20200210-Research-John Hillard-Causes of Death

This was given in my Assignment one feedback to look at. Please the image below.

Initially looking these four images quickly nothing stands out. However, once you slow down and start to analyse the images, things start to stand out. Yes, this was mentioned within the student feedback but you never see the images first time round. The titles do speak for themselves when you look closely, but without zooming in they are just four pictures of roughly the same thing.

It does ask the question of what is truthful. I find now in photography and in the news how an image can manipulate the truth. This has been going on for decades. Do we even know what’s real and what’s not? Fake news and the likes. Will anything we read to be true is what we are seeing true. How much of the daily life be manipulated to portray what we want to be true. When I think back in time what spring to mind for me is the luna landings the race for space. I’m extremely open to what people think happened then and the classic conspiracist ideas. The question I would raise now, “why hasn’t there been more than 12 walked on the moon?”

By changing the perspective you change the observer’s point of view (POV), you also changed the narrative to the image. I’ve seen this many times when the photographer changes the POV so that the viewer sees something else. How this changes the thought process of the viewer is by changing the experience the photographer is portraying in the image capture.

When I think back to what I provided in assignment 1. What is hiding in the shadows? By changing how the picture is edited in post and revealing the hidden parts of the image, yes I’m showing what hiding but I’m also revelling the hidden data in the file. This is what can be manipulated and pushed in the post edit.  Ansel Adams said.

Ansel Adam “You don’t take a photograph, you make it”.

Post edit in some ways can destroy an image in the non-puress eyes. Straight out of camera (SOOC) pictures are manipulated whether you like it or not. Consider what you have used the equipment used the camera settings you are manipulating the image from the start. The exposure triangle is this in its raw form. Freezing the action, DoF, ISO the way you are composing your image and set up. Controlling the light through exposure compensation to actually moving around with your feet and the time of day.

The two images above were taken in London on a wet winters night. The top one you can see I like to capture silhouettes and drama. With the bottom one, I’ve opened up the shadows increased the exposure where you can make out who they are. What one do you prefer whats the story being captured? Had this been exposed for the two people would this give the viewer something to be engaged with the photographer. Do the silhouettes against the bright neon lights hold the viewer in with what’s happening in this composition what is it the photographer what you to see?