Unit 12 Evaluation

To complete this unit we were to answer the brief provided asking us to reflect upon Harlow turning 70 years old and research it in various different methods and pick out various key events that helped shape Harlow.

Brief Recap

The brief required us to produce two final triptychs of somewhere in Harlow, it has to have at least 1 old image of Harlow within the triptych as well as 1 new image too. It also need to have at least 1 person looking into the camera, however they do not need to be the main focus of the image.

Research

To start off the Harlow research I looked online to find the history of Harlow and wrote 1500 words as started in my project proposal. I made a mind map to physically show the different key points of Harlow such as Places/landscapes, Food, Historic events that shaped Harlow, Fashion/style, arts, sports, culture and people of past and present. This helped expand my ideas and show how diverse the triptych outcome could be due to various different pathways to take and what to include. Another way to research and find pictures to potentially use for my final triptych was to visit Harlow museum and have a look for myself at all of the images ranging from location such as streets, buildings and public spaces. We were allowed to take photos of these images so that we could incorporate them into our triptychs. Visiting the Museum was also helpful as the people who worked their were able to give us tips and advice and knew whether to find specific images in the main document office. We also researched what a triptych was so that we could get to grips with how to make one, either using one image or the story technique of three images. We were to research five triptych photographers and three triptych artists, this helped influence out style of work and gave us ideas and techniques to use, for when we go on to make our own Harlow triptych. To round off our research we were to look into garden fences and how “gossip over the fence” used to be a thing, it isn’t as relevant now but it explained out a brief chat would occur between neighbours over the garden fence, usually about gossip. This is where the main idea about hanging our triptychs on a garden fence in town came about. We had to suggest what garden fence was used for what purpose; i.e. a large fence meaning they want privacy and a short picket type pence meaning they were up for a welcoming chat.

Skills and Techniques

The making of a triptych requires a various amount of photoshop skills we had learnt along the way during this unit. One of the many techniques we looked us was the use of resolution, It all depended on the size of the image to how high the quality will be. We were to work out the measurements of A1, A2 and A4 sized paper in millimetres and check how high the resolution would be if we were to enlarge the image onto an A2 piece of paper. A2 is the required size in order to present our final Harlow triptychs. Later on in the unit we looked at resolution again, this was to show we had visible evidence that resolution mattered. In that post I showed how two different camera setting resulted in the same outcome of photograph, however when zooming into each image, only one of them had a high quality and the other one was blurry and didn’t have a high quality resolution. We then looked at angles of view, this showed us how much an image can change just by being close or further away to an object but still having it as the same size in the lens. The contact sheets within that post shows how much more background space there is within the photo when you are further away from the object. To have the object the same size in the image you have to use your camera zoom depending on how far away you are standing. It can really make a difference comparing each image when you are really just shooting the same background and object multiple times from different ‘angle of views’. We had a look at liquid emulsion, this was one of my favourite techniques in the unit as it was art based and hands on as well as it being very easy! We were to paint a shape of our choice on white card with black acrylic paint, take a photo of it and upload it to photoshop. In photoshop we were to use Levels and use the white paint dropper key to have the background as white as possible to use for steps later on. This image was now our mask. We then imported our photo to place behind the image and it would stick to just the black paint strokes of the mask. This technique ended up being a part of my portfolio work too! Learning about refining edges came in handy as I used this technique in my final triptych. I didn’t have a specific person in my photo looking at the camera so I had to photoshop a person into my photos. I used there refining edges tool to make the studio shot photo into my triptych look at real as possible, this bought back and faint detail and made it look as realistic as it possibly could.

Final Triptych Outcomes

For my final shoot I went into town to take pictures for one of my triptychs, I took three different located pictures within town just so that I had some backups in case all failed. I took pictures from either end of the second floor looking down in the Harvey centre and another set of pictures looking into one of the Harvey Centre entrances. Another Shoot I did was by my house on my street. For photo triptychs I aligned the contrasted pictures up of the same locations and then cut them into three on photoshop so that the first section was of the old photo, the middle section was half of the old photo, half of the new photo and lastly the right image was of the new photo. I had to incorporate a person looking into the camera into one of the images in the triptych so I used the refining edges technique to do so on the Westfield image, on the town image there was someone looking into the camera in the old photo so i used that in my triptych. I made the first old image black and white to give it that old effect and enhanced the colour a little bit on the present photo. When finding the old images from my street and capturing the images by my house the project became more personal as it showed where I grew up and how it had developed through the years. The two triptychs are now to be presented on size A2 in order for them to be displayed on a fence in Harlow Town.

Contact Sheets:

I have succeeded in answering the brief as I have taken pictures of Harlow and incorporated the past and present within my triptychs as well as a person looking into the camera in the present picture. The most successful triptych of mine in my opinion is the one in the Harvey centre; the photoshopped person looks more realistic and works better. I was able to complete all of my work on time and write about each piece we were set. I was organised as I had written a list of things i needed to do in order so I knew what had to be completed first in order to move on. I like how Photoshop was a big part of this unit as I enjoy using it and being able to develop my skills and learn something new to use for future reference. I feel my triptychs were completed to a good standard and worked out really well even though the brief was really restrictive and didn’t give me much of a free pathway, however when being presented with a specific brief you need to allow this kind of fault. As a whole I liked this unit as I was able to research and discover the town I grew up in and see how much it had developed over the years. I am delighted to be able to be a part of this Harlow council brief and have my work showcased in town for the rest of the Harlow residents to see.

Final Triptych Outcomes:

 

Resolution

Resolution can either be measured in megapixels, pixels per inch, dots per inch or pixel dimension depending on the format it is being displayed on. By changing the colour of the paper it can effect the outcome of the image by changing tones and shades of the image being printed on to the paper. By using a different lens focal length and f stops, the picture can become a high resolution so that the image is crisp and clear. This includes having to get up close and personal to the image itself to get the full details within the picture. The higher the resolution, the higher and more in depth the detail will be on the image. If the image was made bigger and the resolution was high, it would still be clear enough to read, however if the image was made bigger and the resolution was bad, the image would become pixelated and unreadable.

Close up outcomes:

To put this experimented technique into more practice we went out into town one afternoon to take photos of locations within Harlow. I decided to stop by the bus station in order to produce my set of photos. I set up one image setting to f11 and the other to f4, however the outcomes show that f4 was the worse outcome out of the two.

100% Magnification Outcomes:

(Top- f11, Bottom f4)

Calibration

To calibrate is to make sure the object is consistent, The accuracy of the reading must be consistent so that the object is working well when in use. All components must be correctly operational due to all variables. There are a variety of  different usages of calibration such as a classroom white board, this usually comes about when wanting to connect the touch of a finger/pen to the board, to correct this the board allows for the person to touch 6-9 points on each corner to align the white board touch. Another example of calibration is when musicians use it to determine the accuracy of the instrument readings so that they can be trusted when ready to play.  A third example of calibration is with weights and scales, When measuring something, usually when measuring food to place into a bowl, you put the bowl on the scale, this will take into account the weight of the bowl, to calibrate the measurements of the food inside the bowl only you put the scales back to zero. The scales then recognise the weight of the food afterwards only. We use the calibration technique more often than we realise, in my case I’d use it in my photography course with my camera, In order to use my camera Id need to adjust the settings to get the right outcome for an image, to do this i’d need to calibrate the ISO, Aperture and shutter speed, without this the image would turn out black. Continuing with the imagery sector, this applies with the printing and screen light surrounding, By this I mean an image could have a different outcome depending on what lighting you are viewing it in. For example, if you view an image in broad daylight the outcome will be much colder than it would being viewed inside which would give it much warmer tones. The same goes for printing and choosing products with the same batch number, if one little change was made it would effect the whole batch making it different to the others, wallpaper is a good example of this. We notice branding and trademarks due to certain colours used, twitter blue is different to Facebook blue and we recognise this straight away due to seeing these types of brands everyday. People associate different colour/shades of colours with brands, as the brand are usually well known, they are most likely to be remembered for shape, colour and words. When getting the correct colour t brings it all back to the correct calibration used.

Harlow Museum/LZ

Harlow Museum

As a class we made our way to Harlow Museum to take a look at their old archives and retrieve any information that would be useful for our Harlow ’70 project. Within a little room was a variety of different sectioned folders, ranging from Household streets, public buildings, factories etc. We had to look through each folder to see what would work best for us and to try and incorporate these photos  into our final triptychs. Each folder held a few different images of that location/building, for example I tended to pick the places I was familiar with such as Westfield-  where I live, The harvey centre, the Stow and Passmores Academy- My previous secondary school. Whilst looking at all of these images separately I had to think what would be best for me to shoot and what I would have easier access to. Most of the pictures that I have picked referred back to the architecture of the buildings and the people and transport used within the images. When I compare them photos to the present day it really shows how much has developed within time.

Aside from the photos there was also a variety of different newspapers and maps. There was every single print possible of the newspapers in a book filed away, it was intriguing to find out the sort of things they would report back in the day. The maps targeted the whole of Harlow and within, I took photos of a full Harlow map and then a map of Westfield so it could correspond with the photos I found earlier on. Now I have had a look at different photos and how I could use them in my triptychs it has made it much easier for me to plan out what I want to do for my final piece.

Leisure Zone

As well as visiting the Harlow Museum we were also give the opportunity to have a look at the Harlow showcase displayed at the Leisure zone. Here we were able to have a look at different items that were in use during the time of the war and other little bits and pieces that would have been used in a regular household. There was a paragraph of writing in each era cabinet that we were able to read to help give u a little bit more information about that time. It was interesting to see the kind of things they used back then and see how much they have changed and developed today.

Headshot Outcomes

Gossip Over The Fence

• Four out of 10 said they only speak an average of just five words to their neighbours per week, just over 21 words per month or 260 words per year in polite, but brief small talk.
• Brief talk to ask how they’ve been or to talk about other neighbours/other inside gossip as they’re passing by.
• Neighbours sometimes meet under bad terms due to parking, loudness and rubbish.
• Some can’t be bothered to make the effort to talk to there neighbours and are not friendly at all.
• No one really gossips over the fence anymore, Harlow ’70 are encouraging everyone in town to start gossiping over the fence again, to becoming friendlier and aware of everyone existence.

‘That’s about it – I’ve already told you twice as much as she told me…’

Garden Fences

These different fences suggest the tip of relationship neighbours have between each other, for example a short fence supposedly a picket fence can suggest that the neighbours are quite friendly and enjoy the company of one another and want to cooperate within a conversation day to day. However, a large tall fence can suggest that the neighbours do not want much interaction with each other and would like a lot of privacy than having their fellow neighbour peering over to see what they’re up to.

Liquid Emulsion

Wide Modern Shots

Angles of View

In todays lesson we looked into how a slight different angle of view can change the whole perspective of a photo. The image could be of the same object and background surrounding, but can have a different zoom setting and distance between the camera and object,this will change the whole picture. As shown in the contact sheet above there is three sets of photos, a small, medium and large building object all of which have been photographed using the same technique. To achieve this technique the object you are photographing needs to be the same size in each photo, the only thing you are adjusting is the zoom and how close you are to the object. The closer you are to the object, the less background you are going to see, however the further away you are to the object the more background imagery you’re going to see. As they are next to each other in a row on the contact sheet it is easer to see the differences made and how much angles of views can really change up a photograph.