Work record 1-Barbican

Work record 1-Barbican 

Plan for shoot

As this shoot was my first exam shoot i thought that it would be best to go back to an area where i had been before to take photographers, so i thought that Barbican would be an ideal place because when i went there for my preparatory shoot i didn't get all the photos i wanted to and so i knew that there was room for improvement. So with this shoot i wanted to take a bigger variation of photos than i had before and most importantly i knew that i needed to take a tripod with me, so that i could really improve on the photos that i had taken last time. I also planned to make sure that i had clear artist influence present in my work and that it was clearly shown that i have developed from my preparatory shoot by using the same style of photography, so the same type of framing and angles used for an unexpected perspective, but just better quality photos.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Photographers influence-Alexander Rodchenko

I think that in this shoot it is clear that i have based my work upon the style of photography that Alexander Rodchenko used. This is because i have used the same perspectives that he had used within some of his photos and i have also tried to capture photos with a good tonal range in them, for example the one below. What i have also done with this exam shoot that i had not done with my preparatory shoots is edit my photos to make them similar to Alexander Rodchenkos by increasing the tones, shadows and contrast. To make my work link even closer to Alexander Rodchenko i could also edit my images black and white like his images, but i thought that then my work would not be as cohesive because i didn't do that within my preparatory shoots. I think that Alexander Rodchenko has had a great influence on my work because he was the first photographer that  had researched with the most relevance to my topic of unexpected perspectives, so i based how i would angle my photos on his work, and angles are one of the most important aspect of this body of work because ultimately to create an unexpected perspective i have to take a photo at an unusual angle or position.

I think that both of these photos are similar due to the perspective of the building in the photo, when i was taking the photo i did have the above image (Alexander Rodchenkos) in my head, however i did not realise that the image was taken from a slightly tilted angle so i took my image at more of a straight angle. However i do still think that this photo showcases how Alexander Rodchenko has had an impact on my work. With the photo below, i also edited it so that the shadows appeared darker than they were adding darker tones to the photo, similar to Alexander's. I think that maybe if the sky wasn't visible in my photo then both of the images would look more similar , however that means i would've had to chafe position and i probably wouldn't have been able to capture the shadows if i and taken the photo from the other side.

I took this photo so that i could capture the reflection of the buildings in the building just like Ernst Haas has done in his work. In my preparatory shoots i hadn't really taken a lot of photos that con sited of reflections, so i knew that within my exam shoots i would need to try and get good quality photos of building reflections. In photoshop i had to increase the clarity and the contrast so that the reflections were more visible than they were previously. So in these exams shoots i wanted to try and incorporate both of the main artists influences in my work into the shoot, so that it shows i have developed my work into one and i can have both themes in one shoot. 

Contact sheets

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

Due me going back to the same place where my 5th preparatory shoot was taken, Barbican, it allowed me to take similar photos which has allowed me to show how i have progressed in my work. I think that by me using a tripod it benefited me greatly because i was able to take more time framing my photos and i was able to take lower angles and more unexpected angles than i could have by using my camera handheld. So my intentions were to basically just take photos that i couldn't have taken during my preparatory shoot due to me not taking a tripod, and i think i met that intention. For example the first straight image was one of the lowest angles photos i had taken, because i wanted to try and get as much of the building in the frame as possible, so by using the tripod it enabled me to take that image. Also the 2nd, 4th and 5th straight images were all taken with the lowest setting of the tripod. I think that in my preparatory shoots i was never able to capture really low angles, so with this shoot i grid to experiment with them because ultimately a low angle is an unexpected perspective. I think that even though the images that i took on this exam shoot were similar to images that i took in my preparatory shoots, they're quite unique and different at the same time. Most of the photos in my strait images have similar content because all of the buildings around that area look exactly the same but by using different types of angles i was able to capture a variation photos for this shoot.

Straight images 

How i edited my straight images

To enhance the potential of my straight images I used the camera raw editing section on Photoshop to tweak certain aspects of my photographs. Whilst I was taking the photographs on my shoot, I realised the majority of my photos were partially over exposed, even though I would change shutter speed sometimes due to the direction of the sun the surrounding area around the buildings would be very white. So to overcome overexposure in the photos I would normally decrease the exposure, but I would have to balance the lighting of the photo out by decreasing the blacks so that the photo would not be too dark or adjusting the highlights and shadows on the photo so that the lighting was still natural and not too dark or light. I would also increase the clarity to emphasis the texture and contrast of the image. I also increased the clarity on my photos because after doing research I realised that adding more clarity and contrast to photos of buildings and architecture in cities like London was a common theme that some photographers would use. And so because my shoots for this component are based on London architecture and buildings I thought that it would be beneficial for my photographers to use a common editing technique for photographs like the ones I have taken.

AO2 Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

For this exam this i used my Nikon D3100 camera that i used in my previous preparatory shoots with a camera RAW file so that I could capture better quality images. I also ensured that i brought a tripod with me so that the photos can be steady and it would help me to capture some different angles and perspectives that i hadn't been able to alcove whilst holding the camera. For example because i used the tripod i was able to get lower angles that captured the whole building, and slanted angles. However because this was my first time using a tripod to take these types of architectural photos i wasn't really used to what camera settings i should use for my exposure, so as normal i used manual mode with an aperture of f/22 because i would need a wide depth of field and everything will need to be in focus, an ISO of 200-400 and normally a shutter speed of 1/30s. However i would commonly find that my photos would be over exposed and so when i edited them to fix the exposure and the white levels using photoshop and the camera file Raw filter for more precise editing.

Edits

1st 

For this edit i used one of my straight images and i decided to edit this photo how i would commonly edit my photos in my preparatory shoots, so that i can show development of this type of edit throughout my work. So after i had finished the editing for the straight image, by increasing the clarity, contest and levels, i duplicated the file 3 times, so that i could have had four of the same photos. after that i rotated each duplicate image at  180 degrees then placed them onto of the original photo 2, then changed the opacity and fill to 50% so they could all be equally visible and added a cooling filter to the image. The reason why i did this edit was so that it adds more to an unexpected perspective, if these buildings are rotated at different angles that would be an unexpected perspective.

2nd

I created this computer experiment because i wanted to follow the idea of changing the angles of the photos multiple times, so i thought that it would interesting to have quite a few duplicates of the same photo at different angles. I did this on photoshop by firstly opening a new transparent file so that i would have a document to insert the multiple duplicated photos onto. Then i made the original photo a new layer so that when i rotated the image there wouldn't be a white background behind the photo, so then i duplicated this new layer of the photo and then i rotated each duplicate by 30 degrees and changed opacity and fill. Lastly i had to cop the document because the file was too big to upload. I think that this edit does effectively add to an unexpected perspective because no one would expect multiple versions of a buildings at various angles.

AO4

I think that ultimately i achieved what i wanted to with this shoot, as i wanted to show clear links ad development from my preparatory shoots and ensure that artist influence was clear in my work too. So I think by revisiting an area where i had already done a preparatory shoot allowed me to show how i could develop my work because i have improved upon how i take my images but using a tripod, which allows me to take better quality photos . For example i was able to take photos at a lower angle than i had in my preparatory shoots. I think that if i had taken my exam shoot in another area then i wouldn't of been able to show the development of my work as much as i did by going back to the place i took my 5th preparatory shoot. Also within this shoot i ensured that  linked it to both of the main artist influences, whereas previously i would normally only have one artist influence clear in my work. I think that as my first exam shoot this went quite well, as i showed development, linked my work to my artists research and i developed upon editing techniques that i used within my preparatory shoots. 

(Preparatory shoot)

(Exam shoot)