Secondary Research (Magazines)

As part of my secondary research I have looked through a number of photography magazines in order to find any articles which may influence my own photography project.

"A Cuppa With Ben Folds"

Within this article Jessica Bracey is interviewing Ben Folds, a singer - writer and talent show judge who is also a photographer. This particular article stood out to me due to the fact that I myself have never been much of a fan of and rarely consider producing black and white images therefore I was intrigued as to why this particular photographer prefers to shoot in black and white rather than colour, when asked about this he stated that he wasn't sure why, he just likes the black and white world. The article features a number of his images and after looking at them I was shocked at how powerful a bold black and white photograph can be in terms of reflecting emotions of creating a particular mood. As a result of this, when producing my own images I myself would like to capture some black and white images due to it being a powerful way of portraying a particular mood or emotion, which is a vital aspect of the images I will be producing. Another thing that attracted me to this particular article was that Ben mentions that when shooting and printing he was obsessively looking for the kind of storytelling he is able to do with songs, due to storytelling being

one of the main things I myself looks for when producing imagery I was eager to research more into this particular photographer for influence.

"Readers Gallery"

The third image within this article, featuring a young girl sat in a field instantly stood out to me due to the composition of this particular image, I particularly like that the photographer has chose to have the young girl to the right hand side of the image, i the use of shallow depth of field also stood out to me, having the young girl sharp and in focus in contrast to the blurry background, this article provides us with the camera and settings that the photographer used when capturing this image therefore enabling us to try and achieve something similar using the same settings, as you can see on top of the image the photographer used a Nikon D300, a shutter speed of 1/200sec, an aperture of 2.2 and an ISO of 200.

"Lighting your movie"

Although this particular article is in regards to DSLR movies, I was still able to gain an understanding into the various lighting equipment and the types and techniques of lighting which will help me greatly within my photography project due to lighting being a vital aspect of photography. This article gave me an understanding of what equipment can achieve what lighting and the different types of lighting, for example I am now aware of the back light which shines on the subject from behind in order to pick up the edge of the subject separating them from the background, which I was unaware of before reading this article, I will therefore be able to keep this type of lighting in mind when producing my own imagery.

"Understanding movie white balance"

Again this article is in regards to DSLR movies, however I was still able to find it useful in regards to my photography project, with the article stating itself that understanding white balance is a vital part of photography, which I agree with. The article provided me with detailed information relating to not only what white balance is but also the various types of white balance and how to use each one effectively depending on the lighting available to you when shooting. Therefore this article provided me with a much better understanding of white balance, allowing me to use this knowledge effectively when producing my own imagery.

"Glossary"

I found this article useful due to the fact that it provided me with definitions of all the relevant terminology which I will come across when conducting a photography project, therefore if I do come across any of these terms throughout, I will already be aware of their meanings and I will also be able to use this terminology effectively throughout my project.