Target 3: Technical training

I am going to attempt to do some retouching on photoshop as i haven't tried it before, i have watched a few youtube tutorials to get a few tips and now i am going to go at it alone.

Here is the image i am starting with...

There aren't that many blemishes on this photograph but one thing i noticed was that the models lips are quite dehydrated and chapped so i wanted to attempt to correct this.

To do so i used the spot healing tool and a new layer over the top of the image, i then painted over the blemishes which i wanted to change using the lightening mode and just kept working on it until i was happy.

As i said there were not many blemishes but i then started on the face and tried to reduce pores and tiny patches of dry skin etc, i screen shotted as i went along so here is the process:

This is the lips at the start which you can see at the bottom are quite dry and chapped.

<-- This is the tool i used to edit.

This is the outcome of the lips after i had edited, i didn't want it to be completely flawless as that would make it look fake so i kept some of the texture of the lips there.

I then moved onto the face...

I didn't do too much to the face i just softened shadows and pores,

I then moved on to the eyes as you can see in the image above the lights with softboxes on can be seen reflecting in the eyes so i tried to eliminate those...

You can see the difference here between the two ^

So now you can compare the changes...

Original image  (1)                                                                                                        
Edited image (2)

(1) 

(2) 

Today i decided i wanted to test out some equipment i haven't used before so i am making use of the facilities at university. I went and hired out a Nikon fit flash gun and an 85mm 1.4 Sigma lens.

Me and Gwen took a walk into Manchester to experiment with these new items. 

I started off with the Nikon Flash Gun, it was quite tricky to get good images as it was quite a sunny day but we tried to go inside darker areas to get better results. 

Here are the pictures i took:

 And the pictures from the Sigma 85mm 1.4, i really loved this lens and i'm hoping to use it again in the future!

I plan for this target to go on for a while as i want to widen my knowledge of different equipment as much as possible while it is available to me.

Target 5: getting my work out there after i graduate

Target 5 is to learn how to get my work out there after i graduate.

I have started by creating a twitter account for my photography as i only have a personal one at the moment, on this i can let my followers know what i'm up to and post links to new work so that it attracts a wider audience.

My photography twitter account is: @Amelia_R_Photo

I have also been designing some new business cards as the ones i have now are a bit dated.

Here are some of my designs...

Hopefully these will both help with getting my work out there and i am hoping to get a website up and running as well. I have decided what i want to do after i graduate, which is teach sixth form, college level photography. I will still continue to do my own personal photography in my spare time and do events for family and friends and anyone who contacts me.

Last week we had two guest speakers in Layla Sailor and Anna White who came to talk to us about how they are getting work being freelance and how they went about it after graduation.

I absolutely love Layla's work i think its fantastic and so innovative, she talked about how she kind of gave up on photography after university and had some time out and traveled a bit but then realising how much she missed it and her passion for it went back to it and worked so hard to get where she is today. I have gone off the idea of being freelance as i don't think  the stress of not having work for several months is necessary, i didn't know what i wanted to do after university for a long time but a few months back it clicked and i want to go into teaching photography at college level.

It was interesting as both Layla and Anna said that they had time out from photography before realising how much passion they had for it and i think sometimes you can loose sight of what your aiming for and need that time away to get back focused.

Some of the advice Layla and Anna gave us were:

- keep posting on twitter etc, this makes people think your busy even if your not
- always have a plan B when shooting for clients
- personal projects are very important to keep you passionate and creative
- don't be afraid to collaberate

Last week we were asked to produce a portfolio, which we would use to show to a client,

We were given the freedom of either doing it printed or digitally and i chose to print mine as i think its always nice to have something they can hold and flick through.

I broke my portfolio up into three sections, shape, early years and editorial. I thought these three sections fit all of my best work into them and i wanted to show that i can do different types of photography as my aim is to become a photography teacher at college level so i was imagining i would take this portfolio to an interview for that role, then showing that whatever ideas the students come up with i can relate to them and guide them as i myself do a wide range of photography.

Here are some images of my portfolio...

Elevator Pitch

During our first session with Moira back we were informed we would have to do an Elevator Pitch.

Moira briefed us on what we had to do and gave her own example then gave us five minutes to jot down bullet points on what we would say if we were stuck in an elevator with somebody we aspired to work with/for.

The room was set up in a sort of 'speed dating' style with two rows of chairs facing each other. The idea was to pitch to the person sat opposite you and then everyone would move across one seat until you had pitched to the whole group. Finally ending in you pitching to the group as a whole.

I will be honest, the last part scared the heck out of me but i felt really good after i'd done it and when Moira commented that mine was 'Fantastic!' i felt a sigh of relief. This was a form of practicing my target 1: Confidence in talking to larger groups about my own work.

Obviously it won't be the same as i can't speak it to you but i will type below roughly what i said in my elevator pitch:

(I was imaginary pitching to the editor/director of British Journal of Photography)

Hello,

I am interested in why people take photographs?

This all sparked off from a quote by Nan Goldin when asked why she takes photographs, her response was that she takes photographs because she wants to capture memories and never loose anybody and this got me thinking as to why i take photographs.

In this digital age where the majority of people own a device which take photographs i want to stop people and ask them why? Why they feel the need to portray their point of view on the world through imagery.

I want to challenge the notion of whether we 'make' pictures or 'take' pictures

I feel my work would fit in very well with your journal and i want my work to be seen by photographers and they are who read your journal. I want to get them thinking and questioning themselves.

Thankyou




I have already started to pursue this idea and here are some of my experimental images inspired by Jim Goldberg and Wendy Ewald.