Final Pieces Evaluation

These are my two sets which make up my final pieces for DIGPIM.


Architecture

1
This is the first from my set of Architecture photos. What i like about this photo is the broad scale of colours and lighting in the photo, which i think help bring out the different layers of the building. I had previously researched into different types of Architecture Photography and a key thing to remember was lighting. I think that i have caught the lighting perfectly on the building, catching its textures. What i dont like about the photo is the composition, if i had taken more time to work the building out, i could have maybe found a better angle to shoot from, but i do like the angle for what i intended for the photograph, its creativeness.

3
This second photo in my set i think stands out the most for a number of reasons. The first is the composition and the style of the photography. I researched into Architecture Photography and loved the idea of using reflections. I am pleased with the photo and i think the level and diverse lighting in the photo compliments its style. I also like the vertical lines of the window panels going across the photo. Something i dont like about this photo is i believe it is a little over exposed in the top left side of the photo, and looks bleeched. If i were to shoot this photo again, i would make sure to control the lighting better.


4
This is one of my favorites from the set. I like this photo as i think that the sky really compliments, and sets the mood of the image. I also love the depth of the photo and the way that the lighting shows off all of the architecture in the church. If i were to take this photograph again i think that i would position myself better. i dont like the composition of the photo in the way that it cuts off some of the floor and doesnt work in thirds very well.


5
This is my least favorite out of the set. I think this is my least favorite as it looks the least professional. I think that the photo is too under exposed, which can work also in a good effect for the photo, to create a mystic mood. I like the way that the water looks due to the long exposure i used for the image. If i were to take this photo again i would want to create some dramatic light somewhere in the photo to lighten the dark scaffolds up. 


7
I really like this photo because of its composition and dramatic lighting. I like that wide angle and the fact that it seems like such a massive open space with only the small shelter in it. This i think is also complimented by the dramatic light which almost seems to illuminate the shelter. I also love the depth of the clouds. If i were to take this photo again i dont think that i would change anything, i am very happy with how this photo came out.


8

This is another of my favorites from the shoot. My favorite thing about this image is the composition and the angle that the structure is shot from. Many photos of the Tower seem to always be the same shot, from side on from a distance. So i wanted to try a different appraoch to the tower and i think that it paid off. I also love the shading of the structure, which i think also shows off its scale. I also think that the small area of blue behind the structure, really adds a certain depth to the photo, and also adds to its creativeness. 

 

9

This is certainly my favorite of the set. I think this is my favorite because before the photo was edited, i did not like the shot i had created, but i took it into photoshop and manipulated the image and now i think it is a stunning piece. I love the symetrics of the image, and the fact that the sky has no detail at all, which is different from my other images. I think that this makes you focus completely on the tower itself. I also love the colours of the image, i turned the saturation down which i think compliments the simplicity of the image. I think that too much colour would have over complicated the image. If i were to shoot this image again there would be nothing that i would do differently as i really enjoyed working in photoshop for this image.

 

11

Although this photowas take earlier on in the unit, i still wanted to add it in as it is possibly my favorite photo i have ever taken. I think this is because of the composition and the focus of the photo. I also love the fact that all of the colours are so smooth, and almost calming. I also like it as it was taking a different approach to Architecture photography for me. 

 

Seaside

2

This is my favorite shot from the Seaside set. I love the fact that the water is so smooth yet the rocks have very high contrasted detail, this i think gives the image a great contrast. I think that the two techniques compliment each other well, creating a visually pleasing, calm photo. I also love the fact that although the photo is very minimalistic, its not a boring image and captures the viewers eye well.

 

6

I like this photo for its colours. I think that as the colours are very nuetral, it gives the photo a calming look. I also like the fact that as the water is so smooth, it almost makes it seems as though the bollards are the only thing in the water, which gives the a calm and relaxed feeling to the shot.

 

10

Although i really like the shot, this is not one of my favorites from the set. Although the effect of the photo is really nice i think it is too monotone. What i really like about the photo is the water and the fact it looks like it is heavily raining down on the rocks, although it still looks very smooth and calm. If i were to approach this shot again i would maybe add another subject in, to give more interest to the shot. Although i still think that this fits my set criteria well and compliments the other shots in the set.

 

12

This is the final photo in the set and also my least favorite. Although i really l like the shot i am unhappy with the way it doesnt really compliment the other shots in its set. All 3 of the other shots have the same style and theme and this seems a bit seperate. Although i dont think it fits the set very well, i love the lighting of the shot. I think that it captures the lighting well in the lighter and darker areas of the photo, bringing a great depth to the photo and its composition.

In full i am very happy with both sets that i have create for this unit. i think that all photos in the sets compliment eachother well and are a clear reflection of the research that i did in advance for the shoots. 

 

Editing Final Architecture Photo 4

This photo i am extremely happy with in terms of how its improved inbetween when i shot the photo, and after editing. I first started off by editing the levels in the raw menu. I then had the idea that i wanted to try to naturally exagerate the churches scale. To do this, i had seen on a youtube video before, to which i have posted on earlier in my blog, i used the distort and warp tools. I pulled the bottom corners out on the photo and i felt it gave the image a great effect. 

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After this was done i felt slightly un happy with the sky and some of the shading in the walls. To correct this i heavily burnt the sky using the burn tool and used the same tool to touch up the walls.

4

Editing Final Architecture Photo 7

This was another of my favorite shots and one that i most enjoyed editing too. Firstly what i had to do with this image was to play about with the raw menu settings. In terms of levels, this image i edited the most as i was unhappy with the lighting that had initially come out in the photo.

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Once i had edited the levels and colours for the image, i went on to use the dodge and burn tools to create some punchier colours in the sky and on the architecture itself. I also felt that i needed to crop the photo to make sure the viewers eye was focused on the lighting and detail of the architecture.

8

Editing Architecture Final Photo 2

This was one of my favorite shots and the one that i looked forward to editing the most. I knew that there was a lot of manipulation i had to do to this photo to get it looking how i intended. When i first opened the photo, i didnt have to editing the levels in the .raw menu much at all and was happy with how the photo had come out. I opened the image and looking back now, it was a completely different image to the final piece i have now, which i am proud of. What i wasnt happy with was the symetrics of the shot. i didnt like the building attached on the right hand side and wanted to get rid of this. There was a few ways i could do this but i chose to take the approach of mirroring the image to get a great even effect on the tower. I found the image was slightly off center, this needed to change and this mirrored would not look good, i slightly altered this my warping the image and dragging the bottom across slightly. You can see the mount i warped the photo in the screenshot below. 

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I found that the actual tower itself was not symetrical, so i had to choose a point in the center that i would mirror the image on. I chose the centre point where one of the triangle shapes makes its point. To mirror the image, i selected the left hand side of the photo, up until the point in the triangle shape, copied and pasted this, then flipped the new layer.

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I was very happy with the final outcome of the photo and it is my favorite image of the set!

9

Editing Final Architecture Photo 1

When it first came to editing the photos i had planned to use the university computers, as my laptop broke a number of weeks ago. But when i plugged my camera into the uni macs, it would not appear anywhere and i was unable to pull any of my .raw images off of my camera. This worried me greatly as i didnt not have a backup computers to use. I had to use a friends laptop who had canon editing software, rip the photos off of the camera and transfer them to a usb that the uni computers would recognise. Then i was finally able to edit my photos. To edit the photos i used Adobe Photoshop, a program i have always felt comfortable using. The first image i approached was number 1 in my Architecture set. As this was a .raw image i was able to play about with the levels in the raw menu. There wasnt much i had to change although i was slightly unhappy with how the sky had come out. To prepare for this, on the shoot i took photos of the sky to compensate if my final images lack impact in this area. To change the sky in my photos i selected the old sky and removed it to leave a blank white space.

Screen_shot_2012-05-16_at_15

Once this was done i went around the edges to neaten it up. I then opened my new sky up in the raw menu, changed the settings so that the colours and levels would match the final photo better, and then pasted it into a layer below my building image.

Screen_shot_2012-05-16_at_15

Initially i was very happy with how the photo looked, but i could slightly tell that the sky was not the same image as the building. To solve this i slightly blurred and burnt the edges of the building to help blend in to the sky. I am very happy with the outcome of the image!

Final Image 1

1

2nd day of shooting

Today i was focusing on the sea side. As i had a certain picture in my head of what i wanted to take, i needed to make sure i packed my bag with certain equipment as it was vital i had this equipment to capture the right shots. I made sure that i had my tripod, ND8 filter and a wide angle lens. When shooting i focused around the beachs of southsea. Along the coast i have noticed before there are certain areas on the coast that have some really cool, old fashioned bollards sticking out of the water, and also some nicely placed rocks in the shallow sea. These i really wanted to visit as i pictured these would look great in the shots i wanted to take. When setting up each of my shots i set my camera up. As i was using a ND8 filter, i needed to make sure my shot was set up first, everything from aperture to focusing, and then put the filter on after as from the density of the filter, when it is on the lens you are unable to see through it. When setting up i tried apertures from f.10 all the way to f.22 whilst using shutter speeds from 10 to 20 seconds. Most of the shots i found that the water looked best at around f.10 and with a 10 second exposure. As i wanted to keep a minimalistic approach to the shots, i focused on 3 main areas to take photos. As my photos were minimalistic, i didnt want to take too many photos for this core subject, as i felt too many of this type of photo would bore my viewer, i would prefer to have 3/4 appealing shots which would stick in my viewers mind.

1st day of shooting

My first day of shooting went well. I was lucky that i had a mixed weather type, which gave me lovely skies to work with, sunny with parts of cloud to which i could really play about with using the polarizer filter. The first day of shoot i walked up and down the stousea seaside as this has a number of different shooting locations i was aiming to capture some shots at. I started at southsea pier. Here i was taking some long exposure shots, trying to find the right balence of shadows under the pier and long exposure to create a mist effect on the water. This shot could be categorised under both of my core subjects but am aiming to use it for Architecture, as one of the main eye catchers of the photo i wanted to be was the scaffolding of the pier. From here i went more in land to take photos of an apartment block. When shooting the apartment block i wanted to get as many angles as i could, so when editing i was free to change what i wanted. Some of the shots i knew i would have to manipulate slightly, so thought about composition which would make it easier to manipulate when it came to editing.

After this my plan was to go to the pyramids at southsea common to try to get some reflective shots on the side of the pyramids, but the weather changed for the worse and also i found that the glass did not give me the best reflections.

I then went up the coast slightly where i found a sun shelter type structure near the castle, this i enjoyed shooting as i had plenty of space to use when shooting the structure, giving me the freedom to shoot from where i wanted to, i found a low, wide angled shot worked best for this structure. I then moved onto an old church near Gunwharf. This was the structure i was most looking forward to taking photos at as i felt i could get some great moody photos. I set up my tripod inside the church, and as the church has no roof, i got some great effects on the walls from the sunlight coming through.

My final destination was the Spiniker Tower. I wanted to be careful when shooting here as many people when approaching this structure always go for the same, sideways on angle. So when i was shooting i wanted to approach it from a different angle. I felt i got some great shots from beniethe the structure.