Combining it all...

After taking the images of the boys and manipulating them, I wondered whether I could edit the pinhole camera images into them also.

I do like how the colours compliment each other, but I would like the shape of the light trails to follow the shape of the main focus. 

Some more experimenting gave me a bit of success in terms of getting the light trails to bend to mimic the shape of the main focus, however, I had to take notice of how it was distorting the shape of the trails. I also decided to manipulate the colours to match the main focus of the image to make them blend together, to make it seem as though it was the figure making the light trails.

I am quite pleased with the overall effect that the images have. The use of the pinhole camera images has really given the eye another focus when viewing the photograph, I really like the burst of colour that now accompanies the figure. I do think that I need to use images that have more focus on the figure, as I feel the middle image is too broken down to really see what is happening.

What do you think?

Learning New Techniques...

Only a quick post to get the images up, and I will update it later on. Trying to catch movement of the full body is far trickier than I thought, especially when you have an idea in mind but you are hampered by the resources that you have.

Anyway, after a bit of editing, I am quite pleased with the outcome, I can see where I think the project is going in terms of final pieces.

Off to walk the dogs...

Update, it is a little rainy outside.

Anyway, these images took a long time to work out  in terms of the best shutter speed, light sources, timing, focus and movements. It took far more time than I thought it would in terms of being able to capture a photo that I was initially pleased with, without any editing. The boys did well as the subjects in the photos and their movements worked well in the end. 

When editing the images I have manipulated the brightness and contrast to get the best distinction between the colours and the actions. It also had the added benefit of making the background much darker and therefore making the main focus stand out. Some of the images have had the fresco effect applied to them as it gave the photos a painting quality and made the subject more of a stream of coloured movement.

A New Direction?

This is titled a new direction but it is the same concept as the last few posts but just using a different subject and going extreme with the edging. I stumbled across images by a guy called Cafini, he recorded motion in one image against a dark background so that the movement and colour were the main focus. They really are stunning images.

It was much harder to work out this technique than I thought it was going to be, I understood how the method and how it should work, however, getting it to work was a whole other story. I eventually managed to get some images that are capturing the essence of what Cafini's work is showing, but I have a long way to go before it reaching anything that I am truly proud of.

To take it a step further than just viewing my poor attempts at capturing motion I have edited my images using the find edge technique to see if I could just highlight the main lines and therefore the movement.

Here are my results:

I do like how these turned out in the end, as it has captured the movement, however, I do need to try this with a full body movement to get some further experiments done.

The response from my Mum - "At least those ballet lessons when you were little have now had some use!"

And on another positive note, we managed to find two of the pinhole cameras that were put up at the beginning of September, so fingers crossed for some good results.

Development of the idea...

And I really must go and pick up the pinhole cameras before the weather makes them inaccessible until after the winter! Will check to see how long they have been up for first before braving the muddy fields and nettles.

On with the show, after having a quick look at the first few reviews that came in after the new images were posted (you know the A-Ha inspired ones), I have been having another fiddle with some images that I took of the boys playing at the local park.

I think that the subject and the angles that the images are taken at really plays into how well this technique works, and the overall result of the final image. During this process I created the original image and then played around with the different effects to see what I could do to boost the image.

Here we go...

This is the original image once completed, I have run a couple of adjustments over it to brighten the image a little to bring out the detail further.

On with the playing, I used a duplicate image and ran a find edge filter to create the white lines that are evident in the final image. I quite like this as it makes the figures a bit crisper on each of the layers.

I do like a good bit of black and white in photographs, so I thought I would try it out on this image and see the result. I have added in a further duplicate image to find the edges and changed the settings a little to boost the outlines. I really like this image, the grainy effect on the original image is interesting as it is in contrast with the bold edges that have been overlaid.

The Results are in....

After leaving the post up for a while to gauge reactions to the different paths that I could take, I have enough responses, both verbal and digital to make a decision on what to do next in terms of work....drum roll.....

The majority of people really like the image of the boy in red running towards the camera, and work that was similar to this concept. I have to admit that this is also my favourite image as I like the idea of tracking something through a series of movements. This is similar to Étienne-Jules Marey but with fewer image included to maintain an uncluttered feel to the images.

Here are some new ones that I have produced using the same techniques as before.

I took a set of images of my husband walking down a set of stairs, I then had to select the photos that would work, showing the sequence of walking down the stairs without overcrowding the image and also just laying images just because they were in the series that I took. The development included a large amount of manipulation to get the different positions in the right place so that they are visible in the final image. Once I had the sequence I was then able to experiment with the background and foreground colouring, as above shows the figures in colour and the background in black and white and then inverted on the second image. I am not sure which is my favourite out of the two as they bring different things to the image. The colours of the trees and the contrasting colours are really beautiful, whereas the coloured figures lead the eye through the sequence of movement.

I was having a bit of a A-Ha moment when I decided to create part of the image with a sketch effect, no idea where it came from as I was walking the dogs at the time and I don't listen to A-Ha either. I think it was a strange 6 degrees of separation thing where I was thinking of Bond movies - A-Ha did a Bond song - they did the video that was part sketch and part reality and there you go, the method of thinking behind this set of image. This was just a bit of fun, but I thought that I would post the results to see what people thought. The first image has the background as the sketch, with the second having the sequence of figures as the sketch with the background as black and white.

So what do we think of the next step?

Expanding the paths to follow...which way to go?

I am at a bit of a road block in terms of which way to progress next to develop my work further. I have been playing with some photos this evening to try and find a style or genre that I am interested in developing further.

I had a bit of a play with one of the images from the other day that I created, using the colour and black and white version to create an image with only the main focus in colour. I do like black and white photographs and I think this splash of colour works really well and it looks like the main focus is travelling through a different world.

So far I have looked at blending exposures and then cutting sections out to create a painting feel to the image. See the image below, the photos used where taken this evening as the sun was setting as it had some amazing colours going on. I have layers the different images I took over half an hour and then removed sections of colour to show the images underneath.

It is a bit of a crazy experiment and loosely based upon the work of Matt Molley, who uses a collection of images to create impressionist style photographs. I quite like the patchwork effect of the sky and the colouring that has developed.

The other experiment for this evening was looking into chrono-photography, or the idea of showing motion in an image, again this is mainly done post-production of the photos for me currently. I took a burst of photos while at training the other weekend, and the attempt was to construct one image showing the dog's movement.

This again is similar to the work of Étienne-Jules Marey who took a number of photos of the same scene but at different times, and combining them together to show the movement of a person or animal. I do like this one from a training piece as it shows the dog's stride pattern and its technique, which is very useful in terms of working out pacing and stamina building. 

So any ideas on which path I should be taking, it could be one of these or a path from one of my previous posts, such as the overlaying of images:

UPDATE: A COUPLE OF NEW IDEAS TO HAVE A LOOK AT..... 

So which path do you think my work should go in? I leave it up to you guys.

What do we think?

New Experiments...

While I was out with the dogs, I quickly got out my phone to take a few photos that I could manipulate. The result is not too bad, the only issue is that I have 2 black and white dogs, this means that they don't show up that well when using the laying technique to overlay each image to give a pathway.

Still the little dog, who is blond, shows through pretty well. It did take a bit of editing to get rid of the trees and grass from each layer so I did not have a weird blur going on.

Here are the original images:

Combine Images to show the path of the dogs as they run back to me with the toy.

You can see the pathway that the dogs pick as they come back.

So update on the investigation title and some experiments....

After posting the first draft of my investigation, I have altered it slightly to take in my interest in both photography and computer science.

New investigation route:

Does the unlimited access to digital and social media expose the individual to art and experiences that may have otherwise remained a closed door? 


Let the journey be the destination; before the phenomena of the Internet, artists such as Dan Eldon documented his travels across South Africa using journals, and creating very thought provoking photo montages of his experiences and the impact of the environment he was exposed to. 


The concept of documenting has continued today but with digital and social media as the journal and anyone with Internet access the audience. Photographs can be taken, edited and uploaded in an instant, with viewing happening 24/7 across the globe. This new, wider community has opened the door for many to try something new, or realise they are not alone. 


By taking up my camera again I have influenced my 4 year old son, who has become interested in taking photos of what he experiences and he wants to share them with his own audience. This has allowed my son to interact with the world in a different way, seeing new things and deciding on what is a good picture. My son has also influenced me as he views the world from different angles and levels, along with his enthusiasm when out and about, which is contagious. This has provided me with a new perspective when capturing images, taking into account what he can see and how that impacts on his photographs, and allowing this to influence how I set up my shots.

So what do we think?

Anyway onto the experiments. I am currently taking photos when I get the opportunity to, I have a lot of stuff going on at the moment so trying to fit in going out specifically to take photographs is pretty slim. After a trip round the zoo with my family, and using my mobile phone, I got some interesting images that I could combine  And Sunday I was off to flyball training, so I took my camera with me, the idea was to get some images of the dogs and also from the brige looking down on the motorway. I have just sat down to put some images together and see what I could make that would be a little different.

Zoo Experiment:

I like how this one turned out, the bright colour on the T-shirt makes the eye track through the image. It was interesting to see the different positions that people moved into as the walked down the path. 

Motorway Experiments:

Original Image once all the photos were combined together, I had to remove some cars that appeared in between the lorries as it made the image way too busy to really see anything.

With a filter put over, I like the detail on the vehicles coming through, and it really makes them stand out.

This is a combination of two different final images using different levels to alter the colour intensity. I loved the dramatic sky on the first image but not the washed out vehicles, the second image had the vehicles that you can see above but a very pale sky. This looks much more interesting combined together.

New day and a new camera up...

Only having one lonely camera at home, I have decided to put it up in my office at work. I am hoping it will be able to record through the window, so fingers crossed it works.

Here it is, set up on the lovely bars on the window. And here is the view...

Poor Camera!

My husband went out this evening to walk the dogs and came across the camera I put up in the local nature reserve. The poor thing had been pulled down and tossed into a bush, it was incredibly water logged and very soggy indeed, after retrieving the equally soggy photographic paper I decided to scan it anyway to see if it had managed to capture anything. (We have to remember here that it has only been up for about 6 weeks, and who knows when it ended up in the bush!)

Drum roll for the beaten up camera.....

Not too shabby really, it has got the tree line definition and the street light on the right hand side, and lots of water marks. 

More pinhole cameras...

As it was a decent day we decided to go and collect the cameras I had put up a few months ago. Sadly at both locations the cameras had been removed, teaching me the lesson to make sure they are positioned off the beaten track.

With the weather holding and the dogs needing a walk, my Dad and I set out to put up some more. They are positioned in places that are hopefully hidden from view, and in some excellent spots for capturing a great exposure (fingers crossed).

Camera One

Great spot, quite secluded, and again I found myself in shorts wading through nettles and thistles to attach this. One day I will learn to wear trousers.

The view from the camera, fingers crossed for some great sky trails.

Camera Two

Again up to my waist in long grass and nettles, with the ground under foot not quite where I expected it to be!

The view from the camera position.

Hopefully these will stay put and I can pick them up in a few months. Or leave them over the winter as I don't fancy walking around here when it is cold, wet and windy!

Combining Images...

After spending the summer taking a large number of photographs, with many of the same scene at different times, I decided I needed to try and do something constructive with them. I thought that be layering them I could get some interesting sky patterns. So here are the results...

This was my first experiment of using different exposure times to construct the image that shows the passing of the sunset on this particular day. I took a number of photos at different stages of the sunset and then cut sections from each. I quite like the overall image but it is not very dramatic.

This is my second attempt and I was using a different method this time, instead of using sections of the images I was layering them on top of each other. This image has approximately 8 images combined to give this sky effect. This is the dramatic effect that I was after, although I did end up making everything else a silhouette, I guess that will be something I need to work on.

My final attempt for the evening, and I decided to try out adding in a different set of images on top of the second image I constructed. The photos I used on this were of a more pink and purple sunset than the originals ones I had been using. The camera was also set up in a slightly different position so I have got a ghosting effect in parts of the photo which I really like. I am also really pleased with the subtle colour that is showing through the blues in the sky.

I will be looking into this further and finding some more interesting locations to take the original photos to then use. 

On a side note, I am doing this investigation as part of my A2 Photography course. I am looking at how social media can be used to influence the artist and the viewer. I have found a number of different photographers and artists over the summer that have impacted on what photographs I have been taking and it has pushed me to find out more about how to recreate the same techniques. This would not have been possible when I did my A Levels back in school due to the lack of Internet and social media.

So in conclusion:

How does social media impact on the artist and the viewer, does it allow the artist to become the viewer and the viewer to become the artist? Discuss....