Cupcakes - Final Shots

These are the final shots from the food shoot. I shot these on the Canon 5D in the studio with 2 softboxes, one above and one acting as a background behind. I also had a small softbox to the right which we lowered to light the underside of the cupcake cases.

Cupcakes - Test Shots

These are the test shots from our Food Photography brief. I took these to try out angles and different depths of field before putting on the chocolate butterflies on top because I realised that the heat from the softboxes were going to melt the chocolate very quickly. We were told to take in a background and any other props. I didnt take in a background because I didn't want to take away from the design on the cupcake wrappers. I borrowed this white plate from a class mate as the reflections stopped the images being as flat as they were when I did them on just white paper.

Elgin Cathedral

These shots were taken at Elgin Cathedral in Scotland. We were given the assignment during our reading week to shoot an old building to show its character. I chose Elgin Cathedral because I had seen a picture of it before an thought the architecture would be good for doing close ups to show the material and textures of the building which would show the character. Unfortunately when I went there, which was also the only day of sunshine there was out of the 9 days I was up in Scotland, I found out that the cathedral was closed. It was supposed to be open but it wasn't with no explanation. As a result of this I had to shoot through the gates and couldn't get up close to the building. I was also using the 18-55mm lens and because of the width between the bars on the gates I could only move so far left and right.

I chose these two shots because the first image, the general view, had nice colours from the leaves and I liked the reflections in the river. I have noticed that my focus is not as accurate as I would of liked it so if I could go back I would improve it that way. Over the course of this degree thats something I would really like to achieve, being able to spot where the focus is and play around accordingly as alot of the time I think everything looks in focus on my camera screen but in reality when uploaded I notice that the picture is not always as sharp as it could be. I chose the second shot because I liked the symmetry of the gates. I also think these two shots best showed the character of the building.

Royal Armouries, Leeds

For our second assignment as part of our Skills for Meeting Client Briefs module, we took a trip to The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. In preparation for this brief we had to check out the weather conditions and if we had the time, go to the building beforehand to get an idea of the scale and location of it. Our brief was to "undertake a range of image captures that best convey the style, construction materials and character of the new and old constructions".
We met at 10am and on arrival the skies were boring white clouds with no sunshine coming through. As the day went on the sun came out but it was moving quickly around the building. The majority of the building was also flat grey so the photo opportunities were slim when we first arrived. I shot all my pictures on my Canon 450D with the standard kit lens which is 18-55mm simply due to my lack of equipment. By 1 o'clock the sun had been around the majority of the building and as I only had a 2GB Memory Card I had filled it up quickly so I left then. However on seeing my fellow classmates pictures, those that stayed later than 1pm, I think I could of stayed a bit longer. I couldn't stay til night to get night shots but if I had waited maybe another hour I couldn't of taken some shots with better skies to them.

I chose the 2 shots because I thought they best fit the brief. I did take full shots of the buildings but I liked these better as the top image conveys what is inside the building and I liked the depth of field on it. At this point I had a eureka moment on how to create the depth of field as shown with my lens so I liked the photo for that too as I didn't take many shots with depth of field as I took this picture not long before my card was full. I chose the second image because I liked the sheen on the sign and I liked the different lines of the building which are shown. I converted these to black and white purely because of the grey building they were almost black and white anyway.

Our First Studio Practice

This is my first attempt at a product shot. The main photo is my personal favourite as I think it shows more detail in the product. This one took the most time to get though. I tried moving the lights to change the highlights on the can by lowering the soft boxes, lowering the camera and a range of different techniques. I learned from this that there is other ways of highlighting more of your subject rather than using more lights and just moving them around. The smaller shots were mainly for me to show a different perspective on the can and it gave me the chance to try different apertures and depths of field.

The set-up I used for this was one small soft box on the right side, and one A3 piece of white card on the left. I also used another piece of white card on the top but that didn't reflect much light back onto the product. The camera was the studio's Canon 5D.

First Post!

Hello, I'm Jayne and I'm an 18 year old photographer currently based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. I have just moved here from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to attend a Foundation Degree in Commercial Photography which will span over the next 2 years. I decided to do a photography course because my main goal is to become a cinematographer and to be a succesful cinematographer I have to be able to understand and take successful portraits. I decided to move to Wakefield to gain some independance and because this course had traits which were not on offer on any of the courses available in Aberdeen. I was drawn to this course because it not only teaches you how to take photos it will also teach us about the photographic industry. Over this two years this blog will act as a place for me to receive critique from professional photographers on the work I will be doing during this course. From this I hope to gain an understanding of where I am in my own personal development within the photography industry and so I can reflect on my development as I go through the course.
As yet, I have some experience in photography and so I have high hopes that this course will provide me with a chance to grow in both my technical knowledge and personal style. To date, I have attempted a few stylised portraits and landscapes but they have both been attempts in genres and styles I don't particular want to do, I have done them due to my resources. This course should therefore give me the opportunity to try out different styles to find which suits me best. I also hope to go on to study Cinematography and so as I learn photography here I want to try out things such as Stop Motion Animations etc, mixed media, which could also go towards my showreel.