UAL LEVEL 2 AWARD PHOTOGRAPHY AMY SHILLITOE

Photography Evaluation

I changed my mind a lot during the process of this unit because of a locational situation in which I realised the locations where I wanted to photograph weren't good enough or effective enough and I decided on collecting objects from these places instead and doing more studio work. I did explore my original plans though to try to reflect my artist research and I wanted to change the images on photoshop to get the bright vivid colours in (....) photo's.
During the process of photographing my objects I experimented with the lighting in the studio but made sure it was dark enough to cast a good shadow, I used honeycomb lights to highlight the reflective material and metallic panels. I used a wide range of angles and focused on small sections for a more abstract take on my photography which looks really good especially the photographs of reflections of the computer parts, they look like I've been messing with the shutter speed and was a really good effect. In addition, I also used and experimented with coloured gel screens. I constantly changed and swapped the colours taking into consideration of clashing and complimentary colours and also, mixed them together using them as backgrounds and to highlights certain aspects of the objects. For example, I used the bright green screen gel against the green computer panel and it brightened the whole panel up with this lovely green colour and looked brilliant against the dark red background.
I originally just planned on displaying them on my blog but I also mounted the best ones onto black card, some larger than others to compliment eachother and they look really good as collective pieces.
I definitely planned out in my head a very photojournalistic project and result but it has ended up looking like more of a fine art collection of photographs or photo's you'd see in a magazine. This shows my range of thinking throughout this project and how much I've explored my themes and ideas and is a really good reflection upon my research as I've included the bright colours and shapes with materials from skips which is also relative to the theme.
I think this project has been quite strong and although I have changed my mind a lot I've produced some really strong photographs at the end that represent my theme well.

First attempt: Computer parts

Instead of sticking to my original plan of photographing natural dumping grounds and poverty stricken areas in Blackburn I've decided upon a different approach... studio photography. But I've collected objects that I've found in dumps and skips instead to recreate the photography I researched earlier involving bold bright colors and high definition detail which is why I used the macro lens.

Adding blue screen lighting

I've used a blue screen during these photo's and you can see the light coming through the holes in the computer parts which I really like. I really like these photo's because they look like a birds eye view of a city and i like that thought.

I've also tried to incorporate different angles into my photography whilst changing the lighting so I have a lot of different images.

Adding red screen lighting

I really enjoyed using the red screen in these photo's especially against the deep green of the computer panels, it reminds me of old horror movie imagery incorporating a dark moody atmosphere which is perfect to reflect the context of my research.

Green screen lighting

Experimental mixture of light (red/green)

More natural studio lighting

In these photographs I tried to explore a more abstract approach, I placed a sheet of reflective metal underneath the panel and the results are really good. I love how the colors have reflected even though it's faint the green really comes through and looks like something has gone past the camera really fast.

Final image for computer parts section

This is possibly my favorite piece so far, I've experimented with double colors on two separate lights using the red screen in the background and the green on the front to highlight the colors of the panel, it looks really eccentric and bold like a statement piece of photography. It looks like something out of frankenstein with the colors and again, reflects the lighting and imagery in 60's horror films which I really like.

Part II: Extractor fan unit

I think this is the best image from this section even though I'm not entirely happy with it, i do like the shadows and the way the light shines through the background highlighting the dark edges of the fan. It's a really good angle directly from above and the use of lighting was good.

Adding red screen lighting

The addition of the pink/red light really makes this selection of images more interesting, I love the color and the way it shines against the metallic background and the way it contrasts against the dark shadows and edges of the box and the fan itself. I'm happy with this image.

Final extractor fan photo

Metal fan part (experiments with brightness)

This selection of images was quite boring to shoot, mainly because of the object itself. This image in particular is bad because of the lighting and also, because of the angle I think a birds eye view on such a boring object isn't interesting enough.

Addition of green screen lighting

Addition of red screen lighting

Red and green screen lighting

Final image for extractor part section

Plastic fan photo's (green screen light)

Red screen lighting

Change of brightness with addition of red and green screen lighting

This was my favorite section to photograph. I've incorporated all three screen colors (red blue and green) and experimented with lots of different angles and distances.

This image in particular is interesting, I moved slightly whilst taking it but i think the blurred effect looks really good, the red light is such a beautiful deep color and almost smudges across the photograph creating a really good contrast against the dark black background.

Addition of blue background