Greyscale realistic drawing

Deciding what to draw was the first thing I did. Given the decomposition process had to be fairly visible over 5 days I was limited to things that would have a fast decomp rate. Tossing up between flowers or leaves I went with the later. Using a 2B pencil on thick sketching paper, I did a rough outline of the leaf, paying attention to the detail in the shape and form of the outer edge. I then went on to draw the inner veins, and shadowing.

This is going to be a more challenging week for me than hopefully others, as I am not naturally a good drawer, nor is it my focus. However I hope to improve over the 5 days, paying closer attention to detail and shadow to create a realistic sketch.

Today I set up more lighting before starting to sketch to highlight more of the shadows, and went in with more detail in the veins. Not much decomposition was visible yet, so I have changed where I am storing the leaf to hopefully increase the rate of decomp, to produce more obvious changes. Again I used a 2B pencil.

The lighting certainly helped to get more of an idea of where to place shadows. I like the results of this sketch much more than the first, which was lacking some in detail.

Greyscale realistic drawing

Sketching is becoming easier, it is useful to be drawing the same thing over a series of days to try and see my progress, which whilst slight is there somewhat. I’m going to try and draw the leaf bigger tomorrow so I can put more detail into the veins and shading.

Greyscale realistic drawing

Blemishes have appeared in small spots and the entire leaf has darkened some. However the most obvious change has been the shape, the tip of it curling inward. In order to capture this I have given myself more space, drawing the leaf bigger than on days 1-3. Using a 2B pencil I added more shading and detail to the increasingly obvious veins.

I have realized looking back at my 3 previous sketches that I have quite a rough style, using short jerky lines to create the outline. Unsure if this is a good thing, but something I will be aware of when I move onto day 5.

Greyscale realistic drawing

I went with a darker 3B pencil today, to increase the intensity of the image, and capture how dark the leaf has become. It’s curling in upon itself much more than yesterday, which cast more shadows across the entire leaf. I decided to amplify this with where I positioned my lamp when sketching it.

I’m not sure how well the 3B pencil worked with my sketch, and think I prefer the 2B or HB so I can build up tone with layers rather than with heavy strokes.

     

DSLR

My process for this series was to take several photos over the course of 3 hours, capturing the crowd’s emotion and the atmosphere of ‘waiting’. It was a lot of patience and SD card memory.

With the filming of the second Thor movie happening in Brisbane, I thought it would be good to go down to capture what I could, focusing on both the crowd and the stars. The wait was long and as it started to rain and the crowd become restless, the police presence appeared to intensify. This image captures a lot of what I experienced whilst waiting surrounded by thousands of rabid fans. For these four police officers it was a day at work, where the crowds were excited, the officers were apprehensive. Their nervousness mixed with the fatigue of standing in the rain for hours was obvious on their faces.

DSLR

The process for this image is very similar to the one previous, however I lowered the ISO to create a darkened mood in the image and extrapolate more detail in the expressions of the crowd.

This was probably my favourite picture from the whole day. Speaking to the people around me, some of them had been there since 7 in the morning, and with it approaching nightfall their anticipation had turned to apathy. The girl pressed up against the bars emulated this, her face is almost comically resigned to waiting out the rain and impending darkness.

DSLR camera (slower shutter speed)

I slowed the shutter speed to capture the feeling of movement and frenzy that was palpable when the movie stars appeared. The three elements of the photo, the paparazzi, Tom Hiddleston and the fans were represented in different ways. The paparazzi, illuminating Hiddleston’s face in an ethereal glow, the frantic fans who were a sea of phones and flashes, and the man they were all clabbering to capture, who appears as the only thing unaffected by the movement.

This was a really hard shot to get, with the crowd around me jostling (which actually kind of helped bring out the wildness of the scene), it was very difficult to get Hiddleston’s face in focus. I love how the timing worked out with the pap’s flashing going off making him look like an actual god (which is how he was treated by the fans), with his hand outstretched to the people waving from the balconies above.

DSLR

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Again it was very difficult to out maneuver the people around me who were lunging forward quite violently. I put the camera on burst to capture 4 or 5 image at a time so I could go back later and find any gems. For every photo in focus there are 10 not so.

The elements of this image helped my deciding to title it “Zoo”. Working from the left you can see the concern on the face of the police officer, the woman holding her phone frantically tapping to take photos, the crowd on the other side of the road clamoring for Hemsworth to come over, the paparazzi’s hungry expression, to the impossible calm movie star. The whole thing was reminiscent of an animal being unveiled at the zoo, with the press trying to get the perfect show, the handlers trying to keep the animal from harm, the crowds losing their minds whilst viewing the entire thing through their phones and the star, the animal being entirely nonplused by the experience.  

DSLR

It had been raining on and off throughout the evening, so towards the end I decided to leave some of the drops on the lens, creating the pleasing affects you can see. The arrival of fire trucks to the Mantra also added streaks of colour light to the image.

Whilst the lines of people stretch out along the barricade, the overall feeling of this picture is a calm one. The rain and the flashing lights create a tranquil atmosphere as those on my side started to disperse and flood out into Brisbane. I love the way the rain adds another element to the picture, and the streaking lights another.

    

2B pencil

This was a fun but slightly challenging week, in the beginning I had trouble creating a style that was not trying to hard to be perfect. As I am not naturally an illustrator, if an image needs to be realistic I simply have to put more effort into making it so, which didn't work here. By far the most difficult was working in Photoshop, illustrating freehand with a mouse. Overall however I am glad for the result, and will attempt more comic work in the future, thought am going to try and focus on clean lines and simple shapes to create a less busy look.

DSLR on monochrome, with a 5 second shutter speed.

I wanted to play around with shutter speed and light drawings, as well as recreating the ‘possession’ look I loved in every horror film ever made. I started by turning off all the lights, setting the DSLR (with a 5 second shutter speed) on a 10 second timer and focusing it on where I would be standing. Using the torch on my phone I lit my face from below, swiveling the phone and moving my head from side to side. I went on to darken the outer edges in Photoshop to centre the eye more to the portrait.

I really like the outcome of this image, and am going to experiment more with this type of effects photography in the future. Working in monochrome made the contrast between light and dark even more defined, which really produced the desired effect.

DSLR

I called Jen’s name and with the camera on burst took several photos of her as she turned. In contrast to the previous image, this has a much warmer tones, the lighting is very bright and sunny. I wanted to capture a natural expression of surprise.

Using burst mode as I did when doing the photojournalism week worked really well here, and created a light, clean and simple image.

DSLR (+ light filtered through bottles)

I wanted to play around with light colour and what results I could achieve by filtering  strong light through bottles of liquor, wine and cordial. I set up several bottles lined up along a table, and tried to get as much directional light as I could to cast a colour onto Alastair’s face. The red cordial worked best, with the other liquors being too dark to produce enough light.

I like the intensity of the colour, but would have preferred to have a stronger, or multiple lamps to get a clearer, more well lit image. That being said the darkness lends to a certain mood, which contrasts strongly with the red.

DSLR (+ shutter cast shadows)

I knew I wanted at least one shot with a central focus on shadows and shading, so I walked around my house looking for good shapes that would cast interesting shadows whilst still letting enough light through to show Alastair's face. The shutters were perfect, so once it was dark enough, I put the brightest unidirectional lamp I had behind the shutters and had Alastair stand in the corner. I had to maneuver the lamp to get the shadows at the perspective and in the position I wanted and took a few shots. I then when into Photoshop and highlighted certain aspects, drawing the eye more into the face.

I don't love this image, again it would have been better if I could get more light through the shutters, or somehow could have rigged it so there were two sets, one on either side to cast a more defined shadow. That being said, Photoshop helped some with defining and contrasting the shadow/light.

DSLR - burst

I wanted to play around with the source of light, and when I found these fairy lights in my cupboard I knew I wanted to use them in some way. I experimented with several different positions before landing on draping them around Alastair’s face. As they were pulsing, and my initial goal was to get a single shot of them well lit up, I had the camera on burst, taking several shots in a few seconds. When I was looking over all the shots to find the one I liked I thought it a waste not to take advantage of the element it brought to the image. Loading several into Photoshop, I created a gif.

This is perhaps my favourite image so far, and I will continue to develop gifs using this method.  

    

DSLR (+ slow shutter speed, high zoom)

My family was having a bonfire so I took the opportunity to get some shots of the flames. Many of them didn't come out in the textured way I wanted, so I moved to shooting the ground near the fire, producing this image. The light from the fire, as well as some cinders and dust I kicked up produced a natural seeming dusty texture.

In the city near my bus stop there are strings of lights above the road, so with the camera with a 1 second shutter speed I shot close up, moving the camera in a circular motion, creating spirals that intersect and overlap. The monochrome creates a stark contrast and produced the best results when I was shooting textures using light.

The circles are a bit irregular, which I would have liked to correct. The brightness is a stark contrast to the dull grey, and I love that the beads of the lights are still visible and that detail was not lost. 

DSLR (3 second shutter speed, monochrome)

As the previous image worked well in monochrome I decided to use that mode again when using light to create this texture. In contrast with 'Spiralax' however, this time it was the light source I moved instead of the camera. Using my phone light in a pitch black room, I moved the phone wildly around, creating the image you see. I did several iterations to produce the best results, and this was the most successful at creating a textured, more randomised pattern. 

Adobe Illustrator

I started with a blank Adobe Illustrator document, and using the rectangle tool, drew a long thin rectangle. Using the same tool I created several skewed rectangles I place along the first, colouring them pink. I rounded the edges of the rectangle, and layered a lighter pink, rounded rectangle along the top. Placing this into the brush panel I was able to apply it to a spiral shape, producing the lollipop. I then made the stick creating a smaller cylinder, and used gradient to add definition and dimension. I then used the Pattern tool to space the lollypop out in a hexa shape. 

This pattern is very cute and simple, the highlight on the lollipop bringing it dimension and definition, which I added after realising the pattern lacked form and closure. 

Adobe Illustrator

I decided to make a more 2D pattern than 'My Boy Lollipop', and decided to create a space themed pattern. Using the cylinder tool and pathfinder to subtract the parts of the rings that were meant to be behind the 'Saturn', I produced the main part of the pattern. I then used the Pattern spacing tool to layout the image. I found it to be too simple and lacking an element, so added the orbiting comit and movement lines before spacing it out again.

This is my favourite from the week, and thoroughly enjoyed the simplicity of the Pattern tool, something I have been exploring since. 

DSLR (+ macro lens)

This was one of the first images I took when playing around with the macro lens in the tutorial. Placing the helicopter at the end of a pencil, secured with some blutack I aimed to make it appear as though it was landing. Getting it in focus proved the most difficult aspect of this image, and throughout the rest of them.

If I had been able to take these at home I would have liked to have more elements in the background and around the base of the image, but I'm happy with how this first attempt turned out.

DSLR (+ macro lens)

Once I had my first image produced in focus, I knew I wanted to add more element to create a more interesting picture. I started experimenting with the Lego figures in the room. I aimed to make it appear as though the figure was emerging from the jungle, a rescue helicopter out of focus in the background adding more depth to the image. 

DSLR (+ macro lens)

When I decided to add the white plasticine to the bottom of the shot, I knew wanted to convey a sense of time and movement using the soldiers footsteps. Moving the Lego figures legs, I pressed them into the tack to make it seem as realistic as possible. The greenery forming a wall along the edge of the picture and the blue in the top corner adding to the winter scene. I also changed perspectives, getting down as low as possible in the attempt to make the soldier look comparatively bigger, taking up more space in the shot.

My favourite elements of the shot are the footprints, and the angle, making it look more believably real.

DSLR (+ macro lens)

I knew I wanted to use the plasticine to create some sort of creature and landed on an ant, placing it on top of a bright pink flower. I also added a dark blue to the background by using my pencil case.

I took this shot from a higher angle to make the ant seem smaller, and aimed to capture as much detail in the flower as possible, which is one of my favourite things about this image.

DSLR (+ macro lens)

I spent a lot of time forming the fins, and playing with the position of the pirate; in and out of the water, hat on, hat off, peg leg floating away. I also changed what was and wasn't in focus, the perspective of the photo and the angle at which it was taken. I took several with both the fins and the pirate in focus but it wasn't creating the look I wanted. Finally I got a shot with the fin in focus, the pirate blurry yet still recognisable in the background. 

I love how dramatic this image feels whilst in reality it is simply plasticine and a Lego figure. The shallow focus adds and element of realism that you simply cannot achieve with an ordinary lens and is the most satsifying thing about macro photography for me.