Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practise
57.4 Evaluation
By Kirsty Richardson
The first lesson in Photography, we learnt how to switch on and use the camera. We set up the camera taking test shots to experiment with it. I have never used an SLR at a professional standard, using the manual focus and white balance settings, I have only used it on the automatic settings. I have learnt a lot about Photography and I have produced a final album cover, for Taylor Swift's album Sparks Fly.
At first, when we were using the cameras, I was unsure of how to confidently used it. However, I borrowed a family members camera and in between lessons, practised using it and getting more familiar with the settings and the best settings to use in different situations.
When thinking about ideas for my album cover, I thought of what I would want to see on an album cover and the easiest idea to shoot. I thought of two main ideas, the first idea consisted of taking 4 images of different coloured lips. This would be in a pop art style, as I have looked at different Pop art artists before and really like how they use colour. I thought that this idea would also be the simplest to shoot, and would not use a lot of knowledge about the camera to take the picture. However, I wasn't very keen on the idea and wanted more of a challenge technicality wise, so I could use different settings for different effects. i did like the idea of the colour as I like bright colours or colours that go well together on an album cover. i thought about my favourite album covers and how I could use inspiration from them to create my own idea. I really like Lawson's Chapman Square album cover, as they use the lighting cleverly and the colour used. It looks very naturalistic with the Autumn colours (browns and yellows) and I like the style of it. I liked how the leaves on the floor are hidden but still so you could see them, they work well with the trees in the background.
 |
| http://i1.cdnds.net/12/38/618x618/lawson-chapman-square.jpg |
 |
| http://www.wallsave.com/wallpaper/1600x1000/rocking-with-guitar-taylor-swift-standing-by-the-water-her-212907.html I have also taken inspiration from this image of Taylor swift. I liked the idea for her holding the guitar and that it is central, so it is the main point of the image. Like the Lawson album cover, i like the natural Autumn themed background. This photo has more of a wide angle aspect as it is not for an album cover, just a promotion shot, so the photographer could show off the background more. I like how the guitar has been held at an angle, so it looks like a posed shot, but natural at the same time. |
 |
| http://www.taylorswiftalbums.net/Pictures/images/photos/Taylor_Swift_10617048.jpg |
After looking at different images of my favourite album covers/images, I decided that it would be a good idea to use some sort of greenery that look natural and looked like it was in autumn. I decided that I wanted to use a guitar to give it a bit of a country feel, but a pop genre too as I like Pop music. Taylor Swift would be classed in this genre as she is a country singer but in the Pop genre too, and this is why I wanted to create an album cover for this type of genre. i used my sister as the model as I wanted a girl at the back that looked like a typical 'country' girl. Looking back, she does look a bit like Taylor Swift but that wasn't my intention.
I addressed the audience that likes Pop and country music as I like that genre, so I thought of what things I would like to see on an album cover. I was going for an audience that like artists that write and perform their own songs using their own instruments, like Taylor Swift.
I used the cloudy white balance setting
- shutterspeed - 1/8 sec
- iSO 400
- Ap 5.6
- Depth of field
- Inspiration behind idea
- Audience -
§
