Shoot Two
Overview
These are the original images within my second shoot in which I took the images on the beach near a pier on the Headland of Hartlepool; I used a Nikon D3100 camera to take the collection of images. When taking the images for the shoot, I used a variety of techniques to achieve the images in which I think are quite successful. I used a variety of angling techniques, which was very important for this shoot because the angle of view needed to be correct for me to capture the correct reflection in the mirror to make the image successful. I also experimented with the different apertures in the shoot, to vary the depth of field throughout. The techniques I used were mostly to do with using the mirror and so I tried to vary the images within the location I was at, by taking different types of images in different places of the location. The idea of the images in the shoot is the contrast between the area in which the shoot has been taken, which is the beach - a natural place in which man has not taken over or destroyed, and the man made object around, such as the old pier, which will be reflected in the mirror to show the division between nature and man.
I think that this is a successful images, mostly because of the lighting making the image stand out and be more appealing to the viewer because of the way in which the image lights up. The original image had quite a lot of shadows due to the high amount of natural lighting, so to improve the image I edited out most of the shadows. The location is evidently on the beach and the background shows sand dunes with grass on them showing the natural of the area. However in the reflection of the mirror the viewer can see a man made structure of the pier, which distorts the natural landscape and creates the contrast between the natural background and man made reflection. Also, even though the idea of the image is quite serious, the atmosphere created is quite positive, which is again down to the lighting created by the sun.
I think that this image is successful because rather than reflecting the man made objects into the mirror, I have changed the concept to reflecting nature through the mirror to portray the idea of man capturing and taking over nature. As this image is a landscape, I believe it has a successful composition as this version of the image has an equally level horizon - in which I corrected on Photoshop when altering the image to make it more successful. When taking the photo, I made sure there was a little depth of field so that the whole image was in focus. Furthermore, I believe the lighting in the image allows the material in which the pier is made out of, illustrates more detail for the viewer.
This is another successful image from my fifth shoot because of the strong concept behind the image. The angle of view was successful because of the way the pier has been captured in the reflection of the mirror; it makes it look like an image within an image. I also like this image because of the way the whole image is focus, the mirror as well as the background. Also, like the rest of the images in the shoot, the idea of this image is that of the contrast between the background, being naturalistic and the reflection in the mirror being man made objects - in this case it is the pier. I have edited the colours and lighting in this image to make it more successful than the original version, I have also edited out fingerprint marks, which were on the mirror when the image was taken.
I think that this image is successful because as the background of the image is landscape, I have made sure that, when taking the photograph; I have captured the horizon so that it is equal throughout the image. There is a low depth of field meaning that I set the camera to a low aperture - so that the majority of the image is in focus. The metaphorical idea behind this image is that the background of the image represents man, with the man made structure of the pier distorting the natural landscape. This then contrasts with the reflection in the mirror which has no man made scenery in it, just natural landscape, this also represents what the landscape could be like if man was dominated by nature. The lighting used in this image is natural and the original image had shadows but when improving it on Photoshop, I stamped out the shadows to make the image look more natural.
Contact Sheets
