The second year class recently did a days shoot in Beverley. Whilst looking around the Minster I had another go using the off camera flash technique.
In the above image the speedlite was placed just below the monument on the floor out of shot. I think the position worked well since prominence is given to the candle and the light gradually tapers out towards the top.
On this image the speedlite is placed on the floor again but to the left of the subject to add a little more perspective from the point of view of the photographer.
The above image is an attempt to recreate off camera flash in Photoshop. I think it works and is a good fallback plan when a location shot hasn’t works so well. Below is the original image.
Kungifiation
The two images above are of trees near where I live. I used Kungs technique of off camera flash to achieve them. In both cases the speedlites where placed on the ground just below the trees. Although the shots were taken late at night I nevertheless did minimal editing in Photoshop to eliminate some of the background which was just showing through.
The above image of a train in Paragon Station is my interpretation of the technique Irene Kung has used in Hidden Cities to whiten out the background rather than darkening it. It hasn’t worked quite the same but I am happy with the way it has worked and brings the train (the subject of the picture) into prominence.
I have been looking at ways of improving the above image and after talking to my tutor Andy I have redone it. I have feathered the edges of the diesel by 20 pixels and altered the background colour to complement the locomotive.
Irene Kung was born in 1958 in Switzerland and trained as a painter. In later years she also became a photographer.
Her subjects range from architectural monuments to exotic plant life and Argentinian horses.
Her work has primarily been directed at depicting striking and beautiful architectural monuments, or fragments thereof, in Europe and the United States. The finished images are of a textural subtlety that sets them apart from the mainstream of contemporary photography.
Kung says that the camera is a brush and she uses it as such to create images, where she can work with the brightness and shadows to create something different and unusual. She sometimes brushes out the backgrounds in Photoshop to give more prominence to the subject as in her image of the Foster building in London.
In her work entitled “Hidden Cities” the technique seems to be to lighten out the background instead of darkening it. This also gives a surreal and pleasing look to the subjects.
LawriePhoto 
