FINAL EXAM EDITING PROCESS
Editing my images is a multi step process but one that is designed to maximise the visual impact of the selected image and most importantly one that best enables me to create an image that best represents the feeling and emotion required in the image to comfortably sit beside the often harrowing stories of survivors of mental illness.
As previously demonstrated with the editing of my final project images I use Lightroom for the general grading and editing of images as it enables me to create a consistent set of images that have a consistent look and feel.
The screen recorded video below briefly follows the process.
Starting with the selection of the best image from my image library I am looking for the frame that is neither too sharp and literal or too blurry that it is unreadable. Through my experimentation during the process of taking the images I tried various combinations of IOS (film speed), Aperture and shutter speed. All images are taken in full manual mode.
Opening the image in Lightroom Develop mode my first step is to change the image from colour to black and white. As the images are captured in RAW file format they contain a great amount of shadow detail so I can then use the slider on the right hand side to lighten the shadow areas so as to give an indication of the shadow detail. I do not push this too far so as to keep the solid blacks that give the images impact.
A small adjustment in Clarity and Dehase balance impact with vivid whites and solid blacks partly as this is closer to the images in my minds eye but also as they reproduce better.
The image is then cropped to remove a small distracting element at the bottom of the image and finally the whole image is flipped horizontally so the car appears to be driving out the right hand side of the image.
The image is then saved and exported to my folder.
The black and white preset has been created so that a constant starting point is achievable so the series of images will work as a collection.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Some of these images however were far more involved than simply using Lightroom. For these images as previously demonstrated the following process was followed:
This method of printing was a multi step process and one that is impossible to reproduce each time due to the nature of the process and the materials used. The technique is detailed below:
​
1. The original image is graded in Lightroom to produce high definition and to remove any background distractions caused by the lighting.
2. A black only print was made onto a sheet of printer acetate that had been deliberately damaged and aged to ensure the "damage' would interfere with the printer.
3. A sheet of watercolour paper was moistened using hand sanitiser and a sponge. Please note that a hand sanitiser with a very high alcohol content is required so as to release the ink from the acetate and enable the transfer to happen.
4. The print was laid "ink down" on the wet paper.
5. The back of the acetate was burnished with a small hand roller to fully transfer the ink to the watercolour paper having been released by the hand sanitiser.
6. the resulting image was allowed to dry before being scanned.
7. Taken back into Lightroom the final image was refined.
​
​
The above technique was used to create the toned images in the book that have a distorted almost period feel to them. These are interleaved with pure black and white images that have only been edited in Lightroom.
​
​
​
​
​
​
