First shoot-contact sheet

These are my final 30 photos that I had filtered down from around 250 photos that I had taken within the 2 hours and 15 minutes 

First shoot-Straight images

Straight images-

This is the first photo of my straight images, this photo was inspired by one of the photos in my preparatory shoot for Alex. In the preparatory shoot the photo was good in the way of what it was trying to capture and the angle of it, but i hadn't pulled it off so well as the framing of the photo want quite right and the lighting was a bit weird as the doorway was like a yellow colour whereas in the room it was normal, but i couldn't really crop all of the doorway pout so i had to leave it. So for this shoot it was the first photo that i thought of re-taking, so i tiered quite a few times a it was quite an awkward angle to take because i had to lie down to try and be at the level that Alex was looking at the tv, i chose this photo because it captured Alex the best and the framing was the best too. I decided to keep the teddy in the photo and Alex's cars as it was more natural and in the original photo there was toys on my bed too, so i wanted the photo as similar to the first one as possible  just better. Also without the toys the photo just looked like it had been too set up, but i just wanted most of my shoot to be natural and how it is everyday, as thats the whole point of the shoot. The good thing about this photo is from the angle that its from a lot of shadows on the bed are visible which adds tone to the photo and on Alex the majority of him is dark except the side thats closer to the window, also this is almost from his perpsecptive as a fully grown person wouldn't normally be as low as the camera is watching tv, so it looks once because its looking up at the tv, rather than just eye level which wouldn't of allowed me to capture as much as i have in the frame. However the downside to the photo is because of the blinds being fully opened its let quite a lot of light into the photo, and so because the aperture was correct for the main bit of the photo, it wasn't right for the window a s its a lot brighter than my room, so its appeared over exposed and white. However when i ddi lower the f-stop the room did appear darker and so the coours were nit as vibrant so i changed it back tot his as i dint really have enough time to keep and truing different f-stops because Alex wanted to go and do something else. So to improve this photo i would just close the blinds slightly so that not so much light would be let into the room and then i shouldn't have that over exposed areas because the light would be more consistent throughout the room.

I chose this photo for my straight images as i really liked the shallow depth of field of the photo, so Alex is really in focus and everything behind him is out of focus which lets you pay attention to the detail on him and shows that he's the main point of the photo. With my cousin being in the background i think it makes the photo more realistic and everyday as then the photo isn't really perfect in the way that it would look set up, its just more natural. I took this photo by using the arm rest of the sofa to prop my camera on so that it there wa minimal shaking from me, as i still had to sort out the focus and zoom of the photo so that i could try and frame it right . In this photo Alex was watching the tv, so i had been trying to get a photo of him watching tv downstairs, but i had found it quite hard to capture him from behind when he was laying down on the sofa because of the height or the arm rest it went really getting Alex in the frame as well as the tv, so i just dcciddd to take it from this view. I also like how the light is coming throughout the window making Alex bright on one side and the other is slighter darker and has a shadow as this show that there are multiple tones within this photo instead of it just being all one tone. However this photo is slightly grainy because of the iso setting being quite high because of the room that i was in previous, this has then brought down the quality of the photo as it would look a lot better if the iso was slightly lower for this lighting because the background and the left side of his face wouldn't be so grainy. Also the photo isn't quite straight as the background seems to be a bit slanted but that could just be the wall because the house is on a slope so this had affected some of my photos, like the one above with the tv on the wall. So to improve this photo i would lower the iso so that the photo was less grainy and i would try to get the photo straighter.

I chose this photo for my straight photos because this photo reminded me of  a Colie james style of photo one  of the photographers that i had researched for my preparatory shoots. Before i had actually done this shoot i ddi want to try and capture photos like she did and i think that this photo is similar to hers, like the colours of the photo are quite saturated and vibrant and the photo just looks very child centred because everything that in the photo is all alexs, and in a slot of her photos most of the objects that were visible were children's objects. Also n this photo alex sing very bothered by me in the way that he is just watching his iPad and he is just very oblivious to the fact that I'm there, which is how a lot of the children in Colies photos are. The good thing about thus photo is the framing, because alex is in the nearly in the centre of the photo and there objects that are in front of his are out of focus which then puts more focus on him as this photo has a deeper field of focus so everything at the back and middle are in focus but the objects at the front are not. This photo is different t the other photos as most of them just have alex and a few of his toys in it, but this photo was taken in this room, so its then in his space which is more child like and very colourful compared to other rooms, so this photo is more vibrant then other photos and the mood of the photo is happier. However as this photo is just in his room and theres nothing else really going on it does appear more set up rather than natural, which i did comment on Colies work for looking more set up than some of the other photographers that i had researched. The downside to this photo is alex is slightly darker because of the shadow from the way that the light is casted in his room, this just makes his tone just all dark around his face and it looks weird because of the articial lighting in his room, but if the lighting was natural from the window then he would look more normal. To improve this photo i would re-take it with natural light instead of artificial light, however because of the artificial lighting i think its made the toys more vibrant in their colour compared to if it was naturally lit.

For this photo i wasn't too sure whether to include it in my straight images, however i have used it because i like the angle of the photo as its different to most of my other photos as they are normally at eye level looking at alex or at his level, but this photo is looking down on him. I had tried to get a good photo from this angle quite a lot but most of them didn't really turn out good and they would be shaky because of the position that my hand would have to be in. However for this photo luckily Alex was kneeling down on the floor so this allowed me to take the photo easily without shaking. Also this photo is different to the other straight images as alex is either sitting or laying down so it was easy to take the photo of him because he wouldn't of been moving a lot, but in this photo he's trying to build blocks so he was moving which had made his hand blurred because my shutter speed allowed me to capture his movement because the shutter speed wasn't too fast. The good thing about this photo is all of Alex is actually in the frame of the photo and this photo does show mess that he can make whereas some of the other photos the surrounding are quite clear, I also like the colours of the bricks as as agian they convey the message of happiness connected to children and their toys being very colourful and bright. The downside tho this photo is it is slightly grainy because of the iso being a bit too high for how bright the room is, as because i was tracking photos in a darker room and i had no time to change the setting. So to improve this photo i would just adjust the iso setting to a lower iso, and i would try and get the brick box all in the frame.

Even though this photo is slightly grainy because of the iso and the background colours of the leafs are unnatural and doesn't show their true colour, i still choose to have this photo in my straight photos because  i like the framing of the photo as it has all of Alex in it and just a little boarded above and below him, and  the space that behind him is good because its like the rule of thirds as the last two thirds of the photo actually have him in it. I find its different to the majority of my photos, firstly because its outside, and most of my photos are inside, but because its a different angle as its really Alex's eyesight level, which i achieved by kneeling down. I had to wait of him to come so i could take this photo, and as i did do this photo in quite a rush as Alex is walking i just think that the photo came out quite good considering that it was  a rush and it was hard to try and get this photo as i only had one chance because Alex was getting very frustrated. However because of the iso setting it has brought down the photo a lot bacsue of the darkness and alex and the background of the bushes are very dark and overly saturated in their colour. However i still do like how alex contrasts against the background, whereas most of my photos have quite a lot in the background and its not just one steady background like this. To improve this photo i would change the iso setting so that the colours of the photo are more natural and its not so overly saturated and the lighting isn't so dark and dull.

This is the last photo of my straight images, for this photo i wasn't too sure wether to have it in my straight images because even thought i really like how the photo is really focused on the slippers because it has a very shallow depth of field, which i did do on purpose, i just don't like how the bed side cabinet is visible, i think it really ruins the photo because for me it draws a lot of the attention away from Alex and the slippers and in general it just really bring the photo down. However saying that i still like the angle of the photo and how its looking at alex, as to do this photo i just layer the camera on the edge of the bed, which gave me the steadiness which is why theres no blur in it, and it allowed me to really figure out what i actually wanted in focus. Though i would have preferred it if i had taken it slightly to the left so that all of Alex's body was in it and his foot wasn't cropped out and he would've have been more central which would have allowed me to crop more of the bedside cabinet out.  However i still think that the outcome of the photo is good because in this photo it shows the restful side to alex whereas in most of the other photos he's just playing, and the as the slippers are in most focus even though Alex is the main subject in the photo, it is still similar to some of the photos in my preparatory shoot that were just of Alex's toys, so this then links in with those photos, as i didn't really have much time to just set up his toys so i thought if i incorporated his toys with him then this would represent that. The downside tho this photo is the framing of it as if i was more zoomed out and had over to the left Alex would then be central, also if i had let Alex be more in focus, so i would still have a shallow depth of field but i would move the slippers closer to him so it still got the same type of effect, or i would move the slippers further away from him so that it was only them that were really in focus. So to improve this photo i would just re take it to improve the framing and i would fix the bed sheets so that they were just flat.

First shoot-computer experiments

I did this edit by using polar coordinates, i got the idea by my component one. I did this because as Alex was on the bed i would that it would then look like this was his dream, because dinosaurs are his favourite and obviously theres the dinosaur slippers in front, so its as if he's dreaming about them as its all twirled together. I was going to change the hue and saturation but i felt like it took away from the dream meaning and some colours mad Alex less visible

For this edit firstly i had used the polar coordinates just like the above edit, as i wanted to compare both to see which was better. But i ended up using the shear tool, which i then changed to make Alex's feet in front of him and i dragged back his back a bit. But i didn't drag it too much as it looked too much. After i adjusted the levels slightly then i changed the hue and saturation as it looked a bit too plain but the colour has added more effect and it looked more experimental and different.

First shoot-Work record

Pre-shoot planning-
 For my first exam shoot i am planning to conduct a shoot on my brother who has been the main model for the majority of my preparatory shoots. I thought that  having him as the subject of my first shoot would be the most revenant to my previous shoot. This shoot would take place on the 24th april around 3pm in my house and around the area of my house. For example i would go to the local park as i would like to try and have multiple locations not just my house, this would the allow me to take a wider variation of photos of my brother as he would be able to cary more of his everyday activities in and outside of my house. Also in this shoot i would like to try and improve some of the photos that could've have been better on my preparatory shoot of Alex. And i would to try and be a bit more experimental with my angles, for example i prefer angles from below, so i would be looking up to my brother and i would capture some activities that he carries out that i didn't capture before. With this shoot i would like to try and capture Alex in the style of Colie james, so where everything is almost perfect and Alex would just be completely relaxed with me taking photos of him. Instead of some of the other photographers who do capture the down moments, but i just want this shoot to capture the good, happy and playful side of my brother. I would also take the photos in quite bright lighting so that if the background is colourful it looks bright and so the colours are saturated, as i associate children with happiness and brightness, so then that meaning would be reflected in the photographs. Within this shoot too, like my preparatory shoot on Alex i would take some photos of his toys to us as breakers between the rest of the photos that he is the subject of

.Evaluation of shoot-
For my first shoot, i spent a total of 2 hours and 15 minuets taking photos. For this 2 hours and 15 minuets i spent the whole time following my brother whilst he was doing his activities, which were mostly playing and sometimes eating and drinking. For this shoot i did want to capture this side of him, so playful and happy however when i mum did come home from work alex did change his mood and he started crying so i did capture some photos of him in distress, but I'm not using them as the whole point of this shoot was for him to show his happy side. At some points during the shoot Alex did stop playing and he just sat there so i had to try and engage him with toys whilst trying to take the photos which was a bit difficult, and he just kept on playing with the same toys, but i wanted to show him doing a variety if activities. Whilst i was moving around the house, i did find it hard to keep changing the settings of my camera according to the different lighting in the house, i tried to keep most of the lighting natural as that was the easiest to achieve the best photos, as i dint have to dramatically change the aperture, also as alex plays quite fast i had to always change my shutter speed, but i mostly used the p setting as that used the best aperture and shutter speed. Towards the end of the shoot it started to get a bit darker as it around 6/7 so i kept on changing my aperture but nothing was going right, so i started raising the iso which then made a lot of my photos appear grainy, which has then spoilt a lot of the photos which could've been better. However overall i think that the shoot went well as i got a variety of different activities Alex was doing, but i would go back again and try and capture the same photos as the ones that towards the end of hr shoot that were very grainy and slightly dark. During the shoot i did have ten minuet breaks when Alex wasn't really doing anything and when he was being un corporative because he does get annoyed when i do take photos of him, so the shoot wasn't a consistent 2 hours and 15 minuets.

Photos that went well

I really like this photo because of how it’s all natural because of all the mess in the photo, so it really conveys the everyday life aspect, and how it’s similar to photos of him in the preparatory shoots watching his iPad, as this shows that it really is a day to day activity. The framing of the photo is okay, as the right amount of Alex is visible but I would crop the window sill out because you can’t see the whole sill and it joins in half way of the photo, but because it’s so close to Alex’s head not all of it would go. The lighting in the photo is good too, but I didn’t consider this photo for a straight image because of the really light areas that were from water stains on my lens which I hadn’t realised before this photo, so I had to clean it afterwards and I was fine. However, this photo would be a lot better if the lens was clean as there wouldn’t be those areas on the photo.

I wanted this photo to be in my straight images too but I don’t think that the execution of the photo was good enough for a straight image as my mum is slightly blurry because she was moving, making the area around her blurry too. Also, the framing of the photo is off, as it would look better if my mums hand under Alex wasn’t visible and if they were in the middle so that the background is equally distributed around them. However, saying that, this photo is still good in terms of what it captures, as its showing the love of a mother and her child, as opposed to Alex playing and they are both in good focus but the far background isn’t as the photo has a shallow depth of field. And the lighting in the photo is at a good level, nothing over exposed or too dark or grainy.

This is the third photo on my work record, I didn’t put this photo in my straight images because even thought I like the idea of the photo and I think the actual outcome of the photo is good, in terms of the lighting and focus as it had a bit of a shallow depth of field so the background is a bit out of focus which then adds to the importance of the subject of the photo being Alex and so shows a lot of the detail and his hair and face, also it had motion blur because of his hand and the cup. However, I think that the photo would look better if I had zoomed out slightly so that all of his head was in the framing and I think that my mums shoulder looks a bit odd in the photo, so I could’ve tried to not get the photo of just capture more of her body.

For this photo, I used different setting to the other photos as I would just normally use shutter speed priority or Manuel, but for this photo I used P but as I have never used that setting before I didn’t quite know what it would do, but I found out that it maximises the lighting to its best for the photo. So, in this photo I found that the lighting is really good, especially with Alex as it shows a lot of the shadows in highlights like his face, even though in his room its artificial. The photo also has a mid-depth of field so even though Alex is more in the middle of the photo he’s still in focus and behind him isn’t. However, this photo isn’t a straight image as he slightly blurry on his bottom half because my mum as pulling him. Also the context of this photo is different to the majority as in this he’s in distress as opposed to being happy, as he’s having he’s nappy changed but he doesn’t like it.

Photos that need improving

The outcome of this photo isn’t quite how I wanted it to be, as the amount of light in the photo isn’t perfect some areas are too dark, like my brother’s hand, and the clouds are slightly over exposed. Also, even thought the angle of the photo is good, you can see what he’s looking at and still his face, the fact that the curtain behind him is visible annoys me and I couldn’t really crop it properly as it’s too close to Alex. However, I still think that this photo is good but to improve it the f-stop just needs a small amount of adjusting and the curtain needs to be cropped out.

This photo was quite hard to capture but I still wanted it to be seen as I think that the idea of the photo is good, as it shows Alex being independent and doing something rather than playing. I had to set this photo up by asking Alex to put his cup in the sink but he kept on just throwing the photo in the sink and he wasn’t waiting for me so I had to take the photo quickly which is why there’s a bit of blur and I think that the photo is slightly grainy because of the iso again, as I was in the sitting room previously which is a lot darker than the kitchen and as I had to rush I had no time to change the settings. So to improve this photo I would first adjust the settings to what I needed and just ask Alex to do it again.

This photo also has bad lighting a some of the areas are darker than their true lighting, like the centre of the photo where the plant is and my mums hand. This would have just been caused by the aperture of the photo rather than the iso as the photo isn’t grainy in anyway just too dark making some of the photo slightly yellow. And because Alex was moving as he was annoyed at me taking photos its cause some of his body to blur but my mum is in good focus accept from her arm that was moving too. However I still think that idea and what’s actually happening in the photo is good and different to the majority of photos, as it has my mother in it, and I just like how she’s happy but Alex is frustrated.

Further improvements of the shoot-

To furrther improve this shoot, I would try and do the shoot at an earlier time so that I wouldn't have to change around the camera settings too much, in terms of the apature, shutter speed or ISO, because if I had done it earlier then the change in light wouldn't of been so durastuc towards the end. Which would then end up in not having any grain in photos as I wouldn't of had to rush and just change the ISO. I would also take photos of Alex outside more, as most of the shoot was completed inside my house, and only around 20 minutes was outside but I didn't really get any good photos because of the grain in the photos.