Evaluation Of Light Painting Photography

The last part of my photography project, I am going to significantly evaluate my work that’s completed. In this evaluation I am going to talk about what I thought went well land what I could have improved on.

When I was first told about light photography I was considering how light would work with photography as Light photography is very much different from other types of photography topics I have studied. I found this topic Light Photography very practical as you not only have to stage pictures and take them but you have to get everything accurate in order to take them. The thing I think most people do notice about light photography is that if the photos are not staged accurately then nothing goes according to plan; including how you stage it and where abouts the light is.

In my techniques part I talked about the Exposure triangle; this includes ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed. I did hear of the Exposure triangle before; but it was critical that I knew exactly what each element meant because if I didn’t then nothing would make sense when taking a photograph or even analysing them. It was also important that I practiced using a camera with all the different functions because this was not only help control my light photography but it would help me, myself getting grips on taking photos properly as most people think it’s just about pressing the shutter button or having flash on to make the pictures brighter; when actually there is a lot more to it that just pressing a button. The exposure triangle was something that I needed to learn more about so watching videos and practicing with my camera also helped me so much when it came to taking my light painting photography pictures. Some of the photos Some of the photos I took throughout light painting photography I never timed as I wanted to be in them so I got someone else to either draw around me etc. or press the shutter button for me. When taking photos for other people also helped me get the hang of and learn setting up the camera to take light painting photos. Just working in groups or sitting down with a camera and going through all the functions used in light painting photography really influences your confidence with it so it is widely advisable as this really helped me get to grips with it more as each element gives out different and great effects.

The photographs I took, I think they went really well in general. I am happy with all three of the photographs; this makes me feel really pleased with what I achieved and making me feel really confident. To achieve this I did have to take some photographs more than once to get them accurate but this is also good practice. I found that when taking some light photographs that I or someone else held the light too high up or out of frame on the camera so when viewing it; you would only see one half of the light painting. Also I found that when drawing something the shape I aimed for didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted; so as a result of this you had to practice it several of times to get a good angled shot making the picture look perfect.

When taking the photographs for this project I wanted to be as creative as possible, trying out lots of new ideas, to see what works and what doesn’t very well. The thing that interest me that I found when conducting artist research and looking at many other peoples work; that generally things can be created in many ways with light which I found great about this project as anything would work in some way possible. The one thing I also love that I also found out when conducting light photography is that you can express emotion through light. (Like my flower light painting; which expresses happiness along with the colour too as it is a white LED light which is very bright.) However you can find that light photography can be the completely contrary; making something which could be classed as ridiculous and had no significance what so ever but would still look creative to a viewer.

When considering what I could have done better I feel that I could have been more imaginative and could have done completely different ideas. Like when it came to actually creating the light painting photos as I feel I could have tried many different techniques to what I did try. I found this out because when I was watching other people create their photographs because I feel they came out with so much different pictures to what I did but then I cannot compare mine to theirs as we all come up with different and creative ideas; so I feel I should just be happy with the photographs I created. I did like the way each of my photographs turned out; and I learnt so much from taking them, not only about light photography but using the camera and different techniques. I do feel if I did take a different route and try different and more creative techniques then i would of had a better outcome. However I don’t feel my photographs were rubbish at all as it’s not about being the best photographer, but about being imaginative and creative as you want.

The last thing I did really enjoy about this light painting photography was working in groups to create light painting photography as I felt that with more ideas from everyone you could be more eccentric.