LIGHT & DARK
I have chosen the theme Light and Dark for my exam work. With this theme, I will experiment with different lighting's to showcase my final edits whilst using an editing program, Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 to change the overall display, mainly using the adjustments bar to alter the brightness and darkness (which is exactly what my theme focuses on). I have produced many different edits to show the variety of different ways I am able to edit whilst limiting myself in the Light and Dark only region, however producing very contrasting images by slightly altering certain aspects such as the shadows, highlights and overall levels.
Raquel Carmona
I am intrigued by Carmona's style of photography as from capturing simple, everyday objects, she transforms the images into a professional, sleek finish. She focuses on food which will be a theme that I will use in my original photos for the exam. Carmona excels at producing high quality images. I will focus on using dark backgrounds to create a professional look that will be similar in her style of photography as she uses artificial lighting which produces a high quality image for every image. It will be difficult to use artificial lighting, so natural lighting will be my main source of lighting as I will then edit the images using Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 so it will look as though artificial lighting has been used.
Original photographs in the style of Raquel Carmona:
Unedited:
|
Edited:
|
For my original photos, I captured several different objects that I thought would be suitable enough to be edited well enough in the style of Carmona. For all images, I tried to make sure that all unedited images were taken in bright lighting which would ease my editing process. I also focused on different objects so once I edited all images, they would be extremely contrasting between one another as a different object would be the main subject in every image.
Photo 1- I captured a selection of bread toppled over each other to create a similar image to Carmona's. I began by cropping the image which made the subject appear larger. Using the paint brush tool in black, I filled in the areas that I wished to remove, in this case it was the background of the original image. This transformed it as though I had used artificial lighting which is exactly what Carmona uses which created a "staged" look. I then used the quick selection tool and traced around the towel section, excluding the main subject (the bread) and decreased the saturation of this (positioned in the adjustments bar). This helped to fade away the background which gave more emphasis on the subject which is what I wanted the main focus to be on. Once again, using the quick selection tool, I outlined around the bread pieces and increased the saturation and contrast which intensified the bread which I wanted the most focus to be on. Increasing the brightness made it seem as though artificial lighting had been used once again, as the main attention was fixated on this area so it seemed as though a light source was shone on this area even though I altered this using the adjustments bar to create such an effect. I then decreased the hardness of the paintbrush tool (in black) and softly applied this on the edges of the towel area. I sharpened the pieces of bread to finish with a high quality image.
Photo 2- I began by using the quick selection tool to completely trace around the background including the smaller sections around the tea bags that were less noticeable. Using the paintbrush tool in black, I filled in all the area that I selected to create a "staged" look. In this image, the tea bags were the subject so I wanted to add as much emphasis on them as much as possible. I wished to add definition and contrast, so by adjusting the levels, this defined the shadows even further, whilst increasing the brightness to more darker sections. I also cropped the image which increased the initial size. I increased the contrast which restored the balance between the lighter sections with the darker sections. Although I am using different objects compared to Carmona, I am principally focusing on mimicking her editing skills as she mainly concentrates on the different types of lighting that will impact the look of the subject. This corresponds well with my theme of Light and Dark and the fact that Carmona uses different areas of lighting within her images helps me to adapt the change of lighting's within my own image in the style of her own. Once again, I used the sharpening tool to add definition and quality to the image.
Photo 3- I adjusted the levels as the lighting was quite uneven. This balanced the lighter areas with the darker areas. I increased the shadows on the lighter areas by adding contrast and definition. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined the background as well as the foreground and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill these areas as I wanted to achieve an all black background just as how Carmona does to create a professional image using a professional setting/background. I also outlined the smaller sections between the utensils so a fully black background is created. I increased the saturation so it was not completely dull- this also added contrast without adjusting the contrast which balanced out the image even further. Increasing the shadows increased the darkness in certain areas that needed it.
Photo 4- I increased the initial size of the image as there was originally less background area. I then adjusted the levels which increased the overall contrast which created a more professional look. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined most of the background and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill this in to create a black background creating a "staged" look transforming from natural lighting that had originally been used to artificial lighting. With the extra area that I added to increase the original size, I filled this in using the paint brush tool in black which increased the size of the background and also added distance between the camera and the subject. I further edited the bowl of sugar by adding auto-colour which automatically created a gloomy, blue -toned effect and increased the different shadows that were not present before but were now visible. Originally, I was not satisfied with the image due to the disproportionate layout of the bowl that the sugar was in. I used the quick selection tool and cut out the top left section of the bowl only, and duplicated this. I locked the background colour into place so this would not be affected whilst I altered the subject. I used the quick selection tool to completely cut off the top right section of the bowl and with the duplicated copy I rotated this to replace the area that I cut off. The image was more proportionate and balanced evenly as both sides were now symmetrical. I further altered the image to smooth out the image so that the replacement was blended naturally.
Photo 5- I cropped the image and rotated it so the slight tilt was straightened out. Originally I purposely captured the image so that a mixture of lighting's were present similar to the style of Carmona. . I then adjusted the levels which increased the overall contrast which created a more professional look. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined the most of the background and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill this in to create a black background creating a "staged" look transforming from natural lighting that had originally been used to artificial lighting. However the sugary drops I added originally to the image for effect, remained so I did not fill these areas but rather increased the overall contrast of the background selected which darkened out the sugar area, but highlighted the small sugar drops so that they were present. I further adjusted the levels to balance out the more contrasted areas with the least contrasted areas. This created a variety of different lighting's, with the most lightest (the mince pie at the top) to have the highest amount of light and the mince pie in the bottom right to have the least light and be the most contrasted. Adjusting the shadows and contrast on the subjects helped to blend in with such a contrasting background as originally the subjects were far too light for the dark background so were incompatible.
Photo 6- I captured a tower of mugs as my subject. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined most of the background and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill this in to create a black background creating a "staged" look transforming from natural lighting that had originally been used to artificial lighting. I also used the quick selection on the smaller sections such as between the handles of the cups and then filled this in black so the background was fully coated in black. I then adjusted the levels which balanced out the lighter areas with the contrasting background. The colours were still too vibrant so I solved this by decreasing the saturation which transformed the lighter pink and bright green to a darker plum/dark green colour which created quite a gloomy effect. Once again, the image is not focused in one level of lighting but rather a mixture as the left side of the tower mugs is facing away from the natural light that I used which adds a contrast whereas the right side is exposed to more light which affects the editing process as this would appear much brighter. By decreasing the saturation, this helped to blend the subject with the bold background more suitably making it appear more natural and subtle as though a dark background was originally used. I then brushed the sharpening tool over the cups so the pattern on top of the mugs would appear defined.
Photo 7- I cropped the image so that the main subject was closer and the initial size of the image was smaller. I used the quick selection tool to select the background, excluding the main subject. I filled this background using the paintbrush tool in black to create a complete black background, mimicking Carmona's style of using a professional, "staged" background. I originally captured the image in natural lighting but by increasing the contrast and saturation, this increased the green colour and a darker shadow across the subject. I then altered the image using the curves edit and by reducing the darker level, this increased the brightness in the most appropriate areas which appeared as though artificial lighting had been used as a certain section on the subject was brighter than other areas as though a professional light was shone. I then used the paintbrush tool in black once again, and decreased the hardness completely to 0. I also decreased the size of the brush and gently brushed against the edges of the subject which helped blend in the subject to the background and further added slight shadows to the edges of the subject. To finish, I used the sharpening tool and sharpened the areas that were most visible, which was the brightest area of the image. This gave a high-resolution finish.
Photo 1- I captured a selection of bread toppled over each other to create a similar image to Carmona's. I began by cropping the image which made the subject appear larger. Using the paint brush tool in black, I filled in the areas that I wished to remove, in this case it was the background of the original image. This transformed it as though I had used artificial lighting which is exactly what Carmona uses which created a "staged" look. I then used the quick selection tool and traced around the towel section, excluding the main subject (the bread) and decreased the saturation of this (positioned in the adjustments bar). This helped to fade away the background which gave more emphasis on the subject which is what I wanted the main focus to be on. Once again, using the quick selection tool, I outlined around the bread pieces and increased the saturation and contrast which intensified the bread which I wanted the most focus to be on. Increasing the brightness made it seem as though artificial lighting had been used once again, as the main attention was fixated on this area so it seemed as though a light source was shone on this area even though I altered this using the adjustments bar to create such an effect. I then decreased the hardness of the paintbrush tool (in black) and softly applied this on the edges of the towel area. I sharpened the pieces of bread to finish with a high quality image.
Photo 2- I began by using the quick selection tool to completely trace around the background including the smaller sections around the tea bags that were less noticeable. Using the paintbrush tool in black, I filled in all the area that I selected to create a "staged" look. In this image, the tea bags were the subject so I wanted to add as much emphasis on them as much as possible. I wished to add definition and contrast, so by adjusting the levels, this defined the shadows even further, whilst increasing the brightness to more darker sections. I also cropped the image which increased the initial size. I increased the contrast which restored the balance between the lighter sections with the darker sections. Although I am using different objects compared to Carmona, I am principally focusing on mimicking her editing skills as she mainly concentrates on the different types of lighting that will impact the look of the subject. This corresponds well with my theme of Light and Dark and the fact that Carmona uses different areas of lighting within her images helps me to adapt the change of lighting's within my own image in the style of her own. Once again, I used the sharpening tool to add definition and quality to the image.
Photo 3- I adjusted the levels as the lighting was quite uneven. This balanced the lighter areas with the darker areas. I increased the shadows on the lighter areas by adding contrast and definition. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined the background as well as the foreground and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill these areas as I wanted to achieve an all black background just as how Carmona does to create a professional image using a professional setting/background. I also outlined the smaller sections between the utensils so a fully black background is created. I increased the saturation so it was not completely dull- this also added contrast without adjusting the contrast which balanced out the image even further. Increasing the shadows increased the darkness in certain areas that needed it.
Photo 4- I increased the initial size of the image as there was originally less background area. I then adjusted the levels which increased the overall contrast which created a more professional look. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined most of the background and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill this in to create a black background creating a "staged" look transforming from natural lighting that had originally been used to artificial lighting. With the extra area that I added to increase the original size, I filled this in using the paint brush tool in black which increased the size of the background and also added distance between the camera and the subject. I further edited the bowl of sugar by adding auto-colour which automatically created a gloomy, blue -toned effect and increased the different shadows that were not present before but were now visible. Originally, I was not satisfied with the image due to the disproportionate layout of the bowl that the sugar was in. I used the quick selection tool and cut out the top left section of the bowl only, and duplicated this. I locked the background colour into place so this would not be affected whilst I altered the subject. I used the quick selection tool to completely cut off the top right section of the bowl and with the duplicated copy I rotated this to replace the area that I cut off. The image was more proportionate and balanced evenly as both sides were now symmetrical. I further altered the image to smooth out the image so that the replacement was blended naturally.
Photo 5- I cropped the image and rotated it so the slight tilt was straightened out. Originally I purposely captured the image so that a mixture of lighting's were present similar to the style of Carmona. . I then adjusted the levels which increased the overall contrast which created a more professional look. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined the most of the background and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill this in to create a black background creating a "staged" look transforming from natural lighting that had originally been used to artificial lighting. However the sugary drops I added originally to the image for effect, remained so I did not fill these areas but rather increased the overall contrast of the background selected which darkened out the sugar area, but highlighted the small sugar drops so that they were present. I further adjusted the levels to balance out the more contrasted areas with the least contrasted areas. This created a variety of different lighting's, with the most lightest (the mince pie at the top) to have the highest amount of light and the mince pie in the bottom right to have the least light and be the most contrasted. Adjusting the shadows and contrast on the subjects helped to blend in with such a contrasting background as originally the subjects were far too light for the dark background so were incompatible.
Photo 6- I captured a tower of mugs as my subject. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined most of the background and used the paintbrush tool in black to fill this in to create a black background creating a "staged" look transforming from natural lighting that had originally been used to artificial lighting. I also used the quick selection on the smaller sections such as between the handles of the cups and then filled this in black so the background was fully coated in black. I then adjusted the levels which balanced out the lighter areas with the contrasting background. The colours were still too vibrant so I solved this by decreasing the saturation which transformed the lighter pink and bright green to a darker plum/dark green colour which created quite a gloomy effect. Once again, the image is not focused in one level of lighting but rather a mixture as the left side of the tower mugs is facing away from the natural light that I used which adds a contrast whereas the right side is exposed to more light which affects the editing process as this would appear much brighter. By decreasing the saturation, this helped to blend the subject with the bold background more suitably making it appear more natural and subtle as though a dark background was originally used. I then brushed the sharpening tool over the cups so the pattern on top of the mugs would appear defined.
Photo 7- I cropped the image so that the main subject was closer and the initial size of the image was smaller. I used the quick selection tool to select the background, excluding the main subject. I filled this background using the paintbrush tool in black to create a complete black background, mimicking Carmona's style of using a professional, "staged" background. I originally captured the image in natural lighting but by increasing the contrast and saturation, this increased the green colour and a darker shadow across the subject. I then altered the image using the curves edit and by reducing the darker level, this increased the brightness in the most appropriate areas which appeared as though artificial lighting had been used as a certain section on the subject was brighter than other areas as though a professional light was shone. I then used the paintbrush tool in black once again, and decreased the hardness completely to 0. I also decreased the size of the brush and gently brushed against the edges of the subject which helped blend in the subject to the background and further added slight shadows to the edges of the subject. To finish, I used the sharpening tool and sharpened the areas that were most visible, which was the brightest area of the image. This gave a high-resolution finish.
Edward Weston
Weston uses something as ordinary as vegetables to display an eye-catching, eerie image. I am inspired by his work as my theme is Light & Dark and I am focusing on displaying the different lighting within food. By introducing different lighting's and darkness in his images, Weston creates an image far from the original reality of the subject displayed by transforming peppers or pieces of lettuce into something rather unique and quite flawless. He uses brighter lighting to accentuate certain aspects of his subject and significantly increasing the quality and overall depth of colour- in this case they are fully unsaturated images once again emphasising the dismal, almost cynical setting he constantly portrays. By introducing a black and white photographer into my work, this has given me a variety of ideas that I am able to choose and create a mixture of distinct images that I could merge together as a final piece. This has prevented any limitations as I am able to incorporate any style as the photographers are very contrasting between one another however subsequently use the same idea of using different lighting's and shadows to create their images. I will adapt on Weston's style of photography by replicating the same image but altering the lighting/shadows to show that by adjusting these areas, it can help develop the same image, into different images each with a unique balance and composition.
Original photographs in the style of Edward Weston:
Unedited:
I captured all photos in natural lighting which will enable me to produce high-quality images whilst being able to adjust different edits on Adobe Photoshop to make an almost "staged" appearance as to how Weston does. I aim to originally use natural lighting (what I have used above) and alter this using a variety of edits to transform it to artificial lighting. My main focus was on different types of vegetables including lettuce, bitter gourd (karela), cauliflower, okra (lady finger) and also okra but chopped. I captured the okra in different lighting's as you can see, I adjusted the camera brightness as high so the detailed hairs were visible enough, or I completely dimmed the brightness so a dark green colour was only visible whilst the natural highlights and shines were also visible which are not usually visible when I increase the overall brightness.
Edited:
Overall for these images, by altering the levels/brightness/contrast slightly, at different positions, it has developed a variety of contrasting images, displaying different areas of Light & Dark within each image.
Photo 1- I began by decreasing the overall brightness which would be the starting point to the development of the photo. Using the adjustments bar I adjusted the levels so that the darker areas would be more vibrantly displayed whereas the lighter areas (that were generally too exposed to light) were dimmed creating an overall balance of the photo. I then increased the contrast so that darker details in the photo (the drop of water on the body) would be enhanced- not lightened but were visibly bolder and a touch more sharp. Once I was satisfied with the overall composition of the image, I completely decreased the saturation to create a black and white image which not only suited well in the style of Weston's work (black and white) this further heightened the balance in the photo as the original composition of the photo (without decreasing the saturation completely) was edited very suitably to have a black and white finish. I then used the quick selection tool and outlined the background (everything that was not an okra such as the bowl they were in and the little details between each okra). Using the paintbrush tool I filled in these areas in black which ultimately resulted in a complete black background which created a "staged" appearance as though artificial lighting was used. I finalised the image by using the sharpening tool to add detail on to the tiny hairs as well as other details such as the drops of water. I also sharpened the areas that were more exposed to light than other areas to create a high definition image.
Photo 2/3- I used the black and white effect in the adjustments bar to create a completely black and white image. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined the background only, so that the lettuce piece was the main subject and focus in the image. I carefully cut round the edges of the leaf, decreasing in size around the more difficult areas to outline. This would enable me to create a clear, defined image, free of potential harsh lines which would affect the upcoming process of filling these areas to create a background. Using the paintbrush tool, I filled in these areas so that the background was completely dark and so that the centre of attention was solely focused on the leaf itself. After this, I adjusted the levels so the overall composition of the photo was well balanced- the highly exposed areas would balance with the darker areas that were usually hidden. I highly benefitted from this editing tool as it increased the depth and intensity of the image. As well as balancing the subject, it blended the rich, bold background (that I previously filled in) with the edges of the subject so that the main subject fit well and ultimately covered the fact that the background was actually edited in to mimic the idea that artificial lighting has been used, whereas, in reality, natural lighting was used as the original lighting. With Photo 3, I increased the size of the image upwards, and filled this in using the black paintbrush tool. I did this as the edges of the leaves would appear more apparent and striking, I used the sharpening tool across the edges of the cauliflower leaf piece to finish the edit which created a professional image. I also used this tool on the details on the subject which were the creases, folds and almost vessel-like lines engraved on the leaf which increased the resolution and clarity. For Photo 3, this sharpened the small detailed drops of water which were added for effect.
Photo 4- To create a black and white effect, I used the black and white filter. I then used the quick selection tool to select around the areas that I did not want appearing which was the original background as I aimed to create a "staged" look once again, which meant that the background was filled in with black using the paintbrush tool. I adjusted the size of the quick selection tool so that I carefully outlined the edges of the main subject to create a high quality image without any harsh/crooked lines. This made it easier to fill in the background as at the forefront, the outline of the cauliflower was perfect which meant that it was not necessary for me to return back and go over certain areas with the paint brush tool to soften the edges. I then increased the contrast of the image which added an increase in depth and definition, particularly between the separation between the leaves which were originally dark, however this increased this darkness creating a bolder, intense effect. The centre of the image, where the cauliflower was positioned, had a high exposure to light, therefore, I used the quick selection tool to outline the centre only and decreased the brightness of this area whilst increasing the highlights so that it blended evenly with the rest of the image. I then adjusted the levels to completely balance the arrangement of the photo which increased the areas far too dark and vice versa. This further increased the richness of the image by increasing the overall quality as the detail on the leaves were appearing more visibly. To finalise the image, I brushed the sharpening tool over the folds and creases which sharpened the details on the leaves. I also sharpened around the edges around the subject so it was visibly more prominent in those areas.
Photo 5- I began by reducing the colouration of the image by using the black and white effect. Using the quick selection tool, I traced around the background and filled this in using the paintbrush tool in black. The main subject was only remaining in the image as the unwanted background objects were hidden under the black paint tool. Once again, this created an image as though it was captured in artificial lighting which is Weston's ideal choice. I carefully cut round the edges of the leaf, decreasing in size around the more difficult areas to outline. This would enable me to create a clear, defined image, free of potential harsh lines. Adjusting the levels revealed certain contrasts that were not visible before which helped immensely in creating an image with high definition and quality. The fact that the image was firstly edited to create a black and white effect further increased the effect of adjusting the levels as the different positions had a large impact on the overall image since it was black and white. The different edits used on the image were more intense and bold as the overall lighting of the image was quite dismal so the darker and lighter areas were balanced equally between one another. Additionally, by creating a dark background, the subject was at a fixed position with all attention so was visually quite bright. I then ran the sharpening tool over the details on the leaves so these areas were of high quality as well as the leaves on the edge that were almost blended into the background and were slightly blurry. I also sharpened the leaves that were slightly lifted creating a shadow underneath.
Photo 6- Using the quick selection tool, I traced around the background around the main subject which was the karele. It was important to do this extremely finely as the surface of the subjects were quite difficult to trace around perfectly so by adjusting the size of the tool, it enabled me to carve around these areas which made it easier for filling these areas in. I filled the selected area in using the paintbrush tool in black so achieve a full black background. I then deselected this area and used the black and white effect in the adjustments bar to completely transform the image to black and white. I then decreased the brightness and adjusted the levels which balanced out certain aspects of the image. The centre of each karela were brighter than other areas so this editing tool (levels) helped to slightly balance out these areas to create more shadows and decreased the amount of light exposed to these areas. I then increased the contrast which darkened the ideal areas even further. Also, by adjusting the levels, this helped blend the main subject into the black background as the lighter areas of the subject were now darkened evenly and merged suitably well into the background. I then cropped the full image slightly from the bottom so that the karele were in ultimate focus. Lastly, I sharpened the image across the edges so that the rough surface of each karela were equally as defined.
Photo 1- I began by decreasing the overall brightness which would be the starting point to the development of the photo. Using the adjustments bar I adjusted the levels so that the darker areas would be more vibrantly displayed whereas the lighter areas (that were generally too exposed to light) were dimmed creating an overall balance of the photo. I then increased the contrast so that darker details in the photo (the drop of water on the body) would be enhanced- not lightened but were visibly bolder and a touch more sharp. Once I was satisfied with the overall composition of the image, I completely decreased the saturation to create a black and white image which not only suited well in the style of Weston's work (black and white) this further heightened the balance in the photo as the original composition of the photo (without decreasing the saturation completely) was edited very suitably to have a black and white finish. I then used the quick selection tool and outlined the background (everything that was not an okra such as the bowl they were in and the little details between each okra). Using the paintbrush tool I filled in these areas in black which ultimately resulted in a complete black background which created a "staged" appearance as though artificial lighting was used. I finalised the image by using the sharpening tool to add detail on to the tiny hairs as well as other details such as the drops of water. I also sharpened the areas that were more exposed to light than other areas to create a high definition image.
Photo 2/3- I used the black and white effect in the adjustments bar to create a completely black and white image. Using the quick selection tool, I outlined the background only, so that the lettuce piece was the main subject and focus in the image. I carefully cut round the edges of the leaf, decreasing in size around the more difficult areas to outline. This would enable me to create a clear, defined image, free of potential harsh lines which would affect the upcoming process of filling these areas to create a background. Using the paintbrush tool, I filled in these areas so that the background was completely dark and so that the centre of attention was solely focused on the leaf itself. After this, I adjusted the levels so the overall composition of the photo was well balanced- the highly exposed areas would balance with the darker areas that were usually hidden. I highly benefitted from this editing tool as it increased the depth and intensity of the image. As well as balancing the subject, it blended the rich, bold background (that I previously filled in) with the edges of the subject so that the main subject fit well and ultimately covered the fact that the background was actually edited in to mimic the idea that artificial lighting has been used, whereas, in reality, natural lighting was used as the original lighting. With Photo 3, I increased the size of the image upwards, and filled this in using the black paintbrush tool. I did this as the edges of the leaves would appear more apparent and striking, I used the sharpening tool across the edges of the cauliflower leaf piece to finish the edit which created a professional image. I also used this tool on the details on the subject which were the creases, folds and almost vessel-like lines engraved on the leaf which increased the resolution and clarity. For Photo 3, this sharpened the small detailed drops of water which were added for effect.
Photo 4- To create a black and white effect, I used the black and white filter. I then used the quick selection tool to select around the areas that I did not want appearing which was the original background as I aimed to create a "staged" look once again, which meant that the background was filled in with black using the paintbrush tool. I adjusted the size of the quick selection tool so that I carefully outlined the edges of the main subject to create a high quality image without any harsh/crooked lines. This made it easier to fill in the background as at the forefront, the outline of the cauliflower was perfect which meant that it was not necessary for me to return back and go over certain areas with the paint brush tool to soften the edges. I then increased the contrast of the image which added an increase in depth and definition, particularly between the separation between the leaves which were originally dark, however this increased this darkness creating a bolder, intense effect. The centre of the image, where the cauliflower was positioned, had a high exposure to light, therefore, I used the quick selection tool to outline the centre only and decreased the brightness of this area whilst increasing the highlights so that it blended evenly with the rest of the image. I then adjusted the levels to completely balance the arrangement of the photo which increased the areas far too dark and vice versa. This further increased the richness of the image by increasing the overall quality as the detail on the leaves were appearing more visibly. To finalise the image, I brushed the sharpening tool over the folds and creases which sharpened the details on the leaves. I also sharpened around the edges around the subject so it was visibly more prominent in those areas.
Photo 5- I began by reducing the colouration of the image by using the black and white effect. Using the quick selection tool, I traced around the background and filled this in using the paintbrush tool in black. The main subject was only remaining in the image as the unwanted background objects were hidden under the black paint tool. Once again, this created an image as though it was captured in artificial lighting which is Weston's ideal choice. I carefully cut round the edges of the leaf, decreasing in size around the more difficult areas to outline. This would enable me to create a clear, defined image, free of potential harsh lines. Adjusting the levels revealed certain contrasts that were not visible before which helped immensely in creating an image with high definition and quality. The fact that the image was firstly edited to create a black and white effect further increased the effect of adjusting the levels as the different positions had a large impact on the overall image since it was black and white. The different edits used on the image were more intense and bold as the overall lighting of the image was quite dismal so the darker and lighter areas were balanced equally between one another. Additionally, by creating a dark background, the subject was at a fixed position with all attention so was visually quite bright. I then ran the sharpening tool over the details on the leaves so these areas were of high quality as well as the leaves on the edge that were almost blended into the background and were slightly blurry. I also sharpened the leaves that were slightly lifted creating a shadow underneath.
Photo 6- Using the quick selection tool, I traced around the background around the main subject which was the karele. It was important to do this extremely finely as the surface of the subjects were quite difficult to trace around perfectly so by adjusting the size of the tool, it enabled me to carve around these areas which made it easier for filling these areas in. I filled the selected area in using the paintbrush tool in black so achieve a full black background. I then deselected this area and used the black and white effect in the adjustments bar to completely transform the image to black and white. I then decreased the brightness and adjusted the levels which balanced out certain aspects of the image. The centre of each karela were brighter than other areas so this editing tool (levels) helped to slightly balance out these areas to create more shadows and decreased the amount of light exposed to these areas. I then increased the contrast which darkened the ideal areas even further. Also, by adjusting the levels, this helped blend the main subject into the black background as the lighter areas of the subject were now darkened evenly and merged suitably well into the background. I then cropped the full image slightly from the bottom so that the karele were in ultimate focus. Lastly, I sharpened the image across the edges so that the rough surface of each karela were equally as defined.
DIFFERENT EDITS IN THE STYLE OF EDWARD WESTON THAT I HAVE
PRODUCED SHOWCASING THE THEME:
LIGHT & DARK
I have produced 2 different edits for each photo (excluding the original edit) to show my techniques on creating different edits using the theme Light & Dark. By increasing the exposure or contrast, this has enabled me to produce very different edits of the same image that are utterly dependent on altering how light the image is edited or how dark the image is edited. For Photo 1 - Edit 2, by decreasing the brightness and evenly leveling out between the exposure and contrast, it has resulted in a different colour of the tone in the image. As for my original edit (Photo 1) it is completely black and white, Photo 1 - Edit 2 has changed the black and white to an edit with a smudge of colour. It has browner undertones however visibly still remains black and white which ultimately shows how amending the levels of brightness and darkness within the photo, has resulted in a completely different edit but additionally, with a different shade of colour. I have created sets of photos to show the development of each photo at its stage and comparably how different each image becomes when only slightly altering the editing tools positioned in the adjustments bar (brightness, levels, contrast, shadows, highlights, exposure, etc). By modifying each image, by focusing on how much lightness or darkness can be displayed, the same areas on each photo are very different and completely change how the original image was once displayed. Each image is quite different as some images are sharper, more exposed to light (creating a lighter image), less exposed to light (creating a darker image) or even a change in colour.
Rain Creative Lab
https://www.raincreativelab.com/site/#!/project/food-x
The images display a variety of different vegetables and fruit carefully positioned and edited using Photoshop. The creators carefully thought about how to portray every portion of the photo as these images are not taken from a camera but are actually a composition of various photos "stitched" together to form a whole using Photoshop. I am intrigued by the style of the photos as the images are constantly altered to change the volume between the objects or the overall shadows, lightening and darkening in certain aspects. It is as though artificial lighting has been used when realistically the creators have edited and fined every detail using Photoshop to make it seem artificial which is what I have constantly used myself within several other photos to create the perfect "staged" impression. The use of the text edited on top adds a unique finish to the image and looks as thought it is used for advertisement purposes which helps me to develop on my own ideas in my final piece. The use of vegetables and fruits used works well with my own work as my focus is fruits and vegetables and displaying the different pops of vibrant colours will be a key aim within my own work.
Original photographs taken in the style of the Rain Creative Lab project:
Unedited:
All of my original photographs were taken using natural lighting but have been manipulated (edited images below) to seem as though artificial lighting was the initial light source. In the style of the images produced by Rain Creative Lab, I used different fruits and vegetables as the main subject for each image. I used a black shawl to act as the background which was ideal as the dark background gave a more professional feel to the image and gave it a "staged" look as though artificial lighting was used. As I was capturing the images, I altered the brightness setting to achieve the best possible look. As well as showcasing a different type of fruit or vegetable, I also mixed in different fruits to accomplish a different look.
Edited:
I edited all of the images in the same way by firstly, cropping or expanding the image so that the subjects were visually in the best position and the actual photo was completely straightened without being at an angle. I then chose the best image with the lowest level of lighting which made the black background as dark as possible. I then increased the exposure which increased the lighter sections so that the subject was not too dark and visible enough. I then increased the contrast which increased the overall definition of each subject by increasing the colour to certain aspects that were in need of a boost of colour. I was fixated on the contrast editing tool as I wanted the subjects to appear in their best possible quality without darkening the image too much- just enough for the black shawl positioned as the black background to stay firmly hidden to create an image as though the initial lighting was artificial. I then adjusted the clarity of the photo to maintain the strong colours however to slightly dim them so they were not extremely over powerful against such a bold background. Adjusting the levels maintained the balance between the darker aspects that had uneven shadows, particularly the darkness between each fruit/vegetable and the areas that were more exposed to light. Once I was satisfied with the images, I used the sharpening tool to create an enhanced image tuned to perfection. To add on the text, I sent all the edited images to myself via email, and added text using an iOS app on my iPad. I used the Moldiv app to add on the names of each fruit/vegetable displayed in the image using the font Didot-bold. I altered the spacing between each letter and the overall size of the text to replicate the exact type the Rain Creative Lab use.
Design Idea
Photos I will use to show my design ideas merged in the style of all photographers:
Edited in the style of all three photographers:
For my design idea, I chose to use the same images in the style of Carmona and Weston, and also merge in my third photographer, Rain Creative Lab. I accomplished this by using different fonts on the photos and labelling them, exactly in that style. I also included a small, written section under the title of the type of object it is that I have labelled which resembles a type of image that would be used for promotion/advertisement purposes. Editing images in the style of Rain Creative Lab has developed my ideas substantially due to the unique style of photography they create. My aim is to showcase the beauty of different types of food, particularly with vegetables which is the theme that I will be using in my final piece. This design idea has helped me decide exactly how I will be able to create such images in my final piece. It is as though I am promoting the different types of food in my own store as the written extract on the image is full of persuasive techniques to try and allure in an audience. I have also stated facts about the sources of these food which once again, displays the very persuading, factual information, revealing a set of images used for advertisement. I will develop this further in my final piece and create a range of different images in the style of an advert.