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Week 1. 11.09.17 Task 1: 4 Formal Elements Study

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Week 1. 11.09.17 Task 1: 4 Formal Elements Study

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(Unit 1: 1.1 and 1.2)

Know: The main activity that expanded my overall knowledge was when we had to study and give our opinions on photographs of our choosing, and that helped a lot due to trying a new exercise that i have not tried before. It also gave me a sense of independence to find out facts and photographers names on my own. i also had never heard of the Formal Elements before starting this course.

Do: The new skill i acquired was the ability to use Padlet and Showbie properly. And i am very proud of making a full Padlet project on the Formal Elements.

Show: I presented my work in a organised matter, in which i put my Formal Elements Padlet work into columns and organised it by name, Shape, Line, Colour etc.Improve: The improvements that i need to work on are remembering what instructions i am told, and ask for more help to get my work done to a more acceptable state. The skills i used are researching and finding images for the Formal Elements project. something that i learnt to use in my work which i am going to use next time is that google images isnt the only source of research or images, as there are hundreds of museum websites that give you an option to find photos and the photographers, and this also gives you a chance to check out any of there other work.

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Week 2. 18.09.17 Task 2: Replicate Formal Elements

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Week 2. 18.09.17 Task 2: Replicate Formal Elements

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(Unit 1: 1.1 and 1.2)
Know: My knowledge and understanding of the main Formal Elements is that actually taking pictures myself and comparing the Formal Elements actually gives you more insight and you can more easily depict upon the lines, texture, shape, and colour of an image that you have taken. By shooting my own images, I have discovered that going to different locations, and taking shots from different angles, different heights, and how close you get to the subject of the picture, can really make the difference between finding a shape in a image, and finding the colour contrast and textures.

Do: I produced 4 successful digital photographs with my Samsung Galaxy S8, don't mean to brag there! but I managed to use the focus mode to my advantage for the colour pictures which I took of a flower, where you can see that the background is blurred, same as the one that I found which inspired me, Also you can see that the colour pops out which refers to my chosen image and the ones that I took. For my shape pictures I used a salt shaker, which I kindly asked the man in the kebab shop, however the next day I needed to attain more pictures of a salt shaker, but the kebab shop that I originally went to was closed, so I had to go to another and I shot a completely different salt shaker to to the first. Another photo that I shot was the one for Texture which I am quite honestly disappointed with. I tried to capture a church window, Stained glass window, however the church I went to had no cool looking windows so I captured what looks to be an ordinary window, however it has a small bit of texture in it, and that's from a bump in the window, purposely made for design benefits. The next image I managed to capture from many different places, for example; car park roof, out looking a bus stop and a few buildings, and one taken from the roof of a small building near Ripped gym, which captures the behinds of some stores, and a Luigi's store back.

Show: https://spark.adobe.com/sp/design/page/cc9b1932-8ee3-445c-b598-e6b97781d7e3

Improve: My final outcomes I have mixed opinions on. The images came out great, and i got some amazing primary source images, however once uploading them to Adobe spark, I wish I gave more information on the images and how they compare to the professional one that inspired me. I found the work challenging at times, and it didn't help that I kept distracting myself by talking to others. To improve for next time, I will metaphorically isolate myself from my friends, and use more creativity in my work and presentations.

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Week 3. 25.09.17 Task 3: Photography Workshops

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Week 3. 25.09.17 Task 3: Photography Workshops

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(Unit 2: 1.1 and 1.2)
Know: When I first used a DSLR camera, I instantly fell in love with taking pictures, and shooting video. Another activity that helped develop my skills further was when Karl sent us out to take photos, I learnt how to operate the camera to the best of my abilities.
I also learnt what a tripod is and how to use it.
I experimented with the settings of the DSLR to see the effects.
One other thing I found out was that you connect a camera to a tripod by screwing in the base plate of the tripod to the bottom of the camera, and then slip it into the tripod.
I also learnt more about Photoshop, which i have never used before! I learnt how most of the tools work, and how to apply them to an image that had taken on the camera.

Do: The new skills that I acquired were put to good use when I applied them when producing a video. In that video I mentioned how to use a DSLR camera, and the use of Photoshop. I completed the task by explaining the proper use of a camera, explaining how it works and some features that weren't mentioned in the tutorial that I found out on my own. I eventually ran into some barriers when using Photoshop, for example; using the selective tools, this was a major barrier for me as I had no clue how to properly select my image and make one part of it a different colour from the rest, so I had to ask Karl on multiple occasions to explain and show me how to use it. Also using Photoshop was a struggle for me because i didn't understand the software properly and how certain things worked like cropping, and colouring. I fixed the issue of cropping and colouring eventually when I go shown examples of what to do.

Show: I presented my work by creating my own Photoshop'd image of a flower.https://padlet.com/jacksonobrien1/x7s23g9xnqpv

Improve: Some major improvements that I need to make is mostly on my understanding of Photoshop. Photoshop has been a roadblock to me, mostly because I became very confused, and overwhelmed by all the tools and editing things that it has. My aim is to improve drastically on my knowledge and understanding on editing an image on Photoshop. On my next session I will ask for more help, and try and be more brave in using the tools that Photoshop provides.

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(Unit 1: 1.2)
Know: During this task I had planned my photo shoots, and I heavily planned my colour shoot, as i tried to be as aspired as I could possibly be. This task helped my knowledge of my shoot, by allowing me to plan it with many ideas that I came up with. Also i would have never come up with the idea to travel to china town without first of all checking tourist attractions on my computer, and I realised my love for asian architecture, so I wanted to be passionate about going, and that I did.
I have now learnt that it is important to plan because without one you will just get confused.

Do: The new skills that i presented would be making a concrete plan, then putting it on my computer, and pledging to follow it. The way i completed the task was by completing all my planning to the best of my abilities, and submitting it on time. A barrier that appeared would be when thinking of ideas that i'm less passionate about, and this caused my bright ideas to go to my favourite shoot and not the others. I am very proud of my colour shoot plan as i completed it on time, and to a very good standard.

Improvements: Some improvements that I could make upon this work would be improving my other plans to be more inspirational as they we're kind of dull, and none enthusiastic. Upon choosing what I need to improve upon, all I have to do is make more concrete plans for one or two of my shoots, and use my enthusiasm on all my planned shoots, and not just on a selected few.

Show: I presented my work, by making little tables on PowerPoint and making mind maps.
All my shoot plans are on this mind map: https://padlet.com/jacksonobrien1/obikv2pbxt3

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Week 5. 9.10.17 Task 5: Final Shoot and Presentation

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Week 5. 9.10.17 Task 5: Final Shoot and Presentation

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(Unit 2: 1.2)
Know: The activity that assisted me the most would be when Carl showed me how to properly edit photos on Photoshop, and this helped out a lot as I had no idea how to use it before. I also found out how to properly set up a camera this week, and that made this part of the project very easy.

Do: The new skills that I applied in my final shoot would be using different camera angles, and changing up my style of imagery really made me feel as if I am doing multiple tasks at a time, especially when shooting two of my planned shoots in one day. I completed the task by going out and taking the photos, while also creating a contact sheet of my top images that i chose to use for my final outcome. The only barrier I hit came from trying to get the weather to fit my shoots accordingly. I am very proud of the fact that I planned my colour shoot to perfection, and everything it said on the plan, I accomplished.

Improve: The improvements that I need to work on would be trying to finish all given work on time, but besides that I am proud with how I worked this week. The skills that I learnt would include blurring out backgrounds on images with my touch screen feature on my new Canon 700D. If I have learnt anything to use in future projects, it would be too always upload my work to showbie so myself and any of my teachers can keep up with what is going on, and find out what step i'm on.

Show: I have not quite completed my presentation work, however I shall complete that to perfection when it comes too.

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Week 6. 16.10.17 Task 6: Evaluation and Reflection

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Week 6. 16.10.17 Task 6: Evaluation and Reflection

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(Unit 1 and 2: 1.3 and 1.3)
Know: The activity which assisted me the most would be making my Adobe Spark page with all my final images, and contact sheets that I made. This task helped me a lot because i got to analyse my work, and talk about what was good about, what could have gone better. I now feel more comfortable with being myself during presentations, because I dressed how I wanted in front of the class which made my confidence go up, and I even wore a grill so that it caught people's eye.

Do: The new skills that I portrayed in my presentation would be the things that I learnt about my work when explaining how things went with my shoot, what I could improve upon. A barrier that i stumbled across would be deciding whether to follow everyone else and do a PowerPoint presentation, or do mine on Adobe Spark. In the end i decided upon Adobe Spark and i was the only one in my class to make this smart decision as far as i'm concerned. Upon completing my presentation, I am very proud to announce that it was a massive success, and the feedback was very satisfactory to hear.

Improve: Some improvements that I would like to make would be too try and make up my mind on certain areas of this project more quickly, as at times I took a while to either understand what it is i'm actually doing, or trying to discover something myself, for example; choosing the software to actually make my presentation. contemplating whether to speak in my presentation, etc. The feedback that I received on Showbie would be when I either got a word of advice, or to improve my older tasks. my response to the feedback was to just do what it asked of me and complete my old tasks. Overall this project has been a stored memory as I have taken the liberty to buy my own camera after being inspired by this project, and I look forward to continue using photography after everything I have learnt during these 6 weeks.

Show: This is my actual presentation that I spoke about and created using Adobe Spark: https://spark.adobe.com/page/gFLY8RlnIQBjO/

Also this is my favourite image that I had taken during this entire project, obviously better quality when not using Padlet!: