My Photography Project- Evaluation

 Theme 1- Concept- Close Ups

For my third and final theme, I have decided to pick close-ups as my theme. I did this because I found some sort of success when taking some close-ups in my previous theme ‘The start of spring’. So I decided to make whole theme out of taking close up photography. For this close up project I mainly took photographs of household objects so that it is completely different to my other themes and so it has its own identity. For the majority of the photographs I used the close up setting on my camera and then also the macro setting on my 75-300mm lens, but often I left out the macro setting so that I could get physically closer to the object. In some I have positioned either myself or the objects so to make the photograph more interesting and effective. I made different objects enter the image at different angles so to create a more diverse and interesting photograph. Alike my other photographs, I have used a wide variety of filters and alterations. I have included them once again so to create a better and much more interesting photograph. I would want to improve many photographs as some may be boring or out of place etc. I focused on the main subject in the photograph by using great amounts of detail and focusing on the foreground, but blurring out the background etc. to make the photographs work I used a variety of different techniques. In some I used some rule of thirds, and in some other I have used lines to create the image. The image, which contains lines, is adjacent to this. Overall I am happy with the photographs that I have created because I have clearly used a variety of different techniques and distances etc. I believe that I could improve my photographs by using a more interesting object, as things such as keys are not very exciting. This may question the photos effectiveness. Some people thought that my photographs were good because of the different angles and filters and alteration that I have used. But some others that that I should attempt to try to improve the exciting factor of the images. Many of my photographs are very similar to some professional examples of close up photography. I have used some very similar alterations and detail levels etc.

Theme 2- Event- The Start of Spring

For my second theme, my main subject was focused on ‘Nature’. I decided to use the main subject of Nature because spring was on the horizon.  So I decided to take advantage of the newly found plants, and flowers and of course the brighter weather. I decided to take the photographs that I have taken because it truly portrays nature and spring. The plants and the bright berries worked very well as photographs, which is why they are as effective as they are. To me the photographs that I have used represent a new start, of a new life. The bright and vibrant berries and plants are a sign of new life coming around yet again. I tried to focus attention on the nature/ the start of spring theme in many different ways and techniques. I think that the detail played a large role in creating an emphasise on the theme and the themes main subjects. It helped me to create large photograph so that more clear and eye catching attention could be encouraged. In many photographs I mainly focussed on the main subject, creating a blurred background, which creates more of a main focal point for the audience to look at. It is a way of telling the audience that this is where we want you to look. The light was also a valuable resource. It helped me to maximise detail, and to show where I wanted the main focal point to be. The light helped me to create a sort of contrast in some areas. It allowed for great bright and vibrant areas, but also some gloomy shaded parts. A battle between the lights and the darks. The composition allowed me to give the photographs their own unique appearance and identity. In this project I have used the photography technique of ‘Rule of Thirds’. This is when I position an object to the side of the photograph or the top or bottom depending if the object or horizontal or vertically positioned. I liked using different compositions in the form of positioning the different at different heights and areas of the screen. You can see this in this photograph where some plants are protruding to the near top to the photograph, when some are near the bottom. I like this effect as it gives an appearance of variation. I have also used some Extreme Close Ups so that the main subject is clearly shown. In some I have used a mixture of Extreme close ups and Rule of Thirds like in this example photograph. This gives a clear definition of the subject but also in a more interesting manner as it is positioned over to the right of the photograph frame. In many of my photographs it has become effective because of the detail and the lighting. The lighting is an extremely important factor in most of my photographs. It helps the focus and in the example photograph it brightens up the whole image giving some shine and glow. I have also added some filters to some photographs. I have used filters like glowing edges and I have altered the saturation on some photographs so that they stand out more. I am extremely pleased with the photographs that I have taken and also the photographs that I have altered using the cropping tool, Saturation, Brightness, and all round filters. I do feel that some photographs could be improved just by making them slightly more interesting and more things going on the image. Or maybe some could do with a boost in the detail so that they are not as blurry as they are at the moment. I believe that my favourite photograph is one image on the right. I love this Image and it is an altered version of a previously taken photograph. From the original I altered the saturation to make to whole image more vibrant and glowing. It helps to create an interesting and relaxing atmosphere and also very bright and eye catching. Also because the background is completely blurred out making a softer image resulting in maximum attention towards the main subjects. I believe that other people thought that my images appeared to look very crisp and professional looking. They say this because of the bright and vibrant appearance and that there is plenty to look at in many of my images. But others thought that some of my images might have been a bit too saturated. This is something that I have noticed in one or two of my images but I believe that the balance is acceptable.

Theme 3- Portrait- Canine

For my fist them I have chosen to pick Portrait as my theme. Within the portrait theme, I have chose to take photographs of the canine variety. I decided to use canine as my theme as I own several dogs, meaning it is easy to take photographs. I mainly took photographs when on a walk as it involved alto of running for the dogs. This allowed me to take some very good action shots when running and jumping is taking place. Of course the main subject of my photographs are dogs. The running, jumping and energy filled animals allowed me to create a lot of exciting and interesting photographs. Something, which greatly aided me when taking these photographs, is the shutter speed of my cameras. Since I have 3.7 photographs per second speed I could take the image that I wanted at the correct moment. I took these photographs so that I could capture my dogs in a very good photograph, so that the moment is captured. I have used several different methods to allow attention to be focused on the main subject. A good composition is a good way of this is if you position the subject other than the centre then interest grows and the photograph is better. Like in the example photograph just to the side, I have placed the dog in the bottom left section of the photograph so that the attention draws towards it. I have used Rule of Thirds in this section so that the attention draws towards the dog, and also there is plenty of background in the photograph. Also having the dog quite large instantly let’s the audience know which area of the photograph is the main subject of focus. The lighting was a good contribution towards the final photograph as it allowed the detail to take a hold in the image. The lighting created shadows in some areas, which helps to create a good variation between the lights and the darks in the images. And the bold shadows create a more 3-dimensional appearance and interesting image. The focus of the camera allowed me to take photographs on moving objects. An example of this is the photograph of my dog shaking with water flying around the image. I could capture the ears flapping around the photograph, and also the water droplets flying off of the dog.

Overall I believe that my photography project has been a great success because I have used many different themes, techniques and alterations. This project has helped me learn an exceedingly large amount about photography and about how it works.