FMP Evaluation

1. Evaluation
Sam Williams

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
For my research I knew what I wanted to do for my FMP. Therefore, I focussed my
research around different types of photography books. I wanted to get a better
idea of what I wanted to produce and how I wanted it to look.
Luckily, I have a lot of photography books covering different genres so when I
needed to see potential compositions, I reviewed a number of photographers.
This made it a lot easier to make a decision on how I wanted each page to look.
I also looked at the work of automotive photographers and took inspiration
on how they shoot and what angle they get of the car/cars.
I was also interested in how the photos were laid out. I looked at the way the
photos from other photographers had set out their shots eg: what's in the
background and how much of the background can you see.
I also looked at what they focus on in the foreground of the shot, eg: in the
interior shots I looked at if they focused on the steering wheel or on the
speedometer or the handbrake. I also looked at different fonts in the books to get
an idea of what I wanted the font to look like as this would affect the style and
overall elegance of the completed book.

4. Planning
The Photos
I attended an event that selected elite classic cars with the intention of photographing them.
I took over 200 photos of cars at the concourse, I had to narrow the list of photos down to at
least 23 unique shots with a theme in mind for my FMP.
I had a rough time period of cars I wanted in my book, I knew I only wanted road cars, I
removed all the shots of race cars and all of the modern cars I had all apart from 1 Ferrari and
1 Aston Martin, (although these are outside my time period I liked the shots and used them
because I was pleased with the overall photos).
I narrowed the list down to about 100 shots and then I cut it down again, I think I have
selected about 23 shots in the book.
The Book
For my planning I started off by getting an idea of what order I wanted my photos to go in the
book. I knew how I wanted to start the book and what photo I wanted to go at the beginning
I then found a shot similar to that and put it at the end.
I also knew what 3 shots I wanted to go in the middle of the book, these photos represented
the strongest shots and were the most thought provoking. I then had to gather a rough order
of shots to go in-between them.
I wanted the front cover of the book to look textured but stylish, like an open coffee table
reference book. I researched canvas textures.
Again, different photography books, magazines and online articles showed different layouts. I
decided I wanted the photos in the centre of the page with some writing about the car on
the left page. I did It this way because it made it easier to know how many pages I had to do
and what cars I had to write about.

5. Time Management
The quickest part of making my book was taking the photos, which only took a weekend
because I only had 2 days at the event to photograph the cars. This was good for me
because It meant that I pushed myself to get all the photos I needed and more. I was
lucky because I had my camaras with me the whole time, and the weather was nice so
there were no delays in the shooting process.
The planning took longer than I thought despite already having an idea for what I
wanted the book to look like, I just needed to find a way of producing it. I think I spent
too much of my time deciding on what order I wanted the photos in, next time I think I
will spend less time worrying about the order because if I don’t like it, I can just swap
them over. The process of constructing my book was quicker than I thought it was going
to be mainly because I had spent a lot of time deciding what order the photos were
going to be in. I was lucky because the pandemic meant that I was able to use photos I
had taken earlier on in the year. If I had to include the event in my project, I would have
managed my time differently, it would not have been possible to spend so much time
deciding on the order of the photos.
I tried to do all the writing first because I know it takes me a long time to do it, so I tried
to get that all done before I started on my production. I was pleased with this approach
it worked for me.

6. Technical Qualities
I try to keep my photos as original as possible because I am proud
of my ability to take a good shot but sometimes you have to edit a
photo to look just the way you want it to. This was the case for one
of my Bugatti shots where I took out a wire that went around the
car because it didn’t quite fit with the mood of the photo with all
the people ignoring this beautiful car. I also made the image more
saturated to bring out the red on the Bugatti badge because the
background of the shot was quite dark with blacks, greys and
browns and I thought the little touch of red was nice and a good
contrast to the rest of the image. I also lightened up some of the
images just to make the shot look more visually appealing. I did
however use a lot of natural lighting because the weekend I was
there was quite sunny, and I liked the way the sun's reflection
on the cars. I like the shot with the yellow Ferrari because the sun
really brought out the yellow and the red of the Bizzarrini in the
background. I didn’t want to re-touch the shot of the Lancia
because I liked the way you could see the reflection of Hampton
Court in on the door and side panels, the cars was naturally
beautiful, and I liked the way the maroon contrasted with brown
leather interior. I did use photoshop a lot with the front cover and
especially on the title of the book I wanted it to look like it had
been embossed on the cover.

7. Aesthetic Qualities
I wanted the book to look expensive. I wanted it to reflect
the cars which are in it which is why I went for the look of
just the title of the book in the centre of the front cover and
the canvas effect of it. As for the pages, I also chose a
minimalist look with just the name and the date the car was
manufactured on the left page, and on the right page the
photo/photos of the car in the centre on its own. As for the
actual photos, I wanted to bring out the look and design of
the car which I think I did successfully. I wanted my photos to
highlight the small details in the cars such as the design of
the interior and how it flows with the look of the car. In the
BMW shot, I wanted to draw the viewers eye into the way
the man is looking at the engine and then I want the viewer
to look at the engine and the little details because I think
that makes the photo look beautiful. I also wanted to make
people think about the cars because most people would
never see these cars in person which is why I like the shot of
the black Bugatti so much because you can see a beautiful
car that was made in the 1940s and everyone is just ignoring
it.

8. Audience Appeal
My target audience was anyone (male/female, old/young) who likes cars and/or
photography I achieved this by looking at different photography books and seeing
what people would buy and what people liked, I did the same with the photos, I
looked at what photographers in the industry were doing and how they laid out their
shots. I then put the two together and tweaked it a bit, so it looked the way I wanted it
to look and that’s how I created the book. I also drew up some interview questions
and interviewed 4 classic car owners see what type of cars they owned and what they
liked about their collection. I also asked them if they would come and see an
Exhibition with my photos in. I wanted my target audience to enjoy looking at my
book, especially if they are not fortunate enough to see the cars in person. Looking at
my photos is meant to make them feel like they are actually at the event. I want my
shots to look like they are from the perspective of someone looking directly into the
cars themselves. Or someone looking at someone looking at the cars!

9. Comparison – professional photo and
my own
The photo on the left is by a professional photographer
called Amy Shore and the one on the right is by me. I liked
the way her shot is taken from the front of the car with the
workshop in the background. The yellow jacks and gold brass
add some contrast. I wanted the same kind of feeling for my
shot. I wanted to make it so you could only just see the
background because I liked the contrast of the gold and the
red to the green of the grass and the trees in the
background.
The big difference is that my shot isn't from the centre of the
car I wanted it to look feel like you're looking at the car from
the left.

10. Peer
Feedback

11. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
you used good quality photos, you made it clear what each car was
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
you could have gone into a bit more detail about each car instead of just the
names and maybe included a couple more photos showing the cars from
different perspectives

12. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
This is a good example of how a professional book would be written, you have
included an explanation at the start as well as descriptions on the product,
some of which have even more explanation / story on what was
happening at the time you took the picture, such as the man leaning on
the side of the £2 million BMW. All the pictures were taken at a good
quality level, they look as if they could be in a magazine / 'look book' made
by the car company.
• What improvements could have been made to the product?
If you were to try and make any improvement, I would attempt to write a
little bit more information on the cars in the images underneath the
description, such as where the cars were made. There were also a few
spelling errors at the start in the explanation of the book.

13. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
I thought that the concept of book and idea was very good. One thing
which I really liked was the quality of the images and use of
different angles which made the cars look very expensive and
valuable
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
One thing which I would say could be improved on would be the
layout and colour of the book itself. Next time instead of a
white background you could add a colour to set the tone of
the book.

14. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer
feedback?
• Spellings have now been corrected, by mistake I sent this peer an older copy
of my book with more spelling mistakes.
• Pleased they commented on the quality of my images. I used a good camera
and really thought about my angles and perspectives
• What do you disagree with from your peer
feedback?
• Useful to have different point of view – but I would not have changed colour
because.... yes, I have a lot of information as I am interested, but I can see that
those who appreciated the photos didn't know as much as I do and I could
have added more facts and stories about the cars in the photos