Strands 4: Further Development
Introduction
I really liked making the images in the style of Daniel Crooks. I thought the pictures I took were very effective at showing the passage of time. I tried to create another image that showed the passage of time over a much longer period. To do this I set my camera up on a tripod at home and took a picture every ten minutes during sunset. I ended up with a series of photos showing the city of London as it got dark. I then used Photoshop to layer each photo on top of each other. I used the grid in Photoshop to select parts of each layer to either delete or keep.
Below is a slide show of the pictures I took for this project.
I really liked making the images in the style of Daniel Crooks. I thought the pictures I took were very effective at showing the passage of time. I tried to create another image that showed the passage of time over a much longer period. To do this I set my camera up on a tripod at home and took a picture every ten minutes during sunset. I ended up with a series of photos showing the city of London as it got dark. I then used Photoshop to layer each photo on top of each other. I used the grid in Photoshop to select parts of each layer to either delete or keep.
Below is a slide show of the pictures I took for this project.
What Went Well
Using the tripod was essential to make sure the composition was the same each time. I used the aperture priority mode on the camera for each picture. This meant that the camera automatically worked out the exposure time so I didn't have to make any adjustments for each picture. The colours in the sky dimmed in each photograph and the ones where the sky is pink are very pretty. The set of pictures show the city lighting up as the city gets darker.
Even Better If
I think it would have been better if I took the pictures over a longer period of time. This would have meant I had more pictures with more variation in light. The three final images I made are below. I think that I could have experimented more with the shapes of each layer. For example instead of using squares and stripes I could of used circles or overlapping shapes for more variety. The weather conditions where the same for each picture, if I did it on a different day the sky might have looked more interesting.
Using the tripod was essential to make sure the composition was the same each time. I used the aperture priority mode on the camera for each picture. This meant that the camera automatically worked out the exposure time so I didn't have to make any adjustments for each picture. The colours in the sky dimmed in each photograph and the ones where the sky is pink are very pretty. The set of pictures show the city lighting up as the city gets darker.
Even Better If
I think it would have been better if I took the pictures over a longer period of time. This would have meant I had more pictures with more variation in light. The three final images I made are below. I think that I could have experimented more with the shapes of each layer. For example instead of using squares and stripes I could of used circles or overlapping shapes for more variety. The weather conditions where the same for each picture, if I did it on a different day the sky might have looked more interesting.
Image One
For my first picture I chose squares as my shape to show the different layers. I think this looks a little bit messy.
For my first picture I chose squares as my shape to show the different layers. I think this looks a little bit messy.
Image Two
For my next picture I just used stripes showing the city getting darker from left to right. This looks better than the first one but there are not enough stripes.
For my next picture I just used stripes showing the city getting darker from left to right. This looks better than the first one but there are not enough stripes.
Image Three
For my final version I doubled the amount of pictures used to create the effect of it getting light and going dark again. Because I didn't have pictures of it getting light in the morning I just duplicated the layers and used them twice.
For my final version I doubled the amount of pictures used to create the effect of it getting light and going dark again. Because I didn't have pictures of it getting light in the morning I just duplicated the layers and used them twice.
Further Work
I decided that I really liked this project so I continued to experiment with the photos. I changed the technique to include diagonal lines, triangles, and circles. I also tried inverting the image to be a negative of the original as changing the colours. These are shown below.
I decided that I really liked this project so I continued to experiment with the photos. I changed the technique to include diagonal lines, triangles, and circles. I also tried inverting the image to be a negative of the original as changing the colours. These are shown below.
Strands Further Development Project Summary
What Went Well
I thought that all of the projects were interesting because they were all different from each other. I enjoyed the Hendrik Kertens project as it gave me a hance to take some nice portraits using good lighting and it was fun to set it up at home. I liked the Daniel Crooks and Joe Webb projects because I learned a lot about using layers in Photoshop. The Joe Webb one was my favourite because I could use the technique outside in the street like he did or just at home for the shot of the city.
Even Better If
I think the Hendrik Kertens pictures are fun but are a bit too silly. If I had a bit more time to plan I would have made them have a more serious feel buy using different props. The Joe Webb set of images could have been improved by photographing a different range of environments in different type of weather and light
What Went Well
I thought that all of the projects were interesting because they were all different from each other. I enjoyed the Hendrik Kertens project as it gave me a hance to take some nice portraits using good lighting and it was fun to set it up at home. I liked the Daniel Crooks and Joe Webb projects because I learned a lot about using layers in Photoshop. The Joe Webb one was my favourite because I could use the technique outside in the street like he did or just at home for the shot of the city.
Even Better If
I think the Hendrik Kertens pictures are fun but are a bit too silly. If I had a bit more time to plan I would have made them have a more serious feel buy using different props. The Joe Webb set of images could have been improved by photographing a different range of environments in different type of weather and light
Final Piece
Final Further Development Project
Introduction
For my final Strands project I wanted to use the same technique I used for the previous Joe Webb city scape photos. Once again I photographed the city of London from the back of our home. I borrowed a 400mm lens so I could zoom in further on the city of London. I set the camera up on a tripod and programmed it to take a picture every 15 minutes. I started the process at 5:30am when it started to get light, all the way through the day until it got dark. I ended up with too many pictures so I edited them down to my favourite 30. I used the same technique as before to layer the photos on top of each other in Photoshop, then delete a section of each photo so the one underneath it shows through. Below is a slideshow of the pictures I chose to use.
For my final Strands project I wanted to use the same technique I used for the previous Joe Webb city scape photos. Once again I photographed the city of London from the back of our home. I borrowed a 400mm lens so I could zoom in further on the city of London. I set the camera up on a tripod and programmed it to take a picture every 15 minutes. I started the process at 5:30am when it started to get light, all the way through the day until it got dark. I ended up with too many pictures so I edited them down to my favourite 30. I used the same technique as before to layer the photos on top of each other in Photoshop, then delete a section of each photo so the one underneath it shows through. Below is a slideshow of the pictures I chose to use.
Final Images
Image One
For the first image I divided the image into 30 vertical stripes using the grid overlay in Photoshop. The slices to the left are during sunrise and the ones on the right are during sunset. This give a time line of the day. I only used a few images taken while the sun was up as the light did not change very much during these hours.
Image One
For the first image I divided the image into 30 vertical stripes using the grid overlay in Photoshop. The slices to the left are during sunrise and the ones on the right are during sunset. This give a time line of the day. I only used a few images taken while the sun was up as the light did not change very much during these hours.
Image Two
For this image I selected just eight of the original 30 pictures. I then used triangle shapes to select and deleted areas of each layer. The final effect is very nice and it reminds me of the glass on the Gherkin building in central London.
For this image I selected just eight of the original 30 pictures. I then used triangle shapes to select and deleted areas of each layer. The final effect is very nice and it reminds me of the glass on the Gherkin building in central London.
Image Three
For this image I only used the eight darkest pictures from the day. I chose four from the morning and four from the evening. This means that the lights are on in the city in every image and the final picture has a nice dark blue colour. I drew diagonal lines across the picture to select the parts of each layer I wanted. I think this has a more interesting effect than the vertical lines.
For this image I only used the eight darkest pictures from the day. I chose four from the morning and four from the evening. This means that the lights are on in the city in every image and the final picture has a nice dark blue colour. I drew diagonal lines across the picture to select the parts of each layer I wanted. I think this has a more interesting effect than the vertical lines.
Image Four
The this image I chose the eight lightest images from the day. I think that this gives a very different feel to the dark blue one. Instead of using lines I drew circles to selected the parts I wanted to keep on each lay. I also overlapped some of the circle which gives a nice effect.
The this image I chose the eight lightest images from the day. I think that this gives a very different feel to the dark blue one. Instead of using lines I drew circles to selected the parts I wanted to keep on each lay. I also overlapped some of the circle which gives a nice effect.
Image Five
For the final image I used the pen tool in Photoshop to draw around the separate buildings. I wanted to select different building on each layer and I hoped that the final image would be made up of pictures of building taken at different times of day. It was very difficult to do and I think the pictures above work better.
For the final image I used the pen tool in Photoshop to draw around the separate buildings. I wanted to select different building on each layer and I hoped that the final image would be made up of pictures of building taken at different times of day. It was very difficult to do and I think the pictures above work better.
What Went Well
I really liked this project and I think the final pictures are very nice. I thought using the zoom lens worked well to zoom all the way into the buildings. Using the timer on the camera was very useful because all I need to do was press the shutter button for the first picture and I could leave the camera on the tripod for the rest of the day.
Even Better If
The main thing I don't like about this set of pictures is that the sky is a bit similar in each one. My earlier pictures had more sky in them and the colour of the sky changes in them, including ones where it went a nice pink colour. It would have been nice if I had more variation in the colours of each picture.
I really liked this project and I think the final pictures are very nice. I thought using the zoom lens worked well to zoom all the way into the buildings. Using the timer on the camera was very useful because all I need to do was press the shutter button for the first picture and I could leave the camera on the tripod for the rest of the day.
Even Better If
The main thing I don't like about this set of pictures is that the sky is a bit similar in each one. My earlier pictures had more sky in them and the colour of the sky changes in them, including ones where it went a nice pink colour. It would have been nice if I had more variation in the colours of each picture.