saragetsonfmp-blog

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

CExtended Diploma Photography

Evaluation

For UAL Unit 8

  Contextual Research

Did you do any research into the issues and history/factual information around the themes you have been looking at?

 When starting off my project once I decided on my concept. I to looked into the history of fashion photography to see where it started and how it grew through time so I could see how different it was to today. I also went on to do further research in to the history of photography to see how it started and how the first camera was made. Through the project I explored different types of cameras so I could appreciate how photography started and what they used in different times. Throughout the project I also looked into different styles of fashion throughout different eras so I could see where styles originated from and how it influences people’s style today and my own style.

 What did you learn from this contextual research?

I learnt about how much technology has changed throughout the years and progressed and it’s made me appreciate how much access I have to photography & equipment nowadays. I also learnt about how fashion trends go through cycles and influence current trends and influence people.

 How did it influence the development of your project work?

It made me want to do photo shoots with styles of fashion and made me want to try out ways of making them look accurate to the time. For example my 1950′s shoot, I shot with film and digital so I could compare the results of actual film and editing it to look this way .It also helped me develop my worked because I experimented a lot more with different types of cameras.

 Concept

 How did your ideas develop and change?

When I started off the project I was very unclear of quite what I wanted to base my project on. I Knew I wanted the theme to be fashion but it took me a while to decide that my idea was going to be based on self-expression and personal style. I decided just to start photographing and researching into artists and the idea become clearer and clearer. I was able to rule out topics like colour theory and equality through fashion. Which I’m still interested in but wasn’t right for the ideas I had. After I did my first shoot I just kept getting ideas and they ended up flowing into one idea that then resulted in my magazine which was a collection of my best images I took throughout the project.

 How well did the images you produced communicate the ideas behind your project?

I think I had a really wide range of images that each communicated my ideas about personal style and how people express themselves. I think the shoot that fitted most with my ideas was my studio shoot because it was very simple and straight to the point about asking people about their personal style and what influences it. I think if I had more time I would have liked to do more shoots like this and focus it on individual people and get more of a variety of people.

 2. Research

What ideas and inspiration did you get from your research?

I looked into a lot of different artist and got ideas from each artist. I got inspired by Rankin and Bella Howard for their use of lighting and I wanted to achieve a quality of image similar to theirs. I also got inspired from the artist I looked at from how they use colour in their images and work this throughout their makeup background and costume. I think I paid close attention to these elements in each shoot to create a similar to the artists that inspired me.

 What ideas and inspiration did you get from the world around you?

I think going to an art college there are a lot of different fashion styles around. Everyone had their own quirky style and stands out so that was definitely a factor which made me want to explore this topic and loo into further. This also helped when styling some of the shoots.

 How did your research influence the development of your project work?

After researching online magazines. I looked into different work and different photography which then inspired me for different photo shoots which helped me develop each shoot.

 Do you think you researched widely enough or in enough depth?

I think that I did a lot of research and looked at so many different photographers, as well as online I looked at books and magazines. I also looked on YouTube at videos for inspirational because I wanted to look at different Media. However I think I could have expanded further and looked into different forms of art and portraits and compared it to photography. I think looking into films from different time eras could have been interesting as well because of how actors were styled and how characters are portrayed through fashion. If I had more time I think it could have been interesting to look further into that.

 3. Problem Solving

 What challenges did you face (any kind of challenges)? How did you overcome them? What did you learn from them? The main problem I faced was thinking of too many ideas. I took a lot of time to cut down on my concept and narrow it down to one idea. But once I had decided my work became more consistent and clear. I also struggled with thinking of too many shoot ideas which I had to narrow down to only my favourite ideas. Because I would have over worked myself and wouldn’t be able to do them all. I also faced some problems when using a film camera for a shot. It was the first time I had used it without assistance and the film failed. It all took on the same exposure so the shoot didn’t turn out. But it was useful to try it out and it now makes me to want try harder and master shooting on film.

 4. Planning and Production

 How did you plan your time and organise/prioritise your tasks? For the beginning of the project I made a time plan which really helped so then I could see what is needed to do each week in order to complete everything I wanted to do. Obviously it was hard to stick to this exactly because my project changed and developed but it was a good base to help get everything done. I was able to plot when I needed to do a shoot or do more blogs or research work.

 How well organised were you?

I think I was fairly well organised because of my planning I wrote loads of list to see what I needed to do and what I had done them in order to stay on track. But I think I didn’t do enough work on the first few weeks because I was unclear on my concept which then meant I have a lot of work to do last minute because my idea developed slowly at first but by the end of the project I was very clear on what I wanted to do.

 How well did you keep to deadlines?

I think I kept to deadlines quite well because I was able to finish my unit 9 work on time and complete most things when they had to be done.  But I think I had a lot to finish by the final week which could have been spaced out better so I didn’t stress as much before my dead line.

 5. Practical Skills

What new techniques (e g. Camera work or Photoshop) did you learn/experiment with? I learnt a lot about using different lighting. I used continuous lighting a lot throughout this project and I think I mastered how I like my fashion images lit. I also discovered using a flash gun and how much it can improve your image. I also learnt about black and white photo editing and how to get the perfect black and white photo with maximum contrast and to also add grain images to make them look like film. I think I also learnt a lot more and videoing and using premier pro which is useful knowledge and something I would like to carry on with.

 How did you get on with your chosen blog/workbook format?

I used Tumblr for this project which I have used for all my other projects. It worked really well and is very easy to use that’s why I continue to use it but I think with the next project I would like to try out something new, like work press then assess what one I prefer because I have been recommended to use it.

 Did you push yourself to try new things? I think I did try and push myself to try new things and experiment more. I tried to experiment more with using Photoshop to get the best image I could which worked out well. I also used a lot of different cameras including film, digital and Polaroid which was interesting to see the different results and I would like to carry on doing this.

 6. Evaluation and Reflection

 At what points during the project did you evaluate what you had done?

I think after each shoot I did I looked through my work to see what was missing and what kind of shoot I could do next to make this a well-rounded body of work.

 How good were your evaluation skills?

I think my evaluation skills are quite good on some pieces of research and some shoots were a bit inconsistent.  I think I had more to say on some pieces of work and it showed what I enjoyed most throughout my project so I think I could have been a bit more consistent on evaluating.

 7. Presentation

 Evaluate how well put together your blog is? How could it be better?

I think my work is put together very well it’s all clearly label and each thing is with a good structure. The only things I think I could improve on is making sure everything was in perfect order.  Because there was one or two things which were misplaced and would have made more sense if placed correctly but with using Tumblr I wasn’t able to move the posts around.

 How pleased are you with your final images? Do they show what you want them to show? What’s missing? I was actually really pleased with how my final images turned out there was a good range of image which really express the topic and themes I was looking at. There was a few more shoots I could have done which would fit well with my final images, but overall I am very pleased and I think there is a good number.

 How are you presenting your summer show work and what would you do to improve (if anything) if you had more money/space/time? All of our work is being shown digitally on a computer. If we had the option I would have quite liked it to be printed into a magazine so it was shown how I originally intended it too. However I think the way they are presented currently works quite well.

 Core Skills

What English and Maths skills did you use/improve with your project work or photography skills?

The English skills I used throughout the project were through my artist studies and blog work, I think I made more  effort to write in more detail and to use more photography language throughout this project. My maths skills were also shown throughout the blog like when doing tasks about Mount Edgecumbe and how much you tubers earn but I think the main task was calculating all the hours I spent on this blog.

 Character Development

Comment on what you learnt about yourself and where you think you have developed/used your abilities in terms of the categories on the character matrix below:

 RESPECT  

  Understand  respect

(Taking  care of others 11)

Understand  professionalism

(Taking  care of others 11)

COMMUNICATION

Understand  views and how to contribute (Taking care of yourself 9)

DRIVE

Understand  motivation and engagement

Understand  barriers and how to overcome them (Taking care of yourself 4)

RESPONSIBILITY

 Understand  responsibilities as a person and as a student.   

(Taking  care of yourself 9)

Understand  personal voice and freedom of speech.  (Law and State 1)

PEOPLE

Understand  why we work with others to achieve goals (Employability 6)

GRIT

Understand  pressures and expectations of being a student

How  to meet deadlines, manage time and understand consequences

(Taking  care of yourself 4)

 Include:

How well did you manage your stress levels? I think my stress level were highest at the start of the project because we had so much choice I found it hard to find a topic for the project.  But once I had started my stress levels were fairly minimal until the end of the project when I had a lot of things I wanted to do in a minimal time, but I got it done in the end.

 How well do you think you did in terms of: meeting deadlines, time management, punctuality, attendance? I think I performed well on all of these things I didn’t miss any days which allowed me maximum time to do my work .I  don’t think I was late at any time because of transport issues. I managed to meet all of my deadlines and my time management was fairly okay apart from a slow start to my work because of too many ideas.

 How much effort did you put into your work?

I put a lot of effort into my work I spent a lot of time at home doing work as well as in college to ensure everything was done to the standard that I wanted it.

 Did you take care and pride in the presentation of your work?

I think my magazine represents how I presented my work well because I wanted each image to have a boarder so it looked neat and really stood out.

  Meeting the brief/proposal

How did the work you produce meet the assignment brief/your own proposal?

Reading back on my own proposal now I think it fits exactly with what I set out to do even if I was unsure at the start.

 Enjoyment/engagement

 How well did you engage with the project and what helped you to/prevented you from engaging with the project?

I think I engaged into this topic well because it was more independent and all ideas were up to us so I was able to do exactly what I wanted. We also had a lot more time so I was able to do more because I wasn’t as limited which helped a lot.

 High Points and Low Points

Overall, what are you most proud of? What are you least proud of?

I think I am most proud of my colourful portrait shot and my 50′s style shoot because they turned out a lot better than I expected and I feel really proud of how they look. I think I am least proud of some of my film shoots because they didn’t go according to plan.

 What are the key things you want to work on in the future?

I think time management would be something I would want to work on further so that I can set more realistic goals and finish things faster.

 What did the audience think?

During your group crit sessions, describe the responses to your work.  Discuss what feedback you got, and explain why you agree or disagree with the responses.

I was really happy with feedback I got during group crits and people seems to understand the theme and style. I was going for with each shoot

 Document how you managed your time on this first project.   

How would you evaluate your productivity? (Eg. Did you produce enough work? Could you have worked faster?).

I think I defiantly could have been more productive at times so I wouldn’t have rushed at so many things and got my work to its full potential.  Even though I am happy with what I have achieved. I think I did produce enough work despite there still being a lot of other things I would have liked to have done on this project.  I think I was a bit to ambitious but I now have ideas for future projects.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Time plan From FMP

8 hours- 2 days a week

155 hours  - mondays and tuesdays for 10 weeks

35 hours - wednesdays for 10 weeks

total  198 hours

research 

40

planning

34

practising

28

photographing

24

editing

36

uploading

14

blogging

40

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

80s/90s fashion shoot inspiration

When I decided I wanted to do a shoot inspired by these eras of fashion I decided to go on pinterest and look for  some inspiration for fashion and make up. I really like he grunge sort of style and have a lot of cloths in this style any way so I thought it would be easiest to recreate something like these images.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

unedited images

These were the images that come out properly from my film shoot. The camera I used was a Olympus point & shoot camera. This meant all settings were auto. The images ended up being quite washed out and some are under exposed & some are slightly out of focus. The framing turned out quite different to how I thought they were when taking the image but I'll be able to fix this in editing. I'm going to edit these images using photoshop.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

film shoot 2

I took these images using a shoot and point camera film camera because I wanted to start experimenting more with using film. I really like the vintage effect film gives to an image.These images turned out quite washed out and bland with a very cool tone to it them. I then put them into photoshop and used colour balance to colour correct them a bit to bring out more tones and colours in the images. I also used levels and contrast to enhance the images.I cropped the images slightly but I think most of the images looked better uncropped. I am fairly happy with how these images turned out considering I had no idea how they would look. My favourite images are the bottom one and the middle one because they came out sharpest and I think the colour tones look the best. Some of the other images were blurry and out of frame so did not look so good.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Film shoot 1

These were some images I took as part of my first fashion shoot. I wanted to use different forms of photography to get a range and see how different they looked. These images did not turn out very well because of the bright lighting casting shadows which made them look too dark compared to the light parts the images. Although they didn’t turn out great it was still interesting to experiment and also work on editing the image in order to make them look more normal.

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film contact sheet

This contact sheet shows the images i got back from my film being developed, it shows the ones that turned out and the ones that didnt work out at all.

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Failed film shoot

I took out a camera from the ecr at college to do a film shoot for my 1950s style shoot so it would look more authentic. Unfortunately when I went to get them developed the images didn't turn out because of exposure problems. This was disappointing but it was interesting to test using new cameras and methods of photography and hopefully I'll be able to improve on this next time I do a film shoot. I was glad that I also shot in digital so I still had a shoot. I tried to make my digital images look like film images and I'm really pleased with how they turned out anyway.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Magazine - style

This is my final project images in form of a digital magazine. I created this in Photoshop and used my favourite images which I have taken throughout the project and put in a magazine style lay out. I named it style because that’s the topic my project was based on. I gave each image a border with a different colour or patterns because I wanted to draw attention each image and make it look really bold so it stands out and each shoot is separated. This style was inspired by magazine that I had been looking at for research. Originally I was going to include some interviews but I liked it better as just using images. I am pleased with the images I used and think they're is a wide variety despite all being linked around the same topic.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Magazine cover edit ideas

When I came to editing the magazine I had an idea of the pages I wanted in it but I was unsure about the front cover. I decided to use images from this shoot because I really like the use of colour primary colour and thought it would make it stand out well. I was considering framing the image with a block like used inside the magazine to highlight the image and make it really stand out but when it came to editing it the colour it didn’t work very well with it because of the background colour of the image. I then tried to do a small boarder which I think worked well but overall I preferred it without. I wanted to keep the magazine fairly simple like fashion magazine I had been researching with just the image and tile and not a lot of text because I think it looks more classy and simplistic. I experiment with different images and text colours to see what worked best. I ended up using the image on the right with orange text because it fit with the styling of the model and I preferred the closer up image and the detail to it.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Rough magazine design

For my final piece I am going to create a magazine. I wasn’t sure what images I wanted to include and in what order I was going to put them in so I decided to map out how I wanted to set it out and the lay out of it. I decided this by picking out my favourite images and then thinking about magazine layouts then sketching out how it would look and then placing what order I wanted it in.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

personal style interview 2

https://youtu.be/Xs0-IyTHyB0

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Mount edgecumbe shoot 

Mount edgecumbe shoot These are the images that I took on the mount edgecumbe shoot. I edited them using photoshop & camera raw. I didn't edit them too dramatically because they're taken in a simple documentary style. I edited them by using brightness /contrast tool, cropping & colour balance. I tried to take a range of images that were wide angel shots and close more detailed arty shots which I prefer but I took a range to meet the brief better. We were briefed to advertise the estate for their website be be shown as a filming location for tv and movie production. The camera I used was a Nikon d7200 & I used shutter priority as a setting because of the different scenes I was shooting.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Mount edgecumbe shoot

These are the images that I took on the mount edgecumbe shoot. I edited them using photoshop & camera raw. I didn’t edit them too dramatically because they’re taken in a simple documentary style. I edited them by using brightness /contrast tool, cropping & colour balance. I tried to take a range of images that were wide angel shots and close more detailed arty shots which I prefer but I took a range to meet the brief better. We were briefed to advertise the estate for their website be be shown as a filming location for tv and movie production. The camera I used was a Nikon d7200 & I used shutter priority as a setting because of the different scenes I was shooting.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Before and after Edits

This is a before and after edit from my 1950s shoot. The top image is the original jpeg image and the bottom image is the final edit from it. The first thing I did to edit this image was to bring up the contrast and shadows/highlights in the image in camera raw to make the image shaper and more bold. I then used the spot healing tool to get rid of any imperfections on the models face so it looks clear. I then used the dodge and burn tools to darken the eye liner and brighten the eyes. I also highlighted the cheekbones and fore head using a dodge tool to make them look more prominent. I then used the quick selection tool to duplicate the fabric in the front of the image and fill the negative space int he background. I used the smudge tool to make it look smooth and fit into the image. I then adjusted the levels in the image so there was a lot of contrast to then turn it black & white. After I turned it black and white i used the dodge tool to darken shadows further. I then added grain to the the image to give an old film effect. lastly I used colour balance to make the image look slightly more warm toned for that vintage effect. I took some images similar to this using film so it will be interesting to compare the images and see how the film turned out when i get them developed.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Personal style video inspiration // Secondary Research

https://youtu.be/SaaA7DtJ0gw

I was researching the topic of self expression and personal style on different media platforms and i came across this video on youtube. It shows a group of art student talking about how they dress and i thought i was very interested and fitted into my project well. i really like the causal way it was filmed but also think it looks very high quality i would like to create something similar to this style of interview.

[saragetsonfmp-blog]

Weekly update

This week I started by doing a photo shoot inspired by 80/90s fashion which I styled and photographed. I then edited this shoot and did some blog posts based on lighting. This week I have also carried on doing research and writing up some blog posts that were unfinished.