Evaluation - Depth of Field

As part of my brief I had to undertake a number of workshops to learn new skills in different areas of photography. The first one was to explore depth of field and create 3 final prints that were to show long, mid and shallow depth of field. To do this project I would have to use a 5x4 camera and print in color.

As I had already had to use the 5x4 camera in a previous project I found it pretty straightforward and knew all the parts of the camera and how to set it up. I found this to be a big help as I wasn’t there at the beginning of the project and had to play catch up. It would have been really difficult if I had to learn to use the camera as well. I really like shooting 5x4 as I think that the prints that it produces are stunning and I think that for depth of field work, especially shallow, you can really see the eyes and make sure its sharp and focused right. It also makes you slow down and really think about the shot because it can be expensive and you want to make sure you can get the perfect shot in as little amount of frames as possible. I think that using the camera and getting some really nice images was strength of mine in this project and something that I was able to get better at by having more practice. 

The use of the dark room however was definatly a weakness for me. I found it really hard to even get myself in there to do the prints as I really feel uncomftorble in the dark. I found it hard to calm down enough to be able to focus on what I was doing. However with the help of Tim and some of my classmates I was able to get in and do it. I found it simple enough to print my images, just minor problems such as being able to put negs in and make contact sheets proved to be challenging but overall I got there in the end. 

I found it rather hard to find research that was really focused on the area of depth of field and also photographers that used it as a main style. It was more of choose a photographer that I liked and then looking through there images and seeing if I could spot shots that showed depth of field and that I could talk about the style and how its been used. I realized that this would be the best approach after coming across a lot of images that just showed depth of field as a technique rather than an image on its own. After this I found it rather easy to gather research, however I didn’t manage to get as much as I normally would like too but I think that as it was just a workshop what I gathered was enough to help me in my practical work. 

Through out this workshop I have had to encounter some new experiences as well as old. I found some of them to be challenges that have really tested my skills. Overall I am happy with my prints and think that they have hit the target of producing 3 images that show a range in depth of field. I am really happy with the quality of my printing and am rather proud of the images as a first attempt in the colour darkroom. If I were to do this workshop again I would make myself spend more time in the darkroom as I think that this was my biggest problem throughout this workshop. Overall I am really impressed with my final prints.