Final shoot Andy Goldsworthy Evaluation

Shoot 5
Final shoot Contact sheet

Andy Goldsworthy 'Dust'
2003

For my final shoot I have looked at the photographer Andy Goldworthy. For the final piece I have looked at goldworthys photograph 'Dust', and tried to incorporate the idea into the technique I used in my initial shots and first shoot, fast pace flour movement. The idea I took from Goldsworthys photo is to use natural substances from the environment around you, for instance sand if on a beach. I decided to do my shoot in the forest as there were less people and I was able to find more natural things to use as the substitute for the powder.
For the shoots I used flower petals, grass and leaves found around the forest, however the leaves and the flower petals are the only parts that are noticeable as the grass was to fine and small. I chose to use the fast pace flour technique again as it linked well to my theme of relationship with gravity.
For my shoot I used a Nikon D300 camera and a 15mm lens. For the lighting I used 3 lights, one either side of the model out of shot, and one behind her this helped highlight her and the objects in the air making them more visible. When I first set up the lights and took the tester shots the photos were coming out too bright, to improve this I increased the exposure to darken the background, I also increased the shutter speed to make sure that I would be able to capture the flower petals and leaves whilst  moving.
At first we tried to do the same actions as from the initial shots of the arms swooping down, however the petals and leaves were too light and the wind kept blowing them away, there were also too big to have too many on her arms at once. This meant we had to stick with the idea of getting the model to hold the flowers and throwing them up in the air to stop them blowing away before I was able to take the photo. Once we had a few shots of the model throwing the petals into the air and capturing them as they fell we tried to pose the model differently, we tried side on. From this we were just getting similar photos to having the model face on. So we then tried having the model twirling round in a circle then throwing the petrels in the air as she went, this did work well however most of the shots have her hands in front of her face as she threw them. I then thought about moving me to see if this would make a difference and improve the photos, I lied on the grass in front of the model with the camera pointing upwards so I could capture as the petals fell down towards me, this worked really well as it gave the photos a different perspective, this makes the photo look more interesting and as it shows in the best edit the blue of the sky really helps highlight the colours of the petals. I have used quite a large depth of field as the F number was quite high to balance out with the exposure I used, this has made the background more in focus and clearer as well as the model in the foreground.

Before editing 

I think this shoot worked well as I was able to get the finished shots I was aiming for and achieve the technique well, I also think the finished shots relate well to Goldworthys photo due to the natural environment and similar technique.
For my best edit I used photoshop to increase the brightness slightly, I also used the select colours this helped brighten certain colours too help them stand out against the background, I used this on the pink of the petals. I chose this as the best edit as I think it was the one I was most happy with after I had finished editing as it helped lighten and highlight certain points especially the pink petals against the blue sky. Also the composition and the perspective of the viewpoint I found interesting.

Best Edit after Editing