Evaluation

                                                             Evaluation:

Throughout this project I have experimented with a vast amount of experimentation and different ways of shooting.  I feel I would have liked to have continued with the portraits and use of jewelerry rather than just still life images of necklaces but I think the images have turned out quite nice with the simple use of just natural light and a black piece of material.  I have used multiple edits in Picasa such as 1960's, lomo and black and white.

The portraits which I started out doing with this project which was a continuation from the last project as I felt I hadn't had enough time in the previous project to experiment further with lighting and poses in the studio.  After the Freeform project I continued shooting portraits in the studio but trying to add alot more glamour to them with extra amounts of jewels and make-up.  After shooting a few portrait shoots within the studio I had work experience for two weeks which set me back quite a bit.  I therefore decided to continue shooting something vintage by photographing still life images of the jewels used in the original photographs with my model in the studio.

I started off with pretty basic shots of the jewels just using window light and not really thinking about the backdrop or any sort of composition as I have never really been into still life photography and didn't really see the point in it.  I then started to research jewelerry advertisement images and they seemed to have good lighting and good composition.  So I started to think about composition, use of the frame with the necklace and the lighting and how the effected the images atmosphere.  Near the end I researched the use of a cute animal to grab the audiences attention and tried using my cat as a prop which didn't quite work the way I wanted as she wasn't a jaguar cub.   I then thought of adding wording into my images like the research I did where the advert speaks to the viewer and draws you in, but I felt this would cram up my images too much and that the wording has to clever and concise which with the project now at an end I felt I did not have enough time to do this.

I chose not to use any vintage editing software or processes for my finals as I felt that the images looked a little un-professional and tacquay edited to look vintage rather than just being vintage or photographing something that is looking vintage.  I chose the portraits to be in black and white because they have an atmospheric look and create a strong defined contrast between the three images.  I chose to create the images into a triptych as I felt they look stronger as a three rather than being stand alone images.

I aimed to experiment with some things which I didn't get around to in the end because of time constraints, but I feel that overall I enjoyed this project and will still continue to experiment with different ideas for portraits in the studio as I want to start getting more adventurous and produce more glamour/fashion photographs.

Finals

Finals:

Why I chose triptych:

I chose a triptych because I felt the images alone didn't give across the impact which I think as a three they do.  The necklaces as a three show composition, running lines and an array of tones through the images.  I chose to use the same necklace in two of the shots because the first shot runs along with the second one almost as if they are a link photograph.  The last image is completely different and represents the composition onto the far right side which creates a unique opposite to the other two almost identical images.  I chose the middle image of the jewelerry triptych to be black and white and also not to be on a perfect surface because I felt the middle image has alot more texture in it with the use of a black jumper and thus that the use of black and white highlights the texture of the jumper even more.

I chose to do the three portraits into a triptych also as they look more intense as a three rather than being separate.  I chose the full length shot to be in the middle as it creates the most movement out of the three images and having two close-up portraits on either side balances out the triptych.  I chose the two close-ups because of the angles of them both looking outwards which creates a positive outlook for the photographs.  The images are in black and white because I felt as a three they all looked less distracting and more powerful with a bit of contrast which brings out the tonal ranges in all three images.

Possible Finals

                                                                   Possibles:

November 11th Cat Shoot

I tried getting my cat to pose with the necklace but she kept moving around and didn't really like it that much.  These are the images I got from the shoot.


                                                                  Favourites:

Edits:

Cinema

Cinema

Lomo

Evaluation:

I feel these images came out alright but nowhere near as those from a professional magazine with a jaguar cub.  I think I like a few of the edited images but will not be using these in my finals.

November 11th window light shoot

Contact Sheet:

Favourites:

I really like the composition I experimented with here by shooting with a lot of negative space and keeping the necklace to the right hand side of the frame.  The depth of field accentuates the focus on the necklace to the viewer and allows the viewer to focus their attention on the photograph rather than the foreground or background.

I love how the light is bouncing of the right hand side of the necklace.

Again here I have used the negative space and composed the necklace to be at the right hand side of the frame.

Edits:

1960's look

Cinema

Colour Invert

Lomo

 

I think the lomo effect really compliments the necklace and with the vignetting creates an 'old' look to the photograph but I also feel it looks a little too edited which in the end makes it look too modern.

 

Evaluation:

I really like some of these images, especially a few of the edited ones.  I think I will be putting a few of these in my possible finals post.  The lomo effect enhances the image by vignetting around the sides.  This is probably the best still life shoot so far because of the eye level shots and use of the black material which creates a nice black background. 

All Experimentation Edits

I experimented with alot of different edits throughout this project and some of them look really good in lomo but none of them look properly vintage and some of the 1960's edits trying to look vintage just look a little tacquay and un-professional.  

9th November Film Shoot

I shot this roll of film to experiment with photographing something vintage but also using a vintage process.  I shot on black and white film HP5.  I really like some of the images as the scratches and look of the negatives not looking perfect compared to a digital shot creates an atmospheric and vintage looking images. 
I scanned the images as a colour negative not black and white as this added mproe hues and tones to the negatives.

 

I love this image, even though it's not photographing anything vintage I love the way the film has created this grainy and atmospheric backlit photograph of the plant.

 

I love this grainy, sepia scan as with the scratches and imperfections it adds to the vintage feel of the overall photograph.

Pearl's in themselves are vintage and I feel that combining them with this grainy look by using film creates an old feel of who's were they and the background to them.

Next Shoot Plan and Research

Evaluation so far:  I feel that I haven't been expanding my horizions enough for these still life images and feel I need to add something else to the photographs.  I have previously been creating simple images with natural and flash light but have not been experimenting with different elements in the images. 

Research :

I love this use of a cute adorable animal to make the photograph.

The use of an animal in an image with jewels creates a must look for any viewer as they will be drawn to the cute and exotic look of the animal in the advert.  I would really like to try the use of an animal within my photograph to add a different element to the 'advert'.  I think the use of an animal in my images will create a 'cute' look.  I will try to get my cat in a centred area with a black background and then use of a flashgun bouncing off the ceiling to create a natural, ambient light look to the photographs.

Perhaps go to the animal and jewels route or using words like these adverts.

5th November 2012 window shoot

                                            Contact Sheet:



                                                  Finals:

The natural light really enhances the look of the necklace.

Original

Crop

I love this image as the lens flare I feel adds to the effect and look of the image.
                                                   Edit:

This image is a little dull in black and white where as in colour the colours of the glass really highlights and brings out the effect of the necklace.

Evaluation:

Still Life Shoot Plan

Aim:  I will aim to experiment further with the use of natural light indoors through a window using the jewelerry which I have already used in previous photo shoots. 

Experimentation:  I want to experiment using a flashgun and bouncing the light off the ceiling in different ways to create multiple light sources and effects which will create different looks to the overall images.

I will be using a black piece of material as a backdrop unlike last time where I used a black jumper instead of a large piece of material as I had to buy this for my photo shoot. 

I will possibly be experimenting with glass or something reflective to try and create a photograph like my previous research where they use something reflective to show the jewellery twice.

Depth of field will also help as it will create a strong focus onto the jewelerry which I am trying to advertise. 

Pinhole Shoot

Contact Sheet:

Jewellery Window Shoot

Contact Sheet:

The sunlight through the window highlights the necklace and the glass cut jewel is accentuated by the sunlight reflecting off of the necklace.  The background is of the window but this is a test shoot for lighting.  I will have a black piece of cloth to cover the white backdrop up.

I used a black jumper as the backdrop for taking photographs of the jewels and think it worked quite well as a rough test shot.  The sunlight worked perfectly with glinting off of the necklace creating an almost photoshop look to the image.

The depth of field here works really well by drawing your eye into the key area of the necklace and then slowly blending out towards the black background which adds contrast against the pale look of the necklace.

The depth of field within this image highlights the colours and shape of the necklace.

This is a close-up of the pearls which really highlights the necklace and I think will look a lot better when I photograph this with a piece of pure black material.

The pearls add an elegant feel to the photograph and the depth of field really brings focus to the necklace.

I will crop the background as much out of this image as possible and re-shoot this with a better backdrop, but I love the natural lighting and the glint coming off of the top of the bracelet.  The ambient lighting looks almsot like flash being bounced off of something but I will compare that once I shoot with a flashgun.

This almost looks as though it were shot in the studio, and I love the curve of the necklace in the background as it adds depth along with the contrasting black of the material.

I like this image as the necklace is more centered than the previous image but the contrast is alot stronger on the above image.  I will edit some of these photographs and see how they come out in black and white and with contrast.

Edits:

The black and white version of this photograph adds more atmosphere to the image rather than the colour version, but I also like the colour version because of the amount of colours within the glass necklace which are reflected by the light.