Memory checks

Q1. Detail at least four areas of knowledge a freelance photographer must possess.

(for example. Ability to use a computer and edit photographs)

1. Being able to use manual exposure and take own pictures.

2. Editing pictures

3. Advertising

4. Recommendations

Q2. What attributes would you say a freelance photographer should possess?

(for example – dependability. The role requires being reliable, responsible, dependable and fulfilling obligations)

 

1. Managing finance and accounting.

2. Planning and preparing like setting up a studio and if outside then check the weather etc so your kit doesn't get rained on.

3. Know your limits, what you can and can't do.

4. Research and improvisation. You need to do research of everything and improvise is necessary (think on your feet).

Finished game cover

In this lesson we had to combine our two images together and make it into a game cover so what i did is I added a rectangle down the middle using the guides to makes sure the measurements were correct: I then coloured the rectangle in black, snipped the "DVD" and "Dimension" signs, went to a website called "da font" and searched for a sin city looking one and when i found it i snipped it, used the magic wand to get rid of the white background and placed it where it suited most.

Evaluation

Final assignment evaluation

In this assignment we were given was the task of creating 4 or 5 final pictures that we would then turn into a game cover/DVD case, poster or both if you wanted to aim for higher grades. The assignment was called "Film Noir" and this was set in around the 1945s-1955s. The type of clothing that was used around these times were suits and ties, fedora/top hats, long trench coats and guns, cigarettes and alcohol. This time period was notorious for guns, drugs, bootlegging (which was when drinking was banned so people would go to underground pubs to drink), murders and just overall violence, this made this assignment quite exciting. We had to take all of this into account while creating our pictures and game/DVD covers or posters.

The images that inspired me were all film noir and most of them were black and white as film noir was all in black and white, my DVD cover was a sin city inspired one and others were posters and google images. They inspired me because they weren't easy to create and i knew they'd give me a good challenge which is what i wanted. I didn't just want to take a picture of a gun, make it black and white and add text. They were also all quite cool looking and met qualifications for a film noir DVD cover/poster.

There are three lighting techniques used in film noir and these three that are used are:

• Natural light (the sun coming through a window and hitting a mans face for example).
• Flash light or red heads.
• Soft light.

My 4 ideas for my shots were to have my friend posing with a gun for the first one and to then take a picture of a street and combine them together while adding other effects to it and this would be my front cover while my back cover plan was to take a picture of some alcohol, cigarettes and other props so what i did was, my girlfriend let me borrow her camera so i could go round to my nans because she has a whole sack of cigarette buds, take my Jack Daniels with me and then take a picture of the cigarettes and Jack Daniels with some matches, my wallet and pack of cigarettes near the whiskey glass. There was also another picture that was put at the back of the DVD cover and that was my old next door neighbour called Chris, he had an old leather jacket and a fedora hat so i asked him to pose for picture with a cigarette in his mouth/hand and he invited me round. For my poster i hired out a studio and shot a picture of my friend posing in a certain way and as for the final picture i had to wait till it got a bit dark so i could take a picture of a windowsill and i also turned my light off and put the flash on rather the light in the room so it would be more of a direct light shot at the windowsill from my camera rather than a light above.

The sort of things i had to take into account while doing this task was the location in which i was going to take pictures, two of them were done in college though so that wasn't really an issue as i just had to hire out the studio for that, i didn't have to think about the weather and who's about or if its private/public property etc. However  for the background of the sin city front cover i had to go out and take a picture of a creepy street at night and i was hoping it would get foggy and it actually went really foggy one week for about 3 or 4 days so i went out one night with a camera and took the picture around the corner from my house. I had to make sure the weather was okay which i did and the time was around 22:00 because i wanted to make sure it was really dark, as i set my ISO to the highest reading and checked if he location was okay to use i took my pictures and they ended up coming out fine, For the background pictures it was a bunch of cigarettes, alcohol and a few other things. I had to make sure that the time was right, taking into account the time and place, the position of the sun which would be casting the shadow onto the table i was going to shoot and also getting props was a difficult thing to do but i just asked people if i could borrow them for an hour or so and it was fine. Models weren't as hard to find as i thought as i found that most people love the idea of someone with a fancy camera taking photos of them for their work and lastly equipment was easy to acquire, for red heads i just asked the technician and for a camera i asked my girlfriend.

I used various skills while editing. I used the levels and curves tool and these 2 tools (depending on what you want from your image) affect both the luminosity  and colour saturation of your image and exposure which controls the brightness also and how much your picture is "exposed", saturation is how bright you want your colours to be, not necessarily the brightness but how much you want the colours to really stand out in your picture and that's similar to my next tool that i used which was called colour balance, although you can change your pictures colours this is more to do with changing the colours to how YOU want them changed, so lets say for example i too a picture of a field with flowers in it but i only wanted the roses to show up, I would simple de-saturate all the other colours individually and saturate the red colour bar, crop is also good for if you want to simple cut ends of you'd image out and the magic wand tool is also very useful if you'd like to get rid of a whole certain colour like if i had an image on a zebra but wanted to make all the white parts of the zebra transparent i would simply use the magic wand and click and delete what i wanted, however if you'd like to be a little bit more precise with your image you can use the pen tool to draw around the object you want to keep or delete and then delete or keep that object. The transform tool is also useful for selecting and re-sizing images. On my Sin City remake i had to create my own rain filter so what i did was i googled how to create a rain filter and this message appeared at the top of google so i followed the instructions and if you look closely on the image you can see the rain on the image, it wasn't just a simple 3 step thing to do and boom you've got rain it was quite complicated and i was there for a while doing it but seeing how it looks now was worth it I've uploaded some images of the editing here for you to see:

Here are my 4 final photographs for you to see:












































































































































And here are my final posters and my DVD artwork:

If i had to do this again i would probably take more time on the last poster you see above as i don't think it looks as good as the others. I have learnt how to edit a lot better as it comes with practice anyway and I've also learnt how to take better pictures by learning about the ISO and depth of field etc. I think that i can take better pictures now also because i know how to composition the camera a lot better.

My final images, poster and DVD cover meets the assignment brief as its Film Noir looking (has the correct props like guns, cigarettes and alcohol etc and is also in black and white.) and follows the guidelines.

4 Final pictures, the finished posters and dvd covers and example pictures I based them off

Here are my final pictures I produced, the examples I based them off underneath and then underneath those are the final posters and game cover I created.

Memory Checks

Today we had to describe the rules of the photo.

This top left one that you see is a crop photo, with a deep depth of field and the photographer has used a small-ish aperture. The bottom left picture is a sand castle with a flag in it but they've used the rules of thirds to position it to the left and this picture also has a shallow depth of field. The picture in the top right is a symmetrical picture of the London bridge and the picture in the bottom right is a black and white picture of a probably British family taking into consideration the that the theme of the pictures are about the London Olympics.



2. Put the below apertures in order, starting with the one that will produce the shallowest depth of field.     B, D, C, A.

3a. If the shutter speed is 1/60th of a second and the ISO is doubled from 100 to 200 what will the shutter speed be increased to? 1/120th double the ISO and double the shutter speed.

4a.  You are taking a landscape shot. What aperture value would you use to gain the maximum depth of field?     D/F22

Memory Checks

DSLR stands for digital single lens reflex. The difference between A bridge camera is that it cant be removed and there's a bigger censer in DSLR.

You would use the zoom lens when looking at Sport, Wildlife, Journalistic photography (like war), Landscapes and portraiture.

You can use just Natural lights, Red Head lights that you can hire from the studio, your own light like a lamp or torch and your flash on your camera or just a flash light.

Considered means that you've taken into account the theme of the assignment and thought about the props and the positioning of the person and the lights etc. It basically means that you haven't just gone out and taken the photo and not thought about it.

Memory check questions.

1. ISO is increased as the light level becomes less. What ISO number would be used on a bright sunny day and what ISO would be used when shooting in low light? 

For a bright sunny day your ISO would be low so around 100-200 but if you're shooting in low light your ISO would need to be high to intake as much light as possible so it would be around 800-1000.

2. There are many types of camera lens, for example macro. List three other types of lens.

• Telephoto.
• Wide angle.
• Fast prime.

3. What do the following three camera mode acronym stand for? M, S, P, A

Manuel, Shutter speed, Program, Aperture.

4. Detail three skills you have used/evidenced during this assignment that could be used on your CV.

• Meeting deadlines.
• Following instructions.
• Working in a team.

5. List three props that could be used to make a Film Noir photo-shoot look authentic.

• Cigarettes.
• A gun
• A fedora/top hat. 

All contact sheets

This blog is going to be the contact sheets (test shots and my final image i used) for all my images that i create. By the side of each one you can seethe reason as to why i didn't choose it and the first set of images are below:

Memory Check

1. Film Noir can be a difficult/technical subject to photograph.

Explain THREE considerations you must make when deciding on the camera settings

• ISO.
• Shutter speed.
• Aperture.

2. Name the three main light sources used in Film Noir (think back to the video we watched)

• Fill light.
• Key light.
• Hair light.

3. What is the photographic term given to the low-light style of Film Noir lighting?

• Low key

4. Detail FOUR considerations you must take into account when shooting on location.

• Make sure there isn't anyone in the background.
• select an out of the way location.
• Timing has to be good (minimal people).
• Don't trespass (like Victoria center).
• Weather.

5. List FOUR health and safety considerations when using equipment to produce your photography.

• The "barn doors" will get hot.
• Make sure the wires connected to the plug sockets are of minimal risk of people tripping.
• Could get robbed.
• Make sure the camera is tightly fastened to the top of the tripod .

4. Detail FOUR considerations you must take into account when shooting on location.

5. List FOUR health and safety considerations when using equipment to produce your photography.

Film Noir genre identification task

In this task we were given a sheet of paper, told to draw a line down the middle of it and were given little bits of paper with words on them like "shadows, clean living moral tales and lots of extreme gore and blood" etc and we only got 2 wrong, we put "symbolism" and "neon lights" in the NOT generic conventions of film noir when they were supposed to be on the generic conventions of film noir side. i now know that the neon lights were used in film noir (the flickering lights above restaurant's and bars etc.) and symbolism.

This will help me a lot as I now know that I could go into town and take a picture of an old pub with neon lights above it whereas before that I'd of been skeptical to photograph it and to put that into my work. It helps a lot too because now its reassured me that my ideas for photography are actually right and i can go out now and photograph them knowing that the photographs will actually be Film Noir.

Critical viewing notes on generic convention of Film Noir

Today we watched a film called "The gun is for hire" which was made in 1942 and above you can see the notes that was made while we watched 12 minutes of the film.

So in this film the background music (non diegetic) that was used was classical or orchestra music, kind of like the music in Tom & Jerry. The non diegetic sounds throughout was the background music of course and then when the woman got shot through the door you heard a thud and kind of a small exclaim. The diegetic sounds were throughout the whole film from opening the letter with his pen knife to shooting people and opening doors.

The kinds of camera shots that were used are extreme mid shot, mid shot, close up etc and the lighting in these films were normally bright when at the restaurant but when he shot those 2 people it was quite dim. (the film was in black and white)

Here are some other things i added onto my notes above:

• orchestra music/classical music.
• black and white.
• suit and tie/top hat/trench coat.
• guns.
• olden day.
• woman as cleaner.
• man hits and degrades the woman by calling her names.
• secretary is woman.
• business  stays between men as secretary leaves the room for them to talk.
• blackmail leads to killing.
• woman waitress gets complimented by man in restaurant.
• orchestra shows mentioned.
• police and detectives.
• women performing for men.
• cigars and cigarettes.

Film Noir proposal and shooting schedule

INTRO:
I have selected a number of certain type's of images for my Film Noir assignment from the research that i have done. We had to research firstly about Film Noir posters or Film Noir games/DVD covers and have 5 examples to choose from, we then have to write about how we would recreate the images, where we would shoot them, whether it be in the studio, at home or other locations etc. After that we have to choose some of the images to recreate (4) and get everything ready for the week we start to create our new Film Noir covers.

Here is a picture of one of the Film Noir covers that i will recreating:

1ST AND 2ND SHOOT:

For my first and second pictures I picked this not because its a DVD case and has 2 sides to it but for Film Noir the pictures are normally unsaturated or whole black and white. This image is nearly fully unsaturated and we know this because the jacket, gun and background have almost no life in them but its not totally unsaturated because if you look at his face/ hand you can see there's colour there. I'm thinking they maybe just had the yellow and red colours brightened and all the other colours right down to zero which is what i would have to do. I would have someone stand in the studio with me while i take this picture, i would also have to use a red light and maybe a reflector to get the right lighting, take lots of pictures as test shots just so i can get the right picture and in the background it looks like a city skyline at night or a street so i would then have to go right to the top of the car park at the back of the college and take a picture of the buildings at night or take a picture late at night on a street and hope it gets foggy soon, put them into Photoshop and add a blur, black and white and darken effect to the image while blending it in so it looks professional. i would also then add a rain effect/template to the picture that i can find online and place it where needed after brightening and darkening certain places of the photo by playing around with the colour saturation, brightness and "curves" affects on Photoshop. After the initial cover is done id add some text, a bar code, company logos etc to make it look like a DVD case and then also take pictures for the back of the DVD case to look like it has scenes etc. The second picture that you see doesn't match the sin city first picture as the back of the game cover but I'm going to use my creativity and imagination and put my own spin on the images so they look more film noir and sin city like and these pictures will be used for the back of my DVD case.

3RD AND 4TH:

For my third and fourth pictures i chose to do posters instead of DVD covers, here are the ones i chosen to do:

 

The first poster i chose is because its dark and literally states "Film Noir" in the title and the second one i chose was because it is olden day with the hat and the candle etc. I would make the first one in the studio by having my friend sit there in the dark with only the side of his face lit by one light source (red head) and then Photoshop a girl in class's face onto the wall next to the shadow. My friend would also have to hold a cigarette just in front of him and pose with it then in Photoshop i would use the burn tool, the curves tool and the saturation and brightness tool to get the picture right. The last picture would be simple to make as i would just place a candle and a hat on a windowsill and take the picture at night then use an affect in Photoshop to make it that way.

So i have 4 pictures. I have the sin city front DVD cover where ill take 2 pictures, one in the studio and one outside, i then have the back of the DVD cover where ill take 2 more pictures of cigarettes, Jack Daniels and a wallet and a man in a coat smoking a cigarette which will also be done at home.

The second picture will be done all in the studio and the third picture will be done at home on a windowsill but ill have to buy props like a hat and candles etc.

SHOOTING SCHEDULE:

For all my shooting on my camera I need to take a lot of things into account, i need to make sure that where I'm shooting isn't too light and not too dark, people will be a problem also as i might need a certain place to shoot and they're blocking the way, i need to time it correctly and make sure there's the least amount of people there possible so its best not to take my pictures at break etc, i also need to produce at least 20 test shots (10 per shot) i need to think about the equipment and what sort of equipment I'm going to use. I'm probably going to use the red lights and the college tripod and cameras. I've already booked the studio out. I also need to do a  Health and safety check-list