The following images were taken over a number of weeks in order to make them as diverse as possible and I have tried to include all the elements learnt about in the preceding exercises.
ISO 400
f/2.8
24mm
1/200s
This is an active portrait. Sophie was having fun in the snow and I asked her to run up and down the garden while I snapped away. I shot with the wide end of a 24-70mm lens so I could capture more of the scene with the intention of cropping down later. It was quite a dull day so I turned the ISO up to 400 to ensure a fast enough shutter speed and I also shot wide open with an aperture of f/2.8 to let in more light as I wasn't really concerned about the background being in focus. However, as I was shooting from well back with a wide angle this wasn't too much of an issue. The shutter speed was 1/200s but as she was moving around quite fast there is some motion blur on her hands and feet which I think adds to the dynamics of the image. I chose this particular image from the sequence because it is the one in which her eyes connect with the camera, as you can imagine she was running all over the place having fun but at this moment she looked straight into the lens and as she is quite small in the frame I think the eye contact is essential in order to get the viewers attention and although the attention is briefly drawn to the coloured windmills on the left of the frame, the eye contact always draws it back to the subject.
ISO 100
f/4.5
50mm
1/1000s
This is another active portrait. It was a very bright day so light wasn't an issue so I was able to keep the ISO down to it's lowest of 100. I used an aperture of f/4.5 as I was using a 50mm lens quite close and I wanted to get the toys in focus to give the image a sense of purpose. I was hoping to capture her building sandcastles but it didn't go quite to plan as it was very windy which is demonstrated by the position of her scarf and the sand can be seen blowing around her feet which makes the image look a little grainy. This was also one of a sequence of shots taken that day and I chose this one as it captured the expression on her face as a gust of wind blew up.
Again she is quite small in the frame but eye contact is not as important here as the background is quite plain and has less distractions so Sophie is the sole focus of attention for the viewer. Her shadow on the left adds another dimension but maybe would have been improved if I had been positioned further back in order to include the whole shadow. The light reflecting off the sand helped to eliminate shadows from her face.
ISO 400
f/2.8
70mm
1/500s
This next image was also taken in the snowy garden. It was very overcast which resulted in a very soft light, eliminating almost all shadows from her face except the one from her hat which has fallen down over her eye slightly which I found quite annoying when reviewing the images later.
The ISO was turned up to 400 because of the grey sky and I was shooting at the longest end of my 24-70mm lens with a shutter speed of 1/500s, more than sufficient to freeze any movement. I moved in quite close to make her large in the frame and with an aperture of f/2.8 this blurred the background beautifully and helped to separate Sophie from it. There is eye contact but it is her facial expression which makes this image special for me. She looks very mischievous and this makes the viewers attention work, wondering what she could be up to.
ISO 800
f/2.8
1/500s
67mm
A close up face shot which excludes all of the background and concentrates only on the face. This makes a very intimate image which looks straight into the subject's eyes. It was taken indoors using natural light from a window. It was quite sunny outside so it was quite bright when the image was taken but as clouds were intermittently moving across the sun and blocking out a lot of light I had turned my ISO up to 800 to ensure the shutter speed remained fast enough for a sharp shot. I focused on the eye closest to the camera but because I used a wide aperture of f/2.8 and her face was so close to the camera the eye furthest away is a little soft although I don't think this takes anything away from the image.
ISO 800
f/2.8
1/1000s
24mm
This image was taken using a continuous tungsten studio light enclosed in a softbox, because Sophie was lying on the floor I laid the light on the floor instead of putting it on a stand with the intention that it would bathe the floor and emphasise the lines on the floorboards which would then lead the viewer's eye into the scene to the subject. I also wanted a kind of surreal/dreamy look to the image so that everything is blurred except Sophie. To do this I used an aperture of f/2.8 and I lay on my stomach on the floor in order to get the camera as low as possible and on the same level as Sophie. This worked pretty well I think as the lines on the floor are still visible and act as leading lines, leading straight to the face and although the area behind is still pretty bright it is not enough to distract from those piercing blue eyes.
The original of this image had Sophie in the centre of the frame but this made it too static with nowhere for the viewer's eye to roam. By cropping out distractions in the top left and moving her to the corner of the frame this made the image more dynamic and interesting.
This image also has a deeper meaning for me. The lines on the floor represent the heartstrings which tie our children to us and the frame itself represents the invisible barrier we try to enclose them in to keep them safe.
ISO 800
f/2.8
1/2000s
30mm
I'm not quite sure if you would class this shot as a full body shot or just an upper body shot. It was originally intended to be just upper body but it looked odd when the feet could not be seen, this is probably down to the angle of view and focal length used. For this reason I asked her to lift her feet up off the floor so they could be seen. Because of the wide angle and close proximity of camera and subject though, the upper body is emphasised somewhat and the wide aperture of f/2.8 blurred the feet in the background. Having the feet visible is important to the perspective of the image but they are not an important feature as such.
The light, inside a softbox was once again placed on the floor, level with Sophie's head and a little over to her right to create contrast. The eyes, looking away from the camera makes the pose look more natural and relaxed but the tight clasping of the hands in front conflicts with this slightly, giving the viewer something to think about.
ISO 100
f/2.8
1/125
24mm
This time I placed the light with softbox on a stand slightly higher than Sophie's head and to her left. I wanted to create quite a contrasty image to demonstrate the creation of depth and dimension so the light is placed quite close to the subject. I also wanted it to look like a natural shot so I mounted the camera on a tripod and used a remote shutter release while I engaged her in conversation, this resulted in many useless images which were out of focus as an aperture of f/2.8 doesn't give enough depth of field to allow for much movement of the subject. Next time I should maybe think about a narrower aperture which would of course mean a higher ISO to keep the shutter speed fast enough. Obviously this would introduce some noise but for this particular image I don't think it would matter that much. I also think a reflector of some sort to her right would have lifted the shadows on that side of her face a little to make her right eye more visible. But then again, this would have toned down the contrast and probably not have given me the effect I was looking for.
Assignment One: Tutor Feedback
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assignment_one_-_tutor_feedback.pdf |
Assignment One: Post Feedback Reflection
A number of research subjects were recommended to me including Sally Mann, Annalies Strba and Rinko Kawauchi but the one I most connected with was Larry Sultan. I think this is because his images felt more real to me, I could relate to many of the images from his ‘Pictures From Home’ series. They are scenes from inside most homes, things I have done myself or seen others do. For example, the ‘Conversation through the kitchen window’, ‘Reading in bed’ and ‘Dad on the sofa’ are all familiar scenes.
In chapter one of his book ‘Pictures from home’ he talks about his confusion about the meaning of his work and his realization that it is his “wish to take photography literally, to stop time. I want my parents to live forever”. (Larry Sultan: Chapter one: Pictures from home: 1992). Wouldn’t that just be wonderful!
Suggested reading is:
Liz Wells: Photography: A Critical Introduction.
Davis Bate: Photography
Stephen Bull: Photography