Blended learning task No11

Liquid Emulsion research task

Blended learning – Liquid Emulsion – Materials, techniques and process

Dungeness - Dave Thompson

Liquid Emulsion   - Advanced technique – art – art photography – materials – techniques – process – Distinctions – varying support options – detailed planning opportunities - detailed reflective practice and analysis opportunities – experimental – deep learning – practical – analogue and digital options – mixed media opportunities and more…

Instructions_______________________________________________________________________

Produce this work as you would for a photographer or artist. 1 x A3 page of images examples that you can find on the internet – or perhaps use your own work. Also write your initial thoughts about  the method and the impression of the images and the technique.

1 x Page with one key picture – it could be your own image accompanied with your written content and research using the prompts below…

Specific prompts____________________________________________________________________

Basic description – Cost and where to buy – H&S – Highlights of MSDS – what it can be used on – preparation of supports – strengths and weaknesses – characteristic – what themes and subjects does it suit – explain why – How to prepare and use – details of the brushes used – what is the technique similar to -

Top tips_________________________________________________________________________

Use the prompts here to generate your written content - although be selective

Use the Dave Thompson’s A3 template with the columns and prompts already formatted (Document 308) ask him to email it to you.

Reading list and links______________________________________________________________

http://www.alternativephotography.com/the-liquid-emulsion-process/
https://www.silverprint.co.uk/liquid-light-se1-emulsion/
https://prisonphotography.org/2010/06/30/one-big-self-by-deborah-luster-you-are-an-invisible-population-what-do-you-want-to-say-to-the-world/

Also check my blog – www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk

If this has been set as your Blended learning – you have a week to complete it (26th Feb). 

Blended learning task No.12

Sinar View cameras

View Camera  

Using the information already covered in the View camera session use your notes to produce further research into view cameras.  Use the templates that have been attached in the recent email to compile your work. Work to produce 2 x A3 pages in the usual format… 1 x page with a selection of images and your initial thoughts based on what you know of view cameras, pre-conceptions and prior knowledge of the cameras (You’ve studied a number of photographers that use these cameras already, so should be able to list these photographers). Your images could include different types of view cameras and their sizes (Format), famous photographer using view cameras, examples of the effects that a view camera has on images… Tilt Shift, converging verticals, depth of field (Scheimpflug) and the film edge (Rebate) detail that is often included in the image.

The 2^nd page should feature a Main image – (Camera, someone with a camera or perhaps a cut-away diagram or illustration) with as much information you can gather through your research including some details regarding the images you collect that illustrate the cameras characteristics and properties.

Use the prompts here to generate your written content when researching.

Use the Dave Thompson’s A3 template with the columns and prompts already formatted (Document 310) ask him to email it to you.

Reading list and links______________________________________________________________

Langfords Basic Photography - Michael Langford, Focal Press, 

Scheimpflug link          

http://www.optowiki.info/glossary/scheimpflug-principle/

How to view camera 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs31uNlmMGc

Also check my blog – www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk

If this has been set as your Blended learning – you have 2 weeks to complete it.

Blended learning task No.13 - Medium Format Cameras

Medium Format

Using the information already covered in the Medium camera session use your notes to produce further research into this type of camera.  Use the templates that have been attached in the recent email to together your work (The 3 column word file). Work to produce 2 x A3 pages in the usual format… 1 x page with a selection of images and your initial thoughts based on what you know of view cameras, pre-conceptions and prior knowledge of the cameras.

Photographers that have used these cameras include Richard Avedon, David Bailey and Brian Duffy (Fashion and portraits).

The 2^nd page should feature a Main image – (Camera, someone with a camera or perhaps a cut-away diagram or illustration) with as much information you can gather through your research including some details regarding the images you collect, that illustrate the cameras characteristics and properties.

Look for details of the different size formats, the type and size of film that you use, how many shots per roll.

Use the prompts here to generate your written content when researching.

Remember to use the Dave Thompson’s A3 template with the columns and prompts already formatted (Document 310) ask him to email it to you.

Reading list and links______________________________________________________________

When researching look at Ken Rockwell’s website and look for the following cameras – RB6x7, Bronica SQA, Mamiya C330 f,  Mamiya TL 645 and Rolleiflex.

Also check my blog – www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk

If this has been set as your Blended learning – you have 2 weeks to complete it.

Use your independent sessions - for English, Blended learning and PD to generate this work. You're expected to spend a minimum of 3 hours to collate the material and write up the work. 

Blended learning task No.14 - Working with ISO

The truth about ISO is you've got to try it and experiment with it and the best way of doing this is if you have access to a darkroom and an old school film camera such as a Pentax K1000 is to shoot, process and print film... Get your hands dirty as such - feel and experience it for real. If you can do that it's simple, shoot 3 films... Ilford FP4 + which is a 125 ISO film, HP5+ which is a 400 ISO film and TMAX 3200 which is a 3200 ISO film.

Then it's simply a case of shooting similar subject matter in similar lighting and printing the neg's on 10 x 8 paper and you'll have experienced ISO through the process of shooting at a fixed ISO and you'll be able to see the impact it has on the image during the printing process and in the final images.

As a photographer back in the day when it took a great deal of time and skill to be good at photography, most people as far as I know had 3 main films that they stuck to and used for the situations that they were required to produce work in. You used these films and you got good at using them in all manner of situations. Where possible you would always try and shoot at 100 ISO in order to retain quality, if the light was poor, where possible you would either add light, move somewhere where there was more light, or do it on another day when the light was better, you avoided using a faster ISO film because you would lose quality...

"What is Base ISO?
The lowest native ISO on your camera is your “base ISO”. This is a very important setting, because it gives you the potential to produce the highest image quality, minimizing the visibility of noise as much as possible. Some older DSLRs and a number of modern cameras, such as the Fuji X-T2 have a base ISO of 200, whereas most modern digital cameras have a base ISO of 100. Optimally, you should always try to stick to the base ISO to get the highest image quality. However, it is not always possible to do so, especially when working in low-light conditions".

From - https://photographylife.com/what-is-iso-in-photography



Even now with digital I would advocate a similar approach, where possible always shoot at 100 ISO

http://photography-mapped.com/interact.html?fbclid=IwAR3O4Fn5QgTJjTHBP2d9edMVeSRbNwRMSil7SS0T2sX1-NnPyTXrF1o-U_I

Life Hacks - how to research for Photography projects at level 3

It's essential on Level 3 Photography courses such BTEC, UAL, AS, and A-Level to produce good quality research using a range of resources.

I would argue that you need to be very selective about what and who you look at if you're looking to attain the higher grades... Merits and Distinctions.
This guide gives you some tips about how to go about it to secure those good grades.

__________________________________________________________

Best Practice

Use Photographic Journals such as...

The British Journal of Photography
Hotshoe
Aperture

Why? They're in the LRC and they are the most up to-date information on contemporary and historical photography. The magazines are written by and edited by qualified experts whose opinions, views and critiques of the photography are second to none. The articles are short, concise and to the point, ram-packed with the information you need to produce your research for your projects. 

Flicking through the pages of journals such as these has the potential to bring to your attention a multitude or different photographers and approaches to photography. Journals by far are the most effective way of accessing high quality photography.

2nd best approach

Use books

Pre-fixes. 

One of the most useful for discovering how the images end up being used and what materials they are printed on, how big they are and how much they sell for is to pre-fix the name of the work or Photographer with the phrase...

"Sold at auction"           This usually brings up a range of auction houses or websites where the work is sold and in the descriptions you'll find useful info about the work. The search here was...

Sold at auction The Bechers This brought up a list in Google that resulted in this page here...

Other pre-fixes that are useful are...

Interview with
Equipment used by
Camera used by
Influenced by
Technique
Another really good thing to try is, to look for interviews on Youtube, Dailymotion and Vimeo. The same with written interviews, they can be conducted by anyone, but as long as the photographer responds they usually really useful.
_______________________________________________________________

Bibliography - Quotes - Cross referencing 

It's important that you produce a bibliography, it doesn't have to list all of your sources, all you need to show is that you know how to do it, so in the case of the BTEC assignments a list of 4 or 5 is more than sufficient as it demonstrates this adequately. Ideally, you should use Journals and books primarily with less internet use. 

When you're using quotes make sure you (A) 'Indent' the text for the quote
(B). Use a different a different colour or shade of text and use "speech marks".
(C). Cross reference the text by indicating its source with a number that matches the same number against the bibliography entry (D).
(E). Make sure you include 4-5 entries for your bibliography - if you can, use Journals and books. See here for how you make bibliographical entries for journals and books. 

When you're producing the 1st page of the research other images that can be used are images of the photographer with their camera and images that you recognise as potentially or you know have influenced the work. 

___________________________________________________

If you do use the internet for your research be careful of the sites that you choose. Here's the start of a list of good websites that you can trust. These sites are edited, written by experts, academics, critics and people that know what they are writing about. 

If you find really long articles and you're looking for something very specific you can speed up the search by using CTRL + F. So if you're looking for info on the equipment used by the Photographer type CTRL + F and then in the search field type equipment the use the return key and it'll find any reference or use of the word in the article.


https://www.americansuburbx.com/
https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/seanohagan
https://www.lensculture.com/
https://www.moma.org/
https://www.saatchigallery.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObhNiJaoVow - "This is modern art Matthew Collings. All worth watching and referencing.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

________________________________________________________________

TOP TIPS

If you have a theme or subject and you need to find a photographer that works with that theme and shoots picture on that theme, you need to use my list here...

www.listofphotographers.blogspot.com

Once on the blog use the CTRL + F and then type the theme into the field box and use the return key to search for names of photographers that work with that subject/theme.

Unit 20 Criteria (Non Digital)

The final evaluation is not generic, it is very specific and your written response must meet the criteria below. You can write the evaluation using the Gibbs reflective method or simply address the criteria directly.

Pass - Explain how own application of non-digital photographic techniques produced images that met the requirements of the brief. 

(1). Head the first section in bold What I had to do to meet the requirements of the brief.
(2). Reiterate the main points of the brief. What is it that you had to do.
(3). Write up the learning aims seen on the front of  the brief and explain what this means.
(4). Detail the work you've done referring to the page numbers - list where the evidence is of your Non-Digita workl and use of techniques and materials (cameras, equipment, materials, techniques used in the darkroom etc.).


Pass - Explain how own practice in non-digital photography techniques can be further developed. 

Choose a minimum of 5 aspects of your use of techniques that need to be developed and improved – explain how these improvements can be made – what do you need to do to get better? Choose five of these to write a paragraph or two about - lighting techniques, film processing techniques, printing techniques, Dodging, Burning in, pre-fogging, spotting, using the rebate, contrast filters, focus finders, using easels, wet processing, 

Creative Intentions guidance - Unit 09 A.P1

Creative intentions

 Most of you up till now would have taken ‘Snapshots’ with your phones and DSLR’s, with little or no thought to the ‘Creative intention’. Now that you’ve signed up for a level 3 course in photography you now have to work with a ‘Creative Intention’. Your first assignment is ‘Cardboard camera’ and you’ll be making your own camera out of junk and taking pictures with it.

The theme/subject for the cardboard camera assignment is ‘Sinister’. Therefore the ‘Creative intention’ is that you’re going to make pictures that are sinister.

You now have to think about aspects such as design. You have to design your images so that when the viewer looks at them is able to see that your creative intention was to make the images looks sinister.

 You’ve been given two artists who’s work has a sinister aspect to them. This sinister aspect is a result of the way the images have been designed and comes about through a whole range of different attributes that the photographer has considered and incorporated. These decisions about what is in the image and what is not, is a part of the creative intention process and is something you need to write about when deconstructing and analysing the image in your research.

Photographers design their images, they don’t just happen and they’re not snapshots, their images come about through a series of conscious decisions where they construct and design all of the visual elements. These visual elements include designing and making decisions about…

·         Where you take the pictures

·         When you take the pictures

·         What’s in the background

·         Who or what the picture is of.

·         What props are used in the images.

·         How body language is used

·         How facial expressions are used

·         How hair and make-up is used

·         How big the subject is in the frame

·         How much negative space is in the image

·         What is used in the image to create mood

·         Shape

·         Line

·         Form

·         Texture

·         Colour or black and white

·         Contrast

·         Tonality

·         What camera you use

·         What film you use

·         What process you use

·         What post-production you apply

·         How the image is cropped and framed

·         How the images are styled

·         How narrative is used

·         Whether the message is conveyed through the use one or more images

 All these elements are components of your ‘Creative Intention’.

The research for first assignment ‘Cardboard camera’ (Summer research project) requires that you…

“Explain how photographic materials, techniques and processes are used to communicate creative intentions”. (A.P1)

Therefore the majority of what you write for the summer research project involves all the above. 

Going forwards...

Once you get to college and you start making images you need to start to consider all of these things when you make your images. The other Creative Intention aspects you need to think about in more depth are...

• What purpose might my images be used for? 
• What type of images are they (Fine art - Editorial - Advertising/commercial) most of the work you'll do over the 2 years falls into the Fine art and Editorial category.
• Where might my work be used or seen in a professional context?
• What is the message/meaning that I'm trying to convey through the images?
• Who will the audience be - what demographic do they belong to?
• Is there a narrative/story being conveyed and how is this done?
• Do I need to sum up the whole meaning/narrative in one image or am i going to use several?

This term "Creative Intentions' comes up again in other units and you should aim to use it when producing your work in the future to clarify what your intention is when you're making your own images. Ideally this is discussed in your analysis, reflective work and final evaluations. 

Fine Art Photography Unit

Overview:

Approximately 15 pages of work using the 3 column format. The majority of the work should be images, so it's important that you make sure you have the resources required in the first few days. You will experiment with three different methods...

10 x 8 view camera
Medium Format TLR
Photography presented in a 3D format (Digital).

Once the 3 experiments are completed you need to choose your preferred option of the 3 experimental stage and then develop the idea over 2 more stages refining and perfecting the idea and technique.

Resources needed

10 x 8 photographic paper; 120 Medium format film (HP5 +)

Unit 18 - Location Photography

C.D3 Evaluate the success of a location photography shoot, making valid insights into the production process and comprehensive suggestions for future skills development.

With this make sure you use the following headings in the final evaluations 

My Production process
Future skills development

For the production process write down what your process involved - what was it you did prior to shooting? This involves all the details previously discussed and taught in the lessons where we covered the Production process. 

Blended learning task No.21

Blended learning task No.22

Video shoot guidance

Create a new folder on your computer call it Wex or Work Experience 

Create 4 x word files with the 3 columns. Name them

Autumn Term

Winter Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

In the first design sheet (word file) include and do the following...

Note - As much as you can use images when writing this work up.

Autumn Term_____________________________

• Introduction - Write up a description of your basic idea, maybe explain at this point it is an idea and that it may change.
• Identify a potential location - using Google maps or similar show exactly where your location is, find images on-line of the location, write or indicate the direction of the light at different times of day - Golden hours/midday etc. Also indicate facilities that you would need to be aware of if you were shooting for real e.g. with clients, models, stylist etc. They would need to know where to park, the nearest toilets, shops, places to buy coffee, bagels, nearest train station etc. Figure out times for people walking from the station/car park etc. Go on to the Southend council website and use the information on there to show details of the costs etc. file:///C:/Users/Dave/Downloads/Place___Pier_and_Foreshore%20(3).pdf
• Disturbance factor - Explain the potential impact of being disturbed by the public, what could you do to limit any chance of disturbance?
• Tide times - Go on line, find example of tide charts if your shooting on the beach - do you want the tide to be in or out - how much impact does this have on the way your image looks?
• H&S issues that might arise - Write about any H&S issues that you may have to deal with and what you'll do to cover these if they arise.
• Editing software - Identify the editing software that you propose to use, have a basic description of what it can do and why is it fit for purpose. 
• Camera - what camera will you use - use images and basic product data relating to capture rates and quality. The potential of the camera - lens focal length etc.
• Equipment - Details of other equipment that you'll use... Tripods, reflectors, baffles, hoods or similar.
• Target market/Demographic - Identify who your video is targeting. See this link here https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-are-demographics-and-how-are-they-used-38513
• Youtube channel - Details of your Youtube channel, name, link.

Blended learning task No.26