Shoot 9

Shoot 9

Inspiration for my shoot 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My reasoning for completing this shoot was not based on any particular photographer however I have decided to focus on the symbolism of flowers as an overall topic for my final portfolio and I wanted to include a shoot that focused on poppies due to the strong symbolic meaning of the flowers themselves. Poppies have been a symbol of remembrance and hope since the end of the First World War. In Western Europe the countryside became a battlefield that was fought over however thousands of poppies still continued to grow throughout the destruction. Poppies are now worn by many people as a symbol of respect for the soldiers that fought for our country and lost their lives as a result of their bravery. 

Images that have inspired me 

The two photos above have inspired me because when researching some ideas for this shoot I found that may of the remembrance wreaths that are layer during remembrance day are used with fake flowers so that they won't be destroyed when left outside. Due to this I decided to look at some ideas of photography that uses fake poppies. I found the two images above and I liked the way in which the first photo includes someones hand because I feel as though the small amount of a person in this photo could represent the thousands of people who wear poppies each year. I also liked the second image because the small crosses are used to thank or remember individual people. I liked the fact that this added a personal and emotive element to the image which is something I feel I want to portray within my photos due to the strong connotative meaning behind poppies.

Contact Sheet

I feel as though this shoot was successful in many different ways. I believe that the photos I have taken have a very strong symbolic meaning which is something that I now want to focus my project on. I feel as though something that was slightly less successful about the shoot was that the photos do not fit with the pattern of my photos so far due to the fact that the images have been taken in a natural environment rather than in a studio. I think that due to the symbolic meaning of poppies I would like to try and incorporate these in my final portfolio. 

My Best Images 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

f/5.6   1/60   ISO 400

I have chosen this as one of my best images because when capturing this image I used manual focus in order to make the poppies the focal point of the image. I decided that by having the images of loved ones and the rose slightly out of focus it could have connotations of soldiers lives fading away during the war. I also like the way in which you can see the lost soldier in the photo because I believe this is effective when focusing on the connotative meanings of poppies. 

f/5.6   1/60   ISO 400

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I liked the fact that the poppy is in the centre of the frame and fills almost the entire image. I feel as though the hand that is holding the poppy represents the millions of people who wear poppies in remembrance of he soldiers that fought in the war. I also like the way in which the background is out of focus because this draws even more attention onto the poppy itself.  

F/5.6    1/100   ISO 400

The image above shows many small crosses that are used on remembrance day to remember individual people. Loved ones can write messages onto each of the crosses and place them into the ground. I specifically like the depth within this photo and the way in which you can see some more crosses which are out of the frame of the image. This could represent that there are so many more people that have lost their lives than just a single image can show. I also like the way in which the cross at the centre of the image is so in focus because this draws your attention to this when looking at the image.   

F/8    1/125    ISO 400

This image is slightly different to the other photos I have taken however this sculpture was used in many different places in England as a symbol of each and every soldier in the war. I like this image because I think this can be edited in a slightly more creative way than some of the other images I have taken and I would like to experiment with some different editing ideas when looking at this image. It took me a while to get this image because it was hard to get an angle where the outline of the soldier was very clear and visible. I do not like the background of the image therefore I would like to do something about that when editing the image. 

F/6.3   1/80   ISO 400

The image above is one of my best because it symbolises remembrance day as it shows a person laying down a poppy to remember the soldiers. I think that this image is effective in telling a story and I think that the strong connotations towards this image are very important. I also like the composition of this image because it is has been taken from a lower angle in order to catch the model placing the poppy onto the wreaths and I feel as though with the camera being at the same level as the poppies it gives the image a sense of intimacy and makes it slightly more personal. 

Images that Require Improvement 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

1/200   f/5.6   ISO 400

This photo requires improvement due to it being out of focus. My aim for this image was to capture the poppy whilst it was placed in the ground however due to the size of the poppy it was very hard to take the photo from the correct angle. I was not able to focus the camera in the place I wanted to and therefore the image was very blurry. 

1/200   f/9   ISO 400

I have chosen this photo as one that needs improvement because the entire image is under exposed. When taking this photo I used the wrong camera settings. When taking this photo I used an ISO of 400. This was done by mistake and this resulted in the photo being underexposed because the camera was not sensitive enough to the lighting surrounding the camera. I should have used an ISO of 200. This would have given me a much better exposure to my image.   

Camera Settings and Equipment 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

When completing this shoot I used a canon eos 400d. I decided not to use a tripod because I wanted to get very close to the objects I was photographing and I was constantly moving around and photographing things from multiple angles and I felt as though a tripod would have restricted me when taking many of my photos. Throughout the shoot I used an ISO of 400. This was because the weather was very dull and there was not a lot of lighting. I used this ISO because I needed the camera to be quite sensitive to the light in order for the photos to be bright enough. My aperture varied throughout the shoot from f/5.6 to f/9. I used a slightly higher aperture when I wanted a wide depth of field and I wanted everything to be in focus. I then used f/5.6 when I wanted to capture the foreground in focus and the background out of focus. I did this quite a lot during this shoot because I felt as though this was the most effective way of expressing the symbolism of the poppy. My shutter speed altered throughout the shoot depending on what aperture I was using. This meant that I was altering the shutter speed in order to gain an even exposure throughout my images. The shutter speeds that I used ranged from 1/60 to 1/200. For some of the images that I took I used a slightly longer shutter speed because I wanted more light to be able to flood into the lens. This was done in order to slightly brighten up the images if I felt that they were too dark. Due to this shoot being taken in a natural environment it was slightly harder to control my camera settings than working in a studio, which is what I have been doing recently within my project, however I feel as though the images that I have produced are well exposed and have interesting compositions. 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress. 

The main inspiration for my shoot was the strong symbolic meaning of poppies. As a result of deciding to focus on the symbolism of flowers I felt as though poppies were necessary as a part of my portfolio. Also during the time that I was taking these photos remembrance day was happening. This provided me with a lot of inspiration as I was seeing photos of poppies on social media and the news. There are a lot of stereotypical images of poppies which I explored and I do feel as though I took some inspiration from google images. The two main images that I found interesting are below. Many of the images on google and pinterest focus on isolating the primary colour red. I liked this idea however I am not sure whether I will isolate the colour but a lot of my images focus on the colour red being the focal point of the image and this is something that research into remembrance day photography has helped me to do.

I also read an article which was called 'photograph artificial poppies on and around remembrance day'. Whilst reading this article I came across this image. I liked the way that the photographer had not tried to make the photo look as aesthetically pleasing as possible but instead he had simply captured the moment. The article suggests different ways in which photographs of poppy memorials can be taken, for example focusing in on one poppy and isolating it from the rest of the scene. Another example is to take a step back and contrast the brightly coloured poppies with the towns scenery. I feel as though these ideas have heavily influenced the way in which I completed this shoot.  

  

Edits

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

String Edits

1. Firstly I printed off each of the images that I wanted to use for each of my edits.


2. I then mounted each image onto card because I felt as though this made the photo a lot easier to work with.


3. Next I drew small dots onto the photo where I wanted to place the string. This ensured that I did not thread the string into the wrong place.


4. I then measured the string and threaded it through the needle. Once this was done I then began to embroider the photo, following the dots that I had previously drawn in order to make the thread even.


5. Finally once I was finished I tied a knot on the end of the string so it did not become loose.

Tracing Paper Edit

1. Firslty I printed off the photo I wanted to use on regular paper. I then repeated this but printed the image on tracing paper.


2. I then drew out the different squares that I wanted to be cut out on the tracing paper image. Once the squares were cut out I screwed them up and once they looked slightly distressed I stuck them onto the original image.


My Final Images

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

I like the edit using tracng paper because I feel a though the added texture of the tracing paper reflects the different textures that would be found in nature and specifically in flowers. I feel as though this reflects the environment.

Progression

I would like to explore the idea of embroidery in slightly more detail howver I feel as though I would like to look as this wit studio photography because although poppies have a very strong connotations I feel as though the studio phootgraphy works a lot better for my project.

Shoot 8

Shoot 8

Artist Influence - Irving Penn

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Irving Penn takes very detailed photos of pressed and dried flowers. The focus of his work is on the intricate detailing of the petals of the flowers. I specifically like the way in which Irving Penn incorporates negative space within his images to draw your attention to the flower itself. The main thing that drew me into the image of the poppy was its strong connotative meaning and the idea that the flower symbolises remembrance day and a reminder of the soldiers that fought for our country in the war. I feel as though the fact that the flower has been dried could imply the strength of poppies during the war and how no matter what they went through they would not diminish. The main element of Irving Penn's images that I want to use within my work is the use of pressed and dried flowers. I feel as though this gives the flower different textures which cannot be created with a flower that is left to die naturally.  

Images that have inspired me

The image above is the main image that has inspired me within my shoot. When doing my research I found that this photo has been taken on a light box and this is why you can see the small detailing within the petals. I like this however I do not want to use a white background which may prove difficult when using a light box because that may be the only option therefore I will use other parts of this photo to influence my work. I like the composition of this image because I like the way the end of the stalk is not visible within the image. I feel as though this makes it seem as though the flower is ever lasting and adds a mysterious element to the image. This is something that I want to use within my shoot.

Contact Sheet

I completed this shoot to experiment with the different things I could physically do with the flowers rather than just photographing them as they are. I decided to press the flowers using heavy books and placing the flowers inside. I left the flowers for a few weeks and then removed them from the books. I feel as though this shoot was relatively successful because some of the photos I took came out very well and I feel as though I captured the detail within the flowers. I did try to use a black and a white background to create a wider range of images as I only had a few flowers to work with. Some of the photos on the black background did not turn out as I wanted because I feel as though the light was too bright and this captured a lot of texture on the background. I think that this happened because the flower was too close to the black background. If I were to do this again I would have moved the flower further away from the black background and this would have made the background pitch black which is the effect that I wanted. 

My Best Images 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

F/20   1/125   ISO 200

I have chosen the image above as one of my best because I am happy with the way I have created a pitch black background. I do feel as though the left side on the image is slightly too dark however this is something I am able to fix when editing my images. I also feel as though a lot of detail has been captured within the petals of the flower. 

F/25    1/125   ISO 200

I have chosen this image as one of my best because I like the way that by using a soft box I was able to create a slightly softer lighting technique. In comparison to the image I took of this flower but with a black background I feel as though the details in this photo are a lot finer and not as harsh. 

F/25    1/125   ISO 200

I have chosen this image as one of my best because I like the fact that the photo has been taken with the camera portrait. I think that this elongates the flower and makes it look very elegant. I also feel I have used negative space effectively by allowing a lot of background within the image rather than just zooming in on the flower which is something I feel I do a lot. I would like to improve upon my photos by using more negative space and I feel I have done this throughout my shoot. 

F/25    1/125    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images due to the composition of this image. I like the way I have been able to incorporate all of the flower into the image. I feel as though the flowers could have been slightly more separated however I do like the effect it gives that they are on top of each other. I feel this could have connotations of the strength and power of nature and the impact that this has on the world. 

F/18    1/125    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the fact that the background is very close to being completely black. I like the way that I have taken this exact photo but with a white background because I feel as though the two different lighting set ups show different detailing within the flower. I think that the direct light creates a darker feel to the overall image and highlights the finer details. 

Images that Require Improvement 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

F/13   1/125   ISO 200

The image above requires improvement due to the lighting. I do like this image and I feel as though this could have been effective however I do not feel that the lighting was positioned in the correct place. This is because all of the light is aimed at the right side of the flower and therefore this side of the photo is a lot brighter. I did fix this during my shoot and altered the position of the light to be more central and illuminate the centre of the flower rather than just one side of the flower. I also feel as though the light was on a slightly higher setting that I would have liked because there is a lot of texture visible in the background which is not something I wanted to create. 

f/11    1/125    ISO 200

This photo requires improvement due to it being very over exposed. I think that this image was over exposed due to the lighting that I was using. The soft box was on a fairly high setting and therefore an aperture of f/11 was too low and allowed too much light into the camera. This resulted in me producing an over exposed image. To improve this I used a higher aperture to give me a more even exposure. 

Camera Settings and Equipment

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

When completing this shoot I used a canon eos 400d. I also used a tripod in order to use negative space effectively and to ensure that I was able to frame the photos in the exact way that I wanted them. The apertures used did very from f/11 to f/25. The reason that I used such a high aperture was due to the intensity of the lights that I used. I used a soft box light to capture photos in front of a white background and a snoot attachment for the light to capture images in front of a black background. When using a soft box I wanted the light to be on a high setting in order for the entire image to be bright. I attempted to use an aperture of f/11 which is what the meter read when I measured the camera settings however this gave me very over exposed images. I did not want to alter the light settings and therefore I increased the aperture. This allowed me to take photos that had an even exposure but still having a bright soft box. With regards to the images I took using a black background I used a slightly lower aperture because when using the snoot attachments I put the lights on lower settings as I only wanted to illuminate certain areas on the flower therefore if the light settings were set too high there would be too much light projecting onto the image and the photo would be light in different areas. Throughout the shoot I used an ISO of 200. This remained the same because I could not use ISO 100 as the images would have been underexposed as the lights were not bright enough and if I had have used a higher ISO then the photos would have been over exposed as the camera would have been too sensitive to the light surrounding it.

Below I have created two lighting diagrams of the setups that I used during this shoot.

The setup above was used when taking the photos of flowers on a white background. I used a soft box light to one side of the object and then I used a white reflector to reflect some of the light back onto the object. This allowed me to create soft light without needing to use another soft box. 

The lighting diagram above was used when photographing photos on flowers on a black background. I used a snoot attachment for the light to one side of the subject. I then placed a reflector on the other side of the subject. This was done for a slightly different reason than when I photographed on a white background. I did this because when using the snoot attachment there was only a small beam of light directed onto a specific part of the flower therefore the reflector was used to bounce some of the light back onto the object to slightly illuminate the other side of the flower. If the reflector was not used then one side of the flower would be too dark and not visible. 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress. 
The main source of inspiration from my shoot was due to the research that I conducted on Irving Penn. I took inspiration from the composition of Irving Penn's composition within his images. I feel as though I have focused a lot on making the flower the subject of the image throughout many of my shoots and this is an idea that I feel I have continued onto this shoot as well. An area of the images that I feel could have been improved is the amount of detail that I captured within the images. Although the photos that I took were very detailed I do feel that Irving Penn has some slightly more intricate detailing within his images and this is something I believe I could improve upon in the future. I have also gathered some ideas from researching the use of pressed flowers in the Victorian Era. The Victorian women would use flowers as a skilful art and pressing flowers was an enjoyable pastime for women. Flowers were also used in order to place between pages in a book to mark a special day. I liked the way in which flowers were used in such positive ways within the Victorian Era and I wanted to reflect this positivity of nature through my images by using some brightly coloured flowers to represent happiness.

Edits

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

 Edit 1

To create this style of editing I firstly duplicated the background layer. 

I then created a curve on this new background layer. I dragged the curve down to the right hand corner which made the photo completely black. 

I then selected 'edit' then 'fill'. By doing this the image remained back to normal before I altered the curve. This creates a mask which is not visible on top of the photo. I will use this to make areas of the photo darker. The main reason I did this was to make the backgrounds of the images completely black.   

I then made sure that the contents selected was black and clicked ok. 

I then used the paintbrush tool and made sure that the colour was on white. I then lowered the opacity slightly and painted in the areas that I wanted to be darker. This reveals the darker overlay on the image that I created whilst using the curves tool.  

Edit 2

Firstly I used the quick selection tool to select the entire flower. I then clicked cmd+C which copied the selected area. I then clicked cmd+V which pasted the selected area onto the image I already had. 

I then pasted the flower another two times and moved each of them to be placed in the right position. I then merged each of the layers together. This allowed me to edit each of the layers as one entire image. 

My Final Images 

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

Progression

I would like to now move onto photographing some flowers with deeper symbolic meaning. I would like to focus on the edits that I am producing. I feel as though I have got a consistent theme within my work now so I would like to focus on the experimentation of my images. I would like this to involve some physical manipulation and computer experiments. 

Mid-term Evaluation

Mid-term Evaluation

When first approaching my project I wanted to focus on the idea of natural forms, in particular flowers. This has remained consistent throughout my project however as my project has progressed I have ventured down different roots based on new ideas and inspiration that I have found. Initially I wanted to focus on macro photography in relation to nature however shortly into my project I decided that I wanted to look into more elements than just macro photography because I did not feel as though this would allow me to experiment in the ways I wanted to. Due to this I decided to incorporate many different ideas relating to flowers and nature. This allowed me to branch out and explore different ways in which flowers can be photographed in both their natural and unnatural environment.

With regards to my most successful shoots I have taken photos in a studio setting and in a natural environment. I feel as though with nature photography I cannot compare these two photographic environments directly because each of them produced very different images. During shoot 2 I took photos of flowers at a local garden centre and I was able to capture images of a very wide range of flowers with some insects also being within the frame of some photos. I really liked these photos as I felt they captured the natural beauty of flowers and I also liked the way in which all the flowers were left in their natural environment. During this shoot I focused on the use of colour within photos and the way in which different flowers used many different colours. I looked at saturated colours. When shooting in the studio I was able to be a lot more creative with the day in which I took the photos. I feel as though shoot 3 was very successful because it focused on inspiration from Nadege Meriau and the way in which I was able to think so deeply into my set up really intrigued me into wanting to shoot more in a studio environment. I liked the way in which this shoot different from shoot 2 because it looked at slightly darker photography. I liked the use of soil as a background for this shoot rather than just using a plain background. Moving forward in my project I would like to incorporate he use of soil as a background in more depth and detail.

This is an edit I created from shoot 2.

This is an edit I created from shoot 3. 

I feel as though the aspect of my work which requires improvement is the experimentation within my editing. I feel as though I want to experiment a lot more with this physically and on photoshop. Photoshop is a weakness of mine and therefore I would like to try and use photoshop in a more detailed way rather than just to enhance my images. On the other hand I do feel as though some of my images do not need to be heavily edited and this may have been why I have not used photoshop too much during my project.

One thing I would like to progress and develop is the editing that I completed during shoot 4. I liked the way the physical edits turned out however I took have inspiration from the photographer Marcelo Monreal. I would like to go beyond his ideas and create photos that reflect his work but incorporate more of my own ideas. I would like to bring my project together by creating shoots which all lead in the same direction. I think I would like to focus on the symbolic meaning of flowers and photograph this in different ways based on the different photographers I have looked at.  

   

Shoot 4

Shoot 4

Artist Influence - Marcelo Monreal

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Marcelo Monreal takes portrait photos, distorts them and adds intricate drawings of flowers. Marcelo Monreal uses male and female models in his photos. I like the connotations that adding flowers to males has. I feel like this feminises men and adds a stereotypically female item onto a male portraiture. Each of the photos that he has created are very saturated which is something that I would like to portray within my images. I like the brightly coloured flowers within the images however I feel as though I would like to use neutral coloured backgrounds rather than vibrant colours. This is because using a white or black background would fit better in relation to my own project. I also like the different ways in which the photographer has decided to distort the portrait image and I think that this could have different connotations. I feel as though the image that Marcelo Monreal has reared when the face is split in two parts could represent two personalities that a person could possess. Overall I am very intrigued by the creativity within these photos and the way in which the photographer has used flowers in order to show the importance of nature to humans. 

Images that inspire me 

Each of these images have inspired me due to the way in which they have incorporated portraiture and still life photography in one composition. I like the way in which the two photos above have used flowers to hide elements of portraiture. I believe this could have connotations of nature having such a large impact on peoples lives. I also like the use of colour within each of these images because I think the colour compliment the tones within the image. I would like to incorporate some slightly more saturated colours within my work however de-sturated colours is something that I think would be interesting to explore in further shoots.

Contact Sheet 

I feel as though this shoot was successful because I took a range of photos from many different angles and of many different flowers. I have circled images that I initially feel have been successful in green and then I have circled photos which I feel are slightly less successful in red. I will expand upon this when looking at my best and worst images. 

My Best Images 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

I have chosen a range of images as my best because I have previously thought about the editing of the images and the fact that I want to include a range of images, including photos of individual flowers and bunches of flowers.

F/16    1/100    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the composition of this image. I like that there is multiple flowers in the frame of the image and also that you can clearly see each of the flowers that are within the photo. I feel as though this is important when thinking about the editing of the images because I would like to physically manipulate the flowers by cutting them out and being able to see the outline of each individual flower will allow me to successfully edit the images.

F/16    I/125    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the simplicity of the individual flower in the frame. I feel as though capturing a wide range of angles and compositions allows for a wider choice of images to choose from and use within my edits.

F/16     1/125    ISO 200

I have chose this as one of my best images because I feel as though using an aprture of f/16 allowed me to capture fine details on each of the petals. I also like the composition of this image because I like the way that that flowers are arranged. The flowers are laid on the table which gives the illusion that the flowers have been placed on top of each other. This creates a slightly surreal atmosphere to the image because it looks as though they should be in a vase.

F/16    1/125    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the unique angle that this photo has been taken from. I like the way the flowers have been captured from a side angle rather than looking directly onto the centre of the flower. I also like that this allows you to see the height of each flower rather than just seeing the outline of the flowers.

F/18     1/125    ISO 200

I have chosen this image as one of my best because it is unique to the other photos that I have taken. This image uses a narrow depth of field which I have not tried to capture in any of my other photos however the reason I feel this works well is because the focal point of the image is specifically the yellow flower. Due to the photo being so centred on one flower and taken at such a close angle I feel as though the narrow depth of field really enhances the intricate detailing within the flower.

F/18    1/125   ISO 200

I have chosen the image above as one of my best because I like the way the flowers I have chosen to photograph all use the same pastel tones within them. I feel as though this makes the flowers compliment each other whilst also complimenting the plain background that I decided to use. I also like the way in which this is a bunch of flowers rather than just one flower. This is because this adds to the range of flowers that I am photographing and it also creates a unique composition.

F/18    1/125    ISO 200

I have chosen the image above as one of my best because I like the angle in which I have photographed the bunch of flowers. I feel as though looking at a flower directly into the centre and then looking at flowers from a side angle makes the flowers look completely different. During this shoot I believe I managed to create many different flowers only using two different bunches of flowers. the photo above in particular is very interesting because you are able to see the shape of each of the flowers and I like the way this focuses on the structure of the flower rather than just the fine details within them.

F/18    1/125   ISO 200

The image above is one of my best due to the unique shape of the sunflower. Sunflowers are a very easily identifiable flower so I have tried to photograph the flower in a way that focused on the shape of the entire flower rather than just the aesthetic of the centre and the petals of the flower. I also like the saturated yellow that immediately draws your attention the centre of the image. I also like the way in which the stalk and the leaves of the flower are a dulled green colour. I feel as though this also makes the yellow in the centre of the image stand out even more.

Images that require improvement

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

F/8    1/125   ISO 200

This image requires improvement because it is over exposed. The reason this image is over exposed is because is due to the aperture that I used. This photo was taken towards the beginning of my shoot and I was using f/11. Due to the lights being on a powerful setting I found that this aperture needed to be increased to f/16. When taking this photo I captured it multiple times with different apertures because I wanted to get the correct exposure for the image. 

F/18    1/125    ISO 200

The image above requires improvement because it is slightly under exposed. Although I was using the correct camera settings, due to not using a tripod I was constantly moving around and taking photos from different angles. This meant that sometimes I was standing in front of the soft box despite trying to not block this area. This is why the image above is under exposed. If I were to take this photo again I would try to position the flower differently which would result in me not having to stand in front of the light. 

Camera Settings and Equipment 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

During this shoot I decided not to use a tripod because I wanted to be able to capture many different angles and I felt as though using a tripod was not allowing my to take the photos with the angles that I had in mind. When shooting free hand rather than using a tripod I feel as though I had more freedom when shooting and I was able to take photos that I do not feel I could have taken with a tripod. A weakness that I have found when not using a tripod to shoot is that sometimes the image is taken at a slight slant or there is some amount of the flower within the image that has been accidentally cut off due to not being able to compose the photo in a lot of depth. When setting up the studio I wanted to create photos with a soft, diffused light. This is the reason I decided to use a soft box attachment. I used one light which I moved throughout the shoot depending on the photo I was taking.


Whilst shooting I used roughly the same camera settings throughout however I did have to alter the camera settings slightly based on the flower I was shooting and the position at which I was taking the photo. The apertures used throughout the shoot mainly ranged from f/16 to f/18 however during one of the photos that I took I was using f/8 however this resulted in the image being very over exposed. I used an aperture of f/8 because when I measured the camera settings on the light meter, this is the aperture that was displayed. The main apertures that I varied between were f/16 and f/18. I switched between these depending on the flowers that I was photographing. An example of this would be when I was photographing white flowers. Due to the fact that I was shooting on a white background when using a slightly lower aperture the flower looked very washed out and the intricate detailing on the flower was less visible. Due to this I decided to use an aperture of f/18 which made the flowers a lot more detailed and clearer to see. With regards to the shutter speed I used during the shoot, this ranged from 1/100 to 1/125. I did not have to alter the shutter speed very much during this shoot because I did not alter the brightness and intensity of the soft box light attachments. This meant that I was able to keep roughly the same shutter speed throughout. Using shutter speeds of 1/100 and 1/125 I was able to freeze motion rather than capturing any movement within the flowers. I used an ISO of 200 throughout the shoot and this remained consistent. Due to not changing the intensity of the lights I did not have to alter the ISO.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress. 

When gathering inspiration for this shoot I took the main ideas from Marcelo Monreal. He is a collage artist and takes portrait pictures of many different people and then hand draws flowers onto the image. I wanted to re create this using photography. I liked the way in which the photos he created make the portrait look surreal. When capturing the photos of the flowers I was cry inspired by the vibrant colours of the flowers that Marcelo Monreal has used within his images and this is why I used a soft distilled light in order to express the bright colours of the flowers. I have also gathered inspiration from images that I have found on google. The images that I have found inspiration from mainly use roses and I feel like this is because they have strong connotations with love. I have used roses within my shoot because I liked the connotations that were attached to this however this was not the main focus of the shoot. I feel as though as my shoots progress I would like to focus more heavily on roses and the implications that they have. My ideas have also been taken from my artist research of Patty Hatkins. I feel like I have taken some ideas from the way in which she takes her photos in order to focus on the colour within the flowers. This is something that I wanted to make sure was visible in my photos.     

Edits

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

To edit my photos I printed off two of each portrait image. I then printed off many different photos of flowers that I took during my shoot. I then physically cut out flowers and a part of the portrait. I then arranged the flowers in a way that I felt worked well. Below is a step by step plan of how I created these images.

1. Firstly I cut out the face of the model and then placed it in the position I wanted it to be on the original image.

2. I then carefully cut out all of the flowers that I wanted to use in order to create these edits.

3. Once all of the flowers had been cut out I positioned each of the flowers underneath the cut out face in order for the flowers to look as if they are coming out of the models head.

4. Once all of the flowers were positioned in their desired place I glued them down to create the final images.

My Final Images

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

Overall I am happy with the technique that I used in order to create the final images however I am not fully happy with the final result. Due to the fact that I printed off my photos and then scanned them back into the computer the whole photo lost a lot of quality. This is why the images look slightly duller than expected. I think that to solve this problem I would like to use this technique but try to do it on photoshop in order for me to keep the saturation of the flowers and the contrast in the portrait images. I would also like to use a darker background when progressing this technique because I feel as though this would relate to the third shoot that I completed as the images were very dark. 

Progression 

To progress I would like to incorporate this technique into my work however I would like to focus on a specific area of nature photography rather than going forwards experimenting different ideas. I would like to narrow down my work to eventually create a series of meaningful photos which all link to one another. This is a technique I would like to try and use but in photoshop in order to keep the quality and saturation of the images to a high quality.

Further Experimentation 

After completing the edits for this shoot, I believe that the photos lacked a lot of colour and contrast due to having to print the images and then scan them back into the computer. This resulted in the photos losing quality and colour. Due to this happening I decided to further experiment with this idea in photoshop. 

I opened up the portrait image that I wanted to use in photoshop. In order to make the editing process easier I also opened up each of the images of flowers that I wanted to use. 

Firstly I used the lasso tool to cut out the part of the face that I wanted to duplicate. 

I then selected 'edit', 'copy'. I then clicked cmd+V on the keyboard which pasted the selected area. 

I then used the move tool to place this copied area in the desired position. 

The image above is the final result of the above steps. Throughout the editing process I was able to move this part of the face so the position that it is in does not necessarily have to be the final position.

 I then cut out each of the flowers I wanted to use with the quick selection tool. Sometimes this tool is not detailed enough therefore I was required to use the magnetic lasso tool. In order to make the selections as precise as possible I used the icons above which allowed me to add to the selection and take away from the existing selection. Once the entirety of the flower was selected I copied and pasted the flower by clicking 'edit', copy'. I then clicked back onto the original photo and pasted the image of the flower.  

Once each of the flowers had been copied and pasted onto the portrait photo I was able to move them around and alter the sizing of each image by clicking 'cmd+T' on my keyboard.

Above is the final image. I am happy with how this image came out because I feel as though by using photoshop I was able to overcome many of the problems that I faced when editing these images the first time. I feel as though after exploring this technique I do not think I will be using this specific technique in my final work because I think that the image looks slightly unnatural and very clearly edited. I do like the idea of using flowers and creatively placing them onto portrait images however I would like to explore a different way of doing this.