Artist Research - Henri Cartier-Bresson

This photo is an example of the decisive moment. It catches someone at a moment where they are doing something, but with these photos, if it was taken a moment before or after it would either be a bad photo or he wouldn't even be in it. I think that the decisive moment is really good as it looks like it wasn't framed, I can't know if this was or not but with some of his others you can tell, like the one below this, you can't get the pigeons to fly back to where they were previously.

This is another example of the decisive moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson. I really like this because if it was taken a moment later or earlier it would be quite a plain photo. When comparing to Sally Mann, I would say they are only similar in that they both contain people and they are both black and white. In my opinion although Henri's photographs are framed very well and are taken perfectly, I prefer Sally's work.

This is an example of Sally Mann's work, it is from the collection 'Family Pictures'. These photographers aren't very similar in styles, I personally think that Sally Mann's work is better because there is more emotion in them. I also like the depth of field more in Sally Mann's photographs. Henri Cartier-Bressons photographs are good because of the decisive moment, but I am personally drawn to Sally Mann's work more.

This photograph is by Don McCullin, This photograph is quite morbid and it is an example of the decisive moment. I think this is a very well taken photograph that was framed well  and I really enjoy his work, it shows a very powerful message because we don't get to know what happened for him to be in this position and what happened after. If this photograph was taken a few seconds after the man with the gun to his head could've been on the floor.

Straight Images - Form

Best five - Form

Work Diary - Portraiture

Work Diary - Portraiture

I thoroughly enjoyed portraiture, I found it a very interesting subject because you can take portraits in a huge number of ways, you can take them dead pan, which isn't very popular because it shows no meaning, however I think that it can have a lovely underlying meaning. You can also take them mid activity, which I also quite like because it catches people naturally, before they put on a face or an act. Portraiture is a very wide term and I don't think it limits you at all. 

Progression - Next time I will take more photos outside, because although I spent time outside taking photos, I took more in the studio, however in the studio it is easier to take photographs because you have more control over the light which makes the photo better.

In my opinion this is my best photograph, I love that this photo has been caught mid activity because it shows that people usually put on a face for photos and in this photo that hasn't happened.

This is my worst photo because it is not centred properly, it also looks very awkward to be honest. I think that the photo shows no emotion and not in a good way.

Lights - Photography

    

Lights - Photography 

Honeycomb light - When we took portraits we used a honeycomb on our light, this meant that the light was a lot more controlled than it would usually be, it also meant that the light wasn't hitting the entire face, this meant that it would cause the effect that we wanted to happen in our photos. We connected the light to the camera so that when we took a photograph it would flash, this meant that the background would be dark whilst the part of the face the light was hitting would be bright. This created a lot of contrast. A honeycomb light is an example of a hard light.

This is an example of a honeycomb light =

 

Soft Lights - A soft light is a light cover that spreads the light out so that none of the subject is in darkness. It also creates a softer effect that seems calmer. A soft light is large compared to the subject, whilst the hard light is small relative to the subject. A light that is closer to the subject tends to be a soft light. 

This is an example of a soft light = 

Editing on Photoshop - Portraiture

 Editing on photoshop - Portraiture

This is the edited photo, I think this looks worse than the first one because she looks way too pale like she has too much light on her face. The unedited photo, I really think it looked better and could've just done with some editing of the imperfections.

I edited this photograph on photoshop to make it less imperfect, I think this looks good, however, it does look more paler which I'm not sure if I like, however the skin does look smoother. 

To make this effect I firstly got the photograph up, I then went onto image and then mode and then CMYK colour, then I chose the yellow channel and copied it, then I pasted it over the original. after that I inverted it and changed the settings from normal to soft light, then I added a vector mask. Once I had added the vector mask I clicked the paint brush and changed the colour to white, I started painting over the face which made it a little bit more nicer looking.

Vector Mask =

Straight Images - Portraiture

Straight Images - Portraiture

Contact Sheet - Portraiture

Contact Sheet - Portraiture