Video on how to do light graffiti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHvKGaaKrhg

Sola

Sola is a UK photographer and experements with the flow, form and movement of the light. He experememnted in many different environments, sometimes reflecting this in the photo, for example the middle photo here has an urban backdrop to it. I think this give the viewer a bit more information in the photo rather than focusing purely on the movement of light.

Light graffiti

Eric Staller's examples of light graffiti were created using long exposure and a veriety of light sources. his ability to give the light a life of it's own is unbelievable.

makeshift photoshoot

Last night I was a model for Jenny in a 'makeshift photoshoot'. We were focusing mainly on the lighting, trying to get the light in the right place to give the right atmosphere. As we only had desk lights, it was very limited as to what we could do. I was listening and learning from Jenny. We also decided that none of the pictures were quite right because the lights we were using had yellow bulbs in which were hindering our attempts at scary atmosphere (scary because I had zombie contacts and lots of heavy makeup). I still need to get the photos off Jenny. But all this was just practicing and making us really apriciate the photography studio! I would like to do more home studio photography in the future, although I think we should be more prepared and borrow lighting from college, that way we would probably get more out of the experience.

Camilo Echeverri

This is a beautiful picture. I particulary like the cool temperature. When editing my own pictures I have noticed I always tend to make it look cooler by tampering with the vibrancy.

Photoshoot

PROJECT 2 - Digital photography

So, my second project is going to be digital photography. I've had a 1000D camera since last christmas and I think it's about time I learnt how to use it properly. I want to be able to use it in various situations, stating with the photography studio, but I would also like to do some Macro photography as well.
Me and the two Jennys hired out the photography studio and played around with the lighting, and using different devices. It was actually very fun and helpful. I learned how to change the ISO on my camera which is something that has baffled me for a while now. I never properly understood the exposure and apature properly either and I can now say that I am getting to grips with the idea and how changing the dial each way will effect the picture.
There are two numbers on the screen of the camera, The first one is the shutter speed and is simply the time that the shutter will be open for, expressed as a fraction of a second.
The second number which is the F-stop, tells you the size of the hole (apature) in the lens.
I also used a light metre to help me to get the right F-stop in order to let me get the correct amount of exposure in the pictures.
We had problems using the light metre at first because we couldn't get it to work but we found the technition and he helped us out with that.
I would like to do more of this at some point. I learned a lot from talking to both the Jennys and watching them.

Water colour

I decided to go all out and use water colour for a set of illustrations. This is not my usual thing, but I do like some of the colours that apear when working with water colours. I experemented by using a much less accurate aproach to the colour and strokes. I think it's worked pretty well. Throughout the project I am going to try different ways of using colour.

Drawing practice

After having a word with Matt about my work, he told me that as an illustrator, especially one whos work focuses on drawing, I have to draw as much as I can every day. After being told this it occured to me that my drawing standard has been improving, but not as well as I would have hoped.
To be a successful animal reportage illustrator I have to be extremly skilled with my drawing techniques, therefore I have set myself a task to draw at least one illustration a day. Given that each illustration takes around 4 hours to complete I think this is a good start for now.

Reportage illustration timeline

Where does my work fit in?

Reportage:

• A technique of documentary film or photo journalism that tells a story entirely through pictures
• the act or process of reporting news or other events of general interest

After my tutorial with Christian, I started to think about what type of illustrator I am and what direction I wanted to take my work. I came to the conclusion that I am reportage based. I enjoy illustrating nature and wildlife which I would class as 'the process of reporting'. Having a clearer notion of what it is that I wish to do will help direct my work, which I think is very important to my future.

Mark making experement. It's lacking tones, looked alright before I scanned it in.

I never expected myself to suddenly be amazing at photorealism. Although I would like to keep a photo-realistic tone in my work. Spending time looking at it in more detail has helped me to look at my subjects in a different manner and I feel my observational skills have deffinatly improved even through a relitavly small project such as this one. To get information on the matter I used google to find different articles. I found one of these very useful. I havn't found this process too difficult, I think this is because it is very similar to my usual style of work but invloved being a lot more precise in the markmaking. I think having the skills that I have learned during this project will help me in the future because if I want to draw for a living I will have to learn to be very observant and controlled.