Weekly Evaluations

This page of my blog is dedicated purely to my evaluations for each of the week's shoots. At the end of each week I will write about how I think the week and the shoots went for me.
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Week 1 Shoot Evaluation

The following evaluations are for my first two photoshoots which were for week one. The first shoot which I will be evaluating is the 'Macro Kitty' shoot.

'Macro Kitty'
I think that my first shoot went really well and I am happy with the images which I got. Luckily my cat co-operated so I managed to get quite a few good quality images. During the photoshoot I concentrated alot on the cats face as I wanted to try and portray the image which inspired me. Out of all the images which I took I got about 8 or 9 good images close-up to the cats face, out of those close-up images I chose only two to go onto my blog and then one image which wasn't as close-up. If I was to do this shot again I would concentrate more on getting alot of close-ups to the cats face rather than images of the cat further away. I have edited the first image to create more of a contrast look, the other two images haven't been edited as I feel that they are of good enough quality already. I have posted the whole photoshoot on photobucket so that people can see how the other images have turned out and my favourite three images from the shoot are on my blog.

'A Small World'
I feel that my second shoot of the project went very well. To create the close-ups of the images I used a macro lens on my Lumix G1 camera. During this shoot I was concentrating on getting only a few good quality close-ups and not lots of alright looking close-ups. I got alot of good quality images and spent quite a while looking through them all to find my favourite ones for the blog. The three which I liked the most I edited slightly and added to my blog. If I was to do a shoot like this again I would venture somewhere else besides my own home to get some good macro images. I would also concentrate more on the objects which I take images of so that I could get some more textures and patterns in the shoot.
The rest of the shoot has been posted on photobucket for people to view.
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Week 2 Evaluation

The following evaluation is for my week 2 photoshoot of Urban Vernacular Signage. I will be evaluating how I think the shoot went and how the images came out.

"Urban Vernacular Signage"
I feel that my third shoot for this project went really well. Before the shoot I researched urban vernacular signage to get more of an idea of what I was going to take pictures of and to give me some inspiration for the shoot. I took the whole shoot over two days and in two different locations. On the first day I took images of the signs around Barncoose Hospital in Redruth, I got about 30 images from there and 3 of the images I added to my blog. I took all of the images at Barncoose during the late afternoon about 1 hour - 30 mins before the sun started to set. At this point of the day the sun was quite low in the sky which gave a warmer tone to the images. The images from the first days shoot I edited slightly on photoshop and added a watermark before adding them to the blog.
On the second day of the shoot I took images in Truro around the area which I live. I went out a little earlier in the afternoon this time so that I could get a few more images before the sun set. Two of the images from the second day are on the blog, the school sign and dog poo sign, and I personally think that these images turned out better than the first day of shooting. With the second day of images I edited them a little more than the other three and then added the watermark before putting them on my blog.
If I was to do this shoot again the only thing I would change would be the amount of time I went out and took images for. If I had left a little earlier on the second day and maybe stayed out for an extra half an hour I would have got alot more images which would have given me a larger variety of signs to chose from at the end.
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Week 3 Evaluation

For my third week of the blog project I decided to use the theme 'Studio'. I chose to do a Marilyn Monroe themed shoot and this is the evaluation for the shoot.

"Modern Monroe"
This weeks shoot was done completely using a high key set up in the studio. I had only ever been in the studio twice before this so I was a little out of my comfort zone and a bit nervous going into the shoot. Even though I was nervous to begin with once the shoot got going and I talked to the model more I felt more comfortable both taking the images and directing the shoot. I decided to step out of my comfort zone for this shoot as I wanted to see what else I am capable of doing within photography. I took around 90 images for this shoot and once I had taken them I had a hard job choosing the ones which I like the most, hense why I have chosen 8 images to put on the blog. The model for the shoot was happy posing which ever way I wanted which was good as I wanted a different range of poses including ones like the original Monroe shoot and some more modern ones. I feel that the images that I got out of this shoot were of a high standard and have made me more comfortable about being in the studio.
I definatly want to into the studio again for this project as I enjoyed this shoot alot. If I was to do this shoot again I would try and get some more poses like the original images and I would try and be more confident when directing the shoot.
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Week 4 Evaluation
For my 4th week of images I continued with Joiners, Stitches and Montages. Here is my evaluation of the week.

"Joiners, Stitches and Montages"
For the 4th week I decided to continue with something which we started in a lesson with Arlo. I am happy with how the images turned out and I found it interesting to look at others work, but I personally didn't enjoy doing the joiners because I prefer to simply take images. I may try this again in the future but for now I want to concentrate more on my proper photography as creating the images which I did this week took up too much time from what I really enjoy.
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Week 5 Evaluation
For my fifth week of this project I went into the studio again and did a shoot themed on one which I had seen on the TV. This is my evaluation of the shoot and the week.

"Evil Being"
This weeks shoot was done completely in the studio and with a low key set-up. I have only done a low key set-up twice before this but I was more comfortable setting it up than the high key shoot as it is less complicated. I was more confident going into this shoot as I had already been in the studio a week before and I felt that I was getting better at giving directions and getting the image that I wanted to achieve. This shoot went very well and I got about 80- 90 images out of it. This photoshoot was definatly a contrast the previous studio shoot that I did so it shows more of what I am capable of and it helps to give me a wider range of images for my portfolio in the future. Out of all the images that I took I chose my five favorite and edited them in photoshop ready to upload to the blog.
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Week 6 Evaluation
For my sixth week I chose the theme of "Black and White" and I shot a roll of 35mm B&W film. This is my evaluation for this shoot.

"My City"
For my final week I chose to film. At first I wasn't looking forward to doing film as I have never liked doing it in the past but when I realised that I could shoot vertually any genre that I wanted then I started to look forward to it more. I went out on a rainy day to Truro and took images both on the walk down to the town and whilst I was in the town. It was a rainy and overcast day but I still managed to get some great images. As I was in town taking the images and I only had a few more days to scan and upload them I took them to Kodak and got them developed in just an hour. When I got the images back I was very pleased with the results as I got some great shots and every frame on the roll came out perfectly. After looking through at the images myself I also got my tutor to look through them with me to help create a story with the images. Between us we came up with the five which I have uploaded to the blog.
Street Photography is a new genre to me and I am surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. I am definatly thinking about doing this again in the future as I feel confident that I will get some more great images.
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Whole Project Evaluation
I would have to say that this project is my favorite out all we have been given. At first I wasn't quite sure what I could do with the information and brief which we were given but after a few lesson and some brainstorming I found it easy to come up with ideas for the weeks. I am very happy with how all of my images came out for this project and I thinking about getting a few printed off for my portfolio.
This project has given me some new skills and has helped me to get my ideas and images out there for the world to see. This project has also given me more confidence within photography and has helped me to get my first paid job. It has also helped me to branch out more and try new things which I was scared of trying in the past. I have now found a new love for street photography and beauty photography, and will be using the skills which I have learnt from doing this in future projects.