Slow Shutter Speeds

Altering the shutter speed of your camera can create some amazing effects if you've got a tripod and something that makes some decent light!

I bought some sparklers for bonfire night and me and my friend Will took some pictures;

These two were the best out of the first attempt, we took them at Otterspool Promenade where it was very windy and cold so we gave up after about 10 minutes! They were taken at f/14, 3.2 seconds, ISO 100.

f/14, 3.2 seconds, ISO 100

The rest were taken in my garden the next day when it wasn't as cold or windy so we got some better shots. The ones of me were taken by Will, you can see some of his pictures on his Flikr.

f/6.3, 6 Seconds, ISO 400

f/4, 10 Seconds, ISO 400

These two are the results of my first attempts at drawing with light, I had to use my phone because I didn't have anything else at the time so it was quite difficult to get right!

I took this of my boyfriend in Wales on Valentines Day, 2010. It was taken using my Canon 450D with a 50mm lens. I could go on forever about how much I love this photograph, but I am not going to be that guy!

I don't often say it, but he is definitely my favourite.

Delamere Forest

Finally got round to scanning all of my medium format negs from Delamere Forest and had a mess around with them on photoshop. I used some different filters and changed the levels slightly

These are some of my favourite photographs which I took for an assignment on non urban landscapes. They were all shot on my Bronica and as you can see from the results it's an amazing camera! I think i'm finally coming round to Photoshop, I used to absolutely hate using it but since I've found tutorials like THIS ONE it's been a lot easier to use and a lot more fun!

Blink 182

I got bored tonight, so I decided to scan in the album sleeve from Blink 182's Enema of the State in bits and then I messed around with brushes in Photoshop sticking it back together

I used sticky tape brushes from THIS great blog, and brushes i've used previously for putting marks on the image to make it look old and worn. I think it turned out alright!

If you use it please credit me and don't steal it! Thanks!

35mm; Types of Camera and How to Use Them

35mm is a great place to start if you want to get involved in film photography, as it is much easier than medium or large format in many ways.

So How Does it Work?

If you've used a DSLR with manual settings before, you shouldn't find it too difficult to use a 35mm film camera, as the principles are pretty much the same. If the aperture and shutter speed settings aren't correct, your image will come out either under or overexposed, resulting in something like this;

With these of images, I had set the ISO wrong on my light meter (set it to 400 when the film speed was 100) which resulted in the images being extremely underexposed (which is where the bright areas of the image are effectively all white - or 'blown out'). You can tell they have been developed properly because the edges of the film are black, and the writing is perfectly visible. Unfortunatly with overexposed film, there isn't much you can do about it.

So one of the most important things to remember (which I often forget!) is what speed the film is. It may be useful to make a note of the film speed when you put it in to the camera, so that if you want to finish off the roll at a later date, you'll know which settings the camera needs to be at. Another thing which you'll need to remember when loading a film in to a 35mm camera is that the camera has an ISO setting which is usually next to the sutter release. If you pull it upwards, you will be able to turn it to apply the ISO setting. IT IS IMPORTANT that the correct ISO is set before you begin taking pictures. THIS WIKIPEDIA PAGE is quite useful in explaining exposure settings.

Setting up the Camera.

   To load the film, pull A up and the back will pop open.

     The film fits upside down in to the B section, and you can then push A back down to hold it in place. Pull the film along the back of the camera towards C. There is a spool with a slit down the middle, which the film will fit in to. The sprockets running along each side of the film will hook on to those running along the sides of the camera, which will drag the film along when D is pulled to the right (this winds on the film). Once the film is hooked on to the spool, press the shutter and then pull D to check whether the film is moving. If so, the film back can then be closed, and you can continue to press the shutter and wind on the film until a number 1 appears in the window on the top of the camera, which indicates that the film is ready for the first shot. As with the medium format camera, there are a lot of youtube tutorials which show you how to do this. Here is one that may help.

Finding a decent camera.

  Getting your hands on a 35mm camera is very easy (depending on the type you want and how much you are willing to spend!). Ebay is great for second hand cameras, i've bought a few from there myself. This is a 35mm lomo camera priced between £7.99-£9.99, and if you scroll down the page, it shows you some of the results of shooting with this particular camera. This would be a great for a first time user, it is a lomography camera and the images produced may not be to everyones taste. Lomo cameras are mostly made out of flimsy plastic (which is why they are so cheap) and tend to lack in focus, resulting in a dream-like image. If you require more information about lomography, here is a detailed section from my blog.

 Most standard 35mm film cameras look like this:

 There are many many different types of 35mm camera. I have an Olympus OM10 (pictured above) which is a great camera, but there are some other excellent cameras made by a variety of different companies such as Pentax, Canon, Nikon, and of course, Leica. Most of them are very similar in design, so once you've got the hang of one you'll probably be able to use them all. However, Leicas are slightly different.

One big difference is that the viewfinder is on the left of the camera rather than in the middle. Reportage photographers used these cameras a lot because it allowed them to look at what they were photographing with the left eye while they had their right eye to the viewfinder. I have never had the pleasure of using a Leica as they can be very expensive, but they are definitely something which I will be looking in to in the future. If you'd like to see some of the results of shooting with a Leica, this Flikr group is for Leica users and has thousands of photographs taken with various Leica cameras. You can also go to Magnum Photos and search for specific cameras to see the results.

   I would highly recommend an Olympus to anyone who was interested in buying a 35mm camera. It is very easy to load the film in to and is easy to use. The only thing you need to be aware of when using a 35mm camera is that if it doesn't have a built in light meter, you will need to know the correct camera settings for shutter speed and aperture. I have a Sekonic light meter which does this for me, and you can get that HERE for about £100, although you can get some cheaper versions. Light meters are also great for studio photography, as well as any type of film photography. Whenever I take my cameras out, my light meter comes with me.
 
 35mm Photographs. 

  Below is a selection of photographs that I have taken with my Olympus OM10

For more of my photographs taken with a 35mm camera, see my Flikr set 

Linda McCartney

This is the second part of my report in which I compared the work of Annie Leibovitz and Linda McCartney. Most of the information came from her book Linda McCartney's Sixties: Portrait of an Era, which again, is a fascinating read and contains absolutely beautiful photographs.

    Unknown to most as a photographer, Linda McCartney produced exceptionally beautiful beautiful images of some of the most influential people in the music and fashion industries in the 1960s. Never before had so many people wanted to be a part of this culture, and with photographs like McCartney’s, it is easy to see why it was so idolised. Her images of some of the most important musicians in the world, which were candidly shot and taken from a fine art perspective rather than from a photographer's, gave the viewer an insight into their closely guarded private lives that other photographers did not have access to. Her friendship with them gave her the opportunity to photograph them in a way that was seen as a friend simply taking a few photographs, rather than a photographer taking pictures for a magazine or to sell for their own personal gain. It is extremely obvious to see that the people McCartney photographed were at total ease with her presence, particularly when looking at images of the Beatles.

    Linda McCartney, formerly Linda Eastman, was born in New York in 1941.[1] Her father was a lawyer who represented fine artists and musicians, and so she grew up around such people as Willem de Kooning and Hoagy Carmichael.[2] With these great influences in her life, it is easy to see why she became so interested in fine art and photography. She studied Art History at the University of Arizona[3], which was where she first became interested in the art of photography.

    After she had finished college, she moved back to New York and got a job working as a receptionist for Town and Country Magazine. It was here that she picked up an invitation to a press conference for the Rolling Stones on a boat called the SS Sea Panther. As she thought that no one at the magazine would be interested in this opportunity, she took the invitation and went herself. She was unaware as to why she was the only photographer ushered onto the boat along with the press, and she had no idea that this opportunity would lead to her being one of the most demanded photographers of the 1960s. When she returned to work, she found that she had every magazine present that day asking for copies of her photographs. The Rolling Stones’ manager had even asked her if he would purchase the negatives from her, to which she replied “I told him he could have as many copies as he wanted, but I was not selling the negatives”[4].

  

    McCartney had a knack for always being there at the right moment. She claimed that they key was to always have her camera with her, as she never wanted to miss an opportunity. She shamelessly admitted that she had a severe lack of technical knowledge, and that most of her photographs were taken in black and white, as it was easier to compensate for an incorrect exposure. The photographs taken of The Rolling Stones helped her to move on from her job at Town and Country and become a freelance photographer. She developed fond friendships with many bands and artists at the time, such as Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, and most famously, The Beatles, and her photographs have featured in such infamous magazines as Rolling Stone.

    Her relationship with Paul McCartney helped her to gain a close friendship with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, enabling her to capture intimate photographs of their life in the way that no one else could. Her documentation of the music and fashion scene at the time is extremely unique, and it is very easy to gain a sense of what it must have been like at the time to be involved in such an aspired to group of people. She created photographs that could not be replicated, and images that could be considered as art and not simply a photograph. They show the freedom of spirit that was felt by many, despite extreme political disasters such as the assassination of JF Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and the threat of a nuclear war(after the US government discovered Cuban and Soviet governments placing nuclear missiles in Cuba[5] in 1962). This created a state of panic throughout the world, especially in the Britain, as the government had agreed to let the USA place nuclear missiles on the United Kingdom, so as to be closer to Russia if a war broke out.
 

    When looking at McCartney’s photographs, the troubles of the 1960’s seem like a completely different decade. She had an ability to capture some of the most idolised people in a way that makes them look like they were the most important people in the world.

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[1] http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01185/arts-graphics-2008_1185494a.jpg

[2] McCartney, L, 1993, Linda McCartney’s Sixties: Portrait of an Era, First Edition, Bulfinch

[3] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0565371/bio

[4]McCartney, L, 1993, Linda McCartney’s Sixties: Portrait of an Era, First Edition, Bulfinch

[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_cuban_missile_01.shtml

Annie Leibovitz

This is an extract taken from a case study in which I compared the work of what I believe to be two of the greatest female photographers, Annie Leibovitz and Linda McCartney. Below is the section on Annie Leibovitz. The images were taken from the book Annie Leibovitz At Work which is a fantastic read.

    Described as one of the greatest American portrait photographers, Annie Leibovitz has produced some of the most controversial photographs of her time. Images such as a naked and heavily pregnant Demi Moore featured on the cover of Vanity Fair and the picture of Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk were rarely seen on the pages of magazines in the early 90s. Over the last 40 years she has become heavily involved in the fashion, music and advertising industries and has become one of the most critically acclaimed and well known photographers of all time.

    Leibovitz trained as a painter at the San Francisco Art Institute, but stated that “photography seemed like a faster medium than painting”[1]. She attended photography night classes and a workshop during her years at college, and it was those that led her to realise that photography was what she wanted to do. During the Vietnam War, she went to Israel with her camera to take some pictures, and also photographed anti-war rallies and protests against the War and the invasion of Cambodia. Her boyfriend at the time persuaded her to take these images to the art director of Rolling Stone and one of her images of a demonstration at City Hall was used on the cover of a special issue dedicated to campus riots and protests.

    Coming from an artist’s background, Leibovtiz was taught never to crop or edit her photographs, but now she was working for a magazine, she had to take more of an active role in her images, as they would only have been changed by an editor in a way which she did not approve of. Her early work consisted mainly of reportage images, and she considered herself more of a photojournalist than a portraitist in her early years. In regards to music, she stated, “id missed the most important moment. I had never photographed Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin, both of whom died in the fall of 1970”[2], to which it seems she was quite disappointed about. However, she did get the opportunity to photograph one of the most musically and visually entertaining rock and roll bands of all time when she toured with The Rolling Stones in the early 1970s.

    Her first opportunity to photograph them came when they toured in San Francisco in 1971. She went along with them while they played in a few different cities, and three years later was asked to be their tour photographer. “Mick asked me to be their Cartier-Bresson. I’m not sure what he meant by that”[3]. As Cartier-Bresson is renowned for always capturing the exact moment when something wonderful happens, I believe that Jagger wished for Leibovitz to do the same for him and his band. During the tour, she became heavily involved in the life of a rock and roll band, feeling that she should participate in whatever they were doing because as their photographer, she was now part of it. This involved a lot of drugs and alcohol and concluded with her ending up in rehab when the tour had finished. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. It was unbelievably stupid of me to pick that group of men in that situation to decide to become part of something”[4], however, she claims that having her camera by her side saved her, by reminding her of who she was and what she was there to do, saying that it separated her from them. These images of the Rolling Stones, I find, are particularly beautiful. She has captured, in Mick Jagger’s words, their movement perfectly. Having to adapt to the lighting used on the stage must have been extremely difficult, but she produced exceptionally stunning images with what she had to work with.

    Annie Leibovtiz is particularly notorious for her controversial photographs and approach to taking them. There are well known stories of her upsetting the Queen by asking her to remove her tiara during a photo shoot, (which turned out to be a false accusation that the BBC made a formal apology for) and the image of a heavily pregnant Demi Moore shocked America in the early 90’s, with many supermarkets refusing to sell the issue even with a paper cover to disguise the photograph. These images are a bold statement and show Leibovitz’s creative and artistic side, as well as her no nonsense approach to producing a great photograph.  She has produced many eccentric and visually provocative images of painted artists and actors, such as the images of Steve Martin and Keith Haring below.

    Working for renowned fashion magazines such as Vanity Fair, Leibovitz has been given the opportunity to do what she loves with an extremely large budget, allowing her to produce some of the most beautiful photographs ever seen in the fashion and commercial advertising industries. Although she has stated that reportage photography means the most to her, she cannot deny her talent for creating awe inspiring high fashion images. Her keen eye for what would make a particularly interesting photograph and her artistic side has led to her becoming one of the most critically acclaimed and most demanded photographer of not only her generation but of American photographic history. Although I prefer her early images shot on film with very little editing, there is no denying that her most recent photographs are visually and technically astounding.

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[1] Page 13, line 6, Leibovitz, A, 2008, Annie Leibovitz At Work, Second Edition, Great Britain, Jonathon Cape

[2] Page 22, line 4, Leibovitz, A, 2008, Annie Leibovitz At Work, Second Edition, Great Britain, Jonathon Cape

[3] Page 33, line 15, Leibovitz, A, 2008, Annie Leibovitz At Work, Second Edition, Great Britain, Jonathon Cape

[4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u34EcDiHVgY, from the documentary Life through a Lens, 2007

Airbrushing and Liquifying Continued

I used some more images from the set of my friend Allie to practice with the liquifying tool. Here are some of the results;

I chose this image to work with because the angle was quite unflattering and made her look a lot bigger than she actually is. The tattoo on her arm is a little disfigured as a result of liquifying it so that is something I will need to work on.

This was taken at a much better angle than the previous shot and therefore didn't require much editing, although I slightly liquified the face, waist and legs.

This image is from a test shoot which I did with Steve Collinson who is an amazing fashion photographer from Liverpool. He taught me how to use lighting equipment properly to achieve high end fashion shots. With this image I made the hair and lips fuller and re-shaped the eyebrows, as well as airbrushing it using THIS tutorial. I altered the nose slightly so now the shadow doesn't quite fit, and although I tried to correct it I havn't been able to do so.

Nick Knight

Nick Knight is probably one of my favourite photographers. I first came across his work when I was doing my final major project. Knight photographed skinheads in east London in the late 1970s and early 80s. His photographs were a documentation of what was happening at the time. Hostility towards the government and police, violence, political involvement, tattoo culture and the influential music scene were all captured. The photographs were featured in his book "Skinhead", which is essentially a walk-through guide on "how to be a skinhead". I absolutely love these photographs. They are a no frills look at the subculture and they have nothing to hide.

Nick Knight's website

These are just a few images from the book (Knight, N, 1982, Skinhead, Omnibus Press). It is an extremely interesting read as it gives you a history of the subculture as well as a guide to clothes, style and music, and of course the photographs are outstanding. 

Although Knight started out photographing skinheads, he is now much more well known for his work in the fashion industry, producing incredible photographs like these; 

Nick Knight's website.

His clientele includes Christian Dior, Swarovski, Calvin Klein, British and Paris Vogue, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen to name a few, and he launched his award winning fashion and photography website SHOWstudio in 2000. 

Knight is truly one of the greatest photographers of our time. He has been extremely influential in the world of fashion photography and continues to produce absolutely amazing photographs.