Example of sketchbook work.

Here's an example of how you might choose to put your work together. At our college we suggest either using the traditional sketchbooks or this method using A3 display folders. The current course leader advocates the use of the traditional hard-back A4 sketchbooks.

The next question we're confronted with is "What the hell do I write and what do I put in it"? Another thing that seems to be lost on students is the work rate and how organised you have to be to get the work completed and in your books.

Question... What the hell do I put in my sketchbook?

There's a number of answers to this - one is everything, the other is the stuff you need to meet the assessment criteria. The bottom line is what-ever you do put in your books, whether it be a minimal approach or an everything approach it does have to meet the assessment criteria.

To this end, it is essential that you engage with this aspect of your work and you make sure you know what it is you've got to do - ask the question "What criteria do I have to meet - what exactly do I have to do"? This information will be on your assignment/brief sheet under the section titled "Assessment Criteria". It tends to be a bit 'wordy' so if you don't understand it, ask someone to explain it to you in terms of what you have to do. If in doubt ask.

Work Rate... Fast and efficient, do it as it happens. Use college time to write stuff up, print things off, read the BJP's, stick your work in your book. Do it there an then!
When you're working in the darkroom where you have to wait for things to happen, don't wait around, use this 'dead time' to write up records and explanations of what you're doing.
Do you travel to college by train? Work on the train?
Set aside time to do the work and do it as it happens.
Diary Style. Work on your book as though it's a diary, do a bit every day, write it as a diary.

Page 1. Always ensure that you have a page that identifies your work with contact details for the college in the event that you lose the work. If it gets left on the train or somewhere the chances are someone will return it. Without this page, you may never see the work again and we cannot assess work that we have never seen.

For our current students, the next page may include the work that was produced prior to joining the course - research work using the British Journal of Photography (Images and you're analysis of the work and the accompanying text).

 

The first lesson was the Visual Language work where we explored and shot images of mugshots over two stages. Simply record what you did, what you were thinking and what you understood of the task at that stage using both images and written work. You could include technical details, but the most important aspects are the visual language aspects - the conventions that relate to creating images that look like a classic police mug-shot discussing the complexities involved in making the image.

 




 Once you'd shot the first series the results and conventions were discussed and you went out again and we developed the work further aiming to make the work a more convincing version of the classic mug-shot...

As much as you can you're advised to include sketches and drawings. UAL love sketches and drawings and the more you do the less you'll have to write. There's a balance to be had between how much writing you do and how much you illustrate your learning through the use of images (photography or sketches). Potentially you can write a lot less than the example here, but you then need to use images and sketches far more in the process of evidencing your learning and analysis (See the example at the bottom of this post). 

Listen for suggestions in lessons, if an idea or experiment is suggested, you should grab the opportunity and try it out. In the lesson the lecturer discussed the one-eyed aspects of using lenses at different focal lengths. That was a prompt for you to do additional work that would help you attain the higher grades...

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Research is essential and as you go through this course you'll be directed as to how to go about your research at this stage you need to have completed research in conjunction with your practical work you need to do outside of college. (See your brief 'Sinister'). The research at this stage is being directed in that we're pointing you towards specific artists and resources. In response to the artists you're being directed to look at you need to include images and then start the written content offering your initial response to the work prior to reading and learning about it. Once you've offered your opinion and analysis of the work, you then need to read the accompanying text and then write up a summary of the important aspects that relate to your task. This might look like this...

 



 

 

There are loads of examples of how sketchbooks can be put together and a particularly good resources for exploring how others do it is here

On this website you'll find links to videos such as these and you may find them helpful...

 

 

 





 

Poly-board Tunnel - Fashion Portraits - Diffuse Light

http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

This is another light set-up that we cover, that produces an exceptionally soft diffuse wrap-around light. It requires a fairly large studio space because you need to make a large box shape construction out of your 8'x4' poly-boards. You'll need the following equipment...

2 x studio flash heads and appropriate light stands.
6 x Poly-boards 8'x4'.
A table (typical school table).
Optional backgrounds.
2 x small light stands.

Place the table in the middle of the studio space with an appropriate (white) background behind where the subject/model is stood (A). Construct the square shaped tunnel on top of the table (See second diagram). The sides need to be supported by small extended light stands either side of the poly-boards as you construct it, you should also work with an assistant to make the whole thing easier and safer. Once the side are in place the top of the box should be carefully placed making a tunnel.

Starting with one light, either (E) or (D) set the light up so that it's just outside of the box positioned so that it's directing the light into the box at 45 degrees. Have the light so that it's positioned mid-way up the box, with the light angled into the box straight rather than downwards or upwards. The lights must not be visible to the model when standing at (A). You take your light reading from the face of the model pointing the invercone into the tunnel measuring the light falling onto the face of the model. Dependent on what you're aiming to achieve (Shallow depth of field or deep) make a choice with regards to your aperture. We would generally go for f8 for each flash head. They're measured individually and accurately (work to eliminate the 10ths of stops). Once they're both set to f8, the combined reading of both of them being fired at the same time will produce a reading of f11. At which point if your camera is set up correctly you're good to go!

 

This below is an approximation of a 3D view.

If you've not set the lights up with the poly-boards at (c) you'll probably experience bright panels of light either side of the subject in your images. The light travelling down the tunnels will be absorbed  to some extent giving you an image in accordance with your meter reading, but the light that passes down the outside of the tunnel is not hindered and may be recorded in the image either side of your model slightly brighter. In which case you need to prevent that light from falling on your background.

 

The effect is that a white background as with our infinity cover will be rendered slightly U/Exp. The further the box is from the cover the darker it will be.

 

3 Light system - pure white back-ground.

 

We then developed the set-up, by introducing a 3rd light (below) indicated by (j) in this instance we just used a dish-less head. The light was positioned so that the light fell onto the white B/G, but you have to be careful to ensure none of the light encroaches onto the model/subject to ensure the hatched area (b) is still maintained at around f11. The third light (g) is calibrated so that it gives a reading of around f16 (1 stop brighter). This modification of the lighting will produce a pure white background.

 

This method was demonstrated originally by commercial photographer Struan Wallace.  

 http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

 

 

Studio Lighting - white floor - full length fashion portrait.

http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/

Studio lighting - white floor on a full length fashion portrait.

One of the conundrums of studio lighting is how to achieve a white floor, or at least reduce the amount of re-touching required in Photoshop.

In one of the lessons, we use a single light method to test this theoretical approach out (Below).

 

 

The floor plan is drawn on the white board and the students copy this up. I usually get a couple of the least experienced student to then set up the lights and take the meter readings, one acts as the assistant and the other the photographer. The rest of the class look on as H&S monitors.

 

I then go round the class asking individual students how they need to configure their cameras...

 

Manual Mode

White balance set to flash

Lens set to a focal length of 55mm with a DSLR

Focusing point set for upright portrait, central or manual focus.

Shutter speed - 1/125

ISO - 100

 

We them aim to set the lights to give us a light reading of approx. F8 or F11.

 

The light (B) is the primary light source and we use either a medium size dish (Parabolic type) or a white umbrella with the light reflected out of it. The best option if available is small soft box approx. 18" x 18". The light is set at 45 degrees to the subject and the meter reading is taken from the face. The light gives good modelling to the face picking up the shape and features. Some attention should be given to where the shadows fall and reflector (D) positioned to provide fill-in.

 

The main observations with this demo is to look at how the floor is rendered. Students tend to have their lighting far too close to the subject and therefore have poor results due to the negative affect of Inverse Square Law. The basic principal that needs to be taught here is The further the lights are away from the subject, the more control you'll have over the lighting. (Inverse Square Law). The downside of this is that your studio needs to be relatively large in size in order to give you the distance from the subject (height and length).

 

In our studio in this demo we use the height of the studio to gain our necessary distance from the subject so putting Inverse Square Law into practice in our favour. With the light fully extended to the ceiling (15') the light striking the model is sufficiently even as to cover both the model and the surrounding floor space. The distance between the model and the infinity cover behind is approx. 15'-18' and with this single light is almost rendered 100% white too!

 

The only issue and area for concern is the shadow between the subject and the reflector board, but this is relatively small and unobtrusive and easily removed in Photoshop. Or you can explore the use of using the reflector closer or adding more lights? A mate of mine who uses this in a professional context places an additional reflector between the model and the camera directing additional light back into the floor reducing the shadow further still. Students should be encouraged in their own time to explore this as an option.

 

If you need to link this with a practitioner you should use my http://www.listofphotographers.blogspot.co.uk/ and type in studio and check out the photographers there.

 

Note, as a student you should record exactly what you do when setting these lighting sets up and take a wide shot of the set, to use alongside your floor plan and the resulting images.

 

Once completed you should then reflect on your activities.

 

The Gibbs reflective practice process should not be seen as a separate entity from your work – an ‘Add on’. It should be seen as an integral part of how you put your projects together… Each time you produce something of substance or try something new or challenging, it should be followed by the ‘Gibbs’ process.