Shoot Seven
This shoot was taken using a Nikon D3100 camera at the Redcar steel works just after the industry had been closed down. I created this shoot because I thought that it would be a good turning point for my project as well as improving my skills from my last industrial shoot which was taken at night and so i have transferred these skills to take a more successful shoot and a wider variety of images which could be potentially used as final outcomes for the project. When taking these images, I tried a range of techniques that allowed me to have a varied set of outcomes, I tried taking images using depth of field so that I could capture dead plants with the industry in the blurred background. I also used techniques related to Macdonald, taking images similar to his own and enhancing them with a black and white filter to make look like his style of image.
This is one of the successful images that I have taken within this shoot. The image is successful because of the idea behind it, which is that the leaves in the foreground are portrayed as nature dying and the blurred background shows the industry, which is the reason behind nature being destroyed. Furthermore, the colours in the image have been improved by using Photoshop, this has also improved the sharpness of the focused part in the image, this allows the viewer to see more of the detail making the image more interesting. If I were to improve this image, I would make some of the aspects in the foreground lighter so that the image would not appear underexposed.
I find this image very interesting because of the enhanced sharpness and colours in which i have applied to the original version to get this as the final outcome. By enhancing the exposure and contrast to make the colours of the buildings more visible, it allows the viewer to see the old age of the structures as a lot of the orange colours are due to the rusting of the different materials in which the building has been made out of. The lighting used in the image is natural lighting and so this factor was out of my control but the outdoor lighting worked well for this image as all elements of the scene can be viewed. However, the negative aspect to having natural lighting is the shadows in the image that cannot be removed, if I were to improve the image, I would try to reposition the angle in which i took the image and this may erase some of the shadows in the lower half.
When editing the original version of this image, I created a colour version and a black and white version, both of which are successful and so I have included both to analyse. Whilst researching about the industry, I came across the photographer, Ian Macdonald, who inspired me to take this image of the landmark, which represents the Redcar steelworks. Furthermore, the first image which is in black and white is successful as it is a lot like one of the famous images of Macdonald and by making the colours black and white it makes the viewer focus on the objects in the image rather than the colours, by focusing on the building, we can appreciate the structure, but also how it has effects on the environment. I have also tried to include some of the natural elements in the scene such as the grass at the side of the road as well as the bushes which appear to be lifeless, this gives a message to the viewer that the industry is destroying the nature around it. Also, when looking at the colour version of the image, it is also very interesting at the colours of the rusted building can be seen as well as the contrast between the green grass and the dying plants at the side of the road. When considering the atmosphere in which the image creates, I believe that it is quite negative and can make the viewer feel empty and sad because all that can been seen in both version of the image is lifeless objects as everything in the image has died out, physically and metaphorically. This is due to the fact that all of the nature in the image seems lifeless and the steelworks itself has recently been closed down, so the image consists of an empty building and a died out industry that has left nature ruined.
This is another interesting image because of the way I have cropped out the background and the floor in front of the structure to be left with the building that consists of pipes and ladders which make the image really interesting to look at because of the mysterious element. The different shapes in the image makes it quite appealing to the viewer and as the image has been cropped to leave just a part of the structure, it also makes the viewer question what the image is actually showing creating more mystery. Also, in the foreground of the image, there is a large pile of rubbish which gives the idea to the viewer that wherever the image has been taken, it creates pollution and is not good for the environment, showing the idea that man made objects are bad for the natural aspects that surround. When shooting the image, I had the setting of a large aperture so that all of the image would be in focus as can be seen, and to allow the lighting to be captured as the day on which I took the image, the outdoor lighting was very limited.
This is another successful image as the imagery and the colour go well together to link the image up well to the artist research of Ian Macdonald, which shows the consideration for research of previous projects similar to mine. Furthermore, the details of the structure means that there was limited depth of field\high aperture and this allows lots of textures to be captured. Also, a mysterious atmosphere has been created by the way in which the colours have been manipulated to black and white as some of the details have been taken away with the colour as well as the fact that the sky is white and so the viewer may not interpret the top part of the image to be the sky. This deceives the viewer as there is no location to go with the image and it makes it more difficult for the viewer to decide what the image is actually of.
This is another successful image because because of the colours and textures that can be seen. Firstly, the image shows the rust on the pipes and this then creates attractive colours in the image. Furthermore, the image can be quite decieving from first glance as there is no perspective on how big any of the objects are in the image so it is for the viewer to decide, until they look closer to get a better view of things in the image.
I think this image is particularly interesting because of the influence that the background has had on the foreground. This can be implied when viewing the foreground as the plant that is in focus dying due to the effects that the background has had on it, because of the industrial impact, the plants and nature have been consequently destroyed. I also like this image because of the similar colours that are displayed in all aspects, this makes the entire image fit together. However, when taking the photograph, the focusing was quite difficult due to the winds making the plant move and so the image could be improved if it was taken in better weather conditions, to improve the focus quality of the image, I enhanced the sharpness on Photoshop and this has improved the quality but to make this image more successful, I would reshoot it.