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I started the project with little experience of InDesign, however the program is very simple to use and quick to pick up. I am pretty confident that if set a similar task, I would be able to complete it with a lot less online help.

I decided to have a large white font with a full black background as the layout, with every picture centered and on their own individual pages (with one or two exceptions). I wanted to use a black background instead of white as the colours on the page stand out a lot more.

The book follows a very simplistic design with all the attention directed to the content. The point of the photobook is to advertise my photography, not my designing skills. However I do believe that a well-designed photobook may also show clients my creativity. I used Adobe Indesign cc for the layout and design of the book and a local shop named 'Mailboxes etc.' helped me to print and put it together.

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Final Evaluation

At the start of the year, digital photography was one of the units I wasn’t as eager to start. I had already learnt a small bit about photography in my A Level IT and received a lower mark for this section of the module.

After the first couple of months I was surprised how much I started to enjoy it. I had really started settling in with the camera (Nikon D3200) and I was learning a wider variety of techniques, rather then just the basics we had learnt at Sixth Form. The magazine task was one of my favourites, by the time it was set I was comfortable with my photographic skills and more confident with the camera. I found myself taking a lot less ‘snaps’ and actually thinking about how I wanted the final picture to come out, adjusting settings started to become second nature. The urban theme we had decided on gave me the chance to go and explore the city and find places that I didn’t know existed, being a student and new to the city I found this a bonus.

When coming to the final assignment I had the chance to put the years practise into use. Like the magazine task, I had a lot more experience with using the camera and found it a lot more enjoyable when collecting the content of the photobook. Some of the themes in the book like nature and portrait required me to focus on a subject. At the start of year I would struggle knowing how to get the best focus on the subject and find myself adjusting settings randomly until I found an ‘acceptable’ picture. Now however, I know that for a focused foreground I am going to be adjusting to a higher aperture and there is no need to be ‘playing’ with the settings. There was a similar learning curve with the weather theme. At the start of the year I was struggling to cope with the exposure on bright days and dark nights, again through practise I have learnt how to compensate using the shutter speed and when gathering pictures for the theme, I had a lot less trouble taking the desired photograph. When researching the portrait theme I found that a lot of my attention was being drawn towards the face of the subject and the facial expressions they were portraying. I was extremely happy with the outcome as I got to use a technique which I had learnt from the photographer I interviewed. Using this technique enabled me to gather a lot more natural expressions rather than forced ones from the person, leaving me extremely satisfied with the results.

On top of learning how to use the camera, I learnt a lot more about my creative side and my ability to design and layout the work I produce. Overall I think that my final photographs are a great representation of my photographic skill and show just how much I have learnt in the past year.

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For my final assignment i was asked to advertise my photography in a professional manner. Whilst researching for the task i decided that i was going to create a photo book to present my final 30 photographs.

This video shows me creating the first couple of pages of the book.

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This is a short video of me setting up a backdrop for the very first time.

The backdrop was used when gathering photographs for my final assignment. It was used a background colour for some of my portrait theme pictures.

The hardest part was trying to get the wrinkles out, but by using around the house objects i was able to put strain on the sheet to make it appear flat.

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Weather

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Urban

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Seaside

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Portraits

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Architecture

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Nature

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Advertising Photography Research

Most photographers i have looked at try to incorporate multiple methods of advertising, rather then sticking to just a single technique.

There are a multiple of different ways to advertising, both online and offline have there advantages and disadvantages.

ONLINE 

Websites are a common and by far the most effective way of advertising. Owning a website opens you up to every single person that has an internet connection, increasing the awareness of your work. You can frequently update the content and is a great place for fans to follow and potential clients to browse through your photographs.

Social media sites such as Tumblr, Instagram, 500px, twitter and Facebook are all great ways to advertise your work, a lot of the sites have an app which allows you to upload new work on your phone, making the process available anywhere.

These forms of advertising are free and are available to a much bigger audience then you could ever find offline. However if you tried to show your work to somebody without an internet connection you may have a problem, that's why offline advertising needs to be considered as well.

Offline

Offline advertising involves handing out hard copies of your work. These methods may not be as effective but is a great way to highlight some of your best pieces of work.

Photo-books allow you to create a portable exhibition of your work, this book can be reused or even passed on to the next person when done with. This method is a great way to showcase some of your best work and provide details of any online advertising you may have as well. Depending on how well you create the Photo book will also show the viewer your creativity around photography, rather than how well you can take a photograph.

Below is the 'Humans of New York' Photo book by Brandon Stanton. It contains portraits taken of random people all across New York City.

Business Cards are another good way of advertising. You may not be able to present much work on a business card, however you can give links and information to point people in the direction of your online showcase. As well as this you can provide contact details if anybody would like to speak to you about potential work. 

In addition to the well-known ways to advertise, some people try to go one better to stand out from the crowd. Jens Lennartsson created multiple action figures of himself holding a camera. He then went on to sell the action figure in order to fund his new non-profit project. This method of advertising is so unique that it stands out from any other form of offline advertising. 

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Digital Photography Experiments Assignment Final photograph 3/3

For my final image i wanted to play around with Motion Blur on moving objects. A bridge close to me gave me a perfect overview of a busy road where i played with the shutter speed to get the desired blur.

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Digital Photography Experiments assignment Picture 2

I looked into high speed photography for my second picture, using a piece of paper as the backdrop, i used my tap to take a picture of running water. I then took the drops and edited them to create the above.

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Digital Photography assignment 3 Experiments

I was looking around for different techniques and came across multiplicity, having the same person numerous times in the same picture. I don't usually use Photoshop with my photography but thought it was a great opportunity to try it out.

This is a video of the editing.

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Digital Photography Assignment 3 Experiments Multiplicity Photograph 1

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Interview Q&A Continued

9. When you go along to a photo shoot, apart from your camera, what else do you use?

It depends whether im on a location outside or in the studio, if I was in the studio I will have the flash lighting kit with the big soft boxes and stuff, always take my tripod and a reflector which allows me to be more versatile with the shoot. What are good are clips and duck tape, so you can strap clothes or pin stuff up, and a back drop sometime.

10. I see you've been to Paris, do you have a favourite country or location you like to shoot in?

I went to France to go to the Paris photo fair, so that offered a lot of inspiration, but I think  probably the main city that influences me the most is London. I've been to Amsterdam, Paris, we are going to Berlin in a couple of months time but I think London for me still is the main place that inspires me, creatively. Everything is going on, and the whole feel of the city, the exhibitions that go on and It feels like it is a home to me, so much going on that is really accessible.

11. Do you use any social apps like Instagram to present your work and if so, whats your favourite?

I use Instagram but only for personal things, a bit like Facebook. Some people use it as an extension for their portfolio but most of my work is on my website. I did use 500px for a bit which is just an online portfolio which is sort of like Behance, but for photography.

12. Is there any techniques you could advise me of to take on board?

A really good tip for portraits, if you wanted to capture the person who is sometimes a bit too guarded in front of the camera, wait a second until they are a bit fed up of waiting and they let there guard down. When they let go of that front then capture the picture, it doesn't take long, normally around 10 seconds, just wait and capture the image when they are a bit more relaxed.

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Interview Q&A Continued

6. Are there any photographers that you are really interested in, do they have any techniques which you try to incorporate in your own work?

My two favourite photographers would probably be Tim Walker and he uses a lot of medium format film as well, a lot of technique he uses I use in my own work. He uses a lot of natural light as well as this other photographer I like Paolo Roversi, Paulo Reversie also uses medium and large format  and uses a lot of natural light and is quite simplistic with his approach yet still remains quite intimate.

7. I notice you use a lot of editing in your work, do you think about what you are going to edit whilst shooting or leave it all to the post production?

I think about all the editing before I even take the picture, its all in the planning stage, any like influences from what I want to do in the photo shoot will effect how I edit it. It’s like when you paint something you think about what you are going to include before you start.

8. When editing what software do you use?

In the studio we sometimes transfer it to Capture One which allows you to process the RAW files and see your images, but I mainly use Photoshop to do the majority of the editing.