In terms of the success of the first photoshoot, I think it was really successful for my first try and also contributed heavily towards my final piece. In this particular shoot I went into Sheffield Town Centre to various locations, to take the photographs which I had planned exactly in my recce. I took my model "Maddie Fearn" along with me to participate in the photoshoot, I wanted to show the struggle between nature and civilisation; Sheffield Town Centre was a perfect place to propose this idea. In terms of how I instructed my model to use the space, it was spontaneous yet successful, the ideas came to me at the time and instructed my model on how to react at the time; usually it would be where to stand, what facial expression to show, positioning of the body or how to connect with certain important aspects of the photograph.
In terms of getting permission, I got my model to sign a consent form which meant I could take photographs of her, I didn't need any other permissions as I was shooting in a public place therefore none of the places I photographed were privately owned. In terms of the timings in the shoot, it mainly all went to plan, all the shutter speeds were the correct amount for the specific situations letting enough light in. I took the photographs in single photographs instead of continuous so I could concentrate on the specific photographs and take time between each shot. To control the composition of some of the shots, I had to adjust the angles and zoom of the camera, so I could encase what I wanted perfectly; sometimes it didn't go to plan exactly and I had to take the same photograph at slightly different angles or a different length away. Sometimes to improve the composition of the photograph I would encase the photograph in a border of buildings and walls to make the focal point more obvious. I didn't use macro for any of the photographs because I need the model in the shot and it would have forced me to focus on the model specifically or the background only.
In terms of the equipment I have used in the shoot; I used the camera, tripod, a spare battery and SD Card, I didn't use that much equipment, I only used what I thought was necessary. In terms of the props I used in the photoshoot; I bought a red rose while in town and used it to combine the two aspects of portrait and landscape photography. The red rose was very effective at communicating the meaning and narrative of my photography, it was able to further the communication of the fight between nature and civilisation, the model can be seen protecting and nurturing the rose throughout the photoshoot.
I feel as though even this was my first photoshoot I was successfully able to control the camera settings quite well, I sorted all the settings out before the shoot; the aperture, shutter speed and shooting speed as most of my shots were took in roughly the same location and required the same settings as to achieve the same effects. The only thing in terms of settings I did change was the focal length of each photography and the zoom, as I had to do this to get the right angles and bordering.
In terms of how I controlled lighting, I was fortunate enough not to have any problems in terms of shadowing or reflections, this only occurred in a few of my photographs which I have discarded from the final pieces. The shadows of some of the photographs actually helped to show more depth and contrast in the piece, so some of the photographs with shadows are actually some of the most successful photographs from the shoot. However the photographs I took with reflections while could create an added visual interest did in fact make the photograph look unprofessional therefore I tried to steer away from using reflections in my photography.
I was able to control depth of field quite well in my photoshoot, for most of the shoot I had to have the whole photography in focus and therefore had a wide depth of field, including the model and the landscape. But in some specific photographs where I wanted to focus on the model rather than the background I used a shallow depth of field. I feel this was effective at showing the focal point/ centre of interest of the photographs and helps to further the meaning and narrative of the piece. I didn't use any camera filters such as sepia or monochrome.
In terms of photographic elements, I tried to use a wide variety of them to add visual interest to each piece and to make the focal point more prominent. I used; composition, centre of interest, view point, framing, leading lines, textures and narrative in this photoshoot. I feel as though the photographic element narrative was used effectively in nearly every photograph showing a meaningful narrative throughout. The leading lines on the peace gardens photographs were very effective, using the encasing walls as leading lines helped to show the centre of interest being the model in the background. Also framing was a successful photographic element in terms of this shoot, when shooting in the telephone box the encasing walls of the box helped to frame the photograph.
No drastic contingency plans were needed, although some of the photographs I planned on taking weren't a very strong idea so I changed a couple of what the final photographs would be taken and what they would contain. But other than changing a couple of the photograph locations and a props there was no need for contingency plans to be put into place. In terms of the problem I had with the props, at the start of the shoot I was intending to use a balloon to further the meaning and narrative of the photography, but then changed my mind and used a rose as it was much more striking and visually interesting.
The plans I have now for editing the photographs are to combine the successful photographs with the other successful photographs from the second shoot using double exposure, this will help to further the meaning and narrative of the photography. Also if some of the photographs aren't bright enough or vice versa I can change this through altering the hue and saturation of specific photographs. I feel as though the shoot as a whole went really well in terms of capturing the meaning and narrative, grasping the camera settings and taking some photographs which can be used as final pieces.
The shoot would have been even more successful if it wasn't for the weather, it was extremely cold and windy making it very difficult to photograph as my hands were cold and made it so I had to rush taking the photographs because the model was getting cold. In the future it would be helpful to look up the weather/ temperature in advance and make sure we shoot on a warm day.
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