This document provides an evaluation of photographs taken to document a football game. The photographs were taken candidly and then edited in Photoshop for post-production. Feedback indicated that images capturing clear action were most successful, while an overly blurred image was the weakest. Areas for improvement include focusing more on camera settings like shutter speed to get clear action shots, rather than relying too heavily on post-production effects. The project helped improve the photographer's technical skills, but leaving images more raw would better suit the documentary style.

1. Evaluation
Visual language-The composition of the photographis made to look
simplistic however it has been thought about in the way it is presented.
Such as for example the photograph below was taken to form a pattern of
symmetry as well as made to look more of an older image due to the
monochrome style. The Sharpen tool was used in Adobe Photoshop for
post production and used to sharpen the foreground of the image and bring
the detail out of the football pitch the players are on. The shape of the
image was thought about as I wanted to incorporate both players with
background of the goal. In post-production the dodge tool was used to
make the players and the ball lighter, the burn tool was also used to make
the background slightly darker. To go with the burn, the blur tool was used
to make the players stand out and make the image look more 3D.
The Photograph was made into a monochrome piece because it was to go
along with a set of eight images, four of which that will be in the similar
shade and the other four part of a higher contrast and much brighter
photographs. It was designed like that to show the difference in the
emotions and what affect the color can do to an image. The photograph
itself has a good depth of field due to being able to see a far distance
beyond the players; it has therefore been blurred on Photoshop rather
adjusting the aperture to a higher F number. The images are made to
document a game and to show the different stages that can happen during
a football game.
The photographs are all Candid images as they have not been set up. As a
documentary type of photography it was important not to be seen as acting.
Manipulating with images could result in less people believing what you had
to show them. A wide lens was used for all the images in order to take a lot
of the scene and show to the viewer what exactly was going on. Natural
light was used at first in the images however post production has been
added to the photographs to give it a little edge and make the players stand
out more from the photograph.

2. This photograph is taken to show a
person Scoring and celebrating a
goal
This photograph is taken to
show the Determination to
get to the ball first.
This image is
taken to
show the
players
practicing
before a
game in
order to
improve.
This image is
taken to show
a Team talk
from the
coach.
This
photograph
has been
taken to show
the passing of
a ball and to
see how it can
take other
players out of
the game.
This image
shows a
person trying
to tackle the
player who is
going through
on goal.
These two images are designed to show the individual technique used
when trying to take someone else on when playing.

3. Audience- the Audience for this type of photography is younger people and
a demographic of Boys aged 16-20. This is due to the documentary style
and that of the location where the images may well be held should they be
used to other purposes. Locations for the photographs may be the
billboards found near the sports department at the college or located on the
sports section of the college website. The Photographs will target the social
groups of the sporty and outgoing as they can tell you a lot about what
happens in the sport.
Context- Previous work that has influenced this type of photography was
that of the Current Photojournalist and documentary photographer Steve
McCurry. His work applied very well to the theme of the project, Discovery.
This is due to being known as the man who took the famous ‘Afghan girl’
image on the National Geographic Magazine. When looking through the
photographs he had taken it struck me that they had been thought about
and that there was a story behind each image, Such as this photograph
below. You can see the coach trying to send a message across to the
players and ultimately here myself trying to get this across to the viewer of
the photography. The Photographs are documenting how the sportsmen
are coached and how what they have learnt is put into practice.
To compare two photographs, one that I have taken and the other by
McCurry in the 1960’s. This first one below is a famous image from a
baseball game in America. The style is a very good one as this is a good
example of focus and how to make the foreground detailed with leading
lines used to make the photograph more professional. You can read a lot
from the image such as Rule of thirds as there is a foreground with the

4. players, a middle ground with the field and boundary line and a background
of a full stadium with thousands of spectators.
Here is a similarity of the sportsmen in a line from one person in focus to
the other. These Photographs also except the background and want the
location to enhance the image. McCurry’s Image has a lot of people
watching meaning a lot of expectation, which can be seen from the bowlers
warming up. The image below also has the same dedication to impress;
here to show the coach what they can do. This is seen by the battle for the
ball from both sides. I believe that the McCurry’s images have influenced
me when I have been taking the photographs and I had to think more about
what techniques can be used rather than just taking an image.

5. Realisation of intentions- The aims set at the start of the project was to
produce 8 photographs that documented people and how they did a certain
subject. The original plan was to document Nunnington Hall and how the
people there worked to maintain it. Many images were good however due
to unforeseen weather changes and that the majority of staff was not
working the images that could have been taken were not. Therefore the
location and photographs changed but the application and aims remained.
As a contingency was well thought through the photograph taking was
quickly ratified. The aims were to take images of footballers in training and
that was met at the end.
Fitness for Purpose- The images are suitable for the purpose as they do
document what is going on and if you look at the photographs in depth you
can start to see a story building from where the coach speaks to the players
to moments of magic , which can be seen from the players reactions. Such
as here for example, the players are all looking at the player celebrating a
good goal. For this image light was added in parts through post production
to show the parts where the player had moved before scoring and to make
the existing players stand out more. This is one of many images that goes
hand in hand with the theme of discovery.
The original Proposal underneath has not been kept to due to the
contingency being started instead. It had been originally thought that the
photographs would be more of an older style of documentation however as
the location changed, as did the demographic. It had gone from a both
gender style to more of a young male orientated style. This is because the
images taken are of that age group.

6. Here below is an image that was part of a selection taken at Nunnington
Hall. It has been decided that it will not be part of the final 8 images that
have been chosen to go with the application of documentary. This has been
post produced with the other photographs from the contingency plan just to
experiment to see if they would be good enough for use. As many other
photographs were not of workers it was decided that the eight images were
of footballers instead.

7. Technical Qualities- When looking at the photographs taken it becomes
clear that the techniques taught by the tutor have been taken into
consideration such as controlling the depth of field and the exposure to
light. A smaller aperture was used on the camera to provide as much
clearer image and detail across the full photograph. Natural light was used
at first to keep to the documenting style; however post production was
needed to ensure the viewer knew where to look on the image. As the
Photographs were part of a contingency I did not have enough time to set
the camera up like I did on the field trip to the National Park. But I do feel
the photographs did come out well. A much smaller shutter speed was
required as the movement of the players and the ball could not be seen as
blurred nor could camera shake be risked. Here on the photograph taken
below movement was added through post production to experiment with the
smudge tool and see how the photographs can be manipulated.
When looking at Documentary photography you should not change the
photograph as you want the viewer to believe what you have taken and for
it to be taken seriously as it is reporting a certain matter. Post production
has been used on these images to show what exactly you can do to
enhance a photograph. Should these be used to professional purposes
then no adjustments would be used with the exception of the crop tool.

8. Aesthetic qualities- When looking the photographs you can start to see
some sort of inner meaning to them and a documentation of a sport.
However as it is only a record of events and to do with people working it
cannot be classified as art or of artistic quality. The images are nice to look
at due to the colors being altered though the levels button on Adobe
Photoshop. The reds and blues were brought out more to make the image
look more interesting to view and to bring out the color of not only the red
bushes but the blue kits the players are wearing. The framing of all the last
8 photographs were altered and cropped. This is due to how far the images
were taken from and needed to get closer than the zoom allowed. Post
production has been used to change the color as well in each of the images
as they needed a boost.

9. Skills and Knowledge gained- The skills and knowledge I have gained
from doing this project are that of knowing in a lot of detail how to prepare
for a shoot and to know the difference between many key aspects such as
Shutter speed, F Numbers and Aperture. Now I can take an image knowing
what the outcome will be without having to look through what I have taken
or change the settings numerous times when out with the camera. This
therefore has saved my time which can be spent on producing much better
quality images. To get a better understanding of depth of field I need to
keep practicing with the settings and try to start with a lower aperture in
order to see the difference.
The production process- My technical competency has improved as I can
apply what I have learnt to my own photographs. Before the project I had
an limited understanding to the photography settings and what goes into
making a good image however now I feel I have become more creative
when taking a photograph and thinking of many things instead of just the
settings. The time was managed well throughout the project as two sets of
images were taken in the days given to produce them. The first set was not
of a certain standard wanted for the documentary application as staff was
not working so having a contingency helped giving time to produce a new
set of photographs more appropriate. It was not the time management that
delayed the image taking in the project.
This photograph was taken on the Trip to Nunnington Hall. This again is not
part of the collection of 8 chosen to be part of the documentary application
but it does show evidence of the techniques in practice when taking the
pictures.

10. Responding to feedbackWhen asking three people for feedback on the work there was some mixed
responses for what was the best however there was no disagreement on
which was the worst. The images that were seen as the best were the
ones which captured the action in full and that had a lot happening, such as
the image below. It was said that the ball moving was a good use of a slow
shutter speed and that the monochrome style was well used in that
situation. The images that were seen as good all had no blur what so ever
and all focusing on detail of what was happening.
This image below was seen as the worst out of the eight by all three people
that were questioned. I can see this as because of the documentation
nature of the application it is supposed to be more life like and the blurred
way the image was made in postproduction took all originality out of the
image. Also it was seen as unrealistic and had been suggested that a
change in setting could just have easily made that effect. Using a slow
shutter such as the image above could have sorted the image before
postproduction.
When looking at the responses overall I feel that they are very constructive
as they point out clearly what needs to change should the project be
repeated again. As a documentary application it is important to keep the
images realistic and not to over do the postproduction as it can make the
images look bad quality. Points that will be taken on board will be that of
keep taking images of the action as it was suggested that those are the
images people would like to see more of and also to keep the photographs

11. raw without altering them. Should I have more time to redo the project
concentration will be on more of the camera settings such as shutter speed
rather than postproduction.

12. This image above it taken off the Internet and this best describes what one
of the photographs would look like should I have more time to o the project
again. To capture the detail in the feet and ball is something that would
have looked better in the collection of images.
Here is another
photograph taken off the
Internet. This is one that
I like and again if had
more time to look into
the application again of
documentary
photography then action
shots would look better
to add variety into the
images.
Comparing my work with another person’s in the group shows the vast
difference a certain application can do to the style of the images taken. All
photographs meet the requirements for the theme that is discovery however
having a particular application such as Landscape/ Nature will determine
what happens in the image. Here there is much more colour in this image
as it is of the natural environment and includes all the different types of
texture the trees and grass offers. Unlike the photographs taken on the
football, this includes natural shades and colours and a simplistic
observational photograph however the image taken by myself was of an
artificial pitch and with players wearing similar kits and bibs. These add to
the photographs and bring out more colours then needed, thus meaning
why some of the images have been made into monochrome ones to show
the difference.

13. To conclude, the photographs produced are of a certain quality to be seen
as documentary and ultimately the theme, Discovery. They have been
taken with the incorporation of the techniques learnt throughout the process
of the project. Also the images have been taken with consideration for the
target audience and who will look at the images. Due to taking part in this
project new skills have been leant such as knowing how to control the
amount of light that comes in the lens of the camera which can help you
have a grasp on taking photographs with the knowledge of what you will
produce. After looking at past and present photographers in that field,
inspiration has come from them and now I have a much better idea of what
to take photographs of and from what angle. In conclusion the eight
produced images were well done as not only did they meet what was set on
the brief, they included parts from previous tasks and they can share a
fitness for purpose, that which can be on the colleges website to advertise a
game or to get more students into the sport. An example of the purpose of
the photographs can be found on the extension task.