Research
Lighting
Composition
Posing
DIY Week
18th of April
Pre-Shoot
For this shoot, we were supposed to make a DIY light modifier. I decided to do a reflector that I would be able to use for future shoots apart from this one. The final result was pretty good, so I decided to make a second reflector.
To make the reflector, I only used aluminum foil, a plastic folder and tape.
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It's very easy to handle since it's lightweight and it also reflects light very well. That said, it's not very big so it cannot reflect much light and it doesn't help that it is the size of an A4 paper. This is why I made a second one, so together they could make an A3 size. Also, it's not very sturdy, which makes it difficult to hold with only one hand.
Enviromental Portraits
24th of April
Brian Smale
According to the website Digital Photography School an environmental portrait is "a portrait taken of a person or people in a situation that they live in and a place that says something about who they are. It is often a place of work, rest or play." ​
Robin Mellor
The pros: really simple way of showing where these people work through the background.
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The cons: the composition is very odd, the subjects are both in the middle instead and the poses they are making aren't really flattering.
The pros: the colour palette in all of the pictures works really well, the composition is really good too.
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The cons: it's not very clear if the subjects have any relation to the area they are in, apart from the image in the top right.
Michael Muller
Michael Muller is an American commercial photographer. His work ranges from portraiture for magazines, to non-commercial shots of sharks. He has worked with many film studios to produce marketing material for films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Inherent Vice.
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What striked me to be the most interesting part of his photography is that he is able to portray the personality of the subject very well, whether that is through make-up, lighting or simply the posing of the subject.
I really like the editing of these two images (X-Men posters), the style of it is very intriguing and the concept is very well executed. I will attempt to copy this style in future shoots.
I really like the lighting in this picture, particularly in the face, it creates an interesting sense of enigma. Also, the composition is a bit unsettling, since the model isn't in the middle.
Dan Winters
Dan Winters is an American portrait photographer. He is widely known for his iconic portraits of celebrities like Brad Pitt, George Lucas, Tilda Swinton, Barack Obama, amongst others.
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What I really like about his photography is the lighting, and how low-key it is, but also creating very interesting shadows on the bodies of the subject.
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I also really like the concept of projecting an image into a model's face and then taking pictures of that. It's something I would like to try in future shots.
Experiment
For the lighting in this image, we used all the sunlight coming from behind the model and then reflected it using the reflector. This allowed the model to be perfectly lit from the front with a very soft light. We placed the reflector in a way to create the broad light from my research.
Natural Light
Artificial Light
For the lighting in this image, we used a flashgun and positioned it at a 70 degree angle from above the model's head. We pointed that flashgun at the reflector which was below the model. This is why her face looks lit up from both sides, although one side more than the other.
Research
Shooting Plan
My original plan was to take pictures of a single mother living on a boat, but I wasn't able to do that shoot since she was busy during the only times I could work with. So I had to completely make a new plan, but I tried to keep the intention the same.
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With this new plan, I will shoot on the 27th of April from 9 am to 3 pm. This will allow me to experiment a lot with the location I will base my model in. I will be shooting on location, which is the subject's house. For the equipment, I will use my Canon 750D/Rebel T6i with an 18 to 55mm lens. I will try to shoot primarily in between 35mm and 55mm, so my subject's face isn't distorted. I will also use my two DIY reflectors.
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The intention for this shoot is to showcase the environment my subject lives. Also, I want to make it seem as if the pictures were taken on a film camera so I will add grain to the final image on Photoshop.
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Photoshoot Images
Evaluation
More Images
Images That Didn't Make The Cut
Headshots
12th of May
Research
Steve Lawton
Greyson MacAlpine
Photoshoot Images
First Shoot: Artificial Light
Evaluation
Second Shoot: Natural Light
Evaluation
Street Portraits
24th of May
Shooting Plan
Photoshoot Images
Evaluation
More Images
The plan for this shoot is to shoot in an alley between Wardour St. and Dean St. in Soho. This alley was chosen after doing some location scouting around London, we first considered the Southbank, but we didn't find any walls that were interesting or in places that people were comfortable going to, so we chose this location.
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I will be using my Canon 750D, with a zoom lens of 18-55mm. I will try to keep this lens at 35-55mm to avoid major distortions on the subject's face. I will avoid to have a high ISO to keep my images as sharp and clean as possible.
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I will bring my two DIY reflectors since they're very easy to carry around.
I really like this image, it feels like a still from an image so I emphasised that by cropping it on a 16:9 ratio to give a cinematic feel to the image. It should be noted that it was quite hard to get this shot right, since the cat kept moving.
Since these are meant to environmental portraits, I thought this image showcased the personality of my subject, mainly through the mise-en-scene, hence why I used a wide-lens whilst taking this shot. The only issue I've got with this image is that the window is overexposed.
I quite like these two shots, particularly the shadows and lights created by shooting underneath a tree on a sunny day. My favourite out of the two is the one on the left, since my subject is perfectly framed, whereas in the second one, her waist is lost and there is also too much space between the head and the top of the image. Another reason I prefer the one on the left is because of my subject blowing the dandelion. I used a reflector on both of these images to make sure my model's face was lit perfectly.
The image on the top is from the first shoot, it was the only one I liked from that shoot. It also inspired me to take the other picture in the same space that is on the top of this shoot. The biggest issue I've got with this image is that the ISO was really high due to there not being much light in the room, so the image is really grainy.
This image is in my opinion the most interesting out of them all, since it could be described as a natural double exposure. One of the issues that this image has is that the subject's left eye is non-existent in the shot.
All three of these images are from the first shoot, and whilst I like them, they don't really work as environmental portraits as they are too tight and do not showcase the subject's personality -- which is the whole purpose of environmental portraits.
This shoot was very interesting in terms of experimenting. I learnt from this shoot that it is always good to revisit shoots and do them again so you can improve. I did this shoot twice and noticed that my first shoot was horrible since the photos weren't really environmental portraits, but rather just portraits. The second time I tried to improve on everything that went wrong in the first shoot, which were that the shots were too tight and there wasn't enough light where I was shooting. To do this, I stood further back from my subject and also used a wider lens to get more of the subject's environment. I also brought a reflector with me and made sure to have as much light as possible in the rooms I was shooting, before I began shooting. Overall, I am quite satisfied with this shoot and how the images turned out.
The aim for this shoot was to experiment with different types of artificial light and be able to create "perfect headshots". The two types of light I thought worked great were the butterfly light (left) and the loop light (right). I tried the rest of the lights that I had done research on, but they didn't work very well due to a technical problem in my camera.
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The image on the left uses the butterfly light, which I thought was the most flattering light for the model since it creates a very sharp shadow in the neck and makes her jawline be very visible. I edited that picture to create a blur effect around the model's face so her face was highlighted, I was very pleased with the effect it created. The only issue I've got with this picture is that the model is not posed in a flattering way (in comparison to the image on the right).
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The image on the right uses the loop light, which I thought was okay, but not as good as the butterfly light. What I liked the most of this image is the pose the model is doing which is very flattering for the model. The main issue with this type of light is that it creates a very weird shadow in her neck; which can be fixed by using a reflector.
These two images use the same method to create the light it currently has, they were both shot underneath a roof, but there was light coming from everywhere since they were shot outside.
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The image on the left was shot in the Southbank, and to take it without my subject's face coming overexposed I told him to stand underneath a platform there was. The only issue with this technique is that the background is overexposed and it is lost, but by doing so it also places the viewer's focus on the subject.
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The image on the right was taken underneath a glossy plastic roof, which let through light and worked as a diffuser, hence why the light is not too bright and harsh on the subject's face. I used a table that worked as a reflector, which let the subject's face be lit from the bottom as well. Out of the two images, this one was my personal favourite because of the framing of the subject and also the pose she is doing.
My favourite photograph from this shoot is the one on top because of its framing and light. She is perfectly framed using the rule of thirds, having her eyes on the upper line of the rule. I also really like the light because it's not too harsh or too dark.
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I am quite happy with the effect the lens I used provided for the entire shoot, I tried to use mainly 50-55mm and it allowed me to have images with not much distortion. Also, since it was a very sunny day and the location had enough light, I could maintain my ISO at very low numbers, so the images came off with no grain.
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The location was quite good for this, since it had a constant stream of interesting people passing by, so it wasn't hard to find subjects. The only issue was that most people rejected the portraits, I think it was because we shot during people's lunchbreaks.
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The biggest issue with the entire shoot was fixed in the beginning, but it was an annoyance since I didn't realise the mistake until I had taken the picture. What happened was that where I had my subject's stand there was a really harsh light coming from the sun, which made the first pictures with really nice poses and people be useless since they were too bright or too dark. Luckily, I fixed this straight away when I had to shoot the next subject.
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Overall, this was a really successful shoot which pushed me to get out of my comfort zone. I found it really hard at first to stop people and ask if I could take a portrait, but after a few tries, it was much easier and I feel more confident for the next shoots where I've got to ask strangers for portraits.
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If I could re-do this shoot again, I would make sure to first check the light with a stand-in and see if the light is too harsh or too dark in the subject's face, that way, when I start asking strangers for portraits I don't have to fix those variables.
I quite like this image's composition and technical aspects (no grain and no distortion). The only thing I dislike about this image was that the model's face was too dark. I could have fixed it with a reflector, but I didn't have time to pull it out from my bag without wasting more of her time. For next time, I'll make sure to have my reflectors in hand so I can fix lighting quicky.
This is one of the images that came with a really harsh light since the subject was standing in the sun, instead of the shade. This image would have been great, since I love the facial expression and the pose the subject is making.