Process
For my first two images I experimented a lot with the background in the photography studios. Firstly, using the red background which, I actually liked when I got the lighting right. However when I looked back at the images you couldn’t really see much of the background, because I was too close to the frame. So I tried positioning myself and my friend further back from the camera and turned the lighting up so you could see the background and the subject, which I actually liked.
But after this I tried out the black background with two lights which became very overexposed. But I felt like I preferred the black background, so I decided to turn one of the lights down slightly and focused them more on the subject of the image and got this above.
For the first image the self-portrait I decided to go for a black background with high lighting, one light each side the one on the left and one on the right with the left light more intense than the right. This was to bring attention to the subject, this is so the image had a clear point of focus for the viewer. The ISO for this image is set to 400, this is to let more light into the image, I also had the shutter speed at 1/15 to let more light into the frame. However even with this I wasn’t completely happy with the lighting of the image when I reviewed it so I increased the exposure slightly in post-production to get the look I wanted to achieve.
For the second image the familiar image I decided to go for less lighting with one light on the left hand side of the subject. This is because I wanted a darker slightly sinister feel to the image, and also to bring attention to one side of the face than the other to create and arty feel. For this image I used camera settings ISO 200 and shutter speed 1/60, this was to create a dark feel to the unlit part of the image. However, this did affect the lighting of the subject itself, which meant in post-production the exposure was increased to bring more focus to the subject without affecting the background to much.
For my third image the stranger brief I decided to do something outside of the studio mainly because you can’t really get a stranger to come to a photography studio, plus I wanted to show that I could do portraiture well in a more natural environment. Also this photo is lit up much more than the others, this is mainly because of the key light which in this case is the sun and not studio lighting. In this photo I used shutter speed 1/160 this is to let more of that natural light into the image without it becoming very over exposed, this was the reason I used ISO 100 to reduce over exposure. I also used aperture very effectively to increase the depth of field because in outside environment the background can be key to an image, but in the studio it can be less important. All of this meant that there was very little post production work all that was needed was a simple crop.
Looking back on this brief I feel like I was well organised and took and created some great images. Furthermore I learn a lot about the camera in this brief, for example learning how to control the aperture effectively for an image. I also liked the fact that I was able to go into the photography studios for the first time, and was able to control the surroundings where I was shooting. What I liked about my work is the fact that all of the photo look like professional quality images with proper lighting and camera setting. But what I don’t like about my images is that the style of them is very similar, so I didn’t get to show all the different styles of photography that I would have liked to have done during this brief.
When I produced my work I considered the audience when using my lighting and camera settings, to create a focus point for the image. For example my lighting was pointing directly at the subject of the image to make them the focus point in the portraits. I also made sure that the focus was sharp and clear on the subject before taking each image. This was so the audience could identify the point of focus and also see the subject clearly.
Research
Eric Lafforgue
For this brief my first inspiration came from this photo by photographer Eric Lafforgue. This is because I am planning to have at least one of my portraits looking like this, this is because I think in portraiture background is key. The reason for this is that it brings the attention of the audience to the person in the photo. Especially with the use of the intense lighting on the face of the woman. Another reason why a dark background is very effective is because it avoids over exposure in the background which in this case would ruin the whole image. Also the audience tend to see the focus point on the colour that it the brightest in the image. This would mean that if Eric had used a white background the image would be less powerful because the focus would be less on the woman and more on the background because that would be more noticeable to them.
I have had a good look through Eric’s work and it very cultured just looking at his portfolio you can see he has been all over the world taking photos, countries such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Maldives. This means he has a variety of portraits in his portfolio such as this photo which has not been done in a studio which means the surroundings are more natural giving the image a more real feel to it. This image and many others in his portfolio show that he is a very versatile photographer, because all of his photo’s are taken in many different countries across the globe, with very different cultures and environments. But yet he still manages to take exceptional photo’s consistently all over the world.
Alberto Monteraz
My other inspirat
ion came from photographer Alberto Monteraz, he is very famous on Flickr for his portrait photography. This photo on the left is the one that really caught my eye when looking for inspiration for this particular brief. The way he has the background out the focus so the sole focus is on the subject. But we still have some insight of what environment the woman is in, and good use of background is something I am willing to experiment with in the stranger brief, which will be shot outside the studio.
In an Interview on Flickr Alberto said that “I’ve never defined my photographic style, really, but people often say that spontaneity and sincere expression are t
he distinguishing features of my work in front of the camera.” This shows that he doesn’t want to commit himself to a particular type of photography. However, I have looked through a lot of his images and you can tell that there are similar camera settings for most them. With similar ISO and possibly shutter speed, but the most notable setting is the aperture because he likes to have a very large depth of field in his images, often blurred. Showing that he uses a similar style too much, and will probably need to experiment more with his photography to keep his audience engaged with his work.
Steve McCurry
My final inspiration came from Steve McCurry with his photography of the Afghan Girl. Steve said that “Most pictures are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out experience etched on a person’s face.” You can defiantly see what he means with this image, with the way that the girl is staring into the camera with that expression you feel like you can see into her past when you look into her eyes. You can tell she is only young but years of memories can be visualised just in this one image.
You can tell that this is way Steve meant to achieve this by using low aperture getting a large depth of field, which is slightly out of focus. This depth of field connotes her depth life, which the audience instantly thinks about subconsciously when they see this emotional image, because of this depth of field you feel like you can look into her past.
Then there is the focus point of the camera where Steve clearly meant to use the eyes as the focus point, the sharpness which we get from that glare into the camera is frightening. Also the lighting which is also focused on her face as this is the key element of the image, and Steve has got it just right because if it was bright then it was of connoted a positive mood which would have ruined the image. But to dark then she wouldn’t be visible enough to the audience. But in this image the lighting is just right to create the right mood.
This is another image from Steve McCurry Portrait gallery, this image is in a very similar setting to the Afghan Girl photo. Perhaps it was taken around the same time in Afghanistan. This image is not quite as powerful and as emotionally moving as the first, but is still an exceptional image that any photographer would still be proud of.
I think this photo was taken on similar camera settings to the first one. But this image seems to have had much more post-production work than the first image, this is one of the reasons I think the first one is better because it is more of a natural image. However, this post-production work does have a good effect on the image because the tinge of red connotes fear and danger. So I think he actually intending on doing this post-production work before he even took the photo. Not because the photo needed it, you can still use post-production effectively in professional photography as long as it’s to good effect and not noticeable.
Steve McCurry (undated) The Afghan Girl: Afghanistan; Steve McCurry Galleries. Available from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Sharbat_Gula.jpg[accessed 22nd November 2016]
Steve McCurry (1996) a boy’s face covered in red powder for the Ganesh Festival: Bombay, India. Steve McCurry Galleries. Available from http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02669/red_powder_for_the_2669379c.jpg [accessed 22nd November 2016]
Eric Lafforgue (undated) Unnamed: North Korea; Eric Lafforgue Photography. Available from http://www.ericlafforgue.com/album/north-korea/ [accessed 22nd November 2016]
Eric Lafforgue (undated) Unnamed: Afghanistan; Eric Lafforgue Photography. Available from http://www.ericlafforgue.com/album/afghanistan/ [accessed 22nd November 2016]
Alberto Monteraz (undated) jardines lejanos: unknown; Alberto Monteraz Flickr. Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/monteraz/13981555925, https://www.flickr.com/photos/monteraz/18784149924, https://www.flickr.com/photos/monteraz/21055813582 [ accessed 22nd November 2016]
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