Self Evaluation of Projects
Sarah Hamilton-Reilly HND1A
This project was quite an interesting and fun project to undertake, as it was very much your choice over what you shot and how you shot it. My self-portrait and place took only one session each (though multiple shots and different compositions and lighting were attempted during each session). However, my object was a little more difficult, and required returning to shoot a second time, as following discussion with class tutors it was decided it lacked understanding of what the object was. I believe I allowed sufficient time to shoot these images, and within that time reshot the object.
I believe my research could have been stronger for this project, however following my study at NC level last year, I already had many ideas and past research in mind to use for this project. Climbing shoes and hands (as photographed as my object and self-portrait) were something I enjoyed capturing and researching last year, by studying photographers work in the field of climbing. However, this year I also found a very useful and influential project undertaken by a photographer known as Tim Booth. He had photographed many peoples’ hands all over the world, as part of a project looking at how hands can define us. His photos were in black and white, isolating the subject from forms of distraction, emphasizing the lines and detail that help to define a person by their hands. I decided this was a unique and interesting way of portraying my self-portrait, without exposing much of myself. With regard to my place, this was one of those ‘happy incidences’ where I was on holiday in St.Andrews, practicing sports photography on surfers, and natural light techniques in the afternoon. I realised that the scene around me represented so much of what I enjoy, and that it was actually a beautiful scene, with many leading lines and thus a lovely composition to capture. This was enforced during class discussion, as students felt this image had many leading lines within the frame.
From research during and following this project, I feel I have become far more aware of types of composition, such as rule of thirds, leading lines, colour, and shapes. For example, my final images all had their vibrancy reduced following discussions with tutors, as it was suggested this brought the colours within the images together more. I agree very much that this was a good choice, as the images all complement each other through colour and tone. Once again students during class discussion highlighted this by suggesting that the tones of each image lead into the next image.
With regard to what I have learnt from this project, I feel that composition, use of colour and post production, alongside use of speed lighting and reflecting/absorbing the light has played a large role in forming these images, and I have learnt a lot regarding these techniques.
If I were to repeat this project, there are a few aspects I would attempt to alter. It was highlighted during class discussion that the shadows falling on the thumb and middle finger in my self-portrait suggested loss of part of the fingers. If shot again, I would attempt to fill these shadows in by altering the position of the speed light, or adding further reflection. Even adding a touch of rim light would complete the shape of the fingers. However overall it was agreed that my work met the brief, and that overall it was sharp, well composed, and the canvas had a clean layout with spacing and borders equal.
This project I particularly learnt a lot from. However I only spent one day shooting all the images for this project. As we had been allocated a full day at the Botanic gardens in Glasgow to experiment and potentially capture all our images, I decided to make the most of it. I was fairly nervous about this project as shooting strangers in public, outside of an event, is not something I am comfortable doing. As a result, I decided to work alone, thus allowing me more freedom to pick my subjects carefully, setting my scene and lighting before approaching strangers to ask for their consent. This worked well as I was never turned down, and I captured many useful shots, with varied natural light techniques. However, if undertaking this again, I would carry out more research into street photography and outdoor portraiture prior to undertaking the work.
The majority of research I carried out was natural lighting during the golden hour (as I enjoy these images), however I was to be shooting from mid-morning through to around 4pm in September, so lighting was much stronger, and involved changing my techniques from backlighting to more frontal, side, dappled, and reflecting light onto the subject whilst they remained in a shaded area for a darkened background. However, during discussion of my work, students noted that I had used a varied collection of lighting techniques which showed a degree of skill. Further they remarked that my posing of subjects looked almost candid, that they were at ease (something which settles my mind, as I was so nervous about working with the public in a fairly spontaneous way).
Therefore, whilst my research was less useful on the day, my understanding of light and posing subjects has increased greatly through the experience of photographing strangers, on a sunny afternoon. My favourite shot was that of the man crouched, as this was my most technical shot that involved placing him behind a bush, which was in the shade, then using the silver side of my reflector, to bounce light from the sun beam to the side of the bush back onto his face. This improved my understanding of how to use natural light and make it work for you.
If repeating this project, I would maybe attempt it in colour, instead of black and white, just to see the difference. This project was loosely based on David Bailey’s style following a visit to his exhibition. Further, my class suggested that more light could be added to the image of the man crouching, as his arm and shoes do not pop as much as the rest of the body. This may be achieved by placing the reflector in a slightly different angle, or even adding another reflector. Overall, it was agreed this project met the brief, and once again the layout was consistent and organised.
This final project involved emulating a photo from David Bailey’s Stardust Exhibition. Having already attempted to try some of Bailey’s techniques during post production in my ‘Seeing the Light’ project, this involved attempting Bailey’s techniques during the capture stages instead. With regard to time, I felt short of time, and very much against the clock for this project. This was maybe more a personal pressure rather than pressure from lecturers. I wanted to achieve the image within a couple of classes so that I had plenty time to spend mastering the black and white conversion in Photoshop, and mastering the darkroom techniques required for the film image. I think allowing myself some more time to capture the image in the studio may have been more beneficial to my overall out-come, especially with regard to the film image.
Research prior to the shoot included a class trip and guided tour of the David Bailey exhibition, followed by a second trip by myself to study some of his work further, in my own time. I referred to many of his books, including ‘Bailey’s Stardust’ his exhibition book, and also watched various documentaries both online and within college regarding him and his work. This was very beneficial as it gave a greater insight to Bailey himself, his work, and how he carried out his work. In terms of emulating Bailey’s studio light set-up, our lecturer set up this scene with class help, and having then created my own lighting diagram of this, I was able to reconstruct it for my own work. The lighting specific to my subjects face was able to be created following studying and evaluating the image I was emulating.
From taking part in this project, I have learnt many techniques. Some of which include how to light the background for a studio portrait similar to David Bailey, where a clean white, grey, or black background can be used with the same set up, just by increasing, reducing or turning off background lighting. Further, I feel I have gained a better grasp on lighting my subject, and how using different adaptors such a beauty dishes and honeycombs can affect the type of lighting (soft/harsh). Further, I have learnt post production techniques, some of which are good practice, some not good practice (the image I chose to emulate was not an easy image to attempt, and was not an example of ‘good’ photographic techniques. Learning to change contrast levels in the dark room was a great learning curve, whilst learning to use curves in Photoshop to gain a better black and white image was something that will benefit me greatly in my future work.
If repeating this project, there are many aspects I may choose to alter. For example, my subject in the film version on the print could have her head turned more to the right of the frame with chin slightly elevated. Further, her hair (as noted during class review) could be styled more appropriately, instead of having a gap in the hair around the ear, which looks quite harsh, and takes away from the overall soft affect the image should create. Moreover, class discussion also highlighted that whilst the subjects eyes in both film and digital images were very sharp, and detail in the eyebrows, lips, and eyelashes was also sharp, the digital image had a slight difference in focus between the lft and right sides of the face. Further, whilst the contrast was noted as effective in the film print, where blacks were black, it was felt the forehead lost some detail due to being overly white. However, I felt this was closer to Bailey’s image, as the shot was very high key, and I felt the forehead also lacked detail, almost overexposed in his image. Finally, group discussion agreed that both images met the brief, in terms of lighting, background, and post production techniques.
