independent shoot three

Independent shoot three

This shoot is inspired by the work of Harold Feinstein and his flowers portfolio.

Artist research

Harold Feinstein was born in Coney Island in 1931. When he passed away in 2015 the New York Times declared him: “One of the most accomplished recorders of the American experience.”

He began his photography career in 1946 at age 15. Within four short years, at the age of 19 he had his work purchased by Edward Steichen for the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

He joined the Photo League at 17 and became a prominent figure of the early New York City street photography scene and one of the original inhabitants of the legendary “jazz loft”.

image bank

Contact sheet(s)

Best images/ edited images

to edit these images, i first altered the curves, brightness, contrast and the levels of the images, then i created a new black layer, in either 10x10cm for the square images or 10x16 for the rectangular images. i then used the quick selection tool to cut out the flower heads,and then dragged them to the new layers, then i cleaned up the edges of the flowers and further edited the curves, brightness, contrast and the levels of the images, so that they stood out and look vibrant on the background.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).

The artist research was very useful during these shoots as I had some inspiration on how to tackle the method of creating and capturing flowers. My research of Harold Feinstein helped me to focus on the details of the flowers. I found this helpful because I have a lot of opportunities to photograph different flowers

In order to develop my work further, i made my images backgrounds black to reflect Harold Feinstein's images.

(It is important that you show a progression of your work… which may mean revisiting a subject area and adding additional images showing a development of your ideas or refinement of the final images through).

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

     My idea for recording colour and nature was to photograph the different flowers, like Harold Feinstein, and to focus on creating my own patterns within my images. I was inspired by the work of Harold Feinstein by his method of taking photos, and by what he captured within some of  his photos by artificially creating the backgrounds of the images. 

      With reference to my best images, I feel that although I could not create photographs exactly like Harold Feinsteins photos, I did create a set that was in the style of his work but with different flowers that i photographed myself. I am happy with the overall outcome of my images and feel that they all show the many ways that flowers can be captured within a photograph both with and without editing.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

I used an iPhone 8 for all the shots taken  I made sure that when taking my images, that the zoom was appropriate and that the focus was correct. By using photoshop and the file information i had the following camera settings: shutter speed 1/115 sec, f/2.2, ISO 25.

  
To edit this image, i first used the quick select tool to outline the marigold, as shown in the image below the original, once i had done this, i created a new photoshop document, which was a 210cm x 210cm black square, this was to be the foundations of my edit. i then transferred the cut out marigold over to the new document, after refining the edges and ensuring no parts of the flower were unintentionally cut off. Once i had done this, i created one final edit by refining the brightness and contrast of the flower layer. Once i had done this i decided to experiment with this image as it is my personal favourite out of all my edits as the flower had multiple layers to it and the image that i took had good lighting. 

So i experimented with duplicating the flower and resizing it. i duplicated 4 layers of the original edit, each resized to 50% of the original, i decided to position each of these in the corners of the squares, i then decided to fill the blank spaces between them with duplicates of those flowers, each 25% of the size of the previous.

Then to add more to my image, i selected the black layer, and then outlined a circle of a fixed ratio of 1:1 and coloured it white, i then added another circle inside it which was slightly smaller and still at ratio 1:1 and coloured it black. this added the white circle within the image which connected all the flowers together. i then did i final alter to the brightness and contrast of all the flower layers, which i felt finalised my experimental edit.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

(At the end of the entry you will discuss whether you have produced a personal and meaningful response, this means  (are my images creative/relevant to the subject area studied/connected and influenced by any research undertaken). 

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of nature and the artist Harold Feinstein. The final images were refined by developing the contrast and changing the brightness and adding a black background