Initial research

The initial research for this project will start with interesting night photography on Flickr that I really like. I will provide links to individual works and discuss briefly technical skills and how it will influence my own practice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilkoallexandroff/8714263577/in/pool-nightphotography

I love this photo by Llko Alexandroff. The colours are so vibrant, created by the lights in the distant background. The sillouette of the camera on a tripod really stands out against the bright vibrant background. Also, I like the effort that has gone into showing the construction of the shot. The idea of capturing a camera that is capturing an image is particularly interesting. It is fun and engaging. The bukah in the background is created by lights that are heavily out of focus. I want to experiment with this idea in my own work as it is such an iconic and styalised way of showing beauty at night.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/airbutchie/8715601322/in/pool-nightphotography

This photo by airbutchie is great. It is of a water fountain in Los Angeles. It really shows the power of long exposure shots. The water has become a semi transparent, rather beautiful shape through the light reflecting of the droplets. This photo was taken on a tripod with a long exposure. The reflection in the water is vivid and the composition is strong- there is a strong central vertical presence. I need to consider using a tripod for long exposure shots when experimenting with night photography.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixel-eight/8715639458/in/pool-nightphotography

This photo was taken by user Pixel.eight. I have chosen to look at it because it shows the importance of lighting in night photography. I should consider using lighting that is produced from other sources than a flashgun. Here, car headlights light the scene and the figure. The prolonged exposure bluring the car but keeping the figure in focus creates a very interesting dynamic composition. Also, I have just noticed the humourous subject matter, the guy has his trousers by his ankles. Clearly this guy is drunk, but something like this would add a humourous tone to my ipad app, it would certainly be a photo that is loved by students. It is a typical student antic.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_bonta/8715430238/in/pool-nightphotography

This photo was captured by Max_bonta. I like it because of the overall hue of the photo. The long exposure has created a glow of yellow which affects the entire image. Bath is light by a yellow hue lighting at night, so perhaps this could be utalised and create consistancy in the tones of my night photography in Bath. In this photo, I believe a filter has been used to create the star effect coming off the light sources.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sakharnair/8707948469/in/pool-nightphotography

This photo was taken by Hansel and Regrettall. I have chosen to look at this because of the users use of colour. They have highlighted the colour of the cat and the brickwork around it is a monotone dark blue. This is an interesting way of capturing an interesting aspect in a composition. I should carefully select where the photos are taken, paying particular attention to overall colour of the composition and focus and use of colour to highlight certain aspects of an image. Also, I have selected this image because of the level of the shot. it is low, and a lot of the ground is in focus. It creates a very interesting point of view that highlights the cat in an unusual way. I want to experiment with the level that I take my night shots. The only issue that I have with a shot like this to convey aspects of Bath at night is that the overall feel of the image is rather foreboding and uninviting. I think this has more to do with the dark, cold colour of the ground which dominates the image rather than the shot level.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidkingham/8711805373/in/pool-nightphotography/

This is a stunning photo by David Kingham. I love the way that the night sky is captured. Obveously, it was a particularly clear night. The colours are intense. There is a fairly heavy grain to the image meaning that the photo must have been taken with high ISO. This is because shot time was short, he wanted to capture the meteor tail and I presume that it was a particularly fast event. Therefore, apeture was wide and ISO high. A beautiful photo like this would really convey the message of beauty that I want to capture to convey Bath.