Almost 25% of the way through…
Now that I’m approaching quarter of a way through the course, I can look back on how things have changed since my first blog post.
I said in my first post that I wanted to establish the basics of studio, film development and technical skills. I have improved on all three of these, and have become more confident working with the equipment in the studio. Having said this, I think I still need to develop a selection of different lighting setups for different situations, so that I confidently say I can do certain lighting arrangements.
Film Photograpy & the darkroom
I’ve really enjoyed doing the work in the darkroom, which was not something I was expecting to enjoy. I’ve found the hands on, tactile elements of working in the darkroom have been enjoyable, and have been experimenting with both 35mm and 120 film types. I want to continue this by doing more work with 120 film, possibly using a modern medium format camera, and instant film.
Technical skills
As for technical skills, I have been learning more about the different types of metering available, and when it’s appropriate to use which. This has been useful in the studio when setting up lights to create the correct effect on subjects. I want to continue to use this in a creative way for future assignments, now that I have established a good technical understanding.
I have also been learning how to use Adobe Lightroom, which has really helped with developing digital photos. Before, I used actions in Photoshop to batch edit photographs from shoots, but using Lightroom has made the workflow much easier. I feel confident in using this software, and want to use it with a film scanner to combine my film processing skills and Lightroom techniques.
The first hand in
Since my last post, I have handed the first assignment in. I was disappointed with the quality of my final prints, as they came out rather dark despite using the correct colour profile. I also felt that I did not spend enough time checking pictures after shoots. I want to try and do them tethered directly to Lightroom, as viewing the shots on a monitor is much better than on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.
I was pleased with the clean look and layout of my assignment submission, but I think next time I will present it in a different type of folder.
Overall I’m relatively pleased with the first semester. I have made some arrangements for motorsports shoots in the new season, and have a clear idea as to how to improve on the work from this first semester.
