You WANT me to break the rules?

We have been continuously taught how to compose a proper photograph. We are given guidelines and rules to live by when taking our photos. Now you want me to forget those? Not quite.

Breaking the rules of photography sounds incredibly easy but in fact it is extremely difficult. You still have to think about the rules and how you can 'adjust' or 'tweak' them to make them break the rules. This became a challenge for me and took multiple tries to get an image that is still beautiful yet breaks the rule of composition.

Here are a couple that I am proud to present:

 Taken with a nikon D3000, 1/125 Shutter Speed and f/5.6 Aperature.

 Taken with a nikon D3000, 1/8 Shutter Speed and f/4.5 Aperture.

  Taken with a nikon D3000, 1/10 Shutter Speed and f/5.6 Aperture.

Silk Screening Laptop Case

For my third medium I chose to use the silk screening method.

Steps for prepping a screen:

I started by selecting the image I wanted to use. My picture was a simple design of a chair I photographed in the corner of cement walls. I then transfered it to an acetate, allowing the sections that would be white to be clear and the blacks remain black.

The next step was to prep the screen. I took a large wooden screen and stretched and stapeled thin fabric onto it. This can be tricky because it would be very tight. You then take the screen and apply emulsion to it. With this step it is crucial that you apply the thinest layer you can.

Once the screen is evenly covered you place the screen in a dark cupboard or room for two days. In my case I placed it inside a cupboard. This allows for plenty drying time.

After two days you take the screen and acetate and place both on the light desk. This will expose the screen burning the image into the screen. I recommend 12 minutes for the exposure.

Next comes the tedious step. Washing. I spent a total of 40 minutes washing my screen, to ensure that it had been thoroughly washed, as you cannot wash once the screen has been used. After the screen has been washed it is ready to use!

Using the screen:

My first step was to tape the paper down onto the desk so that it wouldn't move while screening.

My screen has two screenings that can be done on top of one another to create a picture with more depth, so I did the first screening, followed by the second screening.





             This was the final result:

To make the screen into a product I decided to put it onto a laptop case. I repeated all of the steps above with an adjustment in the colour choice. I feel that the result really enhances the look of the laptop case giving it a lot more interest.

Some of the challenges I found whilst completing this process were difficulties in washing the screen after the exposure to light, lining up the two screenings (can be really challenging to get them to line up perfectly) and making sure the laptop case didn't move or smudge whilst screening.

Overall I enjoyed this alternative process and will continue to do many more silk screenings in the future.

Double Exposure? No... TRIPLE EXPOSURE

When flipping through my negatives from my trip to Toronto, mentioned in the last post, I came across this photo of a pair of boots:

It led to me thinking about how I had been taught a double exposure. Then that thought spinning in my head ended it up with me doing a triple exposure, thinking it would be absolutely awesome if I put a similar image on each boot. So I remembered I had taken a couple pictures of a couple skating.

I did test strips to find a good exposure time for the two images of the skaters, and then found a good time for the boots. 

I then burned and dodged the spots where the photos would go, switching between three enlargers. (Not an easy task!) This was frustrating at times as one wrong move, like laying the paper down slightly out of line would wreck the entire composition.

After numerous times of exposing and developing, finding the right times and placements, I came up with a composition I am truly proud of:

The Adventures of Creating a Cyanotype

When I was introduced to the idea of a blue photograph which is developed by the sun, my mind was immediately triggered. I thought this is amazing. So I started on a mission to find a good picture to use for such a unique process. I couldn't make up my mind. I ended up choosing two photos I took on a trip to Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Nov 25th. The first one was of a antique Harley Davidson headlight and the other of my classmates in Graffiti Alley.

Inverted Image Used on Cyanotype

Once I had the photos selected, I was able to start the process of developing a cyanotype. I started by mixing equal parts Ammonium Iron Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide. When the solution was mixed, I used a paint brush to spread the liquid over the sheets of watercolour paper. (This ends up looking bright green.)

While waiting for the solution to dry, I scanned my original photographs, which I developed in the dark room, and on the computer inverted the colours to create a negative from the positives.

After waiting 20-40 minutes to allow the cyanotype fluid to dry, I was
able to place my acetates on top.  These to sheets get sandwiched by two plexiglass.

Inverted Image Used on Cyanotype

Now it was ready to expose! Unfortunately I did not have very good weather the first time I tried this, so the image did not appear, even though I left it to be exposed for a very long time. So I tried again the next day. Same weather, same results. And same the following day. By the fourth time trying I found this to be very irritating and wondering why I am putting myself through this. But I continued. The weather was great that day! Nice and sunny. The cyanotypes came out quite beautiful but I was still not content with the end result as they started to fade quickly.

With decent results I told myself, try it one more time. The next day was the same beautiful weather so I did the process all over again. The results were amazing this day! This is what the final result was for each of them:

Canon 35mm Film Camera

Canon 35mm Film Camera 

I think that there was one cliche line that was really proven to me the week that I spent working on this medium. "With persistence comes great results". There were points where I was looking down the list thinking of the other mediums I could select, to replace this medium. But I am glad I continued through with it, and now it is one of my favourite processes!

Proper Studio Lighting

When I went about completing my final task of proper studio lighting, it took me a second. I thought what really is proper studio lighting? I didn't know that there was really a "proper" way to go about studio lighting.


I further learned that the main component to proper studio lighting is the positioning of light. I learned you can place it behind for an almost halo light appearance, place it to the side for a half lit face, or put it below for a scary appearance. You can also use multiple lights for different effects.

For my project I decided to use the techniques of backlighting, scary lighting, and bottom spot lighting. I also wanted to capture different expressions, such as relaxed, content and unhappy. This is how it turned out:

Nikon D3000, 1/15th, f/5.6

Nikon D3000, 1/15th, f/4.5

Nikon D3000, 1/13th, f/6.3

Experimenting with Light.

When experimenting with light there are endless ways of going about it. Some mix fluorescent and tungsten, moonlight and flash, and many more! In my case I chose to mix tungsten outdoor lights in the background, as well as natural moonlight, since this was shot at night. To make the ghostly figures appear I used my third type of light, being a flash. Here is what it turned out like:

To accomplish this affect I set my aperture to f/6.3 with a shutter speed of 30 seconds. The long exposure allowed me to pop a flash about every three seconds, while my subject moved across the picture.

Overall I was able to accomplish everything I was looking to, with a lit background and ghostly figures. This has definitely been my favourite so far!

Renaissance Imitation

The renaissance was an period in which italian painters used various types of techniques. The renaissance covered a vast period from the 14th to the 17th century.

First off, they liked to use perspective in their pieces. In particular one point perspective. One point perspective was first discovered by Filippo Brunelleschi, and italian architect whom built the duomo. 

Another technique which was popular at the time was Sfumato. Sfumato was originally discovered by Leonardo Da Vinci. Sfumato is a technique that incorporates the blurring and softening of harsh lines and colours. Often used by painters for softening faces. One artist who used this technique was Johannes Vermeer in his painting for The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring features a young woman in a traditional european outfit including a blue Turkish turban. Some of the things that make this painting successful, are its uses of principles and design. His use of a black background makes all of the colours pop in the painting. On the topic of colours, Vermeer used the fabulous technique of adding value to the piece, which in turn makes her look as though she is sitting right infront of you. Finally his use of rule of thirds adds intrest and pulls the viewer in to look more at the details. 

For my renaissance substitution piece I selected The Girl with the Pearl Earring because of its intriguing features outlined above. About the process, I looked at the piece for a while trying to decide who would best suit the position for replacement and then I realized the model for this piece is around me everyday. My sister seemed to look identical to her. Once I shot an image of her against a blank wall, I dropped it into photoshop and played around with the features. This was the final result :

Painting with Light

When I heard the term, Painting with Light, I was immediately intrigued in this assignment. I thought to myself I can use my 'creative liscence' to experiment with this unit. I decided the best way to go about composing this assignment would be to use a small but powerful keychain light. I set the shutter speed to be open for 30 seconds, to allow me to compose the entire picture. On deciding what I was going to compose, most of the concepts were sporadic spurs of the moment ideas in which depicted what I was thinking of. For example the picture in which looks like lightning was inspired by the fact that I love storms, and others such as the cartoon sitting on the stairs had no specific meaning to them other than the fact that I found them interesting. Here are some of the things I produced:

This effect can be accomplished by using an aperture f/6.3 and a shutter speed of 25seconds, allowing me enough time to paint in the light. The only difference in settings between pictures is the depth of view each picture has.

Overall this assignment has given me a NEW way to look at the options I have when taking a picture. It has shown me that taking a picture can be enhanced with the experimentation of light.

Name Assignment

For our second project, we had to experiment with a digital SLR camera. 

When I heard this I thought to myself, this is going to be extremely easy, as I have used a DSLR Nikon D60 and D3000 for the past few years. ...... Well I was wrong.

This project turned out to be very challenging. It made you look at everyday life in a different way. Looking for letters made out of tree branches, turning a brown bag with handles into the letter 'm'. 

It sent myself, and probably all of us in the class, a message telling us that the best photos and images are not planned or staged or fabricated. All of my 'letters' I stumbled across when going about everyday life, such as the weekend at my cottage, the walk downtown oakville and just wandering around my house. A great example of this is the second 'n' which I came across on the beach at my cottage, after the deer had been there in the morning.

When trying to tackle this assignment I thought it could never be complete. Each of my letters were different sizes, some were overexposed, some were underexposed, others just could not be used. But with the help of a little photoshop all of these problems were gone, and I was left with a project I was proud of: 

The inspiring work of Jenny Okun

While researching, 10 of my most favourite photographers, I came across one named Jenny Okun. At first I really didnt know who she was, to me she was just a name on a web page with no photograph named as hers. So I decided to look further into her, when I came along this piece.

I found this piece particularly fascinating. There were a couple things that I immediately loved about it. The composition is beautiful. It was great contrast between the light and the dark tonal values. The double exposure creates a great feeling of depth to the piece. The thing I loved the most was the abstract quality to the photograph. The use of lines creates a feeling of ongoing motion and portrays how tall these buildings really are.

Overall this was my favourite piece, throughout this project, based on my notes above. :)