Unit 57) Evaluating Photographic Practise (Carol)

Evaluating Photographic Practise

By Kirsty Richardson

‘Life Through A Lens’ Photos

For this project, I wanted to take four images that would represent the theme Glass in an advertising format. I wanted to advertise the message of how powerful lenses are, and how we take them for granted, but the world would be different if we didn’t have them. My aim was to have each picture mean a personal story, but also have a literal meaning too.

When I started this project, I wasn’t fully confident with using the DSLR cameras. I had a clear idea of what I wanted, but didn’t know how to physically take the picture using the effects I wanted. I read a couple of guides and also got other people to show me how to use the camera and how to create different looks with each photo. I spent a lot of time on my own trial and testing the camera, and I feel that this gave me the confidence of using the camera as I could learn it for myself in my own time. This helped me achieve the final outcome of these four photos and I feel that experimenting with the camera has really helped my confidence and helped me to achieve these photos.

Photo 1

Visual Language

For this photo, my aim was to have the glasses at the bottom of the image looking up at the photograph, as if you were looking at the photo through the glasses. You can’t really see the photograph through the glasses like I planned. I tried to go as low as possible and look up with the camera, but because the photo was on the floor it was too hard. I should’ve put the photo on a higher surface so I could’ve seen through the glasses. I still like how the lines in this photo are quite vertical, even though the photo is landscape, which makes the light coming through the window more effective. I wanted the colours in the photo to be quite dark and bright, which I think I have achieved quite well. I wanted the light coming through the window on the right to reflect on the photograph and the photo frame. The photo is quite dark, but I wanted it dark so it would contrast with the lightness of the background and also so the photo wouldn’t be too overt.

This photo has a strong meaning for me, as the photograph in the frame is of my Nanna, my sister and I. My Nanna has sadly passed away, and she was blind, so I wanted to show that with the help of glasses, they could’ve saved her eyesight. She didn’t tell anyone that her eyesight was worsening because she had Dementia, so I wanted to take a picture that represented the story. I think this is a strong message that relates to the format of my project (advertising) as I wanted to promote the message that glass (lenses) help people a lot and we don’t really think about it because we take it for granted.

  Audiences

The audiences for this photo I think would be people who would anyone that would go into an opticians or anywhere related with eyesight. I think this picture is aimed for every age, young and old, however, older people might be able to evaluate the meaning more in depth than young children would. My aim for these four photos was to make them target every gender and every age, because losing your eyesight could happen to anyone and a lot of people at different ages wear glasses. 

Historical and Cultural Context

I took this photo when I was first conducting primary research. I really liked how the sun reflected off the glasses and how the lenses were coloured differently. This is my test shot and really inspired me for my final images.

The image I took of the photo frame and the glasses took inspiration from this photo, and I wanted to make sure that the sun was effective, like it was on this test shot.

Finished Product

I really like this final image as it has a deep personal meaning to me. I really like how the neutral colours contrasted with the stronger colours in this photo. I wanted to use the natural light from the window to create an effect, and it went as I planned, as the light is reflected diagonally onto the photo frame. It is fit for purpose as it relates to the theme glass in 2 ways. There is glass you can see from the window, glass in the photo frame and glass in the glasses as the lens. I learnt how to use the controls a lot better in this image, more than I did in some of the other images, as I had to get the balance right so the photo frame would be visible, and also the window with the light coming through.

Production Processes

I think if I could change how I shot this image, I would place the photo frame on a table, so that I could get a lower view of the photo frame and more of the natural light in the background.

Photo 2

Visual Language

This photo is the most unplanned out of the four I took, as I was taking pictures and saw that there was a nice sunset, so I put my glasses in front of the lens and shot away. I wanted the glasses to be at an unusual angle, so that it looked a bit different, and I didn’t have a photo with close detail of the glasses yet. It took me a while to try and get the colours right as it was too dark at first, because it was getting darker anyway. Once I sorted out the colour balance, I needed to try and get the focus I wanted which took a while too. Once I got the settings right, I took a few photos at different angles, and this was the best one.

Audiences

This photo is aimed at people who like looking at meaningful photography. It might also be aimed at people who would look at an advertisement for an opticians or eye treatment, as it is in an advertising style and looks quite corporate.

Historical and Cultural Context

I really like looking at sunsets and I like the different colours that the sky has at dawn. I also take photos on my iPhone if I see a nice sunset, so I wanted to take a photo with a nice background of colours in the sky. I wanted to show that even with glasses, sometimes eyesight can’t be saved. Like my Nanna, and for millions of other people, it can be too late for vision to be saved with glasses, if they can’t physically tell you that their eyesight is bad, so I wanted to show this through this photo. I also wanted to represent in a deeper meaning, that you can have something to help you see, but it’s how you see things that makes you feel a better person. You can have the clearest glasses on possible, but you might feel not very confident in wearing them, or confident in yourself as well. I was picked on at school when I first got glasses and I didn’t want to wear them because no one else did, but I didn’t realise that they helped me and I felt so much more confident in wearing them than I actually realised. I wanted to use this as inspiration, and this is why the part of the image you can see through the lens is blurry just as much as the background, to show this message.

Finished Products

I think this photo is fit for purpose, as it looks very corporate and looks like it would be used in a campaign or for advertising/marketing a product. I wanted this photo to be multi purpose. It can be interpreted into a deep meaning, but also can just simply be used for advertising.

Production Processes

This photo took a bit of time to set up. I wanted to take it really quickly because I was conscious of the time, and the background wouldn’t be how I wanted it to be.

Photo 3

Visual Language
For this photo, I wanted it to look quite commercial like and a photo that would be used in advertising campaign. I really like this photo and it is one of my favourites, as I like the words you can see in the lens of the glasses. The colours in this photo are quite neutral and has a vintage style to it. I really like how the frame of the glasses really stand out and the black background in contrast with the beige page of the book. In this photo, I wanted to show that you should "cherish your visions" (like the words say in the lens), otherwise you can't do simple things like read a book if you can't see.

Audiences
I think the audiences for this photo would be anyone that would understand the importance of vision, this could be male or female at whatever age. I didn't want a restriction of age, gender or style with my photos, I wanted them to target any audience, like photos in an advertising campaign would.

Historical and Cultural Context
I really like meaningful quotes and I had the idea of using a quote from a book when I was actually shooting photos of the book with the glasses on top (photo 4). I didn't plan out how I wanted this photo to look, and I feel that I got the best result from doing this. I took 2 photos for this photo. I wanted one of the glasses and book, and a close up one that was sharp of the quote. I then photoshopped the quote into the frame and made it slightly lighter than the rest of the book, so it would stand out and shine. I wanted to make it clear on what the message to this photo was.

Finished Products
I think this photo is fit for purpose as it is in an advertising style. It looks like it is a corporate style and that would be used in advertising to sell either a product (e.g. glasses) or an idea/message (e.g. eyesight is important). I have shown quite a few people my photos and everyone has said that this is their favourite out of them all, as it is an original idea. It tells a story, even though the concept and the actual picture is quite simple.

Production Processes

This photo took more photoshopping than the others did, but I think it is the best one out of all of them. I think if I had more time to photoshop the photo, I would spend more time on photoshopping the quote into the glasses lens, as it looks a bit rough and not quite right. But I think that it still looks okay and not that noticeable.

Photo 4

Visual Language
This photo is in a conventional style, and there are diagonal lines on the book that makes the photo. I wanted the end of the book to be out of focus and have the glasses looking sharp on top of the book. I think this effect makes the glasses stand out of the photo more and is the main focus. I wanted the photo to look like it had been set up, but also as if someone has been reading it, and the glasses stood as a bookmark to keep the page.

Audiences
Like all of the photos I have taken, I don't think they have a specific audience, as I wanted to aim my photos at everyone that would look at them, as if they were to pass them on the street on a billboard or a poster. I didn't want a restriction on who they were aimed at. 

Historical and Cultural Context
This photo doesn't really have a historical or deep meaning behind it. I was taking photos of the book and the glasses on top as I felt that it looked food and I liked this photo the best.

Finished Products
I didn't do much Photoshopping to this photo, apart from adjusting the colour tones, as the photo was too yellowy, and I wanted more of a vintagey themed book look to it.

Carol: Unit 57 Task 2

Unit 57 Task 2) Test Photos

 Here are 10 photographs I have recentley taken. I have taken some in Richards class and some in my own time. I feel that after having more practise with the camera taking test photos, I am a lot more confident at taking pictures with the DSLR cameras and using the manual functions.

 I took this image in Richards class. We had to look at a theme and take a couple of pictures to do with that theme. Our theme was heavy, so I wanted to show someone looking defeated trying to push/lean on something really heavy. I took this photo when I was just starting to use the cameras properly and I didn't really know what I was doing. I thought when taking the picture that it was all in focus, but I didn't really take much notice, until I got back to the classroom and downloaded my pictures and saw that it was out of focus. The focus is on the edge of the doorframe and not on katie like I wanted it to be. After using the camera a lot more, I now realise that I have to manually check the focus every time I take a picture, not just to set it for one image and presume it is still right. The picture is really badly framed too and there is a lot more I could've done with this image framing wise. I think if I crouched down and shot looking upwards, it would've given a better effect and got my intentions across better.
Exposure 1/50 sec;   f/4.5;   ISO 800

I also took this image in Richard's class. The task was to take 4 Abstract landscape images and 4 conventional landscape images on the themes time, heavy, space and time. This is one of the abstract images that represents the time theme, as you can clearly tell that someone is looking at the time, and there is an abstract model behind in the background. I think this photo achieved my intentions exactly how I wanted it to as I wanted to clearly show the time but also people could assume why someone was looking at the time, e.g. they might've been meeting up with someone or waiting for a text etc. I wanted to get the phone in a really sharp focus so it would stand out in the whole image and I think I have achieved this quite well. I think the framing could've been a little more squarer and not show as much white walls in the background. 

1/200 sec;   f/4.5;   ISO 200

For this image, I went to a park with my family when it was sunny on a Sunday and shot a lot of random photos. I became a lot more confident with using the camera towards the end of the trip and this is one of the shots from the end. This shot wasn't really planned, my sister was laughing at something I said so I quickly focused her face so I could get a shallow depth of focus and took the picture. I didn't think it would turn out as good as it actually did and this is probably one of my favourites I have taken so far. I like the tone of this image as she is smiley and the colours in the background are bright and very summery, and it reflects the whole mood of the day, as everyone was happy because the sun was out.
1/1600 sec;   f/5.0;   ISO 800

This image was also taken near my Dad's work and was some steps of an old mill. I thought that it reflected the theme time really well as the steps are corroding and rotting, so it shows that it has had to do this over a long period of time. I really like how this image has a vanishing point at the top of the steps. To improve, I think I could've made the angle more central and go closer to the step to exaggerate the vanishing point looking up the steps.

1/100 sec;   f/5.6;   ISO 400

This is the edited image. I used the tone curve tool in Adjustments in Adobe Photoshop to make the red colours more stronger on the steps. When I looked at the image on the computer, I knew that I wanted to edit it to make it look quite magazine like and bring the colours out because there are strong colours in the image but it didn't really come over across that way in the original. I really like the edited version.

To get this image, I stood in a muddy puddle to get the grass with the water in the background. I wanted to get the sun reflection on the water as I could see it really well with my eyes. I don't think it came across as well as it did in real life, but you can see a slight sun glisten at the end of the puddle near the mud. This photo didn't really look like how I wanted it to, but I had to take it quite fast, so I didn't look at the focus either. Even though it's out of focus, I think it does work quite well with the whole image as it gives a softer look.


1/6400 sec;   f/8;   ISO 800

 1/400 sec;   f/4.5;   ISO 200
I took this image in Richard's lesson when we did the Abstract and Conventional photos. We were taken near the university buildings at the back of the college and it was really picturesque, especially as it was really sunny. I liked the layout of the place and how the benches were lined up with the pathways. I wanted to take the photo so you could clearly see the lines to where the vanishing point is. I'm really pleased with this image as it has turned out just how I wanted it to. To a normal person, it would look boring but I knew that it would make a really good photo. To improve, I think I could've tried to get the blue sky in as it just turned out white, and I would do this by changing the white balance settings (e.g. tungsten, cloudy etc).

 1/1250 sec;   f/5.6;   ISO 800
I really like this image. My intentions were to try and get the sun coming through the leaves as it looked really good in real life and left a really good reflection on the ground. I wanted this photo to look quite mysterious and look like it would be inManchester. I think that this photo looks like it would be somewhere really hot and sunny in the woods and that was the look I wanted to go for.

Carol: Unit 57 Task 1

Self Portrait Unit 57 Carol Task 1

Kirsty Richardson

Original Photo

1) Adjust Exposure

For this photo, I used the exposure tool in photoshop. The settings I used were:

Exposure - +0.87

Offset - -0.0492

Gamma Correction - 0.91

In this photo, I wanted to have the picture a lot lighter than the original as the original was quite dark and musty. I wanted the focus point to be the face and using this exposure, it helped even out the skin tones more and make the face look more flawless as it was lighter.

2) Adjust Colour: Dark and Moody

For this image, I used the Vibrance and set it at -26. I wanted the picture to be dark but still have a little colour in. The typical thing to do when you think of an image that is moody is to typically make it straight to black and white, and that is why I wanted this image to have a little bit of colour. The facial expression doesn't really match the tone I was going for with the image, but the adjustments in photoshop were what I intended them to be.

Bright and Sunny

For this image, I used the tone curve to create a bright and sunny effect. I like how this image has highlighted the face a lot, like how it would if sun was directly shone at someone's face, the face would be the lightest part of the image. 

In this image, I also airbrushed the hair slightly. I wanted to make it look more shiny and also get rid of the fly away hairs on the right hand side of the image. Because of the tone curve, it made the fy away hairs really stand out and made it a focus part of the image so I wanted to get rid of them so the main focus point of the image would be the face.

Abstract

For this image, I just used the saturation filter to make the whole image purple. This is not as abstract as it could've been, however it is still abstract as no one has a purple face naturally.

3) Cropping: ECU

For this image, I use the cropping tool to create an extreme close up. I wanted to focus on the eyes as they aren't that visible on the original image so I wanted to focus on those more. 

Non Central

For this image, I also used the cropping tool to crop exactly half of the image. This is quite effective as the space next to the main focus of the image is equal to what it would be on the other side, and this was the effect I was trying to go for.

4) Cover Star

For this image, I airbrushed. The face, hair and also cropped it.

I wanted to make the face look flawless and have the teeth looking more white. I don't really like this image as it looks too fake and unreal. I also should have made the crop more equal so there was the same amount of space on the left than there is on the right. I tried to go for a cover girl portrait magazine look but it doesn't really look how I imagined it.