Evaluation

1. Photography Evaluation
Shania Carter

2. Visual Language
•
Each of my final images do not have a specific
angle to them although in some of the
photographs the main focus is the football. Some
of my images are also in black and white which
helps set the tone of the photographs especially
on the day the photographs were taken e.g. cold
and windy. Many of my photographs have a
visual language as you can see the facial
expressions of some of the football players. I
mainly took the photographs from the right hand
side of the pitch so that I could find the right
position when there was a tackle in the middle of
the pitch. I analysed sports photographer
Vladimir Rys, he used a lot of effects on his
photographs to create a blur on people or their
movement, I have used the blur effect in my
work to put a main focus on one particular
footballer or where their movement has been on
the pitch.
As I view my images again I have sub consciously
tracked the movement of some of the football
players and this is similar to what Vladimir Rys has
done in his photography – although not always in
his football photography. Photograph 15 is the main
one in which I have focused on creating a black and
white tone and also focusing on the football and
how the player has controlled it as I think the
photography that appeals to me is seeing the
football at a player’s feet.

3. Audience
•
There can be lots of things said about audience for sports
photography, including gender and age. I have chosen
football as my sports photography as it is my favorite
sport, not many women choose to do sports photography
as women’s football isn’t as popular as the men, gender
stereotypes are still massively influenced in sport
photography with more women choosing to do the
opposite. I think that gender stereotypes shouldn’t
influence the type of photography women choose to take
or to look at because we all have our own preferences. I
don’t think that there is a specific age range to my
photography even though I have photographed teenagers
because any age can look at sports photography and watch
the football.
Although people don’t like to be classified in
some age profiles the similar likes and dislikes is
what boxes them. In sports
photography, everybody likes sports but it
broadens the creativity for photographers as
the angle (for example) wouldn’t be of a great
concern for any age specific. Within sports
photography, especially football the audience
wants to see the tackles and the goals so that
they can relive the ‘memory’ through that
photograph, whether it be taken amateur or
professionally. In my final eight photographs
there are a few that have the tackles which
stand out as one an audience would really like.

4. Context
•
I did look at some of the historical photography but I didn’t
find it as intriguing as the contemporary photography. In
sports photography now there are faster players and there
are more fights and dirty tackles that people want to
capture. I do think that historical sports photography is very
memorable to a certain extent but the photographer than
influenced me was Vladimir Rys, I studied his work for a long
time and I liked the way he captured the football players
when they were running or were stood. Vladimir Rys uses a
lot of expression and movement in his photography which I
tried to incorporate into my photography. Vladimir Rys has
worked all around the world exploring different cultures of
sport, my favorite photography of Vladimir’s comes from the
German champions league final last year, he captured the
emotion of the players before the game which inspired me
to create the same with my photography. I think that my
work would fit into football magazines and websites to help
promote the team, lots of sports photographers use online
portfolios which helps them find work for smaller football
teams so this is where I think my work could fit into
contemporary settings.

5. Realization of Intentions
•
At the start of this project I had my heart set on
doing sports photography, I love football and it is
the field of work that I would love to get into. I
think that my photography does reflect my initial
intentions because I wanted to capture the
tackles within the game and the movement of
the training session. I think that I have achieved
what I wanted to do because I have captured
some great images of the training
session, expressions and tracking movement. I
was to make any improvements to my
photography I would make sure that I focused on
the player’s emotions rather than the football
because Vladimir Rys who I looked at has some
fantastic portrait photography of F1 star
Sebastian Vettel. The purpose of my photography
is to show football at a teenage level, my
photography does not have a story to tell as it
just shows the action. I think that my images do
fulfill this purpose because my images reflect the
action of the game however there are a series of
photographs that show a goal and then a goal
celebration. Similar work to my photography is
used on online portfolios as must people surface
the internet for sports photography.
My other intention of this project was to create a
set of images that reflected a hard working
attitude in sport and that’s why I tried to
photograph more so of the facial expressions to
show that.

6. Technical qualities
•
I think that I have gained a lot of technical
abilities over the run of this project, the main
technical quality that I have learnt is how to
select the right ISO setting to get the right
photography. I used F22 in a lot of my
photographs as that gave me a sharp image to
work with and it picked up a lot of the
features that I wanted to include in my
photographs. Although I didn’t use aperture
in my photographs it was a good technique to
use and I think that if I used it for another
photography style I would definitely know
how to use it. The camera I used to take the
photographs was on auto so I didn’t need to
change many settings but it helped that it was
on auto so that I could be ‘snap happy’ and
not miss any of the action. I think that the
skills I have learnt I will definitely use in the
future.
My favorite skill to learn was the shutter
speed, although I didn’t use it in my final
eight photographs, I like the way it captures
fast movement and I would like to use it
again next year for experimental
photography. I took some simple
photographs and didn’t use a lot of skills
that I had previously learnt as I didn’t think
they would make an effect on my
photographs and also I wanted a raw shot as
the tips from sports photographers taught
me that.

7. Aesthetic and Creative Abilities
I think that I have become more
creative in this project because I am
taking photographs from high and
low vantage points and various
different angles around the football
pitch. I think that my confidence
boosting has led to being more
creative as I would have never taken
consideration into vantage points
before. An example of my creative
ability was that I went closer to the
action and made sure that I got the
action in from a difficult angle. I do
like the way my images look because
they capture movement and show
the action like I wanted to achieve
from the start of the project. I think
my images are interesting because
they show different aspects of the
game i.e. celebrating, scoring and
tackling which is also what
professional sports photographers
try and achieve.
I am happy with my photographs before they went into post production because
they were interesting and the raw look I wanted of the footballers was clearly
shown. The photograph below shows the interesting and raw look that my
images have and that’s why I like them so much.

8. Skills and Knowledge gained
I have learnt a lot of skills and knowledge on this
unit. Before starting this unit I didn’t know how to
use a DSRL but over the past few weeks I feel
confident using one and knowing where everything
is on the camera. Although I didn’t use every single
skill on my final photographs, I do know them and
would happily use them again. The most difficult
skill for me to master using the DSLR was depth of
field, I had to keep practicing but in the end I
managed to get a great photograph. I know a lot
about the digital camera and this history behind it
which I found very interesting learning about. The
skills that I have gained for this project has helped
me take my photographs. I think that if I had used
some more skills that I had learnt my photographs
would have been better i.e. ISO and white balance.
When explaining about aperture and ISO I have a
good enough understanding to know what to say
about them both. Selecting the appropriate white
balance was fun to choose because it showed how
you can take photographs with a glow without
having to move to a completely different light. I
think that my photographs have developed over
the course of the project as they have got better
and more focused, I did also take the skills that I
had learnt and used them to enhance my
photographs for sports photography.
I looked on the internet and thoroughly researched
Vladimir Rys and the tips he gives to be a good sports
photographer, I think this helped me gain knowledge
about the positioning of the camera and the way my
photographs should be taken especially at football
matches. I also learnt through my tutors about positioning
and what settings I needed to use on the camera to get an
almost professional photograph. I looked at a lot of tips
from the internet which bolstered my knowledge on the
DSLR and sports photography in general. I am constantly
learning new skills about the camera, at Nunnington
Hall, College and at home. The skills and knowledge that I
have gained have helped me to become a better
photographer and to take photographs that I can be proud
of. I think that because I looked at so many different ways
to gain knowledge it has helped me to use it in my
photography – both written and practical work. Looking at
famous sports photographers and the careers they have
had has also helped as they have a similar style in sports
photography and that is also what I wanted to achieve
when taking my photographs. Nunnington Hall was a good
practice day for me as I could spend an extra day with the
camera and playing around with the settings, that day also
helped me gain extra skills i.e. using the camera without a
tripod and experiencing what angles I needed to take the
photographs from.

9. Skills and Knowledge Gained
I think that my images are controlled
because I didn’t have camera shake and I
didn’t use a tripod. I had more confidence
using the camera without a tripod as it gave
me the ability to move around more freely
without missing the action from either side
of the pitch. The knowledge of actually
using the camera before hand helped me
because I remembered how controlled the
photographs needed to be and how
accurate the action should be to create a
great photograph. Looking back at my first
images, my skills and knowledge has grown
because my photographs are much
better, controlled and of a nicer standard. I
studied a lot of photography outside of
college so I had all the knowledge from
previous and present sports photographers
and how their images altered over periods
of time barring the colour change. I think
that my skills and knowledge were gained
in two very different ways as more of my
knowledge about sports photography was
developed from looking at my favourite
sports photographer and finding out all
about his photographs.
Time management was also an issue as I had to use my
contingency plan so I could get my photographs taken in
time. I was hoping that York City football club would
respond quickly but unfortunately they didn’t and I had to
use the college football team within a short space of time
before putting the final eight photographs together. After
taking my photographs I think that I have met the
deadlines exactly as I have now got my photography blog
filled with the right tasks from this project. I do need to
work on my time management skills and be prepared for a
change quickly and to have a thorough contingency plan
that could effectively help me.
The production process came about exactly how I wanted
it to and I used Photoshop to create some great images. In
the production process, my favourite technique was the
dodging and burning technique as I could track player’s
movement and darken the areas that were irrelevant in
the photograph.

18. Responding to Feedback
•
I like the feedback that I have received as I can
relate to a lot of things my peers have said. I agree
with the comments made on my dodging and
burning as I feel like that was my weakest point
and that I used the tool too heavily in some parts. I
like that people feel photograph seven is my
strongest image as I used the ellipse tool to create
the effect around the football theme. I like how the
overall feedback is the same throughout which
gives me confidence when looking back through
my photographs. I wanted to make the players look
like they were in a different light – on photograph
two and this is the only comment that I disagreed
with. My inspiration for this project – Vladimir
Rys, doesn’t change his images into different lights
but I wanted to be a bit more creative with my
work. I like how my overall strengths have been
recognized as using the dodge tool appropriately in
some photographs which is what I wanted to
achieve on the production process. I didn’t want to
create an image that looked un natural so I am
quite disappointed with that comment, I think I
should’ve carried a theme of pure black and white
which would have made the images look authentic.
I wanted to keep the images as natural as possible
and making the images brighter and darker to set a
distinct tone within different times of the match
being played. I also wanted to create photographs
with no blur on them during the tackles, which has
paid off and people like that idea on some of the
photographs. I like that people think I took the
photographs at the appropriate times because I
wanted the match and my photographs to have a
story too it, this is also something I wanted to
change from Vladimir Rys’ style because he takes
random pictures of the game rather than one
following on from the other. I also like in my
feedback that people think that the contrast of
having black and white, color photographs works
well together. The strongest point of my feedback is
the comment on the photographs been taken in all
parts of the pitch and this is what I wanted to
achieve straight away and focus on the team rather
than one player which wouldn’t have made my
photographs particularly interesting in some
respects.