Bibliography

Geoff Dyer, 2007. The Ongoing Moment. New Ed Edition. Abacus.

Bryan Peterson, 2004. Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition). Revised Edition. Amphoto Books.

Neil van Niekerk, 2009. On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography. Edition. Amherst Media, Inc.

Michael Freeman, 2007. The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos. Edition. Ilex.

Michael Freeman

Perfect Exposure. Edition.

George Hughes, 1988. David Bailey Masterclass : A Guide to Creative Photography. Edition. Hamlyn.

Bambi Cantrell, 2000. The Art of Wedding Photography: Professional Techniques with Style. Edition. Amphoto Books

Damien Lovegrove, 2007. The Complete Guide to Professional Wedding Photography: Creating a more profitable and fulfilling business. Edition. Focal Press

Final revisions to Assignment 5

This is my revision of assignment 5

Another decision when reviewing photos for the final assignment

Trying to decide if I really need to put in a photo of the church, it does not have much space around it and I struggled to get a nice photo of it so I used a fish eye lens for this shot turned the picture black and white and then put a texture on to it to try and give an arty feel to the photo, I have adjusted the brightness in the photo making the texture less dominant so that it fits in better with the rest of the set and am now trying to decide if it is right to keep this photo in with the final selection

decision 1 when reviewing photos for the final assignment

I found wedding photography to be very fast paced, as you have to work quickly to get the shot as it does not come again, I wanted to capture natural emotion without too posed a look. I am worried about the shots to use in revising my assignment, as I was not allowed to take any photos during the ceremony. I really needed to include a photo of the bride and her father going into the church, the feedback criticised the original photo that I used for having a blown out background although I had seen other photographer using this effect and I preferred it to the otherwise busy background. in hindsight if I had of used a wider aperture then I would have put the background out of focus more but this comes with experience in fast moving situations

Here is the original picture that I used terri had started to get really nervous and her dad looked at her with a really proud look.

This is the other photo that I took just before when they were standing with the vicar preparing to go in, I don't like how cluttered the background is and if I had a chance to retake the photo I would use a wider aperture to blur the background

I feel that I really need to add one of these as the bride and her father walking into the church is an important part of my story. but unsure about the new picture as it as a far to cluttered background.

Assignment 5 Evaluation

I was disappointed with my feedback for assignment 5 as where I had tried to add creativity to some of the photos they were seen as poorly taken shots, not working out as well as I had hoped. The feedback was helpful and made the point that I should have been more careful to have taken the bride and father arriving in the car shot from the brides side as this was on the road and the bride had to climb over to the curb side. I was distracted by this but could have planned this better and asked Terri to sit on the other side when she got into the car

The Methodist church where the wedding took place was situated on a small corner with hardly any grounds and was not very pleasing to the eye, as the church did not make a very pleasing photo I took the picture of it with a fish eye lens and added a texture to try and create a more interesting and fairytale wedding picture.

The main door to the church was boarded up inside so the bride and groom now have to use a side entrance. (Although I arranged with one of the church wardens who kindly opened the original door for a quick photo after the wedding), when the bride and her father entered the church rather than the distracting background I tried to show a more creative shot by blowing the background out, I had seen a similar photo to this in Damien Lovegrove's book Profesional Wedding Photograph which was one of the books that i based my research on. In one of the shots the tutor thought I could have directed the father better but I thought this was a real tender moment between the bride and her father as they where just about to walk down the isle and I wanted to take the shot in a more storybook style.

Quoted from Lovegrove's book "Storybook wedding photography is where record photography goes one stage further. All the detail and moments of the day are captured, telling the story of the day often through 'rose tinted glasses' even the brides shoes get there own shot! This is still essentially record photography, but usually the 'people pictures' take on a less formal style with only a few of the people showing eye contact with the camera."

I took lots of photos of the wedding starting at the brides house with her getting ready, and then meeting up with the groom and taking preparation shots with him before proceeding to the church.
I only selected a few photos for my assignment as the brief said to include 6 to 12 image and I also thought that these would clearly tell the story of the event without showing the whole day which I think would go on too long however I must have misjudged this and did not show enough of the day according to feedback, so I have revised this and added more photos though I was not allowed to take any photos during the service.

I found expressing myself in the learning log quite difficult but when discussing this with another photographer they suggested including evaluations. And I found this a more structured way of getting my thoughts across, something I had not thought of doing before.

Assignment 4 Evaluation

I find lighting to be a bit overwhelming and try to stay in my comfort zone as I am afraid of making mistakes with it. For the research stage of this assignment I used a book On-Camera Flash by Neil van Niekerk but found some of the technical aspects of the lighting quite difficult to get my head around as I am more of a hands on learner and nothing seemed to work by reading this book.

I then started to look into DVDs and viewed some of David Hobby's Strobist videos, as well as Zack Arias One Light videos. I found that viewing these made it easier for me to understand but had to watch them a couple of times till anything really sank in. I had a couple of friends that were pregnant and wanted some practice taking maternity shots so thought that lighting the baby bump would be the perfect subject to base this assignment on.

I found the feedback very helpful in making me rethink how I could improve my work. I had tried a different style of presentation, with 2 images on a page with text on the images. My tutor suggested that this was not the best way to present them and to avoid text on the images, so in my revision to the assignment I have altered these. Another of the photos had light on the models head and bump creating two points of interest, when my tutor pointed this out I realised that this took the emphasis away from the bump. The feedback also made me realise that where I had tried to achieve something different by including hands, detracted from the bump and what I was trying to initially achieve.

By using a macro lens I could have achieved a better result with the textured and coloured photos, but I think now that my lighting the bump idea was not ideal for this assignment as my model was quite anxious about her skin tone and wary of my taking close up shots. I have made revisions to this assignment but if I had used a movable object I would have been able to be more experimental without the worry of my models needs.

This assignment made me realise the importance of light and my need to explore this further, so I have since attended a lighting course at the Blackthorn School of Photography where I looked at direction of light and studio lighting set ups, this has made me more experimental where before I always used to play it safe with flat lighting. I have now brought a flash and am experimenting with different lighting effects.

Assignment 3 Evaluation

After working in black and white for assignment 2, I loved assignment 3 (Blog Reference - 17th July 2012) because I focused on colour photography and was really pleased with the feedback received.

I included some landscapes where I had been practising my skills using a tripod with a shutter release cable and a wide angle lens / use of a macro lens in the photo of the orchid. I based my research in this assignment on Ernest Haas (Blog Reference - 11th July 2012), who used richly saturated colours. I really liked his deliberately out of focus and blurred effects on some of his work. William Eggleston (Blog Reference - July 2012) was the other photographer that I researched. From a personal point it was not a style of photography that I enjoyed but put my favourite pictures of his work onto my blog.

I am looking forward to assignment 4 with the use of lighting techniques as this is something that I have not looked into.

Assignment 2 Evaluation

I have found Assignment 2 (Blog Reference - May 12) really interesting and eye opening, it has helped me learn to be more perceptive to my surrounding and all the angles, lines, shapes and curves that are around me - finding the right spot to take the photo, which can add so much more to the shot.

I chose street photography to base this assignment on and particularly enjoyed walking around looking for ideas of shapes to photograph, I wanted to practice my skills at using a 50mm lens on this assignment which made me thing more as you have to move your position more than just zooming in. I looked at the work of Andre Kertesz (Blog Reference - 23/04/12), he is famous for his unorthodox camera angles and haunting compostitions. At first I was not sure if i would like his style but soon became fascinated by his use of odd shapes and unusual angles.

Within my tutors feedback I was really pleased that my tutor noticed an improvement with my learning log as I had tried to set it out better.

Assignment 1 Evaluation

When I started this course and assignment one I found it very different from anything I had done before which took me a lot of time to adapt to. Looking back on it I think i was defiantly over eager to get out and take photos without the proper planning and research the assignment needed.

The feedback from my tutor suggested some photographers for me to research, which I found to be really helpful. I looked at the work of Alexander Rodchenco (Blog Reference - April 12), I love his abstract photography and his use of liner curves and angles. The other photographer suggested to me by my tutor was Laszlo Moholy-nagy (Blog Reference - April 12), I found his photos to be so modern and minimalist for its time, he uses curves and light to great effect. Unfortunately I had not heard of the 2 photographers suggested by my tutor before and looking into a little bit of art history has opened my eyes to some great photographers and ideas.

My tutor also suggested changing the style of my learning log giving me a couple of examples to view for ideas, this was useful as I had not done a log before and was struggling as how best to go about setting it out. I also find it hard to express myself within the log so will be doing by best to improve on this within future assignments.

Assignment 5

For this assignment I decided to illustrate the story of my friend Terries wedding

I used a close up picture that I took and edited from outside of the church to be on the front cover. For a crisp clean uncluttered look to my pages I decided on  a white background with a thin black line around the photo and a further white border around although this is hard to see on the white blog background.

Page 1 - The inside cover I gave the full page to a picture of the church that the wedding was taking place in, adding the same background and borders to match the cover page

Page 2 - For this I sized 4 photos of the wedding preparations onto the same size page with border keeping the unity but adding a different look to the full page inside cover sitting opposite to it.

Page 3 - As you turn the page I have mirrored page 2 using a 4 page set up again. This shows the Rev, groom, best man and ushers outside the church and then the brides car arriving

Page 4 - To sit opposite the 4 picture spread I have chosen a full page photo of the bride and her father as they are about to go into the church.

Back page As you turn the page Terri & Joe are walking back down the aisle as husband and wife.

Inside cover picture

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Back page

Exercise 44 Rain

To produce a picture of rain I first tried to think of something different and took this photo of rain as it was just passing by and in the distance over the sea. I however wondered if this was a strong enough image to show this as you cannot see fine close up rain drops.

So I took this second picture through the glass window screen of the car it shows rain on the window screen with shiny reflective surfaces to the roads and reflections of the vehicle lights.

exercise 43 Juxtaposition

For this exercise I decided to take a picture of someone who's hobby is photography, the man is standing by his camera and tripod with rocks in the foreground leading you into the picture. I have used a slow shutter speed that gives a smooth look to the water, I think that this as well as the muted background gives a pleasing image.

Exercise 42 symbols

I need to find symbols for a number of concepts listing more that 1 for the following subjects and explain how I would photograph this

Growth

A plant with new shoots and buds on it
I would photograph this on a high key white background that would add no distraction and put all the enforces on to the plant, also making the new growth shoots and buds my point of focus

A set of stairs/steps
taken from the bottom so that you can clearly see the growth and rise up to the top


Excess

 food waste - with examples of piles of rotting food

 Overly full suitcase at airport to show excess baggage


Crime

Handcuffs - close up shot of hands cuffed behind a persons back

crime scene tape - A line of tape against an out of focus background



Silence

Finger at mouth - picture of child with finger on there lips

Inside of a church with a person sitting seeking solitude


Poverty

A  person - sitting in the street begging money for food

Homelessness person sleeping under cardboard

Exercise 41 Evidence of action

For this exercise I need to take one photo that shows something that has just happened, I chose this empty glass being placed back onto the bar with froth still stuck to the sides it shows that a pint of beer has just been drunk from it.

Exercise 40 A narrative picture essay

For this narrative picture essay I decided to take some pictures of my kitten at feeding time, his routine is to come in first thing sit on the chair for a while, go looking for food and then sleep. Knowing this routine helped me to plan my shots.

First picture coming through the cat flap

Coming in

Thinking about dinner

Looking for food

Waiting for my dinner to be served

Eating

Now time for sleep

Assignment 4 Applying lighting techniques final revisions

For this assignment I need to use the lighting techniques that I have learned and using one subject ( I have chosen the bump of a pregnant lady ) produce 8 photos that demonstrate the qualities of

Shape
Form
Texture
Colour

SHAPE

In this first picture of shape I have used lighting to light the white background in contrast to the  silhouette outline of the shape.

SHAPE 2

For this second picture of shape I backlit the subject with natural light  positioning my model inside a doorway looking out and spot metered on the subject

FORM

With my photos of form I wanted to show as much dimension as possible and have archived this in this first picture by positioning the light onto the centre of the bump and using the mothers hands at the top and bottom of the bump to help emphasise this

For the second picture of form I angled the model round more towards the camera and the model placed her hands under the bump with her partner standing behind placing his hand onto the side of the bump, I softened the lighting using  a soft box and feathered it to cover the front of the bump to show depth.

TEXTURE
For this picture of texture I was using a 50mm lens and it shows the butterfly tattoo to the side with the
texture of the skin around it although I would have worked better if I had of had a macro lens to use.

My second picture of texture is more abstract with the bump but shows the texture moving outward from the belly button.

COLOUR
For the first colour picture I used high key light for the white background with a large softbox giving even light onto the model and bump for the skin colour to stand out.

 The second colour photo I have taken as a close up with the models hands around her belly button this shows the different skin tones from her hands and nails to her bump

Assignment 4

Here are my pictures for assignment 4 applying lighting techniques

SHAPE

FORM

TEXTURE

COLOUR