Work diary & Progression - Documentrary photography - Christmas

Evaluation:

The task was for us to photograph a topic of our choice over our Christmas break, I chose to focus on Christmas itself. I portrayed these images in a photo documentary. I found it hard to photograph things, as there was mainly decorations and lights around, and that was it. Therefore I believe many of my images are quite similar, however they are meant to link as a series, so I have achieved this fully. 

A photograph I liked:

I like this image as the focus from my camera is on the Christmas tree ornament. Christmas trees are one of the main symbols/landmarks of Christmas, therefore I believe this works effectively within my documentary. Moreover, the bright colours of reds, and greens and commonly known festive colours, which again in themselves portray Christmas, and the Christmas spirit. 

A photograph I did not like:

I do not like the above image as the lights are slightly blurry, and not crisp. Although, you can link the decorative lights to Christmas, this is not too obvious and therefore I wouldn't say it completely elicits what I want it to. If I was to re shoot this image again I would ensure my camera settings were correct in order to avoid the blur. To do this I should make my aperture higher, and make my shutter speed quicker. 

Progression:

If I was to re shoot again I would take a more abstract approach towards Christmas, and not focus on obvious, stand-out objects like decorations. I would focus more on the 'family' aspects and 'unity'. Although, I do believe some of my images of decorations were effective, and if I was to re shoot these I would perhaps choose a narrower depth of field, in order to vary my techniques. 

Image Manipulation - Work Diary & Progression

Evaluation:

In today's lesson we were given the task of editing objects, into other images. I did not photograph any of the images below, I go them off of the internet. I was merely trying to improve my editing skills, not my literal photographing skills during these topic. I enjoyed this topic, as it allowed me to work freely on Photoshop, editing various objects into any landscapes I want. I went with the idea of animals in their habitats. 


An image I like:

I like how I've edited this image as I used the burn tool to make the two animals which I edited into the image (foxes) darker, so they would blend into the image, and not stand out due to their brightness. This image looks extremely realistic and doesn't look edited at all. 

An image I do not like:

I do like this image, however I believe it is the weakest link out of the two, as I should have edited the image so the sunlight hit the right side of the lion, not the left, this would have made the image more realistic, and believable. Moreover, the zebra stands out too much, I should have used the burn tool in order to darken the animal, to allow it to  fit into the image better. 

Progression: 

Instead of just placing animals into the image I'd like to manipulate and combine images, in order to vary and expand my techniques. 

Fourth Plinth - Work Diary & Progression

Evaluation: 

We were given the task of editing images into other photographs we'd taken, in order to imitate a 'fourth plinth', we had to work primarily on photoshop to do this. I enjoyed this task as it allowed me to further my skills on my editing in photoshop. I photographed objects in the studio, and edited these onto the images I took during my landscape homework. I wanted to make my images surreal, and ensure that they blended well within the image.

An image I liked:

I liked this image as it is extremely abstract and fits the fourth plinth theme, as you do not see large shoes in landscapes. I also like how I edited the shoe in order for it not to stand out greatly from the image, as it was originally extremely light, and didn't blend well- it now looks realistic. If I progressed this further I could have then reflected the shoe in the water, to make this image appear more realistic. 

An image I did not like:

I believe this image was the weaker one out of the two, as the shoe appears stretched and edited. Moreover, despite it being an unusually large shoe, it fits in better with the environment, than it does in my best image above. Therefore, this does not hit the fourth plinth criteria, as it has to be an object that stands out, and would not appear to usually fit into the environment. I could have also created a reflection of the shoe in the puddle which would have enhanced my image as a whole.

Progression:

If developed I'd like to try experimenting with different objects, in order to vary my fourth plinth ideas. Some of the f these objects I could further experiment with are shown below. 

Joiners - Work Diary & Progression

Evaluation:

In this lesson we were given the task of making a composite; this meant we had to photograph objects, or people and create a big image, using lots of smaller ones. This was interesting as it was something different to do, as we used photoshop a lot more when creating these joiner images. We could create our joiners using objects, or people. 

A photo I like:

I like this image as the edges of the stairs are still almost straight lines, therefore the image is not too abstract but you can tell it has clearly been edited. I like the different colours of the stairs, where some are darker and others are lighter, from the different angles I photographed them at. 

A photo I don't like:

I do not like this image as one of the squares are a different colour to the rest of the red squares. Furthermore, there's gaps in the image. To avoid this I could have photographed more images in order to bulk out the image and prevent there from being gaps. 

Progression:
I found it quite hard to actually join the images together themselves, as I didn't want them to appear too abstract, or too neat. This was an issue as I therefore didn't complete many as they took me a long time. If I was to recreate these images then I would vary my tone, colour (black and white) to vary my images further. 

Work Diary & Progression- 'Stereotypical London' Photo Documentary

Evaluation:

We went on a trip to London and we were given the task of photographing what we wanted to- I chose to focus on photo documentaries. I then took pictures based on 'stereotypical London', and how a daily commuter, or tourist would view London. I liked the freedom what we were given as we could shoot whatever we wanted. 

This is my best photograph of the day, as I like how its run down appearance creates more texture, and contrast in the photograph. This image is unedited, as I do not believe it needs any editing. The glow of the light catches your eye as it's slightly brighter than the rest of the image. This fits into my photo documetary of 'Stereotypical London' as the underground is widely assossciated with London, and you can see the universal sign for this in the image. Line is executed well in this image through the bricks in the background, moreover shape is too executed efficiently as there's various different shapes (rectangles, squares…) 

This is my worst image of the day as I should have adjusted the camera settings, I shot this image on exposure 1/100 seconds, ISO 200, and F/9. This was the wrong settings, as it highlighted the sign in the foreground; whereas, the background is too dark. This is too much of a contrast and it looks unrealistic.  

However, I do like the sky in the image and the colours shown across it. 

Progression:

Work Diary & Progression - Urban Landscape

Evaluation:

In today's lesson I investigated urban landscape in the style of Luxembourg. I enjoyed this shoot as it allowed me to photograph run down areas and bring out their rough textures. 

This is my best image i photographed of the day. The image above is the edited one, whereas the image below is the original photo. I believe in this image I have captured urban life; this is because the graffiti implies that the area is run down, and uncared for. In addition to this the peeling paint again implies that the building is, again, uncared for.  The light is a dim yellow-orange which suggests it's dirty as it is not pure white. Shape is explored well in this photograph as the light has an usual shape guard around it. Moreover, texture is also shown effectively as the paint on the wall appears flakey (top left), and mouldy (top right.)

This is my worst image of the day. I have not got any depth in the photo, in addition the graffiti is extremely hard to see due to the white background being over exposed in my image- therefore i believe there's not enough detail in this image, making it boring. If i was to shoot this again i would take the photo from a different angle, getting down lower in an attempt to create some depth. Furthermore, I would then attempt to photograph the wall closer in an attempt to get more of the detail from the graffiti in.  

Progression:

Work Diary & Progression- Shape Studio

Evaluation:

In today's lesson we were given the task of photographing shape in the studio. We had to learn different lighting techniques, and bring in our own objects to photograph. I found this extremely interesting as you can create shapes from the shadows the objects themselves cast. 

This is my best image i photographed of the day. I like how it is not a geometric shape, it's more of an abstract one. I edited my image, the photograph above is edited, whereas the image below is the original image. I edited the image to make the colours more cool, by making the background more white and the leaf a lighter, cooler green. I like the image as a whole because it's a weathered leaf, meaning it's flaky and old, this adds to the shadows as it has rips in it- this enhances the shape aspect of the image further as the shadows themselves create dark shapes. I like the angle in which i photographed the image as the light hits it from the right, creating a shadow to the left, which adds to the image as a whole. 

This is my worst image of the day; although I do like the outline of the compass, and the shadow it creates on the shiny table, I do not like the darkness of the image as a whole. I could use the dodge tool to make this brighter in photoshop. If i was to reshoot this again i would possibly use a snoot to direct the light specifically over the compass to show more of the detail, enhancing the 'shape' aspect of the image- however I would be carful to not overexpose the image. I like the angle at which i took the image, subsequently I would not change this, however I could possible take an image head on from the compass, so I could include all of the detail from the face of the compass.

Progression:

Work Diary&Progression- Low key lighting- Portraiture

Evaluation:

To shoot these images we used a shutter speed of  1/125, F-stop 16 and ISO 200.

This was the set up in the studio (image below.) I had the reflector to the left of the subject, the light on the right hand side (I adjusted the distance and height of this), and the subject in the middle of this all.

In today's lesson we were given the task of using the studio to photograph portraiture, creating a low key lighting effect in our images. I used the camera settings of shutter speed- 1/125, F-16 and ISO 200. This allowed me to learn further how to used lighting to my advantage when photographing in the studio in order to create different effects (e.g. low key lighting.)


The image on the left is edited, whereas the one below is the original image. 

This is my best photograph of the day as i believe I've photographed low key lighting extremely well here. I believe this as although the left hand side of the face is darker you can see the light is reflected as you can see her left cheek bone. This occurs as i used a white reflective polystyrene board, to help reflect back the light from the flash, this is known as the reflector. 

When I edited the image i turned up the saturation, as previous to this it is was slightly dull, by turning up the saturation it has made the face have more colour. 
If I was to shoot this again i would ensue she was not bent forward, as her body looks slightly hunched over. 

This is my worst image of the day as the subject I'm photographing doesn't hold a direct emotion on their face, also it looks as though she's pushing her head forward, instead of sitting upright. In addition, the right hand side of the face is slightly over exposed, this has occurred due to the light hitting the face too closely. 

If i was to reshoot this I would place the light further away, and ensure she was sitting upright, not with her head pushed forward. 









Progression: