Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation

The topic I focused on within this exam was land use, the idea that I had behind this topic was to compare man-made and natural land uses to show how they both have negative and positive effect on the world. I wanted to present my images in a way where it was obvious which land use is considered as negative or positive. When I began to edit the images it became clear of the atmospheres that I wanted to present. The main areas that I investigated within the exam period was Waltham Abbey which included more natural landscapes, I also looked at Stratford which included more cityscapes. I took these two locations from my preparatory shoots because I think they worked best when exploring the different types of land use. I believe that I have successfully shown how both natural and man-made landscapes are visible in the world but also how they work together to make up the world. When comparing these shoots to my preparatory shoot I believe that my work has developed significantly because I have presented an expanded response to land use and have focused more on the computer and physical experiments which has refined my work. The prior research I carried out regarding photographers and experiments has been significant in my work because it has helped me establish a meaningful response to the exam topic. 

In my preparatory shoots I carried out different research regarding photographers and examples of techniques which I have carried on within my exam shoots. I have presented the main photographers the have influenced my work within my work diaries. The famous photographers that I have looked at were John Davies, Eric De Mare and Ansel Adams. These photographers are all very similar because they look at the negative effects that man-made land uses have placed on the environment. I have also looked at a small photographer called Ian Egner who looks at light trails by moving vehicles, his influence hasn't been as great as the other photographers but he has helped me create a technical approach. Arian Behzadi and Martin Dietrich influenced the approach I took to computer and physical experiments Below are a comparison with the photographers images and the images that I have taken...

John Davies

The first image is from John Davies and the second image is one of my own. There is a clear similarity of the two images, the main idea I took from Davies was to produce the idea that the man-made land uses are a negative place. In a way I believe that I have come to this judgement better than Davies as my image included much more negative tones which emphasises that the man-made landscapes are a negative place. The composition of our images are also similar because they both have been taken from a bridge looking over a cityscape. John Davies has been a positive influence on my work throughout the whole project because of his use of landscape photography and the atmospheres he creates within them.

Eric De Mare

These two images don't necessarily look similar like the images before but the ideological approach is similar. In the majority of Eric De Mare's images he shows man-made objects behind natural sources, this is what I have achieved in my image as the trees are in the foreground of the image and the man-made sculpture is in the background. Eric De Mare and John Davies are very similar photographers and they both have had the same influence in my work. I followed similar compositional factors of both photographers and took both of their ideas of creating negative atmospheres around the man-made land uses. 

Ansel Adams

This is a comparison of Ansel Adams image and my image. Adams focuses more on the natural landscapes whereas the other photographers that I have looked at show the man-made land uses more clearly. He also photographs man-made land uses but tho hasn't been the main focus of his work that I have looked at. In a way I have also looked at his composition because I have included a tree similar to the way he did in his image. The main factor that I have taken from Ansel Adams is his use of the zone system, this has helped when editing my images in black and white because I have included some of the different zones in my images. An image of the zone system can be seen below...

Ian Egner

The main influence I have taken from Ian Egner is use of light trails produced by moving cars. I chose to follow this approach because it widens the aesthetic of the image and shows how this type of land is used constantly. The scale of the light trails in the images show how busy the roads are showing how the land is used. I also experimented with the same settings as his photographs by using a longer exposure time to capture a bigger scale of light trails. In my work diaries and the final pieces post it shows how Ian Egner's influence is visible in my work.

Martin Dietrich influenced a computer experiment that I produced in my final pieces. Dietrich focused on the double exposure effect which is what I incorporated. As discussed in my second work diary I didn't look at this photographer for his ideological approach because he looked at documentary photography whereas I am looking at landscape photography. An example of his image and my image can be seen below...

With regards to the way I have produced some of my images I had to learn some more technical approaches and think about the aesthetic approach I was going to present. The main technical approaches I had to use were the changes of the camera settings because I took images at different points in the day and I also produced images where the settings needed to be different. When produced the light trials I needed to change the settings to create a higher exposure time so that the light trails would be visible. One of these images with a screenshot of the settings can be seen below...

I also experimented with different ways to present my images using physical and computer experiments. The main physical experiment I have used to present my images is the water colour approach. I created a water-colour wash and scanned it into the computer and layered it onto one of my images. A few of these images can be seen in the final pieces post. This links to the aesthetic approach I carried out and shows how I am continuously refining and developing my images to create different outcomes. A water-colour image can be seen below...

As well as using a watercolour wash to manipulate the colours within my images I also used the photo filters within photoshop to create different coloured outcomes. By producing these images it shows how I am changing the atmospheres within the images, the images presented below don't necessarily relate to land use with editing but it develops the aesthetic approach I am taking...

I also carried out a physical experiment where I printed one of my images off onto watercolour paper and left it outside overnight to see how it affected the image. I chose to use an image of a man-made land use because I wanted to show how although the man-made land uses can be considered as dominating they can still be changed by the natural sources. The physical image follows below...

I also carried out a physical experiment to merge two images together, I chose to merge two images from the Waltham Abbey shoot, one of the road image and another of the natural landscape. I carried out this experiment by cutting out the two images diagonally and sticking them together it widens my idea of how the natural land uses and the man-made land uses combine to make up the world. This physical experiment can be seen in my preparatory shoots and in some of my other components. To get this idea I researched Arian Behzadi, this can be seen in my first work record. The physical experiment can be seen below...

Overall, I believe that I have presented a meaningful response to the exam topic I have created a body of work that is all related to land use. The areas where my work is strong are the physical and computer experiments I have carried out because they show how I am continuously refining and developing my work to increase the approach to land use. The images I have created as a whole are strong because they show a clear comparison of man-made and natural land uses. I think I have related my work to the photographers I have researched well because their influences can be seen throughout my final pieces. An area where I need to improve is an experimentation that I commented on in my preparatory shoots of  a 360 image. I was planning on creating a 360 panoramic image for each of these shoots but I attempted to create it but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, if I had more time I would've gone back to these two locations and took more images to create this experiment. Throughout this project of land use I have improved my work as to begin with the work I was producing wasn't to the best standard. The images I have presented in these shoots have all been to good quality because I had a chance in my preparatory shoots to experiment with camera settings and approaches that I would take in the exam shoots. The two locations that I looked at helped establish the difference between man-made and natural land uses, Waltham Abbey helped me establish the natural land uses and Stratford helped establish the man-made land uses. My main idea for these shoots was to produce images that compare the natural and man-made land uses with negative and positive atmospheres which I strongly believe that I have achieved. 

Final Pieces

Final Pieces

Land use from hannahvallance27

Work Record 2; Stratford

Work Record 2; Stratford:

Overview of Shoot:
This shoot I have carried out in Stratford also contains images of the area during the day as well as during the night. Shooting at these two times during the day gives me more of a chance to compare what the locations are like at these different times. As well as this it also gives me a chance to compare what this location is like at night with what Waltham Abbey is like at night. The reason I have taken photos during the night and the day is because I want to show how there are some land uses that are only active during the night and some that are only active during the day. By shooting at Stratford it also opens up the discussion for the different land uses that tare found there compared to the land uses in Waltham Abbey. Stratford contains more land uses that are man-made which can also be compared to the natural ones in Waltham Abbey.

Contact Sheet:
Below I have created a contact sheet which displays all of the images that I have taken within this shoot. I have annotated these images by highlighting the ones I won't use or I don't like in red and the ones I do like and will potentially use are highlighted in green.

Straight Images:

Below are some of the images that I have taken within this shoot that I believe are the best or ones that require some more improvement.

Best Images:

This image was taken near the Olympic Park Stadium just outside of Westfield in Stratford, I chose to take it in this way because I wanted to make a direct link between the natural elements and the man-made elements. The ArcelorMittal Orbit slide acts as the main focus in this image and can be considered to fit in like one of the trees because of its height and shape. I chose to shoot it from this angle because I didn't want there to be no other elements within this image. I think this relates to land use because it shows how the land is used in a positive way with regards to nature but it can also be considered as negative due to the man-made sculpture which ruins the natural landscape. To take this image further I am going to edit the image in Photoshop and make it black and white to add an effect on the atmosphere like Ansel Adams does.

I took this image from a bridge which was looking out onto this city line, it shows the stereotypical factors that we would usually find in a cityscape because it includes a road, a train track and skyscrapers. This image can be used to show a clear comparison between the landscapes I took in Waltham Abbey of nature as they show two completely different views. This can be related to land use because in a way it shows a negative approach to land use because of the lack of nature in the image. This is a stereotypical image of London, there are always cars, roads and big buildings around to fit in with the norm and what people associate with London. I can take this image further by changing the atmosphere by making it black and white or by merging it with one of the images from the Waltham Abbey shoot to show how the two landscapes contrast. 

This image was taken from the same place as the image above but it was taken at a different time, I chose to take a similar image at different times because this helped when establishing the difference between the daytime and the nighttime. From looking at both images it shows how the night time image looks more alive because of the lights within the image whereas the daytime image looks like there is nothing going on apart from the two cars in the corner. As I mentioned in the image above this is a stereotypical London landscape which included skyscrapers and roads which link to the man-made aspects of land use. Similar to what I have mentioned in the previous images there are a lot of experiments that I can carry out with this image such as using the photo filters in Photoshop to manipulate the images in this way. 

This image was also taken in the same place as the previous images, I wanted to capture the ArcelorMittal Orbit slide in the dark because of the way it lights up as this would prove to be an aesthetically pleasing image. This can also be considered as a stereotypical London image because of he big buildings we can see and the roads and paths. There is a nature aspect of this image because of the canal and the trees alongside it, this can display how man-made land uses and natural land uses come together to make up the landscape. The main focus of this image is the ArcelorMittal Orbit slide because of the size of it as it dominates all the other buildings in the landscape. I think this image works well on its own but there are various ways that it can be manipulated within computer and physical experiments. 

Images that require some improvement:

This image can be regarded as an image that needs improvement because of the lack of focus within the image. As this was taken at night it was hard to focus on one point within the image which is why there are multiple of the same image within my work which can be found in the contact sheet. To improve this image I could've focused it better which would've resulted in a better outcome, I did manage to do this which is visible in my best images above. 

With regards to land use an image of a stadium would've been helpful when showing how man-made land uses have taken over but I didn't manage to capture an image like this that was in complete focus. As you can se from the image above it isn't in focus, throughout this shoot I did manage to use a tripod but for this image I balanced the camera which explains why this image isn't in focus. If I had achieved an in focus image of the stadium it would've shown how man-made land uses are used for entertainment reasons such as sport.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained investigations informed by research and other sources.

The main aim of this shoot was to capture the man-made land uses around this area and show how they contrast from the shoot I had already carried out in Waltham Abbey. I chose to document these images during the day and at night because this will also show a contrast between the images and how different land uses are used at different times. Within the images I believe I have achieved the best images that I could gather from this area as it shows a clear idea of the cityscape and the natural forms that are found in this area. The main idea in this shoot was to show the man-made landscapes which I believe I have done and they all show a contrast with the landscapes that I took in Waltham Abbey which show no buildings unlike these images. By carrying out this shoot it establishes my response to the exam title more because of how far I have explored land use.

There are a few photographers that have influenced me in this shoot, Ansel Adams plays a big part in influencing me because of his use of the zone system and black and white images which I had already explored in the previous shoot. As well as Ansel Adams, John Davis has also influenced my work. The main idea behind his work is showing how the man-made land uses destroy the natural landscapes that exist in some of these areas. He documents buildings such as power stations which give a negative effect on the images. Davies also uses black and which images which add to the atmosphere that he has created in his work. 

This is an image that was taken by John Davies which shows a train track located on a bridge, under the bridge there is a canal which is in the middle of two buildings. This image shows a lot of buildings and concrete work which is similar to the images I have produced in Stratford, by documenting the man-made buildings within this area it shows how they have a negative effect on the natural landscapes. His influence is obvious in my work because I have documented the negative effect that are visible in Stratford, it will become more obvious when I begin to edit my images black and white which will achieve a similar tonal range to his images.

Another photographer that has influenced my work who is very similar to John Davies is Eric De Mare. He displays his work similar to John Davies by showing the negative effects that the man-made land uses have on the natural landscapes. Eric De Mare also documents his images in black and white which adds to the negative effect on the atmosphere due to the tones he uses. 

This image above was taken by Eric De Mare, it is clear to see that his opinion on man-made land uses is negative because of the tones he uses within his work. There are a lot of darker tones within this image due to the destruction that is going on in the image by the man-made objects. In the image we see a power station which doesn't just have a negative effect on the natural landscape but it results in pollution as well because of the fumes it gives off. In my work it is clear to see that I have agreed with Eric De Mare on the negative effects of land use because of the difference I have shown between the natural and man-made land uses. When editing my images it will become more obvious of the effect that he has on my work because I will attempt to use the same editing techniques as him and show how the black and white effect creates various atmospheres within the image.

John Davies and Eric De Mare have both influenced the images I have taken in this shoot because they both show how the man-made land uses have a negative effect on the images. They also both document their images in black and white which will influence the way I edit the images because it will help establish an atmosphere in the images which will link to the idea of the negative and positive effects of land use. 

Another photographer that has been a positive influence on my work is Martin Dietrich, the way he takes his images isn't what influences my work it's the way he presents it. He uses a double exposure effect which incorporates two images into one which is am effect I would like to follow. An example of his image can be seen below...

As you can see the ideas he has within his images is much more documentary whereas my ideas are related to landscapes but this isn't the main influence he has on my work. The way he has presented this image is what has attracted me to his work because I think I could work well with this idea. To follow his images I want to use a cityscape image and a landscape image, with these two images I want to merge them together using Photoshop and hopefully it will result in the same effect as his images. 

AO2:  Demonstrate your ability to experiment with photographic media, techniques and materials.

To take these images I used a Nikon D3300 which worked well alongside a tripod. As I took images during the day and at night I had to vary the settings I used as one set of settings would not have worked well in both situations. To take the images during the day I used settings at 1/4 seconds, f/18 and ISO 100, these settings worked well in this situation because it showed a wide depth of field due to the size of the f stop, there was no noise created in the images either due to the low ISO. To capture the images at night I used a shutter speed of 1/13 seconds, f/18 and ISO at 1600, these settings worked well at night because it helped create a wide depth of field and also allowed more light in by shooting at a high ISO. Although I used these settings at all times during the shoot there were some images that didn't turn out as well as I had hoped because there were some points where I didn't use a tripod which is why they all didn't work. By taking images at different times in the day it shows how I am refining and developing my work by demonstrating my ability to cooperate with different camera settings. 

Next I took some of these images into Photoshop...

To edit this image I carried out similar steps to how I edited some of the images in the Waltham Abbey shoot. I put the original image into Photoshop and made it black and white, after this I put the pink watercolour wash I created into photoshop as a different layer and used the overlay setting to merge the images using soft light. I think

 this works well with the image because it creates a whole atmosphere in the image because the same colour is used. I chose to combine physical and computer experiments within this edit as it shows how I am refining and developing my work to create better images that will link to my exam topic. The edit doesn't necessarily increase or decrease the images link to land use but it just adds to the aesthetic approach to the image.

I also created two more computer/physical experiments in the same way as the first edit. By editing some of my images in the same way it establishes more of a link between them. 

To begin with I put the original image into Photoshop and made it black and white so the filters would've worked better.  I created 4 filter layers in blue, orange, purple and yellow, I used the paintbrush tool in black to fill the layer and then used the white to build the colour back into the image which resulted in the image above. I chose to create an image link this because it shows how as well as the water-colour effect above the photo filters can result in the same outcome. 

To create this image I used an image from the Waltham Abbey shoot of one of the fields and the image of the cityscape in Stratford. I put both of these images in Photoshop and used the overlay filter to merge the images together using soft light. After this I made the image black and white as it showed the details of the buildings more clearly. I chose to combine a cityscape image and a natural image because this widens my idea of the natural and man-made land uses coming together. By creating this image it shows how Martin Dietrich has had a positive influence on my work. 

This computer experiment I have carried out is a panoramic image, I took 8 images with my camera on a tripod of the location. I put these images into Photoshop and using the photo merge filter I created this panoramic image. The first image and screenshot is in colour but I also edited it in black and white which can be seen below. By creating these panoramas it shows how land is used in this area. In the previous shoot of Waltham Abbey I created a similar panoramic of the land uses there, by having both of these images it enables me to compare how each location displays land use. 

AO3: Reflect critically on your work and progress. 

In this shoot I believe that I have created a body of work which entirely relates to land use. I chose to carry out this shoot so it could be compared to the previous shoot in Waltham Abbey, it can be compared because this shoot focuses purely on the cityscape and the shoot in Waltham Abbey looks at the landscapes. John Davies and Eric De Mare have influenced me in this shoot because they have looked at the negative aspects of the man-made land uses which is what I have attempted to focus on in this shoot. Although I haven't included black and white images in my experimentation section I will be using black and white images in my final pieces. The main images from this work diary that I am looking at follow below...

I think these images above can be used in my final pieces because they all show how land is used in this area. The main idea shown in this shoot is that the man-made land uses ruin the landscape but also that these land uses are very dominating and they take up the majority of the world compared to the natural landscapes. I think the two shoots that I have produced link well together because they show both type of land uses. In the final images I have produced above I have used some experimentation with computer and physical experiments. By including these experimentations it shows how I am refining and developing my work to link to the topic of land use. The photo filters and the watercolour images work the best I think because they show how different colours can be incorporated into the landscapes. Ansel Adams also has an influence on this shoot because of his use of the zone system which I have used when making my images black and white, his work is also very similar to John Davies and Eric De Mare's work. Although Martin Dietrich didn't have a huge influence on my work it is still important to mention him because he helped create one of my experimentation images. I think my idea has become very obvious when carrying out this shoot, I will explain this further in my final evaluation.