Part A - Take Part

For Part A of my Arts Award: Photography and image editing (photoshop).

This has been useful for my Part D, in which I have used and selected a lot of photography. One of the things I have learnt was about the rule of thirds, which is basically about splitting an image into thirds and making sure that one thing isn't in the centre as it draws the eye to that point and not the rest of the picture. We read images from left to right and around so it's good if points of interest in an image help the eye travel. Another thing I have learnt is how to frame a picture by using things which are around it, as it makes the picture look better.

I have tried to use these ideas in some of the photos I have taken, and have enjoyed experimenting with different shots. I took a lot of photos during my time as a young apprentice at the Site Gallery. The second we started using the studio to do close up portraits. It's most important to focus on eyes in a portrait. If the eye's are out of focus, the image won't look right as we naturally focus on people's eye's when we are looking at them. I enjoyed moving the light around and zooming in the studio to create different compositions. The features of a face became the points of interest to consider in the rule of thirds. It was fun being able to really focus on what I was doing in the studio and I think this gave me confidence to carry on like that outside or 'on location'.

I also took a lot of photos around town. Some were for the photo competition that vicky set and some were documenting what we were doing. This is known as documentary photography. I also took some photos in the studio.

My final project involve myself, my group and friends and family taking a set of 5 photos that I gave instructions on. I then had the task of deciding which photos to use in my final part d project. I tried to think about the ideal shots and the composition but I had to make do sometimes. This is good though as I know I can make better decisions now about photos and I know what looks good or how something can look better.

Photoshop is really useful software I discussed. I got to use it several times over the two weeks and by the time I used it to finalise the images I chose for my final project at the end, I knew how I wanted to improve them. I learnt about general stuff like changing the brightness and contrast to make the image clearer and brighter. Also cropping, (which is good for improving a composition that's not quite right) and things like mirroring an image and putting effects on which I really enjoy. I also like just little changes to images as I like the power of photos for us to believe them. Now I know that all photos are kind of 'framed' as vicky says to suggest what they should mean.

I feel more confident now with a camera and with photoshop!