Self Evaluation

SELF EVALUATION REPORT

The Photographic Skills A module has definitely been an eye opener for me. I have always had such a passion for photography but was yet to learn the basics such as techniques. This module has taught me not only how to work my way around my camera, but how to use lighting and Photoshop to their fullest functions also. The three assignments in this module were all things that I had never come across before, and I liked the challenge of learning something new.

I have always had a basic knowledge on how to work my way around the camera, but always lacked confidence in being able to perform tasks by myself. When I first started this course, I had doubts that I would not of been able to keep up with the rest of the class because of this, but going back to basics with my tutors has helped me grow in confidence and given me that extra drive to learn more. My favorite part of this module was learning all of the different lighting techniques, I was so impressed with all the different effects that could be done with using just simple techniques and it gave me hundreds of ideas of my own.  I also really enjoyed the class on Photoshop. During college, I had used Photoshop in my art course for simple adjustments but never really got to grips with the full advantages that Photoshop can have on your work.

I think that the three assignments that were set in this module fit really nicely together and gave me a chance to experience and experiment with different ideas. Out of the three, I preferred the studio shot the most, as I had never experienced working in a studio before. Not only did it give me the chance to work in a studio setting for the first time, but it also taught me more on researching and how that can also help you along the way. My tutors helped me to come out of my shell with this assignment as well, because originally my plan was to take a simple promotion shot for the company Smirnoff. After I had written my proposal, my tutor pointed out to me that I had mentioned issues that could be played around with, which opened my mind to so many more ideas. So this assignment was definitely the biggest learning curve for me, and I am glad that I was pushed to try new things instead of going for the easiest option.

Out of the three assignments, I struggled with the depth of field one the most. As mentioned before, I was not an expert when it came to the technical side of the camera, and I struggled slightly on getting to grips with how to use the right settings for the depth of field shot. Yet, like everything else, It only helped me become more eager to learn how to use the settings and became more confident. As well as the depth of field assignment, the other thing I struggled with slightly was blogging. I have never had to blog anything digitally before, all my work has always had to be presented on card, so this was all very new to me and it took a bit of getting used too. I am glad now that I have done this first module, so that I now know what to expect from future modules when It comes to blogging.

Overall, I am throughougly pleased with my progress during the module. It was helped me grow as a young photographer and opened my eyes to so many more ideas. When I started this course, I was yet to know what kind of photographer I would eventually like to be, which paths I would like to take, and this module has certainly broadened my horizon.
I have gained so much more confidence technically, in Photoshop and in blogging, which will help me to progress much further throughout this three year course.

Lighting Workshop 3

Single Light Portraiture:

Head on shot of the subject and the light positioned above and in front of the face so that the outcome of the photograph has a butterfly affect just below the nasal area. The butterfly shape should be fairly small as shown below on the right. The photograph on the left has been diffused to create a slightly darker effect. To diffuse a photograph we applied a white board style sheet over the light to block out some of the light as it travels towards the subject in the shot.

Single Light Portraiture:

In this photograph on  the left half of the face is not lit up by the light that is entering the shot. To create this effect the light is positioned perpendicular to the distance between the camera lens and light. The light should be positioned at the same height of the head within the shot. Again, the photograph on the left is diffused equivalent to the one above. 

Single Light Portraiture:

The photograph on the right, as shown below has the Hollywood effect added to the picture. This is where the light is positioned at the side of the subjects head, below and also above. This will light up just a small part of the nasal area whereas the front of cheek will be in shadow. As mentioned previously the photograph taken on the left is diffused.

I enjoyed this workshop because I had always wondered how photographers created certain effects, moods and atmospheres just using lighting techniques. Now that I have learnt a basic knowledge of these techniques, I will now be able to apply them in the future if i decide to do any portraiture in another module. 

Shutter Speed

'Slow shutter speeds can produce interesting effects in photography. From rich colors to blurred motion to light drawing.
For my shutter speed assignment, I decided after doing the workshop in lighting, that I would like to concentrate on some sort of light drawing. I set out at night ready to capture the lights that the cars would leave behind as they sped past me, and I was pleased with the effects that they gave. All of these photographs were shot with speeds above 10s.

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These images are favorites of mine. I photographed the people in front of me using a shutter speed of 8 seconds and was intrigued to see that because they were walking, the shutter speed that I applied made them appear almost 'ghostly' and created harsh shadows. I thought that these looked really interesting.

I enjoyed the shutter speed assignment, but as mentioned on the brief, I needed to be aware that if I was going to change the shutter speed, I needed to also change one or both of the other elements (aperture and ISO) to compensate for this. I originally found this quite difficult to find the right settings to suit all three, but yet again it has been a learning curve and has made me figure things out for myself a bit more, and has made me have the knowledge of which settings work best for future reference.

Studio Shot

For my studio shot, I was given the task of shooting a still life photograph, and after plenty of research, decided to look into the company 'Smirnoff'. I began to look into the company.. when it began and their backgrounds, their aim, what they provide, their look etc.

 Smirnoff is a brand of Vodka that was produced by the British company Diageo and has now traveled around the entire world, in over 130 countries. The Smirnoff Distillery was founded in Moscow; Russia, and is a traditional Russian drink.

 
The images that Smirnoff provide aim to give a classy, up market approach, targeted at the sophisticated weekend drinker, as opposed to the traditional “binge drinker” of modern day society. Yet, is this the case?The coloring of the drink is traditionally opaque, a white color that has mass appeal, making sure not to distinguish between gender, both male and female. The drinks above have been bathed in light from all angles, however predominantly back lit, due to the mass amount of light that comes through the drink, allowing us to see the contents of the glass.
What I am interested in is the fact that yes, they may well present their products in this way, but why do they then contradict themselves by also showing photos of the typical 'binge drinker'. This got me thinking into what I could do to portray these contradictions.

After a lot of consideration and ideas, I thought about what wasn't so 'classy' about the typical binge drinker. I began to think about when you go into a club or a bar, what do you see that suggests this? I thought about in the bathrooms, and all the graffiti on the walls that you tend to see and wondered if I could interpret this in my work. I did some research into the kind of things written on club bathroom walls, finding things such as:

So I experimented with this idea, and ended up actually writing on the Smirnoff bottle, and this is what I came up with. The first couple of images I took as a test, and throughout I took around 80 different photographs, testing each different lighting technique to see which would work best.

I took the photographs straight and simple because this is what I thought looked the most effective, and also it was the way that Smirnoff present their own drinks and I wanted to mimic that in a way.
I continued to experiment with different lighting..


On these two photographs above, I was getting closer to the right shot, but was not happy with the dark shadow on the light of the photo.



Final Studio Shot

I was happy with the final outcome of this shot, I think it portrays Smirnoff in the way the lighting is staged, and mimics their own way of displaying their products, but also adds that controversy with the graffiti over the bottle. It was a lot of fun doing this studio shot and I think I achieved what I set out to do.

Lighting Workshop 2

In the second lighting workshop, we experimented with shutter speeds, and the effect that a slow shutter speed can have on a light source. we used many different lights to try this, the pink lights were fairy lights which we span around quickly to create the lines, we also used torches behind people to create silhouettes.

This session was so much fun!

The first section was experimenting with the fast moving light source, which we did with fairy lights, i was pleased and impressed with the outcomes;

Next we tried to do a silhouette image using a white torch, this didn't work as well as the other and i wasn't as impressed, but it still looked effective.

Lighting Workshop 1

Today we had our first session with John and David on lighting techniques. I was definitely eager to learn more about this because I had not had any previous teaching on it and I am not yet 100% confident on the technical side of photography.

We used different techniques and used the following equipment: continuous point light source, white reflector, black absorber and a diffuser.

                                                                       

First, we used an object that was reflective:

The image above was probably my favorite out of all the images I shot with these lighting techniques. I like that the background is quite moody, but there is almost a beam of light illuminating the object, and bringing out the purple color.

The next task was to photograph a solid object, and a person in our group provided us with this quirky little object:

I was surprised at how much difference a small lighting technique could make to a photograph. It can definitely add mood and atmosphere. I will use these new found skills in future projects and will have more of an idea on how to create a certain effect in my photographs