Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice

Research of other photographers work (P1, M1, D1)

Photographer: Nick Pickles

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Theme or focus of images The main focus of the images taken is when the band or singer is live on stage, and in the middle of a gig. The photos are normally when the artist is doing a song, but some are taken while on stage but not preforming. The first photo I think may be set up in a studio or something similar because it seems to be staged. Most of the time the photographer is taking the picture from on stage and head height with the artist, but on a few he is below the artist but still on the stage.I’m not too sure where these images were taking but I know all but one was taken in 2010, and number 5 was taken in 2009. CompositionThe composition of most of his shots, were of the singer, but sometimes more than just them, He sometimes takes pictures from backstage as you can see in image 1, but he regularly takes them from in front of the Band/singer. He normally takes the phofo when the singer is mid lyric, this gives the image more of a feel to it, because the artist isn’t stood there, he’s doing something.I personally believe that his images would have been a lot better from the right angle and maybe with a more drastic height difference.Techniques usedThe shutter speed for most of these images would have to have been very high, this is because most of the people captured in the images have an instrument in there hand, or are in the middle of singing. For depth of field, I think the photographer uses a normal/height F-stop, this is because nearly all the image is in focus. But you can see in the second image that he has used a low F-stop, creating a wonderful blurr behind the person and causing a beautiful example of depth of field.Strengths & WeaknessesThere are many strengths and weaknesses nick pickles has, I personally believe these are some of his biggest:

Strengths:

• I like the different angle he uses, some are off the stage, some are back stage, and some are slightly above.

• The way he captures an instrument in each photo is good as well.

Weakesses:

• There isn’t much difference in any of his images, he doesn’t do anything to stand out.

• A few of the images he takes, have been poorly thought through, and could have been better.