Flat Copying

Flat copying                                           http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

This is the technique you may have to use in order to photograph art work such as a David Hockney joiner, drawings, artwork, paintings etc.

You'll need a few things...

 

2 x studio flash heads. B&C

1 x Flash meter

Camera and black tripod D

Sync leads

Sync adapters.

Black cloth or similar (large) E

A method of putting the art work on the wall

 

1. Position the art work (a) on the wall at camera height (Chest height)?

2. Position two lights off-set to the art work, pointing at it at 45 degrees. To some extent, the further they are away from the art work the more inverse square law is going work in your favour. So with this in mind depending on how big your studio space the more powerful the flash units the better. Another factor is the size of the artwork. If the art work is massive then you'll need more powerful lights and studio space. Our diagram here works fine up to A0 size with he lights between 10-15 feet from the subject.

The reason the lights are positioned at 45 degrees is that the light then reflects off of the shiny surface at the angle of incidence meaning none of the studio light is reflected back into the lens.

Position the lights so that they are central to the position of the artwork, e.g. not pointing down or upwards, but pointing at the art-work centrally.

3. The camera D should be used at F11 (Optimum lens performance). Your shutter speed should be 1/125 unless of course you're shooting film and you're using a camera with a slow sync speed (Our Pentax K1000's must be set at 1/60th of a second). Digital cameras set manual, consider using manual focus as auto focus may not work as there may be nothing to focus on? White balance "Flash". ISO as low as you can go to optimise quality.

4. It may be the case that the light spilling out around the room, despite the use of spill kills on the lights may reflect back and pick up yours and the background reflection if either are predominantly light in colour. Similarly if the tripod is reflective this may be an issue too. If you're working in such an environment a big black sheet/fabric will offer a solution to this problem.

 

Process...

 

5. Turn off one of the lights (c) and take a reading in the centre of the image with light (b). adjust the power settings so that the reading is exactly f8.

6. Take readings from the sides of the image checking to see if the inverse square law affect is problematic. If the readings are within tolerance 1/3 of a stop, you're probably okay.

7. Turn off light (b) and repeat the process with light (c).

8. Turn on both lights and the combined reading should be doubled up to F11.

9. Check the readings all over the image area and see if they are within tolerance for your light readings. Try and keep the readings all within 3/10th of a stop tolerance. If you have problems move the light further to maximise the inverse square law benefits.

 

http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

 

 

 



Yelena Yemchuk ID Magazine The Location Issue - Turn on the Bright lights

Yelena Yemchuk ID Magazine "Turn on the bright lights".

I cut these images below out of an ID magazine years ago (May have been 2005)? and have used them in my photography lessons as inspiration for my students, as I'm based in Southend-on-Sea and we have a bit of a Coney Island thing going on here (Adventure Island) amusement park and all...

I contacted Yelena in Feb 2016 and asked for her permission to use the images on my blog, so as far as I'm aware here they are for the first time on-line with permission from Yelena.

Photographers Yelena Yemchuk - ID Magazine - Location Issue "Turn on the bright lights" a fashion shoot at Coney Island styled by Soraya Dayani. In Yelena's reply to me she said...
"It was a very personal project and a fun one, a rarity these days in fashion magazines".

One of the reason's I love this set of images so much is that fun aspect, there's a real sense of connectivity with the models, it doesn't look like a fashion shoot, it looks like a set of images shot by a friend on the way back from a party early in the morning as the sun rises, laughing and joking - still drunk and heady from the night before. I also love the 1960's styling - the make-up, hair, skirts, shoes and tops, all brought together with the use of black and white film on what looks like 35mm.

Photography - Yelena Yemchuk  for ID Magazine


2017 Update. I contacted Yelena again as the current students are shooting a location assignment and I've directed them to research and analyse Yelena's work, suggesting they look primarily at the set below. I asked Yelena about the materials, techniques and processes and she very kindly replied...

 

Hi Dave,

How are you - Sure no problem.

I shot that on a Nikon fm3. I always shoot trix 400 when I shoot black and white, No fill or reflectors or lights were used. I think that series was influenced by Antonioni and Monica Vitti 

At that time I believe I was really influenced by cinema as I still am, but particularly at the time by cinema from the 1960's in Europe. Please let me know if I can answer any more questions. 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 
The reason I use these images in my lessons is that the images are an example of how simple a fashion shoot can be and yet be really evocative of a moment. The images are especially useful with regards to the narrative based unit. I you research Yelena you can find interviews with her where she explains her work process. She explains that she creates characters and then expects the models to act out a role of the character... story telling and using narrative.

Right in our back yard we have virtually the same backdrop - Southend on Sea seafront - the potential is massive... Use it and draw influence from Yelena's work.

Thanks to Yelena Yemchuk for allowing the use of the images.

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Sorry this has been moved try the Index

http://www.southendasphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/index.html

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Sorry this has been moved try the Index

http://www.southendasphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/index.html

Section 4 - Research

http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

Here's some ideas on the theme of your research...

Research (Also check out this newer link on research here)

Right from the very outset we will be advising you to look at contemporary and historical photographers primarily exploring their ideas and reasons for shooting their images in the manner that they do. We strongly advise that you do not use the Internet as your starting point, as this tends to produce superficial and weak research material. The advised approach that we'll introduce you to, is to use Photographic Journals such as the BJP, allocating a little time each week to look at the new issues of each of the magazines and getting ideas together and gradually building a knowledge bank of contemporary and historical photographers and their work.

Using this approach you would be introducing yourself to a very broad range of photographic approaches and establishing a far greater depth and understanding of photography's potential. You should make notes and photo-copy interesting images and articles and get to grips with the language used and the ideas and concepts that are explored through photography.

We cannot stress how important it is to use the resources in the library (Journals, magazines and books). By virtue of being published in hard copy, the information in the articles is written by professional editors, writers, reviewers, academics and other artists and therefore of a much higher calibre. The nature of the articles in the magazines, books and journals tends to be far more concise and to the point, addressing all of the necessary components of your own research.

Your research should be conducted in two forms... (1) Initial Research (2) On-going Research.

(1). The initial research under-pins the project and should be the element your work is based on and around. We suggest that you explore 3 artists that connect with your idea and as part of that process you would ideally make a decision about your idea quickly connected with one or more of the artists/photographers you research. This part of your research has to be done at the start of your project and this is the reason we advise you to be continually looking at contemporary art photography throughout the course and building up a knowledge bank of sources to which you can turn to and use in conjunction with your work.

Throughout the duration of the course you're expected to experiment with your images using experimental in camera and post production techniques to enhance the meaning behind your images. One of the more difficult aspects of this is, the fusing together of your concept and the experimental approach. In order to increase your chances of being able to unite the idea and the experimental approach is to have a very wide appreciation of photographers that use these approaches and their techniques and how they use them together. This knowledge will only be gained through studying and researching contemporary art photography (The journals in the library) and seeing how and why they do it.

When you're looking at artists associated with your theme/approach the key things you need to identify are...

• What is their work about (Its meaning)
• How is the meaning conveyed in their images
• If they use experimental techniques/approaches within their - work how does this enhance the images
• Who are they influenced by - show how/why
• Is their work a part of a continuing tradition
• Where and how are their images used
• What influences you are going to draw from their work

Use one A4 'Key' image in full colour, as high quality as you can source. Annotate this image identifying the Visual Language used in the image. For each artist aim to write in excess of 300 words describing the above bullet pointed aspects. Add additional images (In colour) to illustrate any points that are important and use quotes from books and journals in addition to the 300 words.

 

Then compare and contrast the work of at least 2 of the artists that you research again looking to write another 300 words,

 

·         What is the idea/concept behind the artist/photographers work?

·         Read the articles and look at the images – what is the work about, see the list below describe how it links in with one of these or another and say why the artist or you think it’s important or interesting.

o   Self

o   Space/places

o   Time

o   Religion

o   Sex/gender

o   Society

o   Conflict/War

o   Family/Kinship

o   The mind/mental illness

o   Violence/crime

o   Disease

o   Politics

o   History

o   Nature/environment

o   Confusion

o   Escapism

·         What materials, techniques and processes are used and why?

·         How big is the work – scale and size, how might this affect the way that it’s perceived?

·         Over what period was the work made – is this relevant?

·         Where are these images seen and used – how are they used – what’s their purpose?

·         Who or what is the work influenced by?

·         What’s been said about the work by art critics, curators, reviewers and other artists?

·         Is the meaning behind the work “Obvious”  or “Ambiguous”?

·         Have you been able to grasp the meaning behind the work – what do you think about it?

·         What have you taken from the research and applied to your own work (Idea/Concept or Practical/visual) elements?


 If you're struggling with ideas/concept based photography, have a look at this video as it may help... (Photography as contemporary art)

Once you've made a start on the research and you've looked at some contemporary photographers and their work that has some link with your initial idea. You need to now outline a plan - what you're going to do next...

Contemporary Photographers

www.listofphotographers.blogspot.com

Proposal writing for Photography and art projects

Section 1 (Intro-proposal-outline)

Introduction – outline of your basic idea – keep it really basic and vague, if you know at this stage what it is you want to do as a final set of images – don’t mention this at this stage. For instance if you knew you wanted to something about dogs and you thought that perhaps you wanted to do a series of images of big bald men from Essex with their ‘mean’ looking dogs, playing around with the idea that people look like their dogs, e.g. hard man and hard dog. Don’t mention that at this early stage. So in this instance you might say something like…

“I’m going to explore the relationships we have animals, I’m going to explore domestic animals(Pets) and also look at people that work with animals – farmers, dog handlers etc.

Then expand on that with more details as in a proposal, mention the fact that you’re going to try experimental approaches (suggest some that you might try) and the idea will be developed over a series of shoots working with the idea. Then at the end say that you’re going to produce some research and analyse the images and the way that people work with animals in their projects/photography.

As a part of this process, you should also produce a spider diagram, exploring different ideas around how you might approach your theme.

Also mention that you're going to keep an open mind about the project and through the process of research the initial idea might develop into something very different.

Before you start researching...

When you start to put your research together. Think about what it is you need to glean from your research...

Concept/Idea/theme/lighting/poses/composition/use of colour/use of equipment/experimental techniques/mood/subject/reasons/perspectives/presentation and more.

This means, although you've already got the idea of shooting Dogs as your theme, if you're researching using journals, you may not have seen any dogs, but you may have come across a photographer that shoots horses or other animals and you may have noted that their use of light, or composition might be useful to you. This also can constitute good research - you could explore that photographer on the basis that you're looking specifically at him/her simply because of the use of light or the way that they compose their animal images.