Analog to Digital

 

• This week’s reading talks about the difference between analog photograph and the digital photograph. They talked about the history of photograph and how it showed that in old days they used only analog photography which has more reality in it.
• Marshall McLuhan described the impact of new media with an expression as “”The medium is the message.”
• Analog photograph is the old way, where light produced a chemical response with the silver that was contained in the film creating an image.
• Analog photography is always used in film making rather than anything else.
• Analog photography is photography that uses a gradually changing recording medium, which may be either chemical process based or electronic.
• Digital transforms photos from objects into data.
• Digital photography is based on mainly codes and is not a reflection of reality.
• Digital photography accelerates or enlarges traditional photographic processes.
• All photographs show a different point of view from different people and different perspectives.
• Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin use the term “remediation” to define how features of older media are used to create the cultural uses of newer media.
• In my perspective, at the end both analog and digital photography are the same since analog could still not be that real if the photographer changed the viewpoint of the picture.

 

 

Lighting

Notes:

• A modern flashgun is an adaptable light source.
•  Accessory flashgun can be used either way manually or automatically as you wish.
• There are three types of flash systems. The three types are Build in, Pop up, and Auxiliary flash.

1)Build-in: This is the flash that the compact cameras have. They have direct flash that is near the shutter axis and can create problems like overexposure.

2)Pop-up: Is the one that most dslr’s have. It is also direct flash but a bit away from the lens axis. The disadvantages of this kind of flash is that is direct and can cause red-eye, harsh shadows directly behind the subject, little depth and reflections on reflexive surfaces.

3)Auxilary flash: These are flashguns that can be attached on the cameras. The flash is away from the lens axis and its flash can be rotated, diffused or bounced.

• Flash Synchronisation is sometimes preferred to as “Sync” or “Synchro”.
• flash synchronisation is the right timing of the flash to illuminate the whole film frame or digital sensor.

 

 

 

The Spectacle of the Other

 

The main argument is that we need the ‘difference’, the ‘other’ because only with that we can construct meaning by dialogue.

This week’s reading is all about a chapter in “The Spectacle of the Other”.  It established that representation is a complicated thing, especially when dealing with differences since it involves feelings and emotions. The topic “otherness” is seen as very hard and arguable. “Difference” as a whole has been marked. Representation of difference differs from gender, sexuality, color, and ethnicity. I have seen that there is a diversity in this world from the binary antagonisms, masculine/feminine, white/black and many other.  In our life we can only illustrate that different debate of different thoughts, tastes and ideas have to be respected at the end anyway.

In advertising, the meaning isn’t always constant and they leave many things into a debate. For example, this photograph of black people winning the Olympic game in 100 meters. (“Heroes and Villains”, cover of the Sunday Times Magazine, 9 October1988).  It showed that there was an undermining of black people that’s this was the only thing they can do or good at. And also, in the past white people use to represent civilization whereas black represented savagery and by this publicist, there were imposing stereotypes by constructing this binary opposition with color.

“Other” is a really important thing in our life. It shows us the difference in many things around us that we can define them in differences. It is what makes our world exciting in a way.

 

Not everything has to be taken into a step of stereotyping and I think that we have to put “other” in everything.

 

When you think about “Otherness” in photography in general then it leads you to different perspectives and it becomes more interesting. Having all these contrasts to photograph, it absorbs me to show people the differences and that is natural to be different.

 

 

The photograph

In week 3 reading, we went through John Berger’s first chapter of ‘The Photograph’. This chapter is mostly an analysis of a selection of images. This chapter is called “WAYS OF SEEING”. When I first read the name of this chapter I was too excited to know more about it. A photograph is not just a simple two-dimension image; it is more than that. A photograph is a text which you have to understand how to read it and know what does it say, not only for that particular moment but for our society and ideologies. A photographic discourse is a language of codes which includes its own grammar and syntax. Every photograph differs from one person to another’s eyes. Every image always comes out with a different meaning of a photographic message which every person could analyze it with their own way of thinking. Although we have to know the codes, values and beliefs of our culture as a whole as reflected from the photograph. it is always a reflection of a specific point of view out of the many.

 

It was also shown that from the day the camera was invented all the pictures were taken at a different stage as well as the meaning of a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of the image and as a result of that it shows different meanings, or to be more specific its meaning multiplies and fragments into many meanings. For example, when a painting is publicized into a television screen, the painting enters different houses with its own viewing which is related to the house because it becomes surrounded by his furniture, wallpaper, his mementoes and his own designs. This chapter showed that every person would read an image depending on his way of seeing things around him and the way he lives. It lends its meaning to their meaning. Although, because of the camera, the painting now travels to the spectator rather than the spectator to the painting. In its travels, its meaning is diversified.

 

Berger’s ways of seeing established that a picture could easily be reproduced and when its is reproduced it shows a totally different meaning, unlike an original work. To examine some of the ways in which reproduced images lends to usage. For example, “VENUS AND MARS” by Botticelli (1445-1510). You can illustrate from the 2 images below that the reproduced image detail is transformed. An allegorical figure becomes a portrait of a girl.

To conclude, I suppose there is a language inside photography but it is loose. Rules can be bent; representations can be challenged but overall there is a vague grammar for the viewers to read. And as stated in this chapter “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak”.

Photography Application

There are many different kinds of photography, therefore the rules of composition do not fit to all of the kinds or at least not all of them. Each kind of photography requires its own ways.

To begin with, in Landscape Photography composition is not the only thing. The photographer has to be aware of the place he/she has to wait for the right moment to take the pictures. Weather is unpredictable, therefore this kind of photographers need to be patient to shoot the right time. In addition, the golden hour which is the time after sunrise and before sunset the light is much softer than when the sun is high. So the golden hour is a short period that photographers need to work. So composition is not the only thing when it comes to landscape photography.

“…the so-called ‘rules’ of photographic composition are…invalid, irrelevant and immaterial…There are no rules of composition in photography, only good photographs”

-Ansel Adams (landscape photographer)

 

Moving on, Still Life photography composition is coming in complete contrast with landscape photography. In this case photographer has complete control of everything. The lighting, the background, the colors used. So it is a much different kind of photography that composition rules are applied differently

Portrait Photography is an interesting section that fascinates me. The variation of all the faces and characteristics can make this kind of photography very engaging. There are different kinds though, studio portraits where the photographer communicate with the ‘model’ and arrange the composition and the people you meet out in the streets where the photography there requires many things like capturing emotions, backgrounds or not and many other things.

 

Photography Composition

From this reading I realized the importance of composition when it comes to photography and what are some important rules that I have to use in order to improve my photography.
To begin with, composition is the process of identifying and arranging the elements to produce a coherent image.

Composition has been a major concern for the photographic practitioner since the earliest days of photography. Many of the composition rules that are used today are based on fine art compositions. However, some practitioners say that photography is a unique medium and it should move away from the fine art composition and create its own as the process differs. As creativity increases new ways of composition are created.
Today photography is democratized in a way the art never has been. Everyone can be a photographer. Buy a camera and start shooting but a lot of enthusiast does not use at least some basic composition rules or do not even now them. There is a huge difference between a snapshot and a formally composed image.
Our eyes see different than the camera. This is because when observing around we give attention to the things we are most interested whereas the camera’s passive view gives everything the same attention. There is when composition fits in.

Understanding composition will enable you to position you main point of interest in a certain way with a certain background from a certain angle so that you can take the most out of your photograph and illustrate what interest you to the audience.
One of the fundamental lessons in photography is to learn to photograph what you see and not what you think you see.

“There is a vast difference between taking a picture and making a photograph” -Terence Donovan
Learning composition is like learning another language as said in the readings. Once you learn it you will do it without thinking and the aim of a photographer is to speak fluently the composition language.
A photographer picks out a framed selection from the real world and organises its subject within that frame. That is what composition is all about. You can manipulate and rework your image but the raw image is the one that a photographer once captured from the real world. That is why photography is a very challenging and creative medium.
“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter, because you can invent things” -David Bailey

This is very fascinating because it challenges you as a photographer to take reality and present it in your own creative way. You can show the beauty in the most ‘ugly’ things around you. You can show a different side of what people thought about different things. Even more using the exposure skills we did in the first week in combination with the right composition rules can end up with some powerful photographs that can pass out messages.

 

Photography: loading

Photography is very wide but it can be summarized as the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy. It has many views of different aspects in different ways which are used as in advertising, design, film making, the internet, magazines, newspaper, and many others. Everyone has to find their own way of taking this photograph or has his own way of expressing how to show the good side of this photograph. Therefore, we can insure that it is your inspiration of seeing things around you that makes the photograph better and not the equipment that you use.

Jacques Henri Lartigue is a photographer which defined photography as a “Magical Thing”. Furthermore, he has explained that photographs could freeze time and movement as you take a look into an old picture it gets you all the memories of that time which includes everything that happened at that moment you took the picture in.

Digital age has brought a lot to the world of photography. Nowadays, photographers could take pictures and use them in any kind. For example, digital pictures could easily become converted by a scanner into a computer. They can also be printed, attached to emails and publicized via the internet. The main photographer with a digital camera now could take pictures and use them immediately without getting into a photo lab or a darkroom and never think of buying a roll of film anymore.

Kjel Elkhorn, a photographer and art director has described that photography and photos inspire us through photos that have been taken and has memories for us.

We live our lives through photographs. Good memories are all largely photographic, from the day you were born, until your graduation and wedding day, and also every other moment until death. We can recall an event or a person by seeing an image in our mind’s eye. (Derek Dawson).

Nick Knight, a photographer has explained that a camera gives you the authorization to perform in a certain way. For example, go to events that you would never have the opportunity to go to before, talk to strangers, do things that you have never done and a lot of other things

Cultural imaginaries & landscape photography

I found this presentation really captivating, the way that landscape photography is combination with editing and how editing a photography can produce a nice outcome. This topic largely relates to photographers editing their photographs to create an imaginary landscape. Landscape photography was originally used to denote the background of a subject and there’s usually an absence of human presence.

Looking at photographers work:

Esteban Pastorino

“I wanted to create an ambiguous image that resembles the way we look at the scale models but photographing the real world. The main technical points that I defined for that were: the apparent short deep of field in the images, and the high point of view from were the images would be taken.”

The blur in his images show us what he wants us to see, this highlights to the audience what we miss in everyday life. The way he creates images makes them look like model sculptures, not real life.

I like how he uses blur to make the reader focus on a specific area of a photograph, i think its a clever way to do this despite its composition.

Lauren Marsolier

Lauren Marsolier combines different photographs to create a new landscape. She explains that they are meant to reflect an unknown place. She Shows the abstract art in our surroundings.

This last photograph above denotes a single house placed within a mountainous setting. I like the gradient of colours in the sky and the faded tones of the mountains, as I think this connotes a dream-like setting. This contrasts with the quite bright colours in the foreground, which makes it look unnatural and fantasy like.

powerpoint slides:

Ubiquitous Photography and Web 3.0

This Presentaion looks at how other things not just one image, or multiple images can create a picture, words placed together can create an image.
The internet is now a place that is over saturated with photographs, and so many people are able to create what we call ‘recycled photography’. Where the photographs which we  post online are not ours anymore and offer a chance for more people to form a art work from them. This is no longer traditional photography as we know it, because its not just about the photograph anymore, we are looking at how other people can make much more from a normal photo.

Ubiquitous Photography can be described as photography which includes items/situations which can be found everyday everywhere by everyone.
Web 3.0 is the basic concept that third generation internet based services such as Instagram collectively comprise information to form the “intelligent web.”

Below is a basic diagram of how the internet has developed over the years and how access to content on it (such as photos taken by others) have become increasingly available to members of the public such as you and I.

Look at photographers work:

     
Joachim Schmid

-observation of photographic history.

-creates new pictures from two different ones.

-his photographs line up perfectly.

Penelope Umbrico
-The photograph is not only the medium but also the subject.

-She looked at things that are regularly photographed and what that says about us as
people, she called this a constantly changing auto project.

-This photo is compiled of photographs of sunsets she took from flickr to make something new, it also says something about the individuality of the original photographs as they look exactly the same to the other ones that surround them.

Presentaion slides:presentation-tings_1_