Self Evaluation Report

Patryk Zarzycki

Self Evaluation Report

This assignment was a great opportunity to find out a little bit more about big photographic events which take place all around the world.  I realized that it is important to be active and keen to get involved in photography-related events. In the first part of the module we worked as a group of four people. We had to research and choose one photographic festival and I think we cooperated well in this task. Our chosen festival was the ‘Unseen Photographic Festival’ in Amsterdam which encourages young both professional and amateur photographers to exhibit their work.

At the beginning I struggled with a choice of my theme. My first concept was to create a series of six images presenting a short movie sequence from early sixties kept in a vintage cinematic style. I wanted to base this concept on American photographer called Alex Prager whose work is strongly influenced by films (Hitchcock’s films etc.) As I was quite sure about the scenario of my series and I was also concerned about the fact whether it’s feasible in a given time so I decided to change my idea. My new theme was ‘People and their passions’ and I felt like it is something I really would like to do as I am passionate about a lot of things this theme in some way would reflect my personality. 

In terms of aesthetic approach my chosen photographer was Joanna Kustra who is a fashion and beauty photographer based in London. I’ve been really impressed by the work she produces for a long time and my aim was to try to emulate those strong vivid colours in my final images.

I’ve done three photoshoots with six models holding subjects of their own choice which relate to their passions. Before I started taking my photographs I did a little bit of research about basic studio lighting setups. To some extent I knew how I wanted my images to look but I had to find out how to setup my lights in order to get satisfied with the results.

Once I chose my final images I was ready to start editing them. My additional concept was to make the objects held by my models look like they are made out of gold to enhance the fact how valuable they are for them and to show that passion is almost our treasure that we all have. In terms of photo-manipulation I changed the background in my images to create a sense of visual continuity. I enhanced a contrast and colours to make them look vivid and strong. I also used dodge and burn tool as well as a 50% grey layer set to ‘soft light’ blending mode to enhance shadows and highlights in my photographs.

6th final Image

I finally managed to finish my last image. My sister is obsessed with phones so I decided to take a picture of her.

Exhibiting my work

In terms of exhibiting my work I would print them on the A1 glossy canvas (as the gold objects are supposed to look shiny) and I would frame them in a thin, black wooden frames. I also would like to have (about 10cm wide) a white border around them so they don’t look like they are squeezed within frames.

More edited images

I am going to submit these five images as my finals. I need one more model which I am currently looking for.

This is a printscreen of my photoshop. I have been even selecting areas between spokes and deleting those areas in order to make the spokes shiny.

First Edited Image

Before

After

This is my first attempt of editing one of my final images. I'am quite happy with the outcome. I decided to go for a blue background as I think it makes a nice contrast with orange/gold props.

Summary after photo shoots

I have five images which are going to be my finals. I need one more image. While I am searching for a model to take the sixth image I can move on to the next stage which is photo manipualtion. My aim is to get the consistent and uniform look of the images to keep the visual cohesion/continuity. I’d like to increase the contrast to boost the vividness of tones and colors. Also I'd like to create the same background for each image (probably using gradient tool in Photoshop) to make all objects look shiny and gold I may use some 'gold shiny textures' from the free internet texture stocks. I also will use dodge and burn tool to increase the highlights to make it look shiny.

Photoshoot 2

This is my set up I used for this session. I used my umbrella as a key light, reflector as a fill light and I placed another light behind the model to get a something like a rim light to separate the subject from the background. As the session was going on I experimented a little bit chaning the angle of lights or distances beteween lights and the model.


Here are some results:

Photoshoot 1

Here are some examples of my first photoshot. I had a cyclist model with his bike. due to the nature of his passion I decided to go for quite dynamic, edgy lighting which gives us more sporty look.

My Theme

 PEOPLE AND THEIR PASSIONS

My theme for this project is 'people and their passion'. I am going to produce a series of six images of people holding an objects of their own choice which will relate to their passions or interests. It is a great concept to me as I am passionated about a lot things and a word 'passion' has an extremely huge value for me. To make my work look even more interesting I am going to make those object look like they are made out of gold ( I'm planning to do it in photoshop at the stage of post-production). I will need six different models fot this assignment and I hope I will manage to get them.  In terms of technical aspects I will have a chance to test my own mini studio which I am currently building in my own room. I have one flash head with beauty dish and one speedlite with an reflective umbrella the  so I will try to make most out of those two light sources. I'm hoping to get some satisfying results and meet the brief criteria as well as my own expectations.

Advanced Photoshop- Great Article

I've just found a great article about professional retouching tips and I've found it very usefull. The are some scans of the article.

Interview with Joanna Kustra

 Quote from the interview with Joanna Kustra


....''How would you describe yourself as a photographer?
There are two things which are equally important to me as a photographer – light and subject.
The perfect lighting is very crucial as it creates the desired mood. I like to think that my photography is simply like painting with light. Probably that’s why most of the time my inspiration comes from paintings.
I am also a great fan of beauty and aesthetics. I love to capture people showing their most attractive side, obviously, from my subjective point of view.''....


source: http://www.slrlounge.com/slr-lounge-interviews-joanna-kustra

Changing my chosen photographer

I've decided to change my photographer I as really liked her work and she really inspired me.

Joanna Kustra is a London based photographer who specializes in beauty, fashion, portrait and kids photography. Her adventure with photography began at the age of 22 and in a short time from a hobby developed into a true passion and a way of living. She a self-taught photographer, from the very beginning fascinated with people, portraits and fashion photography.

When I saw Joanna’s work for the first time I was amazed by her painterly style and I quickly realized that this work really fits my aesthetic preferences. I am fascinated by her use of colours and light. Influenced by her work I decided to get my first flash head with beauty dish and to organize own little studio in my room. Currently I am at the stage of experimenting with different light setups and shooting against variety of different backgrounds. Lately I have understood that good portrait can be only taken once we comprehend how the important the light is and how massive impact is has on the overall appearance of an image. I’ve not had a chance to gain a much of an experience in this field yet but I feel that working with light has already became my passion. I’m going to carry on with developing my photographic lighting skills and maybe someday I will find my own style which will represent me as a photographer.

I think that my current activity (working in my own home-made studio) quite fits the brief we have been given for this module. I thought that I could produce a series of six portraits containing visual and thematic cohesion and which in some way will visually emulate Joanna’s work.

One of the main aspects of approaching Joanna’s work will be the process of post=production. I’m sure it is also a key element of Kustra’s work which makes it memorable and recognizable. I’ve been interested in retouching and photo manipulation for a quite long time and I think I can tell that I am familiar with Photoshop and all its’ tools and features. I’ve been always interested in work mad by contemporary photographer such as Jill Greenberg or American photographer Dave Hill. Their work is based on the lately very well-known HDR technique (high dynamic range).  I can’t really tell the reason why I always edit my photographs. Maybe it’s because of lack of experience and I’ve never taken a shot which wouldn’t require any editing or maybe I’m just never satisfied with the quality and faithfulness of tones and colours which digital camera provide, or maybe it’s just both. Nevertheless, I really enjoy photo-editing and and it’s really relaxing activity after every photo-shoot.

All my ideas and further development of the project will be frequently uploaded on my blog.