Exercise: Thinking about location

For this exercise I need to find six different locations and having photographed them I need to choose one and then go back with a model.  I am doing this slightly differently in that I am taking my model out and about with me.
I still plan to take the original photograph before adding the model to the scene. I will then make my choice of location with model hen I have seen all six photographs together. I have chosen to do it this way as I have a rare few days off with my husband and we may not go back to the same spot again for quite a while.

Location one

It was a long walk and loads of steps to get down to the sea front but I had the idea of having my husband looking out to sea as if searching the horizon for something. The top photograph was actually taken on the way back to the car.  I took this second shot as when I reached the sea front originally I wasn't quite so happy with the first view it seemed a bit bland, however by turning my husband to face the other way I could frame him within the coastline.


Location two

Although this was in the same place as location one I decided to make use of a row of brand new beach huts that was in the process of being completed.  I took this view rather than the standard one as I though it almost looks like a tunnel, I though that by adding my model to the picture it would give me a slightly edgy feel almost like a 60's  print, but not as bright.

Location three

This time its marshland as the backdrop, I liked the water through the top part of the image and the wind turbines just visible in the back ground. I  increased the vibrancy very slightly on this shot just to even the colour out very slightly.

Location four

This one is in my own garden, I love this area and I would really like to replace the wooden bench with a traditional deckchair and take the photograph, but unfortunately I don't have one, however I do think the bench works well in its own right.

Location five

A working desk, this is actually my desk but I thought it might work as a location however even though I used the natural light from the large window and the tones are even its too flat somehow and not inspiring enough to sit a model at, I won't be using this one.

Location six

I briefly considered using my home studio to take a portrait, I added the stool as I didn't want to show just a black back drop , I could have photographed the area also showing the lights I use but as I don't think this location will work for this exercise either I will leave that for a different exercise.


Having reviewed each of my locations it was time to make a choice, and I finally settled for location Three. 

I chose this one as I felt it had a nice blend of tones and colours, I also varied the view point slightly as when I went to position my model, there was a ditch where he would have needed to stand, I therefore made use of a gate slightly further along. The pose of the model is in keeping with the natural feel of the photograph.  The camera settings for this photograph were F10 shutter speed 1 /320s.  I used elements for the processing adjusting the shadows and vibrancy settings slightly before using the unsharp mask.  I also liked the light on this photograph and the way the shadows from the gate fall across the gate post.

Exercise: Portrait - Scale and Setting.

For this first exercise I need to take a portrait, the idea being that I will end up with four different scales, from cropped in close to the persons head to a full length either sitting or standing.  I am starting off my research by reading a book I have had for some time called 'Jeff Smith's guide to head and shoulders portrait photography' the details of which are listed under my reading page.  Although this book is predominately about head and shoulder photography there are several examples showing the torso and also some full length shots. My attention was drawn to  a series of photographs depicting a young girl in jeans with her foot and arm against the wall. This gave me some idea of positioning and also cropping for the torso photograph in the correct place. I have also looked at 'The Art of Children's Portrait Photography' again a book I already owned but I found it interesting to look at the portraits of children taken outdoors and the poses used to make the portrait natural.


In the course notes it is suggested that to begin with I photograph someone I know. With this in mind I start the process of deciding who I can ask to 'sit' for me, and also where can I photograph them, do I want it outside or indoors, although I have a small home studio I don't really want to use it for this exercise.  The two ideas I have at the moment are my husband who is a driving instructor I could photograph him in his car or maybe standing beside it. I can see a few problems with this though in the positioning of the crop for the torso shot, it might not work with the car.  The second one is to use one of my grandchildren, but again I can see a problem of getting them to stay still and not pull faces, I will try both ideas and if I am not happy I will try something else.

I finally decided to photograph my mum n a recent visit to my house. 
She had been playing with the dog and was taking a few minutes break relaxing and looking through one of my books and drinking a coffee. I liked that in most of the shots she looks so relaxed , although she is a little nervous looking in a couple but I think most people find it hard to smile to order unless they are models.

 

This close cropped in one took my a few attempts to get correct I wasn't happy with a full on face shot as I felt it was too unflattering, I finally asked her to look downwards at the book and used a focal length of 200mm, so I wasn't right on top of her when I took the shot. 

 

 

For the head and shoulder shot I asked her to look at me again I had several attempts to get what I wanted,  I used a  focal length of 48 mm and moved around until I was fairly happy.

 

For the Torso shot I wanted it to look natural and so I got her to look down at the book then called her and took the shot when she looked up. This has a focal length of 42mm.

The final shot is a full length one, as my mum is quite tiny I preferred the look of her having her legs up on the sofa, otherwise it looked a bit unbalanced. This has a focal length of 18mm.

Having reviewed all four photographs I think that although the face is the most prominent part of the first three photographs I feel that the head and shoulders looks too 'formal' or too 'posed'. I also decided to crop the first photograph even more to remove some of the red sofa.

This is a much stronger photograph.

The cropped torso and full body shots are both quite relaxed shots and I think viewers would see these as such. I chose to have the hands covered and I think this works better than having them on show.

I think the background has worked quite well with the blue blinds and the blue top, the red of the sofa compliments well.

 

Musings at the start of the course

The new course material has arrived and as always I have greeted this with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. I think most people have a subject that they prefer to photograph and for me people are at the top of the list. I enjoy photographing children as they grow from babies to toddlers and onwards its always interesting to overcome the different challenges that each stage imposes on me as a photographer, from the best way to photograph a tiny baby to toddlers that either don't want to stay still, I normally sit on the floor and capture them as they play or the ones that just want to cry. I must admit I have a lovely photograph of one of my grandsons sitting on a chair crying and holding his favourite soft toy its a photograph that makes people go ah.

I have also gone the other side of the lens and written about my experiences and thoughts partly due to an article by Russell Squires my former tutor at OCA.

I hope you enjoy reading about my journey through this module.