Re-shoot Image One - Location Scout

In this location I like the railings and how they create shapes and lines leading the viewer through the images, however on the stairs is a stencil of a dog reminding their owners to clean the rubbish: I would not like this to be seen in my print however too much of the stairs will be cut out if I do not include it.

Possible Four Final Images

After speaking with the tutor in my tutorial he told me that these four were my best images and that I should use them in my final selection. I am going to see how the new ones I am going to shoot turn out and then have a look at my final images again.

Contact Sheet Review

Tuesday afternoon we showed our contact sheets to the group so that we could receive feedback and so that the tutor could see the work that we had done so far.

At first the review was not very helpful as I was wanting some feedback about the subject I had photographed however there was more technical information given about why the sides of my print had been developed more than the middle.

But I did get some comments about my subject and a possible direction to take the final five in.

After my tutorial with the tutor this morning I am planning to go and take a few more photographs that will help me create a sequence with my final five (if the weather clears up as I am wanting clear skies and contrast in the photographs.)

Another Four Photographs - Contact Sheet

These are the contact sheets of the images I took, I think the first and the third images are more well composed then the other two as the second image looks as though I have squashed the view of the railings into one corner and the last image is focusing more on the wall than on the rocks and the waves which is what I had wanted. The shadows in the first image add just a little extra detail which makes the photograph more interesting and the way I have composed the third image makes it feel as though the viewer is stood on those stairs looking down them.

Another Four Photographs

We went out on another shoot as the weather was bright and sunny and the contrast would be great, I focused on a railing and set of stairs as the shape the lines created led the viewer right through the photograph, the shadows were also interesting as it almost looks like a reflection on the floor. I took an image facing out towards the sea with the Highlands in the distance, I am not sure about how this image will turn out compared to what I was thinking but I am hopeful it will work.

I have developed these and should hopefully be in the darkroom printing contact sheets this afternoon.

The Next Four Photographs - Contact Sheet

So we got into the darkroom to make contact sheets of all the negatives and this is what my prints look like:

I am happy with how they came out as they are well exposed and they are all in focus. With the second image I wanted to play with the depth of field so I focused on the wall in the foreground and used a shallow depth of field to have the rocks in the background slightly out of focus.

The last two images are my personal favourites from this shoot as I feel I took more care in composing them compared to the first two. 

The sides of the prints have been developed slightly more than the rest, this is because of the clips that hold the negative in the developer means the developer chemical runs down over that section more than the others.

Machine Processing or Tray Chemicals

In the darkroom there is two different ways to develop the contact sheets and enlargements; tray chemicals or a processing machine.

Tray Chemicals

Are more used when using resin coated paper and the technician does not recommend the students using the chemicals if we are not using this type of paper as it is an unnecessary health and safety risk, we were also told that is wasting chemicals because so much is left unused.

Some people prefer using the chemicals because they like to watch the process to make sure it has gone right and easily take the paper out of the process if it is not right. Another reason is that they can make sure the print does not get scratched or damaged during the process.

Machine Processing

This is a handy machine that develops, fixes and washes the prints. the technicians recommend this process as there is no chemical waste and it is safer as the chemicals are contained and there is no chance of spilling them on ourselves.

This process is easier than the trays because the whole process is automatic however there are some problems that can occur with this process; sometimes prints come out with scratches on them because of the rollers, and there is always a chance of the machine breaking if people are impatient and do not leave a suitable gap between the prints another thing that can happen if people are impatient is prints get stuck together so they are not developed fully.


I like to use the chemicals because it feels like I am doing more work and not just sitting around waiting for the machine.