For my third photoshoot the circumstances changed from my photoshoot plan due to weather and models not being available.

These are my images from my third photoshoot of my exam project. They were inspired by Danny Lyons’ The bike riders.

I used adobe light room classic to go through the images i had taken and pick which ones were the best from the shoot and for my photobook.

Development

I used the tools in adobe light room classic to manipulate my images to make them look better.

I used the crop tool on many of my images to remove some of the background to increase the focus on my models and their motorbikes.

I also edited the tone of the images such as increasing the contrast and the shadows as well as decreasing the exposure due to it being a sunny day and the highlights to reduce the reflection off the shiny panels on the bikes and the visors on the helmets.

Experimentation

I experimented with making the images black and white in order to more closely stick represent Lyons’ style. However, due to the images i took having bright and vibrant colours i think they look much better in colour. Additionally, when in black and white i don’t think that there is enough contrast between the rider, the background, the bike and the floor. For these reasons i am going to present my images in colour.

I also experimented with textures and tints over the image however these modifications took the focus away from the subject of the image.

Final Images

Image Analysis

The subject of this image being the rider and his motorbike are sharp and in focus with a high contrast to the background which is slightly out of focus which ensures the subject is what the viewer focuses on. Both the rider and the motorbike consist of vibrant colours that are opposing on the colour wheel which separates the rider from his bike yet the darker colours in the riders trousers and the bottom of the bike connect my model and his vehicle due to little contrast in the colours. I used a 18-50mm lens set to 18mm for this image. I set the shutter speed to 1/160 sec, the ISO to 100 and f/50. This gave me a sharp and crisp image in the foreground and a slightly blur over the background. These settings were perfect for the weather conditions on the day of the shoot which was sunny. The sun was going down to the west which gave powerful shadows to the east. I positioned the camera low down. This have a new perspective of the scene as well as showing the true shape of the motorbike which is much taller and wider at the front than at the back which is common in the style of the bike it was.

Nicholas Goodden

Nicholas is a full time commercial photographer with 15 years of experience. He has had a long list of clients in the past, including Adidas, Peugeot, Amazon and Heineken.

I am focusing on his reflective and symmetrical work:

Taken from his website:

“Now… I cannot speak for others but in my opinion symmetry is key in photography.

Of course it needn’t be present in all photography but it’s hard to deny the strong and positive impact it has on any photograph.

Symmetry seems to satisfy a need within us.”

Nicholas also did a minimal photography project in London:

I will be taking photos similar to this kind of style in Jersey,

This was my second photoshoot I carried out for my exam project. I took this photos on the 20th of April because of the perfect weather with a bright sun and very clear blue sky, giving the images a nice blue background. I photographed buildings mainly from an angle from underneath the buildings to cast shadows and forecast light on my main focus being the unique features of these apartments. I tried experimenting with close ups and further angles to decide which idea I would like to further carry out. I tried to follow Matthieu Venots style of taking images but with less vibrant colours and more basic coloured structures. Also, the buildings I took photos of contain much more unique and complex features rather than Venots simple structures containing a maximum of 3 colours.

Contact Sheets:

Editing Process:

To begin, I used the P and X method (Pick and reject) to decide which images I wanted to further expand in my project and potentially use as my final images. Below shown are the images I chose to Pick:

After using the P and X tool I realised I did not get enough high quality images for my Waterfront shoot and I am going to need to go their again. Next I used the star rating tool to rate my chosen images from 1-5 based on which I like best.

My Best Unedited Images

Black and White

Best Edited Images

With these edited images I attempted to follow Matthieu Venots style of work by increasing the blueness of the sky. In my original images the sky is too bright and was barely seen as blue so I used the calibration tools to develop the vibrancy of the sky to try and respond to Venots images.

Evaluation

Overall, I am not fully confident with these images as I didn’t take enough quality images, however the images that did turn out well I am more than happy with. My images is a slight response towards the work of Matthieu Venot because my images contain the light blue sky but with no vibrant colours. I much prefer the coloured variant of my images compared to the black and white because I think the contrast between the blue sky and the dull coloured building is a nice scene to look at. Also, my inclusion of the shadows create great contrast between the sky and the brown like colours. To improve this photoshoot I am going to go to Waterfront apartments again and try and caputre more quality images and take more time when photographing to try and prevent any motion blur, images out of focus, and images that are too bright.

For my presentation/mount up, I wanted to ensure that my framing would enhance the images by being personalised to the images. Due to this, I created some sketches of my ideas and labelled some key elements within each idea.

At first, I wanted to mount the photos so that they would be able to spin – planning to reuse old mirrors and decorate them according to match each image. However, I felt as though the images would look disconnected from one another rather than be viewed as a set due to the differences in decorations which led me to create some more sketches to work around this issue.

Next, I began to experiment with my ideas, creating 4 new sketches that I began to explore. I was leaning into the idea of creating a small tv [sketch 3] and trying to make my images spin by using the notches to make my final project more interactive. Alongside that, I felt the tv would help to portray the performativity of gender/gender roles as it’d be showing my images on the topic as a fabrication whilst mocking the idea of people imitating what they see on tv. However, I knew that it would take a lot of time to create so I decided on using sketch 2 as a back up plan in case I wouldn’t be able to create sketch 1 as I the eyes around the frames would symbolise how society is constantly watching and judging the actions of those around them and criticising those who stand out/reject conformity.

I decided against using sketches 1 & 4 as they felt too plain for my liking and felt as though they wouldn’t use help elevate my images like sketches 3 & 4 would.

The plan for this photoshoot is here: LINK

This is the second shoot where I took images of objects, however, for this shoot I used 10 x 10 cyanotype paper to create cyanotype prints using the objects I collected from my woodland photoshoots. This was the first time I used cyanotypes as the main method for a shoot (although I have created a cyanotype image around the start of the course), so some of the images were not perfect, however I feel like I was still able to produce some good images.

The setup I used for this shoot used a base (the plastic lid) the cyanotype paper, the object I was capturing and an acrylic sheet which kept the object in place. Once the exposure was complete, I soaked the paper in water to stop the exposure and left the paper to dry flat.

---

The Images:

Best images:

---

Comparison to Atkins’ work

The objects I chose as subject matter for my cyanotypes (aside from the image on the right) were mainly thicker leaves or twigs, often with a lack of detail due to my inexperience in the medium, however I think this particular image bares resemblance to some of Atkins’ images. A lot of my images are fuzzy around the edges, due to the volatile weather changing the light during the exposure, as well as my own technique in capturing images using this method. However, I think the fuzziness of the images gives them a different aesthetic to Atkins’, capturing the natural changes in light and subtle movements in the objects as opposed to a perfect, scientific representation of the object. During the shoot I tried to capture a sequence of objects like some of Atkins’ images, however due to the thumbnail size of the paper, I was limited in what objects I could use to do this.

---

Evaluation:

As a first-time attempt, I was happy with the way some of the images came out. It was a very unique experience due to how different the process is to standard digital photography, I enjoyed the process. Due to the volatility of the weather, with the sun peeking in and out behind the clouds, some parts of the images are fuzzier than others. I think the images produced in this shoot will go well with the other object images in the project, and adheres nicely to the ‘simple’ side of the project’s theme (despite being an arguably more complex method of photography than I am used to).

What went well:

I am glad to have experienced this method of photography as by using it, it gave me more experience in the different ways of taking images and knowledge on photography’s history. Some of the more detailed images I took from this shoot are akin to Atkin’s and Talbot’s images in terms of their simplicity, linking with this shoot’s plan.

How I can improve:

Some of the images came out fuzzy or underexposed, this is due to my lack of knowledge and experience of the method, so it was to be expected. Due to the size of the paper, I could only use fairly small leaves and plants as objects to photograph.

Photoshoot #3 and #4 were considerably smaller photoshoots than the other photoshoots, with only about 30 images being taken overall.

PHOTOSHOOT #3

For my third photoshoot I was taking pictures in colourful (monotone) settings- in this instance my images were taken in a room with LED coloured lighting.

My images in this shoot were slightly dark- if turned up the exposure I expect the images would become very grainy. Personally I do not like the images I obtained from this shoot mainly because I do not like LED lighting in photographs, especially in the context of trying to take cinematic images as I struggled to get the correct camera settings to adjust to the lighting.

MY BEST IMAGES FROM THIS SHOOT

The image above is one of my best images due to composition, I don’t really like the image itself but the natural framing of the two backs to the camera and the subject in the middle is a good account of cinematic display in photography, with the main subject making direct eye contact with the camera in an almost “breaking the third wall” style.

This image is one which reminds me of Claudia Andujar’s work based off the emotion shown on the main subject’s face and the fact the image looks like a snapshot during a conversation where the subject is emotive.

PHOTOSHOOT #4

For this photoshoot I was just out with my friends, a lot of the pictures I got ended up being my friends just posing for pictures (with flash- so unusable for what I wanted to accomplish).

However at one point we had a small photoshoot in a phone box which turned out quite successful with 6 usable images being produced- there was very little blur and my camera setting ensured the subject was in focus, if I had any criticisms for this shoot it would be that I did not take enough images.

I think this image above is one of my best images due to the accidental blur which makes the image more dynamic as the subject on the left is in focus which on the right it seems as if someone is intruding with anonymity due to the blur and what they are wearing. This image also has slight symmetry due to the yellow window frames of the box.

For my second photoshoot I was in friends cars taking photos, on this night in particular the car was parked outside of a bar with neon signs and lighting creating interesting colours.

Many of my images from this photoshoot were overexposed and blurry, it was difficult to capture images in the lighting in the car as it was dark and raining inside with the mix of trying to capture the lighting and the subject with equal light balance so the colours of the neon lighting would be prevalent.

MY BEST IMAGES FROM THIS SHOOT

I really like the image above as it reminds me of Claudia Andujar’s set works “They’re Looking For Peace” due to the natural emotions captured- the lighting is also very rich and vibrant. Colour theory is also be apparent in these images with reds and oranges being the colours of passion and excitement while my subject has an excited facial expression.

This is also one of my best images due to the way the lighting frames the subject, almost like a spotlight spilling down. This image was taken outside of the car so the subject also looks a bit blurry due to the rain on the windscreen. I do not think I will use this image as a final piece due to the blurring the rain introduced- making the image look less than cinematic.

I really like the lighting in this image above as the condensation on the windows makes a colour gradient of the lighting outside, with the red being the subject creating a silhouette of the subject. Like the image prior to this one, I probably will not be using this image mainly because the subject is very dark and when editing turning up the exposure would damage the look of the lights and colours in the background, making the background overexposed.

What was photoshoot 3?

Photoshoot 3 consisted of me returning to photographing within a dark setting at night using the infinity white background. The objects which I used for this were objects that had appeared previously such as perfume bottles/spoons/forks/hair accessories/etc and then using objects such as a fork and a bowl together or a knife and fork together, I really liked experimenting with different object combinations during this photoshoot because the different shadows and reflections which were created were very abstract in how they appeared. Mainly for this photoshoot, I wanted to take my photos in the style of all three of my artist references who were Andre Kertesz, Jaroslav Rossler and Paul Outerbridge. Personally, I think that this can be clearly seen in a lot of my images which I have decided to choose for my most successful shots.

---

Most successful shots –

Above are the images which I chose to be my most successful shots, I did this on Adobe Lightroom by going through the images I had taken and selecting ‘P’ for pick to mark them as images which I wanted to analyse further. How I decided what images I wanted to choose as my most successful I went through a process of selecting ones; which had an abstract look towards them due to their reflection or shadow, the composition of how the images work well together and how well the photographs related towards my case studies on Andre Kertesz, Jaroslav Rossler and Paul Outerbridge.

Colour coding and rating –

To further select a smaller amount of images which I can use I decided to begin a process of colour coding, this process which I had done before for my first photo shoot consisted of me putting images into two separate colours, green and yellow. The photos which I chose to be yellow for this photoshoot were images which were either repeats or similar in how they appeared to other photos which I had taken, or I didn’t like the angle or the way the shadow/reflection fell on to the background. For the Images which I selected to be green, these were images that I thought had strong and bold shadows, related towards the theme of still life and the artists which I chose well and how they may work alongside other photos from different photoshoots which I have done. I think that I have successfully been able to decide which images I want to use due to how successful they have turned out compared to the others which may not be.

The rating process was used by myself within my work to organise my photos in to a final 8-10 images which I can use alongside other photos from my other photoshoots when editing. I decided to organise them in to two categories; 4 stars were the ones which I was still unsure about upon further analysis due to the way and 5 stars, were the images which were able to be related successfully towards my artists and the theme of still life which I had discussed beforehand. Altogether, I feel as if this photoshoot was quite successful in the images which I had produced from it due to how they relate towards my artists such as Andre Kertesz and Paul Outerbridge more than Jarolsav Rossler, this is because in this photoshoot I used more objects that would be considered kitchenware such as forks/bowls/spoons/whisks/etc and how the shadows have been created, compared to Jaroslav Rossler who uses a variety of different objects, which can be seen as a slight experiment within my work with different perfume bottles throughout this photoshoot.

Evaluation of some images I chose to be my most successful –

Image 1:

• I think that the slight blur of the shadow of the fork and spoon makes the image look quite abstract with how it has been composed.
• I like the framing of the photograph, as it is in portrait view which means that I have only been able to capture the shadow of the objects which I used instead of having the objects in it as well.
• With further editing, I will change the composition of the photograph and experiment with different filters which could transform the colour and how the blur of the shadow is shown in my work.
• I like how the image has contrasted well against the white background due to the shadow being bold and dark in colour, this makes it catch your eye and wonder what it may be and why it is like that.

Image 2:

• I like how I have created this image with inspiration from one of Andre Kertesz’s images for the same fork and spoon in a bowl and how the shadow is created throughout the image in it, but I have also experimented with a variety of different angles with this as well.
• I like how the shadow of the fork falls in to the bowl which makes your eyes follow it and wonder what might be inside of the bowl.
• I think that the white background creates a successful contrast to an extent within this photograph but with further experimentation of filters e.g. turning it into black and white may transform the image entirely in how the shadow appears.

Image 3:

• I like how the shadow of the perfume bottle has reflected the colour of the liquid inside of it, even if it is subtle, and how you are able to see the branding “COCO” in the shadow as well which is a small but essential detail in the photograph as it represents how intricate and detailed the use of shadows/reflections in photography can be.
• I like how the light around the bottle creates a ring which highlights the perfume bottle and its shadow as it makes your eyes be drawn to the middle of the photograph.

Image 4:

• I like how the left side of the photograph’s lighting is really bright in comparison to the right side, this is because it creates a heavy difference in the contrast of the two sides of the photo.
• I like how the brightness of the perfume box has stayed consistent within the photograph as it captures your attention and is also reflected in the bottom of the background which I really like.
• I like the shape of the shadow as it is a rectangular box shape which is quite bold and dark.

---

Least successful shots –

Above are the images which I chose to be my least successful shots which I had taken throughout my second photoshoot. I did this by selecting ‘X’ for images that I wanted to reject, the way in which I decided this was through; if there were a lot of repeats in images which were quite similar, if they were blurry in how they appeared, the use of the spotlight for lighting was too overexposed either on the objects or on different parts of the photograph and if the shadows weren’t created in the way which I had liked them too or if I just didn’t like the way that the objects which I had chosen to use together worked well alongside one another. Personally, I think that this photoshoot was successful to an extent as there were many images which I had taken that I really liked due to how they turned out with the use of shadows and reflections but if I were to do this photoshoot again I would make sure that I go back and use more glassware to experiment more with the creation of different shadows and reflections, this is because I felt as if I didn’t do this much within this photoshoot.

Evaluation of some shots I chose to be my least successful –

Image 1:

• I do not like how the shadow has been created as it looks as if it is one big blob which is coming off of the right side of the bowl, due to it having no shape to it it doesn’t look as natural as I would like it to be.
• I don’t like the way that the use of the spotlight has created an uneven look at the top of the image where the light falls, this makes the image look as if it is quite tilted in the way it has been taken.
• I don’t like the angle which I have taken this from, this is because it looks quite messy and unorganised due to how the bowl is only featured in the left side of the photograph ever so slightly.

Image 2:

• I don’t like the way the dark shadow engulfs the top of the photo compared to the bottom of the photograph which is bright due to the light.
• I don’t like the way that the shadow has been created on the right side of the image, this is because it makes it look uneven compared to the left side of the image where there is no shadow due to the positioning of the spotlight which I used.

Image 3:

• I don’t like how the light falls on to the ladle as it falls on to different areas of the ladle in a variety of ways which makes the photograph seem quite messy.
• I do not like the way that the shadow has been created in the background of the photograph as it looks quite weird compared to the bottom of the photograph where the shadow is bold and stands out well.
• I do not like the way that the use of the spotlight has created this large area of darkness on the right side of the photograph.

Image 4:

• I do not like the angle which I have taken this photograph from as it is tilted which makes the image appear quite uneven in its composure.
• I do not like how there is a large area of darkness on the left side of the photograph compared to the right side where it is brighter and quite overexposed in the corner of it.
• I do like how you are able to see the reflection and the colour of the reflection of the perfume bottle in the background of the photograph as it looks quite unusual at a glance due to how the glass bottle of the perfume reflects the liquid inside of it.

Contact Sheets

Concept: The plan for this photoshoot was to create portraits mostly inspired by Matthew Finn, as I would like to create his ‘Uncle’ project, but with my brother instead. I really would like to attempt this idea as I think that it will highlight the importance or me and my brother relationship.

Overview of Photoshoot: I think that this photoshoot turned out well, this is because the lighting in the first images with my brother is good. They capture his happiness, however, I think that as the lighting changed towards the end of the photoshoot, my images became slightly worst as the sun was going down.

Image Selection

Below I have included a screenshot of me rating some of my best images, this helps me decide which images are the best for my project, and which contain the least imperfections, such as blurry spots and incorrect exposure. Overall, I think I have lots of successful images from this photoshoot, and this will help with the next stage of my image refinement.

• Purple- Better images that are more relevant to my project
• Blue- Images that still have potential are still good quality

These image above have been split into purple and blue categories, this means that when in lightroom, I am quickly able to tell which images need more attention when it comes to cropping/ editing. I think that placing colour labels on my images is also good as after rating the images with stars, I am, able to be definitely sure that they are the best images throughout my selections.

Best Images Before Editing

Below I have included a gallery which demonstrates my best images before they have been edited/ cropped, this shows that overall the exposure and composition of my original images has potential. Alternatively, the second picture of my dog needs to be edited as the exposure is too high, this is most likely a result of the shutter speed being too high. Whereas, the seventh image of my brother does not require as much editing in my opinion, this is because the exposure is a lot better and other features such as the saturation of the photograph, is correct.

Editing

I think that this photoshoot did not provide a lot of opportunities to showcase good editing, this is because many of the image turned out better in colour, and the exposure didn’t need much editing. Despite this, I have shown some of my editing to demonstrate that these images are more aesthetically pleasing in colour.

The first image at the top looks too hard with this editing, in my opinion this is because there is a large shadow coming from the right side of the image, as this is less apparent in the colour images. Alternatively, I think the image of my dogs paws below looks better in black and white as it increases the texture of his fur and the shadows that are present within this image.

With this last image, I decided that it was a good idea to crop the image before looking at its settings, this was because I thought the background distracting and didn’t add any value to the image itself.

Final Images and Evaluation/ Critique

I have selected this as my first final image as I believe that it has a lot of relevance to my project, as I will be attempting to explore the relationship I have created with my brother in our teenager years, like Matthew Finn does throughout his ‘Mother’ and ‘Uncle’ projects. This reflects the premise of ‘Simple or Complex’ as the relationship between brother and sister can be viewed as very simple, or one with challenges, increasing its complexity. It’s important for me to reflect throughout my project that out relationship used to be very complex, but the peacefulness of simple within the brother and sister bond has made us welcome the simple relationship we have now, as we are more like friends. This image is important as it demonstrates how simple my brother can present himself, and hides all of the complicate things that come with having a close relationship with your siblings.

This will be another one of my final images, taken at my mums house, it reflects the simplicity of décor in our home and how my mum values nature and has always been a flower of flowers. I like that the light coming from the back of the window almost highlights the flowers and makes them the colourful focal point of this image. Furthermore, I have decided not the crop the wall in the right side of the photograph out, and this is because I think it adds a nice simplistic part of the image, with the string adding a nice touch. This image could be seen as one of my worst, this is because the lighting isn’t the best throughout the whole image, as the left side is a bit too light and the right side is a bit too hard.

This photograph is probably my favourite from all of my shoots, this is because it captures the happiness that my family share, but within only two members, this is important for my project as it shows that some parts of family life are simple; and this is a simple moment in time. Overall, I think the lighting of the image is consistent and and the fact that the face of my brother are dog and slightly lighter than the background helps highlight their significance to my life. To improve this image I should have increased the aperture when doing this photoshoot as the right side of the image is more blurry than my brother’s face, as this decreases the quality of the photograph.

I really like this image as the composition is quite interesting in my opinion, I like how my dog is lying in this image, as it means that he is not in the middle of this image but he is still the focal point. In my opinion, this image is one of my best because it was not staged but it looks like it was. The natural lighting within this whole photoshoot meant the I came across some challenges, this was because the lighting was constantly changing and I have to adapt the camera settings (mostly the exposure and aperture) to try and maintain the overall look of the photoshoot. To make this photograph better I would of had to get multiple different angles of my dog sitting in this way, like one from a ground view.

After colour coding and rating my images from my shoots, I began experimenting with placing them within the book’s layout.

For my second draft I decided to do the colour order in reverse, starting with the purples instead of the reds. For this version I also kept every image as a small square with no variation, reminiscent of Kawauchi’s photobook. I like this style a lot, as it makes every image’s importance feel equal. I was still unsure after making this version so decided to make another draft with a completely different order.

I also tried to group images together based on shape, as seen in this example where both images have similar colours in similar places.

Overall I was mostly happy with this draft layout, and left the decision of the final design up to me during the exam.