Daily Archives: December 30, 2022

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Photoshoot 3: Swiss Valley

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The history behind Swiss Valley –

Swiss Valley is an woodland trail that eventually leads on to country lanes of Jersey and is used by a variety of people for dog walking, jogging or if you are just looking for somewhere with a nice and calm environment to walk in. The Valley is home to a wildlife community of red squirrels, woodpeckers, owls, and a variety of different plants, mushrooms, etc.

Least successful shots –

Why I think that this is one of my least successful shots from my photoshoot in Swiss Valley is because the sun overexposes the image at the top which impacts how the tree trunk on the left of the photograph is seen as the details and colours of the tree trunk in the image become quite distorted and as if it has been bleached from the colour, which I do not like. If I were to take this photo again I would make sure that the shutter speed is appropriate for the weather that I am photographing in and to frame the photo differently where it is more zoomed in to the subjects of the photo as I feel as if it is quite zoomed out, to create more focus within the photograph.
Why I think that this is one of my least successful shots from my photoshoot in Swiss Valley is because pf how I have photographed the water which is flowing through the small river which was there and the framing og the photo as it appears to be quite wonky which I do not like as it makes the photo seem as if it is quite messy and unorganised. If I were to take this photo again I would make sure that the photo is framed correctly and when photographing the water, I would make sure that I am using the correct technique with the camera. This is where I would be in manual mode and have a slow shutter speed and low ISO as it will make the focus of the water clearer in the photo.

Contact sheets of my best shots in Lightroom –

These are the photos which I have selected as a basis to begin with deciding my photos throughout the photoshoot that I thought were the most successful I selected in Lightroom with ‘P’ and the ones which I did not like I pressed ‘Z’ which rejected them. This was able to provide me with a small amount of 35-40 photos to work with throughout my sorting system so that I end up with 10-12 images to use within my photobook.
Here are some examples of images which I have selected to use:

Sorting system –

For this photoshoot after I had selected the most successful shots in Lightroom I began to use a sorting system to determine the photos that I wanted to use. This was achieved through putting the photos that were successful to an extent but had limitations due to their composition, framing, etc to have 4 stars whereas the photos that I felt confident enough with had 5 stars and were the ones that I will move further with within my work to use for further experimentation and being used for my photobook.

Colour sorting –

How I colour sorted my photos so that I had a strong, successful set of 12 images which I could use was through the further analysis of the photos where I went through them once more. This allowed me to be able to colour the photos yellow if I felt as if they would not work well with the other photos and had slight mishaps within them, whereas the photos which were coloured green represented the images which I thought were the most strong and successful

Best shots to use in my Photobook –

These are the best shots which I have selected to use in creation of my photobook and for editing later on. This is because I liked how there was a diverse range between people/animals, close ups of shots of plants or different textures and a variety of landscape shots. I enjoyed this photoshoot but I do not think that it was my most successful. Therefore, if I were to do it again, I would go on a different day where the weather would be gloomier, this is due to the sun in some of the images where it creates a bright background. I also think that some of these images would work well if they had a darker background where the sun was not creating a lot of light on to them or if it was raining, it would give the different objects that I have photographed a different texture which could create a variety of contrasting textures with these photos and previous ones from different photoshoots.

Photoshoot 2: Fern Valley

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Context about Fern Valley –

Fern Valley is a secluded valley within Jersey that is compromised of meadows and different types of flowers, plants, etc. It is a valley which is quite hidden and out of the way from the business of Jersey, giving it a sense of calmness and tranquillity. It is very frequent with dog walkers or people looking for a little escape. It is a home to a variety of wildlife such as Red Squirrels, Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Golden-ringed Dragonflies.

Where Fern Valley is located on the map.

Least successful shots –

Why I think that this is one of my least successful shots which I took during my photoshoot of Fern Valley is because the photographing of the leaves makes the photo appear as if it is too busy as there is a lot going on due to the different colours and textures of the leaves. If I were to take this photograph again, I would focus more and zoom into different aspects of the photo to get a more detailed view of the positioning of the leaves and the different colours and textures that they are.
Why I think that this is one of my least successful shots which I took during my photoshoot of Fern Valley is because the subject (dog) in the photo is jumping up within the photo on to my legs, causing a movement that makes the photo appear blurry. If I were to take this photo again I would make sure that I am zoomed out enough, as I feel as if the image in quite zoomed in and make sure that the subject of the photo is relatively still so that the blurriness is a small amount within the photograph.
Why I think that this is one of my least successful shots which I took during my photoshoot of Fern Valley is because the sunlight is slightly overexposing in the top of the photograph which creates a dark and heavy contrast against the tree trunk, which I do not like because you lose the details of the leaves and tree trunk formations. I also do not like the framing and background of the photo as I feel as if it is quite bland and doesn’t show the range of colours that the natural forest landscape provides. If I were to take this photo again I think that I would change the positioning of the camera and zoom into the tree or the leaves to change the texture that I am photographing within the photo.

Contact sheets of my best shots in Lightroom –

These are the photos which I have decided are my best shots which I can begin to shorten down into a select few of 10-12 images which can be used in my photobook. I made this selection on Lightroom by using ‘P’ for picking the photos which I thought were successful and ‘Z’ to reject the photos which were not. I really liked carrying out this photoshoot as the weather made the outcomes of the photos easier as it was quite glum and gloomy which made the sky neutral in colour and didn’t cause too much overexposure, making it easier and this was also helped as the Valley was quite covered by trees which casted a shadow over. It had also been raining previously which impacted the surroundings in which I was photographing as the floor was muddy along with having leaves which were wet due to the raindrops which had been left on them.
Here are some examples of images which I have selected to use:

Sorting system –

To make the process of elimination easier when deciding what photos I will be using for further experimentation and being used in my photobook I decided to use a sorting system where the photos that I still was not 100% confident with them being my most successful I decided to be rated 4 stars, compared to the photos which I did believe to be the most successful photos throughout the whole shoot which I decided that they would be rated 5 stars and this would make it easier when deciding on the colouring of them as there were still quite a few photos and I only wanted around 10-12.

Colour sorting –

This is the colour sorting system that I used which helped me to finally decide on the last set of photos which were ny most successful that I wanted to use within my photobook. This was decided through further analysis of the photos where the ones that had small imperfections such as a slight blur, a little overexposed or I just was not sure on the outcome of them after I had photographed them, I coloured them to be yellow. This left me with the photos which are in green and these are the photos which I thought were my most successful outcomes from the photoshoot of Fern Valley which I will later implement into my photobook after further experimentation with them in Lightroom.

Best shots to use in my Photobook –

Here are the final selection of my best shots which I will later experiment with and implement into my photobook. I have chosen these images because I think that they successfully represent the natural landscape but also have inclusion of other subjects within the photos such as close up of leaves which I have, or the photographing of my dog. This is because I think that it adds more individuality within my photos so that they aren’t all the same as it creates a journey, which is what I want to do throughout my work as well as showing off Jerseys unique natural landscapes of valleys which are all around us. I enjoyed this photoshoot because I was able to experiment further with different ways I photographed my surroundings where I would get close up to what was around me or on the floor and the different textures which I encountered when photographing.