Second shoot-computer experiments

I choose this photo to edit as it was colourful so i wanted to do an edit that was base around colour, so like do a colour splash. Instead i go an idea to pixilate it, so i deiced to use the crystallise tool on the whole photo, but it looked a bit odd. So i quick selected the toy as i didn't really have enough time to lasso it or precisely selected it. After i had deleted it i then went back to the crystallise tool and only deleted a cell size of 30 as i wanted the falls to still be visible but i wanted it to still bland in. And lastly i changed the colour by just using hue and saturation, as i thought it would add more effect to the edit if it was differently coloured.

For this edit i didn't really know what i wanted to do, so first i browsed the filter gallery then i was going to change the threshold, but they all looked odd or didn't suite it. So i decided to extrude it, this than changed the pixels in the photo by making them into blocks, i changed it so that the block size was 60 pixels and the depth was 15 pixels. After this i changed the photo to black and white with an increase in red as this then let Alex's face be a bit more visible.

Second shoot-contact sheet

These are my final 24 photos that i have chosen from around 300 photos, that i took within the 1 hour for this shoot.

Second shoot-straight images

I included this photo in my straight images because of the depth of field in it. I got this idea from my portrait work and when i saw Alex like this i knew that i could try and get a good photo with a very shallow depth of field so that Alex is in really good focus and the rest of the photo lis out of focus so that it shows all the detail in Alex and the impotence of him to be in focus. Also the lighting of this photo is really good as i used shutter speed priority so i had the best shutter speed it. I took this photo from quite low down as Alex was standing so it was difficult for me to keep the camera straight. This photo is different to most photos as this one is a portrait and i only did around two of these as it was hard to get Alex still whilst doing his normal everyday activities.

This photo was the second portrait that i did. For this photo we was going outside to feed the birds but it started raining shortly after this. but Alex was already outside, so i thought that the background was god to get a good depth of field to show Alex in good detail as i was able to get good focus on him but get the wall and fence slightly our of focus. I think that the light and shadows in this photo is really good because as the sun was behind us but it was an overcast day this allowed the top of Alexs hood to look really bright but then Alexs body darker than his top. Even though theres the bottle in the photo, i still think it makes the photo more relevant to his everyday activities as he would drink water, but if the bottle wasn't visible then the photo wouldn't be so relevant as he's knot actually doing anything in the photo.

I chose this photo fro my straight images as Alex is really in focus as this photo has a shallow depth of field as behind his leg everything is slightly out of focus. The detail in his hair and coat are really visible and i think that the motion blur on his shoe is good compared to other photos that i have of motion blur, because it hasn't really affect much more of the photo than his hand and leg. Also the angle of where I'm standing is good because it has the majority of Alex in it and a short gap at the start of the photo to where he is and doesn't show anything else than him, the sofa then the background. Even though i think this photo is good I'm annoyed at the over exposure of the background where the porch is, as i had adjusted met aperture but because the porch is a lot brighter than the sitting room, i hadn't adjusted it correctly for that. 

I chose to include this photo in my straight images because of the depth of field of the photo, as its shallow so Alex who sis the main subject of the photo is in focus and so is his toy, and the background is blurred out. The lighting of this photo is also quite good because the natural light is coming through from the side and as I'm almost facing aways from from it it has made shadows on Alex  and the toy as some of the rails have more light and white glare on them. Even though i like the angle of this photo, as its lower than the other photos, the window is over exposed because the sun had just shining in and so i dint have enough time to change the aperture as Alex was getting restless whilst playing with this toy. So to improve this photo i would either take it from a different position but the same angle so that the window isn't visible, so then there would be no over exposure.

This is my last straight image, i decided to include this photo in my straight images because
i fought that the lighting was equal and level though out the photo, which is a problem that had in some photos because of the placement of windows, but because of the blind the photo isn't over exposed. Also i like the general framing of the photo, so the place meant of Alex and how only half of the toy shelf id visible as its the most important bit. This photos depth of field is just central as everything is in focus but the back blinds are slightly out of focus. I wanted to take this photo because it shows Alex actually picking his toys rather than just playing with them and this photo is also quite colourful which then conveys the youthfulness and  happiness associated with toys and how colour attracts young children. To improve this photo i would just get a bit more of Ales body in so that all of his arm is visible.

Second shoot-work record

Plan for second shoot-

For this shoot i would prefer to have Alex just by himself so that i can just focus on photos of him in his natural play like nature without the interference of other people being around him, as he gets very distracted around people, especially my mum, so i think it would be better for him to be by him self. If I do get him to be by himself i think that in this shoot i would be able to just pot ray how he actually is when he is when he's with me, as he is more settled. For this shoot i plan to just shoot inside my house, as its easier if its just me and him, and that way i can plan what to actually do with him as i know what toys he has, as opposed to if we went outside as he would just want to stay at the park, which would then make my photos be quite repetitive. Im aiming to do this shoot for around 1 hour, so that it leaves me with 6 hours to write up on bothy shoot. During this hour i would just capture him playing, i would probably end up with a small amount of photos because of the time, abut i would probably be able to capture a range of activities.

Evaluation of shoot-

This shoot i ended up taking around 1 hour and 5 minutes to do this shoot. I took around 300+ photos using my Nikon 3100 and either shutter priority or manual mode and sometimes P. Even though i took around 300 photos i ended up selecting only 24 of them as a lot of them were of the same thing but i had to take quite a lot of photos of it to try and get a good photo, like Alex jumping on the trampoline. I carried out the shoot from 5-6  so that i could get good natural lighting and so that the lighting was similar all around the house so that i wouldn't  have the problem i did in my first shoot of having to change the iso and aperture quite a lot even though i didn't have time to. I mostly took photos of Alex playing around the house, as it ended up hailing so we couldn't go outside, as i did plan to go and feed the birds with him, so that i could have variation in my photos. Overall i think that the shoot went well, but i was a bit pushed for time, as i wanted to leave enough for the written work, so i was always checking the time and making sure that Alex always doing something.

Some good photos-

I dint think that this photo was good for my straight images as because of Alex's hand moving that caused motion blur, which i think is a good effect in this photo, but its made Alex's body blurry too. However this photo is very saturated in colour, which then connects to happiness as they're all bright colours. The front of this photo is more in focus compared to Alex but he's still in focus, i did want this effect purposefully as even though the shoots on Alex i thought that the photo looks better like this. The framing of the photo is good as it shows all of the toy with extra space  that shows the door and the angle of the camera, as i wasn't holding it at a straight angle it was tilted slightly. To improve this photo i would just try not to get the blurriness of the hand.

I really like this photo because its different to most of the other photos, as it shows the actual toy, along with Alexs hand, i wanted this photo to just focus on the toys so i ha to take this photo from quite a low level so that i could really zoom and properly focus on them. The lighting in this photo is really good as i did have time to change the aperture and shutter speed. The depth of field for this photo is quite shallow as the cars behind his hand is blurred out and around the sides it blurs out. This then really focuses on Alexs hand. However i didn't put this photo in my straight images because i dint really like how there was too few cars, as in other photos that i had taken it had more cars in it, but by the time i had taken this one Alex had moved the cars to the side so they weren't so visible. So to improve this photo i would take it exactly like this but i would just have more cars in the centre of the photo.

I find this photo too zoomed out as it has a lot actually going on in the photo, in tens of toys as theres toys all over the place, but i did this so that i could show how messy Alex could make the house just with his toys. However i would have preferred it if the two toys at the front were not there so that i could lead up to Alex and the mess. As Alex is in the first third of the frame its the rule of thirds because he's the main subject in the photo, however i haven't really show the rule of thirds properly as it would be sown more if the sheep wasn't there because its quite similar in size to Alex. So to improve this photo i would re take it, but move the front cars and the sheep so that the rule of thirds is more visible in the photo.

Photos that need improving-

The outcome of this photo wasn't as i expected as the lighting of this photo is far too dark because of the room that i was in prior to this was brighter compared to the kitchen so i hadn't had enough time to adjust my settings as i had them on manual, but i wanted to capture Alex running towards me. Even though this photo is obviously too dark i still think that the shadows are good in the centre of the photo which adds contest to the photo. This photo would look better if Alex's face and body was visible, so i would just try and get him to run again but make sure that my settings are adjusted properly

This photo is just too over exposed in which has made the top half of the photo paper really white, as my capture would have been to open so its let in too much light. I choose this photo because even though its over exposed the focus of Alex and the trampoline is good, and i like the framing too which shows the right amount of the trampoline and Alex is central, showing that Alex is the main subject of the photo. This photo would be better if i either edited the photo so that the entire section on top was pure white which would then bring out Alex more. Or i would just re-take it, adjusting my aperture.

Further improvements of shoot-

To improve this shoot i would probably of waited until the hail had passes a bit more so that i could have capture more photos of Alex outside at the park or had actually feed the birds. I would also have set up a few more activities for him do inside so that i would be able to experiment a bit more with the angles of the photos. And i wouldn't have spent do much time photographing the same thing, as a lot of the time the first photo was the best this would then give me more time to photograph a variety of things.

Final pieces