Task 4: Evalutation of Photographic Work

For this task I produced a magazine cover; ‘Creative Only Monthly’. My magazine cover showed an image that I had photo-shopped. The image was a picture of a large blue paint swirl with fish and a shark swimming through it. I think my cover image would catch a lot of peoples eyes if it were on a shelf, especially my target audience.

The target audience of my magazine would be people in their Teens who are very interested in the arts and have a thirst for imagination and creativity. My magazine appeals to both genders and although is aimed at teenagers, there is no real age limit for my magazine.

I am pleased with the work I have produced throughout this module. I feel that all the tasks I have completed and published are appealing to my target audience, which are young teenage people looking for inspiration and information. The information I published for task 2, I feel, is very easy to understand. not only by my target audience, but everyone who reads it. It explains to people what different camera tools are and what they are used for. For example, flash, aperture, shutter speed and tripod.

I am particularly pleased with mt introduction to this module, my essay on photography, I feel that in that piece of work I used correct and appropriate terminology. I think that the images I produced and manipulated were good and unique. My main burst of creativity was in the magazine cover I produced, I had no influence or inspiration for that image, I just created it out of imagination.

I think my finished work is informative, inspired and full-bodied. I think anyone who reads this blog will understand more about photography and how it can be used effectively.

Further familiarization with photoshop. Magazine cover.

Task 3: Images for landscape photography

These are three images I shot and manipulated but I only Photo-Shopped two of the images. I chose to study landscape photography as it holds more personal interest to me than other genres, like sport and portraiture. The second image is a test shot of the path I chose for this task. Because the college is so close to a busy town, I decided to photograph the surrounding urban landscape. All of my photographs were taken from the same place because it seemed a perfect spot to capture the raw urban feel from the car park. The place were I took my photographs was also high up, so this provided an excellent vantage point to capture all of the surrounding urban environment, as shown in my third image.

Before going out into the town to take my photographs I did some research. I already had the idea of  photographing the urban landscape, but I didn’t know exactly where in the town and what I was going to photograph, for example, streets with cars, blocks of buildings, busy high street. During my research I found some inspiring images:

I was particularly inspired by the second image of Boston. It’s a great photograph because the viewer can see everything from the suburbs to the city. This photograph captures everything there is about urban city life, lots of housing and lots of business.

After researching the topic and decided what I was going to I set out into Harlow town with a camera and went to the top of a multi-level car park. I am pleased with the photographs I have taken and think I have Photo-Shopped them well. I think my photographs could be successfully used for advertising, perhaps a magazine cover, especially the third image as that is quite powerful.

Task 2: The functions of equiptment used to aid photography.

Lens: a lens refracts and transmits light. lenses come in a variety of shapes and sizes, which manipulate  the overall outcome of the image. lenses are made in different materials like plastic and glass.

lighting: lighting is one of the most important parts of photography and consists of three main types. Key light, this is the main light for the image and is a hard light source which should be placed on one side of the camera and usually up high. The second type is the fill light, this is a soft source of light and is usually placed on the opposite side of the key light. the fill light is used to balance and define the contrast of the image. the third type is the back light

Tripod: supports the camera, to give you a clearer more stable image. very effective on uneven ground or when getting a difficult shot. Tripods can also stabilize a camera when a person cant. for example taking a picture very low down in some undergrowth.

Flash: the flash on a camera is a vital part of successful photography. The flash is a device used to produce a flash of artificial light (typically 1/1000 to 1/200 of a second) at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. A major purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other uses are capturing quickly moving objects or changing the quality of light. Most flashes nowadays are digital, and use lights to produce a flash. however, older flashes used explosive powder.

Shutter speed: shutter speed is both the aperture diaphragm of a lens and timing of the camera’s shutter curtain. The difference in shutter speed can have a dramatic effect on the appearance of moving objects. for example, a picture taken using a slow shutter speed will make foreground objects clear and the background blurred.

whereas a fast shutter speed captures everything and appears really sharp and fine.

Focus Point and Focal Length: this is the point of which the photograph is focused and, depending on the depth of field, is the clearest. The depth of field or focal length is the rest of the picture surrounding the focal point.

ISO: The letters ISO on your digital camera settings refer to the film speed. Even though these days most cameras are not film at all, but rather digital, the ISO setting still has the same function as older film cameras. ISO determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light. The ISO system is used to measure the sensitivity of digital imaging systems in both digital and film photography.

Aperture:

The main function of a camera lens is to collect light. The aperture of a lens is the diameter of the lens opening and is usually controlled by an iris. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film/ image sensor. In practice, unless you are dealing with a fixed-aperture lens (many simple point-and-shoot cameras have only one fixed aperture), the aperture of a lens is usually expressed as a range of fstops.

the functions of a camera, film and digital. :)

the movement from film to digital photography has brought many advantages with it. however, there are still some preferable qualities with film photography. for example, when using film you can get a very good, precise picture of exactly what you want. Film photography is very good for portrait photographs. Digital photography has the best advantage however, because instead of film, it holds an SD card that holds and stores the image straight onto it as soon as the photograph is taken. this means that a much greater number of photographs can be taken and stored. Also a huge advantage is that most digital cameras have a viewing interface on the back, so you can see the image you’ve taken, and decide if you want to keep it.

Task 1: Photography

Photography is an art which can be used to portray, inform and express many different things. Writers will use photography alongside text in a book or document to help the reader further understand the point of the text. Photography alongside text is most commonly found in newspapers because photography is a very effective tool in making people understand what they are reading.

There are many different fields of photography for example, sport, fashion, landscape and portraiture, advertising. All of these genres are similar on some bases but differ on others for example, sport and fashion both, majority of the time, photograph people. The difference is making the person in the photograph appeal to a target audience.

For a photograph to appeal to the target audience of fashion, the photographer would have to make the person in the photograph look very stylish and put the person on a catwalk, whereas in a sport photograph, the photographer would have to put the model in a sports kit and put the model in a playing field. If a photographer was conducting a photo shoot for the front cover of a gardening magazine, and published a picture of a man and a woman standing hand in hand at the end of a catwalk on the cover, the magazines readership figures would drop because the target audience for the magazine is not interested in fashion.

Some genres of photography have a wider reach than others. For example, sport and fashion photographs can only be used in specific, targeted publications, whereas landscape photography can be used for magazines, newspapers, advertising and publications with a specific audience regarding landscape photography. Portraiture photography has the same advantage as landscape photography, as it can also be used for almost any publication. Another advantage for portraiture photography is that it can be sold and used by any other genre. The photograph could be of anyone, the photographer only needs to work around the genre and context to use a photograph they’ve taken.

Photographers have a very important and powerful job, for some genres of photography the picture, who it’s of, what it’s of, where it’s taken, is crucial in order for it to fulfill its’ purpose. Advertising is the most important aspect of photography when it comes to getting the picture right for where the picture is published, for example these 2 images below are both advertisements but they differ in context:

The first picture has not got a lot of writing on it and the image takes up the whole background of the advertisement. The name of the product it is advertising is in large print at the bottom left-hand corner so that people can see it clearly, but the main focus is on the image. This advert is most effective as a billboard advertisement because it has limited writing and a large picture. This is perfect for billboards at roadsides and other public places because when people are driving they are only going to see the advert for a limited time before they pass it.

The second image has a lot of text which varies in size throughout the advert. The text at the top, stating a free offer of “£15 pounds of play if you join now” is the biggest text on the page, this is is to draw more attention towards the ad. As the reader continues to read the ad the text shrinks to a normal reading size. The ad also contains quotes from three ChatMagBingo.com players, what they think of the site and how much they have one. The main focus of the ad is a large picture of a very happy woman with a box underneath quoting “I won £22,424!” Underneath that is another box, bigger than all the others, with the very happy woman’s quote in it. This advertisement is most effective as a magazine ad because it has a large text, a large picture and is brightly coloured.

Photography is used to aid a readers understanding of a topic they like or a current issue in the news. Photography helps portray emotion and movement in art, and helps sustain the economy by being used as an effective tool in advertising. Photography is one of the most important tools used in modern society.