Semiotics

The above image is one taken during the Libyan revolution in 2011. There are a few meanings which we can presume the author meant. For starters, the truck the fighters are riding in, it shows the mish mash nature of the revolution, with journalists never failing to remind us that the rebels were little more than a glorified militia. Another signifier is the attire of the soldier in the foreground. He has some millitary attire, namely his camo jacket, but underneath he is wearing a football shirt, not the first photo of a Libyan rebel wearing such a shirt. I think the authors intentions were mainly to show how ill equipped the rebels were during the conflict. Viewers such as myself and others may see other things. For example the peace sign the rebel is showing is contradictory, and brings to my mind the film ‘Full Metal Jacket’ in which a soldier in Vietnam has born to kill written on his helmet, with a peace sign drawn next to it. There is of course the possibility that the soldier was aware of this contradiction, but its also possible he just sees it as a common western gesture. What comes to my mind as the signified are two things, the absurdity of war, signified by the soldiers gesture, and the intention to show the state of this army.

This photograph shows Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon in 1969. The photographer, Neil Armstrong, presumably took the photograph as a simple documentation of the mission. The obvious thing that are signified are the fact its taken in space, as signified by the space suit and space craft reflected in his visor. As well as the moon, as the gray dusty landscape signifies what many of us associate with the moon landings. There are also cultural signifiers the most obvious being the stars and stripes on his shoulder, but also astronauts which evoke thoughts of America more than any other culture or nation.

This photograph depicts Diego Maradona and his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal against England during the 1986 World Cup. The intentions of the author here are surely just to cover the football match, as he would not have known Maradona was about to try something so audacious. The signifiers of a large crowd, the kits and the football itself show its a football match. The significance of the signifiers in this image vary depending on what culture the viewer is from. If English for example, the signifier of Maradona mid leap with a hand in the air could evoke thoughts of Maradona as a cheater, as well as evoking outrage. But perhaps from an Argentine point of view it signifies the cheeky side of Maradona not the darker side. Also the fact the image was taken not long after the Falklands conflict bears significance as it could be seen as a form of poetic justice for Argentines.

The above photograph is known as ‘The Last Jew in Vinnitsa’ it depicts a Nazi soldier about to execute a jewish man over a mass grave as the rest of the soldiers watch. As the author was likely a member of the troop of Nazi soldiers, the photographers meanings could be that of triumph as this so called enemy is being killed, alongside hundreds of others. I think the signifiers would create feeling very different for the viewer. The Mass grave and Nazi uniform signify the holocaust and genocide. The look on the victims face can be seen as a signifier of defiance, he doesn’t look afraid or even angry, he seems to either have accepted his fate, or perhaps feels pity for the executioner as in his religion the soldier would be going to hell. I feel that the signifiers in this image would mean the same to most viewers, other than potential Nazi sympathizers, war, murder and the holocaust are the main things signified here.

http://libcom.org/library/signs-defeat-libyan-revolution

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/lost-moon-landing-tapes-discovered/

Making Selections

Above is a portrait of my niece Katie, which i will edit to show how selections are made on photoshop.

Here i have used the Magnetic Lasoo tool to select the blue of the eye, the intention is to change the eye colour. I used a feather setting of 0, as the blue and white contrast greatly meaning the tool can make a distinction between the pixels with greater ease.

Above you can see Hue and Saturation with which I will change the eye colour.Here the adjustments made are shown in Hue and Saturation.

This is the image with one eye a different colour.

This selection was made using the magic wand tool, with a tolerance of 10.

Above is the image after both eyes have had the colour adjusted, in this case both different colours.

Here i have selected the skin tone for adjustment, again using the magic wand tool with tolerance of 10.

Here I used the refine edge tool so that the difference between the area selected and not is not so drastic.

This is the refined selection being adjusted using Curves.

Above is the final image with both eye colour and skin tone adjusted.

Portraiture

Portraits can be of all sorts of styles, from controlled studio portraits to candid street photography. 

This image is of two of my friends and a man we met outside of the train station in Leeds. I didn’t even need to ask the gentleman if he wouldn’t mind me taking his photograph, as he insisted. A set up photo in the sense that the guys in the image are posing for the camera. I meant to simply take a basic photograph showing the appearance of the three.

This photograph shows two of the same subjects as before, only without the posing. I think this image works better, if a little underexposed. By taking the image when they weren’t expecting it the stances are natural and show more what these two are about. The candid method of taking a portrait is by far my favourite as it captures much better and organic portraits, for me at least. The friendly nature of the man made it easy for me to take candid photos as I didn’t have to either try to take the photo without being noticed, or risk the consequences if the man was potentially offended.

Traveler vs Tourist

The difference between people who are classed as a traveler versus those classed as a tourist can be quite blurred. Simply put, a traveler goes somewhere to experience what life is like in whatever country they may end up in. Whereas a tourist, again simply put, will go to places where things such as sightseeing and family activities are available, quite often at a resort in the Med.

The photography that comes from these endeavors are equally as different. As stated above a traveler wants to experience the destination for what it is, so a photographically inclined traveler’s photographs will reflect this more than the photographs of a tourist, who’s photos would primarily be of landmarks or family snaps.

Robert Frank was a Swiss street photographer associated with the American beat movement of the 1950s. His background as a street photographer stood him in good stead when setting out on his project known as ‘The Americans’. The beat movement is synonymous with travel, no one more so than the writer Jack Kerouac, so Frank’s work is a good example of travel photography.

The above image is an example of Frank’s photography as he traveled across the states, the image captures everyday life in the US. As said before, the lack of landmarks or such things in Frank’s images is one factor in making it travel photography rather than that of a tourist.

 

The above image is a classic example of a tourist picture. There is a landmark, in this case the Leaning Tower of Pisa and holiday makers posing in front of it. The number of people attempting to look as if they are holding up the tower make this picture stand out, everyone wants the same photograph.One amusing note is the lady in the foreground, who we assume is the main subject, is way off from appearing to hold up the tower.

Adjustment Layers

This is the image I will use adjustment layers to create two different moods within the photograph.

I will create a warmer feeling within the photograph using a Brightness and Contrast adjustment layer.

By increasing the contrast to 58 and by decreasing the brightness to -47, i think the image now feels a lot warmer, as if taken on a summer evening, as opposed to a winter day when it was actually taken. The contrast creates shadows you would get as the sun starts to set and just creates an overall warmer feeling.

To create a cooler feeling i decided to use a Hue and Saturation adjustment layer.

By decreasing the saturation a fair bit a lot of the colour is sapped from the image and by adjusting the hue to have a green bias it turns the blues a paler colder colour. The dominance of blue already present in the initial photograph enabled this image to be altered to feel colder easier. The overall image feels almost Alaskan, with the barrels and fences invoking thoughts of a whaling station or arctic oil plant, again adding to what makes the image feel cold.

Final Images

When the two adjusted images are placed together the contrast can be seen a lot more clearly.

News Photography

The re-election of Barack Obama as the US president is one of the biggest news stories of the past year. so inevitably will have been covered by news stations and papers across the world, with varying approaches to covering the story.

BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20233064

With the BBC being a British organisation, the coverage and images presented are about as neutral as possible. The story is matter of fact with stats and numbers about voting results being abundant. The images simply show Obama after the results remaining objective and fair in theway they present this news story.

FOX

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/18/electoral-college-vote-affirms-obama-re-election/

Fox News’ reaction to the same story is very different. Fox is based in the USA so it is alot more likely to be bias in its reaction. Fox news is known to be a supporter of the republican party, that of Obama’s opponent Mitt Romney, so is likely to take the side of the republicans. Many of the interviews are with members of the republican party so their side of the story is more likely to be heard. The videos show the bias also, the second one in particular, the presenter lets his emotions get the best of him. The first video shows Fox news’ clinging on to hope that its not over, even though a political expert tells them it is effectively so.

 

Extra links

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/22/picture-desk-live-barack-obama-inauguration

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-inauguration-photos-barack-michelle-dress-speech-2013-1?op=1

Portraits, Good and Bad

This portrait of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is quite possibly the most widely recognized piece of portraiture around. The image has a level of irony as it adorns t-shirts and posters as well as any other purchasable good it would fit on. The irony mentioned is the use of the image as a profit making device, shamelessly in many cases, contrasting greatly with Guevara’s Marxist ideals, the photograph was taken at a rally where Che and his comrade Fidel Castro were speaking about these ideals. This I believe makes this a bad portrait, if you go into the images context, rather than just looking at it as a portrait,  as it has been plastered left right and centre onto anything that can make money. So through this portrait much of Che Guevara’s ideals, be they seen as good or bad, are lost through relentless production of the photo.

This is an image of physicist Albert Einstein on his birthday. Having had photographs taken of him all day and presumably feeling fed up, he stuck his tongue out at the photographer rather than smiling yet again. The image was one of Einstein’s favourite personal images of himself and he requested several copies for his own use. It contrasts with the above image nicely as they are both quite similar, especially in a commercial sense, but rather than the disregard for the values behind the subject it portrays a light hearted side of the scientist, a side people already knew about. So it may have been plastered on posters in student bedrooms as well, but the image has a much more positive back story I feel.

RAW processing

RAW is a type of photographic file that contains thousands more pixels than the standard J-PEG. Camera RAW is a programme that allows you to convert your RAW files into a easier to store format, whilst also allowing all sorts of editing options.

This is the RAW opened in Camera RAW ready to be edited

Here I have used the basic settings to do a general overall edit of the picture. All the basics are included in this option, such as exposure and contrast.

This option ‘tone curve’ allows you to alter the tone using a curve graph, the sliders adjust the options that alter the tone such as highlights and shadows and displays it on the graph.

The ‘detail’ option allows you to sharpen and increase the detail on your photograph, this photograph didn’t really require much sharpening as no small details are contained within it.

This option allows you to alter the colours on the image. Here I have increased the blues to demonstrate what is possible here. You also have the option of turning the image grayscale if you wish.

Split toning allows you to change the tone on highlights and shadows specifically. I have demonstrated it by turning the highlights, ie the sky, purple and increasing the saturation. I have done the same with the shadows but turned them green instead.

‘Lens corrections’ allows you to edit any flaws that were the cause of the lens. It also allows certain effects such as distortion, as demonstrated above.

Here ‘effects’ is being used. It allows some basic effects to be added to your image such as grain, this means you can make the image look as though it was taken on film.

This is camera collaboration, it again allows you to edit shadows but also allows you to adjust the primary colours, to adjust the tone.

Genre

ALIENS (1986) SCI-FI/HORROR/ACTION

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=132330

Unlike it’s predeccesor ‘Alien’, ‘Aliens’ is not a slow building horror film with an emphasis on tension, but takes hints of the tension from its prequel and builds around it. The film uses aspects of the sci-fi, horror and action to transcend genres. The eponymous creatures are straight out of horror, and the initial reveal is the best example of how Cameron uses tension in his film, as the marines move through the abandoned colony their sensors indicate another presence, and after false reveals and a slow build up a typical horror scare introduces the monster. Action is prevalent through the space marines, the macho, gung ho soldiers battle the aliens with high tech weaponry, and the set pieces show that Cameron is a deft hand at action, also seen in his ‘Terminator’ films, even including a chase scene of sorts.

Elements of Science fiction are everywhere as this is the genre the film falls under most accurately. The film is set either on spaceships or alien planets, the villains are aliens and the marines are accompanied by a robot. The film’s sci-fi conventions are miles from science fiction such as ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ but sci-fi conventions none the less. The dark, dreary, dull setting of the spaceship and colony continue on from ‘Alien’ and mirrors the future presented in ‘Blade Runner’.

DJANGO (1966) WESTERN

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=10256

Sergio Corbucci’s ‘Django’ is an excellent example of the western genre. The title character is the archetypal lone wolf, seen in the majority of westerns, particularly Clint Eastwood’s ‘man with no name’. The setting is, as many westerns are, not strictly the wild west, but the southern state of Texas. Another western theme in the film is the background conflict between Mexican bandits and a lawman’s racist gang, this theme is also seen in ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ with the American civil war and ‘Two Mules for Sister Sarah’ with a struggle between Mexican revolutionaries and French soldiers.

FULL METAL JACKET (1987) WAR/BLACK COMEDY

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=14714

Full Metal Jacket shows features of a black comedy set within a the Vietnam War. Though not strictly a comedy, it’s comedic moments are often and surreal mirroring the absurdity of war. The film’s main character goes by the nickname joker. Most of the humor comes from the witty dialogue between the soldiers as they discuss the madness of their situation. The obvious generic conventions of war films are there, the setting, costumes and battle scenes mainly, but the dry absurd humour adds a comedic edge to the film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Photographs.

Aperture

APERTURE: F5.6    SHUTTER SPEED: 1/80

This image was taken to demonstrate aperture. I took it at the German market in Leeds. I was trying to create a shallow depth of field, with the model at the front crisply in focus, whilst the models getting less focus as they move along. This set up, one seen commonly at markets, enables the photographer to attempt this effect, as the subjects are neatly lined up, showing off how focus is lost and a shallow depth of field.

Artificial Lighting

APERTURE: F7.4    SHUTTER SPEED: 1/50

This image demonstrates how artificial lighting can be changed to effect a photograph. It was taken at a social event where I could move lights about to change their effect. The combination of a lamp out of shot which was facing the two subjects, and the general light you can see in shot cast two large, strong shadows on the wall. The shadow of one of the subject’s hands shows a lot of detail. Having a room where I could more or less control the lighting and that had fairly blank white walls enabled me to use shadows in the image more effectively.

Shutter Speed

APERTURE: F4.0    SHUTTER SPEED:1/25

This image demonstrates the panning technique that can be achieved when adjusting the shutter speed to your liking. Unlike some of the other panning shots I attempted, you feel very close to the car in shot, this was done by taking the photo whilst stood at a corner, creating some what of a swooping feel in the photo. Another effect I think I managed to achieve from standing closer than usual is that of speed, the composition, with the car at the back of the image gives a sense of acceleration, there is space for the car to move into.

Lens Types

APERTURE: F7.4    SHUTTER SPEED 1/125

This image was taken to demonstrate the differing lens types you can attach to your camera. Here I used a 200 mm zoom lens to try and capture the length of the street. The size of the lens enables a deeper image to be captured, as more detail is captured further from the camera, unlike the flat image you’d get from using a standard zoom lens, such as a 18-55 mm lens. The detail captured of the mosque in the background, the surrounding houses and the sunlight cast upon them shows how detailed images can be when taken with a long lens. I preferred this to the other images I took as the background of the image had much more to it than the other images, with the sunlight cast on the mosque.

Special Techniques

This is an example of the panorama technique. It uses several images of a scene to create one larger scene. It is done on an editing or specialist panorama software. This is the panorama I am most pleased with. The colours of the graffiti on the skate equipment are varying and vivid, whilst the items themselves contrast with the trees in the background. The way the image takes an area where large objects are scattered in different places and almost lines them up in the image is interesting, it creates a track instead of a wide area. The sun cast on the ground adds to the image as from one side to the other the light increases in intensity.