Evaluating - Theme 2

Evaluate how well you did
I am pleased with how my building images turned out, particularly the use of unusual viewpoints to create perspective and the colours and textures captured. I also really like the evening light in the photos in Bath.
What could you do next time to improve?
Perhaps take a wider variety of buildings into consideration, such as castles and get more of the close up detailed type of images. Also attempt more indoor shots where the lighting conditions would be totally different.
Did you have the right equipment?
Architectural photographers often use a wide angle lens or even a fish eye. As with theme 1, i was using my compact so changing lenses was not necessary. In order to get interesting images without different lenses, i made sure i chose an unusual viewpoint to take it from to create perspective.
Did you choose the right viewpoint?
As i didn't have a tripod, sometimes my position was dictated to by needing something to lean on to get a crisp shot. Where this occurred i had to use a bollard or wall and this then restricted my choice of viewpoint. The result of this was that in some images there were elements in unfortunate positions, such as shop signs.
Is your composition strong?
The images in theme 2 generally required more cropping than the tree photos, so my composition may not have been as strong. However, it might just have been that there are more distractions in built up areas than natural landscapes!
A note about people
The main difference between my images and the ones i researched is the people. None of the research images have people in shot, whereas quite a few of mine do. Obviously in an ideal world you could have the street to yourself without people wandering into view constantly, but in a tourist spot like Bath that isn't going to happen very often. In some of the images the people are a distraction, but in others i feel they give a sense of scale to the buildings, movement due to the slow shutter speed used and also adds a busy atmosphere to the city centre photos.

Evaluating - Theme 1

Evaluate how well you did
I am pleased with the tree images i captured, as i was able to cover a range of different colours, textures, shapes, angles, light and depth of field.
What could you do next time to improve?
Perhaps a greater range of lighting conditions, for example, more variation in the time of day. Another aspect i could have incorporated was a panoramic. I could also have experimented with a longer shutter speed to show movement of the foliage in some of my images, although without a tripod that would have been quite difficult.
Did you have the right equipment?
As i was using my compact i didn't have a choice of lens to think about. If i had been using a DSLR i would most likely have used a combination of wide angle and macro. As it was i switched between the macro setting on my compact and made use of the zoom where appropriate.
Did you choose the right viewpoint?
I think overall i chose the right viewpoint. There were some which were discarded as i'd included too many distractions, but i am happy with the majority.
Is your composition strong?
Overall i think my composition was quite accurate as there wasn't a huge amount of cropping to do with the chosen images. I made sure to consider the rule of thirds were appropriate and lead in lines to create perspective.

Choosing Final Images - Theme 2

These are the images that have been chosen for the building theme. These were chosen from several different shoots.

The images that didn't make it to the final ten were discarded for various reasons. One example being that there would have been a fair amount of retouching work to do to remove distractions such as a shop sign. This was the case with the street image below.

The other main reason was that there were too many similar images. For example, I took quite a few on a visit to a local church, which became a little repetitive in content. So although there wasn't anything wrong with them exactly, the most interesting were chosen above the rest. An example of the kind of image that was left out is below.

The final ten cover a variety of ways of photographing buildings.

Image 1 was chosen for the way the light shone through the columns and the line created by the buildings.
Image 2 again this was about the light shining from the beautifully shaped windows.
Image 3 was chosen as i liked the perspective created by the position of the camera and the carved ladder.
Image 4 was a bit different with the bollard in the immediate foreground and the archway blurred behind.
Image 5 used the simple composition and lack of colours of a leaded window.
Image 6 used bright colours, textured glass and curved lead to create a close up detail shot.
Image 7 was chosen for the unusual viewpoint, position of the passing cloud and the frame created.
Image 8 is about the texture of the bricks and the strong shape created by the corner of the wall.
Image 9 was chosen for the interesting angles the roofs make with the spire in the centre.
Image 10 was chosen for the way the archway framed the city.

Choosing Final Images - Theme 1

These are the images that have been chosen for the tree theme. These were chosen from several different shoots.

The images that didn't make it to the final ten were discarded for various reasons. One example being that there would have been a fair amount of retouching work to do to remove distractions such as mud. This was the case with the leaf image below.

The other main reason was some of the images were generally less striking, perhaps with less interesting lighting conditions or content too similar to what had already been chosen. An example of this can be seen below. 

The final ten cover a variety of ways of photographing trees.

Image 1 was chosen for the interesting sky detail and shape of the tree.
Image 2 was chosen to make use of macro to show the detail in a leaf.
Image 3 shows focus on colour and leaf shape.
Image 4 uses a tree to frame a scene.
Image 5 is an example of a silhouette.
Image 6 was all about the graphic shape of the branches and the contrast against the sky.
Image 7 was from an unusual viewpoint, focusing on bark texture and the sunlight above.
Image 8 shows a different way of lighting.
Image 9 was kept as a simple composition to focus on the colours.
Image 10 was about showing the branch shape, the sun on the foliage and the colours.

Comparison with Research - Theme 2

The image at the top is by Nadia Mackenzie. I liked the use of structure to create a frame for the viewer. I chose a viewpoint which enabled me to make an unusual frame.

 

The image above is by Mark Fiennes. I loved the use of light to draw attention to the building's structure. I attempted to do the same in this image with the lit columns.

 

The image above is by Nick Meers. This is another example of the use of framing in architectural photography. My image attempted the same using the archway.

 

The image above is by Ashley Franklin. I liked his use of perspective which made the building tower over the viewer. I decided to attempt a similar image with the same type of architecture.

 

The image above is by Antony Weller. I liked the way this image showed the textures of the building material. Although in his image it has been carved in this way, i chose an example of weathered texture instead.  

Comparison with Research - Theme 1

Here are some examples of how i used the research to influence my own work.

The image on the left is by Tony Howell. This photograph inspired me to look for eye catching colours in the local landscape. Although the compostition is totally different, it was the colour that i found striking in his work.

The image on the left is by Jeremy Walker. After seeing this i wanted to try and capture a backlit tree which showed the shape of the foliage. Although the conditions and time of day were not alike, i still think the concept of the light worked.

The image on the left is by John Potter. I liked how the shape of the tree dominated the picture. I attempted to recreate this by choosing a nicely shaped tree with contrasting sky behind it.

The image on the left is by Andrew Lawson. It is all about the shape that the knarled tree branches make. Although mine is a brightly coloured version i still liked the shape the trunk and branches created.

The image on the left is by David Noton. I loved the way the light shone through the trees and reflected off the water. Although taken at a different time of day, this is my attempt at sunlight peering through foliage.