Pre-Task - An Apple A Day

As a pre-task for this project I was asked to bring in an apple and photograph it in several different ways. The ways in which I was asked to photograph the apple included using natural lighting, artificial lighting, taking the apple on location, including a person within the photograph and photographs "using my imagination" which meant that I could be as creative as I liked when taking these photographs. Here are the contact sheets from this photo shoot showing each of the photographs I took. 

Once I had taken all of the photographs from this shoot, I then looked through them all and chose a selection of my favourites from the shoot which I then put into Photoshop and edited slightly in order to make them a little more attractive to look at. Here is a closer look at the photographs which I chose to edit slightly. 

This is one of the photographs I took while carrying out my photoshoot containing the apples. This photograph was taken to fit into the category of “photographs shot on location” which I was asked to complete. For this photograph I chose to place the apple on one of the bollards outside the David Hockney building. I chose this as my location as I know that as this building is local and very familiar to a lot of people, it is easily recognisable. In order to take this photograph I placed the apple on top of the bollard with the college building in the background and crouched down infront of the bollard so I was looking up at the apple. I did this in order to get a worms eye view of the apple as this was a different view point than some of the other images which I took during this shoot. This view point makes the bollard and in turn, the apple look a lot bigger than they are and it gives the viewer the illusion that the apple is towering over you. For this photograph I used a large depth of field in order to get both the college building and the apple in focus. I did this because I wanted the location of this photograph to be obvious within the photograph and the second thing which the viewer notices after noticing the apple which is supposed to be the main focus point of the image. The lighting for this photograph was provided by natural lighting so when taking this photograph I was relying heavily on the weather being nice. Luckily, when shooting these photographs, the sky was clear and there was plenty of natural light available to work with. Once I had taken this image, I chose to put it into Photoshop but I decided I did not want to heavily edit this photograph as I was already happy with the way it looked so I chose to only alter the levels slightly in order to make the green of the apple pop slightly more and make the image a little more eye catching and appealing to look at. Overall I feel that this photograph is quite effective.

This is another photograph I took as part of the photo shoot including apples. This photograph was taken in order to fit into the “people” category. This is a photograph of Natalie taking a bite out of an apple which is on the end of a fork. The location of this photograph was inside weatherspoons while we were having lunch that day. The lighting within the photograph was provided mainly by natural light coming through the skylights within the building. This gave the image a natural look and it meant that the lighting was bright enough yet not too harsh giving the photograph a nice look overall. For this photograph I wanted the apple to be the main focus of the photograph but I also wanted Natalie to be a very prominent part of the image so to do this I put the image into Photoshop and used the colour popping technique in order to make the majority of the photograph black and white with only the bright red apple in the centre of the photograph. When I took this photograph, there was a section of a blue and green picture mounted on the wall towards the left of the image, I did not like the fact that this was part of the image so whilst in Photoshop, I cropped this section of the image out and luckily, this did not affect the end result in a negative way. The inspiration for this photograph was a mixture of two things. Firstly, the idea of toffee apples and the way which those are eaten from a stick, I feel as though the fork somewhat represents the stick used in toffee apples and secondly the thought that it would seem a little strange to eat an apple with a knife and fork. Since you would not usually eat fruit with cutlery, this makes the image appear a little abstract which I find very interesting. Overall I am happy with this image and I think that it is quite effective.

This is another photograph which I took as part of the photoshoot including apples. This is a photograph of two apples placed in the shallow area of the water fountain in City Park and was taken in order to fit in with the “photographs taken on location” part of the photoshoot. I chose to photograph these apples in this location as I thought it was a little bit different to just photographing them on a dry piece of pavement and I thought that the water from the fountain would give a nice effect to the photograph. Ideally for this photograph I wanted to capture some ripples of water around the apples to emphasize the fact that the apples were in shallow water however this did not happen the way I wanted but in addition to this I wanted to capture some sort of reflection in the water and  I got this as the sun has been reflected in the water and this makes it evident that the apples are sat in shallow water. The lighting for this photograph was provided only by natural lighting from the sun which was coming from behind the apples. This is made evident by the harsh shadows which have been cast by the apples in the front of the image. The harsh shadows make the image appear a little too dark and takes some of the focus away from the apples themselves which are supposed to be the main focus point of the image. In order to remove or minimize these shadows I could have used a reflector such as a sheet of plain white paper or card. This would have reflected some of the sunlight onto the front of the apples meaning there would be minimal shadows. After I had taken this photograph I put it into Photoshop in order to edit it slightly, I was already happy with the way this photograph turned out so all I did while editing this photograph was alter the levels slightly. I did this just to bring the colours within the apples out a little more and make the photograph a little bit more eye catching. Aside from the slight lighting issue, I am happy with the way this photograph turned out.

This is another photograph which I took as part of the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of a whole apple surrounded by the remains of a smashed up apple and this photograph fits into the category of “imaginative photographs”. For this photograph I thought it would be a good idea to take a photograph of the apple n a completely different state to all of my other photographs so I decided to throw it on the ground and smash it up a bit then take a photograph of it like this. I chose to do this as it is a completely different type of photograph to all the rest which feature a whole apple which can easily be identified. Once I had smashed the green apple the desired amount I then placed a whole apple into the centre of the wreckage in order to show both a kind of before and after of what the apple looked like and the contrast between a whole and a smashed apple. This photograph also shows the wet patch on the pavement which was caused by the juice from the apple when it impacted the floor. I feel that this adds a nice effect to the photograph as it suggests how the green apple ended up being in the state that it is in at the time of photographing. In addition to this, I used a red apple as the centerpiece of the photograph as it was a green apple which I smashed and I wanted both aspects of the photograph to stand out rather than melding into once which I feel could have happened if I had used another green apple in place of the red one. The lighting for this photograph was provided only by natural lighting which is not too harsh or too dull making the photograph nice and vibrant. After taking this photograph I put it into Photoshop to edit it slightly but I ended up only subtly altering the levels in order to make the red and the green of the apples stand out slightly more. I am very happy with the way this photograph turned out. 

This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is the photograph which I took immediately after I threw the apple on the ground in order to smash it into tiny pieces. This photograph shows the pieces of apple spread out across the pavement in the places which the landed after I had thrown the apple. This photograph was taken immediately before the previous one meaning that the location and lighting conditions are exactly the same as before and my motive for smashing the apple is the same as previously stated. This photograph shows the apple pieces spread over the pavement with the majority of it being in the background of the image however I made it so the main focus of the photograph is the single piece of apple which in in the centre of the foreground. This means that the first thing you see is the apple piece in the foreground then afterwards you see the rest of the apple. This photograph was shot in portrait as opposed to landscape like the rest of the photographs which I took. I felt that shooting this photograph in portrait was the best option for this photograph as the apple was spread out over a large distance and shooting in portrait was the best way to fit it all into the shot as if I had shot this photograph in landscape, quite a lot of the image would have been cut out and it would not have been as effective. Overall I am happy with the way this photograph turned out.

 This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of three apples in a row and was taken as part of the “artificial lighting” category. This photograph was taken by placing the three apples in a row on a white backdrop under two daylight balanced lights. This photograph was taken under artificial lighting however, the lighting remains natural and does not have a strange colour cast over it as the lights used were daylight balanced meaning the light emitted is the same as the light which you receive when using natural lighting. This lighting allows the photograph to be crisp and clear while keeping the colours within the photograph true to real life. When taking this photograph I used a large aperture meaning that the apple in the foreground is in focus while the two other apples drop out of focus slightly. I like the effect that this has on the photograph as I find one aspect of the photograph being in focus while the rest drops out of focus very effective and interesting. Once I had taken this image I put it into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to make the colours pop more and make the photograph slightly more eye catching. Overall I am happy with the way this photograph has turned out.

This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of three apples which have been placed in the grass outside of the college building and I took this photograph in order to fit in with the “on location” section of this photo shoot. With this photograph I wanted the location to be obvious this is why I made it so the college building, although out of focus, is there in the background. When finding the right focus for this photograph, I used a large aperture and focused on the apples meaning that the backdrop dropped out of focus as did the blades of grass which are in front of the apples while the apples themselves remained in focus. This mean that the first thing a viewer sees when looking at this photograph is the apples which is the effect I wanted this photograph to have. When composing this image, as I had three apples, two green and one red, I made sure the red apple was in the centre of the shot with the two green apples at either side of the red one. I think that this is a nice look for the photograph as it adds a little symmetry to the photograph. Once I had taken this photograph, as with the other photographs, I put it into Photoshop and altered the levels slightly to make the colours pop slightly more. I am happy with the way this photograph turned out.

This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of three apples which have been placed under a tree outside of college. This photograph fits into the “on location” category therefore I felt that the actual location was important to the photograph. In order to take this photograph, I used a small aperture meaning that both the apples in the foreground and the college building in the background are in focus. I decided to place the apples at the bottom of this tree to make it look as though the apples had fallen from the tree as I felt like this would be quite a realistic situation for the apples to be in. when placing the apples at the base of the tree I made sure that I did not place them all in an upright fashion as this would have looked too neat and it would not have looked realistic as when an apple falls out of a tree it won’t land right way up, it will fall on its side so I made it so the apples looked as though they had fallen. I chose to take this photograph in portrait rather than in landscape as I wanted to include as much of the tree as I could and taking the same shot in landscape would cut a lot of this out. Also when taking this photograph, I made sure I was near to the ground so when I was taking the photograph, I was looking up at the tree slightly making it look as though the tree is towering high over the apples. Once I had taken this photograph I put it into Photoshop in order to edit levels slightly. I did this to make the colours more vibrant and I also increased the contrast slightly. 

This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of Olivia licking one of the apples as I was about to take the photograph and this photograph fits into the “photographs including people”. The lighting for this photograph was provided by artificial lighting which was day light balanced as this was the set up what I had while taking the photograph of the three apples lined up in a row. When I was about to take the photograph of the three apples in a row, the middle apple fell onto its side and Olivia came up and photobombs my image by sticking her tongue out and licking one of my apples. As she did this I took a photograph and I decided to use this as one of my photographs which includes a person as I found the image quite funny. This image was not planned however I feel that it works well as it is humorous and fun to look at.

This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of my three apples sat on a table arranged into a Mickey Mouse head kind of shape. This photograph fits into the “imaginative photographs” category as when I saw the three apples arranged like this I instantly thought of the Mickey Mouse head silhouette. This photograph was taken under the artificial lighting provided by the classroom overhead lights so the lighting is not as crisp and clear as it could have been had I have used natural lighting or daylight balanced artificial lighting. Once I had taken this shot I then put it into Photoshop and edited the levels slightly in order to make the colours pop more and make It slightly more eye catching. I then went onto Google and found an outline of Mickey Mouse’s head and layered it onto the photograph in order to show exactly what I was going for when taking the photograph. 

This is another photograph from the photoshoot containing apples. This is a photograph of one of my apples say on top of the light box. The light in this photograph is provided by the artificial light which is emitted by the light box which the apple has been place on top of. The main focus of this photograph is the apple but more specifically, the sticker which is on the apple. I used a large aperture in order to be able to focus on the sticker and have the rest of the photograph drop out of focus. I am not too happy with the way the lighting within this photograph is as although the lightbox is daylight balanced, I feel that it is too bright and a little distracting to the photograph. I feel as though the main focus of this photograph was intended to be the sticker on the apple however when you first look at this image, the first thing you see is the light from the light box. Once I had taken this photograph, I put it into Photoshop in order to alter the levels as I wanted to try and make the green of the apple a little brighter and a little more eye catching in order to counteract the brightness from the lightbox. This did not work in the desired way meaning that I am not as happy with the final outcome of this photograph as I could be.