Making Contact Sheets 

A contact sheet is a positive print of all the negatives on a film. Making contact sheets is useful to see which are the best images on a film so you can understand which images you want to make enlargements of. The first step of making a contact sheet is to set up the enlarger in the dark room, first of all you will start off at 1; you'll set the enlargers colours to each number by looking at the papers on the wall. You'll put the film of images in the enlarger, picking one image, then make sure by turning the enlarger light on that the photo is in focus before making. After that you'll turn the light off and with the shiny side of the contact sheet facing upwards you will place that where the picture is lighted before and set the timer to 5. With a piece of card you will cover up sections of the contact sheet and press the timer at 5 seconds about 5 times, then press the timer again exposing all of the contact sheet to light for 5 seconds. After that you will put the contact sheet in three different acids for about 1-2 minutes depending on the warmth of the acid and after that you will place the contact sheet in cold water for about 5 minutes. After that you will see the picture slightly, going outside into the light you will see the picture fully. You will see the different sections and which section was the clearest and better quality/colour. For example if section 3 was the clearest you'd go back into the dark room and make a contact sheet full all over exposing it to light for 15 seconds. Then after that you should be able to see the image all over very clear and HD quality.

George Hurrell 

Background-History.

George Hurrell was a photographer, famous for his significant contribution to the famous Golden Age Hollywood MGM photography. He was born on June 1st, 1904 in the district of Cincinnati, Ohio, originally studying as a painter with no particular interest in photography until he discovered photography was a more reliable income than painting. After moving to California from Chicago, Illinois in 1925 his photography work was encouraged by his friend who often posed for him. Eventually he opened a Photography Studio in Los Angeles, California where he met actor Roman Novarro, (Hurrell took several photographs of him). He was so impressed he showed Hurrell's work to friend and actress Norma Shearer who requested he took photographs of her to make her appear more sophisticated and glamorous in hope of getting a film role. After showing photographs by Hurrell to her husband, MGM Production Chief Irving Thalberg, Thalberg said he was so impressed by Hurrell's work he immediately signed him to a contract with MGM Studios, making him head portrait photographer. Throughout his time at MGM Studios, before leaving, he photographed every star including the likes of Vivien Leigh, Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland to Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery and several others. In the early 1940's, Hurrell moved to Warner Bro's Pictures photographing, where he photographed many other Hollywood stars amongst Bette Davies and Rita Hayworth to Humphrey Bogart to James Cagney.
In May 27th, 1992, George Hurrell died losing his battle to bladder cancer shortly after completing a documentary about his life for TBS. Since his death, his work has continued to be appreciated and his photography can be found in many museums all around the world that display his collections.

My Chosen Photograph
This photograph is from George Hurrell's collection, showing famous Hollywood actress and singer Judy Garland taken in 1944. I chose this photograph as it shows the actress with a deep shadow cast over her but in a flattering way, and how the intensifying lighting is shone onto her really shows how Hurrell could transform a wholesome image into something more glamorous and sophisticated. The lighting in this image shows so much depth and atmosphere, it's interesting how in the 40's he managed to produce such dramatic lighting without using digital. This displays his work as a whole very well, he transformed wholesome images and made them into masterpieces, showing actresses and actors in a way that made them seem surreal and like wax figures.

More from Hurrell's collection 

                                                       Rita Hayworth, 1941. - George Hurrell

                                               Humphrey Bogart, 1938-9. - George Hurrell                                                     

                                                  Anne Sheridan, 1938. - George Hurrell

Street Photography

Street Photography                     Robbie Marsden

Street photography is an art photography that features photos being taken within public places and does not involve any arrangement. It’s observational photography, observing the lives on the streets or the urban environment and simply making exposures in a public place. 

Two images of my Street Photography. 

       


Some Photographers:

Laurent Roch mainly works in black and white in order to transcend the banality of everyday life:

http://www.street-photographers.com/author/laurent

Anastasia Rudenko is a freelance photographer based in Russia:

http://www.street-photographers.com/author/anastasiarudenko

Tips:

-       Some areas may be private for example shopping centers, so before taking any photographs a tip would be to ensure you’re eligible to take photos and ensure you’re not taking photos on private land.

-       Another tip would be to ensure that people don’t know you’re taking photographs, hold the camera low and try not to make it completely obvious as people could ruin the shot.

The final tip for street photography would be to make your pictures different and unusual. You can do this by taking photos from different positions and angles and also finding unusual locations with different scenery.
 

More info on Street Photography: http://www.street-photographers.com/

Portrait lighting: Which direction is the light coming from? 
 

   
1. The lighting in image one is coming from the left side of him, which is why you can see the shadow on the right side of his face

 2. The lighting in this image is coming from the right side of his face slightly from above which is why you can see the shadow on the left side of his face. 

3. The lighting on this image is coming from the centre but more of the right side of her face and slightly from above which is why there is a slight shadow on the left side of her face but not fully. 

4. The lighting in this image is coming from the right side of her face and also lighting from behind as you can see the outline of her hair. You see the lighting is from the right side of her face as you can see the shadow on the left side of her face. 

  5. The lighting from this image is straight ahead from where he's looking towards the camera, we know this as there are no shadows on his face at all. 

  
Street Photography - Chesterfield 

 
Annie Leibovitz. - Meryl Streep 

I like this photograph took by Annie Leibovitz as it's quite a simple portrait of the famous actress with good lighting and composition. Meryl Streep is just wearing a plain white shirt and white face paint and I like how she's holding the her face like it's a mask which could emphasise the fact that she's an actress and puts on many "different faces" for the camera. It's an interesting shot that's quite different and unique with a hidden meaning which is why I chose this photograph out of all photos taken by Leibovitz.