Final Evaluation of unit 2

My initial intentions were to explore the relationship between colour. I think that I worked well and was able to achieve my intentions although I have varied from just looking at colour. I started by looking at James Welling where I looked into using filters to change the colours of the environment but I struggled with getting the colours to complement and contrast against each other. I the looked at the colour wheel and how to link colours around the wheel, this improved my pictures dramatically. I came away from using colour filters and found and artist called Brice Bischoff who used long exposures and material to create and illusion of mist or smoke in an obscure location. My research on each artists have been consistent with how I view there pictures and how i worked out how they achieved them.
Along the way I have experimented by editing differently and using different filters for the same picture and shed how each turned out. I have also been looking at using the long exposures in different ways and seeing what else I could find with contrasting or a range of colours. I feel I could have spent more time working out how Bischoff achieved his shoots, as even though I made progress my final pieces are not quite how Bischoff did his.

Final Pieces

All the pictures were taken in RAW format. which keeps all the information of the picture and doesn't compress it. I used a tripod for all and the same 18-55mm lens for all my shoots to date unless specified. I also used a timer for the pictures I didn't have help with.

This picture was taken on beach. The colours blue and yellow are dominant in the blur. Not only are they contesting colours according to the colour wheel, They show calm (blue) and sun shine and excitement (yellow) which is the feeling and emotions on the beach.for this I asked my friend if he agreed with the colours I chose, which he did agree. 

This is on the cliffs just above the beach. It has the same colours as the one above with added green into it. I think this show how there is more plant life on the top of the cliffs where nature is. It shows my feelings with sitting on the grass looking over the sea, calming and knowing that you are just sat in the grass.

I view the forrest as a peaceful nature place, which is calming but in the trees there is little sun, so lack of yellow. The  presence of red was manly to do with the passion I have for the forrest. How I love to go and will go at any opportunity I get. This is why there is red in the blur.

This is the pool I work in. When at work I don't really enjoy it as much as I would if I was just going for a casual swim. So this blur has a mix of emotions. the yellow for excitement and enjoyment. the blue for calming and isolation while I swim.
The red is for how it is also a place of work for me now. 

This was taken at school. It is by far the odd one out. The colours are mainly red and white. Red because I really have a loathing for the education system but white as I have to accept this fact if I am going to get my grades and succeed.
This is the only picture not to have any calming or happy colours associated with it. I would also like to point out the black on the bottom of the red, It show how its kind of depressing at times.

Final Shoot - Edit Variation

For editing I used photoshop for all of them due to an arm or a person in frame.
 I used a 2 layers and a mask on the top. This meant I was able to remove the top layer apart from the blur. used the paint brush tool which allowed me to smooth the edges of the blur. In some cases I was able to move the blur around and it was solid compared to some of the others which were more opaque.

This picture was taken on the cliff tops where I had help to hold the tissue paper. Which was useful as it meant i was able to compose the shot better than I had been doing in some of my other final shoots. 

This was taken at the pool where I work. It didn't have the the best back drop as there are too many thing in it which makes the picture complex and confusing in what is the blur and what is the wet play area. I did this one on my own with a wireless remote to take the pictures as I held the tissue paper and moved it. In the pool I was able to not use the 10 stop fitter which removed the annoying blue tint from my work.

A few of the forrest pictures, the blurs where not on focus which is why this was not apart of my final piece. I was able to edit it but by no means was I able to use it. I was alone when I took this, which is likely why i had trouble getting it to focus as using the 10 stop filter the camera wouldn't auto focus.

This was taken on the cliff tops. The background is out of focus due to the 10 stop filter. The blur on this was edited well enough that I could move then blur around and even onto different picture with a similar back drop. I could have done all the blurs in a studio setting and added them in later but I had only thought about it after I took my final shoot.

I returned to a location I used in shoot 3. In my opinion I have improved my work when you compare the 2 pictures. Although this has the same problem as before where the blur is out of focus. I used a 10 stop filter even though It was getting dark it was still too bright for me to not use it. This may have caused how the blur was not in focus but also that the 10 stop filter prevented my camera from auto focusing and also was unable to see down the viewfinder. This made the job of focusing the camera a struggle by: focusing it without the filter on auto, chaining it to manual and then putting the filter back on. I would have to do this multiple times depending on the distance away I was

Final Shoots- Contact sheets

For my final shoot I had to do multiple locations. This meant that I have contact sheets for each location. Each shoot worked well and I was able to get at least 2 decent pictures from each location.

This location is around school and work well. For this location I managed to get some help in moving the paper around and was able to influence how they moved it from what I could see on the screen of my camera.

This was taken on the cliff tops , I had no help with this location so I had to use a remote to set it off. Where I used the remote I took a lot more pictures than I intended to take as I was unable to review my work as efficiently as I had done with help.

This was taken around a swimming pool. I did this one on my own again but at this stage in doing my final pice I was able to predict how the movement would effect the blur and how to distance myself from the camera. With this location I didn't have to use the 10 stop filter as I was inside unlike the other locations.

This location was in the forrest ,by the time I got there It was getting dark, but not dark enough to not use the 10 stop filter so a few of my pictures were darker than intended. This location was the same I used in the 3rd shoot which gave an interesting comparison to how I had improved my work.

Final shoot - Contact sheet

This is my Final shoot it was taken over 4 different ideas for location I could link emotion to. It consisted of 4 mini-shoots in a pool. on the cliffs, in the forrest and around school. Each one with a blur of colour, influenced by Brice Bischoff, in which represented my emotions and feelings towards the places. Although, I know that everyone has there own take on what colours represent so the feelings won't be mutual. I achieved this by the same method as my fourth shoot, but this time I also took an image of thee background. This enabled me to edit the blur and merge it to the background. This helped as I had little help with the is picture, so I was forced to use a remote. Most the time I was in frame, but using the technique above, I was able to easily edit myself out of the photo.
I rustled the paper while taking the shot. I had to use a 10 stop filter again in all the outdoor locations as in most cases it was too sunny to not use the filter, this gave a blue tint to the the original photos which I was able to edit in raw. The use of filters links back to my work at looking at James Welling which first gave me the idea to use a filter but also the practical use of reducing the light getting in the camera.
As I took more and more shoots I got better at using the technique. This enabled me get better pictures consistently rather than trial and error process which happened in shoot 3 and 4.
The shoot worked well as in some cases it showed how my artist Bischoff, was able to take my pictures in raw, which benefited me in the post-production process again with the filters blue tint.
I managed to get quite a few pictures out of this shoot and had to narrow it down to 5 pictures with different locations.  These will be my final pieces which I will mount onto foam board to display in a row of 5.

Influences

Brice Bischoff
- His use of the long exposure with tissue paper has been a driving influence in my final idea, due to the use of colour and the technique which fascinates me. It has taken some time to master and at this point I am still need to take a lot of pictures to get right. I am getting better at using the technique. This is shown in my final idea and final edits.

James Welling
- I started with Welling and got interested in using filter and had to use the colour wheel later on the help with the matching go the colours to the filter I was using, His influence can be seen in my work still due to all the colours and how the look of my work is somewhat unnatural in the sense that you couldn't just find it. Much like his manipulation of colours and how he changed them to a unnatural colour.

Colour wheel
- This was the biggest influences, It can still be seen in my work the whole way through my unit 2. It is so constant because of how useful the different contrast and complements with colour I could achieve. I still pick out the tissue paper to first get the emotion and then arrange them in a way so the completing colours are next to each other or ether side of another.

Final Idea

My final idea is to link emotion to the colours, then the colours will link to the place that the picture is taken. This emotion may vary to each emotion and will relate to every person differently. This is how I am showing the relationship between colour and feelings and emotion.

experimenting - Colour Range

I was experimenting with a light that could change colour. So I was able to keep the object in the same place and change the lighting colour which changes the mood of the picture. This links into my idea of colour and emotions. As each picture gives off a different mood and tone. I think that using the idea of colours to emotions will link the idea of relationships more strongly to my starting point than just using colours.

Colours and how they make you feel

For my final idea I plan to link colours to the emotions that I feel for the particular location.

Red: passion, aggression, Violence, Power, Love, Romance, Blood,evil, fear
Orange: fire, warmth, energy, excitement, autumn.
Pink: Love, Floral, Feminine.
Purple: Magic, supernatural,Creativity, Royalty.
Blue: Thirst, cleanness, peace. Tranquility. loyal, relaxation,loneliness, Good
Green: Greed, affluence, nature, soft, comfort, outside.
Yellow: Sun, happiness, optimism,cowards, caution, energetic.
White:Innocence, peace, purity, good
Black: wealth, power, sadness, depression, fear, death, morning, evil
Grey: sadness, depression boredom

This is a general idea of the colours and the emotions that I link to them. Although 2 different colours together can also change how you view them and this is what my final piece will show.

Fourth Shoot - Best edits

This is my 4th shoot best edits. All the editing I have done is edit the exposures in Raw. This was to get rid of the blue tint. The pictures in the top row I was unable to remove the blue tint as I dint take the pictures in raw. This is because it was an after thought to do so, where I developed the shoot which tuned out better than the first attempt with the tissue paper.
The top row of pictures I achieved with tissue paper taped to a persons body who moved with the long exposure. I found that a too long of an exposure limited the movement as you didn't get as much of a blur and motion. A lot of my pictures were taken with an exposure of a few seconds at most, which made the colour look blurred and showed movement.
I took the pictures in the bottom row by having my subject hold the piece of tissue paper and letting the find move it. This worked better than the other idea.  This worked due to the way I edited them in 2 layers, one being the background and the other being the tissue paper blur. This enabled me to separate the blur from the background. Which is how I got rid of the blue tint that the filter I had to use due the longish exposure I was wanting to use on such a bright day.
The picture on the far bottom right was done where I dragged the tissue across the frame, this created the effect of motion more than the others, although the colours I used did not suit the surroundings, even though I attempted to do it again I was unsuccessful.
The reason for this is that I didn't know what the pictures would look like until I got back to the computer and started editing. This was due to how the blue tint made the screen too dark to view on the camera monitor.
IMG_9016.jpg is my best edit and how I want to continue with my final piece in the same way. I had the idea to link emotion to the colours and then they relate to the location of the picture.