Statement of Intent 2 - Portrait Photography

Portraits of Photographers

Intention and Purpose of this project

For this project I wanted to capture some of the other students of the course on the other side of the camera.  One reason for this is that many photographers tend to remain behind the camera and I wanted to bring these talented photographers in front of the camera.

Having looked at portrait photography before I wanted to improve and learn more about this area of photography, as this is a very popular area of photography both for families and friends but also for corporate use (promotions, magazine articles, etc) and identity use.

 

Reasons and inspiration

When you talk about taking photographs, the first thing people talk about is portraits, sometimes leading to a little favour ! and in this area I would like to take better photographs.  I have looked at the work of David Bailey, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon and I like how some of the classic photographers work with little fuss (very important with some people !).

 

Equipment and Medium

For this project I again used a DSLR but using the 18 – 200 mm lens as this gave me a wider range of focal lengths, because mid length telephoto lenses (70 – 90 mm) lenses suit portrait photography better because they can compress the perspective.  I have seen portraits taken with wide angle lenses but these exaggerate the perspective leaving the subject with a very uncomplimentary portrait often with extra large noses !

Again I will be using the battery grip as this allows me to take portrait orientated photographs easier and gives me access to the camera controls.

For this project I will also be using the photographic studio facilities of Burton College.

With this being the 21^st century I will be using the internet for presenting the images as it can showcase your work to a much wider audience than a portfolio ever could.  The internet is being used more and more by photographers to present their work to potential clients.

 

Techniques

This area of photography is very people orientated, as opposed to air displays, landscapes and product photography.  Like some photographers I do worry about organising people in front of the camera, and working with such a good team as this I hope to gain more confidence in this and get some guidance as I go along.

For this area I will be working in the studio, looking to capture the personality of the person who’s portrait that I am taking, so I will be using a 18 – 200 mm lens as this gives me more latitude giving me the option to zoom in or out to frame the portrait as I want.

Again working in the college’s photographic studio, I have the opportunity to develop my skills with the lights and thanks to a chart I have seen, I can explore different lighting angles.  Although I would also like to have an opportunity to work in much the same way as David Bailey, with a single light fitted with a beauty dish, directly in front of the subject. 

 

Light Quality

One thing about working in a photographic studio is that the photographer has full control over the lighting, without having to wait until the sun is in the right place as in landscape and other location based photography.

I am looking at taking portraits in different lighting conditions, I have taken high key portraits before, but with some people I would like to take low key portraits.  I did take some low key portraits before and I am proud of some, and I would like to take similar ones again.

But I would like to capture not just the portraits but the people themselves.

 

Health and Safety Considerations

Working in a photographic studio, you have to be aware of what is around you.  One advantage of the studio at Burton College is that the studio is kept clear and safe with no cables lying around.  Steve Davies gave us all a health and safety induction to the studio, warning us of the dangers and safe working practices.

The college use ceiling mounted lighting:

 

The main precaution with these are because they are suspended from the ceiling, you have to be aware of where they are so you don’t hit your head on anything !

I have not done this, yet !

Other than this you must be aware of the chance, however small, that something could drop, so basically a case of no working beneath anything, just in case.

Using this lighting means that the photographer can move around the studio with very little on the floor, and by using wireless triggers there are no sync cables from the camera to the master flash.  The other flashes are triggered using slave units.

Electricity and chemicals are the only other concerns, but with digital photography there are few chemicals used.  Taking the normal precautions with electricity is very important, and second nature with most people.  Flash units produce a lot of heat so it is important that you are aware of this and take care when handling flash units, to avoid burns, but also with the flash bulbs being very fragile you must be very careful.

Health and safety is covered in more detail in the photo shoots.

Statement of Intent 1 - Product Photography

Products in front of the camera

Intention and Purpose of this project

Product photography is used in marketing to promote all kinds of product, either in isolation or together with other items creating a theme into which the product is either placed to reflect the theme or to stand out against the theme.  It is my intention to look at this area of photography and to demonstrate this with my own product photography.

 

This will give me more of an understanding of this genre of photography, and hopefully allow me to apply this knowledge, and previous knowledge, in producing some good product photography for the course, and possibly afterwards.

 

Reasons for choice and Influences on my choice

Product photography is used everywhere, from newspapers, magazines, billboards, television and the internet, to promote products to the general public, and is therefore an important area of photography, and one that is always changing and looking for ideas.  Because of its applications, this is one area of photography that I feel I must investigate and practice, to hopefully take advantage of my knowledge from this course, and previous courses, and apply it in a working environment.

 

Product photography promotes products, through their shape and form, and can even make an un-interesting item look completely different.  I have looked at several product photographers including Carlos Alejandro, Chris Collins, Martin Wonnacott, Richard Izui and Spencer Jones and some of the techniques that they have used in their work.

Equipment and Media

Because product photography would be working at a very close range it is very important to make sure the lens can be focused at this range, but also provide a good range of apertures.  Both the 18 – 200 mm and the 75 – 300 mm lenses have macro capability, although not true macro lenses these were more than enough. 

Although I use the battery grip, which provides a second battery, because we use the camera stand this is not really necessary, but provides the option to use the camera away from the camera stand, but also provides a back up power supply.

Two pieces of equipment that I will use are the product table, with its semi-translucent surface and back and the camera stand, neither of which I have ever used before.

The lighting was provided by the Burton College photographic studio with their wide range of different lighting facilities.  We had the advice of  Steve Davies, the course tutor, who helped with setting up the studio to what we wanted.

With this being the 21^st century I will be using the internet for presenting the images as it can showcase your work to a much wider audience than a portfolio ever could.  The internet is being used more and more by photographers to present their work to potential clients.

With this subject covering product photography and advertising, I am hoping to include printed images with catch lines appropriate for the image.

Techniques

This is the complete opposite of the work that I have done before on my last courses, this would therefore involve different techniques and equipment.

For this I will be working at close quarters to the subject in a fully controllable environment, so it will almost border on macro photography, which will call for close focusing, shallow depth of field to concentrate the view on the product, not peripheral surroundings.  The college has a product table and a camera stand, two things that I am not used to having available, so I will try to make use of these as much as possible.  One advantage of the camera stand is that both the camera and the product can be arranged and then when I make changes to the camera settings, the distances between the camera and product, and the angle at which the camera is in relation to the product will not be affected.

 

Lighting Quality

For product lighting, the lights will be used to bring the subject to the forefront, using snoots if necessary, but also there may be a need for balanced even lighting, where the subject of the photography (in this case the product) may be used in a different scenario, inc CGI, where the remainder of the image will have to match the lighting of the subject matter.

The college has a very well equipped photographic studio, with a wide range of lighting equipment and attachments to control the light generated by the flash head.

 

Health and Safety

Because I will be working in a smaller area of the studio, around the product table, it is important to ensure that the working area is clear, to prevent accidents caused by tripping over, or knocking things over, and that lighting is not too close to anything which may catch fire, or that someone can be burnt.

I have gone into more detail on health and safety during each photo shoot.