Ancillary Task: Photography Research

To help me to find methods of photography I could use to create my digipack and poster images, I decided to research some photographers and look into their styles. This can help me decide on a style suitable for the indie music genre and give me some inspiration.

Brandon Woelfel:
Woelfel uses light to create dynamic images. He uses prisms to create a rainbow of light and often utilises glasses to create a reflection within them to create in interesting image. As these are the two techniques I liked the most, I decided to research into methods I could utilise to help me recreate the look:

Rainbow lighting:
To get the rainbow lighting effect there are two methods you can use; a CD and a prism. In both cases, you need to find a ‘strip’ of lighting which you can create by using blinds that have slits in them. You then position the CD or prism in the light and direct it towards the object you’re taking the picture of.

I like this method as it creates striking images but also because the rainbow is also a symbol of the LGBT community which is a topic that is explored in the Sober video and also is suggested to be featured in other songs throughout the album.

Glass reflection:
To get the reflection of the lights in the glasses, you have to get artificial lighting and take an image so that the reflection of the lights are in the glasses and the lights can also be seen in frame. On Photoshop, you then edit the lighting to create an out of focus effect.
This method can be used to create connotations of ‘blurred vision’. This can be linked to the drugs and alcohol that are seen throughout the album. Not only this, but it can suggest that the reflective surface can have connotations of ‘not everything is how it seems on the surface’ creating deeper meaning which the indie audience enjoy.

Ian Brumpton:
Burmpton utilises light and shadow to create ‘mysterious’ images. He creates them in black and white and often uses people within the images. He does this by finding natural situations in which this occurs e.g. through slits in blinds or gaps ion curtains and other times he creates a stencil of which he places in front of a light source.

I like this method as the enigma created behind the shadows would create intrigue into the artist and although Dyer’s star theory suggests the artist is featured repeatedly to allow the audience to recognise them as a star, the indie audience would appreciate challenging the codes and conventions.


The final effect that I found was smoke photography. Although I couldn’t find a photographer who specifically photographs smoke, there are many people who do this type of photography. This is done by getting an incense stick and a plain black background. You place foil in the surface that the incense is placed on and use the flash of your camera to take an image of the smoke. You can also change the colour of the smoke in Photoshop by changing the colour gradients.

I like this method as it again can be lined to the symbol of the LGBT community when the smoke is different colours. Also, the smoke has connotations of smoking which can be inked to drugs which is again a common theme throughout the albums.

Overall how has this helped me?

Overall, after researching the photography techniques, I have now gained inspiration and a better idea into what types of images I will take to use for the poster and digipack. I will not be able to research into more depth how to recreate these methods and focus on the representations of the images.