Unit 01 Exam

 

Unit 01 – Visual Recording and Communication

Needless to say being an exam there’s not a lot we can say about this and we certainly can’t help you once it’s under way. But in general terms there’s some advice that might be useful.

*The exam carries the most points with regards your overall grade, so you should aim to do it to your best abilities and use the time allocated to produce as much work as possible and select the best of it to include in your final submission.

If the exam doesn’t change you’ll be limited to 8 sides of A3 (Equivalent to 4 x A2) with a final A4 side for writing up the commentary. 

In previous years we’ve *advised that you allocate the A3 sides as follows…

·        1 – 2 sides – Research – primarily images.

·        4-5 sides – of developmental work, test shoots, trials and experiments figuring out the best method to produce your final images and exploring ways to convey the narrative through a combination of MTP’s and image content.

·        2 side – final images; This can be 2 x A3 finals, 4 x A4 finals, 8 times A5 finals or some other combination that you see fit.

*”Advised”, you don’t have to follow the instructions above, but you must conform to the submission rules on the brief below.

Usually, there is a suggested limit to how much written work you can produce in the main 8 sides and generally the feeling is that BTEC would rather see your images illustrate your processes and ideas rather than have loads of written work. If you do feel compelled to write keep it short and to the point. Some students avoid potential word count issues and the chance of being penalised (Not that there’s any evidence that this happens) by scanning written content and using it in the design as an image. That way it’s not able to be counted once the work is converted to a PDF.

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Activity 1

The exam is divided up into three stages. Each stage become progressively more controlled. The first stage Research and preparatory stage involves 25 hours in college researching, shooting experimenting and trialling ideas. The brief advises using primary research - this involves primary research as in going and see real art in galleries, but also research through doing e.g. testing and trialling - practical work (Empirical research). 

Note - You have to produce an observational recording e.g. a drawing or sketch relating to one of your ideas which must come from a primary source. You have to draw something from life - a place, person, object. 

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It's essential that your approach to producing the work demonstrates at least three different approaches in order to communicate the theme/idea/narrative visually. For example through style/medium/technique/interpretation. 

Make sure you record/document all your research and exploration of materials and methods used during this first stage. 

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The best approach during this first phase is to produce far more work than you could possibly need exploring a multitude of methods and approaches.

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Activity 2

Now look at all the different ways you've explored, tested and trialled - which one is best suited and most appropriate through the combination of image content, and use of MTP's exemplifies (Responds to) Juxtaposition. 

Produce the final product e.g.

2 x A3 images

4 x A4 images

8 x A5 images 

Or some other combination that fits the 2 x A3 sheets.

With regards how you do this and what you focus on, you’re advised to keep in mind the criteria you’re assessed against below…

AO1 Understand how recording is used to communicate visually in the work of others (Research analysis).

AO2 Demonstrate understanding of visual communication through exploration and application of different methods of recording. (The use of appropriate imagery and MTP’s to communicate narrative and meaning).

AO3 Demonstrate ability to record to communicate intentions (Planning and meeting intentions).

AO4 Evaluate visual recording and communication skills (Final Evaluation).

 

It may be worth using the criteria coding… AO1, AO2 etc as headings when you produce the work knowing that it actually addresses the criteria in a direct way. We would advise that if you have grasped how this works and can see the benefit of this approach it might be worth adopting throughout the work? For instance if you write up a plan you might head it “AO3 Intention”.

 

 

 

Example of a Unit 04 evaluation

 This is an example of how your weekly evaluations might be structured and worded during the production of your Unit 04 work. I've written it up using an activity I did in the 1990's

What happened ______________________________________________________

We converted a B&W print to a pop art image using Letraset.

How do you feel it went? ______________________________________________

I’m happy with it, I tried quite hard and spent extra time after the lesson to ensure I got a decent picture from that activity/session.

What value was there to the activity _____________________________________

I’ve now got another technique under my belt that I can potentially work with in future assignments or use in my portfolio. Acquisition of new skills.

Analysis _____________________________________________________________

In terms of what I’ve done that meets the requirements of the brief…I’ve used further materials e.g. the use of Letraset to apply the dots and we used lithographic film to copy the original image to increase the contrast. In terms of techniques – I now know how to make a print into a pop art image like Roy Lichtenstein using the Letraset dry transfer techniques and I’ve learned how to increase the contrast by using Lith film and copying an image using the flat-copying technique. Process I now know a process in which to apply the Benday dots to a B&W prints using an analogue process and also know how to process Lith film using Rodinal.

Improvement/development – As with all of these things the most obvious aspect is if I was to repeat the work/process again and again I’m going to learn by trial and error and through practice. Looking back at the images – a better understanding of light would be beneficial at the start e.g. I could have shot the images in more contrasty light working to limit the shadows. I could have also used a much slower film at the studio stage and improved contrast that way too. My images also have no real context or concept as they were just used as part of a practical exercise in class, so there’s no real connection between the subject and the concept behind Pop Art. If I were to develop the idea further I would need to tie together the image content/subject and the use of the Pop-Art element so that both aspects of the image worked together to convey meaning.

Action Plan ________________________________________________________ (1). Continue to experiment with a range of materials, techniques and processes in order that they might be considered as techniques to use with my final composite images. (2). Work smart and get all of the images I shoot in the sessions into my design sheet that same night and annotate. (3). Complete the research into the current photographer we’re supposed to be studying and ensure I comment on how they use MTP’s to convey meaning/message/narrative.

Note* If three of your weekly evaluations were produced to this standard it would increase the chance of this part of your work attaining the higher grades.

Criteria guidance L3 Photography BTEC

Content coming soon.

Planning your work

Planning your work (Photography & Art)

If within your assignment you have a requirement to plan - the following guidance may be helpful.

Dependent on what course you're doing there will be several units that require that you identify that you have planned parts of your work, there may also be a component that asks for you to clarify your intentions.

Planning should be identified at all stages when you undertake the production of work... Photography or Art. I would always suggest that you do this within an organised format based on the Gibbs Reflective Practice method (See here for details or in the sidebar to the right).

Use these prompts below to generate your plan

1. Clarify (Describe) what the intention is e.g. why you're making this work, making a direct link with the assignment content.

2. Where - say where your making the images - studio, location, explain why you're doing it there - strengths and weaknesses of the location/studio. Problems you might encounter what you'll do in advance to alleviate those problems. 

3. When - The date, time, explain why at that time, especially if on location - as the light will be dramatically different at different times of day. Be as technical as you can when talking about the light. Write about the time in terms of urgency and the assignment deadline.

4. What with - What camera and equipment are you using, what focal length lens, what tripod, what additional equipment will you need - will you have a back-up camera? Use a check-list in your book, have everything on the check-list - Empty SD card, charged batteries, additional batteries and SD cards. Tripod plates, cables, hotshoe adapters, light meters, extension leads, flash heads and other studio kit (Use the names/brands of the equipment).

5. How (Technique) - Explain how you're going to shoot the images, what approach will you use, how do you want it to look? Is it going to like or borrow something of a famous photographers style or technique? How are you going to ensure that you get the exposures right - what method will you use to do your light readings - maybe explain what metering pattern you use and say why. What are you going to do about your backgrounds? Do your backgrounds play an important part in the images visual language/narrative? How are you going to use the back-grounds - out of focus or in focus? How do you intend to use depth of field generally? What shutter speed will you hope to be using and why? What white balance will you use and why? What file type will you use and why?

6. Who with - Models, assistants, make-up artist, stylists, drivers etc. Who will you use as the model, could you find models? Are you using the same model again and again - why? Do you think that when you show your folio to prospective employers or Universities they might view this negatively? Have you used anyone else to style it or do any of the other roles in photography - see the image below of a Location shoot I witnessed as well as the photographer and the 1 model (Yasmin Le Bonn) there were at least 12 other people... Stylists, Make-up artists, hair-stylists, 4 x assistants, art director. Could your images be improved with more effort and attention to detail?

Whoever you do involve - say what their role is going to be as part of your plan.

7. Using what light Before you shoot, you should have some idea of the kind of light you want, what do you want the light to do - define shape, form and texture, or do you want light that wraps around the subject with low contrast? Again, make connections with other photographers work... I want to get the same effect as photographer a and b and write about the light using the correct terminology. With the light you should write about the time of day and weather and what you're hoping for - you could support this with weather reports - with images of charts showing the weather you'll probably get and then also include a weather contingency plan.

With the light - if you're in the studio use a floor plan diagram and add images or diagrams of the lighting equipment you're going to use and explain why and what effect this might have on the outcome.

8. Health and Safety Many of the units have a requirement to address H&S, so within your plan make sure you write about the H&S aspects that you have to deal with and explain what you do to ensure you, your model and any others that are involved in your shoot are also safe.

9. Weather Mentioned earlier - the weather has a massive effect on location shoots, you might want a particular type of light for your shoot that meets your creative intentions if the light isn't right, explain what you'll do to deal with the light being not quite what you want.


Finally, if you've looked at this check list and thought "What the hell"? because, you don't usually think of or include much of the above, that means at the end of the assignment when you write up your reflection/evaluation and detail what more you need to learn in order to improve you can mention some of the above.

BTEC L3 Photography Materials, Techniques and Processes – Photo-copy paper

Materials, Techniques and Processes – Photo-copy paper

 

Most of the student photography we see produced in their sketchbooks is now produced on photo-copy paper. So, this makes it one of the most frequently used materials that they use. With that in mind, it should be identified as one of the key materials that they use.

As with all of these materials, the first thing students should do is find the brand name of the paper they’re printing on and then go onto the manufacturers website by searching “Product data sheet” followed by the papers brand name…

http://www.paperone.com/images/specs/copier.pdf

 

You should go onto the website and download the product data PDF file for the paper you use in your college. Read the document identify the information relating to its properties and characteristics.

 General observations relating to these papers that you might include… (See over page).

·         Extremely cheap and economic.

·         Ideal for interim images and research images in sketchbooks

·         Ideal for reducing and scaling up using photocopier

·         Potential for mixed media application at basic level – finish is usually matt, so that the paper takes many mark-making media such as graphite pencils, biro’s even paint with the potential for buckling if used too wet.

·         Two basic sizes A4 and A3.

·         Comes out of the machine dry and with the image fixed.

·         Potential in art applications such as degrading and damaging, tears easily and works well with sellotapes for re-fixing and re-configuring.

·         Once screwed up maintains a 3D aspect.

·         Glues well.

·         Is semi-transparent so useful for over-laying and tracing.

·         Clean and white

·         Good for digital contact sheets.

·         Quick and easy.

·         Software on most advanced printing systems allows for nesting of images – MS picture viewer system had excellent nesting configurations for quick handing of images.

 Disadvantages

 

·         Buckles and distorts when used in conjunction with wet mark making media such as water-colour paints/gouache.

·         Not suitable for final images and portfolio use.

·         Images lack colour vibrancy because of the matt finish.

·         Easily damaged and ripped.

 Look at the relevant data sheets for further details.

To take this a step further you’re advised to use a number of different mark making media – pens, inks, high-lighters, different grade graphite pencils, paints – oil, gouache, acrylic, poster, water-colour; Different pencil types – charcoal, conte’, wax and other soft types and use them on the paper.

 Try smudging, smearing and wetting to show what effect you achieve with these media on this paper. Discuss what you have learned about the properties of the paper in conjunction with the potential of the mark-making tools/media. Is there any potential to use these media in conjunction with mixed media approaches in photography or combing the use of images and text?

Have a look at this link here too http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/design/graphics/materialsandcomponentsrev1.shtml
 

 

 

 

BTEC Art and Design Photography - materials, techniques, processes and equipment - TLR camera

TLR camera (Through the lens reflex)

 

 

·         Firstly, this is a fantastic looking camera that draws attention to you as the photographer, and you simply using this camera says… I know what I’m doing, I’m an artisan with advanced knowledge of photography.

·         Looking down psychology. People don’t like being scrutinized through the lens of a camera. With SLR cameras, your face is on the same plain of focus as the lens and the subject often feels uncomfortable and uneasy about the apparent level of scrutiny implied through the use of SLR’s. With a TLR you focus with your face and head pointing and looking down and not at the subject. This has a potential effect in that they’re not so aware of being photographed and may feel more at ease and potentially a better result may evolve?

·         Prime lenses – they don’t use zoom lenses, all of the lenses that come with these cameras are fixed focal length and therefore prime lenses with better optics.

·         6cm x 6cm negative. This is a big negative that produces a very high quality image if used with the right films, processed correctly and printed on the right type of papers.

·         Focus on need to get the shot (12 frames). Again, this is another psychological factor, the whole process or making images using a camera that only has 12 frames per roll focuses the photographer’s attention on the job at hand. The process of making the pictures becomes slower and more measured and potentially better for it.

·         Requires use of hand-held meter – again another set of skills and it looks more professional and people potentially take you more seriously – you look like a photographer and you should be telling them you’re an artist… Digital photography is for snappers and amateurs.

·         Requires more advance knowledge of photography – filters out the cowboys and the wanna-be’s.

·         The square format also makes you think about the space in the image and creates further awareness of backgrounds in images.

·         Enables and encourages darkroom skills and a greater under-standing of the relationship between exposure, light and the print.

·         Enables you to shoot and create images in the style of the greats such as Avedon, Bailey and Penn through the use of techniques such as the inclusion of the border, again making you consider the frame. (Shooting full frame).

·         Working with such cameras demands and identifies more advance skill-set and increases potential to attain higher grades.

 

Disadvantage

 

·         12 shots on a roll – although can be seen as a positive aspect (See above)

·         Lens parallax error – what you see through the viewing lens doesn’t correspond with the ‘Taking lens’.

·         No internal metering system

·         Bellows extension factor – with different lenses at different focal lengths and the closeness of the subject, the camera has a bellows system to facilitate focusing which affects the exposure. This needs to be factored into the exposure calculations.

·         You have to know about film in order to expose properly.

·         Need to have access to 6x6 format enlargers.

·         Need to additional skill-set of processing and printing skills/knowledge to get full advantage.

·         Size and weight – cumbersome.

Cost factor - film is expensive, photographic paper is expensive too.

Environmental factors - Film and photographic paper is full of sliver and there are issues with regards to discarding Fix which is one of the key parts of processing procedure. http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/silver.pdf

BTEC Materials, techniques and processes - Flatbed scanners and photo-copiers as a camera.

Flatbed scanners as a camera

Something that many people over-look is the potential to use flatbed scanners as a means to create images. See the two links below for examples...

http://katerinajebb.tumblr.com/
http://www.simonwardphoto.com/

Scanners produce good quality images at quite high resolutions, with a unique feeling of their own. Ideally suited to flat-copying, but they do have the potential to create renditions of 3D objects too. In addition because of the way that images are scanned by a slow moving capture system, there's loads of scope to play around with movement in conjunction with the images, creating potentially very creative outcomes.

• Normally associated with 'Art' applications in photography, rather than commissioned photography.
• Can be used adapt other types of photography for instance Pinhole photography produced on photographic print paper on small scale can be scanned at high resolutions and therefore digitized and scaled up.

Disadvantages

• Lack of mobility, need mains supply.
• Limited in their ability to render and record 3D objects
• Requires expensive software packages such as Photoshop to work with at post production stages.
• Limited to A4 capture size although A3 scanners do exist.

*Note - The photo-copy machines at college have a scanning function via the menu. Select the 'Scanning' option and click the 'email' option as well as the resolution and colour settings. Also choose what type of file type you want your scan to be sent to you as. I would generally opt for a TIFF file. Once your scan has been made, you'll be sent a digital file to your college email address.