Final Pieces

Final Evaluation

I have just finished my Unit 2 for photography and for this unit we had the choice of five exam questions and personally I have chosen to look at Creative Use of Light, initially I was thinking about looking at the weather question however after one shoot I decided to change it due to it being very difficult to know how the weather will be on a particular day. I then chose Creative us of Light and started this by looking through images online and creating an image bank of images that I felt would fit into my topic and which I would like to look at. From these image banks I was able to acquire 6 different types of shoots, for example there were glow stick shoots, light graffiti, fairy lights, natural light (shadows) and also other unusual ideas such as UV paint/makeup.

I started off by looking through any of my old shoots, for example a shoot of fireworks and others from when I have gone out to do my own photography that does not relate to my A level and I found some good images which I felt fit into my topic very well.

I then started looking at taking some similar images to my image banks and my first shoots were of glow sticks and candles as I felt that this was a good way to start as from these shoots I learned a few things. For example, I learnt from these that it worked out much better if I used manual focus rather than automatic and I also had to use the macro setting for some images due to wanting to photograph in detail. These shoots were not the most successful and after a few attempts, I decided that this may not be the type of images that I would like to look at and I have also found other styles of photography which I feel would be more suited for me, for example a UV shoot.

After deciding to look at some different ideas within my work, I started to focus on a UV paint shoot and I wanted to focus the style of which on some of Hid Said Neto’s work and I felt that he was the main influence for my work. For my first shoot of this I decided to do a self-portrait shoot as I felt that this would mean that I could familiarise myself with the style and after the shoot, I was very happy with the outcome and this made my mind up on the track I wanted to follow for the rest of the unit.

 I went on to do a further 2 shoots for my coursework in this style and also focused my exam on this style of work however I also changed my work slightly at this point also. I did this during my third UV shoot when I decided I would make a video of my final photographs rather than uploading straight images and I felt that this was a very unique yet effective method of displaying my work and again this influenced my future work.

During my exam I chose to do two shoots, the first being a shoot in which I recorded myself applying UV paint onto a bunch of flowers and then sped the video up using PremierPro. I felt that this was a very successful shoot and this gave me confidence to then go onto my second shoot during the exam which again I recorded myself applying UV paint to a model however I made this different to my coursework shoots by flicking the paint on my model rather than applying it in a particular style. I felt that my final outcome for this was very successful other than a few flashes within the video from the other side of the studio and I wish I had an extra 5 minutes to be able to crop these out however I believe that this shoot turned out very well. During my exam I also produced a few straight images as well as the video and I feel that these also looked very good and I am very happy with my exam in general.

After my exam shoot, I was then able to photograph one final shoot and de to using the UV paint within my exam shoot, I felt that it would be better to explore one other style of photograph and so I focused on a shoot involving sparklers. For this I slowed down the shutter speed and was able to produce a light graffiti image from sparklers. I have a few very successful straight images from this shoot however I also have some not so successful images.

Electronic Portfolio

Connecting Essay

 This is one of photographs of light graffiti from car lights, I have taken this outside Big Ben in London as I think this was a very good location for this style of image due to their being a very straight road and also a barrier on the edge of the road which meant I could hold my camera still meaning that the photograph was not blurred. I also think the lighting in this area of London meant that this photo has turned out very well. This photo shows the streams of light from the passing vehicles and I think this shows creative use of light in a very creative way.

This is a picture I have collected off of the internet which shows the streams of light from vehicles outside Big Ben. This photo has a very clear colour range due to the streams of lights and Big Ben being the same colour. This photo shows creative use of light because of the streams of light, the bright light in the right side from where the light has started and also the lights on the building. The photographer of this has also included some street lights however these are out focus which means that it makes them stand out and look different to the rest of the photo.

These images are very similar because of the location, both of these photos were taken from outside Big Ben and both involve light streams from vehicles however they are also slightly different due to being taken from different areas outside Big Ben and the colour range between my photo and the internet image are completely different. In my photo I have used the natural lighting meaning that the lights from the vehicles are red and white whereas the photographer has used slightly different settings meaning his image is very yellow toned.

Connecting Essay

 This is an image I have collected from the internet of some glow sticks, I like this image very much because I think the composition is very unusual however a very good way of showing this image. I think the way that the photographer has focused the camera on the area of the glow stick which is not directly in front of the lens has worked very well and this is a method I would feel comfortable using within my own photos. I also think the colours in this photo are very vivid which means the photograph looks very natural as this is how you would see the colours naturally. I know from own experience how difficult it can be to capture the colours whilst keeping the camera in focus and it must take some real skill to produce an image as clear as this.

This is one of my own images of glow sticks. The colours in this image are not very bright due to me trying to keep the camera in focus however this still does not look focused. If I was to take more images like this I would use a macro lens in the hope that I could focus on the smaller details easier. I do still think this is a good photograph on the other hand as I like the composition very much, I like this because I have shown depth slightly within this photo and think it has worked well.

These photos are quite similar due to the subject matter, this being glow sticks and the colours are also very similar however the image from the internet is a much better outcome than my photo because of the colours looking brighter and also the focus is much clearer than in my photo. The composition of the two photos are also very different due to mine being taken from above and the internet one being taken from below the glow sticks and I must admit that I prefer the internet image and would love to take photos in that particular style.

Connecting Essay

This is one of my photographs of Regent Street in London, I have taken this photo however I chose to take this out of focus as I felt that it would make my photo link better into the creative use of light topic due to only being able to see the lights within the photo. I like this photo because I feel like it represents create use of light in a very unusual way. Within this photo you can see the lights on the buildings, the street lights and also the lights from vehicles passing. This means that this makes my photo fit into my exam question very well and I think this is a good representation of it although I would have preferred this image had I angled it slightly higher to include more of the lighting and less of the street.

 This is a picture which I have found on the internet, this appears to be Regent Street in London however I cannot be certain however I do like this image very much. I feel that this would be a perfect way of capturing the lighting in a street which also makes it fit into my exam question. This photo has been taken out of focus which means that it is not very easy to see what the image is showing however I can tell that this is a very busy street and from the image we can see he lighting from the buildings, the street lights and also what appears to be a bus. I think had this picture been taken in focus it would not be as effective as out of focus it is very easy to relate it to my topic.

These two images are very similar in many ways, my image was taken from Regent Street in London and the internet image also appears to be Regent Street due to the buildings and it also appears that we have taken the photos from a very similar location along the road due to being ablt to see both the buildings on the left side of the road however you can also see a small amount of the building on the other side. Both photos were also taken out of focus meaning that the lights look more light circles rather than looking like lights and finally within both photos you are able to see the lights from the buildings, the streetlights and vehicles on the roads. These photos however do have some differences, for example the photo from the internet is much clearer than my photo due to mine being quite dark and the lights in the internet image stand out more than within my image and the colours are also much more vivid.