I began creating my monkey this consisted of my usual sewing box, a pair of socks and various felt squares.  I documents ed the process however the final images were the final monkey!  I shot these image on my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II.  The settings I started with were Aperture priority, monotone, F3.5, ISO 400, varying shutter speed with focal distance. 

Once I had made the Monkey (this took me all afternoon as he was rather complicated!) and I had shot all the images I created a contact sheet on a contact sheet generator 

I took around 100 images as I was working and my final images for the sequential piece. Although I wanted Bauhaus - my monkey is much more Dada - like this!

Hugo Ball, a poet and Dadaist, wearing a Cubist costume at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich in 1916.

I used black and white as although my monkey actually very colourful I wanted the final images to look more like this Dada image above.

In class we are gong to use Pixlr for these images however at home I will be using Photoshop.  My final images were taken using these settings

I chose a higher ISO as I wanted a more 'grainy' look and I underexposed by -1 to just deepen the shadow slightly

On Photoshop, I created a new file and then in the dialog box chose A3, landscape, 300dpi and a black background for my images. I then opened each image and I did not adjust the images at all they were as taken in-camera I just selected them copied and pasted into the canvas and then used the transform control to adjust size and I used the move tool to place them correctly on the canvas.  I then used the text tool to add the title and my name. I used Bauhaus 93 font at 36pts.

These are my final sequential images

Reflection

This sequence actually took much longer than my usual sequences as I created the monkey and this took time I think it was in the spirit of Bauhaus as this uses many different art skills and craft skills to create this piece. The monkey though is far more in the spirit of dada and he lives for this moment!  I leave you with a final image.... his most colourful self.

References

Artfacts (2022) Jürgen Klauke: Formalisierung der Langeweile [Online] https://artfacts.net/exhibition/juergen-klauke:-formalisierung-der-langeweile/1005805, Accessed 11/01/2025

Getty J.P. Trust (n.d.)www.getty.edu.. Bauhaus. [online] Available at: https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artist/history/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2025].

Media Art Net (n.d.). Media Art Net | Klauke, Jürgen: Formalized Boredom. Medienkunstnetz.de. [online] doi:http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/formalisierung-der-langeweile/.Accessed 11/01/2025