Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation.

I think Overall this Project was a very interesting and quite a fun project, Throughout this project my understanding of not only camera lenses, how they work and different techniques you can do with them and my understanding of portraits and how best to take them has been broadened, My idea was to take my final photos in a spooky or scary environment, so i went to three different locations, An old Mental institute which is called High Royds, then to Menston cemetery and then to Guiseley cemetery. i used these locations because they were all spooky places, cemetery's because of the obvious reason that people get buried there and i think the look of gravestones look quite spooky but also really interesting, High Royds is notoriously a spooky and weird place to be so i thought it was a perfect place to go and shoot my finals, it cost nothing to get there as they were a 10 minute walk away from where i live. i enjoyed going to the studio in college and experimenting different techniques and the results were really good, i enjoyed the low key and the high key shoots in the studio because it felt like we were proper photographers in a real situation. I liked the different types of shoots we had to do such as the contre jour shoots which gave an interesting end product. I've not really been interested in portrait photography but after this project it has really opened my eyes to what its really like and i think portrait photography could be something id like to do and pursue. I personally think my final images worked really well and there was a few things i would have done better if i did it again such as changing what my subject was wearing and maybe doing a few more shoots but in different locations. My inspiration for the project was Steve McCurry and next time i am to do something like this i think he will influence my work again but the next time i will take more of his ideas and put them into my own work because i like his style of work. i think i could have organised my time a bit better by going out days when i had little work to do and to do this i would have to do my work as soon as it is set so it is out of the way. But overall i believe this project was a success as it really expanded my knowledge of lens and different lens based imagery and also portraits in general and what best to do on photo sets or in a studio,i enjoyed this project a lot and i would be interested in doing more portrait photography in the future.

Analysis of my Finals

Analysis of final images:

Throughout this project the aim was to create portrait photos that capture the subjects emotions and facial expressions to create an interesting front cover and double page spread for Sunday supplement magazine. The idea behind my images was to shoot them in scary or creepy places.

 This image caught my attention because of the facial expression on the subject is quite funny but shows off how you would feel in the location it was shot which was an old mental institute, i think this image worked well because of my idea to shoot images in dark scary places and capture the subjects facial expression was good. Because i was shooting in low light areas i used artificial light which was flash to light up the subject which worked well because it contrasted with the dark background, i used Photoshop a tiny bit to change the levels of the dark areas to make the subject stand out more from the background, the image was shot on a focal length of 155mm which focuses the subject and makes the background blurry but with it being a a dark background it is hard to tell.

 I like this image because it has a very interesting and creepy vibe to it, first off it was shot in a graveyard and it really caught my attention because when i saw the location i knew it would make a good photo, although it is barely visible i think the moon in the background of the image really adds to the image because of the darkness of the background it stands out even tho it is quite small, also the fact that it was a full moon adds to the scariness because a full moon is usually portrayed in films and TV programmes as if something scary is going to happen. I shot this image on a focal length of 18mm and i used flash to light up the scene of the image, there is a perspective element in the this photo because of the angle at which the graves are shot at. i think one downside to this image is the subjects clothes, if he had been wearing all black i think it would have looked better so if i was to go and try this again i would make him wear all black to make him look scarier.

 This image was taken up close and it focuses quite well on the subjects face but it isn't too zoomed in, it is a head and shoulders portrait and i think it worked well because his face is sharp and the background is fairly out of focus which means he stands out more which is giving it a differential focus look, again the image was shot on a focal length of 18mm which creates a wide angle look i think, i used flash to light up the subjects face because the area was a dark one again. i think the subject stood out quite a lot because of the light colours of his jacket and the dark colours of the hedge and gate behind him contrasted well, through his facial expression you can tell he was scared and that is the kind of look i wanted to get from him, my one concern and its a small one is the hood on his jacket isn't straight which looks quite annoying to me but if i was to do it again i would make sure it is even on both sides.

 This photo caught my attention because it is mysterious in the way that the grave stone stands out a lot which gives it a dark feel too it and the brightness of the whole photo adds to that as well, i think that the pose that he is stood in works quite well as its quite a normal look but with his hands in his pockets and his hood up it makes it look like he is a bit more tough and scary. i edited this photo slightly in Photoshop by changing the levels of it so it looks darker and just a bit more mysterious. i used flash on this image and i think it worked well because the grave stone is lit up well but not too much so it doesn't draw your attention away from the main subject which is my brother, it was shot on a focal length of 18mm which means that i could capture the whole idea and frame in the photo easily.

 This image was used as my final double page spread and i is my favorite photo out of all my finals because i like the way he is posing in this one it makes him look like quite an interesting character, paired with him wearing black gloves and his hood up i think he is kind of showing what the youthful population are like, again with the moon in the background i think it adds to it because it makes it look interesting by adding to the feel of the dark night and it stands out to me even tho it is so small still. i think the colour of his jacket works well by contrasting with the colour of the grass and the background, but if he had been wearing a darker colour jacket he would have added to the dark feeling of the picture.

 This image is the one i used for my front cover, i edited it in Photoshop to make the background darker so the subject would stand out more, also i upped the contrast a little so the colours would seem more vibrant on him. to me this image works well as a front cover because the subject is clear and it works well with my idea of being in dark and scary places, the only downside to my shot is the way he is stood, if i had told him to stand in a different position or pose i think the end result would have been better.

I believe my project was a success since the idea that i had worked well and the final images that i managed to get were good, if i was to change anything for my final shoots i would have the subject wearing all black to add to the darkness feeling of my idea and also have the subject doing different poses or expressions.

Analyzing My Photos.

 In this picture (above) my subject was the tree by itself with the rest of the forest behind it, i used fill in flash on this photograph because the foreground and front of the tree was to dark so i used it to light it up. i used the rule of thirds for this as the tree is a third in to the right and it is the main subject,in the foreground there is the main subject which is the tree and in the background is a lot of trees, the tree shot in the foreground is effective because it makes it look like a lonely tree by itself. it was taken in the chevin forest and i liked it because the tree gives it more effectiveness as it is by itself. it was taken during the day about 2 o clock, it works with the project because it is a place where people would visit more in the summer and the leaves show summer as they area vibrant and green unlike in the autumn. i like this photo because of the loneliness of the tree at the front, i think it worked well but it looks slightly blurry.

 In this image there is the path of the forest with the trees towering over it with my dad and the dogs, the angle at which it was shot works well, it was shot straight but the way the land goes down the hill it gives it effect, the lighting is all natural as you can tell the tree on the left in the foreground isnt well lit up but the background where the man is, is well lit up. the image is well in focus and it is a clear image, again it was taken during the day at about 1/2 o'clock at the chevin forest. it was taken because i think the trees looking over the path looked interesting and the man gives it the look of like a lonely path and it looks very peaceful and lonely.