What is Propaganda?

Propaganda is communication designed to persuade and influence a community’s thoughts and actions. Although it is not impartial in its message, it presents information and facts often in a biased way, propaganda is not inherently bad. However we are all aware of its use in Nazi Germany in the 30's and 40's. The efficient Nazi propaganda either provoked an action or allowed inaction through its reinforcement of what people already believe to be true.

The poster on the left blames the Jews for German defeat in WW1 and shows the Jew loyalty to Britain.

The poster on the right " The eternal Jew" and shows untrustworthy and evil looking men, with stereotypical large noses.

Though we may be unaware of its influence, propaganda has the ability to change our habits for the good. If we think of road safety campaigns, from the 70's to promote the wearing of seat belts, or in resent years in matters of public health, for example the campaign of AIDS awareness, the benefits are obvious.

1970's road safety campaign & AIDS awareness campaign.

Etymology

The English term is a 17th century coinage, from the Latin neuter plural gerund of propagare "to propagate", originally in Congregatio de Propaganda Fide "Congregation for Propagating the Faith", a committee of
cardinals established in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.[1] In its turn, the word propagare is related to the word propages, "a slip, a cutting of a vine"[2] and refers to the gardener's practice to disseminate plants by planting shoots.[3]


Sources:-

The world Book Multimedia Encyclopaedia
10 Things you Need to Know about Propaganda by Nancy Snow
Wikipedia

Web 2.0 Propaganda Poster

The Brief

I Have to produce at least one poster promoting as aspect of Web 2.0 Social Media which can be printed at up to A1 size. I will choose social media from the following or discuss an alternative with my tutors:

The design must be based on propaganda posters from a period of the twentieth century.     I have to research, collect and analyse examples of propaganda posters then generate ideas which match these to social media services, creating a suitable slogan which links the design to the service being promoted.

I will have to generate ideas for this project based on research and design development techniques (such as brainstorms, mood boards, sketches) and I will prepare a pitch which puts forward my proposed design solution with a review of how I reached those decisions.    I will need to explore type choices, colour palettes, poster designs and layouts in this pitch. Illustrator work in progress can be shown as part of this.

My colour palette, graphic style and type choices must reflect the style and content of posters from my chosen period. The graphics will be entirely vector and I will create the artwork in Illustrator at A1 size.

I will keep a blog of research materials and project development, including research into propaganda posters, placing these into their historical context and analysing their design characteristics, design decisions, problem solving, software techniques, comments on drafts and crit, with notes on changes and improvements made in response to feedback.

I will also develop a sketchbook of visual research and analyses, sketches and idea development, experimentation in things like colour schemes, typography, drawing style, and proofing.

 

What is Web 2.0

Before web 2.0 the web content mainly static images and graphics and information. Which was displayed with no dialog between the user and the website. With the development of web 2.0 the World Wide Web has become a transport mechanism for interactivity. We communicate in real time with others and that interactivity has spread over many different platforms from your desk top computer, portable devices, mobile phones and tablets. We set up our own networks via social media sites such as Facebook, Google + , express our opinions via Blogger and Twitter, up load and watch videos with You Tube and Vimeo.

reference

 

Final Thoughts

Preparation is essential. It implies you need to understand the brief, research on the techniques to carry out the brief, what is demanded for the photography, and what work is required in Photoshop, in response to the photography to produce the final image.

Once you have the method you can concentrate on the image you wish to produce. Technique will set you free.

The main thing I have learned from shooting the panoramic is the use of space and content and to follow tried and tested techniques.

The main thing I have learned about Photoshop: The editing process relies on the quality of the original images to produce a good panoramic. In Photoshop, being methodical is essential, especially when dealing with a large number of images and a broad range of techniques to produce the final image. Every pixel counts.


Crit


I found the whole process very rewarding and interesting. I was pleased that the response to my work was very positive. I enjoyed the opportunity to see other peoples work and to hear their thought on  how and why they created the images they did. I felt inspired by their efforts. I particularly liked Jamie and Liana work both I felt were inventive for different reason and both were different.  


View My Panoramas

Swop and chop

After you have placed and blended all of your images together You need to save them in PSD format this keep them in there layers so you can reedit if necessary. Now the saved the images can now be flattened. This will reduce the file size and convert the image into one single image. In preparation for the web it needs to crop so you have no visible join. These are the steps I used.

Step1. Flatten Image.

Step 2. Ensure the snap is on in view.

Step 3 Using the selection tool, make a selection from the left side of the image to a point approximately ¾ towards the right had side stopping at a place of no interest.

Save this selection, I called it Left hand. This will help you later on.

Step 4 While the area still selected press Ctrl J, Apple J on the Mac. This creates a copy of the selection in a new layer.

Step 5 As before create a new layer above the background layer and fill with white.

 Step 6 Turn off the visibility of the top layer and select the layer below.

 Step 7 Using the move tool move the selection to the far left ensuring snap is still on.

 

Step 8 Turn on the visibility and set the opacity to 50% of the layer above, and with the move tool move it to the right ensuring it does not move up or down.

Step 9 My image was a little out on the over lap.

Step 10 Once in place use the free transform tool. If you hold down the Ctrl/Apple key while using the centre handle you can skew it up or down leaving the right hand side of the image pixels still in place. 

Step 11 As before once you have a good match for position let it transform the image and the put the opacity back to 100% and add a layer mask to the top layer. 

 

At this stage I saved a copy of this image as PSD file. Now I flattened the image and cropped it, ensuring that I did not crop into the image at either end or out side of the image at either end. The top and bottom is not as important, so it you can tidy the edges by cropping them. If you crop in at the ends you find you have a dark band at the join and if you crop out side of the image you find you have a white band. I then saved this Hi resolution image as a JPEG. Finally I reduced the image to 400 pixel high by ? at 96 dpi. The image was finally saved for web using Photoshop in preparation for it's use with the supplied HTML/CSS/jQuery code. 

Finished panoramic

A stich in time.

This is just a run through of how I stitched my panoramic together. I saved all my sequences to individual folders. I employed this method for all of the panoramic. The steps layed out here presuppose you have some understanding of Photoshop.

Step 1 Open all the images from a sequence in Photoshop, compile them into stacked and layered image.
 

Step 2 Using the crop tool extend the background.

 

Step 3 Create a layer on the bottom and fill it with white. This will help you when you drag the layer across later.

Step.4 Turn off the visibility on all the layers except the bottom white layer and the top two.Turn the uppermost layer to opacity 50%.

  
 Step 5. Activate the layer below and drag it across using the move tool.

Step 6. Line it up with layer above it. Choose an area in from the left around 1/3 of the image which has a natural break, i,e, the chimney pots in the sample image. You will not be able to match the whole image. You only need to match a thin strip.

 

Step 7. Activate the layer above and return opacity to 100%. Add a layer mask. Use the brush tool and black. Paint the mask, in the area you want to erase on the image, ( the unseen part of the image) This is non destructive action, you are only hiding the image with the mask. If you paint too much change the colour to white, by pressing X and remove the dark painted areas.

 Step 8. I turn off the visibility of on the layer just worked on and activate the layer below turning the opacity   to 50%.

 Step 9. Activate the layer below and drag it across using the move tool.We are starting to repeat the process in step 6. 

 Repeat until all layers are in place.

If you need to adjust the colour, density you can insert adjustment layer acting only on that layer. I have found another way of blending a different sky density between two adjacent layers. I set the brush to 50% opacity and 50% flow and use that in the sky area building up density in the mask until the sky matches.

Down to the beach dear friends.

I have been thinking through some more ideas, living by the sea I wanted to incorporate a panoramic with the sea in. What I did not want was 180º of sea with only sea, I could see that wasn’t a good idea. I need something in the water like windsurfers or sailing boats.

Windsurfing sketch

 

I sketched out the idea and a few notes to myself. It’s a sunny day and I got up early and went for a walk along the beach. The tide was out at it farther most point. The only people here were the dog walkers, no sign of boats or windsurfers. I called in at the coastguards hut and asked him when was high tide. I reasoned if I had a sailing boat would I want to drag it out down the beach at low tide. He told me it would be at 2pm and there wasn’t much wind today, they might be sailing from the club after high tide. I returned at 2pm and drove along the sea front, nobody was windsurfing, but I could see the boats were out at the sailing club.

Google Earth Bexhill sailing club

 

As before set the tripod up so it was level, took an average light reading and set the camera to manual settings. Placed it on top and started my first 360ºsequence. After I had finished I suddenly heard a shout from behind me asking what was I doing. I explained as best I could that I was shooting a panoramic and not a picture of her. I began to feel it would be best to move nearer to the sailing club and a way from most people on the beach. During this session I shot both landscape and portrait sequences. 

Portrait and Landscape content

 

The location seemed to lend it self to being shot landscape, it allowed me to keep whole groups of things in each frame, i,e, people and boats. For this panorama I shot 360 º sequences once and then shot a number images only of the sea with the boats and people in, hoping to find one sequence that was more interesting than another. Then I could drop that whole sequence in with the rest of the image behind it.

Big shoot day

I decide that I would dedicate the day to photography. First I would go to Hastings and then onwards towards Rye, stopping off at Winchelsea to photograph the old church there. Hopefully arriving at Rye late afternoon so I could shot the day / night shots and returning to Hastings to shot the night shots there. I ran through a check list of things to take:- camera, spare batteries, tripod, sprit level, chalk. I arrived at Hastings around 11am and headed to the sea front. I stood across from the arcades and did 360º look round to see where would be the best place to photograph the arcade. Soon frustration would set in I could not find a place which gave me a good 360º. Either there was a lamp post was in the way, a building was to close, some kind of construction work going on with skips in the way.

X intended position Hasting

 

I then moved on to see if I could find an area with a good balance between the house on the hills and building near the sea. After walking around for an hour I chanced upon an area where the fishing boat are kept while they are not at sea. For me one of the key factors of a panoramic image is it has to be interesting for 360º, not just 180º.

Fishing fleet position X

I look round and found a place to shoot, as before set tripod level and set the exposure on the camera. I use the auto focus on the first shot these days, it sometime better than me doing it manually and the lock the focus for the rest of the pictures. I take 20 or so images and if I think I have not taken a shot I will shot a spare. It is best cover your self why you are there. After doing a complete panoramic there I move a couple of hundred meters away and found a second location to shoot, still basically the same image but with different objects in the foreground.

Now it was time to move on to Winchelsea, it’s a little hamlet between Hastings and Rye where there is an old half finished church. Parked up and carried the tripod and camera to the church grounds.

Winchelsea photography at X

I had the place to my self except for a lady with a dog. I was going to photograph from the path in the church grounds but the sun was now getting low on the horizon and for some of the panoramic it would shinning directly in to the camera lens. I need to shade the lens from the sun so I placed my self in the shadow of a big tree and proceeded to set up as before. I did a couple of 360º passes move as before to get another perspective and shot a second set of images. Time to move on to Rye.

 

Rye is another old and picturesque town with cobbled street, castle and lots of old buildings. I headed toward St Mary’s the church on the top of the hill. Looking all the while a suitable location, being old and full of small buildings I was finding it increasingly harder to find a location with out dense trees or buildings to near.

X intended position Rye

 On the other side of the church I found a space where on one side is the church and on the other is a small castle and a view of the estuary. It seemed perfect with a good mix of thing that could work with the day night theme. I set the tripod up and made it level, did my exposures with the camera and started. As soon as I had gone round 180º from the church my starting point the castle was falling over. Checked everything leveled up the castle and started again. Another 180º now the church was falling over. I rechecked the level and tried again. I must have spent a good hour messing around finally only to give up on the day night idea and photographs of Rye. I felt at the end I had had a bad day until I saw the pictures from Hastings and Winchelsea. For me they both set of pictures worked well as panoramas which was the object of the brief, but not well for what I had set out to shoot.

First A Test

I decided to shoot a test panoramic before spending the day out shooting. Near to the collage is garden in the grounds of an Elizabethan house. I set of with my tripod and camera. As I entered into the walled garden I was met by a mass of students with cameras who obviously had the same idea as me. I had a good look round the gardens and found a great spot to photograph the house and gardens without lots of people in the pictures.

Tripod Bubble

I set the tripod up and made sure it was level.Before I put the camera on the tripod I took a light reading using the camera of the most average light condition in the garden. Not to shady and not direct sunlight.

Auto light reading

 Manually set the shutter and the aperture from the auto reading.

Set manual exposure

Sat the camera on the tripod, the first picture was to be the house. Even though I had made sure the tripod was level I still checked that the buildings were upright.

Slanting verticals and corrected verticals

They were just off so I readjusted the camera. Now I was ready for my first shot. As soon I took the first shot a woman stood where I was about to take my second shot. She also thought the gardens were lovely today and wanted to take some photos as well. She moved around as I paned round and photographed my 360º Sequence. 

Lady Photographer

 After she had gone I shot another 360º Sequence and left the Southover gardens. To return to collage to see the results of the photography. My initial thoughts was to make the panoramic without her in.

1st Panoramic without women photographer

As I started to write this blog I thought about my initial entry with the Fox Talbot image and revisited the first sequence of images and generated a new panoramic from sequence of images.

New Panoramic with women photographer

I like the cropping of the second image as a wide image. Now I can’t say which one I prefer.

2nd Idea

Now I have put the inside out idea on hold. I am thinking about transition. ‘Day to Night’ I felt that I wanted to shot a panoramic in daylight keep the tripod in the same place and shot the same panoramic again at night. Make the two panoramic, afterwards laying one on top of the other align them up with a transition from day to night by fading from one to the other.

 

Day/night idea

I drew a ruff idea out on paper with pointers to help me with the photography. I felt that it would be a good idea to mark the ground with chalk where the tripod stood so I could replace it if for what ever reason I had to move from the location I had chosen. I reminded my self to be aware of close object like: - poles, railings lampposts, these are always harder to edit in final pan. Lastly a list of what to take: - Camera, Tripod, Level, Chalk. I suddenly had a thought that the image could be bigger loop made up of the two pans one after the other. Lastly where to take the pictures. My first thought was Rye it would be a good combination of light of the houses at night and the old building in the day. I felt if I was there late afternoon I could shot the daylight images and I would not have to wait to long before the sun went down to get the night shots. My second location will be Hastings. They have arcades and buildings with neon lights. A good combination of day to night.

1st Idea

After we were give the initial brief and shown some examples by other peoples work my first though was the theme of inside and out. I liked the possibility that you could view the outside of a building and then see the inside. That evening I went down to the sea front in Bexhill on sea and photographed the outside of one the shelters by the beach. 

Four images from the group taken to generate 360˚ panoramic.

I soon realised after looking at the pictures in photoshop and trying to blend them, that to get the flowing look of a panoramic I would need to be a lot closer to the building. The close proximity may make it difficult to identify the building, and give the feeling that I am viewing it from the outside. Secondly the building would need to be bigger. This would allow me to flatten the image and help give a better transition to the panoramic.

Aborted blend of shelter

 

I still wanted to carry on with that thought, but I would need a building on a larger scale. I had taken a picture of Pevensey Castle earlier in the year and felt it would suitable for my idea.

Composite of Pevensey Castle.

 

I pass the castle on the train most days of the week and I could see that there were a lot of trees around the castle. After having a look on Google. I could see that it would be very difficult to get all the way round the outside so I have shelved the idea until I can get a smaller castle.

Google Earth image of Pevensey Castle

Gigapixal WoW!

I thought you might like to share a view I know well. This is a Gigapixal view of Rio de Janeiro. I think this demonstrates the quality of this system. The image has been shot from the top of the statue of Christ the Redeemer.

Enlargement from the highlighter area above

Corcovado on which the statue sits is 6.26 Miles away from the Museum of  Contemporary arts, seen above sit on a rock outcrop on the other side of the bay in Rio.

ENJOY THE VIEW