A1:3 Technical Skills - Over view

Technical skills (Pass) ; You need to show that you understand why you choose to select and manipulate media, materials and techniques and processes to produce your work. You have to demonstrate some awareness of how these choices made relating to your selection and manipulation of media, materials and techniques and processes impact on your outcomes (Images). 

This is best evidenced in your plans, explaining why your choices of media, materials and techniques and processes is suited for your intended outcomes (Photos). Your reasons and whether this has worked out can then be reiterated in your Reflections. 

Another method might be to use Stand-alone pages...

These are pages within your work where you can evidence your knowledge about technical aspects of your work. The section here in this suggested layout high-lighted in blue, is the written content that directly addresses the assessment criteria.

You'd explain why in the context of your work you'd use your shutter speeds and how this impacted on your outcomes. 

These stand-alone pages can potentially be used and re-used where appropriate as you go through the course in future projects provided they're added to and improved each time as you modify them for the new project. *You can't simply copy them without contextualising them with the new project and demonstrating further more advanced knowledge. 

Technical skills include...

• Camera handling
• Using appropriate...
• White Balance
• File type
• File size
• Field of view
• Focal length
• Shutter speed
• ISO
• Background
• Rule of thirds
• Exposure
• Composition
• Aperture- Depth of Field (DoF)
• Lighting
• Drawing/Sketching/diagrams
• Posing and organising models
• Constructing narrative (Image + BG + symbol + involvement = Picture) 
• Post production - 
• Filing
• Saving
• Work-flow
• Photoshop
• Sharing/distributing images
• Mixed media and creative post production
• Printing, presenting, mounting and framing
• Studio Skills
• Lighting - Flash
• Lighting - continual light sources
• Reflectors
• Diffusers
• Modifiers
• Lighting subject
• Lighting background
• Multiple light set-up
• Point light
• Diffuse light

Technical skills

How do you record technical skills within your work? The higher grade Assessment criteria describes the following key indicators...

·         Accomplished selection and skilful application of media

Media relates to film, paper or digital methods of capturing images either at the taking stages or printing stages, as well as the preparation of the media in cases such liquid emulsion and other mixed and alternative media (Supports). At higher levels, the chosen approaches would enhance the final product and be coherent in terms of why they were chosen to reinforce aspects such as narrative. For instance, if your theme was to evoke a sense of decay an alternative approach might be preferable to using something such as shooting on digital media and printing on C-Type Fuji flex paper.

·         Accomplished selection and skilful application of materials

Materials relates to everything you use in the production of your work, from film and the chemicals you use to process it, to the make-up used for your models and the reflectors other studio materials required to create your images. Accomplished selection means, the choices you make are coherent and fit for purpose in the given situation. Skilful application relates to the evidence you provide, it needs to demonstrate skill and accuracy of execution in terms of the materials used.

 accomplished selection and skilful application of techniques

Technique, relates to how you do it... Your methods and which methods you choose to create your images and whether your approach shows skilful application. Examples of technique include – lighting, composition, viewpoint, lens choice, shutter speed, field of view, ambient light, studio light, diffuse light, tripods, hand held – every decision you make relating to the creation of the image is part of your technique. These choices need to make sense and need to be executed skilfully.

·         Accomplished selection and skilful application of processes

Process relates to a breakdown of the stages required to bring techniques together. Shooting with film is a technique, but it involves a multitude of processes. In order to produce excellent final outcomes, your processes require accomplished selection and application of the correct chemicals, timings, temperatures and combinations of all these and more. Skilful application of these processes results in high-quality outcomes.

·         Show thorough understanding of impact on outcomes

This relates to you understanding all the above feeds into your outcomes. As an example, this may be evidenced in your plans, you might explain your rationale for choosing to use any of the aspects above in relation to your intention. For instance; if you planned to produce images of new born babies dependent on who your audience/client and intention was, you could at the planning stage explain what media, materials, techniques and processes you’d use and why. This would offer and opportunity to Show thorough understanding of impact on outcomes. This understanding could then be further reinforced in your reflections reiterating the same points in conjunction with your images.

·         Ability to exploit them to meet intentions

This relates to the evidence within your work - both images and written content shows that you’ve been able to merge all the above to produce high-quality outcomes that meet your intentions. You said you’d do ‘A’ using ‘B,C,D and E’ to produce ‘F’ and the evidence in the form of your images and the supporting written content demonstrates this.

·         Technical competence sustained throughout development and execution

This relates to all of the above being evident throughout your work across all of the developmental stages from the start to the very end. 

A1:1 Informing Ideas - Over-view

 

Distinction criteria

Going forwards from now on, your research needs to include to key components. Within your research, you should always make reference to the clients, audience, users, and their needs. You should also discuss the purpose and the function of the work, whether the work is intended to; stimulate, express opinion, provoke or to inform. As part of your research’ you should also try and identify demographic details in the form of what types of people are interested in seeing the work. You should try and also analyse the work in terms of social and economic indicators.

Also - what sort of photography is it, where is it seen, what does the finished product look like? What is its function and use, how does the photographer make a living through the production of this type of photography (provide evidence). 

Once you have discussed the client, audience etc, you should find one of the more interesting pictures that you collected as part of your research and then deconstruct and analyse the image in terms of visual language and how the picture conveys meaning and narrative. Prompts for both aspects can be found on the blog here. https://bteclinks.blogspot.com/2022/05/research-prompts-2022.html

It's essential that one of the photographers that you choose to research ties in with your research more directly - informing the progression of your own work and longer term goals. To this end, when you reflect on your research (Once its completed) you explicitly explain/analyse the connection with your work, explaining what it is you're influenced by and what it is about the research that informs your  work, it might be something as simple as the lighting or it maybe there's a range of aspects within the research you're borrowing to inform and influence your work and progression.

Additional photographer research can be added to your work as the project develops to inform new ideas and approaches. 

Remember your research helps you to generate ideas and to understand what Photography’s purpose and aims are – the more photographers you have some knowledge of, the greater your own potential to come up with your own ideas

Technical aspects to it include the necessity to produce and use...

• Quotes
• Bibliography

The advised approach______________________________________________________

With regards the significant bodies of research you need to do, aim to produce something like the example below - 3 pages? Use plenty of images, but do deep research - search hard using a range of resources not restricted to the ones we suggest. Read the articles and watch the videos - this is an important part of your journey as a Student Photographer. 

The Lesser research______________________________________________

As you produce your work, there's an expectation that you might do further research mid-way through the project that's connected to your practical activities. If say you decided that one of your developmental/experimental shoots was to be produced using liquid emulsion, it might be that you then worked out some ideas by researching a photographer that used liquid emulsion. That research could be added as in the example below- the equivalent of a column? To get maximum benefit from your written content your commentary should be identifying operational context aspects, clients, audience and use all of the things that relate to how the photographer makes a living through photography. 

*Note because there's no use of quotes in the above version - quotes will need to be used in the lesser research as identified in the  blue text. 

In this example 7 additional photographers have been researched with a column per photographer except for the final one where 2 have been used.

You don't have to do 7, but an additional 2 Photographers would be fine.

.

Look books - posing ideas AC2, AC3, AC4, AC5

Note S&K updated 27/6/24

One of the problems (AC2) when you're shooting in the studio is communicating (AC5) your idea with your model, how you want them to pose, what sort of vibe you're looking to create. If you compile a look book (AC3) which is a professional strategy (AC4) and allow the model to see what your ideas are this massively helps in photoshoots. It not only reminds you what your plans are and what your pose ideas are, but enables the model to understand more clearly. 

If you're own self-directed project is fashion or portrait based, this work is probably best seen as part of your plans in your main design sheet. Other than that this is basic knowledge and should appear in your S&K design sheet under the professional practice heading. 

The best way to do this is to create a couple of pages with a series of your favourite or standard poses that you use as a starting point. All you need to do is go onto a website like the ASOS fashion site and copy a whole series of poses and compile them as below...

S&K pages with pose references

Each time you shoot simply print it off and use when you shoot. *Top tip photograph it in the studio on the floor or with your model looking at it as one of your wide shots - of your set up to show that you actually use it.

Watch this video here to see this for real...From around 20 seconds into the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yStCqKB11-4&t=33s

Level 2 entry task 2024

 Typically this type of task would be one of several set during any week on the course with the expectation that the work would be produced within that week.

Your work will be produced in a "Design sheet", ideally a word document or a PPT if preferred.

The PPT or word document needs to be save on your 'One Drive' in a designated folder so that it can be accessed and assessed at anytime by your lecturers when requested. 

Name the folder "Stand-alone Technical". Name your word or PPT document using your name at the front followed by stand-alone technical...         Joe Bloggs stand-alone technical

The document needs to be re-sized from the default A4 to A3 and should be used in a vertical (Portrait) format.

With regards font size, you should aim to use a font size that looks like this on an A3 page...

We prefer it if you work using columns as in the example here.

You must compile a bibliography

Make sure you save most of the HTML links you use for your research. Save these using a different colour (Blue) at the end of your work. 

The Task__________________________________

Pick 6 of the following file formats to research. Combine the use of images and text to show that you have good knowledge of the file types, their pros and cons when used in conjunction with digital photography. Show knowledge of your understanding of Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes and Terabytes and typically the sizes of *DSLR and Mobile phone capture sizes when used in their optimum settings. 

*NIKON D3100 & iPhone 13

• HEIF
• JPEG
• RAW
• TIFF
• PSD
• PNG
• BMP

You have until April 29th to submit the completed work.

___________________________________________

This task is to Judge if you're able to...

(1). Access and use your One-drive

(2). Create and name a folder a design sheet correctly, re-size the design sheet to A3 in portrait format 

(3). Follow basic instructions and produce Level 3 standard work in response to the task set.

(4). Meet Deadlines

Is my work fit for purpose?

 In your reflections as you produce your work - particularly at the end of the project you should be asking (Having developed the work over several stages) Is my work fit for purpose? 

(1). You need to have previously explained the purpose of your work e.g. its Operational Context

Throughout your project as the work develops it's operational context might change, you might initially start out with the idea you're going to produce editorial photography and then realise that it might be better explained and presented as Art Photography? This aspect of the 'Journey' (The development of your idea and work) needs to be recorded in the plans and reflections. But, as the work nears completion you need to examine your work critically and ask Is my work fit for purpose? 

If it isn't, you need to explain why - typically this might be down to lack of resources, time, skills, knowledge, professional models, props, space, lenses, lighting or just experience. 

But, if you make a case for your work being fit for purpose given the operational context you've identified for it, one of the things you can and should do is use images to support your case...

Option 1. Scan/find on-line a magazine page or website page that uses the type of images you've produced and using Photoshop replace the original 'Professional Images' with your own images to support your claim that your work is fit for purpose - Use the before shot with the originals and the after shot with your image/s.

Option 2. Find images of a gallery space online that has large images  - Spruth Magers galleries have big files and again replace the existing images using Photoshop and the free-transform tools to produce and before and after images using your work. 

Another approach you can use for advertising and editorial would would be to place your images into an Adshel bus stop poster or similar...

Here you can see I've put Megan into an Adshel Bus stop poster to see if it work and is convincing.

Another way you can do this is to find a magazine page or website and screen grab those and place your image in along with the text and see if it looks convincing?

This allows for you to look at your work in context and discuss whether it is fit for purpose as part of your reflection process. 

Search for other scenarios such posters and display 'Point of sale'....

Do exactly the same thing - using Photoshop layers and other tools... Free transform and burning in etc to place your images into situations such as these. 

Be critical - does it work? One of the key things that might give your away as not being the real thing is the fact that you're not using real models?