Research on Landscape Photography

Research:

This research project consists of what landscape photography is and how it can be used to create an emotional attachment to the environment.

This next research project consists of my study on landscape photographer Ansel Adams:

Below is a book review I completed on "Camera Work":

Reference: (1991). Camera Work. London: Thames and Hudson.

Below is some more research on famous landscape photographers, this time Galen Rowell:

I completed around 20 pages of further research on famous landscape photographers.  Here are some examples:

I also analysed a few of my own images that I had taken recently:

This is a book review I completed on Mari Mahr's Between Ourselves.

AS Level Photography Work

Last Years Work

This PDF shows environmental portraits featuring a postman I used for my project last year:

I decided to use a postman partly because I was quite friendly with one but mostly because I wanted to show the difficult job they had that most of us never see. I chose the images to use that I thought best conveyed this idea and I think I chose well and I really like a few of the close ups, especially and the image that uses the rule of thirds well as he drives off in his van. This was my favourite project to complete for AS level photography.  I love how the red of his jacket really stands out against the dark backdrop of the road. Here is an evaluation:

Method

To take this image I asked the postman to stand near the road and pretend to look through his bag for mail.  Having some objects in the background allowed me to use a low F-stop to throw them out of focus and achieve a visible shallow depth of field.  This makes your eyes move to the postman immediately and focuses him as the centre of attention.  To take this image I used a 50mm lens that was capable of a very shallow depth of field whilst keeping the image bright enough.  This shot worked well to show the postman hard at work.

Compositional Strengths

The biggest compositional strength of this image is the use of the rule of thirds to position the postman along the right side of the picture, making more sense.  This allowed me to fit some background information into the photograph without covering the postman.  Another element that works well is the depth of field which is great to shift the focus onto the main subject while keeping the background from intruding too much. 

Inspirations

Like the rest of my images, I didn’t really have any inspirations as I tried to follow my own sense of style.  This works well as I had some specific things in my mind that I wanted to achieve and this was possible by using my own ideas, not someone else’s.

Printing Techniques

To print this image I used ASDA’s 24hr printing services as they offered better quality and paper than the college.  This made the pictures look slightly more professional.

Things to improve

I think I could have improved on the background a little as it is too bland at the moment, with only a speed sign. Adding some elements to the background would make the image slightly better to look at.

This work below is a PDF of Self Portraits: for most of the self portraits, i photographed down my allotment because it is where i spend most of my time. There are a couple featuring a chicken that i was very close to and still am, and he idea of this project was mainly things that I am close to.  For this reason, I pictured my iPad, allotment, chickens and other objects that I use daily.  I think i used the rule of thirds well, and composed the images correctly and efficiently.  There are some images I don't like and would have changed if i could have such as the image of me looking quite orange, but this is a mistake that I learnt from.

Below is some research I completed on different aspects of Photography: 

And here are some analysis' I completed on some of my own images:  I decided to use images I took of Kelburn castle in Scotland.  I thought the castle looked great against the background and really stood out as something unique to photograph.  The colours are vibrant and I increased the saturation in most of the images to show this.  I am happy with the shots I chose to use because they are composed well and look great on the page.  I like the use of trees to frame a few of the pictures as it shows the castles connection with nature. Some of the images I took at interesting angles to show the quirkiness of the building.

Here's an evaluation:

I took this picture from a low angle to show the scale and structure of the building. The way the camera is pointing up towards it, almost as a point of view shot, makes it look much taller and more imposing than it was and also gives us a better view.  The colours were brought out by using some effects in-camera that brighten up the image and make it look much better.  A fast shutter speed (around 125^th of a second) was used to freeze the lovely sky in place.  The main spire of the building is on the left of the frame, with the rest of the building sweeping out to the right.  The tower can be used as a line to draw your attention to the sky, leading you into the photograph.  I think the composition it good in this picture because the building it laid out according to scale; highest point at the left of the frame to the lowest point at the right.  The lighting is key to get the gorgeous artwork to stand out so the sun was positioned in front of the castle to brighten them up.  I also used a higher F-stop so most of the background is in focus.

Here is the final image I used for AS level photography, environmental portraits.  It features one of my neighbours as a chicken breeder:  This is my favourite image in the whole of AS Photography as it shows real emotion and I thought carefully about the composition.  The decision to use black and white was implemented well I think as it reflects the work of older photographers.  I think the darkness brigs out the grubbiness and dirtiness of the work and the objects around the chicken breeder.

And below are 3 of the images (out of 40) I used for my final AS project:  I have picked 3 of my favourite images used in my final AS project to upload.  The first I really like because, like the last image, it shows real emotion and I think the composition and layout of the characters in the picture is very well done.  I chose to use black and white in the series not only to depict the sadness of the story, but to show the road.  Because the series was built around the road, my character is often seen travelling across different terrain and places in my area.

This image shows my little character walking all alone on the road.  I like the composition as it has used the rule of thirds to good effect, with the road on the eft of the image and the boy on the right showing the connection between the two.  Again, the black and white really brings out the bleakness of the story and time of day the picture was taken.  I dressed the boy in dark clothes to also reflect this.

I really like this final image because I thought it was witty at the time I took it.  I carefully positioned the boy usig the rule of thirds on the right of the image and positioned a sign depicting an adult holding a childs hand.  I love the black and white's effectiveness and believe I composed the shot very well.

About me

Hello!

My name is Robert Greenaway welcome to my blog where I will be showing all of my work in photography, some from previous years and most from this years A2 project.  I am currently studying at Coleg Gwent in Crosskeys, and photography is one of my many hobbies.  I love taking pictures and studying the work of other photographers and am currently working as a freelance photographer (www.robgreenimages.co.uk).  Feel free to take a look at my work and comment, give advice, like it or not.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope people can visit my blog and view some of my work in a positive light.

Landscape Photography - Experimenting with Light

College Project 2013

Stream at Cwmcarn Forest Drive

In this blog I will be displaying sets of images I may or may not be using in my 2013 college project.  I have decided to continue on the topic of experimenting with light in landscapes.  I enjoy taking images of these locations so it seemed an obvious choice.  Here are a few more pictures:

These two images taken at Troed- yr -Rhiw are two of many.  I had just recently bought an ND8 filter

Stream at Troed - yr - Rhiw

On the 18th of September there was a beautiful full moon and I experimented with the shutter speed to create total blackness around the bright white moon.  Unfortunately, I only have a 50mm prime and 15-85 wide angle lens so couldn't quite get as close as I wanted to, and a few came out overexposed with lost detail on the moon.

Below is an image I took of Pen - Y - Fan pond a while ago, after waiting a while for the right moment.  I used a slower shutter speed to capture the most amount of light and to slightly blur the water.  I found a position amongst the reeds where the sun was clearly visible and used a high F-number to have a large range of focus.

This image of a beautiful sunset was captured during one of my stays in Scotland.  Because the water was eerily calm, I positioned myself as close to the water as I could with my tripod, and used a slow enough shutter speed to capture a slight blurring of the water and enough light.  I also used a high F-Stop to not only remove excess depth of field, but to limit the huge amount of light entering the lens.

This is a picture I took during the huge amount of snow we had last Christmas and the beginning of the year.  I saw the tree, alone and contrasting massively to the bright white snow, and decided to use a fast shutter speed to limit the amount of light entering the lens and keep enough to show the differences between blacks and whites in nature.

In this image below of when I visited Scotland again (26th September 2013) I used a slower shutter speed to blur the water more, and because of the intense light from the sunset I had to use an ND8 filter.  I hope to get a much higher filter such as ND400 soon to create far more misty effects on the surface of the water.

The photo below was taken at Cwmcarn Forest Drive at the beginning of September.  I saw the trees lined up, then abruptly stop.  I found this an interesting subject and positioned the camera halfway and took this photograph.

This image below is one of many of the best sunset I have ever witnessed.  The beautiful colours reflected across the water and created a very mysterious, relaxing atmosphere.

During the weekend (25th October - 28th) I will be visiting Iceland and so will hopefully have many images below of the stunning landscapes and natural features in that country.  Iceland has been described as the "photographers paradise", especially for landscapes which is my main topic.  I hope the trip goes well and I have images that I can use in my final project.

I am very happy with the way most of the images turned out of Iceland.  I captured the main attractions from waterfalls to Geysers and I had a few of the northern lights but unfortunately they were blurry.  I wanted to stop and take my time on the images but because we were nearly always on buses I didn't have the time.  I will definitely be using some of these images in my final project.

This set of pictures was taken at Cwmcarn forest Drive during autumn.  I wanted to capture the spontaneity of nature and the colours autumn brings with it.