dOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
What is documentary photography?
Documentary photography is a series of photographs which tell a story of real things that are going on in the world. They are natural photos, this is more effective than having a staged photo, but you need to get permission from the person you are taking the photos of. Documentary photography doesn't just have to be of people.
Test shoot evaluation
For my test shoot I took some picture during my break time, I tried to get pictures of people whilst they were not looking to make it more natural.
I always made sure I was using he rule of thirds in my images to keep the picture in alignment, the mode I had the camera in was portrait as I was taking pictures of peoples faces. My photos are a series of pictures from the beginning of break to the end of break, but I don't think that they tell a story because they are just random images of my friends.
The strong points of my shoots were that I managed to get some good pictures of people in natural poses and most of them are clear images. The weak points are that I could of got a few more images to show more of a story and a sense of time moving. Some of the pictures are not very good because they are dark and out of focus.
When I do my next photography shoot I will try and get more of a wide range of photos to tell a story. I will make sure that all of my photos are clear and in focus.
I always made sure I was using he rule of thirds in my images to keep the picture in alignment, the mode I had the camera in was portrait as I was taking pictures of peoples faces. My photos are a series of pictures from the beginning of break to the end of break, but I don't think that they tell a story because they are just random images of my friends.
The strong points of my shoots were that I managed to get some good pictures of people in natural poses and most of them are clear images. The weak points are that I could of got a few more images to show more of a story and a sense of time moving. Some of the pictures are not very good because they are dark and out of focus.
When I do my next photography shoot I will try and get more of a wide range of photos to tell a story. I will make sure that all of my photos are clear and in focus.
Steve Mccurry
Steve McCurry is a very famous Portraiture and documentary photographer. He was born in Philadelphia, USA. At university he studied Film. After a few years of doing some work he made a trip to India and explored the country taking many photos. He went to the boarder of Pakistan where he met some refugees who smuggled him across the boarder. When he went to Afghanistan he took some photos of the conflict there. He has won a few awards for his work. One of his images called 'the girl with green eyes' became very famous and the girl got targeted and had to go into hiding. His pictures capture human struggle and joy.
He uses a lot of colour is his images which stand out a lot.
He uses a lot of colour is his images which stand out a lot.
Picture analysis
The denotation of this image is
- Tree
- Child
- Sand
- Mud huts
The connotation is
- Tree- the trees could provide a little bit of shelter for the people that live there because they are exposed to the sun all day.
- Child- could be going to get some water or meet with some friends.
- Sand- where this is it could be a desert
- Mud huts- this looks like a poor country so they could only afford to build homes out of materials and mud
The colours of the sky and ground are very dull but the houses and trees are brighter so they stand out very well. The lighting is quite dull but you can see the image very well and it isn’t under or over exposed in any part of the picture. This picture fits the rule of thirds very well on the trees and the top of the child’s head. The point used is equal, the effect this has on the picture is that it makes it look like how you would see the scene if you were there.
I like this picture because of the colours it uses and that it is a very natural photo.
- Tree
- Child
- Sand
- Mud huts
The connotation is
- Tree- the trees could provide a little bit of shelter for the people that live there because they are exposed to the sun all day.
- Child- could be going to get some water or meet with some friends.
- Sand- where this is it could be a desert
- Mud huts- this looks like a poor country so they could only afford to build homes out of materials and mud
The colours of the sky and ground are very dull but the houses and trees are brighter so they stand out very well. The lighting is quite dull but you can see the image very well and it isn’t under or over exposed in any part of the picture. This picture fits the rule of thirds very well on the trees and the top of the child’s head. The point used is equal, the effect this has on the picture is that it makes it look like how you would see the scene if you were there.
I like this picture because of the colours it uses and that it is a very natural photo.
Martin Parr
Martin Parr is very famous for his Documentary shoots because he was the first documentary photographer to shoot in colour. He was born in 1953 and is still alive to day.
His Shoot 'The last resort' was the first documentary photos done in colour, even though colour photography had been round a long time before. The reason no one had used colour is that people thought it looked cheap and not very professional. Parr wanted his shoot look a bit cheap because 'The last resort' is about cheap package holidays in the UK.
His Shoot 'The last resort' was the first documentary photos done in colour, even though colour photography had been round a long time before. The reason no one had used colour is that people thought it looked cheap and not very professional. Parr wanted his shoot look a bit cheap because 'The last resort' is about cheap package holidays in the UK.
Picture analysis
This picture is from Martin Parr’s shoot ‘The last Resort’.
The picture has a natural texture and is quite smooth. It has a high depth of field, Photoshop has not been used and the flash is on. It fits the rule of thirds quite well. The lighting is natural from the sunlight and the flash is on. The colours are quite bright and a similar shade. The wall at the back stands out because it is a different colour to the foreground. |
Shoot Plan
Over the Christmas holidays I am going to do a documentary photography photoshoot. I will be taking photos of what happens for the preparations before Christmas day and then document what actually happens on the day. I will get picture try and get a few picture every half an hour to an hour. Depending on what I am taking a photo of and where I am will depend on the technical details of my shoot. If am just taking a normal picture of a Christmas tree in daylight I will use a high depth of field so everything is in focus. The ISO will be quite low 100-400 but when it starts to get dark I will use a higher one. The shutter speed that I will use might be either normal- 1/125 or I could use a high one 1/1000 to 1/2000, which is a fast shutter speed; I will do this to capture a moment really quickly.
If I am taking a portrait of someone I will use a low depth of field to blur the background, which will make the person stand out very will and be very sharp. For this I will have to have my camera on aperture priority.
If I do a picture that uses a slow shutter speed I will try and get a picture of people moving around, for example: the younger children in my family playing or people moving round the dinner table deciding where they are going to sit.
Equipment list
1) SLR camera
2) Tripod
3) Christmas decorations
4) Christmas dinner
5) Presents
Contact sheets
Best 3 Images
I like this image because I took it in a dark room and set the shutter speed to 15''. This gave the camera time to get light in the camera. The F number was 7.1. It fits the rule of thirds very well on the tree and by the TV. There are no leading lines but you are drawn to the lights as they stand out very well. There are some unstable shapes in this picture it make it look like more of a natural photo. There is a bit of spacing in this picture because I positioned the camera a few metres away from the lights. I also made sure that i was all spaced apart so the lights didn't join together. There are a lot of shadows on the image which has a good effect. The colours in the image are all coming from the the lights, so the colours are quite bright but subtle. As the lights are christmas lights it gives the pictures a christmassy feel to the picture.It has a smooth texture which makes it have a natural effect.
This picture does not really fit this picture very well but it does have some leading lines on the shadows from the glasses on the chairs. The colours in the picture are a little bit dull but it makes the pink chair stand out a lot, I did not intentionally do this. I think it is a little bit too bright.The lighting is all natural from the sun, I did not use the flash. It is lit from behind me. I did this to make the table look more obvious. The F number was 18, the ISO was 100 and the white balance was on daylight
I did this photo as a macro photo. As i do not have a macro lens I put the camera on close up to create the same effect. I had to get right up close to the snowman to get a good level of detail in the picture. The colours are all very natural but the red of the scarf stands out very well. the lighting is from the sunlight, coming in from the the right hand side of the picture. The picture does fit the rule of thirds. The view point of this picture is a close up but from my perspective. The texture is quite rough from all the decoration and the tree branches
Shoot evaluation
In my shoot I intended to take photos of christmassy things around my house and the preparations that we had to do for christmas day. I also included some landscape photos before christmas day. I achieved my plan by experimenting with my photos to see what they would look like and then trying again to see if I could improve it. My plan did change quite a bit when I was doing it as I came up with some more ideas. I tried to get my shoot to link to my artiest research but none of the artist that i looked up had done a christmas documentary shoot so it was quite hard to link.
It was successful because I got loads of images and they all showed a what my christmas was like and all the preparations for christmas day. I think there quite a bit of improvements that I could make to my shoot because i don't think it really tells a story, it's more just a series of photographs that show christmas. Also I think i need to get to understand how to use the flash in certain situations because sometimes it comes up automatically and I don't want it to and I need to make sure that I spend more time making sure the camera is in focus before I take the picture.
During my shoot I have learnt about Documentary photography and I have learnt how to get different perspective photos.
For my next shoot I am going to landscape photography
It was successful because I got loads of images and they all showed a what my christmas was like and all the preparations for christmas day. I think there quite a bit of improvements that I could make to my shoot because i don't think it really tells a story, it's more just a series of photographs that show christmas. Also I think i need to get to understand how to use the flash in certain situations because sometimes it comes up automatically and I don't want it to and I need to make sure that I spend more time making sure the camera is in focus before I take the picture.
During my shoot I have learnt about Documentary photography and I have learnt how to get different perspective photos.
For my next shoot I am going to landscape photography