Work Record 5; Waltham Abbey M25

Work Record 5; Waltham Abbey M25

Plans for Shoot:
Within this shoot I plan to create light trails on the M25 bridge of the traffic going past. I think this will be a good response to the previous images that I have created because it shows how I am refining and developing my work and experimenting with different techniques. By creating light trails it will show how I am experimenting with the techniques and the camera settings. This will establish a further response of land use because it will show the land uses at different times in the day.

Research Influence:
To research into this idea that I have regarding light trails, I looked at a photographer who isn't as famous as the other photographers but he uses the technique of light trails well. The photographer that I have looked at is Ian Egner. 

In this image we can see that Egner has created a light trail with his camera. This image relates to land use because it shows how the man-made land use of a road is constantly used by people, this is shown by the extent of the light trail formed. I want to carry this technique on within my work because it adds an effect to the image that I am taking. This photographer doesn't necessarily focus on land use but he does show how land is used within his images. I chose to research him because I want to use his idea of the light trails. 

Contact Sheet:

Below are the images that I have taken within this shoot 5...

Best Images:

I took this image of the M25 using the light trail effect, to gain this effect I had to change the camera settings. This image shows land use because it includes a road which is one of the main forms of land use as it is used mainly for transportation. The effect doesn't add anything to the land use idea but it does create an aesthetically pleasing image. By using this technique it shows how I am refining and developing my work to create different effects within my images. To take this image further I could put it in photoshop and edit it in black and white to develop my work further.

This image was taken in the same place as the previous image but with different camera settings to achieve a different type of light trail. To show how I am refining and developing my work I experimented with the camera settings to create different amounts of light trails. The shutter was open for a shorter amount of time within this image to create this effect whereas in the previous image it was open for a lot longer. Very similar to the image before the effect doesn't further the approach to land use it just added and aesthetically pleasing effect and shows how I am experimenting with my shoots. 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

By looking at the bank of images that I have created I believe that I have progressed my work and refined it by working with new techniques. The previous shoots that I have taken in Waltham Abbey are very different to this shoot that I have carried out because they were all taken during the day whereas I carried this shoot out during the night. This shoot also has a different approach, this shoot was focused on the technique rather than the double exposure effect that I used in the previous 2 Waltham Abbey shoots. The images that I have taken relate back to the photographer Ian Egner because I have used his idea of the light trails in all of the images. 

With regards to my best images...

I have only chosen to present two of my images within this shoot because all of these images in the shoot are similar. These two images show how I changed my camera settings throughout the shoot and created different techniques with the settings. The main idea for land use in my work is the difference between man-made and natural land uses, this shoot focuses on the man-made land use of a road. To progress my work further I could take the images at different angles to capture the light trails as this would've provided a wider response to the exam title. 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

To capture these images I used a Nikon D3300 and a tripod. With regards to the camera settings I changed them when capturing different amounts of light, the main feature that I was changing was the shutter speed. My images range from a shutter speed of 1 second to a shutter speed of 30 seconds. The photos with more light trails had the longer shutter speed, at 30 seconds and the photos with less light trails were taken at 3 seconds or less. By changing the camera settings it shows how I am developing my work and changing the settings to compliment the techniques I am tying to create. The ISO stayed consistent at 100 and the f stop changed with the shutter speed so it ranged from f/3.5 to f/13. By using these settings I believe that I have created a good outcome and a solid bank of images.

Next I took some of the images into Photoshop...

To edit this image I used the curve layer to make the image seem darker to black out the background of the image to focus on the light trails. After this I changed the image to black and white to make the background completely black and make the light trails white. By editing it in this way it draws attention to the light trails which is the main aspect of this shoot that I focused on. This emphasises the light trails and combines them as one. It also links back to land use because it shows focus on a man-made land use.

To edit this image I used the curve filter to darken the image to reduce the brightness of the background to focus on the light trails. Also, to compare the image to the black and white image I changed the hue and saturation of the image making the light trails different shades of purple. This creates a more abstract effect and an unrealistic approach which shows how I am refining and developing my ideas within the shoots. 

As well as editing the images by changing their colours I have also used the double exposure effect which I have focused on in my previous shoots. In my previous shoots I shot in the same place, the M25 bridge, so I decided to combine these two images to show night and day combining to one. I think this is a good effect because it shows the light trails as well as the actual cars in the other image. 

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I have chosen to include these three images as my final ones because they all produce my response to land use which is the difference between the man-made and natural land uses. I think I have produced a good response to this because I have focused on the man-made land uses. I have chosen to use all three images that I have edited because I think they look better than the original images. These images all relate back to my research influence Ian Egner as he focuses on light trails on public roads. I believe that these images I have taken will fit into my portfolio at the end of the project and will connect with the previous shoots I have completed.

Progression:

To progress these images further I need to focus on the natural aspects of land use so I can use them to compare to these man-made land uses. Also to further my project I need to focus on the physical experiments I am going to use because I have already established the computer experiments that I am going to use. My next two shoots will be at the Olympic Park to capture more man-made uses and at Waltham Abbey where I will capture the natural landscapes instead of the M25 to broaden my land use ideas.