In this work record, I returned back to Bushy park, but this time, in the winter again to capture the deer. I feel that upon returning to the site, I will find it much easier as I already have a much better idea of what and how I am going to be photographing. I recently have felt much more confident when using my camera so I hope that this shows through my final images.
Research images
I feel that this image is one of the best nature images that I have seen. I think that the photographer, who is unknown, has done a great job at capturing the beauty of the animals whilst keeping the surroundings looking just as beautiful. I think that this photographer must be extremely talented at capturing the ‘decisive moment’ as well as editing. During the editing process, the colours have been brought back into the image, but subtly and without over shadowing the main focal point of the photograph.
Although very different to the first image, the one above also captures the unspoilt purity of the deer but in an entirely different way, showing the differences in every photographers style. This image is much more subtlety delivered however, it still harnesses the many colours of the sunrise accompanied by the thick winter frost.
My Photographs
Contact sheets
My best images
As I am shooting all of my photos in RAW format, all of my images require improvement. However, after the editing stage, there are images that I preferred, these are highlighted on the contact sheets.
Images that require improvement
Due to the very short hours in the middle of a British winter the sun did not rise before I arrived at the location. as it started to get lighter, I tried to shoot some images, however, even with the use of a tripod, I was not successful, as shown on the first contact sheet available.
AO3
my idea for recording the changing of seasons was to return to a previous location, Bushy Park London, in order to photograph the deer in the winter season.
In relation to my best images, I wanted to capture the wild deer within their natural habitat, whilst capturing the detail of their surroundings. I feel that within this shoot, I accomplished this, and the images that I have produced are much better than I had expected them to be.
In my opinion, my images have improved significantly since I first began the project.
One problem that I did encounter was the low light levels in the winter mornings. on the morning of the shoot, I had allowed myself enough time to shoot however, I did not have much room to give, so I was under time constraints, which is why my beginning images were extremely dark.
Another problem was that I did not want to scare the animals, not only would it have been unfair on them, but it also would have ruined my chances of getting any good images at all.
I think that this shoot has made me realise that I need to push the boundaries of my skills and make an effort to become more comfortable with shooting in areas of low light.
AO2
In this shoot, I worked with a digital SLR camera (canon EOS 1000D), a macro lens and a tripod. This equipment allowed me to work with this particular settings to the best of my abilities. it also allowed me to play around with the camera settings to get the images that I desire, these would be sharp, in focus and with the desired depth of fields.
In order to further develop my technique I was once again experimenting with using different height levels, and angles which brings some differences within my images. I also experimented with wide angle and telphoto photography. I found that with wide angle, in certain situations such as confinded spaces, the view can appear slightly distorted.
All camera settings that I used in order to take the photograph can be found below the best images at the bottom of the posts.
With this shoot, due to the low light levels, I worked with slower shutter speeds, with longer exposure times. This opened up oppurtunity for blur and motion to be incorperated in the early images taken. This is not something that I wanted to focus on and keep acheiving through out the remainder of the shoot.
The depth of field that I achieved when shooting the close ups of the deer’s head was taken with a larger aperature, and a smaller magnifaction, this gave us a softer, more sensual feel to the images. Again, there is little noise or grain in this series of images, , due to the low ISO settings, creating a smooth look produced from the “quiet” and “peaceful” setting that I think is conveyed through the images.
AO1
This shoot was influenced by Neil Mcintyre. I think that I have used some of his techniques, including composition, setting up my image frames as well keeping with the low saturation images. I think that some of my images are quite similar to that of Neil’s however, it is clear that every photographer has their own style.
Refining my work
I used Photoshop to edit my work and have continues, since my last shoot in Bushy Park, continued to become more familiar with the use of Lightroom when initially editing my RAW format images. this allows me to have a much greater range of control over the editing process.
In the initial editing process, I only really altered small details, however, after a review I have decided that some colour needs to be placed back into the images. So I investigated different tutorials that would allow me to learn specific techniques and incorporate them into my work. These are the videos watched :
AO4
Kate Watson - A Level Photography 
