Brent Stirton

The photographer I have decided to research is Brent Stirton. Brent is a South African photographer who is known for his images that portray  issues relating to conflict, health and the environment. His work has been in many well-known magazines such as National Geographic, Human Rights Watch, Time, The New York Magazine, CNN, Newsweek as well as others.

Brent Stirton's photos are painfully honest; depicting death, disease, gore, famine, triumph and courage, while telling a story of each person he captures. His photography brings to light what is happening in different places around the world, and can make you feel immersed in a culture by just browsing through them. Many of his photos do not have a story to tell what is happening, which leaves it up to your imagination.

I love everything about this photo, from the colors to the composition. It truly shows different personalities and brings their culture to life.

This is a more disturbing image. The rule of thirds is used, and the colors are extremely vibrant. I also like how the background it blurred out. Ultimately, I do have a hard time looking at this photo, and I can't imagine what circumstances this child is living in.

I like the lighting in this photo. It makes the image come to life, and it seems as if you are sitting right in front of her, hearing her story.

For more images, check out Brent Stirton's photography portfolio HERE

This is the original image. I felt as though it could be brightened up a little bit to seem warmer, and to make the colors pop out more.

The edited image. I added contrast, and used the "select color" tool to brighten certain colors in the photo to make it 'pop'. I also added an adjustment that I created to make the photo have a softer, glowing effect.

The original image. I thought the undertones were a little too yellow, so I changed them using an action in photoshop that I created. The action lightens the photo very slightly by boosting the 'brightness'.

This is the finished image. As you can see, the yellow is taken out, but there is still a warm hue to the photo.I also messed around with the 'curves' control, even though I am not too sure about how to use it correctly, but I think that the final image turned out great. I added a very slight vignette effect as well. I think this photo really makes the little boy's eyes pop out, where in the original photo they look too dark.

Click to enlarge

Image A is the original image. I felt as though it had nice lighting, but that it was a little bit too dark. Due to this, I first decided to bring up the exposure of the photo ever so slightly. I then I decided to lighten the photo a little more by using the brightness and contrast tool. I lightened the photo up by 5 points, and added a contrast of 2. I like the contrast between the darker background and the lighter focus on my daughter and the cat more in the second photo. I feel like lighting up the photo really added some contrast between the two and made the main focal point pop out more. I made some other changes as well. For example, if you look in the first photo you can see a small piece of paper to the right of the child. I felt as though it took away from the photo, so I used the clone stamp tool to remove the piece of paper. If you can see right behind the child's head there is are two yellowish dots, I think it may be a door hinge. I found that to be distracting as well, so I used the clone stamp tool to remove it. I also very slightly blurred the background of image B.

Image A.
The photo is a bit too dark and there are distractions present within the photo.

 

Image B.
The photo was lightened up, making the colors and focal point pop our more. Distractions were removed and background was slightly blurred.