OIL, AND ITS IMPACT ON THE SURFACE OF WATER

by Unknown - 03:55

Following on from my experimentation with oil as a pollutant, I have decided to investigate this topic in even more depth as I was fascinated by the visual colours which are produced by oil when it met with water. This time, I decided to concentrate on a particular body of water and chose puddles as my canvas as oil polluted puddles are regularly seen within my local environment. Within their small surface, I felt I could achieve the greatest impact within my images as I could capture detail in close proximity.

Oil is a very visual pollutant and we are often shown the devastation that is caused by oil spills in our oceans. These figures show just how devastating oil can be when placed in natural environments; In total, oil spills have harmed or killed approximately 82,000 birds of 102 species, approximately 6,165 sea turtles, and up to 25,900 marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, melon-headed whales and sperm whales.

Artist Images

Images of wildlife covered in oil are highly memorable with great environmental impact, however, I stumbled upon this quite subtle image which still highlighted the environmental message, however, was a beautiful shot of marine life within oil.

The shapes of the shells within the colourful oil, gave the image interest, however, their outlines looked completely foreign within the photograph as oil and ocean should not meet. I liked the details of the shells which was still retained, however, the beauty and range of the colours in the oil gave a high impact, beautiful visual image which had both interest and an underlying environmental theme. I realised by studying this image that I could perhaps also experiment with foreign objects within my oil and water, possibly experimenting with how the water an oil are displaced and how this is seen visually through my camera lens.

I further investigated the colours that oil creates and found that the artist Riley Winderson was most inspiring when researching this particular topic in depth. Riley uses oil in pipettes to create a naturalised look within his work. By using pipettes, he tries to portray that the oil has fallen from above with rainfall and the colours are encapsulated within the droplets of water. Winderson states he uses light-room programme to digitally enhance all of his images, which enables him to bring out the colours deep within the oil creating more of a visual display. This helps to make his images more interesting to the viewers eye, and also make sure that his work is dull. I enjoyed the above image and although easily recognised as water and oil, the visual effects Winderson was able to capture using his camera lens excited me to begin my own investigations.

This is one of my favourite pieces that the artist Winderson has created as it is vivid, interesting and unusual. Winderson states "With this piece I have tried to create an image which replicates the sun" which I immediately recognised as the overall intention when I first viewed the piece. He uses mostly natural formats to inspire him, however, sometimes just experiments with the water and oil combination until he creates something which he likes and is eye catching. This close up shot portrays the colours in an extremely vibrant way, and the lighter colours (pink, yellow and orange) have been used to highlight the stronger blue hues which create depth within the photograph.

I enjoyed how Winderson uses a very small area to create such an interesting photograph. This just shows you do not need a large canvas to create beautiful photographic images and capturing detail, colour and interesting visual effects within a smaller area can be stunning. With the bright and vibrant colours starting off in one corner, then dispersing out into an almost ombre effect, this draws the eye to a singular point within the image however then you discover the rest of the detail gradually which I really liked.

My own photographs

When trying to recreate the artist images, I began by focusing on colour, pattern and shape within my work. Like Winderson, I decided to experiment with dispersing oil in an existing puddle and studying the patterns created by the oil’s movement on the water surface. Unfortunately my initial experimentation did not create the intensity of colour which I was hoping for.

I used a rather large surface area to create the above image which I now understand was a mistake when using such a small amount of oil. The ratio of oil to water was too little and this made it very difficult to photograph the oil patterns before it had all dispersed, leaving behind very little colour in my shot. I began to understand how visually enhancing the image afterwards may be beneficially as this may enable me to increase the colour saturation and remove some of the sun’s glare which was preventing the vivid impact which I had hoped to achieve.

My second attempt was much more successful as I began to understand how the oil and water worked together and subsequently increased the ratio of oil to water enabling colours to be more prominent in my area of composition. I tried to experiment more with this piece, using sticks and leaves to pull at the oil and create thinner strands across the puddle, trying to enhance the shot. This puddle was much smaller than the previous one I had initially used and I felt that it was much easier to manipulate the oil and make it react how I required. The colours were more intense and by trying to remove sunlight glare as much as possible I managed to create a nice silhouette in the bottom of the composition which created added interest and contrast to the shot. I liked the way the darkened image enhanced my work and began to imagine how I could perhaps merge two photographs together to produce some interesting effects using both shape and colour. Perhaps this could be evolved in a final piece?

With this in mind, I tried to create an oil slick image with optimum visual impact to see how strong and colourful I could make my photograph using the medium of oil and how I could capture these beautiful colours best with my lens. Through experimentation, I found that the more I zoomed in on my subject, the greater the impact of the oils patterns and colours. I therefore, lowered myself to the ground and began looking at the position of the camera and the angle of shot in more detail. The above image was taken from a diagonal stance about 30cm above the subject and by getting closer to my subject, I found that further detail was captured including the graining lines of the concrete. I liked this texture which I then enhanced using light levels in photoshop to define these even more. I also enhanced the saturation of the image which brought the whole photograph to life. I was very pleased with the result and was keen to use a highly colourful visual image in my final piece.

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