Assignment 1 feedback.

Its been a while since I have posted anything as I have been ill but I am hopefully nearly back to 100% health.

I received my tutor feedback from the first assignment a few weeks ago and have been giving it a lot of thought. I initially took everything that was pointed out as criticism and I really started to doubt my ability to do this. If I start something I like to be really good at it straight off so felt slightly disheartened by my tutors comments. After speaking to him, and realising I needed to pull myself together, that I don't want to just pass I want to be the best that I can be.

From this I have then decided to take a look at my first set of contrasts, many and few. My tutor was not keen on the fact I had chosen to show the bikes in black and white and suggested I "look at the colour image and see what it tells you, can you isolate a few red bikes in blue bikes or a colourful seat cover in amongst many black seats? Look beyond the obvious pile of bikes and see what you can make of it." So I chose to go back to Cambridge station and re-photograph the image.

This is the first image I took as I wanted to single out the bicycle basket amongst all of the bikes. The image does appear slightly washed out which is another comment my tutor made. I think that this is a camera issue. I am still guilty of photographing with the camera on auto which is an irritating habit I must get out of. I think this is down to confidence with the camera settings but I will not get any better until I start practising more. If I can see where I am going wrong then I can improve.

Looking around further my attention was drawn to this bright green bike amongst some rather dull ones. I am happier with this image as I have hopefully stopped it appearing washed out. I am however disappointed that the moped is in the shot but from whatever angle I stood to take the picture, I could not keep it out of shot.

For my photograph to illustrate few I had heard about a bicycle in Cambridge that is on the wall of a building. I started to think that rather than show just the one bike to represent few, how about using this bike which actually only shows half a bike? After much research I managed to locate roughly the area I thought it would be in, and set out to find it.

I took several pictures and I do like this one but I rejected it as it is quite dull. The bike has been photographed quite centrally in the frame and it does not particularly contrast with its surroundings.

This picture wuld be by photo of choice. While the bike is still the main subject it is now placed slightly left of the centre which makes the overall image appear more interesting. I also like how your eye is then drawn down the lane to the building at the end which has be framed by the glass walkway. I particularly like how the bike also contrasts with the new, modern look of the glass and metal walkway. My tutor had mentioned about looking for secondary contrasts and I hope I have achieved that here.

I also need to give more detail of technical aspects which I really tend to lack in. I think this is because I am not comfortable with anything really technical but if I am to improve I must pay more attention to this side of things and increase my level of understanding. I really must start getting into the habit of making notes when photographing of the shutter speed, aperture, focal length etc that I have used. Is it possible to look back either on the camera or a computer at previous photos taken and review the settings they were taken in? I must try and find this out. I am hoping that by taking all of my tutors comments on board I will have noticably improved by the next assignment.