The following has been written by our tutor Rona Cox for her photography students, however we thought that in general it would be good advice for all of our students on other courses as there are ‘ways and means’ of getting the perfect photo – or perfect scene for a painting or drawing. Read on to find out more…
As a student on the Photography Diploma course I thought it might be a good time to spur you on in your studies. I hope this message finds you well and you are finding ways to keep yourself and your families amused, but if not and you want to get on with your course, don’t worry there are ways to get round being stuck at home and making your photography a bit more creative.
The only real problem shot is the landscape. Even then, if you can go on your exercise walk/run, do take your camera with you – there are no rules that you can’t do two things at once! You do not have to shoot pretty fields, a cityscape will be fine, even your street, shot from a low angle or with a wide angle lens, if you have one, can give interest. I am more than prepared to adapt my marking criteria during this awful time, so don’t think you can’t take photographs at home, you can.
The table top shot is the easiest to complete and I’m sure there are hundreds of ideas you can come up with. I’ve even had Lego layouts, floral displays, insects in aquaria as well as the cuddly toy collection used for this assignment!
I recently had a student worried that she couldn’t complete the night shot assignment as she couldn’t go out. I assured her that any shot taken either outside or in with no additional photographic lighting other than maybe street lighting or stars/moonlight, table lamp etc, will be fine. I even took on the challenge of shooting the recent supermoon and only gave myself only three minutes to do it. The results were not bad, if I might say so myself, for a Lumix compact camera placed on a wall – just be prepared to control the exposure yourself!
As for the portraiture section, if you have family, turn it into a fun session. People seem far more willing to have a camera shoved up their nose at the moment, so take this opportunity. Window, room lighting, LED or flash lighting are all acceptable, just watch the colour balance.
The other shots are also suitable for home and garden – the speed shot could be a child on the swing, or trampoline, or just jumping off the chair, or pet running/jumping etc. If a car does go past the window shoot that. The shot requiring strong lines of perspective can be a table top shot with pencils, bottles are some other lined up subject. I like you being creative, as it make me smile!
As an additional challenge, and this is open to everyone, I want you to shoot yourself in a mirror and send the picture (JPEG please) to Alison at head office at admin@londonartcollege.co.uk and she will kindly pass them on to me. This is a great challenge to control focus, depth of field and lighting and it’s nice to put a face (or part of it) to a name. One rule for my photography students, no phone selfies!
If you are also interested, this will also be part of the up and coming weekend art challenge, so look out for more details on Friday’s blog post if you are interested in taking part in that too. You can use the same photos for the weekend challenge, make sure you write in the email that they can be used for the art challenge too, otherwise they will be ommited.
So have a go and don’t think photography has to be outside. And if you aren’t on the photography course and you are maybe thinking this isn’t a good time, think again, you will be very welcome!
Keep safe and well.
Rona Cox
D10 Tutor
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