Portrait Photography

Portraits of Photographers – Part 1

For this project I wanted to capture the other photographers on the course. Unfortunately, some of the group, namely Steve B, Becky and Joe, were not in today so I will take more at a later date including a group shot of everyone.

Aim of the Shoot

My inspiration for these portraits are from some of the portraits taken by David Bailey.

Steve helped with the lighting which we decided would be similar to the type of set up that David Bailey or Irving Penn would have used:

For these portraits I used the DSLR with a 18 – 200 mm lens, as this would give me a wide range of focal lengths to play, without either standing on my subject’s toes or standing out the door. I have read that a good focal length for portraits is around the 90 mm mark. I will also be using the battery grip enables me to take the portrait orientated photographs, whilst still having access to the important controls. At first I used the camera stand, but this I found too limiting, so I chose to use the camera loose, as it should be used.

I used the infra red trigger for the flash units which gave me more portability and prevented any tripping over type accidents. The main flash was above me but there was more than enough clearance from my head.

Steve set the studio with a white background with one main light almost above me and two soft boxes to illuminate the background.

The set up is shown below:

For some of the portraits I wanted the subject to stand up, for others I wanted them to be sitting down.

 

 

Health and Safety

Because I am working with people who are modelling for this photo shoot I must make sure that at all times their safety is of prime concern.  Fortunately, all my subjects are photographers themselves and are aware of the safety measures in place in a photographic studio, where as many people, especially children and curious adults are prone to ‘what happens if I press this’ scenario, which having worked in the joinery trade, I am fully aware how dangerous a clicking of a simple button can be where the person pressing it knows nothing about the implications of doing so.  Also the dangers of multiple children, or over curious adults, where you cannot watch everyone all the time, although these dangers can be reduced by having an assistant present.

 

There is another option, with some people (none of those on the course) but a piece of 3 x 2 would not be permitted.

 

The usual health and safety precautions must be followed:

 

Environment

Fortunately, working in the college photographic studio which is kept clear of any obstructions, we had a clear and safe working environment, which is very important because, once the lights are out and we have only the modelling lights from the flash units to see by, any cables or props left lying around could cause an accident.

Electricity

Although the voltages for many lights may be lower, especially for portable lighting, you must always check that the cables are in good condition and have firm connections (to the equipment and to the mains power supply) and that nothing is overloading any sockets.

There were no liquids in the studio, so there was no concerns of any liquids coming close to any electrical appliances.

Cables

With more people in the studio there are always more concerns over tripping and falling accidents in the studio.  The lighting is fitted to a series of tracks which are fixed to the ceiling, this reduces the number of cables that are near the ground, and any slack in the cables from these lights is taken up to prevent any tripping over accidents.

 

Heat

Because of the use of flash units, which generate a lot of heat, these were only handled before any photography started, using the light from the modelling light to ascertain the lighting.   Also nothing inflammable was placed any where near any lighting equipment.  It is important with so much lighting equipment that can be triggered wirelessly that any unused equipment is switched off, both for safety and causing unwanted lighting.

Steve, who changed any fittings, prior to the start of the shoot, was careful not to catch any lighting tubes, which are very fragile whilst changing the fittings.

Chemicals

Because we are all using digital cameras, most of the chemicals involved with photography, in particular the processing and development of the finished photographs, have been removed.

Image Selection

From this photo shoot I took a number of images, where I tried to capture the personality behind the portrait, rather than just capture an image of the person.

Below are contact sheets of the images that I captured during the shoot:

 

Once I had looked at the different photographs I selected those that I felt captured the personality of the person, because to me this is what is important about any portrait.  Although photographs never do the person justice, I wanted to at least capture their personality.

Although Eric and Jim brought cameras, I wanted to capture them off duty, without a camera.

 

The Post Production

After I had selected the portraits I wanted to convert them to monochrome, using the Black and White filter from PhotoPlus X3, which is just like the filter demonstrated by Peter Clark from Adobe Photoshop CS4. This would create a similar finish to portraits by David Bailey.

My first subject was Ruth. Ruth was a little nervous at first, a common thing with all people, especially photographers. Ruth soon settled and we got some good portraits:

1/60th at f5.6 with 100 ISO

Next up was Eric, who is very relaxed on both sides of the camera, as you can see:

1/45th at f5.6 with 100 ISO

My next subject was Pippa:

1/45th at f5.6 with 100 ISO

In fact whilst taking portraits of Pippa I caught the dial and ended up with some high key portraits as well. I soon realised and corrected this ready for my next subject Suzy:

1/60th at f5.6 with 100 ISO

Like all the team, Suzy was a great subject and soon relaxed.

Next was Steve Davies, our tutor:

1/60th at f6.3 with 100 ISO

Steve brought with him is sense of humour, which is something that I wanted to capture about Steve.

Finally, for this session was Jim:

1/45th at f5.6 with 100 ISO

Who is forever the photographer.

The Final Images

Below are the final images that I have cropped, in a similar way to those portraits taken by David Bailey, as suggested by Steve Davies:

Ruth

 

Eric

 

In fact Steve Davies asked if the Burton College could use this photograph for promoting the exhibition.

Pippa

Suzy

With Suzy, I wanted to also capture her necklace, showing a paw print, because Suzy in very passionate about animals.

Steve Davies

Jim

I hope the team are happy with their portraits, please give me some feedback on these, as I said above, I will be taking some more portraits on 29 May 2010, when I am hoping for a group portrait.

A very big thank you to everyone who modelled for me today.

Peter