Studio experimentation

ELLIE5    ELLIE1

ELLIE2     ELLIE3

We experimented more with the reflectors in these images and tried to get the lighting flattering and correctly on Ellie’s face. We used different lights throughout the ‘photoshoot’ such as snoop light, spotlight, Lightbox, soft box lights to create different moods and effects on the subject.

ELLIE&OLLIE2  ELLIE&OLLIE1

For these photo it originally started that we were playing around with props and dark lighting but the photos actually came out quite well. The light hit their faces in the right place and the shadow behind Ellie’s face of Ollie creates a story to the photo.

DAN1ELLIE4

I took these photos fairly close up and changed Ellie’s portrait into black and white, and although she wasn’t ready for the photo I think it still works well as it looks like she’s talking out to the viewer. Dans photo also shows a lot of detail and the way the light was positioned works well with his eyes and makes him look alive and real.

Friends edit

MATTb&w1  HARRYb&w1

 

These are my two favourite friends photographs as I think both have successful compositions, both show emotion in the subjects faces and both show detail and focus. They’re different too as Matts (left) has a more successful aperture depth and shows the focus on him. However Harrys (right) wasn’t as good as the background isn’t as blurred as I had hoped. I like that you can see all the detail in both their faces and I edited it slightly to bring the clarity and detail up so they were really defined. However if I were to change something about Matts photo it would be to include more of him. So at the time he was walking towards me and I continuously took photos, so didn’t have much time to think about the composition. However I think it works enough to be a final piece.

 

Friends portraiture experiments

Harry

HARRY1-5HARRY1-3HARRY1-2

I took numerous photos of Harry and he was happy to do so, and seemed natural when having his photo taken, this made a slight difference to how he posed and how comfortable he was. I took these photos quite close up and kept his face central and chose these 3 as the best. For Harry I just used the Canon kit lense and focused on his face, however the background is also in focus so I could have changed the aperture to keep this out of focus, and would do this for future portrait work. I just asked him to ‘stand there’ at first and he slightly smiled, I continued to take photos and every so often he laughed. Photos of people laughing are my favourite as I think they can get the best response from the viewer and create a positive and happy image for both participants.

Matt

HARRY1-15 HARRY1-10HARRY1-14

I used a prime 100m lense for these photos and I’m not sure I can see much of a difference between the two lenses. In the first image I also used a reflector to try to highlight Matts face more. As the sun was so bright when taking these photos already the reflector was too bright for Matt to pose. However I think it turned out as quite a humorous photo and you can see how the reflector creates a much more balanced light on his face. However I couldn’t seem to loose the shadow on his shoulder which I’m not keen on. I took these photos around 3pm and the sun was slightly setting so was very bright in the location. My favourite image is the middle one as I think the framing works well as he’s slightly off centre but still the focus of the frame. As it’s such a close up image the background is completely blurred out  into a plain red background. I also think the detail in his face and hair comes out well in this. In the third image the sun is quite intense on his face and isn’t very flattering but I do like how this create a very dimensional photo and looks almost 3D. I would have liked the brick wall to have been out of focus however.

Ellie

HARRY1-7 HARRY1-8

This was our first time experimenting with the cameras and framing people. I really enjoy photos where the person in them is smiling or laughing as I think this is one of the most natural poses someone can do and can make the viewer also feel happy. In these photos the background is a bit busy and doesn’t really draw the focus onto the person which defeats the point of it being a portrait. I also think I should have moved further down to be eye level with Ellie as I am slightly taller than her and it slightly looks like I’m looking down on her.