Work Record 2

Preparation:

In this shoot, i will be leaving the flowers i used in my shoot 1 to die for 2-3 weeks and then re-shooting them, using and all black background instead on the sparkly grey 

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. 

Contact Sheet:

My Best Images:

Images that need improving:

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.

Editing &A02:

   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, The focal length is 55mm, the shutter speed, 1/125, aperture f.25 and ISO 200

    I then went on to edit my photos by converting the images to black and white and then adding curves to add contrast between the tones. The difference in the editing in this shoot and my last shoot shows how the flowers are further on in their lifetime and are dying.

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

    My intentions towards this shoot was too present the timeline of dying flowers from the shadows and softness in the flowers from shoot 1 and the more broken look in this shoot. 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.

    

    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 turned my images Black and White.

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 converting them to black and white.

Final Images:

Progression:

In my next shoot, i would like to photograph plants and flowers in their natural habitat.