Evaluation of the Collagraph workshop

Evaluation of the Collagraph workshop

The processes and techniques used in the Collagraph workshop were particularly interesting as I have not explored this element of print making before.  The technique allows you to explore texture and pattern which can allow you to create some interesting designs.

when first creating my tester plates i had to really think about what would create interesting textures and designs, i found lots of materials to use, when i finally got all my materials together i thought about how to stick them down in interesting ways, this took a whole lesson to complete, when it was all completed it got shelaced which then allowed us to apply the ink, i spent half the lesson mixing ink and exploring different colours for my plate. at first i used greens and browns which are natural colours however i found these quite boring and they didn't bounce off each other like i wanted, i then mixed up a red and white to create two separate pink tones, one dark and one light and then did the same with blue, these colours worked really well together and are the colours i chose for my final plate. i found that some materials worked much better than others in regards to pattern and texture, for example the plastic mesh worked really well and gave a really good pattern as did the sequin circles. when applying ink to the plate i first put too much on which made the print quite inky and didn't show all the detail, i then tried it with much less ink and it gave me a really nice print however re-inking took up time. ink was something i had to focus on to make sure there wasn't too much on the plate. after all the plates were printed in the different presses we then began to create our final two plates, i used all the materials i found worked best in my tester plates to create my final plates and placed them in different designs, one plate worked a lot better than the other in regards to design and pattern. i kept it quite simple so not to loose any detail from the different areas, i used the pink and blue in together on different areas of the print to again create a pattern with the colour. 

if i were to do the prints again i would pay more attention to inking up my plate. i also would have looked more at creating a design that represented something like the artist as she creates textures and patterns on her prints that replicate landscapes, i did use her idea of using multiple colours and tones on my plate rather than just one or two. overall i think this workshop went really well, i was happy with my final outcome and the way my prints show texture and pattern. 

still life photography

in this still life photography shoot we were using objects to photograph and trying to focus on composition and lighting.

these are my images:

This image has a good composition as the bear is in one section of the image which shows clear use of rule of thirds, i think the lighting on this is good as none of the image is too exposed, however more light could have been added to the left side to create a whiter background.

This image is ever so slightly over exposed as you have lost a little bit of the top of the bear, but the composition is still clearly showing rule of thirds.

My final image again is ever so slightly over exposed on the foot, but again composition works well and i think the shadows on the bear show good use of lighting.

manual photography

The aim of this workshop was to use the camera on full manual mode, so that we had to change the aperture and shutter speed.

we took photos while considering the use of depth of field and rule of thirds.

with this image i have used a full depth of field to get all of the image in focus, the aperture setting was correct as the image is well exposed. i used rule of thirds with the positioning of the trees in the image.

in this image i have made joe the focal point, i have also used rule of thirds with the positioning of joe to the left of the image.

this image shows a clear focal point and depth of field as the background is slightly blurred. 

the image is ever so slightly under exposed, but not enough to have lost any of the detail.

Selection tool

Different tools:

De-select: gets rid of any selected areas by pressing apple key then D.
Marquee tool:you can drag basic rectangular and circle shapes.
Lasso: click and hold to outline a selection this then joins two ends when you let go.
Magnetic lasso: works the same as the polygonal lasso, it will find any edges on your image that you move your mouse over.
Polygon lasso: click multiple points to outline a selection with straight edges. You join the two ends by double clicking.
To add and subtract from selections you have to hold down the shift key to add to an area and hold down the apple key to subtract from an area.
magic wand: to use the magic wand tool you have to click to select an area that is all the same colour, you adjust the tolerance which controls wether it just selects one colour or a range of colours. if you have the contiguous box ticked it will only select that one area, if it is untucked it will select areas of that colour or multiple colours throughout the whole image.

Anti alias/feather
The anti alias box allows you to create a smoothed edge on your selection this avoids a jagged pixilated edge. The feather tool
The feather tool is the amount of blur you add to the edge of a selection, this makes the shape or selection fade out into the background.

Curves: using curves you can adjust the brightness and contrast of the image.
Colour balance: this allows you to control the colours in your image, when you have an area selected you can click colour balance and change the colour of the area selected.
you can also use the invert tool over the top of a colour to make it the opposite colour to the colour it is placed on which created a nice contrast.

these are my final images after playing with all the different tools:

Shutter speed and painting with light

Shutter speed is the exposure time. It stands for the length of time a camera shutter is open and exposes light into the sensor of the camera. If you use a slow shutter speed you get motion blur which gives the effect of movement to your image if done correctly often seen in motor or sport photography. If you use a fast shutter speed it freezes the action you are trying to capture.

When doing the drawing with light workshop I used a slow shutter speed, here are some examples of drawing with light:

Artist inspiration:
Pablo Picasso

Aperture technical notes

Aperture

Aperture is The opening in the lens. It controls how much light enters the camera, this then determines how light or dark your picture is. The higher the Aperture the smaller the opening therefor the less light that enters the camera, you would use a higher Aperture such as f8 if you were in a very bright setting so that your picture isn't over exposed. You would use a Lower Aperture such as f1.4 For a dark setting as the camera opening would be large therefor absorbing more light into the camera.
Aperture also controls depth of field This is how much of your image is in focus.The larger the depth of field the more image is in focus. To get a large depth of field you would have to set your Aperture to a higher setting such as f16 this would make all of your image in focus. To create a shallow depth of field you would have to put it onto a lower Aperture setting such as f1.8, this would only give you the foreground in focus and create a blurred background.

These are my examples of aperture using the different f numbers:

 

Colographs

Colographs

a Colograph is a collage of materials glued to a printing plate. When it's dry it then gets shellaced to allow you to paint it wth ink and then print it in a press. 

These are the presses you use:

The presses both do the same thing but work in different ways, one rolls a roller across your print to make the ink transfer to the surface of your paper, the other flattens the print to transfer the ink to the paper.
The health and safety for this workshop is:
Be careful when pressing keep fingers and hands away from the area being pressed.
Make sure both presses are not stuck out to avoid trip hazards.
Wear aprons and gloves to avoid stains.

Photograms

A Photogram is a print made when 2D or 3D objects are layered on top of photographic paper, emulsion side up. All the filters are set to 0, the apertures set to f/8 and the height of the enlarger adjusted to make sure the area of light will cover the print. The paper is then exposed for a minimum of 3 second intervals while covering with card. Once it's exposed you have to process the print in chemical baths. The first chemical bath you use is the developer your print goes in the developer (chemical mix: 1:4) emulsion side up for 2 minutes with gentle agitation to make sure the whole print is covered. The print then goes emulsion down into a stop bath (chemical mix: 1:39) for 30 seconds , this stops the developing process. The next chemical process is the fixative (chemical mix: 1:9 or 1:4) and the print goes emulsion down for 5 minutes the fixative makes the print permanent on the paper. The last process is the wash which is just a water bath that the print goes in for 10 minutes to make sure all the chemicals are washed off, it is then dried in the dryer for 30 seconds. Once the print is dry it is not advised to get it wet again.

Health and Safety precautions:

Do not place your hands in the chemical trays (there are gloves and tongs available if needed).

Don't put any wet trays or tong in enlarger bays.

Always use a tray when carrying your prints.

Clean up any spillages.

Dry hands before going back on the enlargers.

Report any faults to the technicians.

When I made my Photogram I had to be aware of the objects I was using and how they would print onto the page and wether they would be light or dark when exposed. In the end I used a 2 metal circles one small and one large, a film strip and a piece of string. Here is my first layout...

Once I printed my photogram I found that most objects on my paper ended up coming out very white as nothing was very transparent apart from the bubble wrap which gave my image slight grey tones, also my film strip when exposed for a longer time began to show the images in the strip but to achieve this without over exposing everything else I had to use a technique called burning in or "dodging" this involved exposing the image three times on an 8 second exposure, while its being exposed you hold your hands and constantly move them over the area you don't want to expose, I did this covering everything but the film strip. The technique worked and I managed to get the film strip to the exposure I wanted while still not over exposing the rest of the image.