Evaluation of Project

Evaluation –

An interesting project to be given as it is different to all those that came before it in that it was partially set by a genuine client, further preparing us for a photography career.

This project also required a lot of pre-production and planning in order to get everything spot on and correct, especially in the limited time frame. While I had done much planning finding 6 different sports Cycling, Iron Man Triathlon Training, Thai Boxing, BMX, Ballet and Snowboarding with the intention of getting 6 photographs of 6 sports. However each in the case of 3 of the sports when it came down to actually photographing them (after being given permission) they pulled out at the last minute (BMX, Ballet, Snowboarding). This forced me to drop down to 3 sports, I did try to find others but no one was available in the time available I could shoot.

None the less I did get usable images from the 3 shoots. Iron Man came out the best of the three as I was given the most time, Cycling then Thai Boxing – which previously mentioned in my blog was very complex to shoot in. However I still managed to get some work out of it that was useable for the project.  

Creating an invoice for the project was also an interesting part as it does further prepare us for a real photography career. The biggest issue I face throughout this project was getting models and getting them to stick to a time table, even the back-up models/sports I had flaked out. It has also gotten to the point where I am very comfortable shooting to a deadline and shooting to a specified layout.

If I was given more time/access I would definitely have gone back to re-shoot the Thai Boxing and try and get one of them on their own again; probably using a more low key gym that would allow me more access.

Overall the project was a mild success building my confidence as a photographer.

 

 

Final InDesign Layouts

Here are the final InDesign Layouts for the Live Breif Project.

 

 

Road Cycling with Danny Collins

 

Landscape

Portrait

 

 

 

Iron Man Triathalon Training with Daniel Groves

 

Portrait

 

Landscape

 

 

Thai Boxing with Tom McCay & Ronan Marshall

 

 

One issue with the Portait Layouts is the Sport England/Olympic Logos would not show up.

 

Mock Up V2 - Thai Boxing

I decided to change the photograph used in the Thai Boxing Layout, to an image with no motion blur.

 

However on further reflection I can't decide weather to have no motion blur or to have it.

 

Mock Up Layouts

Here is the layout of all 3 sports, Thai Boxing, Cycling, Iron Man Triathalon Training.

 

The text in this image above may still need to be editied in order to ensure it is clear to read.

These are currently mock ups of the images I may use. I have a couple other options I may try out before finalising.

Shoot Outcome - Thai Boxing

The gym itself was small and a pain to photograph in. Black ceiling absorbing all bounced light, making camera mounted flash difficult to use along with very limited space making setting up lights impossible. Standard light was also minimal as the gym had no windows and minimal neon strip lights on the ceiling. Due to this a high ISO had to be used which has caused some image noise.

When talking to the owner/coach of the gym he informed me that there where many under 16s training that day which limited when and where I could shoot dramatically. As well as some of the people training being high class MMA and UFC Fighters their shorts where also off limits to photograph.

All images had to be reviewed by him before I could leave, many where deleated.
 

Images -

As can be seen here is a lot of image noise and poor lighting yet did get some photographs that did work.

However the text colour still needs much working on. I did need to use much more prost production to clean up the images, somthing I dont tend to do. Prefer getting it right on camera.

Shoot - Thai Boxing

Travelled to a Thai Boxing club in Swanley, Semtex Gym. They are a strong up and coming gym within the UFC and MMA becoming very well known within those circles. I was actually very lucky to be able to photograph in the gym as usually it is a blanket 'no' fortunatley I met someone who had been training their for many years. However due to the usual 'blanket no' actually shooting their was difficult, I was unable to get any time with individuals for better composed images.


Equipment List -

 

Canon 550D DSLR

Canon 16mm - 85mm EFS Lens

Canon 430 EXII Speedlite

QP Card
Pop Up Softbox
Wireless Flash Triggers


Lighting Diagram/Ideas -

Sadly due to constrants revolving this gym I connot get down for a recce shoot, which means lighting will have to be done on the day. However the general ideas for lighting will be using flash from a mid-low angle.

 

The gym itself was small and a pain to photograph in. Black ceiling absorbing all bounced light, making camera mounted flash difficult to use along with very limited space making setting up lights impossible. Standard light was also minimal as the gym had no windows and minimal neon strip lights on the ceiling. Due to this a high ISO had to be used which has caused some image noise.

When talking to the owner/coach of the gym he informed me that there where many under 16s training that day which limited when and where I could shoot dramatically. As well as some of the people training being high class MMA and UFC Fighters their shorts where also off limits to photograph.

 

Images -

 

 

 

As can be seen here is a lot of image noise and poor lighting yet did get some photographs that did work.

 

 

However the text colour still needs much working on. 

Shoot Two - Daniel Groves - Iron Man Triathalon

When looking through the results from the photoshoot of Daniel Groves, I found that many of the shots where not usable and didnt make much sense to the clients breif or to the layouts.

 

Therefore I went back to shoot again, the second shoot results are better and works with the layouts.

 

 

 

Still working on text colour find which works better, this shoot was far more successful than the previous one. Groves also invited me to a Pull Bar Competition/Training day this coming weekend.

 

However one thing that was quite difficult was trying to frame the large pull bar within the frame while keeping a low angle.