Throughout this project we have been focusing on Formal Elements within photography. The Formal Elements were lines, Colour, Pattern, Depth, Texture, Reflection, Form, Tone, Shape and Movement. In order to be able to understand the Formal Elements and to know what type of photographs fit into the Formal Elements I created a list that described the visual world. The list was very long and consisted of a number of describing words that I believed described the visual world. After this I then took the describing words from the list and made a mind map that was split into the different Formal elements and included real examples for each one. The mind map allowed me to get a full understanding of what I could take photographs of for the Formal Elements and gave me something that I could refer back to if i needed to. Before I went out to shoot for each formal element we had to create an image bank, with six pictures annotated. From the image banks I learnt that there is a wide range of photographs that fit into each Formal Elements and they are not as simple as I thought they were at the start of photography. The image banks also made me research for images that fit into the Formal Elements and influenced some of my work because a lot of the images I looked at gave me inspiration and ideas to take similar photos. Finally we had to create definition pages that consisted of the dictionary definition, describing words, four pictures annotated and then my own definition of each Formal Element. The definition pages allowed me to find out and understand completely the meaning of each Formal Element.
The next step in this project was to research photographers work. However the photographers work had to link in with the Formal Elements in some way. I then created a research log that included 20 photographers that I had chosen and an explanation why I had picked them with an example of their work and where I got the research from. This allowed me to get some background knowledge of other photographers work and images that where examples of the Formal Elements. After I had done the research log I had to study five photographers from my research log in further detail. The five photographers had to have four evaluated photos, the reason why I had chosen each photographer, how they have influenced my work and an overall summary of the photographer. Researching the five photographers in more detail allowed me to get to know more about the photographers work itself rather than just thinking about linking it to the Formal Elements.
Once we had finished the lesson we had to make work diaries for each lesson we had done. The work diaries explained what I did in the lesson and what I would do different if I was going to do the lesson again to improve my work. There also had to be two of my photographs annotated and a sentence about what I would do to improve them. By doing this I could keep track of all my work and then when looking back I would know what needs improving and how I need to improve it because I will have a record of all the information about improvements to my work. This also allowed me to look at my own work in detail and as I created more and more work diaries it was easier to spot what was wrong with the photograph and how it needed improving. Therefore this improved my photography skills when annotating photos and taking photos because I had learnt from the mistakes I had made previously.
During this project we had to complete a number of print techniques. Such as: Black & White, Curves, Duotone, Repetition, Selective Colour, Photo joiner, Soft Focus, Cluster and Weaving. By doing the different techniques to my photographs it allowed me to develop my skills when using photoshop as I learnt a number of different skills to use when editing my photographs. This also let me change simple photographs into more complex photographs. From doing a number of print techniques it made me realise what photographs work best with each print technique and helped me to take photographs that would work with the Formal Elements and the print techniques. Also these techniques helped me improve my photographs because it made them more interesting.
Towards the end of the product we started development work. This included shoots such as: the two walks that we used for the competition we was entering, this was to show 'quite reflection'. Development work also included two studio shoots of form and autumn leaves and then finally after studding the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe by watching a clip and taking notes we then did a shoot in the studio of photographs that represented Robert's work. From watching the clip about Robert's work I learnt a lot about himself and his work and the reason why he took the photographs he did. This then allowed me too think about the reasons behind my images because from the clip it was made clear that the photographer knew the meaning of the photographs before the photo was even taken. Looking at Robert's work also allowed me to put my own ideas into his style of work.
From this project I have learnt a number of different things. For example I understand the full meaning of each of the Formal elements and know how to fit them into my photographs. I have learnt how to used different skills in photoshop through computer experiments and print techniques and also just generally editing my photographs to make my photographs the best they can be. The development work that we did towards the end of the project also allowed me to take my own style of pictures and learn what looks good and what doesn't. Taking pictures in the studio had allowed me to use my own lighting and a variety of background and also learn the skills that are needed to use the studio. The main thing that I have learnt about photography is to take as many pictures as you can because you may not like them at the start when you have taken them but once you have edited them and they are printed they turn out a lot better.
Overall this project has made me understand photography to a deeper level and I can now put my own opinions and spin on photographs and feel that I can explain how it fits into the project. I also now know and understand how to use the studio and feel that I am better at taking photographs and feel confident about them.
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