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Above shows the link to my final major project blog for year one.

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Comparison:

Above shows a comparison I decided to do to show how little effects such as a simple border can really make your images look more professional. After changing the font and adding block highlights to the background of the text, the slogan itself is really brought out of the page in contrast to the background. I think the logo looks a lot more effective in the right hand corner and I think by joining it to the border it makes it look a lot more professional as you can tell that the composition of the image has definitely been thought about in detail. By editing the images in raw, I managed to create softer tones in the final drafted poster, I think the colours look alt more natural. I like how in the second image above, you can really see the reflection that comes off the oil.

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Final Images:

Above shows my final images for this assignment. I have chosen to have three images to be shown as a set. I am over all really happy with the outcomes as I feel that I have really set out and done what I wanted to achieve through out the last four weeks. When I look at the images above, they look like what I imagined them too in my head before they were created. This is a good feeling to have I think, as this has never really happened in past projects, my ideas always change dramatically meaning that sometimes I give up on ideas that I think I may not be able to achieve. I am extremely happy that I persevered with the challenge that I set myself.

I am also really pleased with how the images appear to the eye, each poster is individual (has a different slogan/message, different background image) but shares the same message. Stop oil pollution. I think my posters appear really professional due to the amount of post production I did in photoshop. I am proud of myself for actually going away and finding out how to do certain things in order for them to look the exact way that I want them too.

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Improvements:

To improve my posters from how they looked in the first draft. I have changed the font of the text and highlighted the background of it so that it looks blocked. I like how the colours inside the block are inverted to the ones on the outside, I think this really highlights the message when viewing it. I added a devon Wildlife Trusts logo in the corner but I attached the inner edges to the side of the border I added for a more professional look. I think this draft of posters looks so much stronger than my first and I am extremely happy with the outcome. I didn't think I would be able to make my posters look as professional as they do. I will use the top template to create my set of 3 final images.

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Final Evaluation- The Future

My main ideas came from my initial research. I found during this project that I spent a lot of time doing thorough research before deciding on what I was actually going to concentrate on in detail for my final images etc. My research started with looking into each of the two project briefs I was given. I knew from the start that I would probably be more drawn towards the Devon Wildlife Trusts one however I thought it were only best to give them both a little bit of consideration before making any final decisions. My research began by focusing on landscapes and landscape photographers that I was fond of such as Ian Flidnt. My research then developed from landscapes into looking at beaches (as I had been focusing mainly on beach scapes..) this then took me on a whole new journey where I discovered the many environmental issues that the world has to face. I was happy that this is where my project had ended up as it really slotted in nicely to the Devon Wildlife Trusts brief; making the world aware of these issues and doing all that we can to prevent it. This then led my research on to looking at the environmental issues individually; I looked at Deforestation, beach pollution, oil pollution and global warming. It was from this research that I decided that oil pollution would be my main focal point for this project. I also added in a little bit of research on posters as I had never created one on Photoshop and wasn't really too sure where to start with that, baring in mind the short time frame. I think the research I have done from this project really helped to structure it well, it led me in many different directions, but in the end they all fell together as I expected they would. I think I researched into a wide depth and I will definitely try to do this is my next assignments.

My work is trying to target as many people as it possibly can. As these issues I am focusing on are human caused, I thought it would only be best to create something that would be viewable by all ages. I thought the best way to do this was to create some simple posters targeting people in a personal way. My posters would include a slogan which would make people regret the main issue I was focusing on.. Oil pollution. As Devon Wildlife Trusts aim to help prevent these issues in a hope that the wildlife will be saved in the long run, I decided to advertise my posters on behalf of them.

What English and Maths skills did you use/improve with your project work or photography skills- English skills were shown sufficiently through out the project, as when blogging, evaluating, analysing, my English is being improved more and more. My English skills were also used in the bias in text task. Maths skills were used in my architecture shoot when working out the angles that I wanted the buildings to be at with one another etc.. They will also be used at the end of this evaluation when I calculate the time I spent on each aspect of this project.

New techniques I learnt would include things such as HDR, High dynamic range photography. I really enjoyed learning how to do this on the DSLR’s and then how to edit them together in Photoshop. It is a brilliant technique that I really got on well with and that I plan to use thoroughly in the future. 4D techniques included learning how to create Stop Motion videos, this was a really fun and interesting part of the assignment and I feel it really pushed me as I was working with new software that I had never come across before. It made me realise what I could actually do and that patience is definitely a strong trait to have in this course. I really had to push myself to get on board with the 4D aspects but once I got going and was more confident with what I had to do, I think I got it done to the best of my ability.

I think I really improved in the people aspect of the character development, as I feel that in this project, I wasn't afraid to ask people for help or for advice. I could definitely improve this aspect more but I am proud that I have made the step in order for myself to be able to expand that further! This assignment also really helped me to understand why it is important to have respect for the things in our world. If we all respected the earth then these environmental issues that we are faced with probably wouldn't be half as bad as they are now.

I thought that this project ran pretty smoothly and there wasn't any points where I found myself stressed or unable to complete work in time for the deadline. There was maybe a slight rush at the end of the project when I was editing up my final posters but I got my head down, concentrated, avoided all distraction in order to make sure that they would be 100% completed. My attendance could have been a little better and i could have maybe not been late so many time, this would have stopped me from having this slight rush nearer the end of the project, this is definitely something I look to improve in my Final major assessment and throughout the rest of my time on the course. All in all I feel that I put a high amount of effort into my work and as a result have some really interesting and detailed posters to show. I really did take pride in the presentation of my work and I feel that I always do. I think my blog is always net and easy to follow, this is something I care about a lot as I like to be able to look back and understand exactly what I have done in previous assignments etc. 

Challenges I faced included putting the poster together in photoshop after I had achieved the shots I wanted. I think this was the hardest part of achieving my goal in this assignment as I am not 100% confident with photoshop and don’t really know the ins and outs of it. I think this made me more scared to try as I had never tried to do this for any of my final images. Never the less I over came this and asked for some peer and student teacher help to create my final images. I was shown some techniques that I could use to make them look a little more professional, I then combined these techniques with some campaign poster research and added more and more little details until I had achieved what I wanted.

I think my project followed the brief well as it fits into the devon wildlife trusts brief. It advertises oil pollution for them in order to try and save the wildlife, this includes plants, habitats and animals etc. The over all images are presented as posters and I have used these to advertise the issues on behalf of them. My images promote sustainability as the message I am trying to get across will hopefully encourage people to try and do something about oil pollution.

I think the audience that have seen my work had a really good response to it. I noticed this in my peer assessment, I received some really nice feedback about how my project relates to the brief well and how I had some really intricate ideas.

If I were to evaluate my productivity, I would say that I spent a lot of time doing initial research in order to form my project. I think I did enough work however I feel that I could add more of my own photography. I haven’t not done enough, but I feel that I could maybe add some of my own photography and experiments at the start of the project instead of beginning half way through. I will create a pie chart to evaluate how much time I spent of different aspects.

From above, I can see that I spent so much time of researching. I don’t think that this is a bag thing as I think it really helped me to understand what I wanted to do for the project. To improve, I will really focus in the next project to try and do a lot more photography than I usually do. I am quite happy with the amount of editing time I had during this project as it really helped me to understand a lot of new techniques that I can use in photoshop now in in future assignments.

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Peer review

-Below shows the peer feedback which I gave to Wiktoria for everything that she had completed in her blog so far.

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This is the first draft for one of my final images. I took the pictures that I am going to use and I edited them in Photoshop to make them appear more poster like. I added the Devon Wildlife Trusts logo to show that that is who the poster is advertising for. I then added a slogan which I thought would make people think twice about the message I am trying to send. I really like my poster, however I think if the font was to be more bold than it would look more professional. I will play around with the fonts till I am happy.

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Final Ideas

After reviewing my blog with toby, I have changed my final ideas slightly. Instead of creating four different posters for four different environmental issues, I will instead create a set of four posters for one environmental issue: The environmental issue I have chosen is beach pollution/sea pollution. 

To achieve this idea, I will be focusing more on the images that I took yesterday. The images I took target oil pollution/sea pollution specifically. I have chosen to use these images as I feel they are the most visually appealing out of the images I have taken over the duration of this assignment; They appear more like abstract pieces of art rather than a photograph and I think that this is what makes them so interesting.

I will include text and a logo onto the images after maybe shooting a few more to create my final posters. I am much more happy with these ideas and I feel that they have a higher chance of being achieved over my original plans.

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4D Stop Motion Story Board:

Above shows a story board which I created upon making my stop motion video. I created this so that I had a rough idea of what I had to do before shooting the images for it. My story board shows a small pile of rubbish which gradually becomes bigger and bigger, I will add bits of rubbish into the scene, showing their journey to get there. Nearer the end of the sequence I will add a bit of rubbish to the scene a piece at a time (not showing their journey- this will speed up the end of the video a little as this would include less shots.) 

I think my video followed my story board and plan really well and I have really achieved what I set out to do. Although I did not add the tittle page to the end of the video, I feel that I have done everything else that I set out to do which I think is relatively good considering I have never done this time of moving image before.

I think by adding the music to the video, it made it a lot more enjoyable to watch. The motion of the frames changing kind of fits with the beat of the music which all in all just makes the video appear better when viewing.

If I were to do this again, I would create a larger story board with more intricate ideas to really engage me in the project more. I would also take a lot more pictures to create a longer stop motion video, as I feel mine is a little short. 

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Final 4D Stop Motion: Evaluation

Above shows my example of a stop motion video I created. This one unlink the last has an audio file attached to it as background music.

I created a stop motion of some rubbish moving bit by bit until a mound is made. I took roughly 66 photographs which I then edited together to make a fiver second long stop motion piece. I enjoyed creating this video, as it is very different from what we are used to doing on the course. I think it really widens our knowledge of all the different types of photography that is out.

The actual taking of the photos itself was the easiest part of this creating. I used a light tent and some soft box’s/lighting to shoot this. I started with a few pieces of rubbish which I had earlier collected that morning. I moved the bits of rubbish into the set bit by bit, making sure that the camera and tripod did not move (however stop motion can still be created if the camera does move). i added bits of rubbish into the set, moving them slowly and capturing an image after each move. I did this till i was happy with the images I had captured and after I had made sure that I had enough images to show some kind of movement- to do this I quickly flicked through the images I had captured on the camera and I could see that there was gradual movement. Once I had shot all the images I uploaded them to my drive ready to edit them all together.

The editing was what I found most difficult about this task. I think this is because we had just been introduced to the software. The software we were taught to use is called premier. Another thing which I think made the process really long and difficult was how many shot there were (however this cant be helped, the more shots, the longer and more detailed the stop motion video). Each shot/frame had to be shortened down to 0.1 of a second. I did this thinking that it would come out okay, however my video was too quick and ended rather fast. I then went back through and made each frame a little longer. After doing this and going back through to make sure that I was happy with the transitions from frame to frame and with the time frame of the video, I uploaded my MP3 track, cut it down to the part that I wanted and I then put this as a new layer in my video. When I played it back, the music played along with the video.

I am overall really pleased with this stop motion video as when I heard we had to create some kind of moving image, I didn’t really think I would be able to achieve it as I hadn’t worked in this way before. I think I will definitely consider using this in my next assignments as I thought it was a really fun way to learn how to do new things. I also think stop motion can get across messages more effectively than just a single image can.

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Idea Developing

After having spent the majority of my time actually taking photos, I have decided not to use the poster idea, instead, I will just present four different environmental issues as a whole and as they already stand. I have chosen to do this after trying to edit my image into posters, I found that it just ruined the image. I think if i was wanting to successfully create a set of posters then I would have to make sure that I knew exactly how to go about this, longer than a week before the end of the project. This is definitely not what I had planned, but I now feel that this is the best thing to do, as I don’t want to over crowd and ruin my final images. I will still have two images which positively promote two issues, and two images which negatively promote two issues. I hope that these will contrast each other well.

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Rubbish Pollution:

Above show some images which I took this morning. I was hoping to go out and capture images of rubbish in and around the sea. However, when looking, it was kind of difficult to find any (Which isn’t really something I can complain about). Instead, I came across large patches of oil pollution in and around the harbour. The water appeared murky and often I could see with my own eyes patches of oil merging to the surface of the water. Although the images may appear very beautiful to the eye, this is an issue which damages many creatures who may live here. 

I am very happy with the outcome of my images and was glad that I was able to capture this over my original idea of capturing rubbish. I did manage to capture some images which I am also pleased with of some rubbish but they were not in the sea.

The final image shows an example which I could use for my final poster. I chose this image because it is my favourite out of the oil pollution images I shot. The original image however did not look like this, and it took quite a lot of post production to really bring out the oil in the water. Firstly, I adjusted the levels of the image, I increased the highlights a fair amount and then increased the shadows, this drew the oil out from the background (being the water). I then adjusted the clarity of the image so that all the edges were clear, adjusting the clarity all in all just sharpened the details of the image. Finally, I increased the vibrance of the image and the saturation a tiny bit just to make the water look a little more blue.

Photographer inspiration: Daniel Beltra

After researching photographers who too photograph oil pollution in our seas, I came across Daniel Beltra. I really like the style of his images and I want to try and interpret this into my final piece. 

I really like the first image, to me it appears kind of like a negative. I like how the reflections are captured in the image, it creates a strong contrast through out the image and really draws the darker sections away from each other as the reflections kind of wind in and out of the image almost acting as a border for the clean parts of the water (obviously this isn’t the case but I like the overall effect it gives).

Unlike the top images, the bottom image shows so much more destruction throughout. I think that this is a much more sticking image with a strong message. This image to me paints a whole different picture to the top. The top image appears almost beautiful to the eye however the bottom shows the bigger picture. - I think for my final images, I want to take photos of oil in the ocean that looks appealing and beautiful when viewed. I will then edit strong messages over the top of these to show how they really aren't so beautiful.

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4D time lapse research:

Time-lapse photography is an interesting technique that records a scene or objects that has a slow state-of-change and turns it into a video that plays back in high speed. The easiest way to do it is to have your camera stationary on something that changes slowly (e.g. clouds, plants growing, etc) and start taking series of photo for hours or even days. Hours and hour’s worth of photos are compressed into a video with merely few minutes playtime, this creating a time lapsing effect.

It is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. It allows us to see the progress faster without having to wait along the actual time.      

How to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwv5nJJveq4 

Above shows the link to a video I watched to find out how to time lapse. I will combine this and my knowledge from our lectures to create my time lapse.

Other notes:

Sutter Speeds: Be sure to pick a shutter speed that will give you a good time lapse effect (ie- movement). If you have a shutter speed that is too fast you’ll end up with a choppy looking video.

Interval Times: The interval times (time between shots) should also be set for your subject. For slow moving subjects you can have more time between shots. For fast moving subjects you’d want less of an interval. For example, for clouds you’d want to take a shot ever second or so.

Battery Power: Make sure you have enough battery power in both your camera and your intervalometer. If you’re expecting things to take a while plug into AC power (if its near), use a power inverter, or a battery grip.

Image Settings: Set your camera to use JPG (you won’t need RAW for this) and at a size that you think is reasonable. If you don’t it will make your post processing more difficult as you’ll have to convert all your RAW images to JPG and then re-size them. I started in RAW not knowing any better and alot time was spent converting and re-sizing. Save yourself the trouble and do it in the camera.

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07.03.17- Today I put together a short list of things that I am yet to complete before the deadline next Monday. I have done this so that i know exactly what I ave left to do before handing my work in, I often do this, and I find that it really helps to keep me on track, it also stops me from forgetting the various tasks I have to do. I still have one shoot to complete on Global warming; this will be my industrial shoot. I plan to complete this shoot tonight or tomorrow.

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Beach pollution poster:

Above shows a HDR image I created today of a landscape of Wembury beach. My idea is to positively promote the beauty if our beaches to make people almost feel bad about what they are doing to them (beach&marine pollution). I think the image above could be used as the main image for my poster; and if not one rather similar to this. As I feel that it has a real strong sense of beauty about it. I like how I have adjusted the levels of the image so that the sky appears brighter than it originally was. I also adjusted some of the darker levels to make the rocks more prominent. I also increased the vibrance slightly and the saturation also until I achieved the correct colour scheme that I wanted. I like the way that the moss on the rocks appears quite bright, I think this makes the image look really effective as the green colour from the moss, reflects off the top of the water slightly.

The final image that I have shaped into a circle is an image for my potential poster. I shot this image with the style of Lee Searle in mind. I didn't quite capture the mistiness of the water, however, I feel I achieved the perfect colour scheme that springs to mind when looking at Searle’s work by using HDR.

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Architecture shoot:

For this shoot we took out cameras and tripods. We really had to think about the composition of our shots so that we could achieve more interesting shots. I enjoyed doing this shoot because upon taking the shot, there was so much preparation that had to take place. I think this shoot will make me think twice before just aiming the camera and shooting now.

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNQx5ilPq_Y)

4D Stop Motion:

Above shows my first draft of my stop motion animation. Tomorrow I will add effects and a MP3 file for the background audio. Once completed I will then edit.