Systems and processes

Colour Management

To make an image look its best all the time, the monitor or display needs to be "profiled" so that the image looks the same on every display or monitor it is shown on.

The best way to start off with a good profiled monitor/ display is to look through the reviews done by both the company/store or even user review posted by people who have actually purchased the monitor and run calibration tests on it.

below are a few already recommended monitors with a good profiled and universal colour calibration.

• Apple cinema display

• LaCie 321

• Eizo ColourEdge 

The examples above are at the top of the well profiled monitors and so are very expensive but these are just to give an idea of the type of monitors. 

Another tip is that Laptops do not particularly calibrate well with a colour profiler if a laptop is necessary the best colour profiled laptop out of the laptops available are Apples own macbook range, but even those arnt as good as an actual monitor.

The best solid calibration devices tend to be a puck or a spyder. these read the colour swatches off a monitor and then create there own custom monitor profile.

the most popular of the calibration devices are;

• X-Rite Eye-One Display 2

• DataColour Spyder3 pro

• Huey Pro

The best way to calibrate a monitor is to use a dark room with plain, neutral walls. This is because the colour of a wall could reflect onto the monitor and affect the calibration process, although most calibration software comes with a manual and tips on how to set up properly.

Two-Faced

Our brief today was to take simple portrait images of our partner using any lighting setup and facial expressions wanted and then take the image chosen into photoshop and "face-mask" it.

a "face-mask" is when you cut half way down an image/face and then flip it over to either the right or left side.

this creates a symmetrical effect so that one side of the face becomes both sides of the face.

this particular technique is generally used in the model/fashion photography industry to create the "perfect" all symetrtical face. but obviosuly the model then becomes, false and people then start to admire a model that no one could achieve the look of because he/she was made digitally.

although the left and right face's don't look right, the overall experiment was helpful as my skills will expand in coming months.

the above image is my experiment with my model for the day.

although after a "face-mask" my model does not look right, from there, photographers and editors then go further by making sure the hair is in proportion and looks right with the face and then they re space the eyes so that the whole face is to a "normal" standard and is easily recognisable.

i was not able to go into that kind of editing, as this is as far as my "face-masking" skills go, but im sure as time goes on my skills and knowledge in "face-masking" and other types of advanced photoshop editing will grow and expand.

Album Cover Brief

for this weeks brief we were tasked with choosing a song of our choice and making an album cover for the chosen song.

this was to be taken as a photograph then edited with added text layers in either Photoshop, Light room or Aperture.

this brief was to give an insight in to what we would be expected to accomplish on a normal day, which is a single day for a single brief and to have it completed at the end of the day the brief was set.

The song of my choice was "lil freak" by the artist "Usher"

the title said it all to me and i wanted a model who i would be able to turn into this weird, distorted figure but still remain as a woman that was recognisable.

to give the image of this "freak" i decided to put make-up on my model that would reflect this, i only put facial make-up on and on slightly around the eyes and the mouth to emphasise someone who is messy, crazy and strange.

after choosing which image to use as my base cover i began editing in aperture then finally adding light adjustments and text in photoshop. this is my first attempt.

First attempt

the first attempt for the album cover just seemed a bit too over-the-top for what i wanted and very busy and actually quite uneasy to look at, also the cover didn't really suit the tone and style of the artist and the actual song. so i decided to start again and use different editing techniques, this time only using aperture slightly and trying different filters on photoshop to see what results i would get.

The final cover

The above image is what i finally chose to use as my album cover.

there are a number of improvements over the first image that i was going to submit.

firstly the text looks a lot more professional and isn't too fancy, just right for an album cover

next, the sepia/brass over all colour gives a minimalistic feeling to the image and isn't too dark or bright to focus on and i have done away with the brushes and toned down the overall bustle of the image so that its easier to concentrate on, something that is very important within that industry so that potential buyers are not put off.

finally my model is a lot easier to look at, her hair seems a lot softer and her face is not as unsettling as was before and i have managed to keep a feminine feel but also keep to the true nature of the "freak" within the title. i have also made her eyes completely white and almost seem hollow, i decided this as it draws people right to the centre of the image.

Although the make-up cant actually be seen, the outlines of it are still there and without it, the image would not be as striking.

overall i am pleased with this experimental brief and what i have managed to accomplish within a day, going from receiving the brief, choosing a song, photographing a suitable cover and then finally fine tuning and editing it before submitting.

Camera Basics


As I studied photography at A-level, we were not taught much on the basic terminology of camera settings etc. such as "aperture" "f-stops" and "ISO"

For me to progress in both being able to talk through my images and actually improving my photographs i will have to understand these terms. This will be a quick explanation on such terms.

ISO

ISO is basically how sensitive the image sensor is to the amount of light you are looking at through the lens. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the lens will be and therefor images can be taken perfectly in high light situations.

ISO button on a Sony Alpha DSLR

APERTURE 

Aperture is basically the size of the opening of the camera lens.

When you hit the shutter button of your camera lens hole opens up that allows your camera catch an image of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole. The larger the hole the more light gets in and the smaller the hole the less light.

F-STOPS

F-stop is a measurement of Dynamic Range on a digital camera. F-stop simply means how much light exposure the digital camera is getting. 

Each measurement of how open or how closed an aperture is was given a name. That name is an F Stop. F-Stops are opposite to how far the lens is opening. For example to let in a lot of light and make the aperture larger, it might be an F-Stop of 4

On the other hand, if you want to reduce the amount of light out, the aperture might shrink to a small circle, only letting a small amount of light in on a setting of e.g. F-Stop 22

F-Stop and Aperture measurements

Studio Induction

photography isn't just about pressing the button on your camera to take a picture.

all things are considered

from angles to composition and lighting to styles

for our studio induction we were shown all the technical side photography has to offer when it comes to lighting and equipment.

this article will be a quick re-cap on the types of lighting available from the studio.

• beauty dish 

this lighting gives a soft glow to the subject being shot, however best results come from when focused on the face as the light gives a soft glow to skin tone and makes the colour of the skin seem more radiant.

• snoot

a snoot is a cone like piece of equipment that fits on the end of the lights to give a more focused and controlled ray of light so that whatever subject you are shooting, you are easily available to move the point of light to any desired location.

• honeycomb grid

again, this is another piece of equipment that fits to the lights and like the snoot gives light to a desired location of the object being photographed, but unlike the snoot, the honeycomb grid gives an even more accurate array of light and so results can be fine-tuned exactly to how you want.

• continuous light

this is simply a type of lighting that stays on and is the same type of light all the time 

• slave (wireless activator)

this small piece of equipment allows the photographer to control settings of the light e.g when it goes off or how dim or bright it is. this can also be helpful in self portraits so that lights and cameras can be activated whenever desired.

• work lights

these lights are long poles of light that are generally used in portraiture or modelling shots but can also be used for anything else due to how manual they can be.

the lights give a out a clean white light and are very lightweight so can be easily lifted and manoeuvred,

an example shown to us was on a persons face, the lights gave a beautiful soft glow to skin tones and also brightened and framed the eyes.

• soft boxes

again a simple piece of equipment, this type of lighting gives off a very clean, white and continuous type of light to the subject.

• polystyrene

polystyrene is used to give the lights something to bounce off and wash the studio in that particular type of light, usually the other side of the polystyrene is painted black so that opposite effects can be achieved like light being absorbed to create a darker light was in the studio.

• umbrella lights

these are just another type of light reflector but have a greater radius.

• sky-light

in the studio that we use, we have access to a sky-light that opens up (by any amount you want) and gives a general wash of natural light within the studio.

that was just a general re-cap on what types of equipment we were shown during our studio induction but i will be shown more as the months go on and as my photographic knowledge expands.

The following images are a few test shot photographs i took with the lighting set up (pictured above)  on a products table.