Evaluation of Unit 29

At the very start of this project I have decided that I want to explore the theme which is 'Mannequin', to make sure that I understand it well. This research was short and easy to do but at the same time it was very helpful because I understood what the theme exactly is and I was ready to start my project. I have gained a lot of inspiration on contemporary as well as historical photographers through the research that I have done. Contemporary photographers including Nick Knight, Marcin Tyszka and Suzanes Heints and some historical photographers including Peter Knapp, Bruce Webber and Steve Heintz. I have also done research of location, and what types of location are good for fashion photography and why. From this research I have gained a lot of inspiration as well as first few ideas of what kind of photo shoot I would like to do in this project based on fashion.

In this project I have done few photo shoots which really helped me to get ideas and also really helped me with my photography skills. I have completed 7 photo shoots in this project. The first one that I did was diptych of subject related to fashion and location which would either contrast with the subject or harmonize with it. This really helped me to think about how I need to think also about my location during my photo shoots, and that I should not only concentrate on the main subject which is really important, but also the background and all the small details. After this I did another diptychs but this time it was mannequin and model, which had to be in the same position and location. This helped me to understand how I need to think about the settings and the lightning while working with small objects and people, which was very useful for the next small photo shoot that I did which was still life photography of jewellery in different location, outdoor as well as indoor. In this photo shoot, i had to think about the settings in the camera as well as depth of field etc. These three tasks were really helpful and I was ready to start my first photo shoot, and then my final photo shoot which was divided into three photo shoots. 

I have found the planning before photo shoot really helpful, I didn't really use a plan in my previous photo shoots, but from now on I am definitely going to plan each of my photo shoot before. It was really helpful because I could plan all the equipment that i will need or any other props and I could also plan the time scale of each photo shoot., which was useful for me as well as the model. Another important thing that I did was the risk assessments and model release forms for each of the photo shoots that I did. 

A lot of my ideas have changed throughout the project. Each task helped me to gain some more and creative ideas about my final photo shoot. After my first photo shoot, where I've dressed my sister up as a doll, I didn't like the photos, mainly because of the location. So I have decided to completely change my idea because I could think of a different location for a doll than a bedroom. I have also done a little bit of an extra research about mannequins as well as bokeh technique which I have found very interesting an I really wanted to experiment a little bit with it. 

If I was to do this again I would try to keep up with all the photo shoot and task to make sure I don't leave my final photo shoots to the very last minute.

My first part of final photo shoot went well. I have dressed my model up, the weather was nice, she was really nice to work with, therefore the photo shoot went really well and I am happy with my final photos from this shoot. The second part of final photo shoot went well as well, but I had to change my location because of the bad weather, so I had to do my photo shoot indoor rather than outdoor, but I have kept my idea of photo shoot as I planned. My third part of final photo didn't work out because of the short amount of time i had, I should have planned them a lot earlier, but I am happy with my other two final photo shoots. 

Overall this project was really interesting. I have learnt few new techniques as well as became more confident with working with models. 

Experimenting with Bokeh technique

I have tried to experiment with the Bokeh technique that I was going to use in one of my photo shoots, but unfortunately it didn't work out very well and I decided not to use it. Bokeh is aesthetic quality of blur produced in the out of focus parts of an image produced by a lens. To try this technique I have been using 50mm lens. 

Settings for the first photo 1/250 sec, f 2.2, ISO 100. Settings for the second photo o.5 sec, f 16, ISO 100. We can really see the difference between these two photos because of the aperture difference between the two photos as well. I also think that the second photo didn't work out properly because it wasn't out of focus as much as in the first photo.


But, because I wanted to try this technique in my photo shoot I had to experiment with this technique with my model in the photos. These are my results: 

Settings for these photos are: 1st - 1/15 sec, f 5, ISO 160. 2nd - 1/160 sec, f 1.4, ISO 200. 3rd - 1/30 sec, f 1.4, ISO 200. I wanted to experiment with these photos and because few pictures that I took before this ones were pitch black, because I wasn't sure what setting to use I have decided to place a laptop in front of my models face which was a really bad idea because it gave us really awful blue light on her face which I didn't want. But one the second picture we can see that I was staring to getting the nice technique in the background. Where as on the third photo my timing was a little bit to long, and I think that's why I came up with photo like this. Another thing is, that in my opinion the lights were a little bit too bright, because when I was trying to increase the shutter speed to make sure I can see my model, the lights were really bright and I was not able to see the technique that I wanted to create. But if I decreased the shutter speed and the light were fine, and I was also able to see the technique of bokeh, then my model was too dark and you could hardly see her face. Therefore I have decided to not use this technique in my first photo shoot.

My final photo shoot

 ROCK !!!

This photo shoot, was very successful. I have gained everything that I wanted and everything came out as I have planned. There was no trouble with model, location or the weather. I am happy with my final photos from this shoot.

Before and after

This is my first choice of final photo. I have decided to change the format of this photo from landscape to portrait. The main reason to do this was that I didn't want the useless background with really high depth of field, and by changing the format I could concentrate more on the hand which is the main subject in this photo. I have also decided to make the photo black and out, with pop out colour of my models hand, which I think made the photo look really more interesting.

In my second final photo, I didn't really have to change much. All I did was cropped out bottom of the photo as well as a little bit of right side of the photo to place the main subject in center. Then I have also changed colours a little bit, to make it look  a little bit more interesting, which I think worked quite well.

 In this photo I have just decided to change the contrast of the photo and play around a little bit with levels in photo shop, to add some lively colours to this picture because the original photo looks very dull.

 In this photo as we can see, I didn't change anything except lighting the photo up a little bit, because in my opinion it was a little bit too dark.

Contact Sheets

REGGAE !!!

Unfortunately this photo shoot didn't go as I have planned it. The weather was really bad and I wasn't able to take these photos in an outdoor location. I am happy with the photos even though I have changed the location from outdoor to indoor. The natural light coming from windows wasn't very good, therefore I had to use a lamp. Overall I have kept to plan as much as I could, all I have changed was the location because of the bad weather conditions.

Before and after

 In this photo I have changed quite a lot. The first thing that I was trying to do was to remove the shadow, to do this I have used a clone stamp tool in Photoshop. I have also played around with levels to see if there's anything that I can do to make this photo look better and then I have decided to do it black and white. But because it looked too boring and the reason of this photo shoot was to present fashion through music I did colour popping of bracelets which present reggae music and also a bit of make up, to make sure the photo is not plain.

 These two pictures, don't have much difference between them, because all I did was decreased the contrast a little bit as well I have darken the photo a little bit. 

 This is another photo from my reggae photo shoot. I have cropped out this photo, to get rid of light switch in the background that I didn't want. I have also removed a little bit of the shadow, again using clone stamp tool and to give the final effect I have overlayed some colours of reggae flag on the whole picture.

In this photo I haven't changed much. All I did was changed the contrast a little bit and made it black and white. 

Contact sheets

Task 3 - planning final photo shoots

Planning my final photo shoot

Developing ideas. Because my first idea in my first photo shoot didn't really work out, mainly because of the location, I have decided to completely change my plan for my final photo shoot in this project. The idea of this photo shoot is to show music through fashion, therefore I have picked three different genres of music; rock, hip hop and reggae.

  

Rock !!!

1. Day & Time. I am going to do this photo shoot in the afternoon because that's when the best natural light is, perfect for taking pictures, in the location that I am planning to do my photo shoot. I am going to do my first final photo shoot on Saturday, 29th of September.
2. Style. In the first part of this photo shoot the theme is rock, therefore I am going to dress my model up as Axl Rose, the member of one of the most famous rock bands, Guns'n'Roses. I have picked this member of this band because he has very strong characteristic and he is very easily recognizable with red head scarf and the sun glasses. I will also dress my model up in black leather jacket because that's what most of the rock band members wear.  
3. Location. I am going to use a simple location for this photo shoot. It is going to be my back garden, because I am going to concentrate more on my model than the background, but it is all going to be done on the background of trees and greenery that is in my back garden. 
4. Time Scale. This first part of my final photo shoot should not take me long, because all I will have to do is just dress her up which will not take me more than 15 minutes, and then place all of the props that I need in the right place which should take me no more than 5 minutes. Then I am ready to place my model in the first position, take few photos to set my camera up and I will be ready to start my photo shoot which should take me up to an hour to do.
5. Lightning. I am only going to use natural lighting in my first part of final photo shoot.
6. Model release form. I will be working with a child therefore I need to make sure I have the model release form singed by her parent.
7. Risk assessment. I will have to make sure that the risk assessment is done as I will have few instruments which will be heavy for my model who's small as well as for me because I need to carry them from upstairs bedroom down to back garden. 
8. Equipment. In this photo shoot I will need quite a few of equipment. I need obvious equipment like camera and two lenses as well as a tripod. For the first part of this photo shoot which is rock I will need an electric guitar and maybe some other instruments. As well as the right clothes for this style.
9. Target audience. My target audience for this photo shoot will be both children and adults. Children because my model is a child as well as adults who listen to rock music because  they might be interested in this as well.
10. Communication of concept. To make sure I present my idea in the right way, I am going to use few equipments that relate to rock music to help my audience understand what kind of fashion style I am presenting in this photo shoot. 

RISK ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE FOR Fashion Project:

Assessment  Reference:	Mannequin	Activity Description:	Photo shoot
Date:	26.09.2014
Student	Marcelina Skrzypczynska	Review Date:	01.10.2014
Assessment Team Members:		Overall Potential Risk Factor:	5
Course Details:	ED Photography
	Level 3	Number of People Exposed:	2
	Year 2	Names of People Exposed:	Marcelina & Zuzanna
Building-Place & Exact Location	Back garden	Is This An Acceptable Risk?

Hazard	Persons At Risk and How	Existing Control Measures	Prob	Sev	Risk Level	Additional Control Measures	Prob	Sev	Risk Level
heavy instruments eg, guitar	model, can drop it while posing with it	Warn model to be careful	2	2	2	Make sure I help her to pick it up/move it	2	1	2

Assessment Conclusion

Overall the photo shoot went well, no injuries or any other harm to either photographer or model with heavy instruments.

             

Hip Hop !!!

1. Day & Time. I will do this photo shoot in the afternoon, on the 3rd of October. 
2. Style. In the second part of the photo shoot, where I am going to be presenting hip hop music through fashion I am planning to dress my model up in a big hoodie as well as loose trousers, that will look a little bit big on her. The colours of the clothing will be either dark or light so that they contrast with the background of the photos which will be colourful grafitties. 
3. Location. Odsal top, BD6. I am going to do this photo shoot in the tunnels, where I can find some graffiti inside. I think that this location of graffiti and a little bit of an Urban climate will perfectly match my hip hop look, because they perfectly match together. I can nicely use the wide range of different types of graffiti, it's nice because it's colourful. 
4. Time Scale. This photo shoot will take me a little bit more time than others. First of all I will need to get my model ready which should take me about 10 minutes, then I need to spend another 5 to 10 minutes to pack all of the equipments that I need. Then my mum will drive us to the location that I will do the photo shoot, which should take us about 10 minutes and then I just need to set up my camera and I will be ready to start my photo shoot.
5. Lightning. The lighting that I am going to use is mostly natural light as well as the lamps that are going to be in the tunnel. 
6. Model release form. I will be working with a child therefore I need to make sure I have the model release form singed by her parent.
7. Risk assessment. I will have to do this risk assessment because I will be away from home in a tunnel, it might be dark.
8. Equipment. The equipments that I am going to need is camera and my two lenses, I will defiantly need a tripod for this photo shoot, so I need to make sure that I don't forget it for my photo shoot. I might also take an extra flash just in case. Another equipment that I will need is some extra clothes and maybe head phones as well as skate board.
9. Target audience. My target audience for this photo shoot will be both children and adults. Children because my model is a child as well as adults who listen to hip hop music because  they might be interested in this as well.
10. Communication of concept. To show exactly what I want to present, which is hip hop music through fashion I will make sure that I ask my model to pose properly. Also I think the background will help a lot in this photo shoot.

RISK ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE FOR Fashion Project:

Assessment  Reference:	Mannequin	Activity Description:	Photo shoot
Date:	03.10.2014
Student	Marcelina Skrzypczynska	Review Date:	04.10.2014
Assessment Team Members:		Overall Potential Risk Factor:	5
Course Details:	ED Photography
	Level 3	Number of People Exposed:	2
	Year 2	Names of People Exposed:	Marcelina & Zuzanna
Building-Place & Exact Location	Back garden	Is This An Acceptable Risk?

Hazard	Persons At Risk and How	Existing Control Measures	Prob	Sev	Risk Level	Additional Control Measures	Prob	Sev	Risk Level
Location	me and model,  surrounding	make sure i'm not doing the photo shoot late	1	2	2	take an adult with me	1	2	2

Assessment Conclusion

Overall the photo shoot went well, no injuries or any other harm to either photographer or model.

Reggae !!!              

1. Day & Time. I am going to do this photo shoot on the weekend, Saturday 4th of October in the afternoon.
2. Style. The style of this photo shoot is going to be based on reggae, and I am going to present it through music. I will mostly concentrate on jewellery, reggae colour bracelets.
3. Location. I am going to use a simple location for this photo shoot. It will be a place next to my house, where there as just two walls and old wooden door. I think it will be interesting to do a photo shoot there. I will also do a make up of my model, with the same colours and her hair style will be a lot of plat.
4. Time Scale. This photo shoot will not be very long. All I need to do is help my model to get ready, mainly to her hair and make up which should not take me longer than 30 minutes. Then I will be ready to set my camera up and start the photo shoot, which should take me up to an hour.
5. Lightning. I am going only to use natural lightning for this photo shoot. 
6. Model release form. I will be working with a child therefore I need to make sure I have the model release form singed by her parent.
7. Risk assessment. I will need to do risk assessment for this photo shoot as well, because I am working with a child.
8. Equipment. I will need obvious equipments like my camera and two lenses, as well as tripod that will be very useful. I will also need the bracelets in the colours of reggae which are green, yellow and green and  I am going to concentrate on them the most in this photo shoot even though my model will be wearing them. 
9. Target audience. My target audience for this photo shoot will be both children and adults. Children because my model is a child as well as adults who listen to reggae music because  they might be interested in this as well.
10. Communication of concept. To show what I want to present I will use jeweller, mainly bracelets, in the colours of reggae and I will make sure that my model smiles in each photo, because that's reggae's image.      

RISK ASSESSMENT TEMPLATE FOR Fashion Project:

Assessment  Reference:	Mannequin	Activity Description:	Photo shoot
Date:	03.10.2014
Student	Marcelina Skrzypczynska	Review Date:	04.10.2014
Assessment Team Members:		Overall Potential Risk Factor:	5
Course Details:	ED Photography
	Level 3	Number of People Exposed:	2
	Year 2	Names of People Exposed:	Marcelina & Zuzanna
Building-Place & Exact Location	Back garden	Is This An Acceptable Risk?

Hazard	Persons At Risk and How	Existing Control Measures	Prob	Sev	Risk Level	Additional Control Measures	Prob	Sev	Risk Level
location	model can fall, stones on ground	tell model to be careful	2	1	1	help her while walking / changing poses	2	1	1

Assessment Conclusion

Overall the photo shoot went well, no injuries or any other harm to either photographer or model.