Photography Reflective Journal (2)

Edited Pictures

Now I will discuss the various post production edits I have made to some of my photographs for the purposes of the course.

The first images I edited were done so on the online application Pixlr. The site, although basic in many respects, allows for a wide range of alterations to be made, from cropping to colour adjustments and so on. I chose to edit some pictures that I felt has interesting elements within them but were not fully realised.

The below images were all altered in drastically different ways and show a range of simple techniques to enhance their effects.

For the picture on top, I cropped a significant portion of the right side of the image so as to have less negative space distracting the viewer. I also added a shadowy blur to the left side, forcing the eye to the cat in the middle of the image. A few simple techniques to guide the viewers eye towards the most interesting part of the frame.

For the picture in the middle, I sharpened the image as much as possible without making the effect distracting and then desaturated the colour, giving it a washed out look. Finally I intensified the shadows, cropped a small section from the right side and cleaned up some unwanted blemishes. This was done to enhance the images creepy mood and atmosphere above what was originally possible.

Finally, the bottom image had the opposite effects as the one in the middle. The colour was intensified dramatically and a blur effect was given to the edges of the frame. The gave the image a bleeding effect and evoked a dreamlike fantasy of sorts.

I feel that all three images are improvements on the originals (I have provided them alongside for comparison) and are great examples of my use of editing in post. I also edited some pictures using Adobe Photoshop Elements, however those images were given far smaller and subtler changes, these images are the best examples I have of a photo being dramatically transformed and altered in post.

By Jack D. Phillips

Photography Reflective journal (1)

As part of the Academic and Contemporary Skill for Film and Media module on my university film course, I have been asked to write a reflective journal on my photography to demonstrate my progress and my thought process relating to my photography. 

I decided I would like to give this journal in the form of blog posts so it can be publicly read.

Early Pictures

With my first few photos, I was interested in manipulating the aperture setting on my camera to distort and reduce the light in my images. I was interested in the moody and mysterious quality the gave otherwise mundane and unremarkable photographs.

One of the first photographs I took with my DSLR camera.

This is a common theme throughout my portfolio, with an abundance of underexposed and dimly lit images. 

Although I have learned since these early images to not abuse the aperture settings excessively, I still enjoy the effect of these dim images and have come to consider them something of a signature of mine.

Another early photograph
demonstrating the low lighting I favoured at that time.

Another characteristic throughout my earlier photos was an aversion to the 'auto' setting on my camera, particularly auto-flash. I have since incorporated more pictures using this setting, however early on basically every picture I took was taken in manual mode, due to me disliking the falseness of flash lighting and wanting to figure my new camera out for myself.

The last aspect of my early photos that I wish to comment on was my aversion to photographing people, preferring to shoot inanimate objects or scenery. This remains my preferred subject to this day, however I have taken steps to incorporating more portraits into my portfolio as per the requirements of the module assessments.

This concludes the first post in self-reflecting journal. More shall be released in the coming days.

By Jack D. Phillips

My Flickr

Just thought I would link you guys to my Flickr account. I have been taking photos both for my film class in uni and casually for fun. Check it out by all means.

My Flickr