Time Stack test

After finding my artist Matt Molloy, I thought I should do a quick test to see if I was capable of achieving the Time stack effect. This shot was taken with a camera and a remote to set off the camera. I used a tripod to keep the camera in the same place. I took 15 pictures but in my actual one will take more.
When I do this outside I will have to use the remote or make sure not to shake the camera. This is because I don't have the device to take time lapses with and can't obtain one quickly.
I learnt how to do this by following a YouTube Video that Molloy had set up himself. here

Matt Molloy- art history

My artist is Matt Molloy is a Canadian photographer who uses timelapes and stacks the 100s of pictures on top of each other then blends them together to create breath taking effects on the sky. The clouds look a lot like paintbrush smears on the sky. The number of pictures he uses depends on how far or slow the sky is moving. He has a few tutorials on youtube which explain this effect and how he archives this.

Smoke Stack - Matt Molloy

This is a picture of a view with a chimney stack with multiple shots taken over a certain time period.
Molloy uses a camera to take pictures with a device that can take time lapses. The colours used in this picture as somewhat dull. The majority of his other pictures are taken of the sun setting so that all the colours of the red , yellows and blues are in his pictures but not this one. I think this is due to how this is a picture of a power plant and the lack of colour could show that it's polluting and unnatural.
Molloy focused the picture on the chimney stack which brings your attention to the smoke bellowing out of it. Due to the time stack he has used it simulates motion of the smoke coming out of the chimney. This gives it an animated style look. The picture is taken as a landscape. This makes the picture also seam like a view which has been ruined by this chimney stack.
The picture has also got motion in the sky and on the trees. This is shown by some blur and motion in the trees. The sky is in streaks which give the sky motion, this also gives a passage of time.

After burn - Matt Molloy

This next picture is called after burn. This is because to looks like fire in the sky with all the colours of the setting sun. This is what a lot of Molloys pictures look like. This again uses time stacks and has a lot more pictures in than the first or there was a larger interval between each picture. It shows the passage of time in the sun set and displays how all the colours can come out of the sun set.
This shows how the picture is natural, there is no man made element to this picture unlike the previous picture. It shows how beautiful the simple things are, like the setting sun.
What I also like about the picture is how the sky has also been reflected in the water at the bottom of the picture and the land around has been under exposed to get very little detail in. This shows how the artist wanted to emphasise the sky and the water with the blended colours through the picture.

This picture is almost surreal and unnatural but natural at the same time due to how in reality you won't see the colours at the same time but with a camera you can. This is what I hope to achieve my taking pictures using the time stacks. I will take the time staking element and start experimenting with it to produce more work.

Second shoot- Contact sheet and best edits

After reviewing my first shoot I discovered I would need to look more in-depth into the contrasting of different textures and colours.  Added with experimenting with fill flash I should be able to create a different colour palette even though the colours this time of year are more dull than in summer.
With this shoot I had to get up early so I could use the best light at the beginning of the say, such as the first picture where the sunlight illuminates the tree.

This is my second shoot where I went for a walk and found different buildings and plants for photograph. The majority was taken down a street, where I found a roof with moss that I could just reach. I think that the Fill flash was very evident it lots of the picture where there are a big contrast between the dull sky and leaves. This can be seen in 9 and 6 from the contact sheet.
The pictures of the moss on the room, in some of the pictures could be mistaken for a landscape. The moss makes it looks like rolling hills. The fill flash was unsuccessful in a lot of my pictures much like the first shoot. This is due to how the weather conditions effect the fill flash. How the blue of the sky can't be shown.

Heather Buckley is really good at getting interesting angles and bright colours into her pictures, I attempted this with my second shoot, In a few of the pictures I managed this but most I did not.

Picture 1 is my favourite as the roof with the moss is slanting diagonally across the picture, which splits the picture up this adds an effect that draws your attention to the picture. There is a flash on the moss making it lighter with the sun hitting the tree making it golden in colour. This has a contrast in colours which draws your attention to both sides.
This is my best edit, I have used the levels to adjust the colours which made it look slightly brighter and the colours contrast more. I took the picture with aperture of f/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/200.  This was due to how hard it was to get a view of the roof the picture was taken of.

For my next shoot I am changing artist to look at another technique, so I can expand my knowledge of techniques that can be achieved by using the camera. This will help me gain an understanding of the view point of the camera.

Heather Buckley - Review

After my initial shoot I discovered that fill flash brought a brightness to the picture. I like how fill flash produces a crisp blue sky in the background but as I have found out is hard to do it on a cloudy day.
After more in depth review I have discovered that Buckley also uses a lot of bright colours in her work. For instance this picture was taken in Paris and has a wide range of colour. This contrasts to how I took my pictures which were very green and brown and contained little variants. The colour pallet of this time of year is very small anyway.

Contre Jour outside the Metro Paris France

This picture is taken from a low angle, out side of a metro station in Paris so you would get a candid picture of the people walking. It would have been taken in morning or in the evening  when the trains could have been getting busy.
In the picture she got in a reflection of the sky in the glass windows to the left.
 The colours of the sky and building contrast the flowers in the foreground due to there being different colours. The flowers in the front of the picture has been lit up by the sun or the use of an external flash.
There are lots of different textures in the picture, such as the sky and the glass being smooth , while the flowers have a texture and the buildings are rough.
The picture gives the over all feel of a weekend due to the lack of people in what could be a evening or morning.
The sun was nearly blocked out by a person who happened to be walking out of the metro station. This gives a glare effect on the picture.
From my in depth review of some of Buckley other work I was able to discover that I need to look more in-depth into the contrasting of different textures and colours. This will make my pictures, while experimenting with fill flash, look better than I was able to take before hand.

Overview ideas on view points

This is my initial ideas to the view point task. I later develop my ideas from the word "view point of a camera" with the idea a camera can do things that a person can't view and see.

First shoot contact sheet and best edits

The shots show my first attempt at the use of fill flash and a wide angle lens. I was attempting to create a lit up picture with the flash and a clear blue sky, which is a technique that Heather Buckley used. And combine it with a wide angle to add distortions around the edge of the picture.

The image was taken with a fast shutter speed (1/25) and a large aperture, F25 to get a big depth of field. The little amount of light that the picture could take in would be compensated with the external flash that I attached to the camera. The flash would also remove some of the shadows that were made by the sun.

In Hindsight I could have chosen a sunnier location from the forest, but at the time I thought it would introduce a variety of light and shading to experiment with fill flash. The location should have had less tree coverage. In the forest there were clearings that provided with a sky surrounded by trees, which is demonstrated in a few of the pictures above. The green of the forest became lighter when fill flash was use. In some cases the flash has made it look like the time of day is night. This was due to me experimenting with the aperture and the shutter speed and getting it not quite right.

I intended to use the view point of a camera as my theme, using the fill flash technique I was able to capture a view only the camera can see, which is what I intended to achieve when I first started.

 This shot was taken with a wide angle lenses and a flash, while trying to use the technique fill flash. I chose to take a picture with the sky in, due to how the fill flash can make they sky look more blue than normal. The trees are slightly lit up from the flash. This gave a wide range of green colours in the trees.
The picture was taken with a aperture of f/25 and a shutter speed of 1/25. This picture was one of may where i did not get the flash correct so the the picture came out under exposed.

In photoshop I used the Levels of the colours which brightened up the colours and made them more distinct and brighter. I changed all the levels to the arrows lined up with the spikes of colours.

I really like how the edges of the picture is bent due to the wide angle lens but I don't like how there is no subject to my picture. That there isn't one single focus point. 

The second picture is of a drain pipe in the sky, this was not taken with a wide angle lens but a flash was used to lighten up the wall and inside the drain. This was taken on the way out of the forest. It is one of my better shots demonstrating fill flash and it shows how fill flash can be used to lighten up a picture.
The picture was taken with an aperture of f/10 and shutter speed of 1/100 which was due to the in built flash on the camera.
This picture was more successful than the other in its use of fill flash and having a subject (the drain). Although it is not as interesting as the first picture.






For my next shoot I will change location to go more open location, much like the picture of the drain pipe with was a picture I took on the way out of the forest. I think that this will improve my experimenting of fill flash .I will need to improve on how i compose the shot and use fill flash in a more useful way to lighten up the picture.

Art History-Heather Buckley

Heather Buckley is based in Brighton and is a graphic designer. She runs courses on photography in Brighton. She blogs about different styles with help on how to do them such as Fill Flash and the use of different lenses.

1. Foxgloves and Bee Heather Buckley 2014

Picture 1 has sharp vibrant colours of the foxglove and it has been taken from a low angle with a wide angle lens.This has the effect of distorting the edges of the picture making the picture looked curved. She has also used a technique known as fill flash which fills in the shadows that are created by the sun. This can be seen in the inside go the flowers as they are very bright.

 This picture was entered into a recent competition which Buckley won. It was taken in Brighton much like the rest of her work, due to her location in Brighton.

It is a landscape picture of a foxgloves and a bee, the picture has captured the bee in flight as it is about to land in the flower. 

The picture was taken at a Brighton flower show, which is where majority of her photography is taken. The picture has a main subject of the flower and the bee which creates a natural feel to it which was a theme in the competition.

2. Beach of the dead, Brighton Zombie walk. Heather burley 2013

Picture 2 if from her Album the Beach of the Dead. Its is another Brighton based event that was photographed by Buckley. It is a landscape portrait that has been cropped. She has used a fisheye lens which much like a wide angle gives a more circular distortion around a centre point. The technique fill flash has been used again to get the subject and they back ground lit up in brilliant vibrant colours such as the blue sky and the fake blood on the subject. This gives the pictures a surreal look which fits the zombie theme.
The picture shows a man dressed as a zombie, with fake blood and cuts. He is positioned to the side of the picture, distorting him and drawing your attention to the uneasy feel of the distortion which, can be linked to how uneasy a zombie would make you feel.
The event has other picture and was intended to capture the event that was taking place called "Brighton Zombie walk". This is a theme in Buckleys work where she uses local events to inspire her photography. 

3. Fully automatic on camera flash- Heather Buckley  2011

Picture 3 is an example from Buckleys guide to help other people understand fill flash. It was used to demonstrate how Fill flash can take way a lot of the shadows that are created. The picture shows a man with suntan cream surrounded by people which questions why he is there and why he is holding money in his hand. 
Buckley has used the fill flash to eliminate the subject and the sky, and on the clear day it was taken it produces a very blue sky. The use of the wide angle lens has brought the subjects knee out of proportion and has bent the sky around the subjects head. 
The purpose of the picture was to demonstrate the fill flash technique but I'm and unable to find any other reference for what it was originally taken for but it is gives a very good idea on how to use fill flash.


To conclude I am going to use fill flash in my initial shots to take influence form Buckley. I'm able to use this idea to present a view point of a camera that is unique to the camera. I will also use a wide angle lens to try to get the angle and the fill flash working together yo create a image that a camera can produce.