Digital Imaging Guidelines

This looked to be a very useful website with regards to guidelines and best practice. Last 'news' updates was in 2008 so some of the technologies or ideas mentioned may have moved on but reading through it on the whole it all seems to be valid still.

UPDIG: Home

quoting from their website

The UPDIG guidelines aim to clarify issues affecting accurate reproduction and management of digital images. These guidelines were created to establish photographic standards and practices for photographers, designers, printers, and image distributors. The guidelines cover Digital Asset Management, Color Profiling, Metadata, and Photography Workflow.

Version 4.0 of the guidelines represents the industry consensus as of Sept 22, 2008. The guidelines were prepared by the UPDIG Coalition, with the help of many digital imaging professionals, software vendors, and hardware manufacturers. The UPDIG Coalition is dedicated to promoting standards for photographic digital imaging.

The Main Principles

•Digital images should look the same as they transfer between devices, platforms and vendors.

• Digital images should be prepared in the correct resolution, size and sharpness for the device(s) on which they will be viewed or printed.

• Digital images should have embedded metadata that conform to the IPTC and PLUS standards, making them searchable while providing relevant rights and usage information – including creator’s name, contact information and a description of licensed uses.

•Digital images should be protected from accidental erasure or corruption and stored carefully to ensure their availability to future generations.



ICC Colour Management

ICC profile-based color management defines color information in standard terms necessary for proper reproduction of images. Monitors, printers, scanners, and ideally, cameras should be profiled. Working and output spaces – such as Adobe RGB, sRGB, SWOP CMYK, (etc.) – should be embedded and preserved when opening files.

Monitor Calibration

Monitors should be calibrated and profiled with a hardware device. Visual calibration is not adequate for professional image editing. An accurate visual representation of the image is extremely important to the imaging process. Calibration standards range from:

• Gamma — 1.8 to 2.2 (or L*).

• White point — 5000K to 6500K.

• Brightness levels — 80cd/m² to 140 cd/m2

As a general calibration guideline, use gamma 2.2 and 6500K for both Windows and Mac. A white point of 5000-5500K is a common recommendation for offset printing. Set brightness levels in relation to the room’s ambient lighting. A calibrated and profiled monitor, in conjunction with good print profiles, will allow you to "soft proof" the intended output. A daylight (5000K/D50) light source at correct brightness is necessary to visually match monitor to print Brightness levels — 80cd/m² to 140 cd/m2 

Colour Space

Camera settings for color space can be critical when capturing TIFF or JPEG files. For raw image capture, it makes little difference how you set the in-camera color space, since you can set it just as effectively during postproduction. It’s generally better to choose a large-gamut space – such as Adobe RGB (1998), ECI-RGB or ProPhoto RGB – for JPEG and TIFF captures, and for image editing. It may be convenient to capture images in a narrow-gamut space, such as sRGB, if the pictures will not require color correction or tonal editing and you intend the images for web or sRGB lab prints. Note, however, you can convert a wide-gamut image to a narrow space such as sRGB, while a narrow-gamut image converted to a wide space will not (re)capture the colors of the wider gamut. Offset printing requires image files saved in a CMYK color space, which has a very different and narrower gamut than digital image files captured in RGB color. A good CMYK conversion requires both expertise and knowledge of the specific press and paper type. Simple mode conversions in Photoshop are not recommended. Photo lab prints often require the sRGB color space. However, some labs may have a specific color profile, either for embedding in the file or for use in soft proofing.

Resolution

Describe resolution of digital images either by pixel dimensions (width x height) for screen use or by physical size and resolution for print use. Express image resolution as pixels per inch (ppi), pixels per centimeter (ppc) or pixels per millimeter (ppm). But note resolution is only relevant when paired with output size (e.g., 8x10 inches at 300 ppi). Here are recommendations for common uses: • Inkjet prints: 180 to 360 (some say up to 480) ppi.
• Continuous-tone printing: 240 to 400 ppi. • Offset printing: 300 ppi is often specified, but resolutions of 1.3- to 2-times the halftone screen ruling are considered safe. This means 195 to 300 ppi for a 150-line screen. Newspapers usually print with 85- to 100-line screens, requiring – at most – images at 170 to 200 ppi.


File Formats

The best quality comes from capturing and editing in a raw file format. The advantages of raw file formats are: choosing color space when the file is processed; greater bit depth; the ability to adjust white balance, saturation, exposure (to a degree) and tonal characteristics; adjustable noise reduction; and correction for lens aberrations – all in a non-destructive manner. Raw files may be processed in a variety of software, from the camera maker’s own to many third party products, and even by using the built-in raw processing of Apple and Windows operating systems. Converting raw files to DNG format is considered an excellent method for archiving raw files. DNG was designed as a more universal file format than camera-specific raw formats such as NEF or CR2. File formats include: lossy compression types such as JPEG; lossless compression types such as LZW compressed GIF and TIFF, PSD and most raw file formats; and uncompressed types such as standard TIFFs. Some formats, such as JPEG2000 and HD Photo (JPEG XR), offer both lossy and lossless compressions. For the web, use JPEG. For printing, uncompressed TIFF is often preferred, although high-quality JPEGs (Level 10-12) can be visually indistinguishable from TIFFs, and some printers prefer their smaller file sizes.

Naming Files

 To avoid problems with files transferred across computing platforms, name files with only the letters of the Latin alphabet (A-Z, a-z), numbers, hyphens and underscores. Do not use other punctuation or symbols. Keep the full name to 31 characters or less, including its three-letter extension. Use file names that will not be duplicated. Multiple files with the same name cause problems for computers and people alike. Including the numeric date and the photographer's name is an excellent method for creating unique names.

Sharpening

Capture sharpening compensates for the loss of detail that occurs during any digital capture process. TIFF and JPEG capture allows for sharpening in camera or during postproduction. Sharpen raw files during postproduction. Do not sharpen heavily early in the image-editing process. Process sharpening counters the loss of detail in the post-production process. Process sharpening is also used for creative effect. Perform it after color and tone correction, retouching, image sizing, etc. or for creative effect. The goal is an image that is acceptably sharp, but never over-sharpened. Output sharpening should be specific to the final output size and the output system (printing device, paper, ink, etc.) and applied only as a final step before output. It is important to communicate when delivering whether output sharpening has been applied.

Metadata

EXIF, IPTC, IPTC Core Schema and PLUS are the current standards for embedding metadata in image files. Embedded metadata should include creator and copyright information, as well as searchable keywords and license information. Including useful and relevant information in metadata adds value to an image.

File Delivery

Digital image files may be delivered on a variety of removable media, including hard drives, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. Do not use adhesive labels on optical media, since they may separate and damage an optical drive. Printing directly on inkjet-writable or LightScribe media CD-Rs or DVD-Rs is a good way to provide information such as your copyright, usage license, file lists and disclaimers. For speed and convenience, deliver by FTP or e-mail. All image files should have embedded metadata. (For proprietary raw files, the safest route is to include the metadata in an XMP sidecar file.) Image file delivery should include ReadMe files.

Archiving

It is important to address the issue of who will archive digital image files. Basic decisions include what kinds of files will be archived and how the archives will be protected from format obsolescence and media failure.
Digital Image Workflow
No single workflow suits all photographers and all clients. A good digital workflow is the most efficient and automated way to get the job done. It should satisfy the clients’ needs, embed necessary information (metadata), embed color profiles, and automate the archiving and backup of files. A good workflow saves time and protects against losing images and the work performed to optimize them. Many software packages can be part of a digital workflow. New programs appear regularly, some aiming to be all-in-one solutions. You will need to test to see which program or programs give you the right combination of metadata handling, efficiency, speed and image quality.

Each section is talked about in more depth which for the moment I won't go into but I am going to bookmark this site as not is it informative it has links to more resources.

A quick scan of the above points has been useful as a check list although some of them may need to be looked at further.

I do use printer/paper ICC colour management
Monitor is calibrated
Recently discussed and explored colour space
Resolution is something I know about 'ish' but could do with investigating further
File formats, I use LZW Tiff and Jpeg, print using uncompressed Tiff
Naming Files, normally date first then subject or topic, never duplicated
Sharpening is always done last thing
Metadata, I do embed metadata but it is fairly basic so would be an idea to check my template as I did set it up a while ago and it tends to be generic. Should I do a very large project I would use a specific template.
File delivery is not something I have as yet encountered
Archiving is done to a portable hard drive and burnt to backup discs, but know I need to do some housekeeping to catch up with the discs
Digital image workflow, do have one but on occasion it varies slightly and I know I need to tighten up on it.

Project: Using type tools

Photoshop has type tools...and they can do lots of whizzy things. I have used them in the past but probably haven't touched half of what they can do. Because Assignment Two is the production of a book cover the basics need to be covered in order to complete the assignment. A few handy links are

John Nack on Adobe : 12 Tips for Photoshop Text

Adobe - Photoshop CS2 tutorial : Working with text in Photoshop

In the spirit of learning more I have dipped into a book on Photoshop, I say dipped into because it has over 1000 pages and at the moment I think some of the tricks, tips, tools and techniques are not what I need to know. Having said that how do you know until you find them? It's the Adobe Photoshop CS4 Bible, Cates, Abrams and Moughamian, Wiley Publishing 2009 and looks like it maybe something I will be needing to keep nearby to flick through every now and then.

I never knew that it wasn't until version 7 that text became fully editable vector text and there is a spell check command as well as Find and Replace! I've never found that before....goes to look.....

Now I've looked of course I knew it was there, but never really THOUGHT about it.....one of those menu commands I have seen but not used.....on with the exercise.....

Type is placed on a new text layer.

There are three ways to accept the text...

• Click the check mark icon in the Type Options Bar.
• Press Enter on your numeric keypad or Ctrl+Enter on your keyboard.
• Click on a different layer, tool, or panel.

Once accepted the layer changes name to the first 30 characters entered, but you can rename the layer by double clicking on it.

To edit text make sure the Type tool is selected and do one of the following:

• Hover the I-beam over the text in your document. It changes from having a box around it to being a simple vertical bar to show that you can edit the underlying text.Click on the text to enter Edit mode.
• Drag the cursor over text in a Photoshop document to highlight it, just as you would in a word-processing document.
• Double-click the T in the thumbnail of a type layer to quickly select all the text on a layer and enter Edit mode.

Text can either be horizontal or vertical with other effects such as warp added for special effects. Enabling Standard Vertical Roman Alignment displays each character the right-way-up, while disabling it rotates each character by 90 degrees.

Handy hint if you want to change how font appears on a book spine....



There are three different ways of entering text in Photoshop, point text, paragraph text, or text on or in a path.

• Point text is useful for adding short bits of text to a design, such as a title or caption.
• Paragraph text, which is text that flows within a defined rectangular frame, is more suited to adding a larger amount of text to a brochure or Web page design.
• Finally, you can use a vector path or shape to create typography that flows around a free-form shape.

Understanding fonts and typeface

We often use the terms “font” and “typeface” interchangeably, but in truth a font is a complete set of characters that contains letters, numbers, and symbols, and that has a common weight and style, such Helvetica light. Whereas a typeface is a collection or family of fonts which shares an overall aesthetic appearance....something to bear in mind when creating my book cover! As stated already there is so much more you can do with fonts but at the moment I'll leave my reading and research at this point.

Exercise: Getting started

Make a new Photoshop file A5 and type a heading using Verdana Bold 72pt, centre the heading at the top of the page.

With the type tool selected click and drag to create a box, type into the box having first changed the typeface to a serif font and reduced the size. Having entered some simple text I also experimented with the character thumbnails.



Text can be copy pasted in from other applications such as Word. Experiment with the alignment of the text by using the Paragraph panel. There are seven different thumbnails on the paragraph panel and they align the text either to the left, right, centre or justify.

The first three icons are the alignment controls, and they are used to control how the text flows in its bounding box. In the case of horizontal type, these buttons control whether text is left,centre, or right-aligned. When using vertical type, they control the alignment relative to the top, center, or bottom of the text box.

Used with point text, the alignment buttons control how the text flows relative to the point that the text originates. Left-aligned type flows outwards from the point to the right, while right-aligned type flows out to the left.



You can also remove hyphenation which is another important point to note.



Left align



Left justify

Centre justify

Centre



Right justify



Right align

  



Justify all

Justified text is fully aligned against both the left and right sides of the bounding box, or in the case of vertical type, it’s aligned against the top and bottom of the bounding box. The three justification options control how the last line of type in each paragraph is treated. In the case of horizontal type, justify left aligns the last line of type to the left side of the text box, justify right aligns it on the right, and justify center centers the last line between the two sides of the text box. The fourth option, justify all.

left align and left justify

I am guessing that you cannot see any difference in the align and justify options because of the amount of text used, it not being a paragraph. To demonstrate the buttons properly I repeated the task with a paragraph.





With a substantial amount of text you can see the difference between align and justify.

centre and centre justify



right align and right justify

Removing the hyphenation allows the text to flow more and using a paragraph of text has demonstrated the ragged edges of text when using the align option. There options are available to alter word and letter spacing if the justification leaves unsightly gaps.

justification options dialogue box

There is lots more about how punctuation can affect how the text appears but I won't read that bit until I actually come to needing it or I shall have information overload!



The initial Photoshop file has been created and saved for the next exercise.

Exercise: Applying a drop shadow to type

To give text a 3D appearance a drop shadow can be applied, applied properly this can be very effective. Usually when I apply a drop shadow I use the layer style option but this exercise demonstrates another technique which allows for more control.

Duplicate the heading layer

Click the lower of the two

Layers>Rasterize>Layer

Blur>Gaussian Blur, setting radius to 10 pixels.

With Move Tool move the layer down slightly

Set the Opacity of this layer to 50%

Experiment with different fonts,size,colours and blur.

Layer duplicated and rasterized

Gaussian blur @ 10 pixels

Shadow layer moved and Opacity set to 50%



Niagra Engraved, Times New Roman, Papyrus and Terminal @72pt opacity still 50% no blur.

Palantino Linotype, Calibri, Chiller, Vivaldi. Different pts and opacity and blur.

A typeface is comprised of a base font and a few variants, such as a semi-bold, bold, and an italic or oblique. If a certain chosen doesn’t include these variants, you can apply a faux bold or italic by using the Type palette. Most serious graphic designers avoid using faux styles as they alter the design of the font. As a rule, if a bold or italic version of a typeface is available, use that rather than faux styles. Once a font familyhas been selected, clicking the Font Style popup menu allows you to view the available font variant within the family selected.

useful terms to know.....

Leading
Leading refers to the amount of vertical space between the baselines of two lines of text; the term coming from the old days of typesetting when characters were engraved on pieces of lead, and horizontal strips of the metal were used to separate lines of text.

Kerning
Kerning refers to the amount of space between individual characters in a word.

Tracking

Tracking is similar to kerning, it refers to the spacing between characters, but tracking usually refers to tightening or loosening the spacing of entire paragraphs of selected text. Select a type layer, or highlight some text and choose a number other than zero from the Tracking popupmenu. You can also double-click the value in the Tracking field and manually enter a number, press Enter/Return. Or, you can position your cursor in the field and use your up or down arrow key to increase or decrease the tracking for the currently selected text.

Anti-aliasing
Anti-aliasing is a rendering technique used to smooth the edges of type on-screen. The pixels that make up the type that you see on your screen are square, and therefore can’t produce a perfectly smooth curve. Anti-aliasing solves this by partially filling in the hard edges between adjacent pixels to create smooth, curved edges. If designing type for a Web page or for display on a computer screen, it’s often more legible if anti-aliasing is disabled, particularly at small font sizes. You may also want to disable Fractional Widths, which can cause irregular spacing between characters. Photoshop has five anti-aliasing options

• None. This option disables anti-aliasing and results in text with sharp, jagged edges. Avoid this option at larger type sizes  Sharp. The sharpest type option.
• Crisp. This option produces some sharpness.
• Strong. Type is somewhat heavier.
• Smooth. Produces the smoothest edges.

The effects of the different anti-aliasing modes are most obvious at small type sizes, and again, in certain cases you’re better off disabling it entirely. Play with the different options, as they tend to produce varied effects, depending on the typeface you’re using.

.....then you can talk about Fractional Widths and System Layout, Horizontal and vertical scaling, Baseline shift....but I don't want to divert too much into fonts and typography, but it is interesting to learn things I didn't know. There is a lot to consider if into serious web or layout design to ensure the production of a professional site or page layout. The exercise was fairly simple to complete and shows how important it is to make the correct font choice when planning a publication, it also opens a huge can of worms as to how far you can explore Photoshop font techniques.

PwDP Part Two: Photography in publishing I overview

Part two: Photography in publishing I contains three projects and five exercises:

• Using type tools 

        Exercise: Getting started
        Exercise: Applying a drop shadow to type

• Choosing Type

        Exercise: Experiment with layouts
        Exercise: Choosing your imagery

• Photographic book covers 

        Exercise: Conceptual cover design

Project Using type tools

In assignment two I will need to create a book cover so it's important that I familiarise myself with the Photoshop type tools. This project and following exercises run through a lot of the basics and gives links to some online tutorials. There are lots more available so it is always worth researching to find tips, techniques and shorts cuts.

Exercise: Getting started

Create a blank A5 file and make a centralised heading with a bold typeface, investigate if necessary, the grid to help as a guide. Using the Type Toll click and drag to create another dialogue box. Text from word documents can be copy pasted into Photoshop. Experiment with alignment and typeface and size. The layered file needs to be saved for the next exercise.

Exercise: Applying drop shadow to type

Open the saved Photoshop file , duplicate the heading layer and create a drop shadow. Layers>Rasterize>Layer, Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use the move tool to move the layer down slightly. Experiment with fonts, size, colour, opacity and blur.

Project Choosing type

For Assignments Two and Three the only thing I will need to use is the type tool, however the choice of fonts will be of great importance. Without getting to involved in the aspects of typography it is necessary to know enough about fonts to know what will work. Some general considerations are

• Choose fonts which are easy to read
• Intended use ie Display Font (large font) for Headings and Titles for books 
• Serif typefaces are generally considered as easier to read for large amounts of text as opposed to sans-serif. 
• Use of contrasting fonts for different kinds of text.
• If in doubt stick to familiar fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Georgia. 
• Use no more than two or three fonts in a single layout.

Exercise: Experiment with layouts

Taking a simple layout comprising a picture, heading , body text and caption. Following a few more provided links on typography and thinking about the previous exercises produce three different versions of the layout. Which one is best and why?

Project Photographic book covers

I need to visit my local library and bookshop and browse through the photographic book covers. Note the images and think about the thought processes behind each one. The image has to have an impact, gaining the readers attention, holding it and be relevant. The next exercises focuses on the reasons for success.

Exercise: Choosing your imagery

Find an example of books featuring certain characteristics, trying where possible, to have an actual copy of the book rather than viewing the image online. Look for:

• an out of focus photograph
• an inverted photograph
• an historical archival photograph where the subject is slightly obscured
• a still life close up
• a minimalist landscape or outdoor scene with a large area of sky

For each example write approximately 100 words describing why the publishers adopted this design. Have a copy of the example in the answer.

Investigate book cover design as an overview, consider stock photography versus custom made images, also the role of concept.

Exercise: Conceptual cover design

Looking at the six book covers provided this exercise is an analysis of the possible thought processes of the art director/designer. To know how clever or successful the imagery is I need to get hold of the actual books and familiarise myself with the content. Note which were easy to produce while others needed location and props.

Contrast the six books with three more that have a differing approach. Ponder upon the problems of copyrighting a concept.

Accommodating type

A cover image has to have sufficient space for the title and authors name, as well as any other information that may need to be included. An added sophistication is the ability to build the typography into the image.

Assignment Two A photographic book cover

The brief is to design a book jacket which must wrap around, include the front cover, spine and back cover. This will be for a work of fiction using my own photography and the image used must have been shot specifically for this project.

Choosing a book title

Chose from

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Choice by Renata Salecl
1984 by Geroge Orwell
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Remains of the Day by Kazu Ishiguro
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart.

So planning.....

Explore type tools in Photoshop
Experiment with layouts
Visit the library to get hold of specific books
Research links provided as a starting point
Further research re design layouts and photographic concept ideas
Once book/concept has been chosen plan photoshoot.

one .... two ... three .... go...

Having Paused....

Or not as the case maybe...I paused in going forward but have spent about a week reviewing and thinking about everything done so far. Tending to put a lot on my blog do I put too much in? Should it be more short one liners and run? I find writing helps me focus on what I should do next, makes me read the brief properly if I type it out....there are lines to be read between, don't just follow the brief, do more...how will I know if the more is enough? When to stop? I guess you find out when you hand over the assignment. The good thing is you can always revisit and rework and learn more. Note every step you take...remember you have to prove what you have done.

I revisited some of the exercises, having received the full module and spotting a few bloopers with my captions, removed obvious statements and unnecessary words. Tightened them up a bit, it is a tricky thing to do and there will be more where they came from later on in the module so best brush up on it!

The overview of the course aims are 'to prepare you to produce images of an appropriate standard for a variety of market segments and to develop your understanding and prepardness for professional practice'.

Absolutely everything has to be spot on, I will have to turn the spotlight onto myself and really question everything I do, why am I doing it, do I understand what the consequences are or am I just doing it and hoping for the best? Honestly? I am still learning so much, it is probably a mixture of the two...I think XYZ will happen and sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't :o/ Somethings I do automatically and don't log it so can't duplicate it......I think my brain will just keep going into overload mode...

All that keeps spinning around is experiment, play, learn... :oO Even when I have played will I understand? Only one way to find out I guess.....

Time to stop tweaking and revising, make sure what has been learnt sticks and move onto Part Two: Photography in Publishing I.

Bill Brandt Part 2

Part two of the 1983 interview with Bill Brandt. He is looking through his images and discussing them as he turns the pages. A short video, but as with the other full of ideas and snippets of information about the background of images we see time and time again.

Some of the images are of during the blitz and people sheltering, Brandt took advantage of an ongoing situation to document what was happening to everyday people and how they coped. He also took advantage of the blackouts, describing the effect it had on the light, how soft it was with just the moonlight, how some of the architectural shots were long exposure, up to 20 minutes, but there was no risk of cars or other lights to spoil them.

He admitted to not looking at his work that often, and not even liking all of it, but had to accept that some would be published because that was what the magazine was after. This point ties in with the coursework, which is really all about preparing images of a prsfessional standard and for a variety of market segments, you may not want to take a certain image, or present it in a certain fashion, but he who pays the piper plays the tune!

On portraiture he tells us he likes taking photographs of people in their environment, as backgrounds can give information about the people. I think this is true; when you compare his images to those of David Bailey, who uses a plain white backdrop, there is nothing within the image to give you a clue to who the subject is or their personality. Arguing against that, I am not sure what Primrose Hill says about Francis Bacon, but there is more information within the image to make you question and think.

All the portraits Brandt has taken were, on the whole, for assignments. You cannot fail to note that everyone always looks so serious. This is a style adopted by Brandt. He tells us thats because he wants his portraits to have a longevity, that they should be around for 20-30 years, they are not family album snapshots and that someone smiling all the time would be 'irritating' after a while. Another one of his traits is perseverence (another lesson to learn) he visited Picasso about 10 times before getting him to pose and used the ploy of photographing his wife so Picasso then asked 'why aren't you photographing me?' Brandt's gentle humour comes over in this film and he admits that Picasso was a happy person and to get him to be serious was a struggle, out of the whole series of shots he only managed to catch him not smiling once....good job that one came out ok!

Enlightening video clips...will watch the next part soon...

Husain and Hasan Essop... and more on the Constructed Image.

I had never heard of the Essop brothers before going to the V&A Facts and Fictions Exhibition earlier this year and was struck by their images, not only the content but also by how they were produced. Hasan and Husain Essop are twins which assists with their collaboration. They share an upbringing, religion and identity. This means they can address and confront issues relevant to themselves from the same perspective

The exhibition information told us that the scenes within Halaal Art are digitally reconstructed but other than that not much detail. The video on the V&A website goes into a little more depth. To understand their images it helps to understand their intention, concept and methods.

Figures & Fictions: Hasan and Husein Essop - Victoria and Albert Museum

Husain describes how on entering his parents home you will find no pictures on the wall so it is a strange concept that their sons became artists. Part of the Muslim faith stipulates that the human form should not be depicted in art. 'There’s this idea in Islam that it’s not very permissible to put up pictures of people on your wall and we grew up with that.'

Halaal Art fulfilled their desire to explore the space and identity of modern day Muslim youth.To overcome the problem of representing the human form they photographed themselves meaning 'any judgment' was 'going to be only on yourself'.

It was reassuring to read that in the beginning, although they found a concept to draw inspiration from, a theme that would go through the body of work, it took them several years to really establish how to approach and successfully deliver their ideas.In fact Husain's coursework was initially failed.

Once they devised their concept (east/west conflict, the environment where they live, Muslim life) they set about capturing the scenes. Their images are constructed in two ways, firstly as the scenes are carefully set and posed, secondly with manipulation by combining images to create the final collage.

As their work is stitched together a tripod in an integral part of their equipment. Prior to visiting locations they discuss in detail the image they want to achieve. Camera set up, test shots are taken to check the light and then one of the brothers will do a series of performances, trying to remember the space occupied as they don't want to overlap characters.The roles are then reversed. Hasan usually poses first and if they need to be photographed together they will get a third party to press the shutter. On looking really closely at the photographs on display I could not see where one image was joined to the next; the manipulation of the layers is brilliantly executed. “The layering is the tricky part,” Husain explains, “It is time-consuming but simple, if you know Photoshop.”

http://www.enjin.co.za/magazine/sections/art/714-doing-it-ourselves

Husain describes how two images, 'The Night Before Eid'  and the abattoir shot, work together; they show sheep being slaughtered during the day and being cooked at night. Another device for continuing links and visual themes within a concept.

A slideshow of their work can be seen here GOODMAN GALLERY : artists | show

Reading various interviews it has become more apparent that their own personal experiences have led to the work they produce, the attitude of their lecturers and fellow students at university, Hasan's experience of Hajj, environments and situations from their memories.

What I enjoyed about the Essop brothers work was not only the images themselves but that they are an excellent example as to how to approach producing a portfolio; drawing upon personal experience therefore fully understanding the topic, initial ideas/concept, how to resolve problems, planning, execution, ensuring images work together and production techniques. All things that should be followed when producing an image.

I visited the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2009 exhibition at the npg, one of the images that stood out for me was Wall Street Subway by Reiner Gerritsen. At first it was the sharp focus of all the faces that drew my attention, then I noticed the contradictions within the frame, the difference in sharpness/blur that just couldn't be achieved in a single shot. Later investigation proved that this was a constructed image. Reiner works differently to the Essop twins. His approach is more along the lines of street photography. He does not use a tripod, but quickly fires off 5 or 6 frames focusing on the individuals in front of him, hoping that none come out blurred. He later then stitches the images together, replacing the blurred faces with the sharp ones. He intentionally leaves the stitching together obvious.

At the time it caused some consternation with other students who were also at the exhibition, but I liked it, appreciated the artistic concept and because it was an obviously constructed image found no problem with his approach.

I later found this YouTube video which briefly explains his way of working and his influences



Isa Silva and Lottie Davies are two other photographers who use constructed images, and don't solely focus on one genre. Something that appears to be a trend with some of the photographers I have been studying recently, Nadav Kander for example shoots portraits, landscape and social documentary.

http://lottiedavies.com/extra/aesthetica.pdf

ISA SILVA PHOTOGRAPHY

Lottie Davies - Photographer

Is constructed imagery becoming more popular? Possibly, Jim Goldberg won the Deuche Borse prize, Thomas Demand was a nominee, Lottie Davies won the Taylor Wessing prize in 2008, Reiner Gerritsen a 2009 nominee and the Essop twins were Spier Contemporary 2010 winners, being awarded one of the career development prizes by the judges.

Lots of things to think about and possibly apply to my own work

Colour Space

Loads of debate and discussion goes on about the use of colour space and is it worth using something which uses a wider gamut that your monitor displays. I read an article a long time ago by Andrew Rodney who gave some insights about what the colour spaces are and problems that can be encountered by using them. It was published in the Professional Photographer magazine October 2005 edition, the review can still be found online. RGB working space debate, Part II, by Andrew Rodney (2005, October)

I took on board his points with regards to using a wide gamut allowing a photographer to archive all the colours that a scanner or sensor can capture that an output device may not and that some printers can print more tones that can be seen on a monitor so have been using Prophoto. Some of the issues surrounding using such a large gamut is editing colours that you can't even see, something he mentions in an earlier article published in 2004, and possible banding. Why you need a working space, by Andrew Rodney (2004, March)

Must admit to not having an issue with regards to colours when printing due to colour space (well to my untrained eye :o/) Any real issues have been with images coming out a little too dark, so have adjusted my monitor brightness, and if non Epson paper is used ensure that my printer has the colour profile for it. Even using the alternative pre set options for the papers I have tested the results come out a bit dodgy...great technical term...The Epson R285 does not have profiles for some papers I would like to experiment with, the manufacturers websites don't provide profiles for lower spec printers, therefore I use only Epson paper and Epson inks.

Wanting to know more about the different colour spaces I did an experiment using the Granger Rainbow





The original file was created using LAB colour space and then converted to AdobeRGB 1998, sRGB and Prophoto, not sure how well the results show online but I could definitely see a shift of the colours on my monitor and then when the images were printed out.

The LAB images looks horrible, with the pinks looking a murky grey/lilac pink, the blue tones were definitely less than shown on the monitor.

The sRGB image when printed was a very close representation to that which was on screen.

The AdobeRGB 1998 image looked very similar to the sRGB and also printed a very close representation.

The Prophoto image also had a fairly close representation to the screen.....

Am not sure how helpful this experiment was as it is a manufactured image, a better test would probably be with a photograph where I could reference to the actual scene to gauge true colours and tones. Looking for smooth saturated tones and colours which they all seemed to, although the amount of ceratin tones and colours shifted maybe I should try with the printer test file I used to calibrate my monitor...hmmmmmmmmm.

Not sure what I have learnt from this exercise other than what was on my monitor was reflected in the printing, so happy with the calibration, although the darker tones are printing a little darker than I'd like still, but not by much. This was more apparent on the Prophoto test, as was less obvious smooth transition between the yellow tones, so a good a reason as any to change my workflow as much as it being the advice of Joe and the problems that you can encounter of trying to edit something you can't actually see.

Printed images are in my learning log.