Final Evaluation of my project

I am really pleased with my final project and think the magazine i designed has worked really well. I wanted to use two sets of images to add a contrast from the outdoor shots into a studio set-up. I decided to do this by having the first section in black and white and the studio side in bold colour. I did have a few problems during this project, which include:
- availability of models - i often had to work my time schedule around them and when was best for them. This often to led to weather problems, i resolved this by having several different locations that where suitable and depending on which model was available and also the weather conditions would depend on the location and time of day. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to use a professional model for the second photo shoot. This was really helpful as she felt very comfortable in front of the camera and knew which poses worked well and those which didn't. With the models i spoke to them and gave them a brief on what i wanted to achieve. I gave them images which i had found inspiration and they worked from these to create new positions as a team. I asked them not to smile as i felt that smiling on fashion shots can cross a line between fashion and catalogue modelling.
- camera problems - after having the sensor on my camera cleaned incorrectly leaving smear marks on the sensor i had to re-shoot my studio shots as the majority of the photographs where unusable. This was very annoying for me as i could see that the photographs where strong but the lines on them made them poor quality and therefore unuseable.
- printing problems - the website i used had a quite poor layout system and because i had some a3 images seperated onto having each half on an a4 piece i had to work out whether the pages would link up. I did the first print up wrong and had to re-order it but there where a few changes i wanted to make.
My magazine in 30 pages, as some of the images are double pages i have probably used around 24 images. Because i wanted my magazine to be used in a fashion magazine such as asos i incoprated some examples of text, i didn't do this on all of the images as i didn't want to change my project into a piece of media but at the same time i wanted to give examples of what could be used. I therefore felt that i used the perfect amount of images as i wanted to show different examples of the skills i learnt. For example i developed on my studio skills, my outdoor shots, working with different types of light and also my photoshop knowledge and use of text was also developed. I feel if i was to have printed out a selection of images rather than creating a magazine i might not have used as many images as finals but i think the composition of what i have done works well and fits the brief i set myself at the start.

Second studio shoot

Second studio shoot

I experiemented with adding text to some of the images and think these work really well. I tried to create something that stood out without taking the eye away from the photograph. I did this by considering text, size and colour strongly.

Second studio shoot

I had to reshoot these photographs because of problems with the camera, once this was sorted my orignal models where not available so had to use other models. I am really happy with the lighting i used on these photographs. I used a grey backdrop with 4 lights. One soft box, one umberella light, one spotlight and one sidelight. I used the two backlights to alter the colour of the backdrop using differnent gels, and the front two lights to light the model. I experiemented with moving the lighting and also the model together and seperately.This created lots of different effects and alter the colour tones completely.

First studio shoot

The last photograph i experiemented to make the piece resemble something that would be in a magzine but i didn't really like it and think it made the images look a bit poor but it was fun to experiment with.

With the first image i alter the settings to make the photograph something a bit unusual but it just brought out the lines more, however, it does make them seem a bit more purposeful.

I printed up these photographs in a book for myself and they have printed up okay but the high standard i wanted to achieve is not there.

First studio shoot

I used inspiration from different fashion magazines for inspiration for poses, the most useful was probabley asos magazine. I found that there was lots of unusual and orginal poses that my models used.

First studio shoot

Unfortunately these photographs i had a nightmare with but it was resolved but did involve another fashion shoot.

Update

Since my last blog i have completed my project and am now waiting for the prints to come back to me.
I have a bit of a disaster at my first photo shoot, having problems with the camera sensor during cleaning and leaving all photographs with smear marks all over them. The majority of the photographs where unusable and i had to go back to the studio the following day with different models. The most fustrating thing was that the pictures where fantastic but the lines on them made them unuseable. i will upload some of the images onto here shortly.
After returning the studio i had another successful shoot and experiemented vastly with the lighting, using gels to create different colour effects. I also experiemented with my f number being between 16 and 11 to get slight changes in the colour and tones.I was really happy with the outcome and decided to keep the photographs in colour.
I researched into text and image quite heavily and used some text upon some of the pictures and edited them slightly using photoshop.
As i wanted to create a magazine i used the site www.lulu.com and found it really useful. The layout was very vague and i did have to order my book twice, because of a printing fault and am still awaiting this second book. The pricing was very reasonable costing around £15 including delivery.

Studio research

The Pringle image is one of my favourites. I like the akwardness of the models arms teamed with a face full of attitude. I also like the use of text and think that the positioning really adds to the outcome.

Studio research

I decided to go ahead with the studio shoots and have researched into some studio fashion shoots. I found this helpful for positioning of the camera and the model. I also wanted to look at the finished editted version and look at the use of text within the frame.