This feedback on my monochrome assignment was really helpful. particularly the reworked examples that my tutor provided....also found the suggestions for my fourth assignment both helpful and thought provoking...will include these in a later post. My responses here are in red italics..
Peter's comments as follows:
Overall
Comments
The format of the submission
works very well. The narrative that
accompanies the images of the assignment is full and ranges into the realms of
inspiration and motivation. I would
encourage you to continue this and even expand on this as having the background
research alongside the assignment images etc. makes the whole thing very
clear. I am pleased to see that you are
expanding on this on your blog.
Feedback on
assignment
I think that
your images are all well thought out particularly in terms of the monochrome
conversion; the versions I have offered are more suggestions as to alternatives
than as examples of ‘better’ versions. I
had a preference for printing dark and contrasty black and whites when I was
using film but this is a personal thing.
What I was doing with your images was looking for a way of getting
maximum ‘punch’ without losing detail or the feeling I think you were
after.
Most of what I
want to say about the individual images is in the form of annotations to your
notes document.
The main
question that you should answer, even if it is only to yourself, is are these
images better in monochrome or colour?
The assignment forces you to think about monochrome conversion in the
era of digital imaging, and there are many questions that this raises. The main one being, what is the status and
purpose of monochrome in photography today?
Everyone is likely to have a different answer to that question but I
fear that too few people working in monochrome have really asked it! You seem to have got the idea that to be
successful with a monochrome final image, you should be thinking in monochrome
from the start and I think that the most successful of your images are the ones
that simply talk of form, shape, contrast and so on and indeed there are only
two that I think allow for discussion on this point and they are the first two (589 and 590) and
neither of these make a bad
monochrome image, just perhaps not needing
the mono conversion.( Discuss!!)
While I agree that images P589 and P590 are the least successful of all the images in terms of the final monochrome version, I think with further reflection that P590 would have worked better in colour. That said, the intention in P589 was to capture a sense of 'period' - the golden summer remembered so to speak - and monochrome was a more obvious choice. However, maybe a slightly different treatment would have produced a better effect.. possibly slightly lighter. I have however, opted to try the image in a 'colour' version attempting again to capture the sense of period :
While I agree that images P589 and P590 are the least successful of all the images in terms of the final monochrome version, I think with further reflection that P590 would have worked better in colour. That said, the intention in P589 was to capture a sense of 'period' - the golden summer remembered so to speak - and monochrome was a more obvious choice. However, maybe a slightly different treatment would have produced a better effect.. possibly slightly lighter. I have however, opted to try the image in a 'colour' version attempting again to capture the sense of period :
.jpg) |
| P589 - Lightroom 'Aged photo preset' |
The seats
image (595) suggested an American diner to me and my feeling is that a slightly
lighter version referenced American 50s monochrome marginally better than your
version but then you weren’t making an image of a diner!
 |
| P595 ..my version |
 |
| P595 ..Peter's version |
Yes, the lighter version does conjure up the 1950s feel better..
I have suggested a couple of different and tighter crops. Again not intended as anything more than a different person’s viewpoint, perhaps saying something slightly different from your intention. What do you think?
I have suggested a couple of different and tighter crops. Again not intended as anything more than a different person’s viewpoint, perhaps saying something slightly different from your intention. What do you think?
 |
| P591 |
 |
| Peter's cropped version |
 |
| P590 |
.jpg) |
| Peter's cropped version |
My version of
593 has two different curves adjustments added, they are to be looked at one at
a time as it were not together. Having
said all this, it occurs to me that you are using Lightroom and I don’t know if
you have any version of Photoshop that will let you look at the layers! Oh well if not I have included separate
versions and you can see the results if
not the way I got there! (593_peter_1 and_2)
 |
| P593....my version |
 |
| Peter's version 1 |
 |
| Peter's version 2 |
Looking at the three images above, on reflection I think that I prefer Peter's second version as it brings out the detail a little better than mine and capturing the detail details was the real purpose of this composition and processing.
A successful assignment I think, that you gave a good amount of thought to and that thought was in the right direction. I like to see that a student is thinking about what it is that they are trying to say in their image before they start to work out how they are going to take the shot. Content and intention should dictate the technique and even when an assignment is prompted by a technical method or process it is good to see that you are starting from the point of view that the technique is only a tool to aid expression.
A successful assignment I think, that you gave a good amount of thought to and that thought was in the right direction. I like to see that a student is thinking about what it is that they are trying to say in their image before they start to work out how they are going to take the shot. Content and intention should dictate the technique and even when an assignment is prompted by a technical method or process it is good to see that you are starting from the point of view that the technique is only a tool to aid expression.
Where I have asked questions in this report or in my notes and
annotations to your notes document, I do not want a direct answer but you
should discuss them in your log.
Your blog is
shaping up well. You might like to think
about ways in which you can make navigation even easier. The tags you apply to posts make it possible
to have some sort of index somewhere on the right hand side so that readers can
look at, say, your reflections on exhibitions or books read. I am by no means a Blogger expert but if you
search I am sure you will find out how to do this. Funny, I was also thinking that the navigation left something to be desire and differed from by first learning blog. Have had a go at making it a little easier to navigate..
Jeff Wall:
Three books that might be of
interest during this section:
Linfield, Susie (2010). The Cruel Radience: Photography and
Political Violence, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Richin, Fred (2009) After Photography, New York: W.W. Norton
& Co
Lipkin, Jonathan (2005) Photography Reborn: Image Making in the
Digital Era, New York: Abrams
Ingledew, J., (2013) Photography, Second ed., London:
Laurence King Publishing Ltd.
This video on
creating a composite might interest you for the next assignment
No comments:
Post a Comment