Week 3

Before Class Work

Notes from the videos

Dodge and Burn

Dodge and burn comes from photography and the darkroom.

New layer - overlay - (50% grey)

Opacity = 2%

Hardness = 0%

Dodge and burn increases drama and contrast

Curves

Affects tone, contrast and colour.

Found in adjustment tools

Use eye dropper tool and arrow keys (+ shift moves it 10 paces at a time)

Harsh angles and zig zags mean there will be more contrast, a smoother S shaped curve means there will be less contrast.

Curves affect saturation, can change this with blending mode - luminosity

Adjust colours by going into RGB

Blending mode - colour (no saturation)

Layer Mask

Adjustment - curves - brush - opacity 50% - hardness 30%

Paint with black to remove, masks can be painted in or out

Clip text to image layer, or vice versa: image only shows through

Playing with the all the adjustments from the videos on some of my own photos. I took these at Lyall Bay this weekend.

I find that I learn best if I repeat the actions immediately, rather than watching the video then having a go at it a few days later.

Research

Contractualities of the Eye from Face, Hunt. I.

Theorist Pierre Bourdieu's analysis of ordinary household photography: "solemnising and immortalising family events". p.54

The Vanishing Art of the Family Photo Album, Tim Clark. Time Magazine.

Curator and editor Erik Kessels.

"They are glorious in their dullness. In a sense then, it's a form of archeology that lists the detritus of beauty, boredom, travel, companionship, innocence, youth, pride and participation."

"... an all too perfect distillation of life, he says: the best situations, the best smiles, the sunniest of days."

"Something other than an entry in the competition to appear normal. And in these cracks, beauty may be found."

Imperfections of people in photographs

- yawning

- red eye

- eyes shut

- anger

- crying

- the people have been hurt

My thoughts:

I think this relates to my topic as I wanted to photograph the things that generally appear on social media these days, which are usually bright and happy things, like the family albums that Kessels was describing. Social media is a series of snapshots of all the best moments of someone's life. But all together it makes the viewer think that the snapshots are real life, that only happiness and fun exist for that person because they do not see the imperfections. I am interested in those imperfections. The things that make us real, make us human, the things we don't want to share because we are scared of ruining the minutely detailed, delicate perception of ourselves that we create for others to view online.

The imperfections are life though. I'm sure most people would agree that their instagram feed does not reflect their genuine, unedited daily existence.

In Class

Again, playing with the dodge and burn, curves and layer masking tools that we learned this week.

I decided to get a bit weird with it, as my usual style of editing is pretty minimal. I found it really enjoyable to just give myself creative release and not worry if it 'looked good' or not.