Exam Shoot One - Work Record

Plans for this shoot: Within this shoot I want to follow up my preparatory shoot number seven, whereby I focused on owner's and their pets. In this shoot I plan to focus on one owner and their dog, in order to gather more information about them, instead of focusing on numerous owners and their dogs- similarly to what I did in my shoot number seven. Moreover, I plan to photograph different aspects of the dog's life (e.g. dogs bowls, toys, dog beds...), not just their interactions with their owner (like I did in my shoot number seven); I have chosen to do this in order to compare and contrast the way owner's and their dogs lives in more detail. By photographing the dogs bowls, bed and toys this will allow inferences to be made by the viewer about the activity of the dog; for example, if the dog has lots of toys then this will indicate it's a playful dog, whereas if the dog has no toys this may indicate it's older, or more lazy. 
I have also chosen to include images of the owner with their dog, in order to create links between the two and their relationship. This framing will also allow the viewer to investigate the phrase that 'owner's and their dogs look alike', or share similar personalities. 
Within this shoot I will use a tripod, in order to reduce any shake/blur within my images, as dogs often do not sit still, therefore by using a tripod I will minimise any movement. Moreover, a camera and lens will be needed in order to physically take the images.
Inspiration: Elliott Erwitt's photographs of dogs are the inspiration behind this shoot, as his images are captivating and interesting. Erwitt's images may not explore differences in the way owner's live with their dogs, but they do explore differences in how different dogs can be. Sebastian Magnani is also another inspiration behind this shoot, he face-swaps owners and their dogs to create humorous images; links are created in his photographs between owner's and their dogs being similar, this is something which has inspired me to explore this within my shoot, by photographing owner's and their dogs next to one another. 


Best photograph:

The above image is my best from this shoot, as the owner and dog's interaction can be clearly seen through the way the owner is smiling down at the dogs, as it looks up to her. The simple interaction which is shown in this image tells the viewer a lot about the relationship between the pair, this image indicates that their relationship is exciting and content. When editing this image in photoshop, I slightly increased the curves in order to make the image lighter, I also adjusted the levels of the image. Moreover, I used the white balance tool to make the image have less yellow tones, and more blue/white ones, I believe this makes the image appear more crisp and clear overall. I had to make my image lighter in photoshop due to it being slightly darker than I would have liked; this would have been due to my ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

A shallower depth of field is explored within this image, as the owner and her dog are in focus, whilst the background is slightly blurred- this is due to the lower aperture setting on my camera of 5.3, which creates a shallower depth of field. The use of a shallower depth of field creates a more portrait-like image, and also deters any attention being detracted from the subject's onto the background. 

Overall, I believe this image meets the aim of my shoot as it explores the interactions between owners and their dogs, whilst also linking to Sebastian Magnani's work of how dogs, and owner's are alike.

Worst photograph

This above image is my worst photograph from this shoot, due to the harsh shadowing from the sun submerging the image. I wanted to photograph some images of the dog playing outside, however the sun cast deep shadowing onto the patio, and therefore this submerged the image detracting the viewer's attention away from the dog and the owner's interaction. Moreover, the framing of this image is poor, as the viewer cannot clearly see the dogs face, due to the shadowing, similarly to this, the owner's face also cannot be seen- meaning no emotions can be deduced from this image, as the viewer cannot see their expressions. Furthermore, the owner is awkwardly bent down in this image, this is due to the angle in which I photographed this image, the outcome would have been more effective if I had used a different angle, possibly by getting down lower and shooting on an equal level to the dog. 

My camera settings in which I photographed this image were a shutter speed of 1/320, an aperture setting of 9, and lastly ISO 200. The F 9 would have made my image lighter, by allowing more light into the lens in comparison to a higher aperture setting of F22. However, the lower ISO number of 200, would be making my image darker but less grainy, as the higher the ISO, the more grainy an image is. The quicker shutter speed would also be allowing less light into the lens, due to it only being open for 1/320 of a second meaning that this too would have darkened the image, despite making the photograph less blurry. Subsequently, the aperture setting would have allowed a lot of light into the lens, but combining this with the low ISO and the quicker shutter speed this ultimately made my image darker. 

If I was to reshoot this image again I would change the angles in which I was photographing my subjects, whilst also shooting in different areas of the garden, not the section whereby heavy shadowing is occupied. 

What I have learned/will do next:  Within this shoot I have learned that when I progress onto my next shoot I will photograph the dog's objects from further away, allowing the viewer to more easily see whereabouts in a room these may be placed- this will allow the viewer to gain more information from the image, and subsequently allow then to make more comparisons when all my shoots are combined for my final series.