Radeka shoot 1 (ISO)

This was my first attempt of a Radeka shoot and I found it very difficult. I want to find some trees/leaves which are really red and golden but at this time of the year it is still very early on for them to be like that so it's quite difficult to find a place where they do it. I did find a tree with loads of crispy brown leaves and I did use quite a high ISO but these are my final images.

This one I did edit on photoshop and used a paint effect and I got this inspiration from Debi Watson who is a watercolour painter but she also has a oldfashioned effect which I think the ISO connected to.

This image is quite similiar to the one above and it hasn't been edited with a paint effect but I love the shadowing of it and how sharp the leaves look to show how crunchy they were.

ISO shoot 2

This is my 2nd ISO shoot where I experimented with flowers and some landscapes but mostly flowers. I tryed black and white and colour but I loved the black and white effect with a high ISO when it was sunset.

My first final image I am so pleased with as I didn't even edit it but I loved the effect I got from taking it. All of the photo is in focus except the background is a bit blurry but the flower still seems the main focus and to stand out. I used a very high ISO (6400) to achieve this.

This is my second final image and I edited it on the picture below by copying a later and turning the photo black and white then placing it on top of the orrigional colour photo then rubbing out the flower so the colour came through. I used a low ISO so the photo is very bright, I did try a high ISO as I was taking the photo directly in the light but I didn't like the effect it had.

This photo I used about a 2000 ISO as you can see the flower is quite grainy but still in focus. I like the way it looks quite oldfashioned especially in black and white and I also love the shadowing of the flower. It is also quite nice how the bench is dark at the front and lighter at the back.

Imogen Cunningham shoot

This was a very quick shoot of natural form up close using Imogen Cunningham as my photographer. I copied her style in some of my photos of using black and white and ISO but in some I did use normal colour. You can see that in my 2nd final image I used a high ISO to get the grain effect Imogen has in her photos. I didn't edit them hardly as I chose to keep it as simple as possible. I thought the shoot went O.K, it wasn't one of my best but it was an experiment with ISO.

I chose this photo as a final image as I liked how bright the pink was on the flower and how it contrasted with the white background.

This photo I think is very like Imogen Cunninghams as she has the black and white effect but also the grain. I used a high ISO to achieve this and I used natural light coming through my window. I took this photo using rule of thirds and I like how I got the main three flowers in focus / standing out.

ISO Shoot

These are some of my final images I took for an ISO shoot. I will be experimenting a bit more but this is a couple of shoots I did the other day. I was really lucky because it had been very sunny so I thought I might aswell try out the ISO shoot especially when sunny because I could try a high ISO for a grain effect and I am pleased with them all.

This photo is one of my favourite ever photos I have taken as I love the effect the high number of ISO has given it. The shadowing of the trees onto the lake looks beautiful and I love the way the trees are positioned so you can see them all but they also look symmetrical.

This photo I like as I used a standard ISO about 400 so it was a sharp photo and all the colours are very intense. I also like the way the shadows are presented against the lake.

This wasn't a great final image but I chose it just because I like the colours. I used a 600 ISO and love how blue the sky looks against the green grass and the tree looks black from the sun. A very summery picture.

What is ISO?

ISO controls how much light is let into your camera lens. The lower the number the lower the sensitivity of the film and the finer the grain in the shots you’re taking which will be a brighter shot where as if you use a high number you will get a very grain like image. On most cameras the ISO is automatic and the standard number the ISO will be on is about 400. I am going to take a shoot of close ups but also landscapes and I am going to try out a high number to get a oldfashioned natural grain effect. I will also use a film log in my sketch book to record what I did.

These are some photos I gathered from the internet to show you ISO.



Louise Gains

Louise Gains is actually a painter but studies natural form which i'm studying so I am going to use her for my photographer and inspiration. Her work has come from inspirations such as places or things and she also likes complicated shapes or forms as she believes everything as a deeper meaning such as different textures or colours. She uses a lot of colour but in some of her photos she does use what we would see in photography as shutter speed. I will try this out and see if I can use a different approach of natural form. I will use a high shutter so about 8-10 seconds so it can just capture the brisk moves of the leaves or flowers but I will have to wait so it is windy.

Uta Barth

Uta Barth is a contemporary photographer, she experiments with depth of field, focus and framing to take photographs which suggestive something rather than it being descriptive. Utas images are of interiors, buildings, suburban roads or natural environments which are often out of focus, cropped or apparently empty of any foreground subject as she uses a high ISO to get the grain. I will link this with my Louise Grains shoot and my ISO shoot.

These are some of her pictures she has produced.

Heather Edwards (Depth of field shoot)

Taking this photo was very difficult as it was very windy and when I took it, it blurred. But I luckily took it before the wind hit it again and I am pleased with it as you can see the depth of field really well. Next time I will try to take a picture with a bigger cobweb.

I chose this one as a final image as the effects I used on it I thought would work well and they did. I used depth of field and put the flower in focus so the yellow really stands out from the green and the '60's' effect on Picnik gives it a very spring effect.

This photo I haven't edited at all but why I like it is because I got the two leaves extremely sharp and considering this picture is all green I got the two leaves standing out from the others. 

Heather Edwards shoot

This was a very quick shoot I took outside, it was very difficult as it was windy so trying to get the depth of field in focus was difficult.

I chose this photo as one of my final pieces as the red leaves are so vibrant compared to everything else, it shows depth of field. Also I like the raindrop at the bottom of the leaf and how sharp it is.

This was a very simple photo I took, I used a depth of field as the leave is in focus but in future I am going to make sure I get all the leaf in focus as a part of the leaf isn't in focus but I thought this picture resembles Autumn well.

Edward Weston (Lighting Workshop)

Edward Henry Weston was born March 24, 1886, in Highland Park, Illinois. Weston began his work for which he is most deservedly famous: natural forms, close-ups, nudes, and landscapes. Between 1927 and 1930, Weston made a series of monumental close-ups of seashells, peppers, and halved cabbages, bringing out the rich textures of their sculpture-like forms. I am going to try to do this with my lighting workshop as he focusses on textures and i'm bringing in different kinds of fruit and vegetables so the textures will be surreal. He also does most of his photos in black and white with a type of grain effect so I will take some photos in colour but also some in black and white.

Radeka Photography Research

Radeka works with all kinds of photography and as I was searching through I realised he did photography using colour which I thought was a perfect idea as the season at the moment is Autumn. His photos always seem very bold, vibrant and warm. His photos aren't random colours together they all mix well with eachother for example different types of greens. He resembles winter and autumn which I want to approach in this shoot. He uses a lot colours and I will try a high ISO for some effects I want to achieve.

Or browns.

These photographs are so warm and vibrant I am going to try to use this for a shoot I will do. I will focus on landscape and colouring. I have recently walked down a road with loads of leaves everywhere and tree's so I will take some pictures of those or even my mums work. I will take some pictures of leaves close up but also do a landscape approach.

With this photo you can tell it has been put on a tripod to get the reflection as sharp as possible and you can tell by the colours and lighting that it was taken at sunset as the colours are very warm. I think Radeka used a small apperture to get as much light in as possible. I will try to do this but with our english weather it will be very hard, so I will wait a bit until Autumn really starts.

Lighting Workshop

The basic idea of using lighting within photography is for the photographer to gain control over the direction and intensity of light in order for them to achieve the image they desire.
There is no right or wrong way to use lighting as it is the photographers preference. They may wish to create an image casting shadows over the subject or from the subject and more popular by the advertising world eliminate any shadow within the image before it gets to photoshop.


The details of how I did my Lighting Workshop and my contact sheet are on a A4 piece of paper in my sketch book.

I found this experiment really useful as I got to learn new techniques on my camera. I set the apperture to a low fstop for example 2 and I changed the fstop to maybe 5 or even 10 to get a darker effect too depending on where the lamp was put. I had some difficulty at first as I wanted to take pictures close up and it wouldn't let me, so I decided for now before I get someone to look at it that I will take it far away and crop the picture.

Depth Of Field

Depth of field is an important issue I think with all types of photography to get a more 'edgy' effect. It also needs to be used when you want something to be the focal point and for something to be the most important part of the photograph.

 The distance that a lens is focused at, is where objects will appear the sharpest. And objects in front or behind that focused distance will gradually become more fuzzy or blurry as their fore/aft distance increases. You might want to use a large depth of field when taking group photos. You want enough depth of field to have everyone’s face in focus, especially when you have more than one row of people. You might want to use a less depth of field when taking it of something for example having the background blurred or if you want to emphasize an object in a photo, by making everything else less focused.

I am going to use this as a guideline for my Heather Edwards shoot as I could focus on raindrops and use it for when I do my lighting workshop (Imogen Cunningham) as I could focus on a certain part of the object I use so they stand out from the other parts.

Colouring and Autumn

Colour is a big inspirtation for me with Natural Form so I have gathered some photos together which I think represent the best of colour and Autumn.

 This is a picture I took with experimenting with shutter speed one evening and really liked the colours used from my phone wallpaper. I had the shutter speed on about 6 seconds.

Heather Edwards

Heather Edwards is another photographer I looked at to link in with my Imogen Cunningham shoot as she is a freelance photogapher speciallising in garden and flower photography. She has published some work on food to which I am going to do for my lighting shoot. She mainly works in colour so I will do a quick shoot outside of possibly leaves when its raining so I can capture the raindrops at the ends of the leaves.

Imogen Cunningham Research (Natural Form)

My first photographer I am focussing on, is Imogen Cunningham. On Tuesday 13th September we are doing a lighting workshop in school and we are focussing on lighting. I chose Imogen Cunningham as my artist, as she focusses on lighting and close ups of objects such as flowers, which creates shadowing and a very good contrast. Most of her photos are taken in black and white and she uses digital photography so I will use digital photography. My inspirtation for one of my shoots I will be doing is the famous painter Caravaggio as he painted still life so I will take this inspiriation of flowers and food to use in my shoot. Another inspiration is Mary Slingo who takes pictures of flowers and landscapes.

This is one of Imogens photographs and I like this photo because of the contrast. A black background has been used which works well against the white flower. You can see that this photograph involves lighting as certain parts of the flower seem to be more lighter than other parts which causes good shadowing. I will use this on my lighting shoot as I will take pictures of flowers of other objects such as fruit and vegetables but I don't want them to be perfect, I want them to be a bit different so then I can capture the great shadows that object will make. Imogen has photographed the flower in the middle of the photo so it is dead centre but I might centre my objects on the left or right so i can get a full view of it's shadow.