{"id":1805,"date":"2025-05-15T22:40:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T21:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10679885\/?page_id=1805"},"modified":"2025-06-03T10:46:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T09:46:17","slug":"final-major-project-aqueous","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10679885\/final-major-project-aqueous\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Major Project: Aqueous"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aqueous: Finding a Theme<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

To begin, I wanted to find a theme to focus on. Because my Specialist Industry Practice is in Advertising and Product photography, I decided to use the technique of a Lotus Blossom mind map to decide on a good topic to do. I used this to create 8 different topics and think of different things that I could do to expand on those ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 3 that I would like to mainly focus on are drinks, food and aqueous. I will be conducting a test shoot for each of these ideas over the first week to decide which one I like the style of more and which one I would like to continue doing. Alongside this, I will be doing research into the different areas to increase my knowledge in the specialisation for future use. With all of these topics, I will be improving my technique in physical prop making and altering, studio technique and camera control to ensure a good quality outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For this section, I will be focusing food photography. This will be mainly focusing on advertising photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stuart West<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stuart West<\/a> is a London based studio photographer specialising in food and drinks photography. He has worked with such people as Sainsburys, Ocado and Magnum Chocolate. His work is usually studio based with use of colourful backgrounds to match his subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This image features a single chip stabbed with a fork with some ketchup on it. It has a simplistic background, a yellow to match the chip while being different enough to create a contrast. The fork used here is interesting. Instead of going for the typical four pronged fork, he used a short three pronged fork reminiscent of the wooden forks commonly found is fish and chip shops across the UK, a staple of British culture. There is also some ketchup on the chip, a common dip to go with chips. This classic pairing appears reminiscent for the viewer, going well together like red wine and steak. It is shot from a front on perspective and is lit from the top left, shining down on the chip like the sun, another common theme of eating fish and chips on the seaside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This image is of some peas that are arranged where the pods are slightly transparent. This is a very interesting way to show the peas, resembling an image in a microscope of tiny organisms. There is a natural reverse vignette stemming from the light being in the centre and coming behind the peas, moving outwards to a yellow-green hue to match the subject. The colour green promotes the idea of health and nature, with the latter linking back to the idea of organisms under a microscope. These peas also appear to be thinly sliced horizontally, mimicking a small sample of something, again linking back to the microscope idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drink<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For this section, I will be focusing on drink photography. This will mainly have a focus on advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Wonnacott<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Martin Wonnacott is a London\/NYC based advertising and product photographer originally from the UK. He had worked with some of the biggest brands in the world such as Coca Cola, Lipton and SmartWater. His work is a mix of studio based visuals and on location advertising shoots with interesting uses of lighting, framing and ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This shot is of two Jack Daniel\u2019s Coca Cola mixer cans colliding. The collision is in a typical \u201cCheers!\u201d fashion, a familiar movement and action for most to understand. This is used to create the movement of the water, showing the condensation of the cans off, promoting the idea that the cans are chilled, cold and refreshing. There is also two different types of cans being shown, one regular and one with zero sugar Coca Cola, showing off variety. This shows that there is something for everyone. There is a vignette created with the red central lighting in the background fading out into black, putting the focus towards the centre of the image. The use of red is also very common around food and drink products, promoting the idea of hunger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Mawson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mark Mawson is a London based studio photographer specialising in advertising and aqueous photography. He is known for his incredibly varied portfolio and interesting imagery, advertising for different companies such as Gap<\/a>, Nespresso<\/a> and Sherwin Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is an advertisement for Zero Sugar Coca-Cola. It features a Coke can covered in condensation. The condensation is used in conjunction with the text to write the slogan for the product \u201cIncredible taste. Zero sugar.\u201d The \u201cZero\u201d is highlighted by being written from the condensation, adding to the idea of the drink being fresh and refreshing while also putting emphasis on the zero sugar as a selling point. There is also focus with the lighting on the O in particular, which also matches really well. The red colour palette is very recognisable as Coca Cola while also having connotations of hunger. There is also a tagline in the bottom right that doesn\u2019t distract from the image while reinforcing that idea. This is also seen in the bottom right, where the brand logo is shown to reinforce the brand\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aqueous<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For this section, I will be focusing on aqueous photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim Keever<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kim Keever<\/a> is a Florida based artist that uses his knowledge of science and engineering to create masterpieces. He was an ex-NASA employee with an extensive background in engineering who quit his job to pursue a passion in photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This piece shows a pale blue cloud. It is reminiscent of a more sab but solemn piece due to its colour. I personally see the idea of a ghostly woman emerging from the cloud itself, perhaps to look back on her life or to look down upon someone she left behind while moving into the afterlife. This is caused by the little details of the clouds, moving uniform but disjointed like curly or frizzy hair. I also like the use of framing, filling almost the entire frame with this cloud but having it slightly off for a bit of imperfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Mawson<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mark Mawson is a London based studio photographer specialising in advertising and aqueous photography. He is known for his incredibly varied portfolio and interesting imagery, advertising for different companies such as Gap<\/a>, Nespresso<\/a> and Sherwin Williams<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This image is one of the collaboration pieces Mawson did with Sherwin Williams. It is composed of a silky cloud behind some text and an image of the paint can being advertised. The main focus of the image is the text, a white on a bold background created by the cloud. This cloud also matches the colour of the paint being sold, showing off the product in an interesting and creative way. The text is placed on top of the cloud, drawing your attention to both the text and the cloud at once without taking away from the overall image. There is also a link to the website below the can to make to easier for consumers to know where to purchase the product, giving access to people who may not have previously known of the brand. The use of the clean font is very fitting, being simple but effective. This all creates a very interesting image that is composed beautifully with the brand and consumer in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Overall, all of these ideas would be interesting to follow, but I am leaning more towards combining two of the ideas. I am thinking about using a Mark Mawson style for the aqueous photography advertisement, but blending it with Martin Wonnacott\u2019s style of drink photography. This could create some interesting visuals that I may explore in a future photoshoot to test out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aqueous: Photo Essay<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For my photo essay, I decided to search up how people do photo essays in product photography. I found that a common method is to tell a story or explain the process of using a product through a series of pictures. This is a technique commonly found on pages like Amazon, where products can have a showcase. I will link a product that uses this technique<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will be attempting to replicate this technique in a similar way by using some shots of a phone. I will be using my phone for it and will be learning how to create the various shots used in commercials for use in photography and various photoshop techniques that do not alter the appearance a lot but are still able to make the product look nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will be using my phone for the shots because I have easy access to it. Although it is not brand new, because this is just a test shoot I an fine with using it to create a concept for what the full shoot could be like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a Shot List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The amount of pictures that are required is 8 for this photo essay. Because of this, I will be coming up with a simple shot list of ideas for the shoot. These ideas will be listed with a reference image that I will be using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The phone floating while spinning on its corner similar to the shot found in Kyle Nutt\u2019s CASETiFY ad<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The front of the phone and back of the phone overlapping like the first shot in this product showcase<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A side on view shot with just the front of the phone similar to the first shot in this article<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The back of the phone, replicating this product shot<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. A front, back and side view, replicating the iPhone 6 picture from this article<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. A shot from behind a model of them using their phone, similar to the opening image of this article but from further back<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. A simple front on view shot of someone holding the phone like the shot at the start of the advertisement on the Apple Website<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Showing someone paying with Apple Pay like the image from this article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I will be using these images to create a full show of the iPhone. Because of the style of video essays, I will be doing minimal editing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contacts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    <\/object>photo essay contacts<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Finals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    These are my finished shots. They leave a lot to be desired, but the only editing I did on them was changing some of the positions to create the shots. If I were to do a proper shoot, there would be much more thought, preparation and editing put in to make sure the outcome was good. However, I think that this is still able to show off the phone and explain some of the main features in the style of a story as a photo essay requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Due to the length of the project, a photo essay could be a good way to go about doing an advertisement. This could show off a product in a lot of different ways. However, I feel like this is more suited for things that have multiple purposes. With my plan to either focus on food, aqueous or drink photography, I do not know if this will be the best way to go about it. However, I will keep the idea in mind for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Aqueous: Project Proposal<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
    Mackenzie Collier Project Proposal<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Aqueous: Pinhole Photography<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    For part of my experimentation, I will be doing pinhole photography. I will be doing this to try and discover ways I can create outcomes using out of camera techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What is Pinhole Photography?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Pinhole photography is a style that uses a pinhole camera<\/a>, categorised by its simple design of essentially being a lightproof box with a small hole to function as the aperture. This allows you to use multiple different forms of recording, such as using 35mm film or a form of darkroom paper to create your image. The pinhole camera itself can also be created using a multitude of methods, the most simple being to lightproof a coffee tin or some other tin with black paint, poke a small hole in the side and placing a piece of light-sensitive paper inside. This will allow you to expose the paper to a form of light that can then create an image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How does it work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The basis of a pinhole camera comes from the concept of camera obscura<\/a>. This is a natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a small hole (aperture) into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) projection of the view outside (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019<\/em>). This is also used in digital cameras and film characters, but the pinhole camera uses the bare principle of camera obscura.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What do they look like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This is an image of a well made pinhole camera. It was designed by Ondu Pinhole, a camera design company that specialises in pinhole. This is the Ondu 6\u00d76 Mark 3 Pinhole Camera<\/a> that uses 120 format film to expose the image. As you can see, the designer has used a box of similar size to a small camera body to keep the weight down for the camera, weighing just 350g.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why Pinhole Photography?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I decided to use pinhole photography because it creates some really interesting looking landscapes that can be used for things such as fashion advertising or backgrounds on bottles. It also can link into using cyanotypes by inverting the image back and cyanotype it onto something like a tshirt to advertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My Attempt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    To start, I needed to create the pinhole camera. I first removed the coffee and painted the inside black. This made it so that the reflective colour on the inside would not disturb the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    To make sure no light could come through the top, I taped the lid of the container with electrical tape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Now to create the pinhole, I bored through the container on the side with a hand drill. After carefully removing the sharp metal, I placed a small piece of card that I would use for the hole. I taped it to the container and poked a small hole using a pin, hence the name \u201cpinhole\u201d. After this, I added a piece of tape I could use to cover and uncover the hole to mimic a shutter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Now, it was time to shoot. I decided to test, I would use a space just outside of college that had a wall with a view of the city. I did this because there was a lot of variety. There were signs, cars and buildings with intricate details which allowed me to see how much detail the pinhole camera could capture. I decided that timing the shots was best, so I used a 15 second, 20 second, 30 second and 40 second shutter time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After I took these pictures, I developed them in the darkroom. The process for developing is fairly simple. You first use the developing fluid for about 30 seconds to a minute. This reacts with the paper to turn exposed parts of the image black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Next is the stop bath. This is used to prevent the image from further developing by halting the process. The image is usually left in here for about 2 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The final liquid is the fixer. This prevents further exposure and protects the paper, making it permanent. You would try and leave this in for a while, so I left it in for about 15 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    After this was done, I put them in a water bath and left them for about an hour. I then put them on the drying rack and left the finals to dry overnight and collected them the next day. These are the images from top left to bottom right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Because of the sunny conditions, I did not have to activate the shutter for long. The 40 second one was way overexposed, the 30 second one was still quite overexposed and the 20 second one had bad framing due to the placement being slightly off. This left the 15 second one, which had the best exposure of the bunch. It managed to capture a surprising amount of detail, down to the windows, the logo on a van and signs. To further develop this idea, I scanned the best one and put it into Photoshop to invert it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    This created an effect similar to old film cameras and reminds me of a style you would see in a locket your grandma owns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Overall, this was an interesting experiment to do, but I do not think it has much application in the style of photography that I want to do. To link to advertising, it could be interesting to advertise a shirt with these style of pictures pressed onto them, but I am not focusing on fashion style advertising, so I will not explore this further. However, this could be interesting to explore if I was going into fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Aqueous: Work for the Holidays<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    To begin, I will be doing some simple aqueous shots to get myself back into doing this style of photography. I start by using the setup described in my test shoot page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Test shoot 1<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I decided to use green for this first test shoot on a white background. I had no reason to do this because I was just getting used to doing it again and green is my favourite colour. I used 1\/200 shutter speed to freeze the pictures aswell as using a simple f5.0 and 800 ISO. This created images that looked like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/object>first shoot green shots<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    These shots were ok, but I had numerous issues with them that I wanted to fix. The first issue was the background. I much prefer using a black background for a few reasons including that it makes the colour pop more, the depth is much better and that a dark background complements the feel of the clouds not being made with water. I also made the consistency a bit too thin, so near the top of the clouds you can see some fraying. I think that my use of space could\u2019ve been better by putting the camera closer. By putting it too far away, I was making the usable area smaller so my picture would have less quality. I also had to place the container far away because I was using a 55-250mm lens, which would only focus at large distances. This meant that although I was using the small box, I still had to use the self timer mode which meant I could only get 10 shots each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Plans for the next shoot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Overall, it was a good shoot to get back into things, analyse and move forward with these plans in mind. I will be using a different colour, changing the background to black and switching my lens to try and improve the images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Test Shoot 2<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    To follow this shoot, I decided to take the advice and things I had learned previously and apply them. I switched up the background which complemented the colour better, I used an 18-55mm lens so I was able to place the camera closer meaning that I was able to use regular continuous shooting and I framed the pictures better so I was able to get a higher quality image. I switched to using red this time because I find that the a deep red can produce some very nice silky looking clouds that would be quite good in advertisements, such as the Loreal advert produced by Mark Mawson<\/a>. This produced the following images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/object>second shoot red shots<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This shoot went much better than the shoot before it. Using the black background with the red made a much better contrast and the red looks nice. The focus leaves a bit to be desired, but it isn\u2019t awful. The reason that the focus can be off is because you have to use a separate item to focus on in the water before you fire off your paint. This is because autofocus does not like to work well when doing this style, so focusing before is your best bet. However, the focus can be fixed by simply doing more shots. I also would like to fix the bubbles that were appearing on the tank. This is caused by the process of emptying and refilling the tank. If the tank is wet before you fill it, air pockets can be created which can show up on the front and back. This can be fixed by using a dish sponge and gliding it across the walls of the inside of the tank to clean them off. In my next shoot, I will be experimenting with using multiple colours in the same syringe and seeing what effect that can create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Plans for the next shoot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In my next shoot, I will be experimenting with using multiple colours in the same syringe and seeing what effect that can create. I will be using colours that are follow by colour theory to make them look as appealing as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Test Shoot 3<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For this shoot, I will be using multiple colours in the same syringe. I decided to use red yellow and blue, the primary colours for this because those are the acrylic colours I had available. Unfortunately, my focus was not very good during this because I misplaced the thing I normally use for focus so I had to eyeball it. This produced these shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/object>third shoot primary shots<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    As you can see, the colours did not blend very well together. This is because the blue was much darker and more dominant, so it was the main colour that was showing. It did not create a progressive ombre, instead mushing together in a very unappealing way. Because of this, I will instead be keeping colours separate. This allows me to keep them clean looking. However, I will be experimenting with using multiple colours in separate syringes in future test shoots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Plans for the next shoot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For my next shoot, I will be attempting to use a different technique for capturing the clouds. My camera<\/a> has a video function and I will be using that to capture the clouds. This is because my camera is able to take about 5 pictures a second whereas it shoots video at about 25fps. This means that I will be able to get many more frames for use because I will be able to use the stills from the videos I get for the final product. I will also attempt to slow these down in an editing software to get a better look at the individual frames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Test Shoot 4<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

    Setup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    For this shoot, I decided to use the video camera function. I did this in portrait mode because of the shape of my tank and changed the orientation in editing later. I used a black background with red paint for this shoot because I know it works well. After shooting the video, I put it into Adobe Premiere Pro where I would be editing it to alter the orientation and slow it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I started by highlighting just the audio track with Alt-Click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I then removed the audio. This is because I will be experimenting with creating my own audio at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I then used the Cut tool to cut my video to the desired length and removed the excess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    After this, I went into my Speed\/Duration settings to alter the video speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    I then changed it to 50% so the video would move at half speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    To rotate the image, I needed to do some calculations to make it fit. To begin, I went to the Sequence settings to find the current aspect ratio and pixel count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    After this, I used a ratio counter to find how to alter the dimensions of the video in relation to the golden ratio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    I then used this information to create the bigger video area for my cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    After this, I used the Rotation alteration in my Effects panel to turn the image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    This made the video look like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    After all of this, I exported the video. This is how it turned out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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