Katie's

For my photo essay, I decided to take pictures at Southwicks Zoo. I didn't want all the pictures to just be basic shots of animals- I really wanted to photograph things that were a lot more technically interesting and with various viewpoints. To try an achieve this I tried to focus on texture and leading lines that were located around the zoo. Whenever I would see any interesting looking trees, shapes, grasses, or structures I made sure to photograph it from multiple angles so that I would have a wide array of shots to choose from. In the second photo of the set, I was below a structure that had wooden planks as a roof, and when I looked up I noticed that a tree and branches was right above it. I thought it looked cool so I took a picture looking up, lining up the planks so that they fit the image fully and covered the tree. I spent a lot of time adusting what posistion I wanted this photo taken in, and I really like how the result came out. In the third photo, I was walking when I noticed that the tree branches looked really interesting, so I shot a pretty straight on photo of that, framing the photo so that only part of the image was branches to give it some shape. In the sixth photo in the set, I took a picture of a waterfall that I saw, taking it straight on so that the natural leading lines of the waterfall lead straight back. I wanted to create an effect of like a road going off into the distance. However, I think this is the weakest photo in my set just because of how direct of a shot it is. I think had I reposistioned myself differently I could've gotten a much cooler shot. In the seventh photo in my set, I really tried to set up the rule of thirds with the 3 varying landscapes that were present: water, grass, and a field in the distance. I think this photo divided really well and I really like how it came out. I also love the strong reflections that can be seen in the water, because it really brings the photo together. This photo is also pretty cool because, even though it was meant to be a textural/technical photo, it still has an animal in it, a crocodile! It's just a subtle reminder of where these photos were taken and adds some unexpected interest to the photo! In the eighth photo I took, I just shot a straight on shot of some of the trees in the park. Even though it's very straight on, I think the varying locations of the tree's adds lots of depth and dimension, and there are also really good shadows and positive/negative space with the sky/brances in the background! In the tenth photo in the set, I took this shot because of the extremely strong leading line. I wanted to take the photo at an angle to emphasize the line. It ends the set really well because it represents leaving the park, and I think that it's one of the stronger photos simply because of the angle that I took the photo at. 
 

When I did choose to photograph an animal, I tried my best to photograph it in a really interesting way, so for example I wanted to catch them moving or in extreme zoom or with surroundings that had lots of texture and details. In the first image, I photographed a really cool looking duck that had very vibrant colors. I got very lucky, because when I zoomed in on the duck it happened to flap its wings and I was able to get this amazing motion shot. What's even more incredible is that the rest of the photo is still in perfect focus- it's only the wings that are in motion. Texturally this photo is naturally very interesting too, because of the rocks in the background, the birds feathers, and the water that's moving beneath the bird! In the fourth photo in the set, I photographed a monkey that had really great color to it. Although the monkey itself wasn't doing anything that interesting, I thought that its posistioning and it's surroundings were extremely strong. There are lots of leading lines and shadows, and the monkeys bright blue and red nose really stands out in the center of the picture among all the surrounding darkness. In the fifth photo of the set, I photographed a deer very, very up close. I zoomed in as much as I could and tried to posistion the deers face where I wanted it, which was hard considering the animal kept moving and the zoom made it hard to readjust the image quickly. This is the only really up close shot I took of an animal, and I think what makes it so great in the set is that it differs from all the other animal pictures and adds a new viewpoint. It also emphasizes the natural textures of the deer's fur. In the ninth photo in this set, I took a photo of a tiger behind a cage. This is the only photo of an animal that really made it clear that these animals were in a zoo. It's the only reference to captivity, and I think it's very interesting to include because it adds new interest and ideas to the set as a whole. I wanted to focus on the pattern of the cage and have the tiger just noticeable in the background, and it's coloring really helped to make that happen. Although it's not the greatest photo in the set, I think it has a lot of meaning to it.

 

All of the photos taken were edited in photoshop. I really didn't want to alter them too much, so I really only worked with levels and shadows to alter them. I moved around the levels so that I could increase the contrast between the blacks and the other colors, because I think that really helped to emphasize shadows and the leading lines. I also upped the saturation a little in a few of the shots only because I wanted certain things like the sky and the colors of the animals to really stand out. Other than altering them to black and white for the next gallery, I really didn't do anything else to them. 

 

For the overall set, I chose to keep the photos in color, but as you can see from the next gallery, I also chose to upload a black and white version, because some of the photos did look a lot better in black and white than in color. However, overall, I think that the photoset works a lot better as a whole when it's in color. As far as the organization goes, I tried to posistion these photos so that one lead into the next. The leading lines of the second photo lead into the tree in the third, which connects to the leading lines in the fourth photo, which then leads to the deer and ends the row. Then in the next row I tried to line up the rule of thirds and the natural divisions that were present. For my final two photos in the row, I included the tiger walking to the right to make it look as though it was following the same strong leading line that's present in the final picture. The final photo also closes out the set really well because it's like leading off to the bottom right and represents leaving the set. This photoset as a whole has an overall unity to it, as there is nature in every single photo, lots of greens and blues, lots of varying textures, and strong leading lines in almost every image. The only downside to this set is that, because some of the images don't really appear to be very zoo-ey and look more woodsy, theres a slight disconnect between those images and the animal pictures. However, there's still the unity of nature, so for that reason I think it still works pretty well!