Genre Photography: The Three Chosen Pictures

This image was rated number one in our genre category of movement, the reason for this is partly the time and effort it took waiting for one of the birds to do something amazing and picture worthy. As you can see the motion has been captured perfectly with added depth of field as the bird is in focus whilst the wings are not adding the effect motion blur to the image without the need for editing in any sort of way.
we believed this fitted well within the motion genre category and was one of the best images in terms of motion as it captured the powder perfectly drifting through the air, this was taken in the lighting studio which allowed complete darkness in terms of light. This worked we believed worked well with the white powder as the contrasting colours allowed easy capture of the powder traveling throught the air.

This image was also taken in the lighting studio where we used the technique of cloning to show the motion of one person in the format of a still image. The image depicts someone in a straight jacket screaming and moving from side to side, we tryed to capture the motion of this person to show the struggle and frustration of the participant which is also depicted on his face. this demonstates motion perfectly as you can see the transitions from image to image. we perticularly liked this photo as it was all done through photographic technique with no need for editing.

Surrealism Photography: The Three Chosen Pictures

'Popcorn Brain'

This was our favourite Surreal image and ultimately the one that we rated the best among the three here. We decided to rank this one the higher amongst the others due to such aspects like the creativity of image, as we thought the popcorn being implanted in the head of one of us would work perfectly for an artificial brain as the form of it is very resemblant to one. And the the idea of us eating from it would suggest that we're somehow damaging our brains, which is reflected through the very dopey expression on my (Enyinna's) face. But beyond the creative feats we believe the photo possesses, technically we also believe the image to be impressive as through the work we put in with Photoshop we accomplished the popcorn to look like it was realistically coming out of my head.

'Living in a Locker'

This was one of our very first ideas to try and execute with Surreal Photography. We actually thought up this idea when Curtis was reminscing about the ending of Men in Black 2, where Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith open a door and they both appear to actually be in a small locker in a much bigger world than our own domesticated by giant aliens. From this we had an idea of finding a locker (Brunel University's gym lockers to be precise) and taking a photo of me and Curtis looking into the locker in sheer surprise, as we were also going to be present inside the locker as well as miniature duplicates. We found this image worthy as top 3 material due to the comic theme within it, the creativity behind it and just generally because we were in love with the image.

'Big Heads, Little Bodies'

For this image we went upstairs within the library to get this shot done. We loved this image as well for the concept behind it as we thought of the idea when one is stressing over their work and reading, that it feels that their heads are about to blow from all the information they are trying to pack inside it. We believed the image ended up looking humorous, cool and realistic all to a high degree and therefore we believed it was definitely worth putting within the top 3.

Landscape Photography: The Three Chosen Pictures (with comparisons)

'The Living Waters and Light' by Thomas Kinkade

we particularly liked this photo as it creates the same joyful mood presented in the painting, it depicts the sun and the begining of spring which is the exact time in the year we shot the image as shown by the amount of sun aiding us to capture the reflections of surrounding trees in the picture

'Willow Trees Nuns Island' by Samir Sammoun

This image depicts a relaxing mood which is potrayed by the willow trees. we chose this picture as it represents simularities between the raw image we took and the painted picture, we where able to capture the reflection of the trees due to the time of day and the position of lighting which is also present in the painting, although they are of two different areas they both allow central focus of the main dominant image of the willow tree which enevitably makes the picture.

'River Landscape'

This is the final picture chosen for the category of landscape. Again the lighting is aided by the time of day helping depict the peaceful mood represented in both images, this is then reenforced by the people/person in the photo who are both seen enjoying the scenery. we chose this photo mainly for the simulaities in the setting such as the trees and lake which help set the mood in this photo.

Genre: Motion

Blowing baby powder and capturing the motion of it spreading through the air. The contrast between the white of the powder and the black of the background made this work even better within the lighting studio.

ISO = 1/6

Shutter Speed = 10 seconds

Aperture/ F Number = 8.92 / 22

Light Flash = 1

Through Photoshop I added some motion blur towards the left-hand side Curtis and right-hand side Curtis to see if it could look like he is moving from side to side any more realistically, however both images really seemed to work fine with the idea.

ISO = 500

Shutter Speed = 10 seconds

Aperture/ F Number = 8.92 / 22

Light Flash = 3

And this is the outcome of that.

ISO = 500

Shutter Speed = 10 seconds

Aperture/ F Number = 8.92 / 22

Light Flash = 3

This was an experimental idea that we thought of to do with motion. We wanted to make it appear as if Curtis had gone mental and was in a straight jacket, but was moving really fast and jerking struggling to break out from it. We did this in our corridor within Mill Hall's accomodation just to see how it might come out (and not too good if we say so ourselves) however we loved the concept and were incredibly eager to work with it more and see what we could really pull off, given enough preparation for it.

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/5

Aperture = 22

ISO = 100

Shutter Speed = 1/6

Aperture = 22

The swans seemed to either be fighting or playing. Abul believed they were fighting, we have absolutely no idea why (presumably one of the swans stole the other one's bread from the kid feeding them maybe?), but we did know we wanted to take a photo of all the action!

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

In some of these photos above we tried to capture a couple of the birds as they were flapping and skidding through the light whilst in small flight. The birds were fast so we tried creating a challenge for ourselves to capture their speed in the hopes of getting some decent shots out of it. We were happy with the way a couple of them turned out in the end so mission accomplished I'd say.

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

The duck was just about to take off from the water into flight.

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

Here the duck is just about to dive into the water, which we attempted to capture as it did so.

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

How did we decide on which genre to go with?

Although we had a wide array of images for the photographic genre of Close-Ups, we had also decided to take many images considering the capturing of Motion with the camera and we believe these actually came out to be more impressive than the close-ups due not only the quality of some of our photographs, but the noticeable difficulty that came with taking the shots too.

Genre: Close-Ups

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

Curtis playing dead! Just trying to see any cool and wacky ideas that we could come up and work with i guess. Inspired by 'Think!' photography just a little bit.

ISO = 1600

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

ISO = 800

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

ISO = 500

Shutter Speed = 1/10

Aperture = 22

ISO = 500

Shutter Speed = 1/15

Aperture = 22

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/15

Aperture = 22

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/250

Aperture = 5.6

We found this fox dead by the side of the road. It wasn't much of a pretty sight.

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

Look! They almost made a heart :).

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 640

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

ISO = 400

Shutter Speed = 1/40

Aperture = 25

A couple of swans must've swam up to us strutting thier stuff so we believed they clearly wanted us to take some good photography of them. What posers!

Completed Surrealist Ideas

'Stuck in a Box'

'Goblin'

'Living in a Locker'

'Popcorn Brain'

'Big Heads, Little Bodies'