On Wednesday 8th March I re-visited The Butterfly Garden for an opening of a new building they have. There were a lot of people there including the student, volunteers as well as friends and family. This provided a good opportunity to get more portraits of the people involved in the project to show the spirit of the place.
I shot a total of 120 images on this shoot, most of which were portraits or people based as I felt that this was a good opportunity for images with people in them. I found that the portraits worked best as opposed to the general shots of human interraction.
None of these images have been edited yet, and I intend on brightening/ darkening ones that I think need it. With the exception of the final image, these were all shot outside. I think this works well as the colour palette in it is relatively neutral. As well as this, from the first shoot I have a few pictures shot outside so they would work well in a set with those. I think that the direct eye contact with the camera is effective as it makes the audience feel more attached and intimate with the people being photographed. I think that the students and volunteers are the most important part of this project which is why I felt it important to capture them the most. The images shot outside generally used an F stop of 8 which I think exposed the images well. Shooting inside was a little more difficult. I used an F stop of 1.8 and AWB to make the pictures less yellow. I still think that the portrait shot indoors would benefit from being lightened in post production.
This image was shot using an F stop of 9. I particularly like this shot as I think the sense of pride that the owner, Chris (above), is showing in both his stance and facial expression. I think it could potentially work better if it was cropped, but I think his hands are an important part of the picture.
I tried to get some more general shots too which may provide context. I like the vibrancy of the colours in all of them. I think that the set together shows a lot of the projects that they do at The Butterfly Garden, and they may work well to provide a bit of context in the magazine article I need to produce.
When I return, I think it’d be beneficial to me to try and get more context shots as currently I have primarily shot portraits. I will try and get more group shots to show a sense of community. I will also try to document any specific activities carried out on that day.
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