My photography work experience by Ella Carter

My name is Ella Carter and I am from Hastings High School. I spent the week doing my work experience with Christina Lauder portraits. I chose to do my work experience with Christina because I have a great interest in photography and I wanted to know more about the career. I've done my work experience with my friend Libby Noden who also has an interest in photography.

On the first day we mostly watched Christina edit photos on the computer using Photoshop and Lightroom. By watching Christina develop some images and talk us through what she was doing made me realise the hard work and effort which has to be put in to get the perfect image. Also, it has taught me new skills which I can use in my own work and in the future. The next day, Libby and I helped set up and photograph the french bulldog puppy. Personally, this was my favourite day because we had the experience of watching Christina do her work and watch how she takes and develops her photos. Also the different props and style of photos she uses to get a various selection of images. Libby and i also started our planning of our outfits, hair, makeup and props we wanted to use for the photo shoot we were going to do together the next day.

Christina let Libby and I be independent during the photo shoot allowing us to create our own images. By using props and controlling the lighting and set up that we wanted made us have complete control over our photos. The pictures i managed to take of Libby turned out to be amazing and I am very happy with how they look. After the photo shoot Libby and I sat together and chose a few images we thought were the best and this is where we used Lightroom. When we were fully satisfied with the images that we chose we took turns to edit the photos in Photoshop and Colour Efex. Overall, I really enjoyed my week with Christina and I now have a better understanding on how photography works and what it takes to become a photographer.

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(Photo Credit: Mike McNamee - Sitting on a panel)
(Photo Credit: Mike McNamee - The entire judging team including print handlers)
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Christina Lauder Portraits

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