Shoot 3
Artist Influence - Nadege Meriau
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
This shoot is inspired by Nadege Meiau's work. Mariau completed a specific series named 'roots'. I was extremely inspired by this work as it was like nothing I had seen before in regards to flower photography. I liked the idea that she is not focusing on the aesthetic of flowers but rather looking at the darker areas which are less pleasing to the eye. This is something that I wanted to look at during this shoot because I wanted to experiment with how to make the less aesthetically pleasing parts of plants look interesting and detailed. To set up my shoot I looked closely at Nadege Meriau's images and decided that I wanted to use a different texture as the background for my images. Marieau's images look as though the background is dark and has a slight texture to it therefore I chose to use soil as a background for all of my images. A lot of Meriau's images are quite zoomed out meaning you can see the entire plant however I wanted to take some of my images slightly closer up in order to focus highly on fine details. When shooting I did take photos that had negative space around the plant which is something that Nadege Meriau inspired me to do because I liked the way that the entire shape of the plant was visible in some of her images. The two images below use negative space in a way that emphasises the shape of the entire plant which is what I have specifically been inspired by. I also like the use of a pop of colour in each of her images. This allows a contrast between the colour within the flower and the dark and dull area of the roots.
Images that have inspired me
This image has inspired me due to the connotations behind the image. The idea that a rose symbolises love but it has been cut up could imply someones heart being broken or love being lost in someones lives. I feel as though the idea of symbolism is something I would like to explore further and this photo has given me inspiration in order to show the symbolism of flowers in a more interesting way.
This photos has inspired me due to the focus on the anti-aesthetic of the image. I like the way in which the photographer has not tried to make the image look perfect and beautiful but has displayed the entire flower. I like the way that the roots have been included in the image and that the background is slightly dirty. I feel this could represent imperfections in people and in nature. I also like the way in which the paper has been ripped rather than cut in an orderly way. I think that this ties in with the image overall as it is focusing on the more realistic side of nature rather than just photographing the pretty flower.
Contact Sheet
In my opinion this shoot was successful because I captured a range of different images with a wide depth of field. This is something that I wanted to reflect within this shoot because in my previous shoots I have looked into creating a narrow depth of field. I was inspired my Nadege Meriau however I wanted to add some of my own ideas within my shoot. I did this because I wanted to be able to use photographers images to inspire me whilst going beyond these ideas.
My Best Images
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this as one of my best images due to the saturated pink that is within the photo. I feel as though having a saturated colour draws you into the image. I also feel as though the bright colour and the dark background create an interesting contrast. This could represent a difference of emotions (happy and sad). I also like the way that I have managed to capture a lot of detail within the petals of the flower and the leaves. I think this gives the photo depth and add multiple textures to the photo.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
I decided to zoom in slightly when taking this photo because I wanted to focus on the roots of the plant. I feel as though zooming in on this specific area of the plant gives the image an interesting focal point. Due to the way I have set up the lighting in the studio one side of the image is slightly darker than the other. I did this because I wanted the image to have a darker outer edge and a brighter centre. This gave the photos a central focal point and in this photo it meant that your eyes are immediately drawn to the texture of the roots.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the use of negative space around the flowers. I also like the connotations of this photo due to the symbolic meaning of roses. I feel as though having two roses next to one another could represent two peoples love for each other. I also think that the fact the flowers are slightly dying could represent peoples love fading over time and gradually being lost or dying.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this image as one of my best because I like how the fine detailing of the flower is very clear. I also like how the dark background of soil enhances the pink within the flower. The flower that I photographed is also slightly dead. I like the way that the outer petals of the flower are dying however the inner petals of the flower are still colourful. I feel as though this could represent the life cycle of a flower and how natures life gradually comes to and end.
F/9 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen the image above as one of my best images because I feel as though I have used negative space in an effective way. I feel as though the fact that the entire plant is within the frame of the image emphasises the unique shape of the plant itself.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this as one of my best images due to the texture within the photo. I feel as though the plant that I photographed has a very interesting texture and this is what I wanted to portray within this image. I also like the way that this image compliments the photo I took of the same plant but completely zoomed out. I feel these photos compliment each other because the image above shows the intricate and fine details of the plant and the other image I captured shows the shape and outline of the plant.
f/8 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this image as one of my best because I like the way I have used negative space to my advantage. I feel as though some of my images I took during this shoot could have included more negative space than I decided to use. This is because I feel as though I chose to zoom in on specific details of the plant and although I like the effect that this creates I also think that seeing the entirety of the plant within the image is very effective. I do need to crop this image in photoshop because the tray that I used to place the soil on is visible however this can be easily fixed in photoshop.
Images that require improvement
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
When taking this image I decided to pull the petals off of the flower to add another element to the composition of the image. I don't like the way that this turned out because I feel as though the image is not framed in the correct place because there is an uneven amount of space around the focal point which is the rose. I do not feel as though I should have used petals to try and take away the negative space within the photo because the image looks slightly packed. I do feel as though the camera settings used within all of my photos worked very well and gave them all the correct amount of exposure. The main issue with the images that I believe require improvement are due to the composition.
F/13 1/125 ISO 200
When capturing this image I tried to take a photo of a plant from a different angle. This image was taken from looking straight down onto the plant. I feel as though the angle is unclear as to what the actual photo is. The plant in the image is not in the centre of the image which I feel makes the photo look as though it has not been thought through. I also think that I would have preferred to take this photo in landscape rather than portrait because I think that the negative space surrounding the image would have been positioned better than the current image. If I were to try and capture this image again I would place the camera in landscape and I would ensure that the entirety of the plant is in the frame of the photo.
Due to taking the photos in the studio I used the same settings to capture a lot of my photos so the images I have chosen for improvement are due to the composition. If I were to complete this shoot again I would like to focus specifically on the composition of my images by looking further into the idea of negative space within photos.
Camera Settings and Equipment
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
Below is a diagram I have created which shows the way in which I set up the studio when competing this shoot. I used a soft box light, a small table, a tripod and a reflector. The tripod was positioned in front of the table. As I began shooting I did not have the reflector placed on the right side of the set up however I realised that my photos were coming out slightly brighter on the left side due to all the light being aimed this way. To fix this problem I then decided to use a reflector which is a white board that is used to reflect the light. This meant that rather than using another soft box light, which would have been too over powering, I used the reflector as an alternative.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
When completing this shoot I gathered the majority of my inspiration from Nadege Marieau as her series on the roots of plants inspired me to looking an the anti-aesthetic of flowers. In my previous shoots I feel I have looked at the beauty of the flowers and the colours of different flowers but Marieau's work made me look deeper into the parts of plants that people do not tend to look at. I was also inspired by images that I found on pinterest as I believe this allowed me to incorporate some of my own ideas into the shoot rather than just following the exact ideas of the photographer. An example of this is cutting up the flower and photographing it as if it has been put back together. This was inspired by a photo I found on pinterest rather than Nadege Marieau's work however I still used aspects of her work, like the soil in the background, to ensure that my shoot linked directly to her work. I do feel as though elements of Imogen Cunningham's work has been reflected within this shoot because I have looked loosely at the shape of the plants and the shapes in which the plants can create. This is something that Imogen Cunningham's work heavily focuses on.
Edits
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
When editing my photos I did not want to edit them too much because the focus was on the image itself rather than a lot of editing. I decided to use different tools to enhance the colours and tones that already existed within the image.
Firstly I used the brightness/contrast tool to alter the image as a whole. In regards to some of my images that I took I decided to increase the brightness quite a lot. This is because when photographing the images I felt as though some photos came out slightly too dark. Due to only having a soft box on one side of my set up the main light within the photo is coming from the left side of the image. Although I like the way this turned out in some of the images I took I did want some photos to generally be brighter and for the detail on the right side of the image to be slightly more visible.
I then used the curves tool which allowed me to alter the contrast in certain areas of the photo that have lighter and darker tones.
I also used the hue/saturation tool to edit my photos. I used this because I liked the effect that increasing the saturation within some of the images gave a warm tone throughout the image which I liked when I photographed the roots of the plant. I feel as though this made the roots more visible.
On the image above I cropped the outer edge of the photo. I only did this with this photo because I had some of the tray which I used to place the soil in within the frame of the image. When evaluating my best and worst images I mentioned that I wanted to crop this photo therefore when editing I ensured that I did this.
Diptych technique
After editing my best images I looked closely at the images I produced and as I was experimenting with negative space throughout my shoot I had captured photos of the same plants but from a close angle and an angle that is slightly further away. I decided to incorporate the diptych technique within my edits to experiment with another way that I could use these photos rather than just leaving them as individual photos.
The photo below has inspired me to use this technique for the images that I have created because I like the way that they are photos of the same model but one is distant and the other is very personal. I feel as though this is very effective because it shows two images with the same subject but it shows how different the angle of the photo can make the overall image look.
Firstly I created a plain document on photoshop and customised the width and height to ensure that the document would be landscape rather than portrait because this would mean I could place the photos side by side.
I then inserted both images I wanted to use into the document.
Once both the images were in the document I then altered the position and sizes of the images. I did this by clicking cmd+T on the keyboard which allowed me to move and resize the images however whilst resizing the photos I ensured that I held down the shift key because this made sure that the photo stayed in proportion rather than stretching the actual image itself. I also ensured I had the correct layer selected depending on which photo I wanted to re-scale.
Finally I cropped some of the external white document that was visible.
Below are the final photos I created using the diptych technique.
I like the images that I have created using this technique however I think that I prefer the first image that I have inserted. This is because the image I created using the green plant uses slightly different tones within the separate images. I feel as though the photo on the left has a pink under tone and the photo on the right has a slightly more orange under tone. Due to each of the images having these different undertones I feel as though the photos don't compliment each other as well as they could therefore I much prefer the other image I created using the diptych technique.
My Final Images
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
I feel as though I have created a meaningful response to Nadege Meriau's images. Each photo links to one another due to the use of soil as a background for the flowers. I like the way in which each image contains a different element of colour. This is something that inspired me when looking at Nadege Meriau's photos and I feel as though I reflected this within my work. This technique is something I would like to progress within my work as I feel the photos that I produced are very strong.
Progression
To progress I would like to focus on the editing of my images and look at using physical and computer manipulation to create photos with more experimental edits. I would also like to look more into shooting in a studio environment because I enjoyed being able to fully control the lighting and the position of the camera. I feel this enabled me to gather more photos that I was happy with.
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