SHOOT FIVE PLAN

For my fifth shoot I am travelling to Birmingham again to shoot one of my friends bands Echoes Of Eden, they are more energetic musicians therefore I will be able to collect a bunch of more kinetic images. For this shoot I am taking the 70-200mm lens in order to capture less grainy and more effective images that I will feel more confident about.
Due to the energy at this concert I will struggle to be able to shoot on a fast enough shutter speed without affecting the exposure, therefore this lens will come in handy and I would be unable to work well enough without it

PRESENTATION IDEAS

For the presentation of my final body of work I have decided I want to arrange something more creative, in previous projects I have kept my layouts simple and easy and I think it would be a good experience to push myself further and attempt something more creative and push myself further.
I think the use of brojken vinyl records will be a great addition to my final prints as it links the the theme of my project whilst also making my mounts more dramatic and artistic...something that my previous work has lacked.
I have attempted some trials with the broken vinyl idea and it has worked greatly (see next page) and therefore I have decided to use it on my final pieces.
I have also been experimenting with newspapers for my titles as this will link to how the musicians are shown in the eye of the media and therefore will link to my concept greatly, whilst also looking more professional and aesthetically pleasing.

ANALYSING FOUR BEST IMAGES SHOOT ONE AND TWO

I have chosen this image of Sam to be included in my four final images as I like the use of symmetry and also the use of props. It is clear in his body language that he is powerful and the imagery of the guitar highlights his profession in the music industry. Also, the lighting used is edge/split lighting which I will use in my final portraits as I think it is the most dramatic lighting technique and it fits the theme of my body of work completely. Due to this, I may need to use off-camera flash when shooting band members out of the studio due to the low lit settings and lack of natural lighting.

This next image, I feel, is a more natural image from this shoot due to it being candid. Yet also, once again, the use of edge/split lighting means it appears more dramatic (especially once edited in black and white) The guitar has a less prominent position in this image and appears more subtly which I think works effectively. I have used rule of thirds as my composition for this image which I think works effectively as it creates the right amount of negative space. I feel like this would be an effective type of portrait to shoot for my final body of work.

My final image I have chosen to represent this shoot I find fits the genre perfectly as it is less staged than the others and is more of an action candid shot. The compositional technique I have used is rule of thirds and the lighting appears more natural, with all of Sams features being highlighted. I think him looking at the guitar instead of the camera illustrates his love for music and the passion in this genre yet also how relaxed he seems to be when performing...a trait I would like to include in all of my shoots.

My first image I have selected for this shoot is similar to the last image in shoot one. I believe the candid images are more effective and therefore got Molly to be playing her guitar while I took photographs. Her eyes seem fixated on the guitar, once again, highlighting her focus in the music industry. I used symmetry as a compositional technique for this image and ensured I kept Molly central, this way all attention would be on her, much like in live shows.I have also once again used a more natural lighting technique so the shoot seems less staged and contains more verisimilitude.

My second image is extremely similar to the first, using the same lighting setup and method behind my shooting. Yet it uses a composition of rule of thirds in order to fit all of the guitar into the image and draw an audiences eyes to her hands.

For the next image I decided to shoot some close ups of the actual guitar Molly plays that could accompany a portrait. This shot is similar to images I will be capturing at concerts so using this image in my final four helps me to see how it will compliment the more basic images. The composition for this shot is rule of thirds. I think this compositional technique helps to frame the guitar setup well, focusing mainly on Molly's hands and also the base of the guitar. Once again, I kept the lighting natural to ensure it appeared more realistic.

The final image in my four best outcomes, I believe, is the weakest out of the four yet still a well structured image. Again, the composition used is rule of thirds in order to frame the shape of the guitar and ensure the key areas were drawn to the audiences attention (neck of the guitar, base of the guitar and Molly's facial expressions) I began experimenting with the lighting when I took this image and it has become a mix between split lighting and butterfly lighting, which I believe is less effective than a natural lighting setup.

Personal Investigation Evaluation

Evaluation

My initial aim for my Art3 Personal Investigation project was to create a body of work that illustrates the representation of musicians from the eye of an audience along with why they entered the music industry as a whole. I was willing to travel and socialise with new people in order to make this project successful, which were a struggle for me in previous pieces of work I have produced.

I also wanted to include direct statements from the musician I photographed or was going to photograph in order to illustrate elements of verisimilitude and ensure my body of work was a realistic depiction of these musicians.
I think in this project I have learnt that not all genres of photography are simple and due to this being a genre I am passionate about I was willing to put time and effort into every stage of the investigation project, as demonstrated in my sketchbook.

When I carried out my introductory A2 project in the summer of 2015, I stuck to a genre or theme that I felt comfortable with, therefore, with this project I made sure I thought outside of the box and pushed myself.

Due to this way of thinking, I have managed to develop skills I have previously learnt and also learnt brand new skills. One of these is that I feel a lot more comfortable in contacting new people, asking for work and socialising professionally in order to network. Previously I would have found emailing complete strangers and messaging them on social media in order for a favour not only unappealing but also annoying for whoever was on the receiving end. Yet, after talks from both Graeme Oxby and Matt Sedgley it encouraged me to put myself out there, not only online but in person.

People I have met whilst shooting also enforce this. For example, Nick Neuenhaus; a popular music photographer that I met at the Myth City shoot has since become a good friend of mine and we have met up at concerts since. I think this project overall has expanded my social skills and I have become more confident when talking to other people that work in this genre.
Another skill I have developed is how to manipulate lighting, due to the use of spotlights and atmospheric lighting, shooting concerts means a darker and low-light environment. Therefore, the aperture and ISO must be higher, yet also it is important to establish the best angle in order to avoid the glare on the camera from the spotlights, and manipulate the venue lighting.

I think both my summer project and technical induction helped greatly with my Personal Investigation body of work. For a start, my summer projection needed a lot of planning in order to make sure everyone was available. This helped me become more organised and also more patient when working with new people in my personal investigation. If I had not planned my Art3 out as well as I have, it would not have been successful and it work have caused me to become rushed and produced a body of work of a lower quality. Due to this being a subject that I am highly passionate about, it was important for me to ensure it came out exactly as I envisioned it.

Plus, in my technical assignment, I learnt new studio lighting skills that came in useful during my shoots and experimentation, when I was testing different lighting and compositional techniques for my portraits. This helped me to be quick and efficient when shooting portraits in the studio at college using techniques such as edge lighting and butterfly lighting.

Overall, I think I planned successfully, which meant when it came to shooting at concerts I had done the appropriate research (especially tips on how to create successful final images, included in my sketchbook) This meant that I was more confident working with other music photographers and was well adjusted to what I was doing in order to shoot efficiently. All my planning is included in my sketchbook and highlights the amount of work and research I have put into this project.
Another thing I think I applied successfully was communication skills, during this project I was presented with opportunities to talk to new people for my own benefit. By messaging people I was unfamiliar with to gather more shoot opportunities I was able to network more and gain more contacts (this skill was emphasised greatly by Graeme Oxby during his talk in class so I soon realised the importance)  I did not only have to communicate with other photographers but also the musicians themselves. The majority of the concerts I photographed  were of bands unknown to me and therefore I had no sense of their character and personalities. Although, I believe I was able to form good friendships with the bands and still keep in contact with them now over social media.
The final thing I believe I executed successfully was Photoshop editing, post-shoot. Before this project I was naive with Photoshop and only used it for basic tools, yet due to the colour highlights cast over the models by the key light source and also the dull lighting I had to put a lot of time into adjusting the colour balance and channel mixer to try and get some form of verisimilitude into my final outcomes. Also I spent time adjusting the contrasts and saturation of my images, specifically on my fifth shoot to create a visually appealing body of work.

Some compositional skills I have developed during this project and that I believe are my strengths  were both rule of thirds and symmetry. both of these compositional techniques have been used in my project to highlight certain band members and make them the key element of an image. For example, in Shoot three I used rule of thirds in almost all of my images. This was due to the number of members in the band, the stage seemed almost crowded with all five members so it was important to focus on one member at a time, focusing upon them with a shallow depth of field. In terms of this shoot and this compositional technique, I believe it would have been more effective if I had shot with the 50mm lens, but this was something for me to build upon in other shoots. I see these compositional skills as a strength because I feel confident when using these and I believe it helps me to produce images that are well focused and that I am proud of
I believe my shoots in the studio were a good example of my technical skills and how they have developed since the start of the year. including the studio layout i set up and where the lights were arranged. I was able to adjust the lights after photos in order to create the lighting effect I needed and therefore I was efficient and handled my time well. this meant i was able to shoot more images to analyse and gained more experience. i think this was one of my strengths as I was confident when working inside the studio as well as on location at concerts. So it illustrates a range of skills.
One of my skills I would improve on for future subjects would be my conceptual skills and the ideas behind my project. before deciding on a concept I decided on a genre, something that interests me highly and I had to work my concept around that. For this project I think my concept could have been stronger in order to generate a sound body of work.
As mentioned before, in terms of lighting skills I believe I worked well with what I was given, using high ISO's and the lowest apertures available on the lenses I used to manipulate the atmosphere of the venues. Although, this could be improved on slightly as I would liked to have experienced more equipment, such as other lenses that were available and even experience more venues around the local area with different types of lighting to further my experience with music photography.

During this project I think the only technical issue I encountered was with lenses. For shoot number three I planned to use the 24-70mm f/2.8 but when it came to shooting, there was an error with the lens I had taken out and it was unable to attach to my camera. This meant I had to use a lens that was less appropriate for the lighting conditions and therefore produced images that were grainier and of a lower quality. Although the images I produced for this shoot are still great images, personally, I believe I would have done a much better job with the lens I wanted.
The only way to fix this problem was to spend extra time on Photoshop post-shoot in order to correctly adjust the levels, saturation and contrast.

My artist research helped me to form a basic