City & Guilds Photography

Showing posts with label P6. Show all posts
Showing posts with label P6. Show all posts

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Final Ten Photographs (Architecture)

Below are my final ten photographs which I have chosen for my architecture theme. Below these is an explanation to the reason why I have chosen these photographs.



Firstly, I have chosen one of my favourites from my collection. This photograph shows a cathedral in Birmingham. I have stood quite close to the cathedral so that it's historic detail is shown and that it covers the photograph from left to right. As you can see this is done with precision making it the main focal point. When a viewer looks at this photograph they are drawn to looking at the historic detail from the cathedral and nothing else, this is because there are no interruptions in the photograph to distractn the viewers eye.



For this photograph I mainly concentrated on positioning and lighting. What makes this photograph unique is that it is taken at nightime and the only light source which was available to me was the surrounding church lights. What I wanted to achieve here is the whole church from left to right showing what it looked like when there is no natural light shining onto it. As you can see from the lights shining onto the church it creates a few different types of yellow/gold colours and the shadwows from surrounding objects can be seen quite boldy on the church. Patterns were also used here from the detail of the church and the churches windows which spread across the churc from left to right. This photograph required me to use my tripod as I had to use a very slow shutter speed due to the surrounding light being very dark.




These two photographs were also taken at night time so there was hardly any natural light available. As you can see from these two photographs that there are some colours which have been blended together to create some truely magnificent colours which are not only on the church but also surrounding the church. As you can see what ever natural light that was available has mixed with the light surronding the church to create different blues/purples on the first photograph. The top photograph conecntrates more on the detail of the church thus displaying the patterns from the churches detail whilst being placed in the centre of the photograph.

On this photgoraph I have attempted  John Golden's work. By this I have taken a photograph of St Peters church in Burton Upon Trent, but what I have done here is taken it from a different angle. Angles and shapes were what really showed in John Golden's church photography so I have done the same here. As you can see by doing this it shows the dominance of the church because of it towering over on the photograph whilst it also shows the great historic detail of the church.




Here is another night time photograph I have chosen from my collection. What I have done here is chosen an area that didn't have alot of light surrounding it to create this sort of eeire looking photograph but still to display the church in all of its beauty. As you can see from the light which is next to the church it shines onto the church making that area quite bright but then gets darker as you move deeper into the church. This is great as the strongness of colour gets shallower as you move more to the left of the photograph.




These two photographs are also of the St Peters Church in Burton Upon Trent. One is of the church at a distance and one is of the churches tower zoomed in to capture its detail. With the top photograph I managed to create a lines that guide eye composition with the path way which is created from the trees either side leading upto the church which stands dominantly at the end of the photograph. Where as the top photograph I have concentrated more on patterns and detail of the church to show its great historic beauty. As you can see patterns emerge from alot of areas of the church in the bottom photograph. This is purely down to the design of the church. As you can also see on the bottom photograph I placed the main focal point in the centre of the photograph so that there is equal distance to the edge of the photograph on both sides. I did this so that it made the church the main focal point with minor interruptions to distract the viewers eye. With a white background this also makes the church with all of it's detail stand out quite alot when the viewer is drawn to the church.



Here is another photograph where I have positioned myself so that the chruch has covered pretty much all of the photograph from left to right. This is great as where ever the viewer looks on the photograph they will be constantly been drawn to the churches detail which is included throughout mos of the photograph.

For my last photograph I have chosen one that was to a similar style of John Golden's work. John Golden's church photography mainly concentrates on where he is positioned when he is taking the photograph alongside the angle of his shot. As you can see here I have stood right next to the church so that when I look up to take the photograph it is taken at a great angle. As you can see by doing this the whole of the churches tower is in the shot making it tower over you whilst showing it's historic design in detail at the same time. I also concenterated on patterns here from the churches design due to me being so close to the main focal point.

Conclusion

I have chosen to take these photographs because I am deeply interested in churches. This is mainly due to the fact that they have a lot of history involved in them and most of them have fantastic exterior designs which involve fantastic shapes and patterns. Whilst researching the photographers for this theme I caught many different styles of photographing churches which involve many different compositions. Some of them used rule of thirds, some of them involved angles and shapes and some of them are taken at night. So I was highly inspired by these styles of photograph so I have gone out and attempted these styles to see if I can use there work to perfect my photographs.

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Photoshoot - Theme One Cannock Chase

Aims

For this photoshoot I aimed to further improve my photography on nature. Here I aimed to take photographs of trees that were stand alone and centered in the shot. I aimed to gain similar works to the likes of Ansel Adams and John Shaw. I attempted this type of work when I went on another recent photoshoot but was unable to find a standalone trees with a good background so there was a lot of objects interupting the photographs making them look very crowded.

Equipment

* Canon 1000D

* Standard 18-55mm Lens

* 70-300mm Zoom Lens

* Tripod

* Spare Battery and Memory Card

Safety Considerations

Safety considerations played quite a big part on this photoshoot for many reasons. The first main reason was the setting. Cannock Chase is a huge area that has many different types of terrain. So I had to be wary of my bearings and took extra care when walking around the different areas. Again like my other photoshoot it was very hot and where there is a lot of pollen present so I took extra precautions when walking around to make sure my hayfever did not affect me to a dangerous level.

The Photoshoot


1/500, F-Stop 7.1, 400 ISO

This is the first photograph I have chosen from my collection. Personally, I am very happy with how this photograph turned out. I manage to include everything in the photograph that I intented to. I managed to centre th main focal point in the photograph and managed to take the photograph with a perfect, bright and colourful background. I took the photograph with the view of land in front of the tree to lead the viewers eye upto the main focal point which completely dominates the photograph. It was very bright especially in the background because it was just clear sky so a fast shutter speed was needed here.


1/500, F-Stop 7.1, ISO 400

This photograph takes a similar approach to the last one. The only difference is that there are three trees present instead of one main tree. This was intented as I have postioned them correctlty from left to right within the photograph instead of dotting them all over the place. This creates a lovely postional shot again with a beautiful background. Again colour also played a big part within this photograph from the different greens from the grass to the blues in the sky.


1/640, F-Stop 6.3, ISO 400


1/500,  F-Stop 7.1, ISO 400

Again, similar to the first photograph I aimed to get the tree centred in the middle of the photograph without any distractions interrupting the shot. Here I have focused highly on postion of the main focal point with the same amount of space between the tree and the edge of the frame on the left and right of both photographs This is pretty much equal making them look even more centered. Again, I have the ground leading upto the main focal point in both photographs creating a small lines that guide the eye compostion.

1/50, F-Stop 5.6, ISO 400

1/160, F-Stop 5.0, ISO 400

These two photographs are of the same theme but just a little bit different. Similar to Ansel Adams work I have attempted to have the main focal point right at the front of the photograph with the background becoming slightly blurred out as you go deeper into the photograph but still creating a pattern effect from the different tree barks. This didn't work too well on the first attempt but on the second attempt it seems to have worked quite well. This required quite a low shutter speed as these trees were very tall and blocked alot of the natural sunlight. I also had to use a low F-Stop so that the background would be out of focus.

Evaluation

Overall I am very pleased with how the photoshoot turned out. I was able to go out with a plan of what sort of photograph I was going to take and I was able to attempt these without any problems what so ever. I feel that I have managed to succesfully research a certain photographers work and was able to go out and attempt it myself. If I was to attempt this photoshoot again I would probably attempt the close up shots again. I would attempt this again as I feel I could experiment with my camera settings and positions a little more deeper to gain different results. I will be also looking at a few of my photographs that I have taken and making them black and white to match Ansel Adams work even more to see if the results are similar.

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Practice Nature Photoshoot

Aims

On this photoshoot I was aiming to concentrate on making the main subject of the shot being centered in the photograph. This style was used within the photographs of Eliot Porter so I will be looking at his style and doing the same sort of work. So below are a few of my own photographs that I feel are of the same style of Eliot Porters work.

Equipment

* Canon 1000D

* Standard 18-55mm Lens

* 70-300mm Zoom Lens

* Spare Battery and Memory Card

Safety Considerations

With these photographs being taken out deep into fields there will not be anyone around so there are alot of safety considerations to take on board. The main consideration is the fact that there isn't anybody around so I will be taking someone with me just incase something happens whilst out on the shoot. It is also going to be very hot so I will be very protective for myself and my partner with me on the shoot making sure the heat doesn;t get to us. I am also a hayfever sufferer so I will be making sure that I take that into consideration before going out by taking my medication so that I am less effected by the surrounding pollen.

The Photoshoot




1/200, F-Stop 10,  ISO 400

Here is a prime example of what I am trying to achieve from this type of work. I went out on the photoshoot to mainly concentrate on not only my positioning but the positioning of the main focal point. As you can see it is centered in the photograph and the tree covers most of the photograph from left to right. This was achieved from where I was positioned. Again, like normal colour was also a main factor for this shot with the different greens from the tree and the white/blue background to make the tree stand out.


1/500, F-Stop 6.3, ISO 400

Here I aimed to try one of the photographs from Eliot's collection. What I have done is use a higher F-Stop so that the background is also in focus and not just the main focal point. The reason I have done this is to concentrate on colour in the photograph. As you can see the colours from the tree blend in with the background colours creating a warm and bright photograph blend.


1/500, F-Stop 5.6, ISO 400

Here again I have made the main focal point in the centre of the photograph to express the greatness and dominance of the tree. This one didn't turn out too great as it is a little blurry and postioned more to the left than the centre, definetly a photograph that I would attempt again. A high shutter speed alongside a medium F-Stop were used here due to the amount of natural light surrounding the area at the time.


1/800, F-Stop 5.6, ISO 400

Like alot of this style of work from Eliot's work, his photographs would be plain and boring if they didn't include the main subject centered in the middle of the photograph. For example, this is again a photograph that I took trying to attempt the style of his work. As you can see there is a surrounding background of greenery which is great but the main focal point which stands out from the rest of the photograph is the blossoming tree in the middle. This adds a difference to the photograph and it can be expressed at it's best being positioned in the centre of the photograph. The colour of the tree is concentrated aswell which also makes it stand out from everything else in the shot. A high shutter speed was used here because the sunlight was at it's peak so it was very bright.

Evaluation

Overall I am very pleased with the way this photoshoot went. The weather was perfect and the subjects I was taking photographs of were perfectly positioned. It has also been great practice for taking photographs in such extreme light. If I was to attempt this photoshoot again I would take photographs of exactly the same subject but I would attempt them at different postions but still putting them in the centre of the photograph. This would lead to different results due to having different sides of the main focal point and different backgrounds.