Plans for shoot:
My plans for this shoot were to use a macro lens with a tripod, remote release and torch. My subject for this shoot will be glitter mixed with nail varnish to combine the influences from the nail varnish and glitter shoots I have completed. As stated before I will be using a Macro lens and so shall be shooting indoor. I will experiment with different angles and different apertures to give my image more depth and further engage the viewer.
Research Influence:
My research influence for this shoot is Patrick Heron, an abstract painter that I will be using as inspiration for the nail varnish formations. Heron uses a large amount of primary colours in his paintings which I will consider while shooting.
Image Bank:
Contact Sheets:
DS7_7359.JPG:
The framing in this image is skewed and so the tabletop is visible. This was one of the first images in this shoot and so some of the small adjustments still needed to be made, the improvements are visible in the images following.
DS7_7372.JPG:
In this shoot I wanted to experiment with different apertures and so this effected the field of view; in this image the point of focus is slightly misplaced which leads the viewers attention to slightly the wrong area of the image. This means that the effect of the colours is overlooked due the viewers attention being drawn to another area within the shot.
DS7_7379.JPG:
As with the previous shoot involving glitter, the camera's automatic focus was having issues with finding a focal point and so kept searching. This meant that I had to focus manually and this shot is the final auto-focus image before I changed tactics.
DS7_7432.JPG:
This image is a happy accident due to the issue I had focusing however, I like the effect this image has. The rough shapes and different blue hues which create a calming effect and the glare from the lights has left large multi-coloured glares that have a hypnotising effect.
Best Images:
I specifically modelled the above image to match a shot from the first nail varnish shoot of the coloured nail polish bottles. The gradual changing effect of the bottles creates a spectrum of different colored glitters, which in it's organised form creates a calming effect in the viewer.
As stated previously, I wanted to experiment with different angles in this shoot to provide more variety within my images and to also create a deeper focus on the subject due to the low aperture.
This image is intriguing due to the many colours that are blending together yet remaining separated, the connotations of this are similar to a small ant colony moving as one yet acting as individual agents.
This image is the next in the series and shows more of the blending within the nail varnish. There is also a tilted angle in this shot that is slightly hinted at despite there being no point of reference to determine if the image is in fact skewed. The effect of this tilted angle and the low f-stop, the viewer is drawn into the image and the skewed frame suggests that they have tilted their head to further inspect the magnitude of colours that are present.
The previous three images are the result of the nail varnish blending together. No longer are the spots working as individuals to further the whole, but they have become submerged within one another. This creates a sense of movement in the image as the viewer's eye follows the path of the swirls.
In the image above there is glitter spread across the previous swirls, obscuring them from the viewer. This causes the viewer to spend more time trying to decipher the shot and further draws them in.
In this shot I used a low f-stop to create a point of focus in a sea of colours. The effect of this is that the viewer is drawn into the shot despite there being no clear subject, this leaves the viewer searching the image and result in them paying more attention to the different flecks of colour.
This shot is of nail varnish layer over a bed of glitter. Due to the different compositions of the two materials they don't readily mix together. The result of this is that the nail varnish sits on top of the glitter as its small particles of begin to cling to the edges of the varnish.
In this shot the nail varnish has been combined with the glitter. The low f-stop and the lighting in this shot hint that the blue nail varnish is a large mass or some creature that is trying to swim it's way through the swamp of glitter. The effect of this on the viewer is almost similar to blot tests used to assess mental health by asking what the viewer can make out inside the image.
A03: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
My main ideas for this shoot were to merge my ideas from my previous two shoots as both glitter and nail varnish has the properties of liquid, just different sized particles on a molecular level. This is relevant to my theme of selected colour as I would like to highlight the different colours in the editing process to emphasise the emotions that can be drawn from different colours. I encountered a small issues during the shoot as I was using nail varnish it had a tendency to dry out and develop a film over the top which would move when I began to mix the colours.
My influence for this shoot was Patrick Heron - an abstract painter. I wanted to investigate Heron as he uses a wide range of colours and mark making techniques in his images that lend his painting a sense of character and emotion. I represented this random tendency in the shoot by using varied patches of colour and blending. Another reason I wanted to experiment with Heron's random methods as it would enable my images to be solely about the colours used and evident emotions, rather than the subject itself.
A02: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes. reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
For this shoot I used a 60mm F/2 Macro lens with a D7200 Nikon camera body with a Nikon remote release and Manfrotto tripod. I poured the nail varnishes onto a small plate and then covered the plate in glitter and added more nail varnish, I also used a torch for the lighting so that I was able to control the shadows and highlights within the glitter. The camera was set to aperture priority with an average f-stop of F/3.5 which would create the shallow depth of field and intense focus that I hoped to achieve within my images.
A01: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
To improve my images I will use Photoshop:
First I entered all of the images in Photoshop, then used the sliders to adjust the settings before opening all of the images.
Once straightened I could shift my focus onto the small red blotches on the upper right hand of the image.
To remove these blotches I used the cloning tool and cloned a nearby piece of the image and used it as a brush tool to cover the red dots. I also noticed some small specks that were in the bottom of the image and so cleaned those up too.
For some of the other images I used a black and white layer with an eraser tool to select some of the colours while keeping the rest of the image grey.
Final Images:
A04: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate , makes connections between visual and other elements.
My main focus for this shoot was to abstract my images so that the emotions connected to different colours would be more accessible without the barrier of a complex subject. I feel I have responded appropriately to the theme of selected colour from isolating the colours in my still images to the GIF I have completed that cycles through the different colours. This shoot was successful as I used a lower f-stop than my last shoot so that there was a shallower depth of filed in my images, thus creating a greater focus on the colours involved in each shot.
I also feel that my research into Patrick Heron was utilised effectively as it reminded me that in order to create an emotive image there doesn't specifically have to be a subject, just the colours and feelings we all associate with them.
Progression:
For my next shoot I would like to investigate a more stable subject such as beads or buttons as this would allow greater control over the composition of the images and consequently the effects that the images have on the viewer. For this shoot some of the shots are slightly out of focus and so for the next shoot I would like to ensure that I am using the eyepiece on the camera to manually focus as the Live view on the camera is low resolution and can sometimes be misleading.
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