Friday, 12 December 2014

Overall Project Evaluation

This unit was a personal project, meaning we was able to choose what area of photography we would focus this unit on. I decided to do close up photography as I had a variety of different ideas for shoots. This made me excited because in my previous unit 2-Story Telling I ran out of shoot ideas and it made the unit less enjoyable. This wasn't the case in this unit as close up photography is an area of photography that I am very interested in which made the unit enjoyable in itself but also my unit being close ups is very broad, therefore I can have a very wide range of ideas it doesn't have to be anything specific like unit 2, it had to connect to story telling which gave me a very narrow approach. 

In order to get a deeper understanding of close up photography I had to complete a definition page which consisted of 4 annotated pictures, dictionary definition, my own definition and describing worlds. This allowed me to gain knowledge of the area I would be focussing my project on. Before I did any shoots I made an image bank of 25 images all related to close up photography, this allowed me to look at existing work and see how I could develop the ideas in my own way. Also by looking at a variety of different close up images it allowed me to start the project with many ideas as I gained many influences from the images. Research into photographers played a key part in this project. I started by making a research log of 20 photographers, this allowed me to explore existing photographers work. I then chose 5 photographers from my research log and looked at them in greater detail. This involved 4 annotated pictures of the photographers, why I had chosen them, how they have influenced me and a summary. By doing this I was able to develop my ideas even further as I was able to see from the photographer work what I like and what I didn't and also I could see what works and what doesn't, for example I learnt what colour backgrounds work best from looking at existing photographers work.

Throughout this project, after each shoot I had to make a work diary of two annotated pictures that I had taken from my shoot. The annotations included what I did for example what background and lighting I used & how I would improve the photograph if I was to take it again. This allowed me to evaluate my own work and understand what went well and what went wrong in order for me to correct it if I was to do it again, for example if I realised that the angle I took the photograph from just didn't work then I would know for next time. Therefore I would learn from my mistakes. 

Towards the end of the project I have to complete 5 connecting essays which included one of my own images and another image from the internet or a photographers image. I then had to annotate the two images and then say how they connect to each other, this could be by the same use of lighting or the same object has been photographed. By doing this it allowed me to learn how to connect my work to others. 

During the project I have done a number of print techniques: 
  • image within an image
  • image and text
  • weaving 
  • duotone 
  • overlay
  • selective colour
  • repetition
  • montage
  • framing
  • cluster
By doing the above print techniques it allowed me to develop my simple photographs into complex photographs. This also allowed me to develop my skills with using photoshop due to the fact that I learnt how to use new effects and tools that I wouldn't have used if we didn't do the print techniques. This also allowed me to understand which photographs work best with each print technique. 

Within the project I have learnt a number of different skills. My use of photoshop has developed and is developing every time I use it as I am learning different effects every time. Also In this project we have had to take pictures for a number of techniques, for example multiple imagery, blurring ext. This has allowed me to learn new techniques that I can incorporate in my person project in order to make it better. The techniques I included were multiple imager, blurring and animation. I have also developed my skills physically as my general capability of taking the photographs has improved massively from when I first started photographs as I have a clear understanding of what looks good and what doesn't and I am now very confident with using the studio. 

Overall this unit has allowed me to develop my skills within photography. It has allowed me to develop my own ideas as this whole project has been personal to me as we was able to pick the area of photography we wanted to focus the unit on. This has given me more confidence in photography as I really liked majority of my shoots and I experimented with a number of shoots that turned out a lot better than I thought they would. Finally I have realised that taking more pictures within my shoots allows me to have more variety of pictures and I found that it was more likely to get better photographs.


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