Assignment One - Workflow

Before beginning this assignment I carefully considered my topic to shoot and how it would fit in with the assignment criteria. I felt that my main options were to do street photography, use the images I had shot of Melford Hall or use my place of work. I decided that I wanted to explore street photography a bit more without the stress of shooting for an assignment hanging over my head. I tend to go into assignment mode and stop shooting as naturally. I also did not have the time to fit in travelling very far so I would need a subject closer to home that was more easily accessible. I then moved on to my Melford Hall option, but felt that this fit the previous exercise about editing much better. This then left me with the idea of using my place of work, which obviously had the added bonus that I am there most of the time so could easily fit in shooting, plus I feel comfortable in the surroundings.

I currently work for a veterinary referral centre which is in the grounds of Lanwades Park. In the centre of the grounds is a lovely house which has been used for weddings. The hall was completed in 1907 and was built by Mr. J.W. Larnach. He paid for it using the £5,450 winnings which had come from a £500 bet he had placed when his horse Jeddah won the 1898 Derby. It is built in the style of 16th Century properties with prominent red brick chimneys. King Edward VII actually stayed at Lanwades Hall when he attended the Newmarket Races.

Planning the shoot.

I had decided that I was going to go back to work at a weekend when the site would be much quieter so I would hopefully not get disturbed. I was hoping for a relatively nice day rather than wet weather which was more than likely at this time of year. I know the site well having worked there for just over seven years so had potential shots in mind as well as intending to walk around quite freely.

I thought about the equipment I would need to take with me. I currently only have the one lens at the moment, a 18-105mm, so that was a rather easy decision but I feel that this will be more than sufficient for what I will be shooting and is a good all round lens. I decided not to take my tripod with me, whilst it is light it only collapses up to a point and as the site is very large I did not want to carry it around for miles. I also did not feel that I would need it for the images I intended to take.

Before setting out I reset my camera settings, wiped my memory card so that I would not run out of space, made sure my camera lens was clean, checked the memory space on my laptop so that I would have room to transfer the images over and charged the cameras battery.

The Shoot.

The shoot did go as planned to a certain extent. I ended up making two trips over two consecutive weekends. The first weekend that I went the weather was quite bright but it was absolutely freezing cold. I really needed gloves on but I then could not alter the camera settings and had to keep taking them off. I had not picked the best time of day to go; the sun was high which meant that whichever angle I took it was in the wrong place making images appear over exposed when I was really looking for a richer colour. Altering the cameras exposure did little to help. I felt like the day had become a bit of a disaster so I returned home with around 20 images. I then set out the following weekend having really thought about what I was trying to achieve. I decided to head out earlier in the day as I felt the light would suit the topic much better. I also had the weather to contend with, we had had torrential rain all night and when I got up that morning the idea of working on the assignment did not seem promising. Luckily there was a break in the rain and as my kit was all ready, I headed out.  Shooting went much better than the previous week and I ended up with a total of 68 images before the weather became unbearable again. I was very happy with some of the images I produced, with everything still wet from the rain the colours were much glossier and had a better quality.

Downloading the images.

I downloaded all of the images onto my laptop in the pictures folder and then viewed them using Adobe Photoshop CS5. I know many people prefer to label using just the date but that means nothing to me. I personally prefer labelling the reason for shooting/occasion and include the date if necessary. So to find these images I search:

Pictures> Digital Photographic Process> DPP Assignment1.

I tried various ideas for labelling on the Art of Photography course I studied previously but I find this much easier when looking for certain images on my laptop.

Editing.

Technical Edit.

I started out with 68 images and viewed them all. I edited out any shots that were technically unusable such as those that were blurring and out of focus or the exposure may be incorrect. I then delete these images as they cannot be used for anything. I was quite surprised when I only deleted four images.

The Selects.

I was now left with 64 images. This time I went through all of the images again and edited out shots that I had several of. These images showed exactly the same scene but with a slight technical difference such as the exposure being altered for each one. I also removed images from my choices that I felt the composition really did not work.

First Selects.

From the previous edit I was left with 42 photos. I went through these images again bearing in mind that I could only select up to 12 images to submit. I was quite harsh and edited down to 20 photos which I then put into a separate folder so that when it came to review them I was only evaluating the images I felt strongly about rather than all of the shots I had taken.

Group and Review.

I leave the images a couple of days before reviewing my choices. I wanted to be more critical of them and feel that doing this helps. In the past I have been out on a shoot, come home and carried out the editing process all on the same day and then regretted my decisions. I wanted to almost be viewing the photos as an outsider with no link to the images. When I did review the shots I was happy with the choices I had made.

A Final Choice.

I went through my final 20 and decided that I needed to be harsh with myself and only submit the images that I really liked. I had put my first selects in a separate folder so they were easier to review again and edit down. In the end I found that I had seven images that I particularly liked. To begin with I felt conscious that the brief states 6-12 and that I should be including more photos but I do not think that you should start adding photos for the sake of it just to meet a quota. I very happy with the seven I have picked and feel that they give a broad but accurate view of the site I was shooting.

Post Processing.

Using Adobe Photoshop CS5 I then checking the exposure and making any minor adjustments such as cropping to improve composition. I was to submit the images as prints so as my printer will still not connect to my laptop I needed to burn the photos onto disc and have them printed off. This was actually a new experience for me as I am rather ashamed to say that I have never printed off any of my images! For the art of photography all of my work was submitted digitally. Looking back I should really have printed some of the photos out, even just for myself. I ended up using a self service kiosk to print my photos out for this assignment. I have to say that was a bit of an experience for myself and I am not sure that boots is really the ideal place to develop really good quality prints. I did not realise in some respects just how different the photos look printed out. On screen they all look very clear but looking at the prints in front of me you can pick out several flaws that I had not previously noticed. This assignment is really turning out to be a learning experience for me which I am really glad about.

1.      The Hall. 1/80 f5.6 ISO 400 35mm -0.7 WB Cloudy. I wanted to shoot an image of the Hall which showed its most distinctive features such as chimneys. The idea behind this shot was to try and create a picture frame effect around the scene using the bushes. I think that the shot came out quite well but it is let down by the gloomy uninteresting sky.

2.      The Wishing Well. 1/500 f5.6 ISO 500 105mm WB AUTO. This photo looked clear on the laptop but has a blurry finish on the print. I was very disappointed when I first saw this but after thinking about it, it reminded me of how things appear in a dream; there is something a bit secret garden about it. I actually think it is quite fitting as it is of the wishing well. I am sure other people will look at this shot and “out of focus, terrible shot” and part of me does agree. But, I love how the light has shone through the trees creating a dappled effect and using light is something I am trying to improve on which is why I have still included the shot.

3.      Fuchsia.  1/80 f8 ISO 400 75mm WB Cloudy. I did not just want to send endless images of the Hall but wanted to show the site as a whole. There are some lovely gardens and plants which are why I think the site is popular not just with dog walkers, but now also as it has become a wedding venue. This was taken on my second visit to shoot and the bright pink really caught my eye. On closer inspection you could see the raindrops on the ends of the flower. I really like this photo and think that the print also came out well. I love the glossy glass like appearance of the raindrops and how you can even see the pollen. If I had to pick fault I would say that maybe I should of adjusted the aperture slightly so that the background was not quite as blurred as I have made it.

4.      Tree lined pathway. 1/80 f5.6 ISO 400 75mm WB Cloudy. I chose this shot because from this vantage point you cannot see where the path leads. I like how the steps lead your eye up the frame and then the row of tree encourage your gaze along the pathway.

5.      Statue. 1/80 f5.6 ISO 400 40mm -0.7 WB Cloudy. Post production I have cropped this image slightly. Again with this image I wanted the trees to frame the bronze statue of the horse, dog and cat......the main animals that are treated here and that appear on the logo. There are many photographs of this statue and I wanted to try and produce an image of it that I had not seen before.

6.      Ponies. 1/80 f5.6 ISO 400 70mm -0.7 WB Cloudy. There are many ponies that live on the acres of land on the site. I took many photos of them but I was looking for something a bit more interesting than a pony’s portrait. Unfortunately I turned up when they were all having breakfast so nothing was more important to them than eating. When they did notice I was there they all wandered up to the fence and stood in a row with their heads through the fence. Whilst this did look quite comical it was not the natural image I was hoping for. Eventually they started to lose interest in me and began behaving naturally which is when I managed to take this photo. I was hoping that the print would come out better than it has because on my screen it looks nice and clear, I need to work out why this happens. Maybe the original image is not as clear as I think. I probably should have used a faster shutter speed considering my subject was unlikely to stay still for very long. The colours of the ponies got me thinking about contrast so whilst in Photoshop I decided to really up the contrast and convert the image to black and white. I think this suits it really well. I do not like converting to black and white for no reason, and even though I love black and white photography, I rarely do it. Here I feel that there is a reason behind doing so, rather than just trying to appear artistic, which I think is often the case.

7. Trees. 1/80 f5.3 ISO 40075mm WB Cloudy. The whole site is full of beautiful trees and now that the weather has turned, and the leaves have changed from green and are starting to drop, I was struck by how much more interesting they look. My eye was immediately drawn to the gold of the leaves and how they contrasted with the green of the plant at the base of the tree trunk, as well as the green of the bushes in the background. I really love this shot even though it shows autumn in a stereotypical way.

Conclusion.

I have found this assignment particularly beneficial, being able to consider my workflow and analyse how I can tailor it to suit my needs. My workflow may differ from that of a professional photographer in the sense that I do not take as many images as a professional would. I think that a professional would also have a different editing process and I think that my method probably needs some work so that I am more efficient. As time has gone on I have started to take many more images than I would, tending in the past to only shoot images I knew I needed and generally doing away with editing. I have found this section of the course so interesting in particular developing my personal workflow.

In addition to working on this assignment I have also begun reading one of the set texts Mastering Digital Photography, Michael Freeman. I have really got in to it as I am trying to focus on lighting and my use of it at the moment. It has given me many ideas that I cannot wait to try out.

Reflection

Reading the assignment criteria I have tried to review how well I think that I have done.

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills – I feel that I have a fair grasp of techniques but I am obviously learning all of the time. I think that my observational skills are good and I always try to produce interesting compositions.

Quality of Outcome – I do try to apply the knowledge I have gained while studying with the OCA. I think that my work is presented neatly and coherently.

Demonstration of Creativity – I do try to be creative but I feel that there is room for improvement here and I need to try and use my imagination more.

Context – I think that I am good at reflecting on my work and can see areas I need to improve on. I carry out my own research, visit galleries, work on my own projects and undertake further reading.