The Audacity of Audacity

This week I downloaded and used the Audacity program for the first time.

What I wanted to achieve from Audacity:

1. Editing and/or cutting unwanted pieces of sound or ‘silence’. This would have been useful in the recent interviews we conducted in Research Methods II, a different class in the Library and Information School. I have also wanted to edit certain ‘hidden’ songs in my iTunes library. These are songs which have a hidden track attached to the final song on an album, usually preceeded by some ten minutes or so of silence.

2. Getting to grips with editing unwanted sounds or noises that were not intended to be part of the final recording. This could included speech mannerisms such as the dreaded ’em’, which I’ve realised since listening to myself is how I begin most sentences. Unwanted noises could apply to background hums, cars or general noise.

How I got on with Audacity:

In attempting to understand how Audacity allows you to edit your sound recording, I intially started experimenting with the previously mentioned audio files in my iTunes library. After some teething problems, I found the program worked well with cutting the silence, but I am still unable to create two seperate files. Thus, I am either left with just the original song (minus the extra track) or the original song immediately followed by the extra song.

Editing out minor noises was relatively simple, if time-consuming. However, I am still attempting to understand how to ‘smooth-out’ noises, rather than simply just cutting them completely, or ‘silencing’ them, which leaves an unnatural sounding break in the recording.

My Problems with Audacity:

My main problem with Audacity stems from a lack of time to fully understand how it functions, a problem which can only be eased by continuing to experiment with it. I intend to rectify this problem in class today, as well as over the weekend. My other main problem was a seemingly random tendency of Audacity to block access to any and all editing tools at certain times of the editing process. Again, a fuller understanding of the program will probably highlight an error that I am unaware that I am committing.

An explanation.

The theme for my collection of photographs is ‘urban decay’. All the photographs are taken around The Coombe/Blackpitts area of Dublin, one largely forgotten during the economic ‘boom’, and one which has unsurprisingly been hit heavily during the subsequent recession.

All the photographs were taken with a Nikon D40x with an AD-S NIKKOR 18-55mm lense, with the exception of the first photograph, which was taken with my Fujifilm FinePix A825. I had used the latter camera when I initially explored the area in order to get a feel for angles and lighting at particular times of the day. I found the best time for taking photographs was early in the morning, as I wanted to avoid, as much as possible, human interaction. My intent was to focus on the harshness of the buildings and imagery, and to reinforce my impression that much of the area was built for functionary reasons rather than aesthetic ideals.

I included the first photograph, taken with the inferior Fujifilm FinePix A825 as I liked the darkness which the photograph gave, with the recent rain giving a reflective sheen from the street. I didn’t manipulate the shadows from the photograph, as I feel they emphasised the overbearing nature of the building on the left of the photograph.

The second photograph is a familiar one in this area. Graffiti ‘tags’ are commonplace, and this one includes the ‘Gonzilla’ tag which was endemic throughout Dublin a couple of years back. This was often accompanied with a crude drawing of a Godzilla-type character, but this door seems to only have tags. The black doors open on to a laneway, bordered to the left by a row of terraced housing and to the right the overbearing building seen in the previous photograph. I utilised a zoom function in order to take the photograph safely and to attempt to only feature the black doors in the shot. Despite this, the photograph required minor cropping when I uploaded the photographs.

The third photograph is a strange building at the junction of Mill Street and Ardee Street. I liked the sharp lines and the soft, dull colours of the building. There is also a slightly surreal feel to the building, especially the makeshift and impractical doorway, as well as the steel roof structure which seemingly defies purpose, but gives the impression of a lookout tower.  This particular building houses an evangelical church, and indeed Mill Street – a particularly bleak street in the area – houses another evangelical church and a mosque. With many businesses on this street closing, one of the few organisations which are occupying the various premises are increasingly religious-based. I increased the aperture for this photograph in order to increase the effect of the dull colours from the building. Again minor cropping was required in this photograph to reduce the visibility of cars to the left of the photograph.

The next shot is of Mill Lane, a strange lane-way which seems to only be used for illegal dumping. Indeed, there is only one door on the lane. The buildings – especially to the left – lend themselves to bizarre angles, and give a kind of retro-futuristic feel. This is contrasted by the dilapidated 18^th Century building at the end of the lane (the last time the area was a vibrant and economically-viable district). I reduced the aperture on the camera as I thought that there was too much light (mainly due to the fact that the photograph was taken early in the morning and was facing east).

The next photograph is of a disused shop front, complete with broken glass and a graffiti stencil. I wanted to highlight the contrast between the old use of the shop front and the more recent resurgence of graffiti or stencilling. Both uses play into a particular understanding of the area, and both highlight the neglect which has long affected the area. As I was hemmed in by early-morning traffic, I had to reduce the focus on the image, while increasing the aperture.

The following photograph is of the street that the previous photograph belongs to: The Coombe. This particular part of The Coombe was earmarked for an apartment complex just before the recession hit. You can identify the old advertisements for this that are still standing in the background. I was able to negotiate a wider capture on this photograph by taking advantage of a break in the traffic. This wider image reflects the further wider view of the area as one of potential development, one that was never realised.

The following photograph is of a door in Fumbally Lane. The building was initially meant to be part of the digital hub area of Dublin, but was vacant for many years following the recession. It has recently been reopened under a cheap rental scheme to house a collective of architects. This image mirrors the previous graffiti image of a doorway, and was intending to highlight the repetitive nature of the graffiti tagging which is common throughout this part of Dublin.

The final shot I’ve included is a photograph of St Patrick’s Cathedral. I wanted to contrast with the ‘decay’ of the other shots. I tried to capture the light of the rising sun on its steeple, but also attempted (by taking it from below at a severe angle) to show the domineering nature of the cathedral on its surrounding environs. I allowed a wide-aperture for this shot to highlight as much light as possible.

Blackpitts

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Photoshop V Pixlr

The Benefits of a Photo-Manipulation Site

It may seem self-evident, but I think there is something to be said for exploring why sites like Photoshop and Pixlr are so important in general nowadays, and especially within the world of blogging and online media.

Being able to upload photographs and images allows you to ensure your website or blog has a ‘professional’ feel. It is the aesthetic of a blog which the person who is viewing your site is immediately confronted with. I recall from class a statistic which suggested that a user decides whether to stay or leave a website or blog within the first three seconds of logging on. Of course, the content is essential: but you need the person to stay on the site for longer than three seconds in order for them to actually read what you’re writing. The look and feel is essential to this.

The advance of digital photography has meant a complete shift in how we understand photography, both in terms of what they mean to us and also in how we take photographs initially as well as how we store them and view them later. Taking photographs has become less and less specialist, which can only be a good thing. There are negatives, however: with less reliance on expensive equipment and knowledge of the technical aspects of photograph there can be a corresponding drop in the quality of the finished product. And that’s where programmes such as Photoshop and Pixlr are so helpful. If the look of your blog is so important, and you feel a photograph is key to this, then a badly taken photograph can be disastrous. You could use another photograph, or, if you feel a particular photograph really captures the ‘essence’ of what you’re trying to say, you can use these programmes to take out that annoying ‘red eye’, blot out the guy ‘photo-bombing’ your otherwise perfectly captured shot. It can be difficult, but it’s more than worth it: it’s essential.

My Personal Experience

After the problems experienced last week with photoshop (which was probably due both to my ineptitude as well as the whole class accessing the site at the same time) I have recently discovered what I view as a much easier program to navigate: Pixlr. The interface seems more intuitive to me and I’ve had a bit of fun distorting images, as well as using their specific website for effects.

The original image (to the left) has been taken with a very basic digital camera. The image to the right has been altered by Pixlr to give the impression of having been taken by an old camera, possibly with some issues regarding proper colour processing.

Man holds dog in original colours

The Joys of Gimp

I’m still trying to get used to Gimp, which seems great but has a lot more features for such a program than I’m used to. I’ve also only just managed to get an advanced camera, so the photos I’m uploading here are from a basic digital camera.

I’ve applied a fairly basic image distortion until I understand Gimp better. It should be easy enough to figure out which one has been distorted and which is the original.

        

The specifics of Gimp

Overall, I found Gimp quite confusing. I didn’t particularly like the interface, which I found worked against what I would expect to find in an open-source program, which would be immediately attractive to a first-time user. I found it messy and difficult to navigate, and a lot of the functions were hidden (or at least not immediately visible). Once I had managed to navigate my way around the interface, I did find some of the functions easy to manipulate. These options allowed my photographs to be more finally tuned (especially utilising the ‘crop’ function) as well as highlighting any blemishes. I found this particularly useful when considering the different manner in which images would appear on a website (as opposed to on your computer). Despite all this, the program that comes with my computer (iPhoto) managed most of the functions to an acceptable level, and definitely had a more user-friendly feel. I would love to find some sort of program that navigates the middle-ground between the two, and will spend some time trying to find such a program in time for my class next week.

First Assignment

Preparations are underway for our first assignment. This is already problematic mainly due to not having a particularly advanced digital camera. I took what our lecturer said and investigated the capacities of my point-and-click camera but found it was sadly lacking in the capabilities required for the assignment. Thankfully I managed to source what I think will be an adequate camera, although I will have to check its capabilities in class on Friday.

I already have some ideas for the project, but I will have to practice with the camera first to see whether it will be able to do what I want it to do. Some of the photographs I’ve been taking over the years with my point-and-click camera have turned out quite well, so hopefully this particular camera will help better them.

I found some websites helpful in trying to figure out a ‘theme’ to pursue in my assignment. First was a blog set up by my friend (so I’m biased) but I liked that it was clearly to be enjoyed by people who did not have a professional interest in photography. I also liked her links to interesting and different aspects of photography in general. Another blog I found interesting was one about daily life in New York City. This helped focus my interest in taking a snapshot of a city, although I chose to focus more on architecture than people.

In the end, however, I decided that I would try and capture the urban area that I live in at the moment, primarily because I will probably be moving out soon, and it was an area which has already interested me. From living in many different areas of Dublin, I feel that this area has a truly unique identity, and one definitely worthy of a photography assignment.