Have you described your subject’s processes clearly and concisely?
Throughout my project I have described my processes for each part of my assignment. I have documented with screen caps the progress I have made on my photo development. When using Adobe Lightroom 5 I used screen captures to show what I was working on and what settings I was using to edit my photography. I would have liked to create more time lapse videos of my editing sessions on Lightroom as it would show an more in depth view of the editing process that entails in photography editing as it can be very tedious to get the perfect balance of settings.
I created a time-lapse video to document my logo design, which I created on Adobe Illustrator. When experimenting with my camera settings I have tried to remember to take pictures of the settings on my camera so I can show what settings I used for the photography.
I would have liked to document the editing process of my assignments further, as not all of the information can be captured in the screen captures, so if I were to do this again, I would video my editing sessions to show the amount of time and work involved with editing.
Have you considered and examined the merits and problems of the subjects?
The initial problems I had were with my camera, Nikon D3200. I purchased this camera at the very start of the academic year and briefly read the manual. I should have taken a more in depth read of the manual because when it came to the experimental assignments I was trying to work out why my long exposure settings where not working. After going back to the manual and reading further manuals on the internet I finally found out what the problem was, I had the camera on the incorrect setting and I was leaving the shutter speed on for too long, resulting in more light being attracted into the camera and over exposing the images. I had learnt from this mistake a lot and made sure when trying different types of photography and settings I made sure I referred to the camera manual to make sure I was on the right track.
As this was the first time I got into photography I did not want to choose specific subject areas from the start of the project. I wanted to test the settings and my camera out before I chose my subject areas, as I did not want to chose a subject to find later I would not be interested in it. Therefore for the first couple of weeks I went to the beach and London and took pictures of anything I could find. Once I was happy with my camera I chose my subject areas, architecture, nature, seaside, urban and weather. I also made sure the subject areas I chose were an interest in me so that I would be passionate about them.
Architecture
I have always had an interest in architecture, I would normally use my phone to take pictures of buildings that I think look interesting and different. I wanted to continue this passion by using my Nikon camera to capture the immense details that some buildings have. My favourite photo from this subject is the Natural History Museum building, the photo shows the crisp details of the building and the blue sky adds amazing colour to the photograph.
Nature
Taking pictures has opened my eyes to natural beauty and how many beautiful things there are in the world everywhere. For nature shots I wanted to get up close and personal. Therefore I got as close as I could to flowers so that I was able to photograph all the finite details of them. My favourite photos from this album are the ones of the two pigeons sitting on a rock outside the Natural History Museum and the photograph of the pond. I really admire the detail in both the pictures.
Seaside
I chose seaside because I am a student of the University of Portsmouth, which is situated by the seaside. Being so close to the seaside I had to take advantage of this, also the Portsmouth skyline is very picturesque so if I were to incorporate that into my photography I would be very happy. My favourite photo from this category is of the Clarence Pier bollards, this is because it is one of the first photos I have taken with my Nikon camera and was very pleased with the way it turned out.
Urban
I chose this subject area because I felt I was able to incorporate an abstract urban feel to my photography. I took most of my urban photos in Kingston Upon Thames, which has many urban sites that I wanted to take advantage of. My favourite photograph from my urban pictures is the football one. I feel the worn out football gives a very urban tone to the photography.
Weather
I have a keen interest in the weather, my favourite type of weather to photograph is sunny bright blue skies and clouds. Before this unit I have used my iPhone to take pictures of clouds and I would use the filters on Instagram to bring out the darkness of the clouds. However for this project I was lucky enough to have beautiful weather on most of the days I had photography shoots, which I was more than happy with. I wanted to several images of the sun shining through branches or plants, as I am a really big fan of this. My personal favourite picture from this category is of the sunrises, to achieve these photos I got up at 5am and I can say it is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed in my life.
Evaluation of subject matter, equipment and editing
For this project I used a Nikon D3200 camera and an iPhone 5S camera. I purchased my Nikon camera at the start of the academic year to help me with my photography and filming through out the year. I opted not to purchase a tripod, which in hindsight I now regret as I found it was vital for some types of photography.
I did not want my images to be edited too much, so I kept them as original as I could. I used Adobe Lightroom 5 to edit the images that I did edit. When editing these images I would make slight changes to the images to bring attention to the subject of the images. I had not used Lightroom before so I made sure I attended the Lightroom workshops held by the university. I found these sessions very insightful and was able to learn the basics of Lightroom before attempting to edit my images. I researched YouTube tutorials of Lightroom to broaden my knowledge of the program and learn about advanced features.
What would I do differently?
If I were to do another photography project I would do several things differently. Initially I would invest in more camera accessories, I found during this project that a tripod is absolutely necessary. When experimenting different types of photography I found that not having a tripod was compromising my photography because I was moving the camera so the images become distilled and distorted. This meant I had to take photos over and over again which in turn wasted time, memory and the battery on my camera. The other accessory I would invest in is a new lens, even though I am very happy with the current lens I have, I feel to take my photography to the next professional level I would like to get a better quality lens to take my photography skill to the next level.
I would like to create much higher quality prints; I used a company called Snappy Snaps to print of my images. The quality of the images was good but they lost some quality when printed on 7x5 photograph paper. Therefore next time I would invest in more time and money to find a company that will allow me to print off the highest quality of print for my photographs.
I will continue to follow aspects of photography after this project, I found parts of this unit very creative and fun. My personal favourite types of photography that I will continue with is motion blur / long exposure photography and I have also become a big fan of the Hipstamatic app which I have been using every day since I have got it. I also plan to expand my online presence by developing a website to showcase my photography and to promote myself.
