Where: At home, Outdoors
When: In the afternoon, just after about 4.pm. when the sun was high enough in the sky to provide adequate light
How: before we started Lindsay who was acting as the subject and I sat down and looked through a number of magazines, including photography magazines, nation geographic as well as a number of books including one of posing which was called 500 poses for photographing women.
Perkins, M (2009). 500 Poses for Photographing Women. Buffalo, NY, USA: Amherst Media. All.
I did not really find the book that much use, and on reflection is a good reference, but at the time I was a bit lost and lacking in ideas it will not always generate a lot.
Other books I examined were
Photographing People
Hicks, R. Schultz,F. Larg, A. Wood,J. (2006). Photographing People. Switzerland: Rotovision. All.
Digital Photography Masterclass
Ang, T. (2008). Digital Photography Masterclass. London: Dorling Kindersley. p258-p270.
The Portrait Photography Course
Jenkinson, Mark (201). The Portrait Photography Course. London: A&C Black. All.
I did visit the photographer Rankins website and selected a number of his images which I was then able to use as reference. I also managed to view a TV program where he was reshooting classic Hollywood images and I found that listening to his instructions to the models was very helpful as it gave me an idea of how to guide someone quite simply and the terms of reference to use.
Another reference site I visited was the PhotoArts.com forum Benji. (2008). The Rules Of Portraiture. Available: http://photoartsforum.com/benjis_tutorials_the_rules_of_good_portraiture-t966.0.html. Last accessed 4th July 2012. where I had a good look at the rules of Portraiture by a member called Benji. Again this was a good reference as it clearly demonstrated some techniques, principles and ideas that I had not encountered.
We made a number of notes on what we wanted to try out and have a bit of fun with. As we worked through the poses we discussed how comfortable she felt as it looked at times as if she did not like the pose.
I discovered that a number of ideas we had discussed did not work out right either because of the limited locations and positions we could obtain as well as some of the ideas from the books not working due to the models having a bit more intent skills.
We started by having Lindsay sit on the wall, I stood across the sunlight so that it would not flood into the lens and so that we could have a better suite of backgrounds rather than the limited hedge and fence.
I sent a bit of time directing Lindsay on her hands as I had read an article in a magazine about positioning of models hands and I used that information when directing Lindsay on how to position herself.
As we moved around the garden I had Lindsay move from sitting to standing to lying down so that I could obtain a number of differing poses; Sometime just getting her to move her hands or her gaze one direction or another helped to make the image more or less interesting. I also moved the camera from position to position, sometimes looking to break my own preconceived rules by using ideas like Dutch angles and deliberately getting in close to her face with the lens.
DSC_0042
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Manua, focal length 46.0mm (35mm equivalent 69mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0047
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Auto, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f8, speed 1/350 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0059
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Auto, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens,
DSC_0065
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Auto, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens,
DSC_0067
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Auto, focal length 46.0mm (35mm equivalent 69mm), aperture f8, speed 1/125 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0069
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 27.0mm (35mm equivalent 40mm), aperture f8, speed 1/350 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0072
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 27.0mm (35mm equivalent 40mm), aperture f3.8, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0081
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 27.0mm (35mm equivalent 40mm), aperture f3.8, speed 1/4000 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,
DSC_0083
Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 27.0mm (35mm equivalent 40mm), aperture f3.8, speed 1/350 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens,
We had a bit of fun with this, but I did find one important lesson which was that although I may like an image and think that I can use the same pose it will not always work due to lighting/simple positioning or the way the model holds herself.
I have also spent a few hours a week looking over a number of websites at the photography on there.
The sites include;
Laessig, Gavon. (2012). 2012 World Press Photo Winners. Available: http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/2012-world-press-photo-winners. Last accessed 19th June 2012. http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/2012-world-press-photo-winners Stopera, Matt. (2011). Every World Press Photo Winner From 1955-2011. Available: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/every-world-press-photo-winner-from-1955-2011. Last accessed 19th June 2012.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/every-world-press-photo-winner-from-1955-2011
Richie. (2010). 50 INSPIRING EXAMPLES OF EMOTIONAL PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY. Available: http://richworks.in/2010/06/50-inspiring-examples-of-emotional-portrait-photography/. Last accessed 15th June 2012.
http://richworks.in/2010/06/50-inspiring-examples-of-emotional-portrait-photography/
Google. (2011). Google Art Project. Available: http://www.googleartproject.com/. Last accessed 2nd July 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/googleartproject?feature=inp-rs-art
Taylor, Alan. (2012). In Focus - Not Where They Hoped To Be. Available: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/06/not-where-they-hoped-theyd-be/100320/#. Last accessed 29th June 2012.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/06/not-where-they-hoped-theyd-be/100320/#
A lot of these sites reminded me that I should focus on the person as well as the context, compositon and framing.
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