borrowing from my IG layout page i’ve decided to use Indeisgn to help present these 64 image, as uploading them each individually would take up a lot of storage on this site, this may compress my images but they work well as contact sheets, showing the journey across my 6 hours in the forest today, over the course of these ours i took over 1000 photos which i then had to sort through in Bridge by using the star rating system and then edit then in Photoshop. Bridge was a real help in this case as sorting through each photo would have taken ages

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> Styling <

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these photos follow my third editing process looking at a more simplistic approach, here marks the first post i made using this style and has been captioned as such, i posted this photo because of its delicate nature as the lighting softly illuminates the leaves on this branch, it represents this idea of mediation through the soft color pallet

the second is one of my favourites with the color conversion and shows us this nice lighting on these stinging nettles nestled around this textured log, lit from one side by the natural ambient lighting

the third one begins to look into mediation closer by incorporating text asking use to take a moment and self reflect, which is very key in these times, as my Instagram is often an outlet for things going on in my life, at the moment i am struggling at home and looking to move out of my parents again, i wanted to take time to evaluate my options and move forward. i also like this one because of its interlocking branches that wrap around each other constricting itself through friction which will lead to wood rot

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venturing further i came across a fallen tree blocking my passage along this path, which gave me a good opportunity to get a photo of its root system providing a lot of texture, however the hue isnt where id like to be because of the earthy tones arent effected by the editing process, i try and do something later with this idea

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travelling further into the undergrowth i wanted to play around with the height my camera further, began crouching down to be apart of the fauna here looking at eye level, my first photo looks towards the light as we see this soft carpet of weeds, and starts to look at this idea of spiritualism through the lens of ram dass with a quote by him. to coneys this idea i like to use the sun as a holy higher power however im not truly this is the best way of connoting to this idea

the second photo aims to get lower so that i am among the foliage, i really love the way the light brightens them, however i feel this photo is too clustered to have much substance as it appears messy without much thought towards composition

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as i carried on walking i started to travel further off of the path and came across this field of native blue bells, the lighting through the canapes lit this field nicely and knew i had to get a snap, with two large trees on either side of the frame they oppose each other and hold dominance over the blue bells. in editing i probably need to tone down my highlights in this image as sections are starting to bleach, though i might be able to use the burn tool in photoshop to effect a small area rather than the whole image

the next photo i’ve clearly messed up my curve layer making it look out of place to the rest of my images, i should probably change this so that its more in line with the rest of my images as this is a nice photo disregarding my curve

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as i came over the hill in this field i saw these broken trees that had fallen, plymouth is quite prone to harsh winters and last December strong storms blew through this area ripping down trees in the window, this destruction showcases sharp imagery of uprooted trees that lay upon this forest. i like these angels that fall when trees do

through out plybridge there are many metallic art installations of the wildlife here, i really like these as they are so unnatural, they juxtapose the natural order of the living with their shiny man made exoskeleton, i prefer this style over using living animals within my work

in this photo i look towards a wall of an old building that has fallen to disrepair through the many years, we can see this as vines and moss grows up the sides of this hovel, without its roof light bleeds through highlighting the walls and foliage. as much as i like this photo i wish i was more continuous of the subject matter as it looks a little busy, crouching down slightly would have removed the branches from above leading to a more organised composition

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wanting to look more closely at the fauna, and with being april the firms were just starting to sprout their leafs. i found myself fascinated with fern plants for their alien nature as they dont use a normal leaf system to photosynthesis, rather using these large fan like leaves with slits between to adsorbs the light .

to echo this and a post from eailer on the series i looked closely at a blue bell to allow me to mediate on its delicate form, we can tell this is a native blue bell for its smaller stature, Spanish ones are also common across most of the uk but are an invasive species presenting a lot larger with more bells for pollen to be collected from

this is one of my favourite shots from this walk as it shows a huge trees thats fallen over during one of these storms and has been left there blocking this path but allowing people and animals to walk beneath it, the also tree separates the pink living foliage and he earthy tones of the ground. i could probably add a curve or levels adjustment layer to increase the contrast of this image, amplifying the shadows to make it look more dramatic

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walking around more i came to a different section of the woods with different types of fauna like these slender pine trees that present a unique texture within their bark as theyre fast growing trees, they hold these knots in high quantities, which make us feel like we’re being watched from every angel, in the third photo we see these many judgemental eyes, though maybe in the photo i need to sort out my levels

in the second photo points towards a blacked out tree in the distance, it has this ominous feeling like im unwelcome here, as if a person watches me from the shadows

another of my favourites is this sheet of bark with bristles pressed into it, it leaves behind an imprint as if to leave a mark on the world like an old cave paintings. i love the way the light hits through this section illuminating the sheet

here i present two alternative angels for portrait and landscape as it looks over onto the other side of the valley showcasing the many times of trees, this photo appears quite flat however to make this more visually interesting the use of a pine tree right of frame adds this slight depth dimensions to it to try and provide a sense of distance. i could have also maybe used a slight dehazing on this as the background of this photo looks quite muted, maybe fore i publish these photos i will adjust accordingly. however i feel this would make a good phone background as its quite simplistic which would allow for widgets to overlay on top nicely

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looking more at the foliage around, i found these delicate leafs, i found myself drawn to the branches simplistic structure as it forms so naturally, there is no thought that goes into this growth, only mechanical chemistry embedded into the natural biology to branch out in the most effective way to capture the sunlight. i find this really interesting as it also kinda looks like lighting forks that branch out in the less resistant way to reach the ground

the second photo presents these bristles again that we’ve seen previous, i love these close up shots with a high depth of field, showing a fine point of focus at f/5.6, the background appears to glimmer as light is reflected back towards the camera because of their waxy nature, and even though the background and foreground are out of focus the midground gives us context to what we’re looking at

my third photo here doesnt appear to convey much with its lack of composition and busy subject matter, we can see that these are bristles as well but a lot less interesting to look at

as i continue walking i came across this old settlement made of the slate stone from the cliff faces around. i really love these shots as the present such a calming atmosphere,

the first photo shows us this wall coated in moss hiding in the shade on the inside of this settlement, and these stinging nettles from a top down preservative where we can see all the light that hits these leafs, we can see this as an analytic view point noticing how each leaf fans out and stands dominate over the other weeds that reside here.

my second photo shows a dynamic landscape featuring a full body of the settlement providing context to the image prior, at first our eyes are draw to this central building and then dart around to the bridge above in the background because it stands out against the pink hues with its blues

the thirds photo is one love with its low exposure at 1/500 sec it presents this dramatic lighting focused on the highlights on this slate wall, illuminating this small patch of moss, the DoF helps accentuate this at f/5 by making us focus on this point rather than the background

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in the past i’ve said how i dont like living creatures within this body of work however i feel butterflies can be made an exception to this as they not only see in IR but theyre wings also reflect in the IR spectrum to help them find mates, they also see in the IR and UV range to help identity flowers which is why i feel they are suitable to this aesthetic, in these photo we can see the eyes on the back of the wings and in the second photo we get this full display of these beautiful wings, theres a small notch clipped out of the right wing, which could convey the idea that even in beauty there is damage. i think i was able to spend a good five minutes with this butterfly and made me feel so honoured to have this moment with it, i think in total i got 25 photos to which i’ve refined down to these two

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walking further and now on my way back, the sun’s position had changed allowing for different lighting opportunities, with a low AP setting i was able to still get some of the dramatically lit aesthetics

the second edit of the tree is also one i love because it builds into this idea that the trees are watching but also incorporates this idea of octopuses using camouflage to stalk their prey- while it stares at me,,they use their surroundings to their advantage like here they use leafs to hide behind and wrap themselves in vines to remind hidden. i connote this idea of octopuses because of the bulging round knot in the tree as this kinda looks like a cephalopod features

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the final images from this shoot were taken at different times of the day, where one was taken during the morning while the other was taken during the late evening showcasing the difference in lighting at these to point, i love the way the light reflects back towards the camera as the remaining sunlight glimmers on these waxy leaves, particularly the second one, with the dark background making it looks sophisticated. of course this could have been achieved with a lower exposure time but i wanted to show the changing of the light

i dont plan on using these photos but they provide informative information about this area and its history “Plybridge is a young woodland and was planted 110 years ago, it was made up of single compartments of single tree species, this is perfect if you’re trying to grow trees as crops for production of tumble, but not ideal for nature”

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> styling <

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this was my first shoot with the refined editing process (number 3), this route follows part of the drakes trail in Plybridge, taking over 200 photos within two hours, i was able to refine these down to 30 individuals, to which only 8 got edited

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my first edit features a small hovel located at the base of a tree, i find myself fascinated by what could lurk inside such a small hole, and the life it contains, choosing to have a low aperture of f/5.6 this photo presents a sharp depth of field and maybe could have been improved with a f/8 setting to capture more of the location in focus while still having this strong DoF, but i feel this image coneys my ideas

i also really like how the two images have been placed like this together, originally this was to show a simple transformation of a horizontal flip done in Photoshop because i wanted a right side post for my IG, but wordpress has presented me with this kaleidoscope vision layout that i think is really cool, and maybe a link could be drawn to Ram Dass’ use of psychoactive substances, maybe i can use something like this in my final submission but it’d be interesting to see how this would relate to the rest of the photos in sequencing

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a similar thing happened to this photo, however with the added lens flare on the right side could add to this effect as the light filters through the trees providing a trippy LSD atmosphere

wanting to look at the landscapes again i gained some elevation thanks to one of the bridges along the path, from this vantage point i could see into the valley and see these interlocking spurs draw our eyes towards the centre of the image, my only gripe with this photo is the hues of the foliage, taken in april, i was hoping the foliage would be more in bloom for a more saturated canape, maybe in the future i’ll have to return here and retake this photo

climbing to a higher elevation with an open hill side i was able to get a view over most of the forest here, capturing some of the farming fields in the background. i dont know if i like this image too much as it doesnt present much in terms of subject matter. there are also power cables in the distance with a small building and this isnt want i want. the hue also leaves something to be desired. however i do like skyline with simple clouds over head

moving closer in to the shrubbery around, i looked into the lighting and the vertical nature of the trees , i like this photo but i feel there isnt much substance here, as its taking in the shade pointing towards the light

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here i wanted to showcase this interesting bridge with a slope showcasing the texture of rust that runs along this cautioned off section. however im not sure i like this photo either as it looks very human with the with only the few acceptations structure and well paved path, the composition has something to be desired

the same can be said for the trees on the right, theyre tall and arch over the viewer but i dont think theres much substance within this photo, though i do like the hue of the sky

wanting to build upon my photos i had taken the other day 02.04 i went back to plywoods to shoot, leaving around noon i had plenty of strong light to achieve the photos i wanted, however there were a few clouds on the horizon i needed to be mindful of. this was also a point where i switched camera, from my Nikon D3500 to my dads Conon 90D, taking advantage of its high 32.5mp allowing me to get a high quality photo with more pixels per inch

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> Styling <

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these photos take us into this highly saturated world filled with vibrant colors, through these winding steps and twisted tunnel of over hanging trees along these paths. they appear cluttered with broken sticks and discarded foliage as if forgotten or unmaintained. i also like the blue hues provided by the shadows of the tress as this presents a cooler hue to compliment the vivid purples

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and yet there is life that thrives here, when the sunlight filters through the canapes above it lets the fauna below be dramatically lit, letting light rays beam illuminate the leaves and ferns providing highlights to my images

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taking a more dynamic approach to taking my images, i wanted to step slightly further away from my subject to capture context around my images, providing a section of the environment for my work to inhabit, i feel this works really well as it allows me to introduce a higher depth of field and increase the focal point for the viewers eyes to read and interpret. i also notice that some of my trees are presenting a red hue in their bark and im not sure how much i like this as makes them appear fake or synthesised, rahter than this brown tone we are use to seeing, maybe this adds an element of the other world but im not so sure

on my walk i crossed over a bridge offering a water feature below, getting close to the river bank i was able to capture this photo, i like its composition however, the branches hinder this view, but maybe this is ok as it provides a more mystical atmosphere of discovery looking through these branches.

i felt limited by my attire as i could have probably gotten a better photo with wellies or water waders for a more central composition, however i feel this slight angle offers a nice perspective of the turbulent water passing under this bridge, maybe this could denote to the three billy goats that over come a troll that guards their passage

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looking for more interesting textures i found this brittle piece of bark that had dried out in the sun, even though this image is flat it presents some depth in the cracks of the natural structure, while lichen grows in patches in areas with nitrogen rich nutrients

i also experimented with taking some wildlife photos however im not convinced i like them as they present a very earth like vibe, as we are all use to seeing these kind of animals within nature and a simple filter wont change that, i feel having these images mostly void of living creatures is probably better, with only the few exceptions, maybe with better lighting this could work better but i’ll have to test and find out.

out of 300 raw images i refined them down to 20 jpegs and now down to 13, they show a range of ideas of experimenting with different concepts

this shoot looks closely at different textures that provide a rustic dystopian atmosphere, conveyed through the gritty grains of dirt that obscure informative text, we also see the grain and texture of wood exposed to the elements through weathering

this is similar for the lampposts with numbers and lichen growing around them, i really like the idea of creating a series of these numbers and using them as a scaled down page numbers within a book format as they offer a unique texture

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> Styling <

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following my styling and editing techniques, i really like hows the composition of this piece works, the draping of rope lays lazily from a branch above reaching from the top right to lower, connoting this idea of vacancy within the world at the moment, this should be an active rope swing but is left here to wither, its blue nature also helps separate this distance between the foreground and background pinks , allowing it to pop more and be at the forefront focus. in the last edit i also like the sunlight coming through, lightly illuminating the floor and rope with its pink glow

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rust has always been a great surface for texture as it represents the notion of a timeworn atmosphere providing depth and many tonal values. weathered by rain, wind ,and bleaching from the sun, it offers this state of abandonment showing us how man made objects fair in the wilderness after being forgotten to time. i really love the blue edit as its punchy with its saturated blue hues, compared to the IR edit which looks close to normal since these orange and brown tones aren’t really effected y the color inversion techniques.i might try and make prints of these for commercial purposes, placing them facing each other

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a similar thing can be said for these photo edits, however with this sign it obscures the informative text making us think about the forgotten ideals of man and their need to over analysis, i also really like the depth of field on this photo, shot at f/5.6 it offers a sharp focal point for us to look at while a large major of the photo is near unreadable echoing these thoughts that are provided by the grit

looking into landscape a but more, this photo over looks the A38 which main highroad through Plymouth linking Cornwall and most of Devon together, and in the distance is the chimney stack of the royal hospital here, this overlooking prospective showing the distance i travel to get these shots, conveying this disenchantment from our man made society, while seeking this alternative reality. i’ve also chosen to crop this image to a square format as this compressed boarder focuses our eye more on the subject at hand as i didnt like the huge skyline detracting from the interlocking spurs in this valley.

i like these paths that lead to a higher elevation as they takes us on this trail of adventure around the corner, offering a new perspective and way of seeing the landscape, the way the steps wind through the photo leading towards the background offer a dynamic photo and conveys and idea of motion through this landscape going from left to right. its also at this time, i notice my images are loosing a slight be of quality, this might be because of the jpeg compression from a RAW file but also might link to the saturation alteration

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looking more at the knots in the trees, i like these ones however they appear very flat with their front on perspective, i want to try and make these images more dynamic and interesting, as these are very simple and clearly state what im looking at, they are very aware of whats happening and so is the audience, i feel less is more and the stubbly of my images could be improved upon

after making a few posts on InstaGram demonstracting 3 diffrent editng styles i opened a poll on my story where my audience could interact and have a voice to provide their thoughts and any questions they had

i wanted to make it clear what i was doing by placing text boxes to explain what they had to do, and using numbers to illustrate my point. to these i put an images in a background for my text to rest on, making them more visually appealing for an audience to look at

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my first editing style consist of an inversion layer but pressing Control+J in the background layer, and then Control+I to invert this second layer, this will invert my image but if we change this layer type from normal to color, it apples these colors appearing blue, to this we can add a channel mixer layer and swap our blues and reds channels so we get this pink color from green foliage, additionally to these i’ve applied a hue and saturation layer reducing the hue to -22 changing the pinks to purples and increased the saturation +20 to make them more vibrant.

this method could be applied to separate images easily by using copy (control+C) and paste (Control+V) across the 3 layers, however, i noticed some of my photos were too saturated and lost some information in the processing which would make it awkward when it comes time to print.

> 05.04 <

though i like these strong hue + saturation edits, they have draw backs and weren’t well received by other only getting 13 likes when asking in a pole on IG

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my second series was attempting to imitate lomochrome purple by building on the previous edit but takes a more unique approach as i individually edited each photo so that they’d be how i imagined them, however, this was very time consuming as there were many files to go through and i didnt have time to edit them all, while these images did get well received im not sure its an effective way of producing a series of images.

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my third edit aims to have a more refined and simplest approach by removing the hue saturation and curves from my last edit, i really like this approach as it seems a lot calmer conveying a meditative state of mind linking to Ram Dass, these was also a lot easier to edit by just copying (Control+C) and pasting (Control+V) the channel mixing and brightness and contrast (20+) layer, to some of the edits i also added curves to make them more inline with the rest. doing this allowed for easy batch production of images taking away from that time consuming editing process.

this was thankfully well received by my audience getting 18 likes, preforming better than my other editing processes. this has made me decide to continue this refined editing process for it’s minimal and Japanese style inspired atmosphere

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at the end of my questionaire i placed a small text box where people could ask questions or give their feed back, this was very useful as it provided insight into my audience allowing them to express their view points further, rather than a simple slider, this also let me take the time to reply to each of them with a personal message

from this i also got some nice comments saying …

“I love all of the styles honestly. They are so different and I think the photos you chose to do each style with really suits it. But I’d say the most striking photos are in style 1 & 2 but I enjoy the subtlety of style 3 too” @ellie_jollyxx

“i like the first one, the purple makes them really pop and gives a unique style, the third one is my second my favioute, it looks calm ” @trinnychops

which are useful notes to take into consideration moving forwards

one of my main social media platforms for where i post my work is instagram @alex_lc_art and often seen by other art enthusiasts or photographers reading a wide audience. instagram has a very formulaic 3 box layout

wanting to plan my layout for a more cohesive look i’ve chosen to use indesign as it presents an easy document i can place images ive edited.

starting with a blank A3 document (420mm x 297mm) i divide my page into thirds, to mimic the IG layout, i then measured out 9 photo frames at 99mm x 140mm, making sure to edit this on the master page so it would be copied throughout, this would help when adding more pages.

im doing this because i have over 100 photos i feel are up to quality, however, i want to refine them down and post only key images, thinking about the context of what a final product might look like, focusing on sequencing, as each image shares a relationship with the images around, they should work as a whole to convey this idea of unity

i then placed in the photos i wanted from my infrared folder.,id right click and fit them proportionally to frame (Alt + Ctrl + Shift + C) along with (Ctrl + Alt + H) for high quality display for easier editing. this was a little awkward for landscape photos as they didnt fit in the boxes properly, however, this should be ok as its just a representation for myself for what to post on each day, IG will do a similar thing anyway when looking at the page.

from this, i was able to move around my images to where i wanted them and discard any i decided i didn’t want. i want to take note of how the photos communicate with one another as they are relative to each other. they should be unified not just by their colors and aesthetic but also by their composition as well

these posts will be posted from newest to oldest to mimic what my feed will look like, these posts also follow after my styling posts

> styling <

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coming back to this post on the 1st, i have come to realise a few kinks in my design layout, meaning there were some delays in posting and things happening outside of uni which effecting my schedule

since these posts follow on from my styling which concluded on 06.05. these photos started being posted on 13.05, i felt my feed was taking a turn towards the adventure side, losing touch with the original theme of ‘the trees have eyes’ i switched the first post to include this theme, kicking things off to a good start, however only getting 24 likes as of today, its performance falls below a 60% average

continuing on with my posting schedule, the next 6 posts received positive attention with a 37 like average, with the highest being 16.05 of the close up garlic blossoms, with 44 likes presenting dark purple foliage and white plumage, i feel this is due to the alteration in hashtags being used

#escapism #adventure #lockdown #infared #photography #hue #saturation #nature #alien #otherworldly #strange #bright #colors #red #pink #eyes #theyknow #landscape #forest #rest #relax #calm #meditate #japanese #eyes #theyknow #watching #waiting

this photo reached 100 people in total, using these hashtags i only reached 14 people, 6 of which weren’t following my account liked this photo. maybe these are too unconventional to be used with a low traffic rating?

#escapism #adventure #lockdown #infared #photography #hue #saturation #nature #alien #otherworldly #strange #bright #colors #red #pink #violet #theyknow #landscape #forest #rest #goblincore #cottagecore #meditate #japanese #calming #atmosphere #snowdrops #grove #leaves #moss

choosing to mix things up by 16.05 i introduced more hashtags relating to cottagecore , reaching 117 people, i recently came across these hashtags thanks to my love for frogs, goblincore refers to the aestheticisation of fantasy goblin culture, the love of small shiny rocks and bring them back to their hobbit holes/groves, they find themselves enriched by a natural atmosphere and moss.

cottagecore provides similar vibes and aesthetics, but refers to the romanticism of a small countryside life, with large gardens and lunchtime picnics, while holding cups of teas, they have an affinity for flowers, and thatched roofing

making this link to my work proved most effective as i started to gain more followers from this change and likes per photo

my next change occurred on the 26.05, by this point i had been posting the same editing style for 16 photos and im starting to feel bored of this after 23 days,which i image my followers are feeling the same. which makes me feel a lot of my photos might be filler as im trying to think about the layout’s composition as rows of 3 and grids of 9, tilting this post ‘feeling something new, something blue’ i used this as a central post for its central vertical aspects, it also sense for this post to be blue as any side post might have looked awkward or unconscious. receiving 28 likes, with 114 people in total views,i got 17 new like from accounts that werent following me, from this i also got 2 more follower

it was around this time i wanted to engage with smaller content creators, doing these meant searching small tags but frequently posted to hashtags like cottage and goblin core, setting the search from most likes to recently posted, this directs the serch to smaller accounts that might not get featured in weekly highlights by Instagram, spending about an hour a day going through these tags, commenting and like other creators posts seemed to gain me some attention and follow backs. when i started posting these on the 16th i had 180 followers, today i have 207, this shows a steady and constant growth in traffic, that might not have happened without these unique tags

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as this project starts to come to a close in its final days, i want to start posting fewer filler images and focus on more important key images

1 “They lurk from a distance, waiting and biding their time”
#escapism #adventure #lockdown #infared #photography #hue #saturation #nature #eyes #otherworldly #strange #bright #colors #red #pink #trees #theyknow #landscape #forest #camo #goblincore #cottagecore #meditate #japanese #calming #atmosphere #woodland #wood #leaves #octopus

this photo looks into octopuses and uses their ability of camouflage to convey the idea a predictor the lurks in the shadows to stalk its prey, as it blends into its surroundings this is denoted by the knot in the tree as it looks like a Cephalopod’s eye, the vines that wrap around it enforce this menacing glare as it aims to obscure and blend the creature

2 “We venture this world looking for a higher power to guide us through this life, to hold our hand, but it is often this hand that feeds us that we bite” #escapism #adventure #lockdown #infared #photography #hue #saturation #nature #hallucinations #otherworldly #strange #bright #colors #red #pink #trees #theyknow #landscape #forest #trippy #goblincore #cottagecore #meditate #japanese #calming #atmosphere #woodland #religion #plant #foxglove

this photo uses fox gloves to convey an idea of religion with connotations of spirituality as the sun beams through the polka dotted bells, the lower angle perspective of the camera looks up at this central subject conveying this idea of a higher power, linking to Ram Dass’ psychoactive substance induced states through the poisonous lens of hallucinations

3 “This tree’s root system reaches into the ground for nutrients, interlocking and becoming one with the rest of the world, they create harmony together”
#escapism #adventure #lockdown #infared #photography #hue #saturation #nature #unity #otherworldly #strange #bright #colors #red #pink #trees #theyknow #landscape #forest #trippy #goblincore #cottagecore #meditate #japanese #calming #atmosphere #woodland #religion #spirituality #tree

the third photo aims to build on this by linking to Ram Dass’ idea of unity, echoing this idea of spirituality by looking at the symbioses of the roots systems and insects that live here

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this wheel colors shows us the range of colors which are visible to our eyes, and is something that should be memorised and understood by every artist, learning how each color works together and how it relates to other colors on the wheel, however, these arent the only colors that exist, outside our spectrum of light there is a larger spectrum of light we cant perceive with our eyes like UV or InfraRed.

normally with our human eye, we see a spectrum of color known as visible light, these range from violet at around 400nm to red at around 700nm, however, this is only the tip of the ice burg as there are many different types of light not visible to the naked eye

ultraviolet travels at a faster frequency than visible light, ranging from 400nm to 10nm in wavelength. UV emitting lights are often used in labs to sterilise equipment as it is cancerous to living things, it should be noted that tanning methods like sunbeds expose the body to high levels of UV light for prolonged periods of time.

some animals like birds can see in UV likely because of the pigment inside an insect’s body which reflects these wavelengths back to the bird, in turn, providing them with an advantage when hunting prey.

infrared light travels at a slower frequency than visible light it ranges between 700nm and 1050nm, we can not perceive this color, some animals in the world are also capable of seeing in this spectrum like bees, other birds, and many insects. however that hasn’t stopped companies and film developers from assigning color to it- not will it stop me

> film <

using the color wheel from before by graf1x and putting it in photoshop, and by pressing Control+J we can double the background layer, and apply an invention layer by using Control+I to flip these colors (figure 8)

and then by changing the layer type from Normal to Color, it’ll apply these inverted colors over this image, turning our greens to blues and violets. while our yellows turn to lilacs, and our reds turn green (figure 9) in nature like this they appear mostly blue

however to this, we can add a channel mixing layer to invert the reds and the blues, this brings us into a pink world of IR (figure 10) and shows a similar a resemblance to Richards Mosses work in the republic of congo

to this i chose to apply a hue and saturation layer to enhance these colors, decreasing the hue to -22 and increasing the saturation by +20 (figure 11) these images shows a vivid color palette with these intense mystical aesthetic

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> styling <

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https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-pjjvt/download (accessed 18th May)

graf1x.com/the-color-wheel-poster/ (accessed 18th May)

while researching into digital means for black and white infra, i found myself looking into red filters and came across a few videos about the process and equipment. they recommended a high end expensive filter for the best results, however, being a student this isnt always possible

looking around on ebay i came across a many different brands

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141329414608

67mm IR720 IR Infrared Filter – £ 32.87

 the IR filters can block all visible light under 720, 850, and 950nm. offering a variety of selection for different conditions, i feel like this one will be better as it is more affordable, more versatile, and should convey the imagery i want – this is the one i ended up purchasing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hoya-67mm-R1-Red-PRO-HMC-Colour-Lens-Filter-New-and-Sealed-UK-Stock/264742743424?hash=item3da3e5ad80:g:z9YAAOSwyHFey5Q6

Hoya 67mm R1 Red Filter – £89.99

this IR filter is more expensive and out of my price range since, but might offer a higher contrast in the photos im aiming to produce, but without that variety, it may be a little limiting

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after my verity lenses arrived i took them outside to test

720nm filter at 4/s exposure and a f/5 aperture, this photo shows a strong contrast in a red hue, opening these in photoshop i was able to start editing them

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1 my first edit (left) has a black & white layer and plays with the curves, trying to increase the contrast of my image, however in doing this i have brought in too much black and my whites are now fading so a new approach is needed

2 my second edit (right) just removes this curve and plays around this the red and magenta values allowing me to increase and decrease them individually with a slider option

3 this was builds on the second keeping the black and white layer but introduces a levels adjustment layer, where im able to fix my problem, i could increase the dark tones without effecting the white values keeping them as bright as i wanted, if i wanted to take them further i could have added a exposure layer to increase this but i felt wasnt necessary

720nm filter at 4/s exposure and a f/5 aperture

1 my first edit (left) shows a similar thing to the previous photo with a B&W layer filter on top and a curve layer however i dont like this as my image appears washed out, my white arent punchy like i want but are faded, and yet still slightly bleached out as i dont have the clarity on the foliage

2 my second edit (right ) tries to fix this by removing the bad curve layer and just utilities the B&W layer to adjust the red and magenta tonal values, however, i also dont like this as my image appears flat as the values begin to blend together, i have the clarity but not the punch factor from those while leading to a low contrast between those values

3 fixing this with a level adjustment layer proved most effective as it allowed me to control the blacks and whites separately, rather than adjusting the whole image, this provides me with the ability to have darker shadows, while not interfearing with the highlights

this post has been compressed into one post and was originally meant to be three separate ones, however with difficulties of knowledge of my equipment and lack of, i have struggled to produce work in this area, i feel with the correct equipment and knowledge from work shops and uni loans this option might have been more viable. however i have tried to over come these difficulties by using a digital medium

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knowing this was a landscaping project i was really hyped to be working with analogue technology but with covid and moving back to Plymouth this didn’t seem like it would be possible, until mid way through, one of my photography friends in Plymouth, and i were talk and he mentioned he had recently bought a vintage camera, so i jumped on this opportunity asking if i could borrow it.

following some tutorials i worked out how to load the Agfa synchro box

Agfa Synchro Box

just by making observation of the Agfa synchro box camera we can see it offers a lot of unique features

made of steal it has a light tight interior, taking 6×9 medium format photos on a roll, and comes with two tripod attachment points for portrait and landscape photos, along with two convex view finders to help take these kind of photos, there is only one aperture that is set to a constant shutter speed of 1/30th of a second. there’s also a yellow filter

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Ilford SFX Film 120 B&W

B&W ISO 200

“SFX 200 film from Ilford is a premium B&W film created for high-quality and high-detail infrared photography. Add an intense red filter to get unique and powerful images. As always with infrared we recommend aiming your camera at full vegetation and dramatic cloudy skies. In medium format this infrared film will dazzle with its detail and other-worldly impact” Analogue Wonderland (accessed 8/5/20) https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/products/ilford-sfx-film-120-b-w-iso-200

as of today this is the only roll of film i tried to shot, until i realised i didnt have a way to read light on my camera, and without a light meter i was shooting blind, this was probably a poor mistake as i ended up wasting film. this also comes at a point late in the project where im not sure my film would be sent off and processed in time for the deadline, so this might not be a viable option.

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Rollei Infrared Film 120

Infrared ISO 400

“The optimum creative tool, this medium format film can be shot in two different ways. First – as a straight black and white film ISO 400, with a slight ghostly result due to the infrared sensitivity. Alternatively you pair it with a deep red filter to disproportionately focus on the IR spectrum! Trees will be bright white, people will glow, the sky will be dark black, and you will be rewarded with some of the most dramatic images straight out of the camera. Note that this will increase the necessary exposure significantly (it will respond at sensitivity of ~ISO 12-25)” Analogue Wonderland (accessed 8/5/20) https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/products/rollei-infrared-film-120-infrared-iso-400

LomoChrome Purple Film 120

Purple ISO 100-400

“A refreshed formula for 2019 and one of the craziest emulsions on the market today! Beautiful, bizarre, and very definitely purple – your photographs will transport your viewers into an alternative universe with colour shifts and surprising shades.” Analogue Wonderland (accessed 8/5/20) https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/products/lomography-lomochrome-purple-film-120

i researched a lot into lomochrome purple and was really excited to get the oppotunity to use it however it kinda sucks that i might not be able to use it. maybe over the summer or into next year i can get around to learning more and practice photography skills

following my last shoot up the drakes trail it was starting to get dark, today i decided to go back their to reshoot, using a IR750 hoya red filter and tripod – an alternative option for this shoot could have been analog black and white film, or converting my camera into a infra camera by taking out the high density light filter by sending off to a company.

out of 139 raw files taken over the course of an hour while walking. after returning home i refined these down to 26 photos in Bridge, and saved them as jpeg files so i could post them here by using the raw editor

from here i would edit these 12 red filter images down to 10 in photoshop, then i would add a black and white layer so i could control the intensity of my tonal values

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here i’ve demonstrating my use of bracketing, exposing my images at a 15secs and 20secs, the reason for these long exposures is because of the density of the filter being used, restricting a lot of the light that enters the camera. i like the first one more at 15secs because it shows a more dramatic lighting, where as the one at 20secs appears softer without these strong contrasts conveying a different atmosphere.

wanting to look at landscapes, i pointed my camera at the horizon of the hill to get a nicely composed photo and separating the mid ground from the background. by exposing my photo for 6seconds it seemed to provide good results since there was a lot of natural over head light provided by the sun.

from the bridge i stood, i was elevated over my landscape allowing for a better vantage point to view my subject. I’ve also pointed my camera towards the right of my preservative to give a more dynamic view of the landscape as it cuts across the horizon in a more visually appealing way, rather than the one above which is pointed straight forward.

i also really love the tonal values of these images as they present present a unique way of analysing our environment, these images juxtapose my pink IR images allowing us to focus more of the form and composition of the surroundings. i also notice there is a slight lens flare in this image or dust on my lens (however i made sure to clean all my lenses before heading out) i half dislike this for my black and white images as it doesn’t denote the same atmosphere, it looks like a smudge or a mistake that hasnt been made.

in this photo i wanted to showcase the crowded foliage of the twisting branches as they compete for sunlight above, the canapes from the trees collect the most amount of light and what filters down to the weeds below, let them coat the ground in sharp stinging nettles. there is this harmonious struggle for what lives here, this is a fight for all walks of life from small to big salvaging what resources they can use to provide life for their offspring.

even to the tiny undergrowth this struggle exists. for this one the lighting illuminates the strong allowing them to survive, while those in the shade are faded out and forgotten

i like this photo but i think i messed up the curve layer for the background as it appears very faint, i probably need to tweak this before releasing it to the public

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these photos show the tunnel from both perspectives, the first one is entering the tunnel where you can feel this cool breeze that’s locked to this area, as it travels up your spine, while making the hairs on your arm stand on edge. this photo is maybe slightly too over exposed as well since the foliage as turned a bleach white, maybe i should have worked more with bracketing

the second photo is shot from inside the tunnel looking outwards, this was meant to be the prospective of entering this alternative world, and if i wanted to convey this idea properly i should have captured this photo in IR using digital means rather than the black and white because it deosnt fit the idea narrative i want

it bugs me that neither of the photos are lined up properly, maybe if i had spent more time with each photo or if i were less concussion of cyclists, i could have made this more aligned to the centre of the image to giving a more composed look, i might have liked this more .

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i really like this image because it seems unconventional, why would you take a dense filter into a dark area. the small lights lead in a bend showing this distance in the tunnel since you cant see the other side, the darkness engulfs them, we cant see any surfaces the light is reflecting off of, just these lights to guide us

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wanting to look more closely at these lights i isolated one and was able to get some really nice details. these images show the parallels between the IR filter and my editing style.

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these are the other 12 images i’ve selected from my day out, here i have removed the IR filter as i wanted to capture a few more images from this location with strong ambient lighting. im at a point in my project where i now feel i have most of the photos i will need for my booklet and feel i can start putting the pieces together for it, and anything more is probably excess

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during one of my photos i accidentally under exposed the photo, however look at it while editing i thought it conveyed a good concept for night time as a lot of the light doesnt reach the camera, only areas with strong highlighting reflect back to the camera, i like this idea but it’ll be interesting to see how they relate to my other images

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after this shoot i realised i probably should have taking multiple photos of each image, since i used the tripod for this, i should have taken a standard RGB color photo, and then set on my IR filter so show a b&w and color comparison

i liked this method for producing b&w IR images as it allows me to take my time with each image because of the long exposures, i felt i needed to set up my shot properly in terms of composition and lighting before pressing my shutter button, where as without the dense filter it is quick and easy to point and shoot a shot