amiebrownlie

[amiebrownlie]

Horses down the beach- double exposure

[amiebrownlie]

Portfolio Research

Methods of printing photographic images:

two ways of printing my portfolio is using Giclee or C type prints. Giclee prints are a type of inkjet print, they produce prints at high quality and have a longer life span than normal inkjet prints. Giclees are printed using pigmet-based inks rather than dye-based inks found in lower cost inkjets, but Giclee prints can be quite pricey however are worth it for their good quality. C type prints are LED or laser light processed. you can get different kinds of C type prints; matt, gloss etc. this gives good range and choice when choosing how to print your image.C type prints have more subtlety in tone compared to gilcee prints due to the C type printers using silver based photographic papers.

Services which provide these mehods 

The Print Space offering C Type prints:

Fuji Matte: paper with a semi matte finish and texture which gives realistic finish and suble colours. This is a popular choise as works well with any print.

Fuji gloss: paper with a glossy finish. Helps to bring out colours in the image and makes them more vibrant and allows better contrast while keeping the tones the same.

Kodak Metallic: paper has a rich metallic base. Creates a 3D effect by the reflective colours and high mid tones and highlights.

Point 101 offering giclee prints

Fotospeed Smooth Pearl: white, heavyweight photographic paper which is ideal for any application. gives a pearly sheen finish with lots of fine detail and are vibrant.

Fotospeed Gloss: very glossy, bright paper with high white tones created for giclee printing. Images are high in detail.

Fotospeed Matt ultra: smooth matte paper with bright white tones. Images are sharp and clear with bright and vibrant colours.

Presenting your portfolio

A good way of presenting your portfolio is having your prints in a portfolio box. I like this idea as it is very interactive and means you can get up close with your images. Having your images printed out and in a portfolio box also allows you to move your prints around easily and allows you to take them out and lay them out to look at. The plastic sleeve keep your prints clean and safe from any marks made from finger prints. These are expensive but do the job well as they are made for showcasing and holding a number of prints. You can find portfolio boxes and sleeves from many service providers, one of these being Silverprint. They provide good quality materials to help your portfolio look professional. You can get your prints from the companies above or other local print providers such as Deadly Digital: http://deadlydigital.com/

Another method of showing off a portfolio is by creating a website for an online portfolio. These are useful as most people are on the internet and can be an easy way of seeing someones work. One website which is useful for this is Wix.com. This website allows you to create a page and upload your portfolio images. I know this works well as one of my friends has one and it looks good and effective, its also easy to find.

[amiebrownlie]

before & afters

Top 4 images: For these images I brought the contrasts and dark tones up in them all, this makes the images look stronger.

5th image: To edit this portrait i cropped the image so that ididnt have half of the models arm still in it, i also cropped it to make more space where her eyes were looking towards. I then converted the image to black and white as i feel it brings the image together better. 

6th image: To edit this image i cropped it also to get rid of half the model’s arm. i also then adjusted the contrast to make the dark tones stronger.

7th image: To edit this image i enhanced the black and white tones to make it more stronger as i felt the original looked a little flat.

8th image: To edit this image I again brought the dark tones and white tones up to make them stronger as i felt this image looked too flat also.

9th image:  To edit this image I brought the contrast up to make the colours stronger. I also make the dark tones and highlights stronger in order for the highlights and colours to stand out.

10th image: The only edits I made to this image was to bring the contrasts up to make the colours stand out and cropped it to make sure the shells were correctly in the middle if the image.

[amiebrownlie]

Evaluation of Bridge & Lightroom

Import:

Both Bridge and Lightroom allow images to be downloaded straight from your camera and/or computer. They both also allow you to organise the images, which is useful when uploading a lot of files, by adding keywords etc. Personally I find importing images easier on Bridge as it allows you to review all images and flick through them all quickly.

Edit:

On both softwares you can colour code and star rate your images.This makes it so much easier as it puts all your images into different catagories and makes it easier to find the images you want to use. Both programmes also allow collections which means you can edit different photos together. I find rating images easier on Bridge as I am more used to doing it on there and think the catagories are easier to find and work with, however i think using collections and actually editing is easier on Lightroom.

Export:

Both softwares allow you export a group of images at the one time. this makes the process a lot easier as it is quicker. Bridge and Lightroom also both allow you to choose what file type, quality, size etc you want the image to be when exporting your images. I find exporting images easy on both softwares.

Personally I find Lightroom easier to use as i feel it gives you better options than Bridge, especially when editing images. I also find it easier as I’m more used to it and have used it for a longer time than Bridge.

[amiebrownlie]

research, creative manipulation & evaluation

[amiebrownlie]

research, creative manipulation & evaluation

[amiebrownlie]

research, creative manipulation & evaluation

[amiebrownlie]

portfolio evaluation

How effective was your choice of images and the retouching techniques used in your images, why?

I feel as though the choice of images worked well together and tied in well. my aim was to show a broad range of images and I feel as though I have been successful in this. my images range from portraits, to still life, to street photography, to horse photography. to edit all of these images I edited them in their own way to improve them, and I changed the curves and sharpened them all for printing. I then inserted them onto the canvas layouts from My City which I done on photoshop.

how effective was your choice of presentation and layout options were in creating visual impact and why?

I made sure each A3 canvas was the exact same size and made sure all of my images were at the same distance from the top by using the ruler setting in photoshop and moving the blue lines given on the canvas from my City already to ensure when I layered my photo on it was at the same place as the rest, this leads for a aesthetically pleasing portfolio. I decided to have one portrait and some landscape, this was so I was able to fit all of my images in.

How effective was your choice of print process used and why?

I was very happy with the final prints I received. I got all of my prints done by Photo Studio Ayr. I chose this place as it is local so easy for me to get to, and because I have heard good things from them. the prints were expensive but I feel it was worth it for good quality prints. the prints took about 5 hours to be done which was very handy as I had asked them if they could be done asap and it was no problem. I would happy recommend them and use them again.

how would you improve on any of the many steps/choices you made in retouching, layout and printing your images?

I think the outcome of my print were all successful, however if I was to change anything id have made all of my prints portrait, however I am not sure if this could have worked due to having two pictures on the one page. but I feel this could have made for a better portfolio.

[amiebrownlie]

My next 6 portfolio images

[amiebrownlie]

coloured and black and white solarisation 21st century technique

[amiebrownlie]

Photo Layering- 21st century

to achieve this first open photoshop and open two (or more) of the images you wish to layer onto. I chose these images, a photo of my cousin Robyn and a photo of my bedsheets which I chose as they have a cool pattern.

I then converted the images to black and white so that the final image would look all the one image.

I then selected the layers on the image of the bed sheets and dragged them onto the image of Robyn (remembering to select the image and show control tools which allows the image to be moved about).

FINAL IMAGE OUTCOME:

[amiebrownlie]

Reportage

[amiebrownlie]

macro

[amiebrownlie]

Light trails & painting with light

[amiebrownlie]

Creative Image Making: Toning

Toning is a method of changing the colour of a black and white image. Toning was popular in the 1800s. It’s a darkroom process that is carried out on silver-based photographic prints. 

To achieve this in Photoshop, I went to properties and made a copy layer and selected ‘hue/saturation’ and then chose the ‘sepia’ option.

[amiebrownlie]

my submission for deadly digital competition :)