Project 4: An Active Portrait

Brief:

• A subject in a natural activity
• Concentrate on the person and the facial expression

This shot is one of a sequence from a photoshoot in May of this year. Charles is a hip hop and artist asked me for some ideas on how he should pose. I know that most hip hop artists gesture a lot with their hands while singing but it would have been difficult for me to describe what I had in my head and he would have appeared quite wooden.

I asked him to sing one of his songs (not necessarily at full volume), and he immediately started gesticulating in a natural and spontaneous way.

What have I learned?
I found that once the subject was engaged in an activity, he almost forgot about the camera and didn't have to think about how to pose (nor did I!).
This wasn't planned, but his right hand acts as a leading line taking the eye to his facial expression. I also like the slight blur in his fingertips which shows that he wasn't static.
One of the things to be careful of when photographing singers is getting shots of them with their mouths wide open or 'pulling faces'.

Project 1: Portrait, scale & setting

Brief
Four scales of portrait in one session:

• Face cropped in close
• Head and shoulders
• Torso, taking into account arms and hands
• Full figure

These were taken recently for an urban styled photoshoot with a model and make-up artist, on London's Southbank. The location was chosen to provide a vibrant backdrop and the challenge for me was to try to prevent it from becoming the main focal point. I moved the model around to alter the background and varied the distance between her and the walls to enable me to throw them out of focus. I recently acquired an 85mm 1.8 lens and this was my first outing with it. I used available light and a silver reflector for the close-up shots.

What have I learned?
Image 1 - In this shot I found a way to make the eyes prominent (with the aid of make-up) even when the model is looking away from the camera.

Image 2 - In order to keep the eyes prominent, I have blurred the foreground whilst cropping the background to a minimum. I usually concentrate on simply throwing the background out of focus, but this photoshoot really made think about different ways to use it.
Image 3 - In this shot I was trying to provide some separation from the background by using a section of wall that contrasted with the model's clothing. I also angled the camera to produce some leading lines.
Image 4 - I debated whether to try and lose the detail in the background of this shot and finally settled on this with only a slightly soft background. Both myself and the model ran out of ideas with regard to the placement of hands. I didn't want the hands hanging limply by her sides, but found hands on hips or hands held up to the head becoming quite repetitive.

Rain

Brief:
Imagine a magazine cover on one subject: rain. Produce a single, strong, attractive photograph that leaves no one in any doubt about the subject.

In order to avoid a really obvious image of falling rain, I thought about the things I normally associate rain with. I came up with dark clouds, puddles, and people with wet clothes or wet hair.

I decided to produce a strong image of dark clouds with an interesting foreground. I've always admired the design of the Lloyd's Building, but have never photographed it. I had to make a few return visits to get this shot as the weather kept changing, but my perseverance eventually paid off.

I took 5 bracketed shots to ensure that I retained detail in the building and captured the gloominess of the clouds. I have tweaked the contrast in the sky to make the clouds appear even more ominous than they actually were.

What have I learned?

This is an example of symbolism with more than one possible meaning. As a magazine cover, with the benefit of a suitable title or caption, the meaning is clear, but by itself it could symbolise many other concepts such as industry or architecture.

Juxtaposition

Brief:

Photograph someone with a possession, or the results of their work or hobby.

This was taken during a demonstration on 5 June. I came across this scene while walking down Whitehall, just outside Downing Street. The protest is in support of the emancipation of Gaza. I thought that the contrast between the noisy protesters and police officers sharing a joke was interesting.

What have I learned?

With hindsight, I should have taken a wider shot with a more shallow depth of field to emphasise the enormity of the demonstration and show greater contrast between impassioned protesters and this light-hearted moment, which was fleeting but significant in my opinion.

Symbols

Brief:
List more than one symbol for the following subjects saying how you might use them in a photograph.


Growth
I might represent this by taking a double exposure, having zoomed in before taking the second shot to show a relative increase in size. Another idea I had was to take a photograph of something small (eg a child) and produce a composite of it next to say a large building, but show the child etc as either equal in size or maybe even larger than the building.

Excess
For this one, I thought about showing someone surrounded by a huge quantity of food. The idea of excess would come across quite strongly if the food consisted of cakes and biscuits or something similar.
My second idea would be a shot taken from one end of a long bar in a pub, of someone at the other end with their head on the bar, surrounded by empty beer bottles.

Crime
I was walking through the East End of London recently, and someone had taped around the outline of the shadow of a street sign on the pavement as a joke. This reminded me of the crime serials from the 1970s, in particular the chalk outlines that used to be drawn around corpses at crime scenes. A photograph of such an outline would be a good representation of crime.
I also thought about getting a shot of police barrier tape, using depth of field to make the tape and background fade progressively.

Silence
I would represent this using a wide shot of a large group of people kneeling in prayer in a church or a mosque.  Another way to depict silence is using a Photoshop composite of someone's mouth either zipped or stitched closed.

Poverty
Again, using depth of field, a picture of someone holding a copy of the big issue. Taken with a wide angle lens so that it appears large in the frame, but the arm and features of the person holding it would be blurred.
The other idea I had was to get a shot of some coins in a cap on the pavement, using a slow shutter speed to blur passers by.

What have I learned?
Symbolism is an interesting topic, and not one that I'd really associated with photography until now, but I can see the relevance. One of the problems with symbols is that they can be ambiguous to those who aren't in the know.
The study material raises the point that symbols may be open to interpretation and this is something to consider in modern photography which is conducted more globally nowadays.

Evidence of Action

Brief:

Produce one photograph in which it can be seen something has happened.

I was on my way to photograph a salsa event on Sunday 11 July when I got held up in a queue of traffic. Just as I got out of the car, an air ambulance landed and everyone got their 'phone cameras out and started taking pictures. I went back to my car for my camera and took a few shots with this exercise in mind.

A bystander told me that a young man aged 19 had been stabbed by a gang of youths who had chased him from a bus. A local newspaper later reported that he was airlifted to hospital but, fortunately his injuries were not life threatening.

What have I learned?
The study material suggested taking a photograph including something that has either been broken or emptied.  In these examples, it is clear what has happened, but I prefer images which generate questions such as "what has happened?" or "how did that happen?"

A Narrative Picture Essay

This is the final part of my current course (Art of Photography) with the OCA.


Brief:
This project requires you to set yourself an assignment and then photograph it. Tell a story of any kind, in a set of pictures numbering between 5 and 15.

These pictures were taken on 10 July at the T-Mobile Big World Dance 2010 in Central London which was the finale of Big Dance, a biennial event. The Big World Dance was organised so that different parts of London represented the 5 continents, and a dance routine was posted on You Tube for each continent so that participants could learn and practice them in advance. Some of my friends were taking part and I went along to support them and document the day.

The morning began with practise sessions along the Southbank, led by a designated 'dance captain' for each of the continents. This was the West London group who were representing Australasia and was the group that my friends were in:

After the rehearsals, we made our way to Trafalgar Square where the choreographer (Luca Silvestrini), musicians and dance captains were introduced:

The dance captains get the crowd fired up and lead the dance groups through their individual routines:

I was lucky enough to be standing in a position where I got a good view of all of the individual groups, but I was closest to the west London section who were representing Europe. There was a group of Asian girls in this group who made a real effort to co-ordinate their outfits and looked really good performing their routine:

All of the groups were then encouraged to mix, and the event ended with a free-for-all:

What have I learned?

This exercise was very similar to the 'Sequence of Composition' images I took (see blog post dated 13 December 2009), so it feels as though I've come full circle.

There is a clear distinction between narrative and illustration but there is some overlap because a picture which forms part of a narrative can also tell a story all by itself.

Shiny Surfaces

Brief:
Find an object that is so shiny that you can see your face in it. Choose an object that you can lay flat on the floor and photograph from above. Make sure that it is not too large to fit into the viewfinder and choose a simple background.


Set up the object, camera and a light positioned close to the camera. Take a photograph for reference.
Roll some tracing paper in the shape of a cone so that the wide end will sit around the object (but out of view), and so that it tapers upwards towards the small end, which should just surround the lens.


Take a second photograph then experiment with the light in different positions and at different distances. Also try changing the angle of the object slightly.

What have I learned?
Even though I only managed one satisfactory exposure, I understand the principle behind this exercise. The tracing paper cone was effectively a makeshift light tent. Light tents and light cubes are used extensively in product photography for catalogues and websites.

Contrast and Shadow Fill

Brief:
Set up a simple still life shot. Shoot from the same level as the object, with the camera on a tripod. Fix the light at about 2-3 feet to one side of the object and at its level, so that it is aimed at right angles to the camera's view.


Take the first photograph without a diffuser in front of the lamp, and the second with the diffuser. Follow these with five exposures. The light and camera remain unchanged.
Take some white card and place it three feet/one metre away from the object, on the opposite side from the light and facing it. Take a photograph and then move the card twice as close to the object for the next photograph.


Tear off a piece of aluminium foil sufficient to cover the area of the white card and place it against the card, with dull side facing the object for the next exposure. For the next shot, turn the foil around so that the shiny side is facing out.
For the last shot, crumple the foil and then smooth it out again. Place it once more against the card, with the shiny side facing out.


Compare the results and place them in order of contrast, from the one with the biggest difference between the lit and shaded parts, to the least. 


Without diffuser

With diffuser

White card at one metre

White card at half a metre

Foil (matt surface)

Foil (shiny surface)

Foil (crumpled)

What have I learned?

The image with the most amount of contrast was taken with undiffused light. Using white card provided fill light and this increased as the card was moved closer to the subject.

A silver surface is more reflective than a white one, so the foil provided more fill light. By crumpling the foil and then smoothing it out, increases the reflective surface area as it is not completely flat, and consequently this produced the greatest amount of fill light.

The Lighting Angle

Brief:
Find a subject with a variety of planes to show differences in shadow and light. Keep the camera in a fixed position aimed horizontally at the subject. Place a plain background some distance behind.


Start with the light, fitted with its diffuser, at the same level as the subject and camera. Between shots, move it around the subject, so that you photograph this lit from the front, from the side, from behind and to one side, and from directly behind.


Then raise the light so that it  down towards the subject at an angle of about 45 degrees.Again, move the light around between shots.


Finally, suspend the light overhead, pointing down, and take three pictures: directly overhead, from slightly in front, and from slightly behind.

What have I learned?

When the source of light is directly in front or above the subject, this produces very flat results, lacking in contrast. I prefer directional lighting because it shows the contours better. In this example the light is better when elevated otherwise the hollow opening just becomes a black hole.

Softening the Light

Brief:
Set up a still life arrangement with any object or group of objects. Using a diffused light source to soften the shadows and highlights, take two photographs, one with just the naked lamp, the other with the translucent material between the lamp and your subject (but out of view).

Naked lamp

f/4.0 1/200 ISO 500

Diffused light

f/4.0 1/160 ISO 500

What have I learned?

The effect of adding a diffuser has resulted in a slower shutter speed to compensate for the slight loss of light. As far as the image is concerned, the diffused light produced a more gradual light fall off and has reduced specular highlights.