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Experimental Photography

Katie Scruton

Hockney Photomontages

This experiment was all about taking multiple photographs a certain area and assembling them on Photoshop. This is similar to the work of Yorkshire artist David Hockney, hence the name. The only difference is that his were assembled with printed out images such as Polaroid's. Once I had taken all my images, I went onto Photoshop, file>automate> photomerge. From here I selected collage and the folder of images I wanted to use. This gave me my final result.

The result I got in the end was good, I liked the way everything fitted together but still looked abstract. It was a good result after three unsuccessful attempts. These could have been caused by all the images being too similar making Photoshop not know the differences of the images.

This is my favourite image I produced of the Hockney Photomontages that I produced. I like it because of the way all the images slot together but overlap to create something slightly abstract at the same time. I also like the way that all the separate images came together and practically remade the image that I originally photographed. With this image, Photoshop was able to tell the order of the images apart and could then piece it back together to recreate the original image. Another thing I like about this image is the fact that our reflections were captured in the glass of the frame, even though all the images are separate.

Movement

This experiment was all about capturing movement in an image. This result was achieved by applying a long shutter speed to capture action. There was two ways to achieve the results I did. First off, I held the camera whilst the image was taken, adding to the movement with camera shake. I also put the camera on a stable and stationary surface and captured life in action, making the area look busy and full of life.

The results I got had really ghostly effects, showing the movement captured during the exposure. In the stable images, it just showed life passing by but as if it was slow down creating a blur behind the person. I really like the results of this experiments, mainly the stabilised ones.

This is my favourite image produced from the movement experiment photographs. I like it because it’s quite a ghostly effect from all the movement except a couple of details that would have been stationary or slowed down at the time. I like the effect that a longer shutter speed creates as it looks like time is being fast forward but at the same time it has frozen. In the image, it looks like there are three speeds, the person with red hair was going slow, hence why you can see their face clearly but their legs are blurred, therefore not moving that much in the photograph capture time. The person closest to the camera was the most medium paced as they haven’t left much of a trail but more than the red head did. Finally, the people heading downstairs are the most ghost like so they must have been moving the quickest.

Out of Focus

This experiment focussed on out of focus images. By setting the camera to manual focussing and choosing the amount of focus you want on the image allowed me to create such an effect.

The results I got were interesting. You can see by the example images at the side how changing the focus on the camera lens manually can effect and image. You can have it majorly unfocused so that it’s harder to see what the object is or you can increase the focus and have a half blurred effect that looks pretty good. An example of this is the image with the tables and chairs.

This is my favourite image from the out of focus experiment photographs because you can’t really see what is in the image but it looks pretty and is a good example of a nice image when something is out of focus. It looks quite calm and relaxing in a way. The tones in it are very subtle and there is a nice contrast in the image as it goes from a calm and subtle light to dark with the occasional glow. The image is actually ceiling lights over the top of bookshelves in the library. The glowing in the dark is lights at the other side of college.

Reflection

This experiment was all about capturing the reflections cast by certain objects. The results that I achieved were all produced from things around college, such as, bins, display boards and car wing mirrors. These objects created really good and strong images to produce examples of reflection photography.

The results I got were some of the best out of the whole of this task. The reflections were clear and can be used as a good example of reflection photography. With this method of photography, you can create a ghostly effect (like the bottom image) or you can create a strong, clear image (like the top image).

This is my favourite image from the out of focus experiment photographs because the reflection is extremely clear, despite the fact that it is found in a dirty puddle in the college car park. I also like the fact the image looks like it has a black and white filter laid over it when it doesn’t, it just helps that the car park has a grey lining on it and contrasted to the practically black puddle. You can see it’s a reflection because the stalk of the light pole disappears as the puddle does and also because the ripples in the puddle create a zig-zag effect on the object being reflected.