UNIT 1 PART B.

This week I interviewed a portrait photographer from Pontypridd. I wanted to find out about her work and who inspires her.

Name: Julie James

When did she start photography: Started photography 4 years ago.

What cameras does she use: She uses a Sony Alfa 200.

Who inspires her in photography: David Bailey.

What type of photography does she do: Started out doing landscapes then went on to do fashion shoots and now does portraits.

What is her goal for photography: To run her own business.

Does she have a webpage to share: 

www.facebook.com/JuJuPhotography http://www.wix.com/jujuphotography/tattoos-web-site www.flickr.com/photos/juju_09

What is her best photography tip: Don’t rush and plan ahead.


Julie started out with photography as a hobby and had a 5mp Samsung camera and did landscapes, she did a one day a week course for ten weeks and was told her work was fantastic and offered the BA Honours degree which she did for three years. She now has a BA Honours degree in Photography. She decided to go Pro when she was doing the degree and she now has a business JuJu Photography, she is freelance at the moment but would eventually like to open her own studio.

After the interview she showed me lots of her work and also model release forms and projects she had done. I really like her work and want to try some tattoo photographs of my dad and try different ideas for lighting too. She also had some good ideas on how to display my work.


This is Julie James.

UNIT 1 PART B.

This week I went over the settings in my camera again, this time with my dad to make sure I know them ready for the photoshoot I had on the weekend.

I learnt that if you raise the ISO it becomes more grainy and sensitive, and if you raise the f-Stop, it keeps the background in focus, while if you lower it, it will focus on one thing, like a face or a flower.

Then I made the plan for the photoshoot on the weekend, here it is;

Who: Megan and Luke

Where: Up the mountain

When: On the weekend

Need: Camera (of Course)

On Saturday February 25^th I went up the mountain to do the photoshoot. The two children live by me and the parents came up too. I wanted to take the pictures in the same style as Rob Heyman so I let the children play and mess about in mud and took photographs when they were playing. I tried to do a silhouette but it didn’t come out right.

I have chosen my favourites to show you.

and this is one of me that my mother took.

UNIT 1 PART B.

This week I learnt about a photographer that takes photographs in a way I really like. His name is Rob Heyman and he is from Australia. I follow his blog and also have a film all about him and his work and lots of tips and ideas. He was actually trained as a Graphic Designer but turned to photography as it was not as hard to do and easier to earn money from, it wasn't exactly even a hobby just something he did occasionally. He did not have any exams or qualifications in photography though now he has Triple Master Rating with the Australian Institute of Professional Photography. He is a dreamer and creative and a workaholic and refuses to follow the trends and his clients always return and he is one of the leading photographers in Australia. He does not use lights and flashes and takes his photographs outside and late afternoon when the sun is not too bright. He does not pose the person in the photograph and he asks them lots of questions to make sure the photograph suits them.

His best ever tip is “Make them smile don’t tell them to”.

I also like tips like “let them do what they need to do then take the photograph” , K.I.S.S. this means Keep it simple stupid and I also like that he does not mind blurred photographs if it means he has “captured the moment”.

My favourite photograph is one where he has a little boy leaning over a fence in the middle of a town.

He has got two blogs http://heymanphoto.blogspot.com/ and http://heymanports2.blogspot.com/



I have decided I like him best so will not be learning about Annabelle Williams.

I planned a photograph shoot then using the tips and ideas from the film. I went for a walk with my mam and dad and took a photograph of my dad sitting on a stone and told him to do what he wanted. The first photograph was too bright so I had to change the F stop and shutter speed and then it was perfect.

This is my favourite photograph of the day too.



Then I took one of my mam and because she was dressed in a thick winter coat I took it with lots of winter trees behind her to show them with no leaves to show the setting suited her clothes. The first one was no use because the dog walked into the photograph but the next one was good. Then in Adobe Photoshop I added a Blue tint too make the photograph look even colder.

And this is me carrying my camera and tripod.

UNIT 1 PART B.

Today for my art award I did portraits of my dad outside. I had the light from the sky which is called natural light and adjusted the settings in my camera.

I made a plan first:-

WHERE: - Out the back garden on the steps.

WHO: - Dad.

POSES: - Sat down, moody, bored. Sitting down, facing camera. Any other poses I think of.

EQUIPMENT: - Camera, bin bag to sit on, umbrella my plan, towel, Photoshop and my laptop.

EXTRA’S:- Photoshop it to tweak the coloured one and to change one to Black and White and one to half colour and half Black.




One of the methods I used in Photoshop was new, ive used Photoshop a lot before now but have not done the half colour and half black and white method before, I asked my mam to explain how it was done as she is a photographer and then I did it myself. It was pretty easy to do because I already knew how to do a lot in Photoshop.

My first attempt was too bright and bits were burnt out so I had to change the exposure setting and change the iso and then the photographs came up right.

After taking the photographs I used Photoshop to change one to Black and White and made a colour one too. For the other photograph I used the polygonal lasso tool to go around my dad and the dog and the feathered it and then I inverted it then I copy and pasted that layer and then used a filter to change it to Black and White on the background.

My favourite is the photograph of my dad and my dog.

I am very pleased with my first try of portraits.

I have decided to put a copyright on all my pictures from now on so that no one can pretend they are theirs.

UNIT 1 PART B.

Today I learnt all about the settings in my camera. I learnt about taking photographs using the aperture setting and the manual setting and changing iso and shutter speeds and about f stops and also white balance.

My mother took these photographs of me doing my work.



I took a photo on auto to start.

Then I took photos using every iso setting in my camera to see the difference between all the different photos. Iso is to control the speed the camera can take a photo, the bigger the iso is the less blur is in the photo if it is dark lighting but there is also a lot of grainy noise when you use big iso numbers.

Then I learnt about the F stop and changing exposure times and shutter speeds. This is to let in more light and to change how blurred the background is too. Then I took lots of photographs on F 3.1 and iso 100 and tried lots of different exposure times to see all the differences. Some were over bright and some were just right and others darker.

White balance is what you change depending on what the light is like around you, if it is fluorescent you change it to a fluorescent setting.

My photograph I was most happy with was taken on F3.1, ISO 100 and exposure time of 1/5 second and the light was from my big living room window.