Picture
The  photograph I have chosen to write about was taken by Pep Ventosa and is called Santa Cruz Sea Swings‘. It comes from the theme of surrealism and I think the work recreates the movement of the swings. In the picture I can see swings, usually found in a  fair, very colourful with lots of lights. I think the photographer was trying to portray the craziness of fairs and rides by making the image wild and colourful. In the foreground the swing frame where main focus point is found as it’s the boldest and darkest area, the middle-ground is where all the people are sat, they aren't as noticeable as the middle of the swing frame as they have no colour and possibly a lower opacity, the background is just pale blue, helping us focus on the swings as the image is not overwhelming with things to look at. This piece is easy to recreate yourself, using Photoshop. It is made up of lots of layers of the same image. It is an easy to do technique; however the same image can never be re-created which makes everyone unique. Ventosa may have used the rule of thirds as there are no big empty spaces and if the lines were there, there would be something in every section. The attitude of the image is wacky and strange. This photograph makes me feel dizzy and almost hypnotized  it reminds me of  dreams and imaginations because of the colour and the fact the ride is quite childish. I think the  photographer wanted us to feel astonished and amazed by the image as it’s very impressive. The piece of work makes me think of summer, the sky in the background is a nice blue colour and the lighting is good.  I chose to write about this piece of work because I liked it so much, it baffles your eyes and makes you interested and want to look closer.  How Ventosa didn’t make the layers go left and right only up and down works well in this piece is as it creates height. I have been inspired by this piece of work to create my own images like this in the style of Pep Ventosa. (They are below)

 
This technique is simple but effective. i used Photoshop , and all i did was create around 14 layers of the same image, setting each with a low opacity, placing them in different places making sure all layers are visible and none of them line up. On some layers you can add a filter of your choice, or not!
 
Earlier this October I took  a trip to Manchester to take pictures of various things including, building, signs and general things in the city. Some of these pictures will be the basis of my city project. Although i captured some good shots in Manchester i will also be visiting many other cities. When i was in Manchester the weather was not at its best, however i think my pictures still have good contrast and colour.
 
Picture
The photograph I have chosen to write about was taken in 2008 by Batistini Gaston with a Canon EOS 5D. In this image has captured the very tall Eiffel tower very detailed in the foreground, with a very unusual pink and orange coloured sky in the background. However it was taken with a fish eye lens. A fish eye lens is a wide-angle lens that gives an image a round feel and can provide a very surreal picture. Gaston is a married man living in Belgium, who said in an interview ‘I like colours, then I would say Colourful, straight line, sharpen. And LARGE’ which describes this image and his entire image collection exactly. Paris is known for being a romantic city, and this piece of work shows France’s landscape beauty. I think the photographer was trying to capture the stunning French architecture whilst making it romantic with warm autumn colours. The Eiffel tower is the main focal point but there are many small details like the pigeons and very faintly in the background, a tower, which ensure no empty spaces. I chose to write about this piece of work because it’s unusual, unique and inspiring. It inspires me to take photographs as well as this and in the same style using a fish eye lens. This photo is even unique to Gaston himself, as I found this photograph on his Flickr along with many other brilliant images, but not one like this one; mostly with bright eye catching colours, not using a fish eye lens.


 
Below is an image taken by me in the style of Gavin Hammond. I simply found a puddle, choose which angle had the best reflection and captured the image. I think it has great colour and considering its a reflection, great detail. I experimented on this photo using Photoshop and found although Gavin Hammond makes his images black and white this particular image looks much better in colour. I experimented with the contrast, brightness and saturation. I then changed the image to black and white to compare. On the black and white image i used the burn tool which darkens areas depending on the exposures level set and the dodge tool which lightens areas.

More puddle pictures;