Sim Wars
As an exercise to explore the way colour can effect the impact and emotional response to an image I had the opportunity to document an event run on Dartmoor by the Devon Air Ambulance and emergency services called Sim Wars!
These images are presented in full colour, partial colour and Black and White to explore how I feel about the images in terms of their impact and the emotional response I get from them. By doing this I hope to better understand the use of colour in my cork and the power and control I have over the emotional response I can elicit from the viewer by the careful manipulation of colour within the image.
W. EUGIEN SMITH-
Section 1: Introduction
I was given the opportunity to photograph a simulated mass casualty training event hosted by Plymouth University medical school. this was a spring exercise involving actors, Devon Air Ambulance trust and professional special effects makeup artists.
Section 2: Objectives
My aim with this shoot was to investigate how the colour of images can change the feelings and impact of the image itself. in doing this I Wass trying to see if colour or the lack of (and in that case higher contrasts between lights and darks) can make an image seem more dramatic and to see if the colour grading of image can effect the viewer's experience of that image.
Section 3: Methodology (Materials & Methods)
Using a Canon 1Dxiii camera and a selection of lenses ranging from 16mm wide angle to a 200mm zoom. Adjusting settings to experiment with high contrast black and white imagery reminiscent of 1950s film and vivid colour with accented colours to accentuate the drama..
Section 4: Results
It is interesting to see how the same images processed and graded in both high contrast black and white and again in vivid colour have a very different "feeling" It was also interesting to see how some subjects lent themselves to one treatment more than the other and while it could be assumed that with the subject being a simulated major incident colour would be better I found that in my opinion the drama of black and white made for more powerful images.
Section 5: Critique
Several of the images when graded in colour in my opinion lost impact and by trying to find the correct balance I was in danger of producing a seres of images that did not read as a cohesive set but rather a series of individual images.
Section 6: Learning Outcomes
The images below demonstrate the final results.
