Scott Giarnese's Blog

Audience Research, Progress and Content

scottgiarnese — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:51:29 +0000

Audience Research

The audience research aspect of this project is important in discerning who exactly the book would be aimed at. By taking my knowledge into consideration I decided that a book aimed primarily at beginners would be the most appropriate. With this decision made I asked a number of friends (Non-photographers) what they would like to know, or find most useful, if they were going to start photography. I learnt from them that they would like to know how specific shots were captured. This was great because I had already planned to include this information in my book. I also discovered that some rough definitions and terms would you be useful. Along with making sure I include them in the book I will try to explain exactly why they are important.

By looking on the internet at what people had to say about similar books already in existence I was also able to gain some important and useful information. For example a lot of books available are descibed as to technical and complex so making mine relatively simple and understandable should help it. Another aspect is that most books are not for absolute amateurs so do not include the basics. I will try my best to include all the basic information I can but could be limited by time as well as cost for extra pages in the book itself.

Doing this audience research has confirmed what I had already thought should be included in the book. I will take all of it into account so that all the content can be as useful as possible. I need to make sure though as to not alienate other possible readers though by being overly simple in my descriptions.

Progress Update

So far most of my research has been completed, I have ideas ready for the final book, The content for the book is near completion and the book itself is being designed. I decided to use www.lulu.com as the final book production website as it is a UK-based company and therefore any sales of the book made would be cheaper to UK residents. This appealed to me as my target audience would be in the UK. I am coming to the final stages of the project now with only a few final considerations and sections to be completed. Overall it has gone smoothly and successfully so far and will hopefully continue this way until the end.

Content

I have completed what is likely to become the final descriptions for the book. They all relate to specific photographs and explain why and how they were taken. They also contain other pieces of information which I felt could be of use. The final photographs for the book are also completed and edited and the book is being designed at the moment. Hopefully within the next couple of days the books will be completed and can be tested so I can get some feedback on it.

Written Content Screen

Rough Book Layout (With Photos) Screen

Definitions

scottgiarnese — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:23:57 +0000

To ensure that all of the different styles of photograph, techniques and other, possibly unknown, phrases are correctly explained in my book I decided to research some of their definitions. I felt that by doing this it would allow for me to have a better understanding and therefore explain things better when it comes to writing about them in my own words. I tried to focus on the less well-known phrases which are therefore in more need of explanation than some of the basics. I did include a few basic definitions as well though so that the ones with numerous meanings have a clearer description of what they are.

Landscape

1.	a section or expanse of rural scenery, usually extensive, that can be seen from a single viewpoint.

2.	a picture representing natural inland or coastal scenery.

3.	Fine Arts. the category of aesthetic subject matter in which natural scenery is represented.

4.	Obsolete. a panoramic view of scenery; vista.

Macro

1.	anything very large in scale, scope, or capability.

2.	Photography. a macro lens.

Portrait

1.	a likeness of a person, esp. of the face, as a painting, drawing, or photograph: a gallery of family portraits.

Contrast

1.	Photography. the relative difference between light and dark areas of a print or negative.

Crop

1.	Photography. to cut off or mask the unwanted parts of (a print or negative).

Exposure

Photography.

a.	the act of presenting a photosensitive surface to rays of light.

b.	the total amount of light received by a photosensitive surface or an area of such a surface, expressed as the product of the degree of illumination and the period of illumination.

c.	the image resulting from the effects of light rays on a photosensitive surface.

Composition

1.	the act of combining parts or elements to form a whole.

2.	the resulting state or product.

3.	manner of being composed; structure: This painting has an orderly composition.

Aperture

1.	A usually adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera or telescope, that limits the amount of light passing through a lens or onto a mirror. The diameter of such an opening, often expressed as an f-number.

All of the above definitions were sourced from www.Dictionary.com

Rule Of Thirds

Rule of thirds is a compositional rule which is recommended for painting and photography. An image could be divided equally by two vertical and two horizontal lines. In general, the four intersections of these lines will be the most interesting places for the main subject(s).

Source – http://www.photo96.com/blog/?p=371

By referencing these definitions my book will be able to clearly explain what they mean so that reader will be able to make use of the techniques and understand the styles. Any other words that I feel need to be explained will also be included as well as explaining how to undertake them e.g How to use the “Rule of Thirds” or How to adjust exposure.

Software/Hardware

scottgiarnese — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:31:40 +0000

To complete all of the aspects of this project I am going to need to utilise various types of software and use different pieces of hardware. I have spoken of most of the hardware in my last post (That being my kit for capturing the photographs). My kit will allow me to get the majority of the content for my book as it will consist of mainly photographs. I will most likely use my Samsung GX-20 DSLR for taking most of the photos for the book as it has a much higher spec than my other camera’s and will therefore allow for the best possible image to be captured.

GX-20 Specification

14.6 Megapixel APS-C Size CMOS Sensor
Large 2.7″ wide Colour TFT LCD
ISO 6400
Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS)
Dual Dust Reduction System
Live View
One Touch RAW
X Sync. Terminal
Precise AF with 11 focus points
Continuous shooting 3fps
Weatherproof Body
High Dynamic Range (HDR) & Pixel Mapping
Professional RAW Conversion Software

In terms of the software I will be using there are a variety of different options available to me for the different processes that need to be completed. For the editing of the photographs Photoshop and Lightroom will do all of the work. These programs are both extremely useful and capable of editing photo’s to an extremely high standard. Lightroom will do the majority of the editing as it is, in my opinion, the best software for getting the most out of a photograph. Photoshop is better for manipulating images and is therefore still an extremely useful piece of software.

Apart from the editing, different software will be needed to help with the actual production of the book. I plan on using an online printing website to get my book printed professionally for me. I have looked at various websites for this task but to me 3 of them stand out as the best.

http://www.lulu.com/ - Lulu is a great self publishing website that allows for printed books and e-books to be created on their website. It does all different styles of books from e-books to cookbooks and photo books. It also allows you to sell the photo book you make through the website so you can get your friends and family to buy a copy and maybe even make some money. The pricing is competitive starting at only £8.67 and the average book costing £25 to £35.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/print-products.html - Apple offer a great photo book service where you can use their iphoto software to create your own book. Prices start at £7.23 and the average book will cost £20 to £30. The only problem with this is that you need a Mac and I have a PC so it would be difficult to use this software.
http://www.blurb.com/ - Blurb is my favourite of all the sites and will probably be the one I use to get my book printed. It has very competitive pricing staring at £6.95 and the average book costing £17 – £27. It allows the most manipulation and creativity so the books can be more personal than any of the other sites. It also allows you to sell your books and has a good reputation for being of extremely high quality.

These website all offer the software required to get the book designed and printed and they all have their good and bad points. As stated though I will most probably use Blurb as it fits my requirements extremely well and its easy and enjoyable software to use. I will use other basic software in the creation of my book, such as Word.

Website’s will also play a role in the creation of my book as they will allow me to keep an up to date journal of the project so far. This blog for example has, and will, allow me to keep all of my plans and research in one place so I can reference it and make sure I keep to plans and my schedule. I have found using WordPress as a blogging website extremely enjoyable and easy and it has made keeping on track with the project much easier. I also use www.flickr.com to keep all of my photographs on and allow others to view and give feedback on them. This will hopefully allow me to choose only the best of my images for the book and maybe even show me where some changes need to be made.

Overall a wide selection of software and hardware will be required to make this book a success but I definitely feel confident about the progress so far and have faith that all the tools that I use will work together to make a high quality and extremely useable final artefact.

My Kit

scottgiarnese — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:38:49 +0000

This is all of the items I will be using to capture my own photographs for the book. I felt that by showing what items I will be using on my blog (as well as in the book itself) it will give the readers an even clearer understanding of how, and what, I use to get my shots.

I have labelled the photograph to show roughly what everything is and in the book I plan to go into more detail about what kit was used for every photograph. For example I will explain exactly which lense was used, why it was used, whether it had a filter on etc.

Although I may not use all of the items in my kit every time I take a photograph I think it is good to have a variety of tools for different situations. Having more than one camera is extremely useful as it allows me to always have a camera available and ready for when I need it. A selection of filters allows for every shot to be caught at its best and the cases and a tripod as both self-explanatory although I will ensure that the how all items are used or operated is explained fully in the book itself.

Research

scottgiarnese — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:22:12 +0000

I decided to have a look around to see if there was any books the same or similar to what i plan to create. By doing this i hoped to both gain some ideas and inspiration as well as make sure i did not copy something that already existed.

There is a huge amount of photography books and magazines available but only a small amount go into as much detail as i plan to. The majority include the photograph, a rough background, such as where it was taken and on what camera, but only a small amount dissect every aspect of the image explaining all the ins and outs.

One book i did find that was similar was Hot Shots by Kevin Meredith.

This book does the same as i plan to do but, in my opinion, on a more professional level. It is a very simple and useful book and i will definitely use it to try and get some more ideas for my product but i also hope to improve upon some aspects found within it.

Inside Hot Shots you get a selection of Kevin’s images accompanied by a description of the image and how and why it was captured. I found it extremely interesting and a fascinating read but i feel that for a beginner it does not give quite enough information in how to find good shots or how to edit you images to get the best from them.

I aim to make my book accessible to everyone from the absolute beginner to a professional who might be on the look out for some new ideas. Another aspect in which my book will differ from Hot Shots is that mine will be much shorter and focus on the more basic aspects (e.g Portrait, Landscape, Macro etc) whereas Hot Shots is much more specific in its content (e.g Childs Portrait, Anticipating a Shot, Top Down View)

Ideas

scottgiarnese — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:11:57 +0000

I started by jotting down a few rough sketch’s and notes about the layout, content and style of the book i wanted to create. It basically entails one page having a photograph that i have taken on it and the page opposite having a brief description of how it was taken, where, why, the composition, the editing, lighting etc.

I hope to include a key of some sort so that it is easy to quickly see how i did it. For example a small picture of lighting bolt could mean “flash used” or a flower could mean “macro”. I will make sure that i also include the technical details of each photo such as the camera used, lens, focal length, iso level, shutter speed, aperture and anything else important for the shot.

Doing this throughout the book will allow me to show my work and also inform and describe why and how i took all of the pictures. The end product will be invaluable to me as i will be able to use it in the future every time i want to recreate similar effects on new photographs. It would also be of great use to new photographers as it will go into detail about how to capture all different styles of photograph.

Project Proposal and SWOT

scottgiarnese — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:40:55 +0000

This is my proposal which gives a basic description of what it is that i plan to create. As i have terrible handwriting i will translate it now:

Client: Myself

Description: I will produce a book featuring examples of photography techniques, styles, edits etc.

Assessed Artefact: The finished photo book.

Special Considerations: Needs a lot of research so it can be accurate and useful.

Financial: Producing the book. Location travel for shots. Equipment for camera.

Client Specifications: In depth. Varied. High quality.

Software/Hardware: Cameras (GX-20 & NV10). Lenses. Lightroom. Photoshop. Printing software.

Copyright Issues: If i decide to include other peoples photography.

Possible Risk: Not getting enough high quality or varied photos. Camera breaks. Timing.

Skills Needed: Photography. Time management. Research.

Time Scale: October 09 – December 09

My lecturer (Claire Sambrook) then signed off to confirm that this was a viable and interesting project idea. The next stage was to start doing some preliminary research and write down some ideas for the look and layout of the book.

SWOT Analysis – Photo Book

Strengths

It is a useful product

Can be used to display my photography

Will be a functional learning tool

Researched and factual

High quality product

Can be produced cheaply

A clear and precise introduction to photography

Unusual (Not many books talk you through every photo)

Covers a variety of aspects

Weaknesses

Limited applications

Not useful to all levels of photographer

Does not include every aspect of photography

Only my opinions/perspective on good photos

No accreditations to prove the quality

May be difficult to produce in bulk

Pressures and timescale may constrict content

Opportunities

May get my photography noticed

Could find a gap in the market

May help gain contacts in photography sector

Will allow for newcomers to learn from my work

Bulk buying would decrease production costs

Could be the start of a series of book

USP of the book may help popularity

Will assist me as a future reference point

Threats

Not as concise as needed

Someone else may produce similar book

Not completed in time

Could become too simple/complicated

Unable to produce enough content

Pricing may become too expensive to continue

A Few Shots

scottgiarnese — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:27:32 +0000

These were taken within the past year and i have put them here as an example of some pictures i have already taken that could possibly be included in the book. It also gives an insight into the type of images i like and way that i work.

Also i wanted to see what pictures looked like in a blog……

Welcome To My Blog

scottgiarnese — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:56:40 +0000

Hello.

The purpose of this blog is to help me in the production of a book exhibiting, informing and assisting in the process of capturing a photograph.

This blog will allow me to keep all of my ideas, processes, plans, mock-ups, sketches, scribbles and “other stuff” together, making it a lot easier to document the production.

I have created a GANNT chart so that i can keep a plan of what i need to do and when i need to do it.

Although i am unlikely to stick to this time scale precisely i will endure to keep it updated and stay as true to its constraints as i possibly can.