Tony Howell

I particularly enjoy the work of Tony Howell, a landscape photographer from the UK. His work inspires me because he likes to experiment with the technical aspects of photography. This picture was taken after decided to go up two f.stops from that suggest by the light meter.

This means that the photograph is deliberately over exposed for the purpose of making the shot work. I like the colour and tone of the image and I feel that the sillhoutte effect of the tree stands out well.

Tony sells his pictures mounted and framed and he also sells them on canvas, he is a British proffessional photographer who makes a lot of money from his printed work.

At the Lake District, England Tony spent much time choosing his angle and using his tripod to position the camera exactly where he wanted it. By making the camera steady on the tripod he was able to get a crisp image even at a slow shutter speed.

Steam train

Here is my picture that I took at Kingscote station, this is a lucky opportunity as it is rare to catch a locomotive without a train behind it.

Unfortunately there was little I could do to get the train spotters out of the shot without losing the background that I wanted, I felt that removing them in photoshop would be damaging to the rest of the image so I left them in.

Taken on a sunny day, the engine glistens in the light and the tracks create a good leading line.

The picture is perhaps not perfectly framed, the subject is in the middle of the shot, but I feel that the rule of thirds is adequate for what I wanted, the greenery in the background, the track and the building take the cross sections, leading in to look at the elegant locomotive and the added intrigue of having the driver climbing across the front.

Red Arrows

This is my favourite picture. It was taken at Eastbourne Air show.

In photoshop I used the crop tool to get the framing as I wanted it, as the speed of the planes meant that I didnt get it perfect on the camera.

I also increased the saturation of the image to highlight the blue sky, the smoke and the planes headlights.

I reduced the high tones in the levels pallette to make the image a bit darker, as the bottom left of the picture looked a bit washed out.

I am happy with the finished photograph and have printed it and mounted it to go in my portfolio.

High Rocks

Here is my photograph of the High Rocks station and the High Rocks Inn.

This is one of my favourite pictures that I have taken recently.

The green of the trees and grass is represented well against the blue sky and all the colours stand out well in what was an ideal light for the photograph I was after.

I feel that I have made good use of the rule of thirds and there is a good leading line, moving up the image and to the left.

the small hut is the first thing that the viewer sees, followed by the lamp posts as the eye makes its way to the tree, you then see platform and the grass as you look to the building in the background.

I feel this photograph has a lot to offer, as it has good use of light, shape and colour. There is nothing on the image that is harsh to look at and I feel that it will look great once printed and window mounted.

To finish the photograph in photoshop, I opened the levels pallette and decreased the high tones, this slightly darkened the image whilst still portraying the good sunlight of the day.

Light, shade and water, improved.

I have put this picture into photoshop and cropped the left hand edge slightly to remove the part of the building that went right up to the top of the image.

I feel that the photo looks better this way. I have not edited further as I feel that the photograph looks great as it is. I particularly like the light and dark tones and how the light exentuates the water.

Trafalgar Square.

Another photo from Trafalgar Square, this time going for another deliberate photograph that would fulfill the idea I had in my mind. I shot into the light again, creating a great light/dark contrast of the building/fountain. My purpose of this photo, apart from the light contrasting was to capture the detail of the falling water in attempt to make it stop in the photo. I think I have succeeded in this photo and I am very pleased with it.

Well Composed shots.

This is one of my photographs of Canary wharf, taken from the loading bays for the Woolwich free ferry.

I particularly like the framing of this shot as it shows the open water's contrast to the cramped, busy land.

I took this picture on a day of low light so the colour came out very strong. The Thames barrier looks great in the water and is well dwarfed by the tall buildings.

Here is one of my favourite pictures that I took on my recent visit to Buckingham Palace. This is from the pavement right next to the garden. I like the leading line of the shot as you look across the garden from the small tree to the royal entrance.

The green of the garden looks like a beautiful summer time yet the trees in the background reveal that it is early January.

Light, shade and water.

Here is a photograph I took at trafalgar square. I positioned myself so that I shot into the light but the light was directly behind the water from the fountain.

I am really pleased with this picture, it shows the water clearly and sillouhettes the buildings and gives almost a romantic feel to the bottom of the fountain.

Stop Motion Animation

Here is my finished stop motion animation.
It is very abstract, yet perfectly conformed to the vision I had to create. I am happy with the video, although some have said it is too short, I feel it does exactly what I wanted it to do. It has the gritty feel to it and is clearly a stop motion. It has jumpy bits which I intended to create and has a simple narrative that is easy to follow. It is fairly humourous and links in to my research.
In terms of changing landscape, the background picture shows both woodland and busy road in the same shot, it also shows hints on the activities found in the woodland and mixes the typical uses of woods, for walking through and for animals to be in and touches on the topic of animal cruelty.

Stop Motion Plan

My plan for stop motion animation is to create a short video that conforms to the conventions of animations I have seen in my research.
I have learnt from my research that videos do not have to be serious and need not be over complicated. I have chosen to create a simple animation that clearly shows itself as stop motion and does not try to pretend to be moving image.
A strong influence in my animation is Monty Python, as the animations I have watched follow similar stylistic movement to the type I wish to create. I have a clear vision in my head as to what I would like the animation to look like.
I will use a simple background of a small area of woodland, this will be the base of the animation. The narrative will be a dog that is kicked by a school boy and what happens once the dog is kicked. The dog will be a stuffed dog and I will take pictures of the dog and the school boy to use in my animation.