This video showcases all ten of my final edited photographs, complete with descriptions of the photographs and the techniques I used. It is a more condensed version of all the information below.
LANDSLIP
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
The broken road at the bottom of Mam Tor is shown here - a fascinating natural phenomenon. Taken on 22nd November 2015 at midday, this photo tries to show people the unique and amazing sights that can be found in the Peak District. The broken road pictured is a centre of interest, and the detail which can be seen on the road shows use of the "texture" technique. Finally, in terms of editing, I auto-enhanced the photograph in iPhoto first of all in order to make the photo as good as it could in a natural sense. I then added a blue colour overlay to the rocks and a bright green colour overlay to the grass, using the "colour range" option, in Photoshop - this brought the image to life and made it much more interesting.
COUNTRY ROAD
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
The road of Winnats Pass is pictured in this photograph taken on 22nd November 2015, at midday. I tried to show with the leading line of the road that great sights are waiting for you, anywhere you might drive in the Peak District. The techniques I used were a deep depth-of-field (to keep everything in focus throughout the photograph), a leading line and rule of thirds (the left slope, the road, and the right slope). For editing, I auto-enhanced the photograph in iPhoto, before replacing the white, washed-out sky of the original photograph with a high-definition image of a cloudy sky from the internet (using the "colour range" option). I had to remove a tree from the top of the right slope when I did this, as Photoshop couldn't properly add the cloudy sky between its branches.
BERRIES
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
In this photo, taken on 22nd November 2015, you can see a close-up of some berries on a tree in Buxton. This photograph tries to show that even the smallest things in the Peak District (such as the berries) have an incredible beauty when examined. The berries in the photo are a centre of interest, while the vibrant green and red of the central branch show a use of colour. Macro is another technique I used in order to bring out the detail on the branches, and I also used a shallow depth-of-field to bring attention to the central branch and berries. In terms of editing, the photo was auto-enhanced in iPhoto, before I made some of the image monochrome in Photoshop. To do this, I used the pen tool to select the central branch and keep it in colour. The use of monochrome was intended to emphasise the central focal point.
BRANCHING OUT
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
This photo, taken on 22nd November 2015 in the afternoon, shows three sheep on Long Hill framed by a triangle of tree branches. The meaning here is that everything in the Peak District is connected and in harmony in some way (for example, the three sheep being in the middle of a perfect triangle of branches). The three sheep are a centre of interest here, and I used the framing technique to place them in between the tree branches. I also used a low aperture setting in order to blur out the branches in the foreground - this increases focus on the sheep. For editing, I first auto-enhanced the image in iPhoto, before using Photoshop to add a slight orange overlay (4% opacity) to the whole photo, making it feel warmer. I also used lighting effects to brighten up the image.
SHEPHERD
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
In this photograph, taken on 22nd November 2015 in the afternoon, a sheep is pictured eating grass in front of Goyt Reservoir and some towering woodland. I tried to show that the sheep is the king of the area, undisturbed by human activity. The composition technique is used here in the way that the photo is composed of four clear layers: grass, water, trees and sky. Also, I used a deep depth-of-field to keep everything in focus. The first bit of editing I did was to auto-enhance the image in iPhoto, before I added a red overlay on the trees (6% opacity) and a blue overlay on the water (12% opacity) in order to make the image more colourful. The trees and water were selected using the pen tool. To finish off the edit, I used the hue/saturation tool to brighten up the grass.
GAZE
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
In this photograph, taken on 22nd November 2015 in the afternoon, a sheep is seen gazing at Goyt Reservoir and the building on its shore. The photo tries to show that the Peak District is full of colour and wildlife - even the sheep seems to appreciate this! The image is composed of a clear foreground (the grass), middle ground (the water in the reservoir) and background (the trees). In addition to this technique, I used a deep depth-of-field to keep everything in focus and also rule of thirds, which when coupled with the composition, gives the image clear layers and elements which make it look very sharp. The only editing I did to this photo was to use the "enhance" button in iPhoto, as I felt it brightened up the image and gave it a really nice green hue, which didn't need adding to. I think the final image looks very tranquil and peaceful.
ROADSIDE
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
Taken on 22nd November 2015 towards the evening, this photo is of some autumn leaves and grass by the side of the road. The meaning here is that even the messy, thrown-together aspects of the Peak District are stunning to look at. In terms of techniques used, I tried to capture the vibrant oranges and greens of the flora, while using the macro feature to get as much detail in the photo as I could. Also, I edited this image quite a lot; first of all I auto-enhanced it in iPhoto, before using the "curves" feature of Photoshop to manipulate the colours. I increased the red curve to give the image more of a red tint, before decreasing the blue curve which gave the image a warmer feel. This made the photo full of bright, vibrant, fiery colour.
CANOPY
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
In this photograph taken on 22nd November 2015 towards the evening, the tops of trees in the Goyt Valley are shown against the sky. Originally taken in daylight, I edited it to look like night-time. Thanks to all the different patterns of the branches against the sky, the shot clearly shows the intricacy and complexity of nature in the Peak District. I tried to compose the image of as many different types of branch patterns as I could, while also using a deep depth-of-field to keep all those patterns sharp and in focus. I also used a below-eye viewpoint to capture the tops of the trees against the sky. This photograph was my most heavily edited one; I auto-enhanced it in iPhoto, before I used Photoshop to select the colour range of the originally blue sky, replacing that with a purple overlay. I then used the brush tool to add stars of different sizes, blurring them out slightly with the "Gaussian blur" option to make them look more realistic. This editing gave the image a whole new dimension of peace and beauty that wasn't there before.
CROSSOVER
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
This photo, taken on 22nd November 2015 towards the evening, shows some colourful orange and green fungi meeting in the middle of a tree trunk in Goyt Valley. The meaning here is that even things perceived to be "bad" - such as mould and fungus - can look fantastic in the Peak District and in the countryside as a whole. Anything naturally occurring has its own beauty. One technique I used for this photo was colour, as the bright green of the left and the bright orange of the right intersect in the middle of the tree trunk. I also used the texture technique, as you can imagine from the photo what the tree would feel like. The only editing I did here was to auto-enhance the image in iPhoto, as I felt this really brought out the colours and nothing else was needed.
REFLECT
BEFORE
AFTER
DESCRIPTION TO GO WITH THE PHOTO:
Combs Reservoir is pictured here, the water reflecting the sunset. This photo, taken on 22nd November 2015 in the evening, shows that the Peak District can be a very calming, peaceful influence and can help you to relax. I composed this photograph of the sunset in the sky in the top half, and the reflection of it in the bottom half. This helps to bring out another technique of colour, as the reflection spreads the warm sunset colours across most of the image. In addition, I used a deep depth-of-field to keep the distant hill in focus. The only editing I did here was to enhance the image in iPhoto, because I felt it brought the colours out in the sunset and nothing else was needed. I wanted the colours of the sunset to be the main focal point in the photograph.
The Brief and The Millennium Gallery
You can tell that my photographs fit the brief of "Identity of the Peak District" from the meanings I have explained above, as well as the fact that all of my photographs were taken in the Peak District. In addition to this, though, my portfolio of photographs also fits the Millennium Gallery's ethos. They want to provide galleries which tell stories about Sheffield and destinations in the wider world - obviously the Peak District is a destination which has a great story to tell, and hopefully I have told some of it through my photos. The Millennium Gallery is the heart of art, craft and design in Sheffield so it would be a great place for my photographs.
Comparison with LO1
When planning and taking these photographs, I tried to take inspiration from the photographers that I analysed in LO1 - in particular Duncan Philpott and Charlie Waite. Duncan Philpott takes a lot of photos in the countryside during sports shoots, while Charlie Waite is a landscape photographer by profession.
I feel that Duncan Philpott captures colour really well when taking photographs outdoors, and I tried to do this in my shoot to give a peaceful, utopian feel to my photos. He also uses rule of thirds and centre of interest well to bring the viewer's attention straight to the focal point - this is something I wanted to do also. In terms of taking inspiration from Charlie Waite, I tried to use framing, leading lines and viewpoints other than eye-level in my photographs - these are all key elements of his photography, and give his shots an other-worldly feeling of peace and beauty.
I feel that, thanks to getting ideas from these two photographers, as well as having my own ideas about what I wanted my shots to look like, my final portfolio is interesting, serene, varied and unique.
What I really like about my final portfolio of photos is that each photograph shows a different aspect of the Peak District, and when they are seen together, it gives the viewer an all-round idea of the beauty of the place. The portfolio perfectly suits its title "Identity of the Peak District" and the photos use a range of colour and techniques.
If I had more time, I might improve my final portfolio by making my edits slightly sharper than they are - with the limited time I had, I couldn't make my pen tool selecting 100% accurate as that takes a lot of time. Also, I might have done the odd thing here and there such as brightening colours a little more in "Branching Out" and removing the road sign in "Country Road". On the whole, however, I'm very happy with my final portfolio and it is pretty much how I wanted it to be.
Above is an image I made in Photoshop of how my photographs might look if they were put into a gallery. You can see the descriptions that would go beside each image in the post "LO5: Final Edited Photographs with Descriptions". The options I might have for showing my photographs are:
putting them into a real-life gallery
putting them online
putting them into a film/slideshow
The most feasible, and the cheapest, option here would be to put the photos online, as I already have on my blog. They would be free to put online and anyone who wanted to look at them could do. Similarly, making a video is free and is quite feasible - I have made one myself, which can also be seen in the post "LO5: Final Edited Photographs with Descriptions". It goes through each photo and tells you about its meaning and the techniques I used. The most difficult of these options to carry out would be putting the photos into a real-life gallery - this is because it would be hard to find a gallery in Sheffield which would display all of the UTC photographs. It would also more than likely cost me to display mine there. However, we could form a gallery in the UTC Creative Exchange for free in order for everyone here to see the photos. It would take some setting up, however, so it is the least feasible of the above options. This is why I chose to display mine online and in the form of a video.
Here is a table showing a range of potential methods of display, along with positives and negatives of each:
