Cold Evening - 27-11-17 (shoot 7)

Winters Evening - 27-11-17 

Photographers research - Fay Godwin 






      
     Above is the work of Fay Godwin who photographs landscapes. What I enjoy about her work is the wide tonal range that is shown by the black and white effect. I feel that this brings a sense of moodiness to the images that otherwise wouldn't be there with a blue sky. I feel that it reflects the dull and dreary appearance of winter, this is what my project is based around. Therefore for this shoot I would like to introduce the black and white effect in the style of Fay Godwin.



Contact Sheet

Best Images (Edited) 

Images that require improvement 

      My aim for this image was to photograph was to take an image that include the village hall on the field with a warm orange light coming from the windows. As you can see above this didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to. I believe that it was too dark at the time I attempted to take the photograph therefore I needed a long exposure time causing the image to blur although it was on a tripod. The composition of the image also wasn't great due to the fact that the ground where I was taking the image seemed slanted, thus the tripod was slanted. This gave the outcome above that doesn't look very aesthetically pleasing. Despite me using a long exposure time the image is still dark, especially the trees behind the hall. They show no detail and look like silhouettes, if I was to take the image again I would increase my ISO settings to around 400 in order to counteract the dark spaces. 

       This image was meant to show a children's playground, with the detail of the swings and the slide in the background however it didn't turn out quite like this. Instead there is very little detail in the image, it is mainly a dark space where my camera settings either didn't have a high enough ISO or a long enough shutter speed. I also think that even if the detail had of been shown, the image would have looked over complicated with all the different colours and the different poles included. Therefore I took the image from the other side of the swing set so that I only captured that, making the image clear but still effective. I believe if I was to try this image again I would need to concentrate on changing my camera settings to a longer exposure. 

AO1 - Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding. 

       The work of Fay Godwin inspired this shoot, I like her style of landscape photography as it is slightly different and includes some manmade objects within a natural environment. They aren't necessarily urban landscapes they are more rural including buildings and structures that you would find modernly in natural places. Therefore I tried to do this in my work, I decided to set out and photograph the manmade objects that are within the countryside. I also found with most of Fay's work it is black and white, this scold be to do with the time that she was taking the images but I thought it gave an interesting wintery appearance. That is why I have converted my images from this shoot to black and white to fir this theme. 

AO2 - Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining idea as work develops. 

      To take these images I used a tripod in order to counteract the camera settings I needed to use for an evening shoot. Most of the images were taken with an aperture of F22 and an ISO of around 100/200. 

This was in order to keep sharp focus on the landscape however the shutter speed tended to be quite long due to it being dark therefore I and to be extra careful to keep the camera perfectly still on the tripod to avoid blur. 

       As mentioned above I wanted to convert my images to black and white in the style of Fay Godwin. In order to do this I took the steps outlined below: 

 
       Firstly as this was an NEF file when opening it into to Photoshop this is my first option. This step is very useful in the editing process as I was able to increase the exposure of the image and mainly work of the shadows and highlights bringing detail back that I lost due to the dark. 

      Secondly, I used the black and white tool to convert the image. As you can see from the editing box I took the greens down as the reds up in order to introduce a good tonal range to the image but also keeping it looking realistic. 

       Lastly, I used the curves too. This was only to make slight adjustments to the image. I took the middle range down by a small amount so that the 'evening' feeling came back and took out the bright washed out areas adding depth in the from of shadows. 

AO3 - Record ideas, observations and insights to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress. 

       This piece of work was based around the photographer Fay Godwin. I believe I have rested a good response to the theme of her work. From her work I took the style of photographing man-made objects seemingly in a rural environment. This is what I have done in my own work, therefore theme wise I have stuck to my intentions. However I do feel that I could have tried to compose some of the images similar to how Godwin has done as some of mine are too central and it would have been good to see them from a different perspective. 

AO4 - Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

        I feel that this shoot didn't go as well as I wanted it to due to me going out slightly too late therefore half of the shoot was darker than I expected. However I do feel that I produced some good image out of it, especially the ones in my best images. I believe my best images were the ones that related to Fay Godwin's work the most as that was my intention for the shoot. I think that if I was to try this shoot again I would start it more time before sunset so to get more images that used the 'golden hour' light rather than no light at all.