4 Photographers

He is known for his photographic projects that take an personal look at aspects of modern life, specially documenting the social classes of England, and more heavily the wealth of the Western world. Martin started off as photographer who would take his photos in black and white but he then changed into colour. Martin has published 50 books, and has featured in 80 exhibitions worldwide. Martin used to enter people’s homes and used to take picture of the home owners going about their daily lives. He then used to combine the images with quotes and then show it to people and the photos used to make people unsure about their feelings.

 

 

Andreas Gursky is a German photographer artist known for his large format architecture and landscape colour photographs. Andreas never used to digitally operate his images before the 1990’s. Ever since, Andréa’s has been frank about using computers to work on his photos. Andrea’s photos are very straight forward, but also very puzzling and blank.
The view in many of Gursky’s photographs is drawn from an elevated vantage point. This position allows the viewer to encounter scenes, encompassing both centre and the outer limits, which are physically beyond reach. Before the 1990s, Gursky did not digitally manipulate his images. In the years gone, Gursky was never keen on computers to edit and enhance his pictures.

Mario Testino ) is a fashion photographer. His work has been included in magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair. Mario has worked with many famous people in his career, such as Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, the Princess Of Wales. He has contributed to the imaging of leading fashion brands such as Gucci, Calvin Klein. In 2011, Testino was given an ‘Honorary Fellowship’ by The Royal Photographic Society, due to his work in fashion photography. Testino has become one of the world's most well known fashion photographers. His work has been shown across the world in magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and V, and he has contributed to the works of leading fashion brands such as Burberry, Gucci, Versace, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana and lots more. As well as having published seven books of his work and edited one other in tribute to contemporary art and artists from his country Peru, he has had many successful exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world.

 

 

Simon Roberts is a British photographer whose work has been displayed and published globally. Between July 2004 and August 2005 Roberts travelled throughout Russia, taking photos in 65 destinations which lead to in the book and exhibition Motherland.

Between August 2007 and September 2008 Roberts travelled throughout England in a motor home using a large format camera taking people at play, and discovering the connection between people and the places they visit. This resulted in the book and exhibition We English.

For his work, Roberts has received several awards. In 2007 he was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's Vic Odden Award- offered for a notable achievement in the art of photography by a British photographer.  In 2013 Roberts received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society which is given 'to distinguished persons having, from their position or attainments, an personal connection with the science or fine art of photography or the application thereof'. (Wikipedia)

 


 

 
 

White Balance and Focal Length

White Balance

White Balance is a setting on a SLR camera that helps to change the lighting to help so that white objects appear white in the photograph. Sometimes this is difficult to do because the light cast from different light sources is different colours. This is called colour temperature; an eye is very good at judging what is white beneath different light sources in contrast to an SLR camera, which has difficulty picking it up as auto white balance. For example, it can create a blue and orange colour cast. White balance helps you prevent picking up these colours when taking a photo and it also helps you take a better picture under different light conditions.

Focal Length

Focal Length is the distance light rays that come together to make the image sharp of an object to the digital sensor. Focal Length tells us the angle of the sight, like how much the camera has increased and how much the camera frame has captured. The more the focal length the narrow the view of the angle will be and the magnification will be greater. So the opposite will be the shorter the focal length the longer the angle and the magnification will be smaller.

Different Lenses

This is a Standard Lens, which goes up 35mm. Used for general photos.

A standard lens is a lens that gives out a field of view that generally looks "natural" to human eye under normal viewing conditions, as compared with lenses with longer or shorter focal lengths which produce an larger field of view that affects the perspective when viewed from a normal viewing distance.

This is a Micro lens. Best used for close up shots. It can capture every fine detail in a picture. The highest it can go upto is 105mm. It is used for modelling and also used for dramatic captures.

 

This lens is a Telephoto lens. These lenses have very high magnification, which can go upto 300mm.

These lenses are used in sports events such as football, cricket etc. This lens is best used for capturing wild life moments.

 

This image was shot in auto white balance. When the camera’s white balance is on this setting gives the image a standard and natural look to the photo.

 

 

This image was shot in tungsten white balance.

When the camera is on the setting of tungsten, it gives the image a blue-darkish affect, when this setting is used outside it will give the opposite colour effect.

The image was taken in cloudy white balance.

You can also fix your white balance to cloudy white balance. You can also set your white balance, which is used, for gloomy settings to shoot in.

 

 

Definitions

What is photography?

Photography is a form of art that captures an image either, digitally or film. There are different types of photography, such as sports- photography, or fashion, glamour, nature etc.

Shutter Speed – How long a camera shutter is open when taking a photograph. It is a setting on your camera which allows you to control the length of time the shutter is open for. People change their settings because if for example, it is a sunny day, and the shutter is open too long, there will be too much light in the photo. Therefore, the image will be over exposed.

ISO – Is the sensitivity of the light within a photo.

Aperture – Is the size of the hole, which if the hole is big, light can enter. Whereas, if the hole is small, not much light can come through. Aperture is referred to the lens diaphragm opening inside a photographic lens. The size of the diaphragm opening in a camera lens that controls the amount of light passing through onto the film inside the camera the moment the shutter curtain in camera opens during an exposure process.

 

F Stop - Specifically has an effect on image characteristics, some of which may not be obvious to people who are using cameras for the first time.

 

Depth of field - is the amount of distance between the nearest and furthest objects that appear in acceptably sharp focus in a photograph. An ideal selection Depth of field in a focused subject in an image can be quite slanted. It is all a matter of personal liking when trying to decide the appropriate use of DOF to improve an effect in a photograph

Focal Length - describes the distance from the front of the lens to where it focuses light on the sensor or film plane. Focal length affects the field of view or how wide a scene you can capture with your camera and the overall magnification.

Test Photos

5 album covers

       Westlife - Where We Are: What i like about this photo is the sheer simplicity, yet it holds a touch of seriousness and togetherness of the band. The lighting is balanced with a fairytale like photo, with a touch of dark seriousness. 

  Boyz II Men - Evolution  

Leon Jackson - Right Now 

 Take That - Progress

Jay Z - Holy Grail

5 Album Covers analysis

Westlife – Westlife

This album cover is a simple one. There isn’t to much going on the cover. It has a light blue background and the faces of the band members are in a line. This tells of the honesty and simplicity of the band. It tells us that they are a new band and it is an act to show them off so we know who they are. The title ‘Westlife’ is above the band members faces. So it is almost like an introduction to the band. The title font isn’t too big; it fits well above the faces. And it is easy to read as well which makes the album even simpler to look at. Because it hasn’t got any strange fonts which may put the audience off.

Take That – Progress

This album cover is quite a unique cover because of its colour, theme and idea. On the cover there are the members of the band. You cannot see the faces of the members, but you can see their body. It looks as if their body is being resurrected by god, as if they are being chosen for something or as if they are the ‘chosen one’ . The yellow background goes well with the colour of the members of the band (**orange). It’s easy to look at, and again it is a very simple background. The font of the title ‘Progress’ is quite small. It is placed on the top of the album again, and with the band members looking like being resurrected for another chance, it seems as if they are heading for progress, which is the albums name.

Leon Jackson – Right Now

The cover of this album is rather bland, in terms of the fact that there isn’t too much happening on the cover. There is a picture of Jackson himself, on the centre of the cover all suited up. The background cover is grey, almost like a board, so it is almost like a photo-shoot. It gives us an idea of what sort of album it might be because we normally associate photo shoots with glamour. So it may suggest the album as glamorous.  The title of the album is called ‘Right Now’. And it is placed on the left centre of the cover. And his name is being spread across the whole album on the centre in bold white writing so it’s the first thing viewers will see. Also, the title suggests it is Jackson’s time to shine, to suggest that he has waited a long time for this, and ‘Right Now’ is his time.

Westlife - Where We Are

The album is known for its sheer simplicity yet its brilliance. On the album cover, there are shades of dark around the edges of the cover. But in the centre of the cover it is a white, snowy cover. It is almost like a fairy tale theme, but the dark shadows suggest the seriousness of the cover. The subjects on the cover (the band) (West life), are wearing dark colours on the album, this makes them stand out a lot, it tells us (the audience) that West life are the main focus here and it shows their togetherness and that they are united as they stand close together. The title album ‘Where We Are’ is written in bold font, placed directly above the band, It is very eye catching on the white cover.

Robbie Williams – Sing When You’re Winning

This album cover tells us a lot about Robbie Williams. In 2002, prior to the albums release date, Williams and his ‘ego’ was the Medias focal point. Robbie was often criticized for this so Robbie, got his own back. The album cover is a picture of Robbie, and of other Robbies surrounding him. All wearing Blue football kits. This suggests that despite all the recent media criticizing him, its still all about him thats why the cover was filled with his faces. He refuses to let the critics get him down. Also the fact that all the Robbie's are wearing football jerseys, suggests that his ego is all he needs cheering him on, encouraging him to do well. It also suggests that even with all the fame, money and the ‘bad boy’ image, Williams, enjoys the simpler things in life and he still is that boy inside that likes to play football with his mates. The font is under the picture of Robbie. And the picture seems as if they are being told what to do by the album title. In the picture, the team of Robbie are celebrating as a football team would do when they win a trophy. During trophy celebrations, singing chants are often common. So the title is suggesting, that Robbie is singing because he is winning, because of his new found success as a solo artist.