Improvements

When looking through my blog I realised the majority of the photos were weak. I made the decision to re-shoot any photos I feel I could do better as well as the development photos, and these are listed below.

Even though I already developed these photos with the more abstract photography, I felt I still had to improve them using the same objects. Before I had wrote on the paper, but this time I left it blank because the writing was always out of focus so ruined the image.
The first photo is the clock and paper to represent the traditional and modern 1st wedding anniversary gifts. 
As I was using a portrait lens, it wouldn't allow me to focus when close up, therefore I had to crop the photo down to the areas I wanted. This was to ensure your eye led to the bottom right corner due to the rule of three and the high contrast of the black against the white. 
The composition is with the clock closer than the paper to represent that the clock is the more modern gift whereas the paper is the traditional gift (as the past is further back). 
I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec. Last time I couldn't get the lighting to be bright in the photos, so as the objects are still I could easily use a longer shutter speed. This resulted in a much brighter photo where the colours really stood out.
To improve this photo, I would ensure the clock wasn't dirty as it is distracting.

The second photo is with the clock and paper again but with the composition being with the clock in the middle with the paper surrounding it. This was to give it a symmetrical effect to make it more interesting. Again, I had to crop the image as there were a lot of blank areas.
I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec to keep the lighting bright by allowing time for it to go through the lens. This allowed the black and white colours to be at a high contrast, which is an improvement from the last photos.
To improve this image, I would want the white to have a higher contrast as it still looks a bit dark.

This photo is to represent the 2nd anniversary gifts of wood and silverware. The first version was really dark, so I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec to allow all the light through the lens to prevent it from being dark again. 
Your eye isn't really lead anywhere in particular as there doesn't seem to be a strong rule of three or leading line. I would improve this image by cropping it so the composition is better to make your eye lead to somewhere.

The next photo shoot I tried to improve is the Seasons one. The Summer and Autumn photos were fine, but the Spring and Winter photos were weak with them being out of focus and dark.
This first photo shows an improvement to the tablet. The symmetrical look of the tablet packet meant I kept the composition to be symmetrical too as it leads your eye straight to the middle.
I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec to allow a lot of light through the lens, but it still seems quite dark so I would improve this.
I had to crop this image as I couldn't get this close without the camera not focusing on it. 
The colours are really plain with it only being cream and white, which is why I prefer the flower one as it's brighter and I associate it with Spring better.

The Winter photo shoot was improved with better lighting and focus. The photo turned out much better than before as I ensured 'Christmas' was in the photos so you associate it with Winter.
Your eye leads towards the top right corner due to the rule of thirds and the bear in the card being a big area to capture your eye.
The composition is with the cards being in height order to lead your eye down to each card. Perhaps it would look more interesting if the cards were the same height as I could have got a close up of the stripes of each card to make it more abstract; this would be an improvement.
I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec to allow a lot of light through, but it still looks quite dark so I would improve this by Photoshop or re-shooting with better lighting.

The Nursery Rhyme photo shoot was another shoot needing to be improved. I was given feedback on the buckle photo saying it was strong, so I didn't need to improve it. This lead on to the door photo which is not as strong. It was blurry and boring to look at; you couldn't even tell it was a door. Therefore, I improved this image by showing a door with the door handle to make it more evident. Even though it wasn't as abstract, it is still a better photo than before, but I would improve it by cropping it down to show the main areas.
I used an aperture of F/8 and a shutter speed of 1/30 sec because the lighting was bright outside so I didn't need to allow too much through the lens. The brown is at a high contrast so even though it looks dark, it compliments the brown really well.

The next photo shows the improvement of the sticks. Before they were out of focus and plain, so I assured I focused on all areas of the sticks, and cropped the image so it was a smaller width to make it look longer. This compliments the sticks and improves the boring version.
The composition doesn't have a rule of three, but it does have leading lines due to the sticks all being horizontal. It makes you not know where to look, which is fine for this photo as it makes it more abstract; therefore linking in Chris Jordan.
I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec to allow a lot of light through the lens while still capturing the rough texture of the sticks.
The colours in this photo are different combinations of browns and greens which give it an earthly feel.

This next photo is to improve the same photo of the sticks, but with a new composition. It has the same aperture and shutter speed as the previous one, as well as all the colours, but the composition isn't as great. I don't feel this photo looks as abstract, and there are a lot of white areas.

This photo is to improve the 'lay them straight' part of the rhyme. Before they were out of focus, so I tried to make sure this didn't happen again. I was told to make it look more commercial so I tried to do this my positioning them in straight lines. I had to crop the photo because I couldn't get close enough without it going out of focus to make the photo look abstract. 
I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec to allow a lot of light through, but it still looks quite dark and created some shadows so I would remove them to improve it.

I also took this photo of some sticks to give a variation. I prefer this one as there are more of them in a really straight line, and the wire holding them together catches your eye and works as a leading line guiding you along each stick.
I used an aperture of F/7.1 and a shutter speed of 1/50 sec as I wanted the image to look quite dark to compliment the dark colours, while keeping the detail as well.
I would improve this image by ensuring the bottom left area was in focus as it looks a bit blurry.


The last line was 'a big fat hen' and the egg photo just looked plain and out of focus. I improved this by trying to create a more dramatic effect with the lighting. I did it on black and white backdrops, but feel the black made it look more dramatic. 

I used an aperture of F/22 and a shutter speed of 3 sec on all the photos to allow the light to hit the egg well, and changed the lighting so only one was shining on one side of the egg to make the other side darker. I did this with the egg being vertical and horizontal to see which looked better.

To give more variety of photos I took photos of a hen as well. 
I cropped the photo down to fit around the hen because it had a lot of open space which ruined the photo.
I used an aperture of F/8 and a shutter speed of 1/30 sec as it was bright outside so I didn't need to allow too much light through. 
I don't like how the light is shining on the top of the hen so I would remove that if I was to improve it, and it is blurry in some areas so I would ensure to keep it focussed if I was to do it again.

The next photo shoot to improve was the Elements one. Most of them were fine, but the earth photo wasn't very good due to it being blurry in some areas. I re-shot this photo by doing the same thing but ensuring it's focused in all areas. 
I used an aperture of F/5.6 and a shutter speed of 1/60 sec as it was bright so I didn't need to allow too much light through.
The big soil clump in the middle attracts your eye as it is larger than the other parts, and even though there are some blurry areas at the bottom it doesn't ruin the image too much because it makes it seem longer.

The final photo shoot I improved was the 7 Days one. I started by improving the water photo as it was really weak. I struggled to focus on pouring water due to it being a portrait lens, so I changed the idea for the water to be in a jug. This made the image not as great due to the distractions in the background, so I would improve this by taking it next to a blank surface. 
I used an aperture of F/8 and a shutter speed of 1/50 sec because I didn't need to allow too much light through the lens as it was bright outside and I wanted to capture the detail.
I would improve this image by changing the composition so it is straighter and neater.

I also improved the animal photo by having more areas in focus. In this image the whole of the dogs face is in focus, and the out of focus hairs later on make the hairs look softer so it doesn't look too bad.
I used an aperture of F/2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/8 sec as the lighting was dark but I wanted a wide depth of field to give a soft effect.
I would improve this image by taking the photo close up so the bit at the bottom wasn't on show; it's distracting and the close up would make it more abstract.