Evaluation

The brief states that within the evaluation I should fully articulate the technical, conceptual and practical decisions made within my project. Because throughout my project I have fully annotated each image and each stage of development, the thought behind it and how it was technically achieved, within the evaluation I have decided to focus upon the conceptual progression of my project and where my research and work has focused my attention.
Initially I found this project hard to get stuck in to. I could not decide on an idea or theme to explore and I found it hard to juggle my attention and time between the studio lighting module and the digital post- production module. I attended all the taught technical workshops and although not learning much more than I already knew within the lessons with Gary, I found the lessons with James very useful and influential. He taught me a technique of smoothing a model’s skin and creating an overall more flawless look in black and white images, which I used with great success in my studio lighting module and which inspired me to research into ‘airbrushing’ and the ‘touching up’ of photos within popular media.
In order to further my technical skills and think of new ideas for this module, I bought a series of photography magazines and Photoshop tutorial magazines. Reading these gave me small ideas and doing the tutorials furthered my knowledge and my skills with Photoshop. I was able to experiment with a range of editing techniques and explore how these techniques are used within photography, but the magazines most affected my project in the way that they made me more aware of the digital media that surrounds me, but that I ordinarily overlook, and the use of Photoshop within this field.
Digital post-production can be used to great effect within digital fine art. My work with the cloning technique can most closely be seen to demonstrate this. This development within digital technology plays a massive part in the development of modern art and fuels the debate over whether photography and photographers can be classed as fine art and artists, which I find fascinating. However, what I found myself most interested in was the use of this technology in the media. Everyday we are surrounded by adverts trying to grab our attention and sell us a product or lifestyle. Each photograph, poster and advert is manipulated and presented with such care that every detail is an integral part of the image. Such attention to detail in order to subtly manipulate the viewer’s attention and response to the image fascinates me. It was this focus on the media and advertisement industry that finally shaped my project.
After researching into advertisements and a few current campaigns, I decided to recreate my own adverts for, already well-known, products. Using the Photoshop skills I have acquired through this project and my knowledge of the advertisement industry I feel I was able to create four successful ‘adverts’.
Although I initially found this module hard, I enjoyed the experimentation and technical brainstorming of the beginning of the project. I also enjoyed that this led me to focus on the media and would like to continue this research in further modules. With a slow start to the module I feel my time management could have been slightly better, however I am pleased with my final work and the journey I went on to get there.