Photo Collage

I have looked at a photographer called Sharon Elphick. She is very well known for doing photo collages. I like her work because creating a collage with your pictures allows you to create more patterns and some images look nice as a group because they compliment each other.

Example of Sharon's work;
                                                                                  




I have also created my own photo collages;

 

I have created the first collage by using the same image and changing the hue to create four different colours. I have then rotated and flipped the image to create a kaleidoscope effect. 

The second image is of pub names, I used my photos from the fourth collage and cropped them. I have created a pattern in the collage by putting a long name then short names and then long names ect..

The third collage I have created by cropping all the blank parts of my firework pictures to create a busy image.

The fourth collage is of pubs in my local area. The pubs have a lot of detail and the different view points make the collage more interesting to look at.

The fifth collage is of buildings in London. I have cropped so of the pictures so that the photos are of the windows. I did this because windows are interesting as they reflect the world around them adding more depth to the image.

Fireworks

It been that time of year where there are a lot of fireworks. Fireworks can make beautiful photographs if taken properly. The trick is to use a long shutter and a tripod to keep the camera steady.

I went to Rowland Castle's Firework display on 3rd November, I took lots of photos and managed to capture some amazing shots. I used a half second shutter speed to take these images. It allowed the camera to blur the light of the fireworks creating the lines and shaped, but it was short enough to not need a tripod. 

People Photographers

Quite a few photographers have done some work on Long exposure photography and for the theme people I think these two photographers have some very good work. 
On the internet you can find many other photographers to give you inspiration.

• Night Bear Foto - A company set up by James Magnus. James studied photography at school and then at an Art University in Farnham, Surrey. He specialises in Long exposure photography, which he discovered in his last year at university.

• Robert Knight - Robert Knight is a professor at Hamilton College. His inspiration for his project “Sleepless” was his experience with insomnia, after becoming a father.  Robert started by documenting his own sleep movements and then he soon started to document other people’s too.  For each image he would calculate the proper exposure by using  dim lights in the lights. The shutter would be started when the subject to bed and stopped before sun rise.

Long Exposure Photography - People

Using people in your long exposures images can create a ghostly effect. You are able to create images of people that are quite distorted and unusual. You can also create duplicates of a person without having to do any editing!
When you are shooting people with a long shutter speed the subject needs to move very slowly otherwise they will not show up on the camera.
To create duplicates of a person you need a dark room and a flashlight. The subject needs to have the flashlight and when they are in the right place they need to turn the light on for a few seconds and then before they move they need to turn the light off so that they don't blur across the frame.

These are some of my images;

Shutter Speed

On compact cameras that everyone has there is only one shutter speed and you don't often have the option to change it. When using a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera you are able to change the shutter speed.
If you have a quick shutter speed, such as 1/1000th of a second, you get a sharp image. This is good for when you are shooting water droplets or sports. If you have a long shutter speed, such as 5 seconds, you will get a more blurred image. This is good for when you want to shoot a car driving past or the movement of the stars. When you are using a long shutter speed it is best to use a tripod otherwise you will create even more blur.

Shutter speed examples;

1/1000th of a Second

1/2 a Second

1/5th of a Second

4 Seconds

7 Seconds

117 Seconds

11 Hours

55 Hours

Light Painting

 Light Painting is very fun to do but you have to make sure that the shutter is open for the correct amount of time so that you can create your picture. To do light painting all you need is a dark place and a light source. The light source can vary from a bike light to a torch or even your phone! To make sure that the image doesn't blur it is best to use a tripod for a flat surface so that the camera is still. You may have to take many shots of the same thing so that you can get the picture in the frame and have the shutter open for the correct amount of time. This is a great thing to do with friends because you can create shapes around each other.

Some famous Light painting photographers are;

• Gjion Mili - He was one of the first photographers to ever do light painting. He create some nice images using figure skaters and he also worked with Picasso. One of the famous images was "Picasso draws centaur".

Picasso Draws A Centaur

• Eric Staller - His work is about creating lines with the light. These lines guide your eyes through the images.

Themes

When you are doing Long Exposure photography, you have many different themes that you can choose from. For example;

• Water
• Stars
• People
• Symbols/Shapes
• Creepy

In these themes you can create all sorts of images. Like these;

Shape

Face

People/Creepy

Long Exposure Photography

My next topic that I am going to write about is Long Exposure.
Long Exposure photography is a very fun topic. Long exposure photography is capturing an image by letting the shutter of the camera be open for a long time, this means that more light will be taken in. By doing this you can create pictures using light, also known as light painting, and you can create images that blur. 

Here are some examples;

Light Painting

Ghostly 

Moving across the frame