Central London St. James' Park; Shoot 6 Work Diary

Central London St. James' Park; Shoot 6 Work Diary

Shoot Ideas
In my previous shoots I have experimented with photographing in Central London, in this shoot I want to travel to London again because this is where my ideas are beginning to develop better. This time I am going to photograph around Buckingham Palace and the St. James' Park area. I want to express British Culture and life within this shoot by shooting some landscape photography images of Buckingham Palace which is a huge landmark within Britain and also I want to document people within these areas. I will also attempt to travel to Trafalgar Square and capture some shots in this area to contribute to this shoot.

Research
Similar to a few of my shoots previously I have used Google images to bring up images of the areas I am travelling to because it helps me understand what I am going to be faced with when I arrive at these locations. Also, it enables me to understand how other photographers compose their images so I can use their ideas within my shoots. When researching this area I have found a few images that will influence the image that I am going to be taking. 

This is an image taken in St. James' Park, in the image we can see the nature within the park and also we can see the Buckingham Palace in the background of the image which is what attracted me to this image. I like how within this image British identity is expressed vividly because it shows the beauty of London which isn't always associated with London and it also shows one of the most famous British landmarks. As well as using this image to influence my work I also want to use the influence of Simon Roberts because in this area there are various different types of people that may be present in my image. He uses the people present within his images as an asset which is what I want to use within this shoot.

AO1: You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued

Contact Sheet

These contact sheets show the images that I have taken within this shoot. The images highlighted in red are the images that I need to improve on.

Best Images

This image is similar to the image that I researched within the research section of this post. I think this relates to British Culture well because it includes a very famous London landmark and also includes the nature and wildlife which I have included in some of my shoots. The nature and wildlife also open up more details of British identity because we associate these parks with the beauty of the nature they bring to London. I have composed this image well because we can see elements of the Palace as well as elements of the park I was stood in. I used a tripod to take this image which has helped me achieve this final photo, using a tripod helped me gain a steady landscape image.

I think this image relates strongly to Simon Roberts images because it contains people within a landscape image. The idea that Simon Roberts has to keep people in the image and use them as assets to the location is what I attempted to achieve here. The people show tourists and other people who enjoy coming to this park which adds to the story of the image. In the foreground of the image we have a tree with no leaves on it, although this can be considered ugly it adds an effect to the image as we can see elements of the image through the branches. I didn't use a tripod to take this image but used a wall to balance the camera from a higher point to achieve the image looking down on the people.

I took this image of Buckingham Palace to draw attention to the famous landmark. Although the Palace is not cantorial and is quite dark it is still the main aspect of the image. I wanted to include the grounds around the image to show how the grounds are treated and how well-kept they are. The conditions of this area shows us how important it is within London, there is not rubbish around unlike certain parts of London. The mood within the image is contributed by the bright colours within the image i.e, the grass and the sky. We can also see people in the middle ground, there appears to be small crowds which shows us how popular this area is with the tourists.

This image was taken in Trafalgar Square, I chose to take the image in this war to show the hustle and bustle of London which I believe I have achieved. This image is similar to Simon Roberts too because I have adapted to the fact that people will be involved in my image but I can use them to my advantage. British Culture/identity is adapted well within this image because we see the London hustle and bustle but we also see the red buses which also contribute to symbols of London. I also didn't take this image on a tripod because I wanted to capture the rush of people quickly.

Images That Require Improvement

Although this image does fit in with this shoot I think it does need improvements because it wasn't taking using a tripod which becomes obvious as it is not a straight image. I think a better image would've been achieved if I was taking it from the path underneath the bridge I was on. Also, if I was central the image may have been slightly better. There are not many improvements for this image because it does show British identity with the people  nature and the building in the background however I will not use it in my final images.

I think this image turned out really well and it is exactly what I wanted to capture, but the mark in the corner of the image makes it unusable. I didn't realise this until I brought the pictures up on the computer. There was a lot of sun around at the time which has caused the glare within the lens. When shooting this again I may take the image from a different angle or at a different time where the sun is behind me so that this would not happen again. However, I believe the image was good and did explore British Identity in the way I wanted to.

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

Within this shoot I have explored British Culture and identity in the way that I was hoping to. I have explored this area and taken images that not only relate to my project proposal but can also link to my previous shoots. Simon Roberts has influenced me within this shoot because like my last shoot I have embraced the fact that I am not always going to photograph landscapes with no people in them, thinking of the people as assets has made it easier for me to photograph in these areas. Martin Parr also influenced my shoot too because I used his ideas of using symbolism within the images i.e with the red bus and the famous landmarks. The Google Image research I carried out has also influenced my images because it has helped me understand what looks aesthetically pleasing and what expresses my ideas more. In my next shoot I am either going to explore more parts of Central London or return to Waltham Abbey and document more parts around there. 

With reference to my best images...

I believe that I have created a set of images that link to the British culture/identity. I have concentrated mainly on the landmarks and famous parts of this area but unlike my last shoot I have explore more of the areas rather than just documenting the landmark and that's it. To improve this even further I could split it into more than one shoot i.e Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

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

I used a Nikon D3300 to document these images. To capture these images I used a high aperture setting of f.22/f.18. In the shoot before I used a low aperture setting which proved to work but a higher f stop works slightly better as it is the main setting landscape photographers use. I also used a quick shutter speed of 1/60 seconds to capture the image quickly. The ISO was also set at 200, by setting it at the lowest it reduces the noise within the image and creates a sharp image, if I was shooting at night I may consider to change this setting to a higher option. I think these settings I have used were perfect when capturing the shots I needed.

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

  

To edit this image I used the levels and curves settings to lighten the image and bring in more detail from the Buckingham Palace. Also, I used the hue and saturation setting to brighten the colours with the image. Finally, I used one of the mask layers to burn the sky to bring more detail into the sky. 

  

Similar to the image before I used the levels and curves settings to brighten some areas of the image and darken other areas. The people have become bolder within the image which has added more importance to them. Also, I used the hue and saturation setting to brighten the colours within the image which has become obvious as the sky has become brighter. Finally, I used the paintbrush to burn the sky to bring more detail into the clouds. 

  

To edit this image I also used the levels and curves settings to darken and lighten the image. I also used the hue and saturation tool to increase the saturation of the colours within the image, the trees have become brights and bolder. I used the paintbrush tool to darken the outside of the image which becomes obvious as the shadows on the lake have become darker. As well as darkening the image using the paintbrush tool I also lightened the middle of the image to create the effect that someones eyes are drawn to the middle. 

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

I have chosen these images as my final response because they are my best edited image and relate to my project proposal well. I have used landscape images of the view as my final images because they relate to British Culture as we can see the famous landmarks and the nature within the landscape. I have also included an image of the Buckingham Palace as this is an extremely famous landmark within London. Finally, I have used a image of Trafalgar Square to show the hustle and bustle of London.