Film Poster

Film Poster (Work In Progress)

Film Poster (Complete)


My Flickr Portfolio

Custom Movie Posters

Minimalist Spider-Man Poster done with Photoshop

Crawley Futures

Future 1 - Giant Bees

Future 2 - Morgan Freeman takes over the world

Future 3-  Godzilla arrives and fights the Star Ship Enterprise

Fashion Photography

When is an image a portrait and when is an image a fashion photograph?

Put at its simplest, the difference between a portrait and a fashion photograph is that a portrait focuses on the subject meanwhile a fashion photograph focuses more on the clothes that the subject is modelling. Portraiture and fashion photography have many similarities, for example, they both feature either one person or more than one person in the photo, both can be (and in fashion photography, generally are) taken in environments that complement the focus of the photograph (e.g. in fashion photography, this would be used to make the clothes look better), the photographs are staged and the subjects pose for the photo etc. But there are also various differences to the two styles of photography, such as, the aforementioned focus of the subject’s clothes in fashion photography and the focus of the subject itself on portraiture, most fashion photographs also have to run with a certain theme or style within the clothing brands magazine whereas portrait photographs can be independent from each other if it be the wish of the subject or photographer.

 To what degree should an image be manipulated to go into a fashion magazine?

I think that an image in a magazine should only be manipulated to rectify mistakes, for example, a passer-by in the edge of the shot, a piece of scenery or anything that shouldn't be there. Manipulation should not extend to the 'enhancement' of the subject's body or features. However, most people in the fashion industry do not share this sentiment and people have their photographs taken in many different clothes and styles, only to be changed 'made better' by an editor. All of this is necessary though for the sale of the clothes or product that the magazine is trying to endorse. Some people say that once a person in a photograph has been changed or manipulated in some way, that isn't a photograph of the person, it's just a drawing or a painting of someone. That it's no more a picture of the subject than a caricature of the subject is. Other people would say that a manipulated photograph in a fashion magazine is better because the public's view has become so distorted by the continued use of photographic manipulation that any less than that would be rejected by the public as it is something they are not used to seeing.

 Is there a clash between the creative and commercial side of fashion photography?
I believe that there is a clash between the creative side and the commercial side of fashion photography, there are disagreements in every industry and the fashion industry is no different. Sometimes, the fashion photographer will think that something should go into the magazine meanwhile the editor or someone in charge will deny the printing of the photograph into the magazine because they do not think it will endorse the product they are trying to sell. Some people would not even consider fashion photography 'photography' because they are trying to do different things, they say that photography is trying to convey some sort of meaning or provoke some sort of thought in the viewers' minds while fashion photography is just trying to sell somebody something.

Blur & Sharpen Tools

Landscape Before

Landscape After

Beachfront Before

Beachfront After

 Tools used: Blur, Sharpen

Landscape: 20%, 10%, 22%
                                              } Blur Tool
Beachfront: 28%. 18%, 8%

Sharpen Tool: Landscape = 20%, Beachfront = 15%

Healing Tools on Photoshop

Brickwork before healing

Brickwork after healing

For this edit, I used the 'Patch' tool in photoshop to select a part of the wall that needed healing, then drag that selection to another part of the wall that was fine. The tool would then copy and blend the other selected area and would fix the broken wall part.

Don...IN SPAAAAAAACE!!!

Don Don Don

Don...IN SPAAAACE!!!!

Photoshop tests

Bag of Alan Sugar

Commands Used
L - Selected 'Lasso' tool
Q - Focused the selected area for editting
Ctrl + J - Created a new layer from selection
V - Selected 'Move' tool
Ctrl + T - Allowed selection/layer to be manipulated freely

Ronnie Schwarzenegger

Commands Used
L - Selected 'Lasso' tool
Q - Focused the selected area for editting
Ctrl + J - Created a new layer from selection
V - Selected 'Move' tool
Ctrl + T - Allowed selection/layer to be manipulated freely

Superman in NY

Commands Used
L - Selected 'Lasso' tool
Q - Focused the selected area for editting
Ctrl + J - Created a new layer from selection
V - Selected 'Move' tool
Ctrl + T - Allowed selection/layer to be manipulated freely

Portraiture

What is a Portrait Photograph?
A portrait photograph is mostly defined as a staged photograph with either a person or more than one person posing. Portraits are traditionally shot from the mid-torso up, with some empty space above the

Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus was an 'unorthodox' portrait photographer that worked in the 1960s. Arbus grew up in a wealthy environment and thought that photography 'stripped away what you wanted people to see about you and revealed what you really are'. She took this into account in her photography, especially in her work with the Matthaei Family. The Matthaei Family chose Diane Arbus to take their potraits because of her reputation as a creator of 'radical chic' and her photographs ability to show 'raw individuality'. When photographing the Matthaei Family, Arbus focused on the daughter, Marcella Matthaei, because she took into account her own experiences in her wealthy upbringing and thought that photos taken of Marcella in the correct way could result in some interesting photos, which they did. She committed suicide in 1971, 2 years after her working with the Matthaei Family.

Marcella Matthaei
Diane Arbus liked this photograph of the Matthaei daughter because she thought is showed the true feelings of her life and her 'stuffy' living environment and that it was much more honest than that of a generic family photograph.
             

Photojournalism

Photojournalism
Photojournalism is the art of using photographs to communicate news stories.

Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was born 22nd August 1908 in Chanteloup-en-Brie in France and was the unofficial 'founder' of photojournalism. He was able to do this due to both the technology of the time and his own technique and skill, the technology in question was the 'Leica' Camera. The 'Leica' Camera was the first 'instant camera', a camera which could take pictures immediately without having to prepare the films and mechanism. Cartier-Bresson used something that he called the 'decisive moment'. It has been described as composing everything within the frame of the viewfinder and waiting for one solitary action to come into frame. Cartier-Bresson thought that if he waited for long enough in one spot, something would inevitably happen, be it a cyclist, a car, someone walking, running etc. Something would happen. One of, if not the most famous photograph done by Cartier-Bresson is 'Behind Saint-Lazare Station' (Below Left) which is a perfect example of the aforementioned 'decisive moment' as we assume that Cartier-Bresson did not know that some random man was going to jump over the puddle, it just happened.
Cartier-Bresson photo source

Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a freelance war photojournalist, working for Life Magazine and photographed various happenings throughout World War II, and a multitude of other wars also.


Photojournalism and Truth
Many people believe that what they seee in a photograph is true (within reason). Who could blame them? A photograph is mostly perceived as a moment in time encapsulated within frame as it was shown there and then. However, most photographs that people see in photojournalism have been tampered with in some way, be it newspapers, magazines, online sources etc. Also, most photos that are displayed are shown out of context, with a brief caption trying to give context but generally, the viewer doesn't have the whole picture when it comes to the context of a photograph.