All of my final images can be found here
Interview and Photograph a Creative
This is my final design for my magazine using the software Adobe Indesign. This was because this was the software that was not only straight forward to use, but it also created a professional-looking finished product.
Evaluation
Overall, this brief was the most challenging as it involved interviewing a potential stranger and taking photos of them. As I am not very confident when it comes to approaching new people, I thought this task was going to be really difficult. However, once I started talking to people I became more confident, which enabled me to reach out a young photographer who was willing to answer my questions and let me take photos of him. I believe that I asked very relevant and interesting questions as I wanted the readers of my magazine to really get to know my interviewee, not only through his photographic work, but to actually get to know his personality. I also asked him if he had any advice for budding new photographers, which then gave the interview a nice, positive ending.
My photos also turned out very good as they were all using the same locations, which made them all match in a way, even though they were completely different images. For example, the 'action-shots' were all shot using different camera angles, however they all featured the same effect of me showing the audience the interviewee's techniques. I also decided to edit them the same way, by changing them into black and white images. This was due to my main feature-photo being in colour, I wanted to show the difference in his personality. For example, by keeping the main image in colour, it shows his fun and care-free attitude, however, by changing the 'action-shot' images into black and white, it shows his serious yet professional side when taking photographs.
One of the toughest parts was trying to find a suitable interviewee. For example, I originally had an interviewee sorted before Christmas. However, what I didn't realise was that the interviewee had to be earning money from the specific area that they were in. Whereas my interviewee only did photography as a hobby, and worked in a camera shop as a job. I then decided to email a couple of Portsmouth local photographers, who had their own studios, however they did not email back and when I went to visit their studio, they were closed. So I decided to stop looking in Portsmouth and look back in my home town of Bristol. This was where I found my interviewee Miles Lewis (5MileVisuals), who is a budding young photographer and film-maker who is trying to get his work more widely known. I found him on Facebook through a mutual friend and we began exchanging messages. We decided that it would be easier for him to answer the interview questions over email rather than answering them on the spot on the day of taking the photographs. This then allowed him to take his time when answering so he could give detailed and professional answers which included lots of helpful advice.
I decided on the specific layout as it spreads the body of text out nicely, allowing the photos to draw attention and not be swallowed by the text. I also decided on including some quotes from his answers as big text, this was because I wanted them to catch the readers attention which would then influence them to read the whole interview instead of skimming over it. I also wanted to have a simple, yet effective title as it perfectly states the whole reason for this interview.
The main thing that I would do differently would be instead of emailing my creatives one at a time and waiting for them to get back to me, I would send out 10 emails at once to different creatives in a hope to secure an interviewee quicker. Also I would watch more camera tutorials than I did as I am still unsure of what some of the settings are speicifcally meant to do, although my pictures did turn out fine with the P setting used on the Nikon D5600 DSLR, with the 18-55mm Lens.
Experimental
Final Techniques and Images
Free-lensing
Freezing Motion
Long Exposure
Evaluation
I was most excited about this brief because, due to its broadness, I was able to research into any technique or experiment that I wanted. This part of the brief, however, was also the toughest part as I could choose any technique or experiment, this then made it a tough task to decide which techniques would create the most professional looking images. I decided to focus on the other two briefs and wait until I found definite titles to persue.
In the first couple weeks of term, the photography class went on a few photo-walk's which allowed the lecturers to show us some new and possible experimental techniques to use. This is when I discovered the techniques of free-lensing and long exposure. Before coming to University, I wasn't as confident adjusting the settings on cameras so I would just use editing to create specific effects. However, once I was shown how to safely take the lens off and set the camera to the right settings, I began experimenting with both techniques, which then lead to me picking them as two of my three final titles.
Firstly, I will be discussing the successes and failures within the free-lensing experiment. I found it difficult at the beginning to take a decent photograph without the picture either being too blurry, too bright or too dark. But once I got the technique of focusing and zooming before removing the lens, I started to create some amazing photos. I chose the wall grill image as it came out with good detail both in and out of focus. Also the colours in the image were eye-catching, especially once edited and brightened. I did try a few photo-walks taking photos using the free-lensing technique and I discovered that if they are taken on a cloudy day, the photos tend to come out better than when they are taken on a sunny day, which is why on some of my other photo-walk posts, I didn't use any of the free-lensing photos due to them being too bright and over vibrant. This was also my only technique where the photo was in colour. This decision was made once the photo was edited both in colour and black and white. Overall, this image looked better in colour rather than black and white as it was more eye-catching with the detail and colours, whereas when it was edited in black and white, the image just looked boring and plain.
Next, I will move onto discussing the long exposure experiment as a whole and the image specifically. As I have never been that confident changing settings on a camera, I have never come across this technique before University. However, once I knew which settings to use, it became easy to create interesting and unique images. I started off playing with this settings with lights in my bedroom, however because they were part of a light strip, they didn't work as well as singular lights would've. So baring this in mind, I decided to use this technique to photograph some fireworks that were happening locally, not knowing what the images would turn out like and to my surprise they came out really detailed and bold. My chosen image was based on the detail and eye-catching colours that were captured. Some parts of this image looked like lightening bolts, which is why I decided to use this image. Originally, I wanted to keep this image in colour as it was bright and vibrant with bold reds and oranges. However, once I edited it and changed the image into black and white, I decided that it looked best this way as it made the image even bolder and eye-catching compared to when it was in colour. My final decision to crop the image down was because once the editing was finished, the image was still missing something. So, by playing around with a couple of different crops, I decided that by cutting out some of the unnecessary photograph, it became my final image.
Finally, I will be discussing the freezing motion experiment as a whole and the image specifically. This was already a technique that I am very experienced in due to me discovering it whilst doing Alevels, but i decided to try a different approach this time round. As in previous years, I have focussed more on the freezing motion of liquids so I decided that it would be best to also incorporate other features of freezing motion such as objects and animals to broaden my knowledge. I then found a new love for taking photos of birds mid-flight, which is where I discovered my final image. I had taken a numerous amount of other photographs featuring the birds but they came out either blurry or had cut part of the bird out of the image. A couple of images came out good, which I then decided to edit. When I edited them both, I thought that it would be best to try them both in black and white and in colour. However, similar to that of the long exposure edit, by having the birds in black and white, the detail made them image even bolder than before, especially once I edited and adjusted the selective colour tool.
Within this overall brief, if I were to do it differently I would decide earlier on what my three experiments were instead of taking random photos and deciding later on. I would also have more focussed posts regarding possible images rather than having big contact sheets full of lots of images. Overall, I believe that my three chosen images are strong and eye-catching, they are also all taken using three experimental techniques.
Self-portrait Diptych
Evaluation
This brief was the one that I was most confused about because I have never heard of the word 'diptych' before this project. But once I knew what it meant, I was excited to look into research and try out some tester shots. I wanted to stick with the personal photo being the contents of my bag as this image would look the neatest to present unlike some of my other ideas of displaying some of my shoes or clothes- I just couldn't think of a way that would make them look good and professional in a photo.
One of the major problems that I faced was regarding the portrait photographs. As these had to be taken by myself using a self timer, I found it very difficult to get the focus settings right, which meant that most of my attempts turned out blurry. However some did not so I thought it would be best to edit them to see whether they were usable or not. The two images that I edited ended up being my favourites, they were both using different poses but in the end I chose the one of my looking away form the camera as I believed it portrayed me best. I decided not to look at the camera as in general I am a very shy and non-photogenic person so I wanted to convey that through my images.
I decided on the particular locations of my photographs as, for the portrait image, I love going out for walks in the park so I decided to photograph myself there. However for my personal image, I decided to use a white background (my desk in my room) as most of my items are dark, so I did not want them to blend into the background and be unnoticeable.
When editing, I wanted the images in black and white as for me personally, I like myself better in black and white rather than in colour. I also rounded off the edges of each photograph with a faded black effect as it added some eye-catching details. This edit was accidentally added on my personal editing software, PhotoScape X, but I ended up keeping it as it added some final detail into the overall image. Even-though my research photographers did not have their images in black and white, I wanted to show my own take on this brief rather than following the work of someone else.
If I were to do this brief again I would probably try different coloured backgrounds for my personal picture along with trying a few more ideas regarding the personal factor, such as trying out shoes or clothes. I would also try considering, for my portrait, taking the photo behind a white wall and then editing in the background in Photoshop, as this would then have a perfectly focused portrait along with a perfectly focused background.