Baskerville Experimentation

For my Extending Specialist Techniques, I am looking into Typography again. After looking at the typographer John Baskerville, I went back and tried playing around with the typeface that he created.

I like the result, it's got a grunge vibe to it and while the whole thing is made up of Baskerville, it's very hard to make that out. It reminds me of something David Carson once made, which said "Don't mistake legibility for communication". It's definitely something I'm going to use as a basis for something else in this unit. Maybe next time I'll use colours and a different set of words.

Missed Detail

One thing that has always fascinated me is photography's ability to bring out details that would otherwise be missed. With the use of macro lenses, we are able to get much closer to our subject and therefor see detail that the human eye cannot directly see. 

The idea behind the following shots came this morning when I was doing a little tidying up. I was putting some camera accessories away and remembered that I had bought extension tubes that I hadn't really played around with much. Extension Tubes are additional fittings that attach to a camera body before the lens is put on and what they allow is a greater magnification without a loss of quality. The only real downside is that you need to get incredibly close to your subject and due to hand shaking, can be quite difficult to get a steady, clear shot. Previously I had used all three Extension Tubes with one of my macro lenses and found that it was impossible to focus due to the focal length being behind the actual glass of the lens. This time I decided to use just the smallest tube, which gave an additional 20mm of zoom.

Basic set of Extension Tubes for a DSLR type Camera.

So, on this grey, wet and miserable morning, I donned some scruffy clothes and went to see what I could find. There isn't much I could say was interesting around my garden, so I tried to go with the theme of looking for things that may be missed. 

I took a One Pound coin and placed it on the window sill, so it would benefit from natural light. The first thing I did beforehand was to check and see just how close I could focus, in preparation for going out. The thing that immediately stood out for me was all the little bumps and scratches in the metal and reflecting on it made me wonder how each of those came to be. It made me think back to Thursdays video in class and seeing Cornelia Parker talk about the cracks she had dodged for many years whilst walking her daughter to school and how they had changed and evolved over the years. 

I'm sure if a coin could talk, it would have thousands of stories to tell. Every owner that had held it, every place that it had been, every time it had been dropped or damaged. Every so often, just a little bit more of it chipped away but still, it carries on serving its purpose. 

The next was of droplets that had formed on the washing line. I thought this set in particular was pretty interesting because they were spaced almost evenly. One thing I'd like to be able to do in the future is get even closer to a droplet of rain and capture its reflection more clearly. One problem I had when trying to capture the droplets was the wind. Every time a breeze came, they almost ceased to exist. Luckily a bit of old plywood was still awaiting removal, so I used that to shield the wind.

After I had put the wood back where I had found it, I noticed this incredibly small slug going about its day. Most people (including myself) may find slugs to be a disgusting, pointless animal but watching it slowly slide around on the path, it was a delicate sight. When the wind blew, it would retract its tentacles and wait for the breeze to pass. I too found myself having to wait, just so I could get the result I wanted.

Because we are in the season of autumn now, it's not an uncommon sight to see the ground littered with leaves. One thing I always liked when I was little was finding the "helicopter" seeds and throwing them up in the air and watching them spin. This of course isn't possible when coated in water, though I did find that more detail is brought out, especially in the bumps and veins of the surface.

I didn't really think much of this lone leaf sitting in a puddle until I changed the angle I was looking at it. I came to the conclusion that it reminded me of a Crocodile's head, just waiting slightly under the surface, ready to pounce upon unsuspecting prey. Another thing I liked was how the reflection of the surrounding world was different on each side.

The last image I took was of this tiny Spider that I found on the side of my house. I absolutely hate Spiders with a passion, but this little guy seemed so innocent just walking around on the white walls. At first I didn't notice it, but for its size, it has pretty big white fangs which seemed to blend in with the colour of the wall. Every time the shutter of the camera clicked, it would momentarily freeze as if to show it was a little scared. For me, the most interesting point on this has to be the eyes and the hairs on the legs. Without a lens that can pickup that amount of detail, I doubt I'd ever see those features at all.

I should note that for these shots in particular, I used the Sepia mode from within the camera and pushed the contrast up to maximum to give a better range between white and black. When I did get them back on the computer, I didn't like the results and used the "Auto Colour" feature within Photoshop, which changed the colours closer to Black and White but with a very subtle hint of blue in the black. 

Morning Dew

I don't really notice stuff like this, but as I was standing there making coffee, I noticed all the little droplets of dew on a plant near the window. I thought they'd make a pretty interesting subject to photograph, so I went and got my camera. Unfortunately, I couldn't frame a shot to my liking so I scrapped that idea but as I was walking back around to the front door, I noticed another plant that was covered in droplets and far more interesting.

(Click to see bigger versions)

I thought the detail was pretty amazing and how every little droplet reflects the world around it. It made me think about just how far you could actually zoom in and see exactly what was reflected. Because the subject is green and I favour black and white photography, I decided to try something a little different and that was turning down the saturation inside the camera, so I almost got a half and half colour/bw effect. I like how the out of focus droplets glow and fill the surrounding area.

These droplets were collected on spiders web on the lower side of the plant. I think the amount of detail is incredible, there must be hundreds and hundreds of drops there!

The last one, composition-wise I think is quite weak due to the out of focus part at the bottom. However, I do really like how the drops almost glow in the morning light. They remind me of fairy lights on a christmas tree.

These were taken using a Nikon Micro-Nikkor 40mm f/2.8 lens, which is pretty cool because while it's not as fast as my 50mm f/1.8 lens, it has macro capability and is a LOT sharper.

Photo Montage

Something I've wanted to do since having this camera is to set it up and using multiple shots and Photoshop, create an image composed of the same person in various positions to make it look like they were in the same shot. I've done photo manipulation in the past, so it was fun to go back to it and play with it again. 

To set this up, I positioned my camera on a tripod at one end of the sofa. I set the camera to manually focus on a set point because I didn't want to have different focal lengths and it was faster to get captures without waiting the extra milliseconds for auto focus. Using a remote shutter control, I dangled one of my cats toys and made her jump repeatedly, each time pressing down on the remote so that the camera took shots. Many of the shots came back useless. In the end I took around 80 shots just so I had enough to work with. 

Using Photoshop, I played around with various different shots and tried to come up with ideas for composition. I settled on composing 4 different images that somewhat gave the impression of the motion of climbing. I was pretty happy with the results because they were quite sequential. I would of liked to have had a background that wasn't so distracting. I see this as a test, so it's something I can put more thought into next time.

Finally, I didn't like the colours of the base images. Indoors you generally get very orange white balances due to light temperature and that wasn't working at all. I did try the image in black and white but that didn't work for me either. I played around with colour gradients and settled on a subtle orange to black tone. I then used a secondary colour layer which changed all black/grey tones to blue and that was where I decided to stop.

Next time I try this, I need to definitely re-consider:

- Background (less distraction from subject matter)
- Lighting (so I can use a higher shutter speed)
- White Balance (potentially keep the final piece in colour)

Edit:

After review, I decided I still wasn't happy with how this turned out. I changed it back to Black and White and further cropped it. I also lessened the background by editing out some of the distracting areas. While I do wish there was more contrast in the image, this was the best balance I could get without getting bright whites or overpowering blacks.

Adi Nugroho

It's rare that I come across somebody in the art world that completely blows me away. Honestly, Adi Nugroho is/should be an inspiration to anybody that likes to draw and wants to improve. 

You can view more of his work at: http://a-d-i--n-u-g-r-o-h-o.deviantart.com/

Starting a Book

I have found that over these past few weeks that my ability to draw comes and goes. While that may sound weird, I believe it's down to not enough constant use of a pencil. 

When I first came back to college, I initially really struggled with drawing the boxes due to not drawing over the summer. We then moved on to drawing this old rusted bike and for one of those lessons I felt that I definitely made an improvement and got back into things a little. Last week's class was a complete failure for me. I was late joining the group and because of that, was stuck with a position I wasn't comfortable with. The class was too crowded to move. I tried drawing different areas as a starting point and switching between drawing the outer and inner shapes. In the end, I had erased my work countless times and was left with nothing.

I have decided to take my tutors advice from last year and start drawing as often as possible. I found a little A5 sketchbook that I bought last year and while it's not directly observational drawing, I find that copying something is a good way to warm up. My goal for this book is to improve on my drawing and with my observational skills. I am also hoping that it will improve on my speed, because as of right now, I feel I take way too long to draw direct from observation. While that isn't a bad thing, it's certainly not in my favor in class where time is limited. 

So my first drawing, was Walter White from Breaking Bad. I didn't use a variety of pencils, just the same mechanical with a HB grade lead. I asked two of my friends that attended the Rhode Island School of Design and they said their tutors frowned upon using mechanical pencils. Personally, I find I have more control with it and it sits more comfortably in my hand. Also, a higher quality of lead won't snap under pressure, so you are able to get a variety of tone out of it. Plus it's nice not having to get up and constantly sharpen it.

Edit:

Here is a quick sketch I just did whilst waiting for food to cook. It's just a little pair of scissors that were laying around.

Friday, I'm in Love

On Friday we unexpectedly (to me) traveled to Hawick and visited the Hawick Museum at Wilton Lodge.

Photo credit: BBC - Your Paintings

The main purpose was to look at an exhibition of work by the late Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. There were quite a huge number of pieces on display and while a lot of them seemed quite interesting (mostly her technique) I didn't really connect with any of them except for one.

The piece I liked most was titled "Vermillion Discs onto Turqouise Square" and it literally was just that. I liked that it had a retro vibe about it and I would of thought that regardless of it being made in the 70's. I also liked that the colour contrast was quite harsh. In my opinion, the tones didn't compliment each other and that off-set the piece a little, which is while it stood out so much. A girl called Alice made some interesting points about the piece symbollizing new life. Elaborating on it more, I came to the conclusion that the Turquoise could represent the sky, whereas the Vermillion discs could represent blood cells, hence the new life coming into the world.

I didn't get a photo of the piece, which was really disappointing because if I had of known we were going to Hawick, I would of brought along my camera which could of benefited my Location Photography unit. I did however look into Wilhelmina's work online and found she did many more pieces using discs. I quickly did a re-creation of the piece I liked from memory, as I couldn't find any visible archive of it online.

From memory representation of Wilhelmina's "Vermillion Discs onto Turquoise Square"

After we had discussed Wilhelmina's work, the curator came in and we watched a short video about Wilhelmina. I didn't find it that interesting as it was more of a personal account from a close friend. Also by that time, we had been standing around for way too long and pins and needles were starting to kick in.

The curator also started talking about other pieces they had on display, some from quite famous artists. Now while I don't have a major interest in fine art, I did feel quite annoyed that the most expensive piece on show was left on the floor. Considering it was worth 5 figures or more, I thought that was not only an insult to the artist but very careless. Anybody could of walked into it or dropped something in it's direction.

After the Wilhelmina Exhibition we had a few minutes to wander. I and the rest of the group went into the next room which housed a lot of classic LP covers. This was very nostalgic for me because many of the covers I was already used to seeing as my Mom had owned the majority at one point or another while I was growing up. A few I also owned. I thought it was pretty awesome that the gallery had original covers from Madness, The Cure, Joy Division, The Clash, The Smiths, Pink Floyd, The Sex Pistols, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Talking Heads and of course, David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. I also liked the fact that I wasn't the only person in the group to like some of the music on display. A lot of the best music is lost within the rubbish of today, so it brought a smile to my face.

Once we got outside, the surrounding area really did make me wish I'd brought my camera. Another disappointment was that my Galaxy S4 is currently back at Samsung for repair and my temporary phone, which is the Galaxy S, has a pretty bad camera. I did take one photo which I thought was pretty cool. It is bad quality but I really liked the angle in which I took it at. One feature on a phone is that you can display an on-screen grid to help with the rule of thirds. I often use this and make use of the straight lines to position my subject matter. I feel that the statue and perspective of the shot gives an almost "crucifixion" feel to it.

I changed it to black and white because I felt the green from the trees was too distracting against the cloudy sky. Another reason was simply because of the camera in the phone being terrible, the colours were all over the place. Plus, I like Black and White a lot more, with the idea of simplifying something to give it more depth.