Edit Submission- Assignment 3 Photo Manipulation

Sunset:

This is a photograph I took heading back to my home town Owen Sound from Sauble Beach one day this summer. The original is fairly dull and grey and I wanted to make it warm and bright. I increased the exposure percentage to brighten the photo and lowered the contrast to make it less harsh. I then added more saturation and temperature to warm the photo. The saturation brightened the photograph and the temperature to add the yellow tint. I also added a light film grain to age the photograph, as well as cross process. All of these  features combined gave the effect of a bright, warm, and aged photograph. 

Before

After

Cigarette:

This is a photograph a friend of mine took while she was in France, I love it and wanted to share it with you.  I love it for its simplicity and focus. The original was taken in black and white but I have manipulated it to have to effect of a warm, old, almost cinema look to it. I increased the exposer and the contrast on the photograph to bring out the details in the finger creases and the shadows. I also increased the saturation and the temperature to make it warmer, I then added a cinema filter to give it that old rustic feel. 

Before

After

Alex:

This is a portrait I took of my friend Alex on a road trip to Montreal. The original is beautiful on its own, but I decided once again to make the photograph brighter. I find the when a photograph has warmth (depending on the photo and the context) it comes alive, even more so than in its original  form (depending on the photo). Some photos are perfect in original film and shouldn’t be altered. To create this effect on the portrait of Alex I increased the contrast and the and lowered the exposure. I also increased the saturation and the temperature. I then added a cross process filter to give the photo that yellow and green tinge. With the combination of effects I used on this photo it brightened up and the details like the sun coming trough the back window, the reflection in her sunglasses, and the smoke in front of her face stand out more than they do in the original. 

Before

After

Me:

This is a photograph of myself that a friend took of me. The original is dark and I find there is not enough light. To make the photo look like I did, I lowered the saturation, temperature, and the contrast. But I increased the exposure. Increasing the exposure on a camera opens the lens up to let light in, this brightened up my face so you could see my features. It also gave the photo a grey tint to it. Lowering the contrast also helped with brightening of the photograph because it took away the darkness from around my face. All of these effects make the photograph look bright and grey at the same time. It also looks like an old film photograph. I very much enjoy the look of old weathered film, I find it gives a photograph more depth and character which is why I decided to use this technique on all of my edited photographs. 

Before

After

DB 3

I feel like art is most appreciated, influential, and marvelled over when it is one of a kind. Never the less I do not think that art is any less than art when it is reproduced, take Andy Warhol for example. All of his pieces are iconic and they were all reproduced by Andy Warhol himself. They were reproduced with the idea that it didn’t matter who you were you could have a Warhol. Every copy was the same there was no glorified master copy. Each reproduction was hand silk screened in his factory. Every Warhol print had the same impact and has the same level of merit to it. 

It is important to mechanically reproduce art so it can be shared, so it can reach new audiences, the majority of the population is not going to step into a fine art museum and art is emotional and impacting and if it cannot be found inside the small worlds some people live in those people will be completely oblivious and deprived of that experience. With art reproduction in society it give those people who would not go into a museum a chance to see and judge the art and develope an opinion. 

Photography is an art. It takes skill and experience to take a memorable photo. There are a number of factors that contribute to a photo that is art title worthy. The photographer must understand composition and not anyone off the street understands that it has to be taught and experienced. The photographer must understand how to create mood, balance and contrast in a photo. Photography is not a point and shoot process it takes skill. Black and white photography is a dying art, it is even harder to take a striking photo in black and white, because of the lack of colour it is difficult to create contrast. Developing film is also a difficult process, that needs to be taught and only gets better with experience. Owning paint brushes doesn’t mean your an artist, just like owning a camera doesn’t make you a photographer. It takes a creative person to create a significant perspective. 

Henry Robinson created the combination print “Fading Away” with 5 negatives, putting them together to create one unified photograph. It depicts the death of a young girl and her loved ones around her. He created it to show a deeper and darker side of photography. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, during Robinson’s time is was not common to see this kind of subject matter. Which is why he stood out so much, it made him one of the most famous photographers in England at the time. He took “scenes from everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation, depicted in a generally realistic manner.”

Digitalization has helped photography grow, we can now manipulate a photograph to make it look the way we want it to. Digitalization has also revolutionized marketing and graphic design as its known today would not exist without digitalization. Software like Photoshop and Illustrator have had a huge impact on the limits and efficiency of designers work.