David Bailey weds Catherine Deneuve

11 May 2010

'D' Day photo shoot No 1

This shoot was on location, I had borrowed my parents pub for an evening. I had chosen this location for the bare brick walls which was the sort of back drop I wanted for the pictures. I had the portable lighting kit from college, so I had two Bowens lights with key reflectors and a brolly. I chose a couple of outfits for my model to wear and asked her to style her hair before she arrived.




For the lighting I had to the left one light with the key reflector set at high power and then to the right I had the other light with the brolly attachment set at a medium power. This created the shadow down the right side of the model.



The model (Layla) wasn't as comfortable as Dawn was in the previous shoot. She found it very hard to relax and to come across as it being natural. I had picked out a couple of outfits for Layla to wear which I thought appropriate for the shoot and it was immediately obvious which she felt more comfortable in. I first took photos with her wearing a dress and when she changed into what she is wearing above she instantly relaxed and this came across in the photographs.



This next picture I took with the portable lights from college also. I used just one light in front of the model on a high setting. I brought a piece of material which I thought depicted the 50's and kept the hair and make up soft and simple.

On both shoots the models Layla and Dawn were instructed on the set up of the lighting equipment and of all trailing wires as to not cause harm to themselves. On both locations I was restricted to space available to put the lights so everything was in close proximity so movement was very restricted. Care had to be taken when moving around for different shots and angles, and I had to be very aware of the heat that radiated from the lamps as they were at head height, and also whilst dismantling the equipment.
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1 comment:

  1. Mr Steve12 July 2010 at 21:10

    Hi

    Unit One:

    I know that you struggled with the blog system way of working to begin with, but you stuck with it and now happily blog and add value to your work both at college and at home.
    You have explored the kit available to you and also what we have here at college. In particular the photography studio which I know you have enjoyed using. You have at all times been very willing to explore and experiment with your camera and the lighting. You have always been able to say why you are using a certain method. You have always been able to research and identify what it is of value that you can draw out and add value to your work.
    The criteria you have met in your blog has always been of importance to you and you could see the reasons behind it. My comments throughout your blog will under pin this final assessment of your work.


    Steve

    ReplyDelete

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Techniques, materials and resources used for portrait photography 1.1

There are many different formats and techniques that can be applied to portrait photography.

Framing is a technique where by you draw attention to one element of an image by framing it with another element of the image. This gives an image depth and draws the eye to a point of interest in the image.
You could do it by placing your subject in a window or doorway, have them look through a small gap or even use their hands around their face.

Shooting with a wide angle lens attached to your camera can help create some memorable shots when you’re doing portrait photography.
At very wide focal lengths you can create some wonderful distortion. Using these focal lengths will enlarge parts of the face or body that are on the edge of the frame more than what is in the centre.
It can also give a wide open and dramatic impact when your subject is in an impressive setting.

The person in your portrait is the main point of interest – however sometimes when you place them into different contexts with different backgrounds you can dramatically alter the mood in a shot.

Having parts of a portrait in focus draws attention on certain parts of the face or body, or a completely unfocused portrait can add a dreamy effect and make a picture quite abstract.

Black and white portraits can be just as dramatic as colour. By adding a shot of colour can draw attention to certain parts of the photo.
"When we shoot in color, we do not depart from what we see everyday, so our eye expects certain details in order to fill out the image. Black and white photography gives us the opportunity to diverge from this norm, and in a way view reality as an abstraction."

Equipment I have at home and what is avaliable to me at college 1.1

I have at home the Canon 450d camera which comes with the standard 18-55mm lens.


At college there is a wide range of lenses avaliable to use along with higher quality cameras. There is a studio which contains a wide range of backdrops, studio lights, reflectors and soft box.

Canon 450D

Canon 450D

Canon 450d

This is the camera which I have started out with, the basic entry level canon 450d.  For specification details click on the image.
I don't really have any experience of digital SLR's, the only cameras I have used previously are point and shoot digital and film SLR's.  
I don't have an opinion on my camera yet as I haven't really used it enough to comment other than I find it fairly easy to use and understand. 

Standard 50mm lens

What makes this lens ideal for portriture is its angle-of-view is the closest to our own eyes and the easiest to use to get the most natural looking shots. You can even visualise shots without putting the camera to your eye. This doesn’t mean this lens is boring compared to the extremes that a telephoto or wide-angle will give. On the contrary, it’s just a lens that works well and keeps your photography simple. It is also ideal, as long as you remember not to get too close to your subject, which will lead to unflattering distortion to your sitters face. It works especially well with full-length portraits, but you can get some very nice head and shoulder shots.

Standard 50mm lens

70-200mm Lens

The telephoto lens allows you to take tightly composed pictures of subjects where it is impractical to get any closer and to use a wider lens, therefore they are useful for candid photography, this lens is small, lightweight and unobtrusive.
Short telephoto focal lengths are widely used in portraiture for their unnatural, non standard view makes objects at different distances appear closer together than they are in reality. Using a wide angle lens for head and shoulder close ups makes people's noses and other facial features more prominent - while a slight telephoto focal length flattens the features a touch, to give a more flattering result.
Telephotos are also useful in portraiture because when used with largish apertures, it is easy to throw a background out of focus thus drawing the viewers attention to certain parts of the scene.

70-200mm lens f/2.8 IS