In creative media level 3 extended this term we were given the topic of photography to study. I very much enjoyed this unit as i found something i wish to follow further in my future. It wasn't easy at first but i just persevered with it an gradually got the hang of certain techniques but nevertheless i still need to practice certain ones for examples rule of thirds. I've very much enjoyed coming up with my own idea of reflection and how it played out but i feel like i could of executed certain pictures better.
When starting the unit, we started at the very basics and that was keywords to do with photography and from there we started to learns about certain techniques for example shallow depth of field, lighting techniques and rule of thirds. For each one we had to take about 5 different photos for. This i found tricky at the beginning as i did not have my own camera which when doing photography can cause a bit of a problem. I overcame this early but lending a camera from a friend of mine till the end of the unit. When taking these photos I found that the best place to get them was central London as there is so much variety with a new photo lurking around every corner. After many trips back and fourth from there to college i managed to get all of them done. Once the techniques were completed with the photos i had taken then i had to copy a photo i liked that was a portrait. i chose a photo of a famous pro skateboarder. i took two portraits of a man and women to see how they could differ and which one would look better. Once the photo had been taken i played around with it in editing and toggled the contrast and the texture to see if i could achieve the same photo. It took me a while but with some patience i managed to do it in the end.
Once everything was completed i had to then take a series of photos which were my own idea that could feature in magazine. I came up with the idea of reflection using the puddles around London to show varies landmarks and signs in a "new light". This took me a while to get and i kept swapping pictures around but after many morning and evenings of venturing out i finally got what i wanted and i had my final 10. I was happy with them at the time but seeing them all on the big screen changed my view on some and showed me which ones didn't fit in with the series.
I received some feedback from both my peers and my teacher about the photos. Mainly it was positive but some were unfortunately negative. However, i didn't take them to heart but instead used them to know what i would do better next time to improve my photography techniques. One of the positive things i received was about my technique and that it was creative and it paid off. I also was that the photo taken of a sign outside of a shop in soho. I was told light was good as the colours were rich and worked well with the dim light around. Furthermore, i was then told something which wasnt so good and that could be improved and one of the main things was the difference in the photos, they didnt follow a pattern and sometimes differed to an extent where one photo didnt even fit into it. This is understandable and i also felt the same way with some of the photos.
In conclusion, i really enjoyed this topic and found something which i would like to carry on as a hobby. If i would do this project again the only thing i would change would be the pattern i followed during my final project as i felt i found it difficult to maintain a certain path. I would also change the time i spent on the photos as i feel due to me spending a lot of time over a month on them they different a lot, this goes along with the pattern problem i found hard to follow. Overall i found the topic very enjoyable and i always keep an eye out for the next photo.
