Unit 9 Evaluation
The three themes we were given to focus on had various purposes. The nature/decay photos were intended to be used for an exhibition showing a selection of different images that would fit the theme of either nature or decay, the school brochure photos were used to portray the school in the best light possible in order to persuade people to take an interest in the school, the photo essay photos were to show a collection of photos that tell a story about a person or a certain memory.
With the school brochure photos I was aiming to make the school look a bright, positive and friendly place to learn. I put myself in the shoes of someone who was clueless about the school and wanted to find out more. I wanted the brochure to entice people and students to come and study Thomas Adams School whilst providing information about the school at the same time. The decay photos were taken to represent the title in a creative and interesting way to appeal to the viewer. With the photo essays I was trying to show a collection of photos which represented a person by taking images of the credentials that made up their life, eg. a photographer holding a camera. I wanted the images to be informative but interesting at the same time and to send a certain impression to the viewer of the person photographed' life.
I really enjoyed taking the images, editing the images to get the effect I wanted and annotating images to explain to the viewer what the image was showing. I least enjoyed brain storming ideas before taking the photos as I didn't find it particularly interesting and I was keen to get stuck in and begin the photo taking process and I also found it quite tedious.
My favourite image from my photo essay is the one of my sister doing her makeup. I think this because its a very accurate and natural photo that portrays her personality and passions well. In comparing this to the professional example above I think this works so well because on both images the main focus is very clear and the images both take a natural approach and look un-posed, almost as if someone has taken the mirror photo without the other person realising.
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This is my least favorite photo because the image quality is poor, I was aiming to get a 'vintage grunge' look and I feel the quality hinders the potential. Another reason why this image is my least favourite is because its pretty generic and lacks originality. The image I feel lacks any meaning or substance and is overall boring. The image would've been better if it was taken in improved light quality so it was clearer, if it had a bit more detail and some interesting features in the image.
To improve my photography skills I took lots of images and analysed them deciding what I felt was good and bad about the images, also to help me get an idea of what it was I wanted to achieve in taking the photos. I also used help sheets supplied by teachers that showed different techniques and tips to achieve good photos such as 'the rule of the thirds'. I feel that by doing these things my photography skills improved immensely and I started to think of things that never crossed my mind before when taking photos.
To improve my editing skills I watched video tutorials created by my teacher on YouTube. Watching the videos helped me greatly as I wasn't too confident using photoshop, however, using these videos I found learning new skills and techniques on photoshop very easy and quick to pick up.
I used 2 different methods of displaying my images. For the Nature and Decay series and the photo essay images I used a Flickr slideshow as I felt it was a really simple yet professional presentation. Using the Flickr slideshow also displayed the images consecutively which was effective for the photo essay images as they hold a purpose to tell a story, so this helped narrate the story. For the School Brochure images I presented the images as a brochure created on Photoshop in a documentary form to ensure it looked professional.
After I had completed and edited all my images I used a website called Freedback and created a variety of questions that people could answer so I could get other peoples opinions on my images. From my feedback I have learnt that; one person favoured the Nature and Decay images and one person favoured the Photo Essay images. From the Nature and Decay images one person favoured the photos of the rose and one person favoured the photo of the grave. Both agreed the Nature and Decay images didn't need improving. From the school brochure images I learnt that one person favoured the photo of the girl cooking and one person favoured the photo of the school. Both agreed that the images were suitable for the purpose. One person said no improvements were needed for the school brochure images and another person said to include/take more photos of the school. From the photo essay images one person favoured the photo of the jewellery and another favoured the photo of the makeup. Both agreed the hobbies and interests of the person were clear from looking at the photos and that the images didn't need improving overall.
