The document provides an evaluation of Nathan Mead's final major project (FMP) in photography. Some key points: - Nathan's research was thorough but some aspects were not relevant to his project. His planning helped narrow his focus but his initial ideas lacked clarity. - Nathan managed his time well but some delays occurred due to weather and personal issues. He completed tasks on schedule. - Peer feedback noted the detailed editing and theme but suggested taking more photos to add more content. - Nathan agrees more photos would have improved the portfolio by providing more raw material to work with. He is pleased with the editing quality noted in positive feedback.

1. FMP Evaluation
Nathan Mead

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research• My research, I think, was very thorough and in depth and highlighted a lot of things I wanted to
use for my own project which guided me a lot and I feel like this is strength to my research. This
also helped me a lot in my FMP as a sort of basis for what I wanted to do. A weakness of my
research was actually one of the things I researched on. took a semi in-depth look at a poster
from an old thrashes magazine when I wanted to do a photography portfolio, and all I really
gained from it was how to shoot angles well which I already knew how to do, so this was a
waste of time which I consider to be a weakness. If I was given another opportunity I would’ve
looked at a mood board/portfolio more similar to the ideas I had in mine to give me a little
more guidance, which may have made my product better in terms of way I take my photos.
Another thing for I did for my research is ask questions via a free and easy to use website called
survey monkey to get specific details on things such as age or what type of shots people like etc.
One of the questions that gave answers that helped me on m final product was the question
about colour themes. I asked which people prefer out of 3 colour schemes and got a very
balanced but mixed response. This helped me understand that my audience has a very mixed
taste when it comes to visual/aesthetics, so to cater to this I used a variety of different ways to
make all types of colours stand out in my photos so that everyone found them aesthetically
pleasing. I also did 2 interviews, one of someone who studies photography and the other being
a person who knows nothing about photography. The interview for the person who studies
photography gave me a much better result than the person who doesn't as they have more
knowledge on the subject and can use subject terminology etc. for example I asked the question
“do you prefer pictures to be edited? If so how much and why?” and they answered “A little but
not enough so the imagine is no longer raw , just enough to highlight important parts such as
lights.” this was very specific and helped me cater to their wants when I edited my photos a lot
more easily and also with a lot more precision and detail. For example I increased the brightness
and saturation on my photo of a skater to enhance the brightness of then sun and sky, keeping
the look of it realistic whilst also editing it.

4. Planning• My planning I feel was strong, because it really helped me discover what I wanted to do/narrow things down. It also allowed me
to plot my main idea down and build on it to create my FMP. A weakness of my research is that at the start I didn’t really know
what I wanted to do, apart from the fact it was photography orientated. This lead to me researching thins which I didn’t really
want to do that was ultimately a waste of time. My layout plans also helped me too. Originally I had plans to use a more
random/scattered layout but when I actually tested it on powerpoint It showed me that’s not actually what I wanted to do, so I
tried out a more organised layout and choose to do that because I thought it looked a lot better. This eventually lead to me laying
out my portfolio this way. Another thing I did in my planning that really helped me out of the informal proposal. When trying it
out, it really helped me visualise/map out what I wanted to do in a lot more detail than I previously though of. For example I
could talk about the sort of things I wanted to capture and what sort of shots I wanted to use such as medium shots or long range
shots. My mood board was fairly poor. It didn’t really have much effect on my portfolio either. This is because I didn’t really think
about the sort of images I wanted at the time so instead I complied a load off loosely tied images to create a moodboard that
didn’t really guide/help me plan my portfolio properly. If I was to do this moodboard again I would look more at portfolio layouts
and less singular images as that would fit what I wanted to do more and help me map out the sort of things I wanted to do a little
bit easier. I also did a mindmap for my planning. This also helped a lot in terms of me deciding what I want to do for my project. It
helped me go through many different things I may have chosen and look at them in more detail and decide if I want to do them.
For example doing a film was an idea of mine, but when I mindmapped it I realised it would take way too long. But when I looked
at photography, I knew I would have fun doing it and I was realistic to be able to finish something like a portfolio before the
deadline so I chose to do that.
• Contingency planning – a strength of this was the fact I was able to map out all the issues I may run into during production and
plan for them beforehand so he odds of it effecting my project would be minimum. The only major weakness of it is he lack of
detail I went into when discussing solutions to issues that my arise
• Health and safety – m health and safety planning helped me understand the risks and dangers of going out into the public and
taking photos of things on roads etc. which I think is a strength as It helped me out in a way. However the detail I went into when
talking about how I can avoid these risks and dangers was very minimal so I think that is a weakness
• Resources and kit list – my kit list was strong because it let me plan out all the equipment and figure out what I needed to use.
However in think I missed off certain pieces of equipment I may have needed making my list short which is a weakness
• Style sheet - my style sheet allowed me to have an in-depth look at the sort of things I wanted to use for my project, such as
colour schemes, editing techniques and shots types. The only weakness to this is that I could only choose 3 things so I couldn’t
explore as many things I would’ve liked to.
• Next time I will try to have an idea thought out so I can research more relevant things and get started with my project quicker.
This lead to me not having as much time as I would’ve liked to on my FMP.

5. Time Management
• I feel like I managed my time well for the most part. I got all of my photos in 1 day,
however during a week of shooting it was very rainy and some personal things got in the
way delaying me slightly, but I kept up with the schedule and ended up editing all my
photos on time. If I hade more time I would’ve just taken more photos so I could fill up my
page with more photographs. I would've also used more advanced editing techniques to
make my photos look even better and improve my grade. Overall I think I managed my
time very well. I also completed my research and planning in good timing. This allowed
me to go over it and really look at what I mapped out/planned which ultimately helped
me craft my portfolio to exactly how I want it. However I did waste a little bit of time on
research, as I was looking at something's that weren’t really relevant to what I wanted to
do. It also helped me reflect on things I might now have wanted to put into my portfolio
and filter those ideas out. Ultimately my time management allowed me to gather my
ideas properly. I also made a schedule in which I spoke about what in was going to do on
certain days, highlighting what sort of equipment I was going to use, what sort oh photos
I was going to take that day or if I was going to edit instead on that day and what software
I was going to use. This helped me have a basis of how I wanted my fmp to go but I didn’t
stick to it very well and this lead me to actually make my physical portfolio a little bit later
than I wanted, however this wont effect my grade so its not much of an issue. Taking the
pictures on day 3 took longer than expected due to bad weather, but when the sun did
come out and when it did in got a lot of shots in one go which allowed me to spend more
time on aother things instead of waiting for the weather to improve.

6. Technical Qualities
Before
This is one of the photos I edited, arguably the best edit I did.
Its edited very heavily with some layering of effects and
some actual photo manipulation. I tried to give it on old look
so I made it more grainy with a sepia look through a
multitude of adjustments. I then used a clone stamp tool to
remove the vans to make it look even older. I did a lot of
tampering with the saturation and exposure to make the
whites etc stand out more too, which I feel enhanced the
sepia effect. The actual location and angle is important for
this picture too. I chose this location, which is under the train
station in leeds, as it has a mid 1800;s feel to it because of
the way the arches look and how old the bricks are. To take
this shot I had to actually climb up to an elevated point but I
think it allowed me to get a very nice angle.
I used this photo was inspiration. I tried to match the qualities
of this photo my using Photoshop techniques to edit it. I
started by adding more noise to give my own photo a grainy
effect similar to the one below. I then increased the brightness
and exposure to make the day seem brighter within the photo,
whilst simultaneously making it seem more washed and old,
similar to the photo at the bottom. I also used the clone
stamp too to get rid of any modern looking things within my
photo such as cars and large industrial signs. In my opinion,
using this tool was fairly easy but it just took a long time to do
as I had to mask a lot of small detailed parts of the photo, like
the fencing and shadows. I feel like my own photo look
professional and good quality because my clone stamping was
very thought out and precise, and I feel like the level of noise
creates the perfect amount of grain on the image. I feel like I
could’ve made the sepia effect stand out more though by
changing the hue of the image to a more brownish colour.

7. Aesthetic Qualities
Version 1
Version 2
In the edit of the photo, I decided to go for a hazy warm feel to compliment the sort of
happy, easy-going feel o the image. I did by tampering with the curves and making it
lighter at the bottom but darker at the top, and the tampered with the saturation very
slightly to make the colours a small amount brighter. I then decreased the exposure to
make it darker whilst still retaining the brightness within the colours. I finally added a
custom gradient map the faded from a very light blue to a hazy yellow to give it a sort
of sunset feel which I think worked very well. It appeals to my young audience, too .
This is because there is a skateboarder and skating is widely popular among people 16-
20 year old males. Also, it is very easy on the eyes as the colours are sort of faded in a
way with a mist covering the photo. Another thing that’s aesthetically pleasing is the
almost perfect division of colours. You can easily identify 3 spate levels within the
photo that you can choose to focus on, and the placement of the skateboarder is also
another thing that will draw attention to the viewers.
This image didn’t take as much skill to make, but still a
small amount. I also feel it isn’t my best work, but I still
think it created a decent image. I made an editing layer,
and the filled it in black. I then added lens flare (50-
300mm) and placed it in the sky to make it look like the
sun. I then removed the black so the background image
was viewable. Based off how the lens flare looked
against the background, I changed the hue to a more red
flare and then duplicated the layer to make the image
seem brighter. I feel like this too less creativity and is my
weaker image but still required some effort and turned
out well. One downside to is is that the brightness is very
high, and the levels of brightness of the sun seem way
too high. This makes the images harsh on the eyes and
hard to view making it way less aesthetically pleasing
that the first image. The colour levels are also too bright
which makes it look almost cartoonish and silly.

8. Audience Appeal
I have appealed to my audience in a simple way. I understand 16+ year olds
don’t really care about things been in-depth or meaning, and would rather
something simply looks good to them. So I have taken this into consideration
when editing my photos and gone for more aesthetically pleasing editing styles
that will appeal to the eye more than giving some sort of message. One of my
question showed that all of my target audience prefer images to be edited at
last slightly, so I editing every one of my photos in at least one way. But other
than that all of my other question answers were completely mixed so I had to
cater to all of them by taking different styles of photos and editing them in
different ways whilst still retaining a current theme of it been in leeds. Also, my
psychographic is balanced. So I have appealed to my audience by simply making
the aesthetic qualities of a high standard by putting a lot of detail into my
editing techniques as these types of people will appreciate it fro what it is which
is simply a nice looking set of photos. My gender aim is mainly for males. And to
do this I’ve used a lot of brighter more manly colours such as blue etc. as these
colours are typically associated with men. Another way I targeted men was by
adding a photo with a skateboarder in it which is a man dominated sport.
Through the presentation of my portfolio I think I have appealed to my audience
by keeping it simple and aesthetically pleasing.

9. Peer
Feedback

10. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
• I liked all the different styles of editing and how
they are all quiet detailed and have more than
one step involved
• The theme was retained well
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
– Maybe more photos could’ve been taken

11. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
• The editing was really good and detailed
• The raw photos also looked cool
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
• More photos would be better

12. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
• I liked how most of the photos angles and shots
were thought about
• The editing styles are cool and make the images
look awesome
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
– More photos

13. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer
feedback?
– I agree with all of I, I feel like I could’ve taken a few
more photos and I put a lot of effort into my
editing and shots so im glad people appreciate
them
• What do you disagree with from your peer
feedback?
– I don’t disagree with anything

14. Peer Feedback Summary
Based upon my peer feedback. I would most defiantly spend
more time going around leeds city taking more shots for my
portfolio. This is because I feel like it would’ve added more bulk
to my portfolio and make it seem like I have more effort. Other
than that I wouldn’t change anything, apart from my time
management. I would do this by taking more time out of my
personal life and going out in the city more, for longer periods
of time so I could capture more photos. This would influence my
final product in a positive way as there would be more raw
content, and more things for me to edit. I agree with the
positive feedback too, as I kept a theme retained and I also
spent a lot of time editing and think they came out well so the
positive feedback is good and I would not change anything
editing wise.