Shoot 7

Shoot 7

Plans for my shoot

Artist Influence - Mike Golding

I have been influenced by Mike Golding's London tube photography when completing this shoot. Mike Golding takes a wide range of photos using many different camera angles and perspectives. For this shoot I have been specifically inspired by the two images above. These two photos involve the actual train station itself rather than the train or the people within the station. For a lot of my project I have captured photos of the business of London stations however I feel as though it would be interesting to take some photos of the actual station itself. In the photos above I like the fact that the images are in colour. I think that this is interesting because it draws your attention to certain elements of the photo for example in the second image that is located above the green fire exit sign draws you into that specific part of the photo. When using black and white this is something that you cannot do. 

Contact Sheet

The aim for this shoot was to capture an underground station. For a lot of my shoots I have focused on the business of stations however I thought it would be interesting to focus on the station itself and  the different elements that an underground station has, I feel as though these images will contrast very well with photos of stations with a lot of people because in these images you are able to see the architecture itself. An unsuccessful element of this shoot for me was the camera settings. Due to photographing in quite dark and dull environments I used the flash in order to capture some of my images and I feel as though this made some of the photo over exposed in certain areas. This was something that I did not realise until I was able to look at them on a slightly larger scale. 

My Best Images

1/6     F/4     ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the symmetry that has been created from the escalator and the signs that are on each side. I also like the way in which the photo adds an element of mystery as you cannot see below the escalator.

1/6    F/4    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because when taking this photo I was on the escalator. I then decided to use a slightly longer shutter speed to make the image slightly out of focus. I like the effect that this gave because I feel as though it represented the quick movements of people rushing through train stations. I think that this photo reflects Mike Golding's photo of an escalator because they both involve leading lines.

1/4    f/4    ISO 200

I have chosen the above image as one of my best because I like the incorporation of movement from the train. I like the way there is no movement on the platforms however the train is going by. I also like the composition of this image because I feel as though the arch frames the train and the people standing on the platform. I feel as though this focuses your attention to this areas of the photo.

1/60    f/4    ISO 200

I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the way the photo almost creates an illusion. The curved walls focuses your eyes to the centre of the image. I also like the use of colour on the posters that are on the wall because I feel as though this compliments the dull interior of the station.

Images that require improvement

1/60    F/4    ISO 200

The image above requires improvement because I feel as though the foreground of the image is slightly too light. This is because when taking this photo I used the flash. This made the background of the image too dark. Although this is something that could be altered in photo shop I feel as though the composition is not as I would have wanted it. This is because I was not exactly in the centre of the doorway.

1/60     F/4     ISO 200

This photo requires improvement because I used a flash when taking this. The area that I was taking photos was very dark and did not have any natural light. When using the flash this made the foreground of the photo slightly too bright and washed out the background of the photo making it very dark.

Camera Settings and Equipment

In order to complete this shoot I used a canon eos 400d. I did not use a tripod to capture this shoot because I wanted to take photos from a range of angles and I felt as though it would be more beneficial to me to use the camera freehand. Whilst shooting my camera settings slightly ranged. I used a shutter speed of 1/4 to 1/60. The shutter speed altered depending on the location I was in when taking the photo. When I was in slightly darker environments I had to slightly increase the shutter speed to let slightly more light into the camera. I used an aperture of f/4 throughout the shoot. In some situations this was slightly lowered to f/3.5 in order to increase the size of the lens opening. Throughout this shoot I struggled to take photos that had an even exposure due to the dark areas that I was photographing in. This was why I used a flash in some of my images however due to the environment being so dark this overexposed the foreground of the photo and made the background too dark. I used ISO 200 throughout the shoot . This was because the area was dark. Although I could have increased this slightly, this would have decreased the quality of the photos and I felt as though I did not need to increase this.

A03

My main inspiration for this shoot has been Mike Golding's London tube photography. He takes a wide range of photos from many different perspectives however some of his images mainly focus on certain elements of a train station. An example of this is his image of escalators in a tube station. I liked this idea because I though this would be an interesting shoot as a lot of my shoots have consisted of focusing on the business of London train stations. I wanted to focus on the actual stations themselves. I have also been influenced by the colour within his photos. He does not use black and white photos which I think is interesting because by using colour the photographer can draw your attention to specific areas of the photo. I did some research on photography editing using black and white and colour and I found the image below. I thought that this was very interesting because the photographer wants your eyes to be drawn to the flowers and bringing out the colour makes you immediately focus on this element of the photo. I like the idea of popping out on colour within the image therefore this is something that I have tried to do within my edits. I wanted to contrast the black and white images with some colour.  

Edits

The first edits that I created I only overlayed two images and added a grain to the images. I then decided that I wanted to go beyond this idea and add an extra element.

1. Firstly I overlayed the image of the fire exit sign over the top of the other image. I then lowered the opacity to about 35%.

2. I then selected the background layer and altered it to black and white.

3. In order to create this edit I selected 'edit' then 'transform'. I then ensured that I selected 'warp'. I then dragged the image to the desired position that I wanted.

My Final Images

Progression

To progress further I would like to expand upon this editing idea. I feel as though I want to take some photos in a busy station and then also take some photos close up to different signs within the station. Rather than just overlaying the photos I would like to experiment slightly more with photo shop and add in some different ideas and techniques that I have not yet tried.