Reflections on Assignment 1 Tutor Report

Well, I received my tutor's report today and it provided a lot of food for thought. The underlying message, although not stated in these terms, was "plenty of room for improvement", and I can only but agree with this assessment. It has reinforced for me that I should not submit work that I believe to be sub-standard and, were I in the UK at present, I would return to the scene of the crime and re-shoot, but this will have to wait until later in the summer.



The learning points from the report can be summarised as follows:



1. "What's my subject?" This should be clear for the viewer without it having to be explained.



2. Foreground, foreground, foreground! Too many of my shots were 'flat' and lacked strong foreground interest.



3. Make sure the foreground is in focus as, what foreground there was, often appeared out-of-focus. Presumably I need to be more careful with the f/stop that I choose in order to increase the depth of field and focus a third of the way into the frame.



4. Vary the height of the shot, depending on the subject. All the shots submitted were at the same height and more shots towards ground level, particularly with the wide-angle lens, would have varied the view and helped tackle the 'missing foreground' issue.



5. Make more of reflections when taking water shots.



6. Use people (or something!) to give scale and context where this isn't obvious.



7. Pay attention to the 'rule of thirds'. Although I do try and do this, you wouldn't know it from looking at the offending photographs.





I will endeavour to raise my game for the next assignment.