Evaluation

In this unit, we focused on capturing movement using film and digital photography. We learned about shutter speed and how using a different range allows us to get different effects. Long shutter speed gives us this blur effect which does personify movement. We also learned about aperture and how light is also controlled by us.

Task 1

For this task, we had to find examples of artists who showed movements in their work and talk about how it may have been created. I found some examples from the library and the internet and shown how it may have been created, along with what effects it has by the way it's shot. I have also linked my work to my artists and the examples I chose. For example, the long exposure of vehicle zooming off for my dark room image was inspired by the red bus reference. This task wasn't really hard but it did require some time to make the work related to the concept of movement as we write it all up.

Task 1b

The time when we had to experiment and take images using manual settings - focusing on shutter speed. I sort of mentioned how it was hard when we had to note down each image settings as we took so many images and some were just a rough take. I think the task itself was fun and it was a good learning curve to learn how shutter speed worked and what sort of images we could take. This was an advantage to use these techniques before we actually had to use film cameras and produce some movement images. 

Task 2

In this task, we had to use film cameras to take images on our trip of movement. We had a short summary of how to use the cameras and then we were sent out to capture our images. I think I succeeded with my images to an extent. I was really glad that they were all exposed correctly and some images did have movement. To another small extent, I think the images weren't very perfect with the focus. I mentioned throughout this project how hard it was to make sure the focus was 100% perfect. If I can improve anything from this task, it would be to improve the focus. It has been a learning curve and the images aren't blurred that badly. It is just a flaw if I had to criticise my work. So as we took each shot, we also had to write the settings for each shot which I also managed well. Think it was a nice change to use film cameras rather than our everyday digital because we got to print them which is also fun.

Task 3

We had to research some flipbooks and explain how many shots would be required to make it a good flipbook. I think this was one of the fun times we've had when we need to research ever because we was looking at flipbooks and GIFS which was a nice change. I felt like I've been flooded with ideas. I think I managed to find some good examples that were linking to my ideas as i were searching for them. Then we had to transform our ideas into a photoshoot using continuous shooting. I think we had some images where things didn't quite turn out how we expected like when i took images of Angelika typing. The camera on continuous shooting took some time to capture in between every shot. It would sort of save to the SD card so it was kind of challenging to get images that would work really quick. To solve this, I decided not to use my camera and use the camera from Keith. Then I came up with the results and i was quite happy with my outcome because the flipbook seemed to work. Then once i created so many GIFS, it just make my vision into reality and most of them runs through really smoothly while it's on loop.

Task 4

This was when we had to make a darkroom timeline of how we created our prints. I think I managed that well. I am unsure if I missed anything major out because I had to do it from my head and I think I covered the main bits. Then we had to find examples of artists who also used darkroom printing for their work. I found some good examples and I felt like I could relate to their work because I had to do a lot of experimentation on different exposures and different contrasts, as this unit is all about darkroom practice. I gave some reasons as to why they might have used darkroom through why I would use darkroom myself such as getting different shades of blacks and whites. It's almost like Photoshop where you can change the levels and make the image look different for different effects.

Painting with Light

This activity was really fun. We used long exposure to take images of us drawing with lights. I managed to take some good shots with my group and showed a range of images where we have a high and low aperture which decides how much light is being exposed by the camera. I have also taken additional images at home which also shows a range of different outcomes. We have some that are a brightly room and some that were a dark room just by how the aperture was set. There were also examples of how bright the light source looked in the images. I think besides the fun, it was a good experimentation that helped us understand how long exposures work because it's easier to understand shutter speed when you use light as the subject (if that makes sense).

Darkroom Technical Folder

In this folder, I have all my prints collated together with descriptions of how it's been created and what effects it may have. I added some extra additional prints that I just made to show a range of different exposures. I think I could made some more bigger prints but I wanted to have 2 finals to narrow down to the best. If I had more time, I would take some more pictures with the film cameras so then I can have a better range of images. But i am happy that everything has worked the first time round.

Finals

I am really grateful about my final image. Well the car zooming off image. That picture looks really good because it shows movement in such a parallel way. You can almost tell it's a car without seeing it because of the road and the way it's composition is set. I really like how the borders around work and the whole motion blur is right in the centre. I'm pretty impressed with how I took this image on film camera which is harder than digital. The reason why the exposure and the contrast is like that because I intentionally didn't want a high contrast or the details of the blur will go. And the exposure seems just right because you can see everything subtly. 

The second of my final images is of a truck. This image does show movement and you can see the truck take off. I think this image is good but compared to the other one, you can visually see the car. This is probably because this image had a faster but long shutter speed whereas the other image was taken with a completely long shutter speed. This image also doesn't have such a high contrast because I didn't want to lose any details. I also showed an example of how a high contrast and slightly over exposed image looks. I think it makes an image look grungy and this wasn't suitable when mine was about movement. Although it is possible to have a grunge image that does show movement.

My handmade flipbook turned out to be really cool. The pages flip very smoothly and you can see how the facial expressions change. I think due to finishing everything else, I couldn't make any more and printing credit were really high when i had some additional time last minute before the deadline. It was really confusing at first to make these without any help and cutting them had to be rather accurate to make it a good flipbook. I have also created the GIF of the same images so it can be demonstrated digitally.

Overall, i think i have managed my time quite well because i finished all the tasks and activities before the deadline. The last few moments weren't as rushed as before. I feel like i'm really starting to get used to the structure of finishing work before the deadline, rather than cramping it all together. I think by evaluating how i performed previously, i have seen a change and a progression with taking the units calmly. Which leaves me some additional time if needed for any extra work or so.

Kodak Gallery Quiz

Task 4 - Darkroom Printing

Part 1:

Timeline

-STARTING POINT-

1. So you start off with getting your film processed.

2. Then you should be cutting all your film into bits. 5/6 images in each row.

3. You should now be ready to hit the darkroom. So when you first go in, you should set the cyan, magenta and yellow filters up at your workstation. Look at the grade sheet and start setting your filter with grade 3 - which is 23y and 56m. Similar to the image below.

4. You should now take out your negative carrier and select the negative you want to use. *ENSURE* that you turn your negative upside down and you place it on the carrier so the image projected would be the right way up.

5. Turn any white lights off.

6. Use the focus light on your timer to project the image on your easel. *ENSURE* that any photographic paper is put away. Now move about the easel to adjust the perfect position. Adjust how close the lens are to make the image closer and further. Make sure you follow any measurements which varies on what you're producing. Set your focus and use your focus finder to find grains on the projected image on the easel. Then turn off the focus light to move on to the next bit.

  

7. Now you should be ready to start. Grab some photographic paper and make sure the timer light is off. Set the timer to 10x and start with 10 seconds. To make test strips, grab a cardboard and start moving along the paper for every 10 seconds you expose the image for. 

If you're making a print, then just go ahead and expose the image to the time after you have made test strips and are happy with the results.

8. Now you will be working with chemicals. *ENSURE* that you use the tongs provided and you are not spilling the chemicals around. If any chemical is thrown into your face then a member of staff will have to take immediate action and get a eye bath ready. 

Once your images are done being exposed, you can now put them in the developer tray. This will be in the tray for 1 minute. In this period of time, you should see your image being visible on the paper.

9. Next is the stop bath. You should put your image in here for 30 seconds. This would just stop the developer and stop turning your image black.

10. Then you put your image in the fix tray. This should be in here for 30 seconds. This would fix your image so that it can be exposed to white light. 

11. Then you should put it in the water bath for 10 minutes so all the chemicals are washed off and then you can dry them overnight.

Part 2:

Research

Henri Cartier-Bresson

This was a french photographer back in 1930's who took classical black and white photography. This picture stood out for me because of how they used to consider shape as an element back in 1930's, and how we still study how shape is an element to a good photo. This image goes in spirals and you can see little kids around all looking down. It looks like it's been taken at the bottom of some sort of stairway. This was created with conventional (film) photography and i think it has influenced the image. I think this has influenced the image because of the shade of colours, it creates the shape of the stairway. Also has elements of high contrast with the kids compared to the stairs which is more low contrast. 

Here is another image from Henri. I like this black and white image because it's been created way back and still looks very fresh. I think this image has influenced other images that are made in this current century. It looks very cool and hipster. It's an image of a lonely man sitting with a cat just facing him. I think this could make it a good film image because the exposure looks really good and the contrast isn't too sharp so the blacks look faded just like the way tumblr filters look. It looks very calm and mysterious how there's no other people around and the streets look fairly clean. 

Sid Kaplan

This darkroom based photographer is one of the finest photo printers in history. I had a rough look at a selection of his work and struggled to pick one. I think there was a few interesting one however, I decided to choose this one because i felt that it had deeper meaning. This image shows clothes being hanged on a clothesline and train tracks right beside. It is almost juxtaposition as it looks though the clothes are literally near the tracks from the angle it's been taken. To an extent, it kinda connotes this deeper meaning of the urban life. I feel like this image shows how sad and unfortunate some people are having to hang some clothes right beside the train tracks which is not very peaceful. The image itself is a print in the darkroom. I think the exposure is really good and the contrast is perfection. The white is crystal white where it needs to be and the black is rather dominant. The exposure also does have alot of details just by looking at the train tracks. You can see the texture of wood just by the way it's been graded perfectly.

Here's another image by the same artist. This image is very creative i believe. It is a darkroom print of fireworks, but the way it's been exposed almost looks very surreal. It looks like an abstract and looks like the film was dirty or been scratched. The exposure on the image is really good and the contrast seems really high because you can just tell the difference from the black and the white, and there's hardly any grey except the bottom half. This image looks very 3D because it looks like the fireworks are overlapping.

These sets of images are really similar also by Sid. I think the main focus point here is the cloudy smokey thing in the centre. The exposure and contrast is good that the smoke actually looks really 3D and real. Looks like some images nowadays when they manipulate everyday images by adding clouds and making it look 3D. I think because the smoke is such a natural thing, it adds a little push to just printing a normal image because it stands out alot as it just contains a lot of different shades compiled together.

Lastly is this image by Sid. I selected this image because it does link to our project with movement. This image is good with the contrast as not a lot of details have been vanished or turned black. I think it's the least best image because it's not really been taken in a creative way. Also, you can tell this is a print by looking on the left side edge where it goes slightly grey. I think the movement in the image has been exposed slightly too dark so you can't tell very much that there's this blurred motion of all the cars. If it was to be slightly a lower contrast, then maybe the details on the trucks would look better.

Task 3 - Flipbooks

Part 1:

Flipbooks Research

Flipbooks are a series of images or drawings that work together to show movement. You can have a simple flipbook that consists of two different frames that are repetitive so it's ongoing. Or you can go advanced and create one with loads of images or drawings depending on what type of flipbook you make and have that show movement. It might sound really complicated but flipbooks are fun and creative to make.

-Digital flipbooks

Well digital flipbooks also known as a 'GIF' file is a moving image that has been inspired by physical flipbooks. It is a cool way to show movement in quick shots. To do a flipbook based on images, you'd have to take at least 20 or above images to have a flipbook that is rather consistent and shows a lot of movement. To take these images, it would be ideal to use continuous shooting so you can capture something in lots of shots as there's movement of the subject. 

Source A

Source B

I have selected these GIFs because they show how the movement of milk being poured is captured. It has been captured in such a creative way that you can see the black coffee indulging with milk. Source A looks like a video on loop rather than images because it doesn't look like images put together and the milk is spreading really consistently. Source B is based on images, you can see how it's been taken continuously and the milk starts spreading almost from the bottom.

Source C

Source D

Here's some other examples of GIFs based upon facial expression. This could be one of my idea. To capture someone's emotions changing through their facial expressions. Source C is a GIF from frozen. You can see her eyes widening and this shocked look on her face. It is on loop and i think that wouldn't require many images. Roughly about 10-15 if you want it to look as consistent as you can. Source D is another similar example and you can see how her eyebrows just rise up and she looks away showing no interest.

Source E

This idea is to capture when someone is writing. Source E is an example of how a GIF image would look of someone writing. This would require around 10+ continuous shots so when you pile them together, you can see movement of the pen as its drawing along.

Another idea for my flipbooks is to do with water. I want to capture water continuously in different ways so when I attempt to make a GIF, it would work collaboratively. I want to try and attempt capturing water waves and water splashes. So there's a range of ideas of ideas that could work with water. With this idea, you can range the number of shots so it can be simple or it can be ongoing then loop.

Part 2:

Images & Contact Sheets

Images taken with the group

Additional images taken individually

Now that I have my images that were inspired from my ideas. I am going to make GIF files with my images on:

http://gifmaker.me/

Part 3:

Digital Flipbooks and Hand-made Flipbook

Here's a GIF of my fellow friend making silly faces, this just was a test to see how GIF files would be generated on the website. I set the speed fast so there's lots of movement.

This GIF actually works really well. The idea is inspired by the whole tumblr generation. It is actually representing a councilor who is dealing with a patient who has a breakdown. 

This GIF is my least favorite. It was suppose to simply show leanne walk up and just loop but i think i selected images without thinking how it would work, but I think it does still show movement of how she is moving.

These GIF are the same but have different speed settings. Just by changing the speed, it changes the effect the image has on the viewer. The first one is very calm and you can see some movements and runs rather smoothly. The second one is more fast paced and feels more dramatic. I thought by making a comparison, it makes one better than the other by the way you prefer it.

Here is another same image at different speeds. Personally, i prefer the bottom one in this case because the movement is fast and you can see exactly how the water rises. Whereas the top image shows movement, in a few gap seconds.

This didn't work very well because the colour of the image changed as i took them. So when i selected these images together, you can see the movement but the colour tone of the images change. However i think this does compare to the rest in how they develop.

These sets of images have worked really well in this GIF format. I like how I've taken this idea from my research and put these images together. As before, I've created two at different paces. I think the bottom one suits this context better because it's about writing so the slight faster pace makes it look more real in terms of movements.

With these sets of images, i think the choice will depend on the person on which pace is better. For me, I think the slower pace on the bottom is better because you can see each step rather than the GIF finishing so quick on the fast pace one.

This GIF worked really well with the images selected and the order because it loops very smoothly, and the image speed is just right. It shows the movement in such an equal pace that it almost looks like a video has been turned into a GIF. 

Here is my final GIF, I think this has worked really well as a GIF because it shows movements and it loops in a way that it all links together. There is no order but just a random selection of different facial expressions that's forever ongoing. 

After creating this GIF, i thought i would make a hand made flipbook using this set of images. That has also turned out really well and flips rather smoothly. I have shortened it so it's just a shocking face so then I had to reverse it to make it longer. Initially it was 12 images then i reversed it to make it 24.