Photoshoot Plan

What?- Having completed 3 previous shoots this one is a catch up for any photos I missed or any I think will add to the narrative that I noticed I was missing using editing. It is a mixture of portraits, small detail shots of tractor parts and more photos of the wood workshop/dairy.

How?- Using my 50mm lens will allow me to get closer, or capture images I couldn’t with a long lens. I will start in the barn working my way up each level before the going into the wood workshop/dairy.

Why?- These will be important photos for the book, they are ones I felt I was missing in my previous shoots. I felt I missed human connection with a portrait that was composed rather than a natural. Also a few of the tractor parts, I liked the compositions I saw on the last shoot but the lens was too long to capture it.

Contact Sheets

This is the contact sheets of the last photoshoot for the minute. It is a variety of shots I felt were missing from the previous photoshoots. I used a different lens to my 70-200mm I had been using, this photoshoot was done mostly with a 50mm 2.8 lens.

Having looked at the previous shoots I noticed I didn’t have a formal composed environmental portrait. So I set this one up, using the same tractor featured in the working photos from the first photoshoot and asking the subject to stand next to it. He then put his arm on it like he would when talking to someone. To get a good angle I picked a low angle to keep not distort the tractor when using a 50mm lens. To edit it I made basic adjustments to correct the exposure.

Edit Two

I liked the way the seat, steering wheel and number plate filled the frame on this shot. To get it to fit with the rest of the photos I increased the contrast while decreasing the exposure. This brought out the deeper colours in the photo, highlighting the age of the tractor and the textures of the sack and plastic bag on the seat.

Edit Three

Similarly to the last edit I increased the contrast while decreasing the exposure. This photo was slightly too bright to fit with the rest having been shot at f2.8 so I decreased the highlights on the sliders as this reduces how bright the pillows are.

Edit Four

This shot even on a 50mm lens was a close cropped frame. I used the centre of the shelves to highlight the harsh lines and show how organised it is even if it looks chaotic. The things on the shelves aren’t as easy to make out, instead dark in contrast to the lighter wooden cross. I like the harshness of the contrast, making a highly tonal image to fit with the rest of the project.

Edit Five

Again by choosing a high contrast, tonal photo it fits with the rest of the project. I used the highlights to enhance the photo, the highlights add to the shot, highlighting the tire treads, tractor parts and wood.

Edit Six

This photo is a great over view of the barn. It gives an insight into the farm, having the foreground filled with the metal elements and the background continues on filled with reds and oranges linking the previous photos and the owners love for Massey Fergusons. I just increased the contrast while decreasing the exposure to get a balanced image, fitting with the rest of the project while still highlighting all the details in the scene.

Edit Seven

This was originally over exposed but to get the textures to stand out I reduced the exposure and increased the contrast and shadows, bringing the texture back to life in the photo. Removing the overexposed parts of the photo.

Edit Eight

I felt this shot was important to include as it has details, the tractor in the back ground, the potato crates in the foreground and then the bright food cans again making the link to the other photos that have the same food cans.

Edit Nine

This is a different photo from the rest of the photos from this shoot, I liked how it had the greenery, pulling the tractors and landscape together. The busy top corners of the photo build a frame for the tractor and field. The red contrasts well with the range of greens. I reduced the highlights while increasing the shadows to enhance the depth in the photo.

Edit Ten

I then went back to detail shots, this is a cow headcollar in the dairy turned wood work shop. The partitions are clear in the corners of the stalls for the cows are visible in the photos. I like the black and white as it removed the yellow tone and enhanced the soft background with the strong lines from the headcollar itself, pulling the focus back.

Edit Eleven

This photo captures the work shop, the wood work shop. Having used the 50mm lens I made use of the 2.8 aperture as the lighting was only yellow, artificial lighting the lower aperture benefitted the photo capturing all the details without noise. However this did create an overexposed image, so I used the sliders to reduce the bright light, while still keeping the details. I also reduced the yellow lighting by moving the yellow slider down to the blue end, neutralising the photo.

Edit Twelve

This photo has two large lines on either side of the photo, framing the saw as a small glance at the work shop, creating interest for the viewer. I like the black and white on this image as it highlights the piles of wood at the back, the details on the saw and removes the yellow lighting.

Final Photos

This is a mixture of different photos, some linking better than others, some seemingly completely random. However, these are all photos I had planned to capture, whether it be a composition I had seen on a previous shoot but not had the lens to take it well. Or a photo I wanted to redo from a previous shoot as the outcome wasn’t what I wanted. This mixture of photos encompasses what I’m trying to do with the project, give an insight into Raoul’s life as a farmer. I needed another portrait but a pose one, one in which Raoul was acknowledging the camera. Adding an understanding about the camera, and its importance in the documenting of him and his lifestyle. Having researched the photo book, ‘for every minute…’ I noticed there was a big association with colour and texture, this is also something I liked the idea of from my mood board. So within this shoot I focused on connecting details, repeated textures and photos I could subtlety reference throughout. Like the food cans, bright in colour but if the viewer isn’t looking they will miss the constant reference, it is also a pun to a degree, showing the circularity of the trade, from soil to can to being used to farm the soil in some way again.