Shoot 1 Work Diary

SHOOT 1 WORK DIARY 


IMAGE 1 

EVALUATION - Out of shoot 1, this is one of my favourite images. The photo is of my Dad throwing the tennis ball to my Dog in the background whilst I'm holding a flask of coffee in the foreground. I like this composition as it gives the image a large depth of field because the focus is further into the photo. To achieve this focus I used f/5.6 this allowed me to decide which part of the photo I wanted to be blurry. This photo slightly reminds me of Henri Cartier Bresson's concept of the 'decisive moment' as I captured the photo at just the right moment to achieve the ball being in the air and my dog mid-stride trying to fetch it. This is an effective freeze frame as there is no blur on the fast motion, to get this freeze frame I used a shutter speed of 1/500s. This fast shutter speed ensured that only a short moment was shown in the photo therefore no motion was shown through blur. As it was quite a bright day I used a low ISO of 200, this meant that my image wasn't over exposed and allowed me to pick up the wintery look of the setting. 

EDITING - As you can tell from the top of this post, image 1's original appearance was slightly dull and lacking vibrant colour. To brighten and enliven the photo I used the saturation tool and moved it up to +30, this meant that slight colour was brought back to the photo but not an unrealistic amount. I didn't want to over saturate the images it is a winter scene, therefore the dullness reflects the weather and how the frost covers most of the setting. The second adjustment I made was darkening some areas using the curves tool. I done this because next to where the photo was taken were trees with the some behind them reflecting shadows onto the ground. To emphasise this detail I darkened the shadows which turned out really well and added extra depth to the photo. 

DEVELOPMENT - The only aspect I would change about this photo is the composition slightly. When taking the photo I was trying to show the technique of differing focus however I think that the coffee flask takes up too much of the image. Therefore if I could take it again I would bring it down a bit so that it doesn't consume as much of the photo. 

IMAGE 2 

EVALUATION - This photo from my shoot 1 is definitely part of my top three images as I think it is a very effective photograph. One of my favourite aspects is the shadows being cast on the grass in front of the trees, this really emphasises the use of lighting and indicates a time of day. As the sun is high behind the trees and has cast a long shadow it shows us that this photo was taken around midday which is one of the brightest times of day. The lighting is an important aspect in the result of this photo as the silhouettes of the branches and the sun seeping through are the main details therefore it was important to get the camera settings right. To let in the correct amount of light I decided to have a shutter speed of 1/4000s which meant that it was exposed for a very short time and an aperture of f/5.6 which compensated for the rapid shutter speed. You can tell immediately when looking at this photo that it was taken in winter due to the cold tones like the blue sky and tinted ground. Another indication is the frosted floor and the scarcity of the trees, all of these parts added together make an image that truly reflects the beauty of winter. 

EDITING - The only part of this image I wanted to adjust was the saturation of it. I wanted to bring out the colour that was hiding in the original image therefore I used the saturation tool and brought is up to +45. This brought out the clear sky and cold tones on the ground which made the photo have an even more wintery appearance and look much colder. Increasing the saturation also brought out the faded yellow area of the sun which gave the sky a really nice gradient. This enhanced the photograph and made it much more appealing. 

DEVELOPMENT - There isn't anything I necessarily want to change about this photo as it is a unique image. However, I would like to go back to this spot at a different time of day so that I could compare how the lighting effects the overall photo. This would give me a good comparison through how the shadows would change according to the position of the sun. 

IMAGE 3 

EVALUATION - The last of my top three images is this one above of my Dad getting ready to throw the ball and my Dog watching him. To me, this photo really shows the importance of documentary photography as it portrays a relationship and has captured a moment. It shows the characteristics of both my dad and dog, in the photo my dad is messing around with Cody by pretending to throw the ball and looking at him. However Cody knows this trick so stands patiently looking and waiting for him to actually throw it before he runs, this shows the closeness between the two of them and how well they know each other. I think the composition of this photo is very good as the two of them are perfectly placed in the centre of the path which occupies majority of the image. The path they are on acts as a leading line through to the background, this is effective because it gives the image direction and a focus point. The settings I used for this photo 1/200s for shutter speed so that I could capture the motion that my dad was doing, an aperture of f/22 so that the entire image was in focus (both foreground and background) and an ISO of 200 as I already had bright lighting outside. 

EDITING - For this image I only wanted to brighten the existing colour therefore just used the saturation tool to do this. I increased the saturation to +20 so that the colour brought in wasn't unrealistic but just enhanced what was already there. By doing this it also brought out the shadow of my dad and dog which added depth to the photo by drawing the viewers eyes to the very corner of the photo. Secondly, the increased saturation gave the sky a clear and crisp look, like you would expect on a cold and typical winters day. Another adjustment I made to the photo was cropping it but only slightly. I thought this was necessary as either side of the photo were a lot of brambles which took up the majority of the sides. Therefore I cropped the right side in so that I lost some of the bramble border and moved the focus back onto the subjects. 

DEVELOPMENT - If I was to take this photo again I would try to zoom in more onto the centre of the photo in order to loose the brambles at either side that are quite unsightly. I think another interesting idea that I could use on the image would be to take it from a different angle, for example, where the shadows are in the corner. This would be different as the shadows would then lead your eyes into the photo and this would be the leading line rather than the path. 

IMAGE THAT REQUIRES DEVELOPMENT 

     Out of all the images in shoot 1 I think this one is my least favourite and the one that requires the most improvement. I think this because its a very dull image that doesn't really focus on anything in particular. It is a very easy photo to overlook as it has no real significance and doesn't really document much. If I was to retake this photo I would try take it from a different perspective, perhaps further back so that I could include the path bending round and slightly more of the gate in the background.