A series of photos

[pgbphotographytas]

At the moment I am working on a small project (which I hope will focus my photography in a new direction) and as part of this I am taking a series of photos around a theme which are going to be processed and then printed as a display.

Before I get too far in to this and find I have done something wrong generally speaking would it be best to take them all at the same time and process them all much the same or would a mix or times, angles and processing produce better results?
I want them to all relate to each other and not just feel like a bunch of photos all of the same sort of thing.

Paul

[ving]

hmm... without knowing exactly what you are doing its hard to comment.

an object with different lighting?
a specific piece of scenery?
a person?

what sort of effect are you after?

[pgbphotographytas]

Say something like cars, would it be best to process them all the same and take the photos from the same angle / distance or better to change them around a bit?

Paul

[jev]

That's a hard question to answer Paul. Even with cars, some cars shine in a completely different composition and light than others. A 4x4 AWD might look best in the mudd for example whereas a sportscar probably will look very, very out of place there. The same holds for angles and lighting, be it less obvious.

Generally speaking, yes, I would use the same processing scheme for a series. For example, I started a series some time ago named 9 to 5 that uses a very specific conversion and coloring scheme so that they would match.

You mention the images will be put up for display. If the displays are large, sticking to the same process becomes even more important.

[ricktas]

If you want to link a variety of cars into a single theme, shooting them from the same angle (or as close to it as you can get) tends to link them. So say take all shots from off the front left corner of the vehicle etc.

Hard to give good advice without knowing specifics.

[MattC]

I think that it would be best to take a large number of photos in the one session, with different angles etc - that way lighting will be fairly consistant, then decide which ones work in better with each other - the way to do this, is not to look at each photo individually, but to look at the overall shape/pattern of the group of photos.

Perhaps you could get quite a few of the shots printed as cheap 6x4's, then lay them out on the table, chopping and changing which ones work best. Once you have finalised the photos and layout, then PP and enlarge your final selection.

The important thing is to have a clear idea what you want to achieve at the end of the process, otherwise you will not have a target to aim towards.

[dbax]

I think that as long a the "subject" is the link the processing can be done later ...to my thinking the last thing you would want is 20 great images taken at different times, different seasons, different places all "looking" similar, the connection should be the subject ....unless you are trying to develop "a " style, then I think processing becomes "the "issue. my 2c hope it gives food for thought and good luck with it ....look forward to seeing the proofs on AP

[Allann]

i have seen the exact same image processed using different colours to give you the different images, but not sure if thats what your asking. Or you could take a single image and cut it into many segments to make a single final image.

[arthurking83]

I've only ever seen two photographic exhibitions in my life, so my opinion may be limited by experience here. But I see no reason to capture and process images of a single subject with entirely different results, as it keeps the same 'boring' subject display dynamic and constantly evolving. Of course boring is a strong word to use for a topic that hasn't even been discussed yet, but if the images are of the same subject and look the same and are all taken at the same time of day thus producing the same colours and tonal composition then the viewer may start thinking.. ho hum as they get to the nth image.

So if you are shooting a particular car or part of a car as a subject and as David(dbax) said the link to each image is that single subject, then there's no reason you can't display B&W images mixed in with Colour images and cross processed images and so forth.. as long as it's done in a coherent manner and as the viewer moves along the display path the previous image is similar but not the same as the next image and it then blends into the next image where it becomes a feature of the display itself.

My ex father in law used to produce the best slide shows I've ever seen, and he's done a few in some public places(the name of which escape me) around Canberra.
he blends like images into each other and of simple things like stones/rocks/cobblestones/rusty corrugated fences/ etc and you don't even realise it.. all blended perfectly and with the music, it's actually quite trippy! (not that I condone the act of getting trippy )

make your images and turn them into a slideshow, see how they blend and relate to each other, that way and you should be assured that your display is going to be great.

[pgbphotographytas]

Thanks everybody for the advice, I am going to get as many of the photos taken and then decide which ones to present in what order, I don't want them to come across as the same and be boring but I do want them to have some sort of connection to each other.

Paul