Selecting Final Images - Portraits

Below are the portraits that I have selected for my portfolio on this section of the course, which I have chosen for capturing the character of the person which I feel is very important, exposure, focusing and general composure.

For these portraits I based the idea on the work of David Bailey, who is a photographer who I heard of before any other photographer, and who’s work I have always liked, who is still today a popular photographer.

 

Eric Shutter 1/45 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	To me this portrait of Eric is nicely composed and cropped, and shows Eric's character.  The image is catchy, with good focusing and a good depth of field, concentrating the views attention on Eric’s face, via his gesture with his hands.  Eric's eyes are sharp and I was happy that there was no reflection of the lighting in Eric's glasses, which is a common worry with portraits.  Some photographers remove the glass lenses from the glasses prior to the shoot. This image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Suzy Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	I was very happy with this portrait of Suzy, with a good head and shoulder style portrait.  The image is clear and well focused, with Suzy's eyes clearly in focus with good catch lights, again with a good depth of field. I cropped this image differently to the others so that I could include Suzy's necklace with the paw print, because we know how much Suzy loves animals, she actually runs a small pet shelter, and I felt that to crop this off would do Suzy and her passion for animals an injustice. This image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Jim Shutter 1/45 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	Jim is a more advanced photographer, and this pose seemed the most appropriate, with the fingers forming a frame through which we can see Jim's right eye.  This frame forms a frame within the frame of the image.  The point of focus of this image is Jim's eye, which is about centre in the frame and in clear focus, drawing the views eye to Jim's right eye.  The catch light adds more interest to the picture. This image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Pippa Shutter 1/45 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	This portrait of Pippa, taken slightly to the right, shows Pippa with her sense of humour.  This style of portrait photography, where the portrait subject sits looking away from the photographer, then turns their attention to the position of the photographer is a different approach which I wanted to try.  This portrait has good focusing.  I have cropped this portrait tightly in a similar way to David Bailey. This image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Ruth Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	For Ruth, I wanted a similar idea to Pippa, with Ruth looking to her left, almost over her left shoulder.  The focusing is clear with Ruth's eyes in focus, but unlike everyone else from the first portrait shoot, Ruth does not have the catch lights in her eyes, possibly due to the angle to the camera at which Ruth is facing. I wanted to capture Ruth's hair, but I was limited by the crop as to how much of Ruth's hair I could include within the portrait. This image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Steve D Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 6.3 ISO 100 Metering Manual	For Steve there was another approach, whereby Steve used a film back placed in front of his face and looked through the aperture.  Like the frame created with Jim's hands on his portrait, this camera back formed a frame within the frame of the portrait, with the emphasis on Steve's eyes.  This approach I thought captured Steve well.  Like Eric, Suzy and Jim, Steve's portrait was taken with the camera directly in front of Steve, pointing directly at him.  This image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Rebecca Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 4.5 ISO 800 Metering Spot	The portrait of Rebecca was taken at about 90 degrees to her as she posed with the lighting from the window, reflected up providing a similar effect to a fill in flash.  This portrait I feel captured Rebecca's personality.  And although I have not intended any portraits with the subject holding a camera, I felt this one worked well.  Again the focusing was good, with a shallow depth of field blurring out the background, without any post production work required to achieve this. This image was lit using a window behind Rebecca, providing a back light, but the camera’s spot metering compensated for this giving the portrait a more natural look.
Steve B Shutter 1/20 Aperture f 4.5 ISO 800 Metering Spot	This portrait of Steve is a typical portrait with the camera facing the subject and Steve looking directly back at the camera.  The focusing was good again with a shallow depth of field to isolate Steve from the white background.  The attention is drawn to Steve's eyes. This image was lit using a window to Steve’s left, which was reflected off a light coloured wall, to Steve’s right, which illuminated the right side of Steve’s face, without the use of any flash.  Sometimes I feel that the harshness of flash can sometimes ruin an image by destroying the atmosphere. Eric kindly held up a reflector to soften the light from the window, again providing a more natural look to this portrait.
James Shutter 1/30 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	For this portrait of Jim, I wanted to get a more formal approach to the portrait, which I am happy to say that I achieved.  This I feel is a more popular and traditional style of portrait, although looking at some of the portrait photographer’s shops and stalls, more fun style portraits, like the one of Eric, seem to be more popular today.  The focusing was on Jim’s eyes and the narrow depth of field prevented anything from the background showing.  In this pose Jim stood with his right shoulder slightly nearer to me with his arms folded.  The image was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Suzy Looking Shutter 1/60 Aperture 5.6 ISO 100 Metering Manual	For this portrait of Suzy, I wanted to capture Suzy looking away from the camera, but to a lesser degree than the portraits of Ruth and Pippa.  This angle shows more of Suzy’s hair which is one thing ladies are always very proud of. Again the focusing was on Suzy’s eyes with a wider depth of field to maintain a good depth of field to keep Suzy’s face in focus.  The catch lights in her eyes add to the interest in this image.  Also Suzy’s heart shaped ear ring adds more to the image. The portrait was lit using a beauty dish from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background, in much the same way as David Bailey would have taken the portrait.
Rebecca Looking Shutter 1/30 Aperture f 4.5 ISO 800 Metering Spot	For this one of Rebecca I wanted to take the portrait more towards the front of her, where she was hiding behind the camera. This I like because it shows Rebecca’s personality again. Like the other portrait of Rebecca, the focusing was good, with a shallow depth of field blurring out the background, without any post production work required to achieve this. This portrait was again lit using a window behind Rebecca, providing a back light, but the camera’s spot metering compensated for this giving the portrait a more natural look.

Again I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those who faced the camera from the lens side, rather than the view finder side and gave me some brilliant portraits and for their support.  After all, what is a portrait without a subject ?

I would like to have taken the portrait of Joe Fogg from our group, but he was away on the days where I could take his portrait.  Hopefully next time Joe !

As for self portraits, because someone said about not seeing my portrait, two reasons; 1)   Self portraits never look good   2)   I cannot afford a new lens

Selecting Final Images - Products

When I started this course I decided early on that I would cover product photography, as I felt that this would be one of the more marketable types of photography.

The style of the product photography is based on those taken by Chris Collins, Marin Wonnacott, and some of the others that I have looked at during this course, but in some cases I have added my own twist.

 

Amarige Shutter 1/6 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This looks to me a typical product shot of a ladies perfume, like the one’s that you would see in a magazine or catalogue. I liked how the light was reflected through the perfume onto the set. The image is in focus and the exposure was set for the liquid. This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Amor Amor Shutter 1/4 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 800 Metering Spot	I was very happy with this product shot, as I had included the box and tried to make it look like an advertisement that I had seen in a shop window. Because of the reflective silver surface on the box I could not risk using flash as this would have been reflected back and destroyed the image completely This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Pretty in Pink Shutter 1/3 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This image, of one of Lou’s perfumes, did start out level, but after adjusting the levels and increasing the saturation, I tried tilting the image, on more of a diagonal.  This made the rather ordinary image look more catchy.  This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Addict Shutter 1/2 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This image I like for its simplicity of the perfume bottle. This bottle I liked with the almost pear shaped appearance and the contrasting dark blue and gold colours. Like the Activist range, below, this bottle is opaque and therefore the only light is from the front of the bottle. But I wanted to capture this with existing light as opposed to flash, as I feel that although flash provides the necessary light to capture a subject, or scene, it can also destroy some of the elements of it.  The more gentle light here captured the contrasting textures of this bottle which might otherwise have been lost through the use of flash photography.
Activist Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 16 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This is one of the images from my first product photo shoot, in which I brought a number of items that I thought would be marketed via product photography. I liked the different shapes, and how together they matched, but also were very different. With the products being black, with white text this was also a challenge, both at the moment of capture, but later in the post production stage.
Obsession Shutter 1/2 Aperture f 5.6 ISO 200 Metering Pattern	This image of a man’s aftershave I chose because of the lines of the bottle and the different textures and tones. Like the ladies perfume, at the top of this selection I liked how the light was reflected through the aftershave onto the set. The image is in focus and the exposure was set for the liquid. This image was lit using a window from the front, just above the camera position, with a white background reflecting the light back through the liquid.
Quality First Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image I like because of the shape of the group of bottles and how the J2O bottle is arranged in front of the other unnamed bottles placing it in the centre and in the viewers eye.  Again this image is one that I sketched prior to the photo shoot, and like the image below, I had already decided on a name for this image. I was happy with the photograph from the photo shoot, but I wanted to add something to catch the viewers eye, so I looked at adding a background to the image.  Adding the background was the easy bit the making it show through the bottles was the fun bit, but I think it works well and gives the impression that the bottles were, in fact, photographed against the artificial background, which adds to the appeal of this image.
Head and Shoulders above the Rest Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image I liked because of the shape and symmetry formed by the three bottles of J2O.  Prior to this product shoot I had planned how this shot might look, and the title for the shot, and I am very happy how the photograph came out. Although I was happy with the actual photograph, I wanted to add something in the post production stage to lift the finished work off the page.   I feel that the finished work is something that could easily be seen in a magazine promoting the J2O product line, especially at this time of year (summer) with the predicted weather.
J2o Storm Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image is based on another of Chris Collin’s work. I like it because how the bottle stands out against the artificial background, but at the same time they both look part of the same image. I particularly like the reflections on the bottle which you can only get with glass and the contrast between the shiny surface of the glass and the more matt finish of the labels on the bottle. This image nicely contrasts with the previous image of the sunny atmosphere of the Head and Shoulders above the Rest image, depicting the J2O bottle against a stormy sky.
Let it Pour Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This image I particularly like as there is a nice diagonal from the bottle, through the glass, down to the hand. The reflections on the glass and the bubbles in the liquid look effective as the liquid was poured. This image was inspired by an article in Digital Photo magazine, and although the original image, in the magazine, was against a black background, I feel that this interpretation of the idea worked better with the white background and lighting illuminating the liquid and showing the bubbles created in the glass as the liquid was poured better than in the magazine.
Corkscrew Climbers Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	This photograph started off as a simple product shot of a bottle of ‘wine’. Having seen some of Chris Collins’ work I though that I would add something new to this product shot.  One think with this wine is a screw cap, which I thought is very handy for us, but might put the humble corkscrews out of a job, so with this in mind I worked on this image. I am very happy with this image as it was exposed for the liquid, and I matched up the artificial background to match this. This image has been selected for an exhibition at the Burton College.
Run Free Shutter 1/60 Aperture f 11 ISO 100 Metering Spot	For this image I had a number of ideas, but after exploring some of them, I opted for this one based on the work of Martin Wonnacott.  One thing I like about the finished work is the surreal look of it where the trainer is shown as if running, but without it’s wearer ! Images like this catch people’s eye and hold their attention longer that some other adverts, and it is this that can make the difference. The background was taken near Catton and motion blur added to create the atmosphere of the action.

Portraits of Photographers - Part 2

Aim of the shoot

For this shoot I wanted to capture some of the other photographers from the course. Unfortunately, there were a few problems so it was a case of improvisation. But this did give me an opportunity to try some portraits in a very different lighting scenario to my previous portrait shoot.

Set Ups

For the two portraits I used ambient lighting. Although I did vary the set up for the two portraits, which included the direction of the light.

For Rebecca I shot her against natural backlighting. The set up diagram is shown below:

For Steve, we went for a more formal pose, where Steve stood with his back to a whiteboard. This set up shown below:

Steve stood near to a whiteboard, this gave a clean, uncluttered background. Eric kindly held a reflector which helped with the lighting.

Choice Of Equipment

As this was a more improvised shoot, I was very limited with the equipment available.

I used a DSLR with a 18-200mm lens, without flash, using the available light in the room. Eric kindly held a reflector to even out the light on Steve. This lens is very handy as it has a variable focal length and can be used to zoom in on someone, reducing the amount of cropping required, without standing on their toes. The lens has a wide aperture of f 4.5 which allows me to isolate the subject from their surroundings, in particular the backdrop.

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. Working in a classroom instead of the studio, where there is seating, although out of the way, any dangers that can arise from these can be reduced by having an assistant present, who in my case was Eric.

The usual health and safety precautions must be followed:

Environment

Fortunately, working in a college classroom which is kept clear of any obstructions, we had a clear and safe working environment.

Electricity

Because we were not using studio lighting the only danger which could affect any of us was from the Apple Mac computers in the classroom.

Heat

Because we were not using any studio lighting there was no danger from these. The only heat in the classroom was from the sun.

Flash Photography

As I chose to use the existing light, there was no flash used.

Chemicals

Because we were not in the studio, and the classrooms are kept clean and tidy, there were no chemicals in the area.

Image Selection

Because this had been a more improvised shoot than my last one I had less images to choose from, but again I wanted to capture the personality of the person, not just their portrait.

Below is a contact sheet of the portraits that I took during this session:

With such a limited selection of images to choose from, particularly in the case of Steve Bright.

Post Production of the images

As with the other portraits, I used the Black and White film filter to convert the images to monochrome, whilst maintaining control over the finished image.

These were then cropped. Although with Rebecca I could not achieve a square finished image, I was very happy with the end result. Thanks Rebecca and Steve !

From this photo shoot I came away with the following images:

Many thanks to Rebecca and Steve for their participation in these portraits, and for Eric’s assistance.

Product Shoot 3

Aim of this Shoot

This time I wanted to concentrate on photographing ladies perfumes, which are one of the most popular products for advertising, using some of the cosmetics in the house. The inspiration for these photographs has been posers in shop windows and adverts in magazines.

Using the kitchen table, with natural light, and a white mount board for the set. This did mean folding the mount board to create a stage and a backdrop, thereby ruining the board for anything else. The things that I will do !

The Set Up

The diagram for this set up I used is shown below:

As you can see there is really very little working space available, whilst getting the lighting how I wanted it.

Below are photographs of the actual set up:

Choice of Equipment

For this shoot I chose to use my Fujifilm Finepix S7000 camera, because this has a better macro capability, especially when working in such a confined workspace. The S7000 has a built in lens which is the equivalent of a 28 – 210mm lens on a 35mm film camera, but offers both macro mode and super macro mode (the latter allowing focusing down to 25mm).

Because I was working from a fixed location, I used my older Miranda tripod, which is considerably heavier than the lighter Star 75 tripod that I took to Wales, but far more steady.

To avoid camera shake when pressing the shutter release I set the camera to a 2 second self timer, as this camera does not have a remote release capability.

Health and Safety

Working Environment

As I am working in a confined space, and it being a kitchen, it was very important to ensure that all knives and sharp objects had been put away, prior to the start of the shoot. Also, I had to make sure that the floor was dry, with no spillages which could lead to me slipping over.

Electricity

Because I was using existing light, there were no concerns over electric lighting, again the kitchen was clear and the electric appliances were unplugged and out of the way.

Cables

I made sure that there were no cables in the working environment to prevent any tripping style accidents.

Heat

As there was no flash lighting there were no concerns over the heat generated by these. The cooker had not been used for hours, so it was cold to the touch. As there was no direct sunlight there was no noticeable heat there. The water in the kettle was cold as well, although this was down the other end of the kitchen, well away from where I was working.

Chemicals

I had ensured that everything was put away, prior to the start of the shoot. The kitchen tops were clear.

Selecting the Images

Having looked at some advertisements, both in weekend newspaper magazines and in shop window promotions, I had an idea what I was looking to achieve from this photo shoot. Also, like the corkscrew climbers from the second product photo shoot, I wanted to take some of my photographs beyond their normal limits.

Both focus and exposure were very important when selecting the images, but also scope for taking the photographs further.

Below is a contact sheet of the images that were taken during this product photo shoot:

The results of the shoot

Here are some of the finished images:

Product Shoot Two

Aim of the shoot

This time I was working with Jim in the studio. Jim was also working on a product shoot, very similar principle to me, so Steve suggested that we worked together, also I might learn a few things from Jim.

I was looking at shooting some 'wine', for which I have a few ideas, the 'wine' being poured into a glass, and perhaps an empty wine glass.

The first thing to do was look at the lighting that was required. Jim had worked out what he was looking for and Steve Davies helped set up the lighting accordingly.

The Set Up

After Jim had taken some of his photographs, I had the opportunity to take some using a bottle of rose wine (well, ok, summer fruits cordial - but it looked good ! and did not mean bringing alcohol onto the college premises !).

The set up involved using the product table again and one soft box on the left, lighting from behind the product table, with barn doors to control the lighting, and a light from under the table.

Below is the lighting diagram:

The flash was triggered by a wireless trigger.

After a few test shots I got the lighting just right. The exposure was set up for the liquid, not the labels on the bottle which would have resulted in the liquid being highly over exposed:

After I was happy with the image of the bottle, for which I have one or two ideas, one based on some of Chris Collins work.

Next I wanted to try something that I saw in a magazine, Digital Photo, which looked good. For this I would need a wine glass, which I had brought from home, and two people. I discussed this idea with Steve who advised that although the lighting was different, it would be something interesting to try.

Pippa joined me, Steve and Jim in the studio to give us a hand, sorry but pun intended !

I lined up to camera, Steve advised whilst Jim poured some of the ‘wine’ into a wine glass held by Pippa:

Although the lighting was different to that used in the magazine, we were all happy with the result. One thing that was nicer about my photograph, as opposed to the photograph in the magazine was the bubbles in the wine glass as the ‘wine’ was poured.

Choice of Equipment

To save time during the shoot it was decided that I should use Jim's Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR which was fitted with a 24 - 105 mm lens. This gave me the opportunity to use a more pro spec camera. This lens offered a wider aperture setting than my lenses and could isolate one item from a group by careful use of the depth of field. Although the camera uses compact flash, Jim downloaded these onto my memory stick at the college, although the CR2 (Canon RAW) files were very large, I was able to deal with them thanks to the UFRAW application.

Health and Safety

When working in a photographic studio you have to be careful of a number of things:

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.

Any use of liquids, especially with some of my photographs, was controlled to prevent any liquid coming close to any electrical appliances.

Cables

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. I think the most dangerous fluid in the studio that day would have been the ‘wine’ which although not dangerous, would have caused some disappointment if tasted.

Selecting the images

I was very how this shoot turned out, and I think Jim was very happy with his product shoot.

This photo shoot gave me a number of images to work with, some of which I have already got ideas for their use.  The important issues when selecting images from this shoot were that these images were good exposure and accurate focusing.

The contact sheets for the images taken during this shoot are below:

 

Post Production 

With the photograph of the wine bottle, shown below, I just needed to create an adjustment layer for the label, as the exposure was set for the liquid, so that the label was clear.

I also had to clone out a small reflection of one of the studio lights.

With the pouring of the wine into a wine glass, held by Pippa, I used masking and lightened Pippa’s hand which was too dark.

One good thing was that nobody tried to sample the ‘wine’ !

Thanks again to Steve, Jim and Pippa for their help.