Digital Diary

October 15th 2012:

Decision for thematic project, Richardson house in Lane Cove Sydney NSW using images of items retrieved.

October 22nd 2012:

Search for abandoned house to mimic Richardson Sydney house.

October 29^{th 2012:}
Shoot with Lindy the circus performer at old abandoned house Uki in far northern NSW.

November 7^th 2012:

Insect shoot for possible direction change.

November 14^th: 2012:

Interview with Claudia for possible shoot for thematic project on artistic persons, musicians.

November 21^st 2012:

Ideas on musical instrument shoot with ideas of surrealism.

December 12^th 2012:

When I casually interviewed Claudia regarding my ideas for our shoot she was more than willing. In previous shoots with subjects who have been hesitant, the insecurity and lack of confidence has transferred from person to lens. Its incredible the difference between those people who are reluctant and someone like Claudia whom with no modelling experience, was willing to follow direction and engage with professional manner with confidence that transfers through into the pictures.

Though I began with other ideas for my project, like the abandoned rotting house with circus performer, I became bored with editing the images. In my thoughts about still life I couldn’t tie it into any interesting theme. The final idea was doors of Murwillumbah but I wondered how many doors I could edit before getting totally bored. I decided that although shooting people is hard I needed to.

Initially I ran into problems trying to shoot Claudia with the cow, I was using manual settings and no tripod as we were trekking over acreage to find the animal. The cow was running around crazily and every shot I took was marred with blur and it wasn’t working. I changed to auto settings, it still wasn’t working and just as I decided about to move on from this idea and Claudia agreed and said goodbuy to the cow I caught them in a loving embrace. I think I added a very slight amount of vibrance in Photoshop if anything.

In the shot with the metal chicken I was both happy and disappointed with the initial result, her eyes were almost black due to the lighting, it had just finished raining, the lighting was coming from behind and I didn’t use a flash. I really liked the mood it presented though. In order to create a solution to the B/W one, I made a layer selected and copied the face and adjusted the levels, I then used the eraser and soft brush tool to tidy up and blend with surrounding area. I did similar with the colour one except that I only selected the eye area and I only allowed the actual eyes themselves to be lightened leaving the hollowness apparent for the purpose of creating an almost emancipated look despite the fact the girl looks pretty healthy it really appealed to me.

The Closeup of the metal chicken was taken from a different shot and I removed the arms with the clone tool just leaving the hands suspended holding the item. In my opinion, just enough to ascertain if one looks closely.

The dark B/W shot at the piano was achieved with no tripod

The purpose of Claudia in the bath was to achieve some symmetry in horizontal and vertical lines it is in the fingers that there is a correlation as I felt using a striped shirt or even a ribbon took away from the uniformity of the shot. To me though the subject is almost displaced here, though somehow there is a natural feel to it as if its perfectly natural to kneel in a bath fully clothed. This is clearly staged. If I ever do a shoot with another participant who is willing I might fill the bath up with water. I left the other window open but now I am worried its creating a distraction and it probably would have been perfect symmetry if it was closed.

Major issues with photoshop,

Thurs Dec 27^th 2012:

I have an issue saving work and as my battery expels the program shuts down with the computer and goodbye edits. I have woken up to the loss of all my new work a sad morning indeed. The edits are no where on the computer. This is the third rime this has occurred I should have learned by now.

December 28^{th 2012:}
Harold Davis concepts of shape and light in black and white photography inspire me to see in black and white before taking the photo. The shape and light can function in some shots to create interest where it would not be evident in color photos.

2010 "Untitled" Harold Davis

Here is a shot where I attempted to mimic this style, It didn't work so I won't be using in the thematic project. It does not depict who Claudia is or anything about her. Its just an image of a tree. There is nothing special about it. Davis work (above) is a globular shape with blurred limbs. Mine is void of this shape and my limbs are blurred down the bottom, I probably should have had his image with me so I could se where to set my focus points. Mine is not anything like his. I have decided to come up with my own ideas for images since mimic attempts just disappoint me.

2012 "Tree" Joanne Buckley

Unlike Davis 'untitled' image my tree is tinted. I love tinting and will more than likely do an eclectic series of tinted images.

30^th December 2012:

I’m annoyed 1.10 with a piece of grass in the cows mouth and thinking of

removing it.

I m wondering about including a lighter piano shot that I used with a flash, since it’s a thematic project I could get away with it though similar there are clear differences with the darker one creating feel with the lighting on the nape of the neck, the lighter one is a happier princess feel. Here is a link I found after doing a search of my subject Claudia's name on youtube of her practicing her musicianship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUNx3dSTa6E

If I was doing jounalism and featuring her in magazine I would include the link so people could get closer to her.

Grappling with decisions:

I don’t want to chose better of the worst, I want the best. So I ask myself is the lighter one a good photo? I think they both have merit so they are both included in the project.

Here I have attempted a similar style to Laura Bennett’s “Platinum Pendulum” This was another idea I had for a series for the thematic project.

2012 “Fingers” Joanne Buckley

Here is Laura Bennett's

http://laurabennett.artspan.com/large-multi-view/Platinum%20Palladium/1933527-1-12248/Platinum%20Palladium.html

In my works I have drawn on every experience I have viewed. I see my life from a afar as if I am not involved. If I am, pain of the worlds reality is too overwhelming.

2013 “Pendulum” Joanne Buckley
I could easily change direction now with my project but I will keep working on the current project.

6th Jan 2013:

Some pictures I attempted to edit in the dark room but was not happy with the outcome. The angles in this composition 1.11 are all wrong. Claudia's arm angle clashes with the antique angles creating a disturbance. Though I attempted to bring the focus and attention to the face and eyes the composition bothers me.

8th January 2013:

I have edited it the photo to blur the background using the masking tool and gaussian blur filter. The finished product is included in my project.

9th January 2013:

I’m working on this image but it won’t be used due to over exposure.

Regardless of changing levels, exposure, colour balances etc it can't be fixed. In a way I feel the photo is good as it is, however technically it is not. Its blinding but still beautiful. Here is the image without any adjustments.

The below image after making adjustments to balance, curves, brightness and contrast and exposure. She looks like she is from the 20s faciallly in this image, not a true representation of her. The above shot is sweeter but not useable.

11th Jan 2013:

Removal of grass from cows mouth using clone and eraser tool.

12th Jan 2013:

Editing image of Claudia standing next to the fridge, change from colour to black and white with a reduction of cyan to bring out the texture in her teal coloured dress. Balance adjustments.

13th Jan 2013:

I need another mage to complete my theme. Im not happy with how my editing is working. Here is one of Claudia with a live chicken. Have opted to use this but will use masking and gaussian blur to make the subject stand out. Claudia wanted green eyes so I edited this one to achieve that for her even though I initially chose the background to compliment the deep brown in her natural colour.

15th Jan 2013:

I grappled with this image 1.12, the issue is the clash of pattern between the chicken and Claudia's dress pattern. I really love this photo and it may just need colour blocking work. Most of the photos with this costume created the same problem, it was a distraction in the images taking away from the feel I was creating.

Jan 16th 2013:

Creation of contact sheet with some rejected images.

Saturday 19th Jan:

Very disturbed with 1.12. Though I have used the masking tool and gaussian blur to blur the background I have also used the eraser, clone and brush tools to try and correct issues in the shoulder and the colour etc. The best thing for me to do now is try again with a fresh image. I have learned from this that if I had set up the shot to blur the background in the first instance it would have been much better. Major issues with the hair which always seems to be a massive issue in editing.

change of plan, these images are now too edited to use. I tried staring fresh a few times but due to the busy background, hair and arm mass no amount of cropping o editing or clone stamping with hair or blur tool could satisfy what I was trying to achieve.

20th January 2013:

Here is a black and white version, I have opted for a different photo now so these won't be included in my project.

In summary more angles should have been shot, more costumes, small things like jewellery and nails and hair should have had more styling. This would have achieved a better result. The processs has expanded my knowledge and learning through reading and using different settings on the camera and studying other photographers works.

References:

Davis, H (2010) Creative Black and White, Wiley Publishing Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana. pp.14-129

Kim, E (2012) ‘Eric Kim Street Photography’

Retrieved from: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2012/08/7-things-i-have-learned-about-shooting-street-photography-in-color/

28/12/2012

Bennett, L (2012) ‘Fine Art Photography and Digital Imagery’

Retrieved from: http://laurabennett.artspan.com/index.php

31/12/2012

Gilat, E (2012) 'Sublet Project'

Retrieved from: http://www.erangilat.com/large-multi-view/single/1460391-0-/Photography.html

12/1/2013

Hedgecoe, J (2006) ‘The Art of Digital Photography’ DK Publishing, New York, pp 37-84