Conclusion

Q1.
Observations of different aspects of water have inspired many photographers, video makers and artists. The surface qualities of water and the effects of water on an object have been explored in different ways by Ernst Haas, Bill Viola and David Hockney. Look at appropriate examples and produce your own work

I am really proud of my outcome and my experimentation with different uses of materials used to create my final piece. I feel through this unit I have explored and researched thoroughly into many different water photographers and other skills required to capture water in different and interesting ways which in turn lead me to independently developing my skills to create a high quality piece of work which represents everything the topic asks of me. I worked hard to explore into the movement and film idea of water as well as the still frames which I believe straightened the out come of my work and helped me greatly to develop my editing skills whether in Photoshop or with a film editing soft wear where I created the time lapse out of still images. I worked solidly throughout the project to explore the features of water and it's effects on solid objects and other such as light.

Considering my final piece of work I'm really proud of my professional standard and believe I have produced the strongest images throughout the topic due to my research and development through shoots learning new techniques and skills along the way I managed to adapt these to capture extreme detail at such a high quality.

Presenting My Final Piece

To present my final piece in a professional and appropriate style I thought about the main focus of my images other than water which is movement. I wanted some way to represent my work in a motion. All of my final images are of water splashing droplets. Falling objects into water create this type of movement which in turn gave me the idea of suspending my images in motion to represent the drop of the object which creates a splash.

I suspended my images within a frame then giving them Independence to swing freely including they're own movement themselves which I feel helps bring the images to life.

Final Images

Each of these images has undertaken similar editing. All have increase in brightness, contrast and shadow visibility. This was important to bring out the best in the patterns created throughout the water. All of my final images are strongly pattern based focusing on the ringlets within the water and light reflection on the surface.  

As you can see above, light is an important factor within the image as the patterns distort it into the ringlets, this creates an interesting image to view and also creates a clear texture of the water. The reason for choosing the image above for one of my final images is the extreme mass of movement in the bottom right third compared to the rest. This splits the image nicely in a positive way and also draws the eye inwards to the more subtle but detailed movement in the top left third. In this position there is the strongest ringlet in the image which captures an interesting still of movement. While the rest of the image is busy concentrating on the mass movement which is visible through the hard light reflection on the water which was created artificially with a standard bedside lamp the droplet at the top is still in mid motion jumping back out of the water independently. I'm proud of this capture as the speed water moves at is extreme down to single mil-second I feel I've accomplished a professional standard piece of work.

 

The colouring within this image is by far some of the best editing I have been able to conger. This included a lot of colour modification to gain obvious yet natural water looking piece. The movement is captured in strength and all of the ringlets are perfect, identical and precise circles. Each droplet to the left of the image creates a smooth texture over the water while the ringlets disperser from their starting point. While like in the first image the third to the right is where most of the extreme water movement takes place. Although this is a large splash captured in movement the water still creates a smooth soft appearance in texture. I feel this symbolises the pure feel to the water as although it's being disturbed the fact it's ice (a different state of water) it's welcomed rather than ignored.

By far this is my personal favourite and I feel my most successful capture of all. The colouring of the entire image is a natural water blue, the fact that I had to crop the image down to focus on the most important section and strengthen it over all does not affect the quality of the overall image, in fact the immense detail and clear capture of tiny individual water droplets in motion is extremely impressive. This originally was an extremely weak image relating to the background and colouring. Even when cropping the image it was still distorted by sections of the sink including the dark obvious plug hole. However due to the exquisite capture of the splash mid motion representing a strong sculpture of water in smooth textures and sturdy movement I set out to get rid of the other factors which let the image down. Like the rest I edited the brightness, contrast and shadow depth within the image to enhance the patterns and shape the water is creating which in turn brings it to life within the still motion capture. Then with the blur tool set to work carefully on distorting the obvious plug whole and sink section which still remained in view. My final produced image represents a strong depth of field to all the background water within the image which in turn works in favour to exaggerate the droplet. I'm more than impressed with the turn out and especially pleased with the detail in lines which the water makes, the perfect circular shape of the splash where the ice has fallen and also the sturdy yet smooth wall created by the splash is the strongest section. None of this would work without the hard light used as this is what shows of the strong patterns and textures of the image.

Edits

Edits

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These images have all been adjusted in colour and cropped to bring them up to professional standard. I found out the best way to make the images look realistic was to increase contrast to gain strong patterns and movement and also shadow. However the best edit idea I places on all of my edited images was a colour variation layer this is a light gradient included to subtly change the colour this then allowed all my images to own a light blue quality which is the stereotypical colour of water. I did consider placing other colours such as red or green to make the images interesting and peculiar to view however I came to a quick conclusion that the images were much stronger with a professional streak throughout left blue.

Final Shoot

Final shoot

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To create these images I filled a sink with clear water and used Ice to create the separate splashes. My reasoning for using ice is to keep with the theme of water completely and representing different states. It soon became obvious throughout the shoot that the best images worked best when using a vast quantity of light. I found this out throughout my research of water reflection and light helps create the patterns within the water and also steanghthens the overall look. Most of my images were taken using flash and all on a Macro lens and fast shutter speed like those I used to capture the water droplets of rain on plants and other inanimate objects.

I'm really pleased with some of the patterns and sturdy sculptures created within the water however t the moment none of them are presented in a professional style while you can see the untidy and inappropriate background of the sink.

Final Shoot Idea

For my final shoot I want to combine all the different aspect of water which I have explored. Keeping in mind what worked well and what I'm good at. My favourite shoot was the one of the pond as I managed to capture some really interesting shapes in the water creating exciting sculptures. This also includes movement in the images which has been a main running focus throughout my research.

I want to create the same style of image with the water movement creating solid sculptures however instead of stones to create the splashes small and large shards of Ice. This keeps the water theme linked entirely through the image.

My Ice Time Lapse

This is my own representation of a melting ice cube time lapse. I feel the best part of this starts at 1.10 where the melting reverses. What I've done with this is place all of the images backward so that the melting reverses back to a solid state of ice. I'm really proud o the movement I have created within this time lapse piece and really pleased that I attempted to use other mediums to present my work such as film and still images. I feel that it's really linked together the concept of the exam question and I've explored many different mediums, states and patterns water can create.

The Creation

To differ away from the standard conventions of melting Ice I wanted to make it much more interesting to view. My idea is to dye the water which I'm going to freeze so that there is a wide range of colours. This is not only interesting but makes the melting process much clearer.

 I manipulated the colour using water paints. This allows the features o the water to remain the same while freezing and also give of the same properties when melting.


I placed the cubes in an Ice filled freezer and waited until they had completely solidified before I began the time lapse project.



I am really pleased with how well the shoot went. I spent around 4-5 hours taking an image every minute or so to capture all the movement and state changes while the ice melts. When taking all 184 images to create the time lapse I set up a smart working area of white background which reflects the light used and allowed all colour to be seen more appropriately. This is also why I chose to use a white place as the base so that the curve will collect the liquid as it melts and it's clearly visible against the background.

To create such a bright effect of colour I used artificial lighting, it's quite a hard light and can be seen reflecting of the tiles at the back however this also captures the glistening sections on the ice as it melts. To enhance the colour even more I also used flash. My reasoning for making the images as bright as possible is that when it comes to the editing I wouldn't be able to edit all 184 to an identical state however in completion of the video I did enhance the brightness over all very slightly once again to increase the obvious use of colours.

Time Lapse

Going back to the original exam  question:
"Observations of different aspects of water have inspired many photographers, video makers and artists. The surface qualities of water and the effects of water on an object have been explored in different ways by Ernst Haas, Bill Viola and David Hockney. Look at appropriate examples and produce your own work"
I because rapidly interested in the term video makers. This is where I turned to Youtube to look for representations of moving water photography presented as a video. The strongest idea I found was a time lapse.
Time Lapse is a series of photos taken over a certain time period then placed together to create a moving image. Ice was the best example of water I could find. Using Ice explores further into the different states of water especially as this style of photography shows the transformation between the two visible states of water. Creating a time laps creates movement of water and also the combinations of  images being viewed as a speedy motion challenges the concept of water movement. This really fascinates me so I've decided to attempt my own creation.

Mirror Ice

Ice on mirror

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As the Ice melted some of the patterns and oxygen spaces within the ice cubes became more prominent and obvious as they weren’t as obscured by the frozen frosty effect on the ice. These images are of Ice cubes melting on a mirror top. I decided to do this to represent the feature of reflection water has. In all my previous shoots I have mentioned how patterns are created by the light reflected through the water and also how object are reflected in water like a mirror. Ice however doesn't hold this refection factor.

Using a mirror within my images emphasised the ice as its duplicated filling a vast section of the image and only leaving one third blank. I have edited these images on Photoshop to enhance the patterns within the ice cube mainly but also to blank out the background so that it's purely black. This makes the rule of thirds more successful and also disguises the use of the mirror and tricking the eye into believing the quantity of ice.
 

Ice Shoot

Ice 1

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Inspirations from Nick Cobbing lead me to looking into patterns created by Ice in cubes and individual crystals. Nick Cobbing obviously focuses on larger Ice landscapes and patterns within glaciers. In these images I have focused on the smaller scale Ice attempting to capture the individual crystals and patterns within the frozen cubes of water.

Being able to capture the patterns links in with the rest of my work on water movement as these patterns were created by the movement within the water as if froze.

Ice edits

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To make the patterns within the ice crystals more visible I have edited certain aspects of the images.



In the first edit I have enhanced the shadow and lighting contrast giving the image a more defined depth of field and making the Ice crystals in the foreground exaggerated. In this image I really like the lighting. I used a standard desk lamp to give a hard light to the ice which also creates strong shadows. When editing the lighting on these the light goes through the block making the focus point the light perceived to be within the ice.



The second edit seems to capture the melting of the ice which in the watery effect reflects the light out of the image as a centre point. The section of ice in the foreground of the image placed slightly to the left third represents the patterns within the ice best creating a frozen water ripple effect.

Nick Cobbing

Another natural form water takes as well as rain is Ice.
Nick Cobbing is a landscape photographer his images he has recently become a focus in a time of climate change, retreating glaciers and shrinking sea ice cover.. Now these are on a much larger scale of photography than I will be able to achieve however some of the qualities involves within him images will be a great starting point for creating patterns.

Nick

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Rain Edits

These here are my edits of three recreations of rain images I deconstructed using my research, I'm really impressed with the improvement of my editing skills and the turn out of the images altogether.

 The edit in this image really focuses on the colour involved to make the patterns visible. As you will see the original is extremely bland due to the colour of the ground the puddle is over. All I've done in this edit is enhance the contrast levels, in turn making the water a more dominating feature of the image, the reflections within the water are more visible and also means the patterns of light creating the ringlet movements are much more prominent. The colouring had also become allot darker with the edit which symbolises the bad rainy weather and I feel it makes the image allot more sophisticated. This is my rain recreation of one of the blogs I mentioned.

I'm really proud of this creation and how well the depth of field has worked; the focus of the leaf in the four grounds is so prominent compared to the background not just with focus but also the contrast of colour. The Leaf is a vibrant green while the rest subtle down towards the back and have become submerged with darker tones. The leaf is placed on the right with the stalk of the leaf represents a line to draw the eye inwards down to the back of the image. I'm happy with the detailed droplets of water on the leaf, they once again support this reflecting quality about them glistening with the reflection of light, the water on the leaf is all so what gives the plant it's vibrancy. I'm proud of this image and the skills involved making it such a strong image.

The only edit I put on this image was a slight increase of contrast to make a more prominent difference between the background colours and the foreground.

This is my favourite image I've taken but it's one of the best recreations I have attempted to make. Taking my inspiration from the image of the man outside in the rain blurred by the glass of which the rain water obscures. Here you can see two obvious layers in the image, what stands behind the glass and what is on the glass. Having the water on the glass in the foreground then allows the depth of field to focus of that then obscuring the image behind not just by the droplets in front but also blurring the remainder of the image. The droplets are in a strong motion from the rain. This brings me back to my research on water movement, where as before I could see the oxygen bubbles moving around underwater here we see the water moving around on top of the glass. I used Photoshop to enhance the colouring of the image to make the droplets more prominent.

Effects of Rain Photoshoot

Effects of rain photoshoot

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Research for rain shoot.

I've came to a halt in my research consering movement. After analysing the shoots I've already done I noticed one of the strongest points in all of them are the patterns and shapes water droplets cam make so I became much more interested in the idea of water droplets in they're natural form rather than being made through throwing rocks into ponds or items and people underwater. I decided to look at rain. This is a form of water naturally produced and causes natural effects and patterns within images.
Researching I never found a photographer who works solidly with rain however these four images are strong representations of what I had in mind. Each are from separate armature photographers blogs and each are extremely strong in they're own natural way and style.



http://www.fotoartglamour.com/picture-rain-on-pebble.html
Here we can see the effect of the rain within the droplets, not only able to change the colour of the pebble as it's wet and creating a smother and slippery texture over the top we can see how the droplets on the centre pebble have been focused on to create a shiny glisten.


http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-16816579/stock-photo-rain-drops-rippling-background.html

The image above was the best example I found which still involved movement. The droplets on the puddle surface create rings which separate and overlap one another. These create interesting patterns for the image and also remind me of the water reflection work I created during the sink shoot and also the underwater shots of light through the swimming pool however this is on the other side of the water the reflection as we know is underneath but you can see how the light hits the water and can be distorted by the patterns created by the rain droplets.


http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynogalldetail.asp?photoid=6031281&catid=24571&contestcatid=8&rownumber=7&camid=

This is the image I want to attempt to recreate most. This is a true representative of the natural effects water and rain has on things. Also using a plant as a natural living thing almost symbolised life within this image which I find really interesting. I'm impressed with the use of depth of field used to make the image much more interesting. The entire background is blurred which looks absolutely beautiful and still only the very centre droplets are in extreme focus. Looking at these slightly I can see they're 3D effect and light within them which in turn creates an Independence for the droplets and a movement within them, small particles of slight shimmers.


http://digitalphotographycamerablogger.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/rain-photography_28.html

Lastly, this one caught my eye. The way it creates a natural depth of field, the water it's self is used against the window pain to blur and obscure the image taken. This symbolises a mystery within the image and also a dark nature to is as the colours included are pure and white the figure is constructed of solid blacks and greys.

I hope to recreate this type of photography as a way to capture natural waters effects. and also attempt to capture the natural movement of rain. This is going to be a task as it's such a dainty and subtle water substance it may be hard to capture it in full motion.

Pond Sculptures

These here are my two favourite images from the shoot I did by the pond. The originals are the images above. I created the images by aiming stones into the smooth calm water of the pond and zooming the camera into a fixed position where the stone would land. They were created using a large exposure and a fast shutter speed to capture the rapid motion in such detail.

As you can tell by my Photoshop edits I have increased the brightness slightly and the contrast dramatically. This allows the still water to form a thick shade of black and the contrast of the light hitting the water to a brighter white. This helps form the movement of the water by capturing the light reflection on the water as a strong physical feature of the water.

I'm really proud of my shutter speed work on these as I feel I've managed to capture the detail of movement and the precision of each droplet on screen in an obvious and focused manner. None of the movement is blurred it's extremely clear to see the sculpting shape the water makes captured as a still frame.

These images here especially remind me of the work of Martin Waugh most as they truly do create sculptures of water with true strength. The colouring and central focus he creates surrounds his images for example:

 
His are much more obvious however the effect and movement I'm creating mimics his work on what I feel to be quite a professional level considering the equipment available to me.

The most interesting thing about these images is it's freedom. Each time in attempting to create images such as these the result would never be the same as water moves with such Independence and creates shapes, sculptures and patterns with complete originality each time. This can also be effected by the texture and density of the liquid used.

Ernst Haas

The images I have taken from the pond shoot including the flowers placed lightly on the water within the pond have a slight resemblance to Ernst Haas's photography. I've looked through her work and the only water image which has really caught my eye is the one of the waterlily.


Haas was an influential photographer noted for his innovations in colour photography, experiments in abstract light and form. I have attempted to recreate his colour style where he's clearly edited the image to hide the water and only allow the vibrancy from the subject laying within the water visible.

The second of these two images is my edit which I have based around the image above created by Ernst Haas. To create this darkness effect within the water I boosted the contrast and exposure levels. This allowed the water to darken and create a smooth texture while the flowers and twigs placed within the water become much more exposed. Details within the image become more visible like the image originally taken by Hass it's even possible to see the individual veins within the plants, these create interesting lines within the image which are a good focus point for the image. I consider one of the strongest aspects of my image above to be the positioning of everything in the upper right third. The image falls down towards the centre which in turn draws the eye into the middle of the image.


I'm impressed with this creation however I want to focus more on the movement of water as seen in this style of the rest of the shoot. This has helped widen my skills of colour vibrancy and how to edit it in a  controlled and realistic style.

Pond & Movement Shoot

These images below are some of my most successful close up high speed photography images I've taken. These were constructed using a tripod to prevent any camera shake and throwing rocks and pebbles into my garden pond creating splashes and ripples I wanted to capture. A lot of this work was timing when pressing the shutter and throwing the rock so i positioned the camera up on a fixed spot for me to aim to and left the shutter continuously pressed to capture as many shots as possible. Some of these images have captured the shape of the water movement perfectly creating strong sculptures jumping out of the water.

-There is a selection of three images within the first set of slides where I have been able to capture the precise moment the water jumps up from the pond due to the rocks weight. These look incredible against the sunlight, glistening round sections of the water creating strong sculptures of unique shapes water can't sustain.

Others create many extravagant ripples which overlap and smash together constructing interesting shapes and patterns.

-I captured one image full of ripples I created pouring water from a watering can onto the pond which makes lines of artificially made ripples, these lines draw the eye-line into the image making it much more interesting.

They were all taken under natural lighting with a small shade held over the leans to prevents sun rays obscuring the images. The strong sunlight was a positive aspect creating a glimmer and shine to any water molecule which moved. To achieve different shapes, detail and patterns I used two different lenses which gave me a wider selection when capturing my images.



These images were inspired by the work of Martin Waugh; I attempted to recreate the strength of water movement capturing it as a solid sculpture in movement. I'm pleased with the turnout of these even though they aren’t' don't under that same circumstances of Martin Waugh's work however the technology and equipment needed to create his works of Art is out of my reach. These stills I have capture however despite the natural colouring which Martin Waugh doesn't work with the shapes and foundation of the water sculptures work as a real success.

Pond & movement shoot 2

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Pond & movement shoot

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Martin Waugh Photography

Martin w

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Here is a section of Martin Waugh's photography which really interests me. I looked into the construction of them, he used a high-tech camera zoomed into extreme lengths which he then had a timer set out to drop either one or two drops of water or coloured liquid into the substance below. One drop would create a strong droplet sculpture and the two consists of the second drop being timed and release electronically at the precise moment to land on the movement of water already created from the first droplet. There is also one other way of creating them using a vast amount of vibration on one droplet of water on a flat surface.

Martin Waugh

Developing on my theme of water movement I found Martin Waugh a liquid sculpture. His images really intrigued me as they show individual water droplets and their movements.

His images capture type of high-speed photography, a frozen motion using flash and light at a high resolution. Most of his images are manipulated within Photoshop to create stronger colour and movement this also creates a smoother curved effect around the liquid.

He manipulates the subject physically as well changing the colour using dye, glycerine and soap also adapting the size, position and speed of the droplet in consideration. He considers his photography "a childlike sense of fun and whimsy." (Martin Waugh. (2011). Liquid Sculpture. Available: http://www.liquidsculpture.com/the_artist.htm. Last accessed 13 March )