How to structure the work diary.
Please read carefully the content of the Project Brief (Visual World and Photo-genres)
Below is an indication of how the work diary can be structured...
Line
Definition & Theory
- A line represents a "path" between two points.
- A line can be straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or zigzag.
- Lines imply motion and suggest direction or orientation.
- A line can also be implied and is then filled in by the mind when several points are positioned geometrically within a frame.
The direction and orientation of a line can also imply certain feelings
- Horizontal lines imply tranquillity, peace and harmony
- Vertical lines imply power and strength.
- Diagonal lines imply movement, action and change.
- Curved lines or S shaped lines imply quiet, calm and sensual feelings.
- Lines that converge imply depth, scale and distance - a fence or roadway converges into the distance provides the illusion that a flat two-dimensional image has three-dimensional depth.
Research (of
artists and techniques)
A photographer that I researched was Walker Evans. Walker Evans was an American Photojournalist (1903 - 1975), most of his work documented the everyday life of Americans however he did photograph street images and signs.
The above images were photographed using Black and white film. The resulting images represent graphic images of urban America. The prints were created to achieve a deliberately high contrast which makes the signs stand out. (Connotations) The signs imply motion as indicated by the arrow in the street or the moving car. The "Shine" image is of a Shoe shine street store, it is neatly ordered with its shoes placed below the sign. The image has connotations of 1930's America where street hawkers would clean the shoes of passers by and symbolises that America is a place of enterprise, yet both rich and poor live in close proximity to one another (the shoe shine vendor as a low income worker and the clients are relatively rich)
I gained inspiration from this by producing my own images based on street signs which I subsequently converted to black and white.
Image bank
The following images were added as part of my visual research.
This above collection of photographs(/pictures/paintings by other artists/photographers) represent some of tyne images that I felt I could capture within Harlow. They represent a variety of lines, most of the images are quite abstract closely cropped) and shot in black and white (I decided that I would adopt a similar approach for my work).
(AO:1. You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued. )
Selected Images
Contact sheet(s)
My Best images (target 4 - 6)
The two images marked in red were slightly out of focus, I will need to ensure that my images are sharp during future shoots.
(note that the contact sheets were created with Photoshop, you will be shown how to create them)
My Best images (target 4 - 6)
I selected the following as my best images
Images that require improvement.
(AT
LEAST 2 IMAGES)
These images were selected as I feel that the composition is not right and it is slightly out of focus... For the fire alarm image, I did not realise that the camera was not set to autofocus and it is slightly blurred... also because the shutter speed was long there is some camera movement. IF I WERE TO RESHOOT THIS IMAGE AGAIN I WOULD USE A TRIPOD, ENSURE THAT I HAVE THE RIGHT EXPOSURE AND APPLY THE RULE OF THIRDS TO THE COMPOSITION.
THE SECOND IMAGE OF THE CAR PARK LOT WAS INSPIRED BY WALKER EVANS' (CONTEXTUAL LINKING TO RESEARCH) signs, it is under exposed on the sign, but correctly exposed for the background, I will try to edit the image in Photoshop to balance the image, if this does not work i will reshoot the image and use a variety of exposures and a tripod. If I do this I will be sure to get the right exposure for the image.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
My idea for recording line was to photograph the urban landscape exploring different lines present such as curves, horizontal,vertical lines and leading lines. I was inspired from my research of Walker Evans' street images with regards to the geometry and composition. His use of lines and signs gave me an idea to photograph street signs within Harlow.
My idea for recording line was to photograph the urban landscape exploring different lines present such as curves, horizontal,vertical lines and leading lines. I was inspired from my research of Walker Evans' street images with regards to the geometry and composition. His use of lines and signs gave me an idea to photograph street signs within Harlow.
The images came out as I expected, however I had to pay particular attention to getting the right exposure settings.
With reference to the Best selected images...
The image of the table tennis was shot at a canted (slanted) angle so that the lines ran diagonally, this was done to lead the eye through the composition and create a more abstract image. This image links with my research image of one of Walker Evans Street signs.
The image of the exit sign was also inspired by Walker Evans,, however Evans image has higher contrast, I will edit my image later by converting to to black and white and increasing the contrast in order to attain a similar outcome
The stair sign was inspired by Walker Evans' Shoe shine sign. The image was difficult to shoot due to focusing issues and a lack of lighting.
With regards to some of the images that did not come out as I expected, I struggled to adapt my camera settings as I was unfamiliar with how the camera worked. Some images lacked focus, whilst in the case of others I struggled to use the cameras exposure meter. I believe I can overcome these issues through more practise.
With regards to some of the images that did not come out as I expected, I struggled to adapt my camera settings as I was unfamiliar with how the camera worked. Some images lacked focus, whilst in the case of others I struggled to use the cameras exposure meter. I believe I can overcome these issues through more practise.
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
I used a Fuji Fineopix S9600 for all of the shots taken, The images were photographed at an aperture range of between f4 and f8. (YOU MAY NOT KNOW WHAT THESES VALUES MEAN AT THE START OF THE COURSE, WE WILL HELP YOU TO SHOW HOW THESE VALUES AFFECT HOW THE FINAL PICTURE LOOKS). I tried to increase the aperture setting to as high as possible so that I might have sharper pictures with a wider depth of field, however in some cases this was not possible as the lighting was poor. In one instance shot of the stair well the lighting was poor so I had to increase the ISO setting to 800 and balance the camera on a railing. The shutter speed used to get this shot was about 1/15 s with an f stop of 7.1. The image is slightly out of focus.
If I were to reshoot this image again I would use a tripod to hold the camera steady and use a camera with a higher f stop range so that I could make sure the image was sharper....
To improve my images I decided to import some of them into photoshop and use this to create black and white images with more contrast.... Information on how this was done is shown below in a sample image.
The screen grabs selected show how Photoshop was used to create a high contrast black and white image. To do use this, I used the Curves tool and the Black and White tool adjusting the colour sliders to get the desired hard contrast effect.
I used a Fuji Fineopix S9600 for all of the shots taken, The images were photographed at an aperture range of between f4 and f8. (YOU MAY NOT KNOW WHAT THESES VALUES MEAN AT THE START OF THE COURSE, WE WILL HELP YOU TO SHOW HOW THESE VALUES AFFECT HOW THE FINAL PICTURE LOOKS). I tried to increase the aperture setting to as high as possible so that I might have sharper pictures with a wider depth of field, however in some cases this was not possible as the lighting was poor. In one instance shot of the stair well the lighting was poor so I had to increase the ISO setting to 800 and balance the camera on a railing. The shutter speed used to get this shot was about 1/15 s with an f stop of 7.1. The image is slightly out of focus.
If I were to reshoot this image again I would use a tripod to hold the camera steady and use a camera with a higher f stop range so that I could make sure the image was sharper....
To improve my images I decided to import some of them into photoshop and use this to create black and white images with more contrast.... Information on how this was done is shown below in a sample image.
The screen grabs selected show how Photoshop was used to create a high contrast black and white image. To do use this, I used the Curves tool and the Black and White tool adjusting the colour sliders to get the desired hard contrast effect.
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).
(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).
The artist research was helpful as I realised that the theory on line meant that I could tackle the subject from a range of perspectives. My research of Walker Evans helped me to focus on the hard geometric shapes of modern cities. This was helpful to me as the college is located in Harlow where many of the buildings gave me opportunities to photograph geometric shapes. The research on line and emotion/mood was not particularly helpful to this study, however some of the shots were composed using leading lines where the perspective of the buildings draws the viewer into the composition... this aspect of research was useful.
(It is important that you show a progression of your work… which may mean revisiting a subject area and adding additional images showing a development of your ideas or refinement of the final images through).
(It is important that you show a progression of your work… which may mean revisiting a subject area and adding additional images showing a development of your ideas or refinement of the final images through).
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
(At the end of the entry you will discuss whether you have produced a personal and meaningful response, this means (are my images creative/relevant to the subject area studied/connected and influenced by any research undertaken).
I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of line, composition and the images of Walker Evans... The final images produced were refined by developing the contrast and converting them into black and white images..
Although this was not my original intention, the selected final images can be ordered to suggest a journey from a car onto a parking lot and then onto a street..(At the end of the entry you will discuss whether you have produced a personal and meaningful response, this means (are my images creative/relevant to the subject area studied/connected and influenced by any research undertaken).
I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of line, composition and the images of Walker Evans... The final images produced were refined by developing the contrast and converting them into black and white images..
(THE ABOVE POST, RESEARCH AND ANNOTATIONS WERE COMPLETED WITHIN A THREE HOUR PERIOD.. If you are taking pictures and the images do not come out as expected you still need to post the images the examiners are interested in how you overcome difficulties and your ability to, critically review progress. You should then add further images to show an IMPROVEMENT. YOU MAY DATE YOUR ENTRIES TO SHOW A DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR WORK AS THIS RELATES TO SUSTAINED AND FOCUSSED INVESTIGATIONS).
