Electronic Portfolio

Electronic Portfolio from Reece Hack

Composite/Manipulated images - Ethics and Personal Perspectives

There are a number of ethical and personal opinions surrounding composite and manipulated images.

In the fashion industry, for example, it has been argued over whether it is morally right to manipulate images of fashion models. Some people have argued that airbrushing people's bodies to make them look skinnier and removing imperfections creates a bad example for people. People may see these pictures, and aspire to look like them, but because the images are not showing a real representation of a human, they are unable to achieve that look and as a result become unhappy with the way they look as a result. This is why photo manipulation in modelling and fashion photography is widely considered to be unethical.

However, in some industries, image manipulation is considered to be acceptable. For example, in photography not based on portraits or modelling, photo manipulation can be used to create surreal images for dramatic and comedy effects. Also, in advertising, images can be manipulated to create a desired

Final Evaluation

Throughout this unit, I have learned many practical and theoretical skills, as well as techniques and ideas in photography that I learned from the artist research I have completed.

My Artist research has influenced my work in many ways. For example, when I studied the formal element of reflection, my research on Ruut Blees Luxumburg heavily influenced the way I shot and composed my images and what type of reflection I photographed. Like Luxemburg's work, I looked for reflections that were shown on the ground and reflected buildings and people. I also often shot from a high angle and tried to find reflections that had bright lights in them, which is a common feature of Ruut Blees Luxemburg's reflection Street photography.

I also drew influence from Vivian Maier, who is a documentary street photographer, while shooting my photo documentary images. I particularly drew influence from the way she observes her surroundings and tries to capture events as they actually happen, which was a technique I had in mind when shooting most of my Photo documentary images.

In addition to learning from my Artist Research, I feel I have also progressed in my knowledge and application of technical skills in my work. One thing I have learned from this unit is a wide range of Photoshop techniques that I have incorporated into my work frequently. For example, I learned how to use tools such as liquify and spot healing brush, which particularly came into use when taking portraits, as I could edit out any blemishes or marks on my subject's face, and when creating my composite images on the Fourth Plinth, as I could remove the object that was on the plinth already and place the one I wanted on there.

I also learned various studio techniques and about the uses of studio equipment. One thing I learned to use and take advantage of was a snoot. A learned that a snoot can make the beam of a spotlight much smaller and more focused, which was useful when you require low key lighting on the person or object you are photographing. You can see my use of a snoot and low key lighting in the studio shoot for the formal element of tone.

Overall, I would definitely say the way I take my photographs has improved. This is partly because of the rules of composition and framing I learned, as well as the exercises we did that focused on setting the camera manually such as Our work on the subject of movement. I learned the definition of framing in photography, which I now consider every time before taking a photograph. I feel that when framing has been taken into consideration, an image appears much neater and looks much more professional. I feel it can also enhance the formal elements shown in the image.

Another thing I feel I displayed in this unit was my ability to experiment. Although my work lacks in physical experimentation, I think that I have used a wide range of computer experiments throughout my work. I have used a wide range of Photoshop techniques. I learned and implemented techniques such as colour manipulation and duotone.

In general, I would say my work is moving in the direction of Photo documentary and candid Street photography. I would say this because many of my images were taken in an urban environment and depicted the actions and interactions of people, which is similar to the documentary street photography works of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Overall, I would say that my work was most successful in the areas that incorporated mood and atmosphere as well as capturing urban environments. I feel that the work that incorporated this held a strong message and was the most visually appealing. However, I feel that the more studio based elements of the unit were less successful, as I find studio photography unnatural and difficult for me to transfer my ideas into. I find this image lacked use of multiple formal elements and interesting compositions, which are seen more in my non studio based work.

Duotone - Computer Experiments

Here is an example of duotone that I have created as part of my computer experiments. I set the two colours to black and red. Below is the original image that I used to create this duotone edit.

Joiners - Completed Photo Joiners

Computer Experiments - Selective Colour

Here is a computer Experiment I did in selective colour. I did this by selecting the bin with the quick selection tool, doing select>inverse then converting to black and white, which converts everything but the selected area into black and white, which in my case was the bin. Below is the original image I used to create this computer experiment as a before and after reference.

Computer Experiments - Liquify

For this computer experiment, I have used the liquify tool to remove spots, marks and blemishes on somebody's face. Below is the image before I used the liquify tool, as a reference of what I removed with the tool.

Connecting Essay - Reflection

The image at the top is a reflection based photograph taken by me, and below it is a reflection based photograph by Marie-Claire Montanari. These photographs have both similarities and differences based upon their use of composition and the formal elements.

Based upon composition, I would say that these images are very different. For one, my image was taken using a landscape orientation and captures a wide angle, whereas Montanari's image was taken using a portrait angle, and captures a wide angle vertically. My image shows some symmetry in the reflection, as there are metal pillars which are reflected from one side of the glass to the other, however, the reflection shown in Montanari's image bears no symmetry at all, with view through the window being bookshelves and the outside image that is being reflected onto the window being a tall building. This creates a chaotic and disorganised mood in her photograph, whereas mine has connotations of calmness and order, due to my use of symmetry and straight lines.

These images also vary in the way they use other formal elements. The image by Montanari is in black and white so there is a very wide tonal range. There are some very light tones shown near to the bottom of the image in the books in the window and at the top on the building. It also displays some very dark tones in the middle of the image, which is created by the dark building being displayed in the reflection of the dark building behind the window.

My image, however. doesn't have a very wide range of tones. This is partly because I kept the image in colour rather than shooting in or converting to black and white. Also, the image was taken in a bright and well lit environment of a shopping centre, meaning there is not going to be a range of tones or areas of different brightness that could create a variation of tones.

Connecting Essay - Shape

This is a shot that incorporates the formal element of shape that was taken by me.
Below is a shape based shot that I have found on the internet. I am unsure who took this photo.


These pictures bare similarities in some ways.

For example, they have been shot in similar ways. They have bee taken at a canted angle, and roughly the same angle. They also both use signs to present shape. However, my image was taken using landscape orientation, whereas the other image was taken using portrait orientation. My image has also been taken from a very close up perspective, meaning there is very little background in the image. This is different to the other image I found, which was taken from a far less close up perspective, and has a foreground, mid ground and background.

Although they both feature shape, they each use it in different ways. My image only incorporates one shape in very close up detail. It shows a square with rounded edges, however, some of the corners of the shape have been cropped out, making it an irregular shape. On the other hand, the image I found online to compare to has several uses of shape. Although it uses a road sign to create a rectangular shape, similar to mine, the picture has some shapes featured in the background and mid ground too. There are more four sided shapes shown on the zebra crossing on the floor in the mid ground, and some more displayed as windows on the buildings in the background.

They also both make use of other formal elements. For example, both contain some saturated colours.
My image incorporates lots of blue, with saturated shades of blue on both the sign and in the sky. Overall, I would say the other picture contains much more bright and saturated colours than mine. For example, the sign shown in the image is a saturated shade of green, which is more saturated than the blue on the sign in my image. The blue sky in my image is a muted shade of blue too, whereas the blue of the sky in the other image is very bright and saturated.

Connecting Essay - Pattern

This is an image that uses the Formal element of pattern that I took.

This is an image by Alexander Jacques that also incorporates the formal element of pattern.

These images are very similar, as they both incorporate man made architecture to create a sense of pattern.

Both patterns I would say are very similar; both incorporate very sharp corners and straight lines, and they are both taken from a viewpoint that makes the pattern appear to be arranged diagonally. However, mine has been taken from a much closer perspective, meaning there is less pattern visible in the image. This means Jacques' image creates stronger connotations of repetition, schedule and order than mine does. Also, the pattern featured in Jacques' image is more organised and repetitive than mine, as the pattern I photographed gets smaller at parts, which can be seen in right side of my image, as the tiles start to shrink.

I would say there some differences in the way the pictures have been taken. For example, Jacques' image uses a very wide depth of field; everything in the picture is in focus, meaning he likely took the image using a very high aperture such as F22. On the other hand, my image has a narrow depth of field, as only a fairly small section near the front of the image is in focus. This occurred in my image because I shot it on an aperture of F4.8.

These images both incorporate formal elements other than pattern. For example, my image makes strong use of texture; the concrete used in the pattern has a very rough and bumpy texture, and there are some white blotches on it. However, Jacques' image features very smooth textures, which look so smooth they look like they have been created through a computer.

They also both incorporate colour; my image uses dark shades of grey that create connotations of sadness and depression. Jacques' image, however, is much brighter than mine. His image mostly contains shades of orange, which is a colour that represents joy and sunshine. On the other hand, shade of orange used is very dull and muted, suggesting a hint of sadness.

Composite/manipulated images - Image Bank

This image is an example of a composite image. This is considered composite as the woman in the image is lifting a car up with one hand to let a boy get a football that was under it. The car was imposed into the image through Photoshop, which you can tell as the it is a computer generated image of a car.

This is an example of an image that has been manipulated through software. The image was likely taken with the man laying on the floor over the yellow lines and the yellow tape glued down onto the yellow lines so it appears they come out of the yellow lines on the floor. The person who made this probably used a spot healing or clone brush to turn the yellow lines on the floor into concrete so that it appears that the yellow lines come out of the floor, over his head and back into the floor again.

This image has been heavily manipulated in photoshop. The person who made this image likely took the image in a studio then opened it on photoshop and used the Liquify tool to distort parts of the person's face.

 The image above is almost completely composite. While the image of the road and the cars may be real, The waves we're imposed into the image. The waves look as if they have been entirely created through VFX and were imposed around the image of the road. There is also a figure of moses in the bottom right which has been added into the image.

This image is an image that has been manipulated. The image uses a real pear that has had a section cut out of it. It has then has a light bulb superimposed into the hole and the screw part of the bulb has been imposed onto the top part of the pear so that it appears the whole pear is a lightbulb and the stalk is growing out of the bottom of the bulb.

The fourth Plinth Edits

Depth - Straight Images

Connecting essay - Form

This is my form image.

This is an image that incorporates form that was taken by Julian Velez.

These images are very similar, as they both use a metal chain to create form.

The image by Julian Velez has been converted to black and white, which captures a depressing mood, due to the lack of tone or colour variation. However, I have kept my image in colour, which means the mood it creates is far less depressing.

My image makes good use of texture. There are some very rough textures in my image, which are shown on the chain. There are very degrees of detail in my textures, the ones at front being more detailed due to being in focus. The Julian Velez image also makes use of rough texture on the chain, however, the chain in his image is more worn than the one in mine, therefore it incorporates much rougher, more weathered textures than mine does. This image also incorporates other textures other than the one on the chain, as wood is visible behind the chain. The wood also appears to be a rough texture, however, it has lines in the texture that give it a smoother quality, as if you could run your hand along the lines.

My image I feel also makes better use of tone than the Julian Velez one. Since I kept my image in colour, you can see a large tonal range. There are some very dark highlights on the links of the chain, with some lighter tones around the edges of the links from the light shining on the metal. There are also some very light tones shown in the background behind the chain, which create a tonal contrast between the background and the foreground. I feel that the image by Julian Velez does show some tonal contrast, with some lighter tones shown in the background and some darker tones in the shadows created by the chain, however the conversion to greyscale I feel took away some of the tones that would have been visible if the image would have been in colour.

Also due to the removal of colour in Julian Velez' image, I feel mine better shows this formal element. In my image, there are lots of muted colours that help connote the depression and imprisonment that a chain presents. There are lots of muted highlights of blue shown on the chain, which are muted because they are mixed with the shades of black.

I also feel my image was composed better than the image by Julian Velez. I used f/5.6 to achieve a narrow depth of field, so that only a very small area of the chain in the foreground is in focus. I also prefer the close up perspective to the mid shot perspective that Julian Velez has used, as I feel it lets you see much more detail in the textures of the chain, and means less background is visible to distract you from what's in focus.

Connecting Essay - Colour

This is a photograph by Jim Turner which heavily features the formal element of colour.

This image makes use of lots of saturated shades of yellow.

This is one of my straight images for colour. Like the image by Jim Turner pictured above, there has been use of lots of saturated colours. However, my image has a range of colours, including different shades of saturated colours and some muted colours, whereas the Jim Turner image only uses yellow, green and blue.

Like the Jim Turner image, my image makes use of the rule of thirds composition rule. As you see, both have placed the subject along the vertical line to the right, with the subject and the background meeting at the top right point.

They also both use a narrow depth of field. Jim Turner's image keeps the flower closest to the lens in focus, the two behind it semi in focus, and the rest of the flowers in the background behind them are out of focus. In my image, the bicycle tyres are all in focus except for the one closest to the camera, and everything behind the tyres in the background is out of focus. 

The image by Jim Turner uses a large amount of very light tones to create a very tonally rich image, however it lacks when it comes to a wide tonal range. My image uses some very light tones, however, it also uses some darker tones, particularly on the floor and in the background, therefore my image has a wider tonal range than the one by Jim Turner. 

They also both make use of textures. My image contains some very smooth, slick textures, which are shown on the bicycle tyres and in some of the bicycle frames in the background. It also makes use of some rough, bumpy textures on the floor, therefore, there is a contrast in textures in my image. Jim Turner's image also uses a contrast in tones. It uses some smooth textures, which are shown in the petals of the flowers and it also shows some very bumpy textures in the centre of the flower.

Composite images - evaluation

This is a test run and a plan for what I am going to do for my project on The Fourth Plinth.

I first edited the controller, cutting it out and then selecting certain areas, then changing the colours balance of these areas specifically. I intended to get a pop art effect, which i feel succeeded.

I couldn't find any large images of the fourth plinth that were taken both when it was empty and at an angle I could make work with using the photos I had taken. In the end i settled with this small image as it was at an angle I could use.

Next, I moved the cut out image of the controller onto the image. Since it was taken at a different perspective to the picture of the fourth plinth, I used the perspective change tool to make it appear closer to the right perspective.

To improve, I could add some drop shadows to it to make it look more real, find a bigger image of the plinth, and spend more time adjusting the perspective of the controller so appears to be at the right perspective to be on the plinth.

Artist Research - Cedric Delsaux

Cedric Delsaux is a French Photographer born in 1974. His work combines reality with fiction to create  surreal works of art. He is most commonly know for his composite images which depict characters and vehicles from the film series Star Wars.

This image has made use of the Tusken Raider Species from the film series. The backdrop has been chosen well as they are from the sand planet Tatooine, and in the ground it has been placed on in the picture is a sandy coloured mud pit, which looks similar to their home planet, therefore there has been an element of research for what backdrop to use to put this character on. However, there is also some contrast created between the character and the background past what it is standing one; an urban environment can be seen, as well as some industrial buildings, which is not usually something seen near the Tusken Raider species.

The image of the Star Destroyer which has been added in fits well with the image. The image of the star destroyer suggests modern advancement and technological power, and it is placed near a developed 

city, which also has connotations of modern advancement and technological power. I feel that this choice of background made the Star Destroyer look very in place in the image. He has blended the ship into the mist, so it appears to be behind the mist, giving the impression that it is really there.

This image has incorporated an X-wing Star fighter into a a city. This particular area of the city appears to be quite wealthy judging by the buildings shown. It may possibly be a banking district. The X-wing creates a contrast between the office buildings shown in the image, as an office job is generally seen as mundane and uneventful, and the sight of this ship creates excitement, as it is a ship featured in many space battle scenes.

Photo Documentary - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French street photographer who specialised in Photo Documentary. He is considered one of the founding fathers of street photography. He has taken many photos that capture famine, war and conflict.
He based his photos on what he calls "the decisive moment" which is the moment pictured in the photo that defines what is happening at that time and what effect it has on the people involved.

This was taken in Shanghai, 1948, which was when China had changed government to a communist rule. Since the value of money had plummeted, the government had decided to give out forty grams of gold per person, which resulted in huge crowd of thousands gathering outside the bank building. During the claustrophobic struggle, ten people died of suffocation. 

This was taken in Spain, 1933. The cause of the destruction was never revealed, though it was originally assumed this photo was taken during during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The fact this
image depicts destruction that appears to be the result of war, only a few years before war broke out, creates a sense of foreshadowing and gives this image a much more ominous mood. However, there is some contrast in moods between the children, who appear to be playing like normal, and the deprived backdrop.

I am unsure where and when this photo was taken, though it was likely in an urban environment. This shows contrast between the building it was taken in and the fact there are lots of pigeons on the stairs and railings. It presents the idea of nature taking over urban environments, in which nature has mostly been eliminated by humans' buildings.

Landscape - Image Bank

This landscape is very well composed; the cloud fits nicely in the frame and stops at about the halfway mark. It also shows the horizon as a neat line across the image, which fits nicely into the bottom third of the image. The image has made good use of the rule of thirds composition rule, as the tree has been placed on the line of the grid so that your eyes are drawn to it.

This Landscape contains leading lines in the form of a road that leads you to the horizon. Unlike the previous image, the horizon is not a neat line and the image is not very neatly composed. This image contain some muted shades of green, unlike the previous image which contained all very saturated colours.

This is a Landscape by Ansel Adams. It was taken on a film camera using sepia film, therefore it contains all muted colours and contains mainly light tones. This has been taken from an eye level perspective, therefore it shows us the size of the mountains and what it's like to be at the place it was taken.

This image is by Rut Blees Luxemburg. Although this is a landscape, it is very different in shooting style to the others. It has been shot from a worms eye view and is at a slightly canted angle. It has also been taken using a long exposure, therefore, there is some motion blur from the cars that were on the road.

This landscape has been taken from an eye level perspective, therefore we don not get to see the scene from a high angle, or from a low angle so we can see the sky and the horizon. The rule of thirds could be applied to this picture, as the middle of the bridge fits roughly into the middle of the left vertical line of the grid, so your attention is drawn to the bridge.

Landscape - Rut Blees Luxemburg Research

Rut Blees Luxemburg is is a German photographer who is based in London. In addition to taking street photography, she is a tutor at the Royal College of Art. Her technique is to take pictures of Urban Environments at night. Her photos have lots of different tones, mainly a large contrast between the dark tones of the night and the bright tones of street lights and neon lights which are all around London. Many of her her photographs make use of puddles as a medium for showing light in contrast to the shadows around the streets. Here are some examples of her work.

This image uses lots of muted colours, other than the part in the puddle, which shows a saturated blue. There is some tonal contrast, with some dark tones on the pavement due to the time of the day, and some light tones shown on the bright tube station sign in the puddle. This image has a very simple composition, with only a small puddle with a reflection being featured on a plain London floor. The image creates a sense of negative space, in which the floor surrounding the puddle becomes negative. This does not use a very wide angle lens to capture lots in the frame like most landscapes, however, and it doesn't display any rural or urban scenery.

This photo is similar to the one previously featured, with negative space created by the puddle being in the middle of the pavement. However, this one contains a larger range in tones. Inside the reflection itself there are lots of very dark tones, with the only light tones being produced being in the tube station sign, similar to the image previously shown. There are also some very dark tones shown on the pavement behind the puddle. This image has been composed differently to the previous one, having been taken at a canted angle, creating a more interesting composition than in the previous image. There are more saturated colours in this image, as there is a larger area of a sign shown in this image, however, there are still lots of muted colours in the pavement. This has not been composed like most landscapes, as it doesn't show scenery and the horizon, but is aimed at the floor and doesn't use a very wide angle lens to capture lots in the frame.

This one has been taken from a bird's eye view, so we get a view from above of a reflection in a puddle. This one contains some lines, unlike the previous images, and two of the lines in the paving slab act as leading lines that draw your attention to the puddle, where the reflection is. There is a very large tonal range in this, with some bright and warm tones inside the reflection, and a contrast between dark tones where the pavement has been wet and light tones where it hasn't. The pavement is, again, made up of very dull and muted colours, however, there is a very saturated shade of orange in the reflection in the puddle. Because of the lines in the tiles, a square can be seen, which the puddle is neatly framed into.

Landscape - Ansel Adams research

Ansel Adams is an American Landscape photographer born in 1902 in San Francisco. He was a fan of nature, as he lived near the Yosemite National Park and was inspired by it. Many of his Landscapes were taken there.
He was a very technical photographer, as he used the zoning system and pre visualisation.
The zoning system is a system that Ansel Adams formulated that helped to calculate the correct camera settings for optimal exposure.
He also pre-visualised his images, meaning he pictured how he wanted them to be, so that he could select his camera settings and composition based upon that.
With Willard Van Dyke and Edward Weston, Adams formed the Group F/64, which consisted of seven San Francisco based photographers. They all shared photo characteristics of carefully framed photographs and sharp focus. Here are some examples of Ansel's work.

This image was taken at Yosemite national Park in San Fran Cisco. This work is very typical for Adams, as it uses a Landscape orientation and captures a very wide angle. This image incorporates the golden triangle composition rule, as it features a prominent foreground, mid ground and background. This was likely achieved on purpose through the use of Pre visualisation, which is something Ansel Adams pioneered. This image also has a very wide depth of field, as only the background is slightly out focus and the rest of the image is sharply in focus. It was therefore shot using a high F stop value such as F22, which he likely chose carefully using the Zoning system for calculating camera settings that he pioneered.

I do not know for sure where this image was taken, though it was likely taken in Yosemite national park, as large amount of Ansel Adams' work was taken there. This image features several formal elements. Firstly, this image has a very wide tonal range; there are some very light tones displayed on the grass and on parts of the road, as well as some very dark tones shown on the stone structure and on the hills in the background. It also makes use of leading lines, which take the form of the path, which leads you the stone structure featured in the background of the image. Like most of Adams' work, the image was taken using landscape orientation and captures a very wide angle shot.                              

This is an image that is very different in some ways to the other two. It has much less to see in it; it is simply the horizon taken from a moody, flooded field.

Landscape - Definition

Landscape photography is photography taken in landscape orientation, usually depicting vast areas of the planet, whether they are natural or urban. The are usually taken using a wide angle lens, therefore they show a large amount of the horizon.

Composite/Manipulated Images - Definitions

Composite images are images that are made by combining several distinct photographs.

Manipulated images are images that have been changed in an editing program to create a desired image.

Photo Documentary - Work Diary

For my Photo Documentary project, I used "my life" as a theme when taking photos. I decided I was going to take photos over the christmas holidays, with no schedule, but just when I felt it would be a good time. They were taken on my phone, therefore I was using auto shooting mode, which I feel may have limited me a bit.

Here is my favourite image from my Photo Documentary project.

I like this because of the very large contrast in tones. The only light tones are the headlights and rear lights of the cars, and they take up very little of the image. The dark tones create a sense of negative space, with the lights being the only things visible in the image. I feel that the mood created in this picture is very dark, scary and creates a sense of ambiguousness; the meaning of the photo and what you view it as is open to discussion. I feel that the editing of this photo helped add to the mood. I took the image in colour, and it was already very dark, with very little light tones. I opened it in photoshop and converted it to black and white, using the maximum white setting, so that the headlights of the cars would light up the road slightly, rather than just glowing in the background. I then changed the curves, levels and brightness of the photo, so that the black became so dark it was negative space, and the headlights were light enough to create a very strong contrast to this.

This is my least favourite image from my Photo Documentary project.

I feel like this is a good photo on its own, as it is well composed, well lit and is framed quite well, but I feel it doesn't hold nearly as much meaning, mood or ambiguousness as most of the other images from my project. I feel like if I had taken a photo of the carousel with some people on it, it would have fit more into my project and carried more meaning. I also feel that if I had taken it from different angle, possible a worm's eye view or an extreme close-up it could have been much more dramatic, and could have possibly had a narrow depth of field, which would have focussed the person viewing the image onto the horse. For editing, I only used the burn tool briefly and did nothing else to it. Maybe converting this to black and white or changing levels, curves and colour balance would have made the image more effective.

If I were to do a photo documentary project again, I would try and plan it out a little bit more before taking photos, and narrow down my theme so I know exactly what to focus on. I would also want to take my photos on my camera, so that I can control the Shutter speed, Aperture and ISO settings.