shoot one

Shoot one

Plans for shoot: 

My plans for this shoot were to photograph typical garden plants and flowers and to edit them in black and white, I chose to do this in order to focus attention on the details of the plants and strip them of their colours in order to add to this effect.

Research influence


Dale M Reid's work in black and white was my inspiration for this shoot. Reid is a contemporary fine art photographer based in Toronto, Canada. Her work is inspired by studying other photographers and has been compared to Ansel Adams as well as contemporary photographers. When creating her work she uses black and white film and more traditional methods. I feel that Reid's flower portfolio is relevant to my work because she photographs flowers using an black and white medium and still manages to capture every little detail of the floral arrangements, i aspire to use her kind of approach in my work as a form of experimentation by using coloured film or using lighting or computer editing to capture the silhouettes of the flowers similar to Reid's work.

 

Contact sheet(s)
 
this shoot consisted of 48 images.



Image bank (containing 5 images)












My Best images (target 4 - 6),

Images that require improvement

i felt this image looked boring and the leaf wasn't fully in frame

the focus wasn't right with this image 

the focus wasn't right with this image

you can see the glare off the glass window in this image which i didn't want 

the focus was wrong on this image

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My idea for recording this shoot was to photograph the finer details in flowers and plants, like Reid's images, and to focus on isolating the boldest aspects of my images. I was inspired by the work of Dale M Reid by her method of taking photos, and by what she captured within some of  her photos. I chose to do this in order to focus attention on the details of the plants and strip them of their colours in order to add to this effect.

      With reference to my best images, I feel that although I could not create photographs exactly like Reid's photos, I did create a set that was in the style of her work (centring the main subject/object within the composition). I am happy with the overall outcome of my images and feel that they all show the many ways that flowers and their intricate details can be captured within a photograph both with and without editing. i decided to edit my images to make them black and white to reflect Reid's work more

With regards to some of the images that did not come out as I expected, I struggled to adapt my camera settings as the sun was ducking in and out of clouds which meant i had to change my position between each image taken.   Some images lacked focus, whilst in the case of others I struggled to use the cameras exposure meter.   I believe I can overcome these issues through more practise and by taking my time more during shoots

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

to take my images i used a Nikon D3500 and a tripod to take steady images.

camera settings: 1/60 second shutter speed, f/8, ISO 360

the flash did not fire for any of my images and the camera was in manual mode.

examples of the editing process i followed for all images:

1. i cropped my images as a few of them had blank spaces that i didn't want
2. i altered the brightness and contrast 
3. i further altered the curves and levels of the images
4. i then adjusted the hue and saturation of the images 
5. then i changed them black and white and adjusted to balance of black and white in reference to the colour that it was affecting
6. i then further adjusted the brightness and contrast till i got my desired looks which are my final images.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).

The artist research was very useful during these shoots as I had some inspiration on how to tackle the finer details of the flowers from a range of species of plant and flowers. My research of Reid helped me to focus on the intricate details of the flowers and their petals as well as the contrast between their colours, despite them being in black and white, this helped me accentuate the tones within the images. I found this helpful because where I live I have a lot of opportunities to photograph different mediums including a range of naturally occurring colours, I chose to photo shoot these flowers in the natural habitat in order to portray the beauty of naturally occurring flowers and plants.

The research on black and white photography (shown in my techniques post) was helpful to this study and I feel that I shot some good photos that had enough contrast between black and white to draw the viewer's eye to the petals of the flowers instead of their colour which is what usually draws a viewers eye.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 


I believe i have produced a relatively strong set of images inspired by Reid and her black and white photography, the final images were refined by the following processes:

i cropped my images as a few of them had blank spaces that i didn't want
i altered the brightness and contrast 
i further altered the curves and levels of the images
i then adjusted the hue and saturation of the images 
then i changed them black and white and adjusted to balance of black and white in reference to the colour that it was affecting
i then further adjusted the brightness and contrast till i got my desired looks which are my final images.

My final images are shown below;

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Progression: you must refer to what you will do next to improve on either the shoot you have done or how you will develop your project in the next shoot.  

i will improve on my next shoot by experimenting more with my aperture and shutter speed and positioning of the camera and tripod when taking my images.