Work Record 1

Preparation:

Studio shoot with dead or dying plants with a dark background and minimal snoot lighting.

Artist Research: Imogen Cunningham:

Imogen Cunningham, (born April 12, 1883—died June 24, 1976),  is an American photographer who is best known for her portraits and her images of plant life. Cunningham uses black and white photography to convey the tones of flowers and nature. I like this idea as photography of nature is one of my strong points. Cunningham also uses a side light in photos like the last photo above. This helps as it shows natural tones and shading. 

Cunningham use of a side light has influenced me to use a snoot light in my shoot, at the side, to create shadows and tones.

Contact Sheet:

My Best Images:

Images that need improving:

Finding the right settings for this shoot was quite difficult as different angles needing slight adjustment to the settings. The two photos above are examples of images that need improving due to the exposure not being correct, creating a fuzzy and graining filter on the image.

Editing &A02:Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops. 

I   I shot with my Nikon D3500 with a snoot light, a black backdrop and a piece of silver glitter wallpaper over the table to make it look more attractive. The settings for my best images are as follows.

Best Images Settings:

DSC_0107

Focal length 52mm

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture f/11

ISO 200

DSC_0089

Focal length 55mm

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture f/11

ISO 200

DSC_0083

Focal length 55mm

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture f/11

ISO 200

DSC_0066

Focal length 55mm

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture f/11

ISO 200

DSC_0063

Focal length 55mm

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture f/11

ISO 200

    I then went on to edit my photos by lowering the saturation, as shown below and then Burned and dodged certain parts of the flower to look for saturated then others. It was a simple edit but i believe it turned out well and looks effective.

 

A03:Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

    My intentions towards this shoot was too highlight the shadows and softness in the flowers. I was inspired from my research of Imogen Cunningham and my research of Sarah Jones in my initial response and their use of editing and darkness of black backgrounds. Both of these photographers used a single lighting the highlight certain part of the image and created shadows, which is what i used. The images came out as I expected, however I had to pay particular attention to getting the right exposure settings and angles to make sure i wasn't blocking the light.

    

    Best selected images...

      I have 5 images in my Best Images that I then went on to edit. 

      The first image of vase of flowers was shot at a mid-shot with the composition slightly to the left so that the flowers are not directly in the middle of the image. The next image is a close up that I will edit my image later by de-saturating

With regards to some of the images that did not come out as I expected, I struggled to adapt my camera settings as I was unfamiliar with the dark set up so, some images lacked focus, whilst in the case of others I struggled to use the cameras exposure meter.   I believe I can overcome these issues through more practise for my next shoot.

A01: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

The artist research was helpful as I realised that there are many ways I could take the topic of plants but how my focus on flowers would highlight my full potential.  My research of Imogen Cunningham has helped me with the editing as i de-saturated my photos and in my next shoot i will make the photos more black and white with contrast like the images above in my research.   

However, my photographers research blog was also helpful as i looked into Sarah Jones gave me the inspiration for the snoot lighting.

A04:Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

The final images produced were refined by developing the contrast and de-saturating them.

Progression:

To progress in my project i will be leaving my flowers to die for 2 weeks and then redoing the shoot, to create a timeline go plants lives.

Final Images: