Exercise 7 - Portraiture Using Differing Focal Lengths

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of portrait photographs where the subject was posed and the camera was moved back and foward using different focal lengths to achieve the same framing.
Where: At home, Outdoors
When: In the afternoon, just after about 2.pm. when the sun was high enough in the sky to provide light with slight cloud.
How: In each part of the exercise; Having positioned the subject in a chair with a plain hedge behind her, using the first lens which was a 70-300 I moved as far away as possible and framed the portrait.

I noticed that the light was not as bright as I wanted and that the light was a little too blue through the clouds giving the image a cold blue cast. I setup a small camera flash unit to fire remotely. Setting it on half power and covering the flash head with a small orange filter adjusted the light colour giving a warmer look to the images.
Moving towards the subject I zoomed the lens focal length down trying to keep the framing the same size and position as possible. I had to adjust the camera position and the tripod several times during the exercise to keep the framing the same for all three positions and setups as I found that the closer to the subject I got, the higher the tripod had to be. When the 70-300mm lens became unusable as I could no longer zoom in or out I changed to an 18-70mm lens and continued moving in to the subject.

Having used zoom lenses before in taking portraits I knew that they can be used to create simple but stunning portraits as the zoom lens has the tendency to flatten the overall image due to its optics. A few years ago I shot this indoors self portrait using a zoom lens at 110mm and two low powered studio lamps.

A Self portrait.
Nikon D50,Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 110.0mm (35mm equivalent 142mm), aperture f11, speed 1/500 second, ISO 200, Auto white balance, Centre Weight metering, tripod mounted camera, 55-200 lens, Small studio lights to the subjects left and right both studio lights were at half power level and were fitted with diffusers.



With this exercise again I used RAW and JPEG setting on the camera so that I could quickly review the images shot so that I could reshoot where necessary. I was planning to shoot with the camera tethered but the spots of rain that came and went made me choose not to use the laptop just in case it rained.

Head and Shoulders

I started as far back as I could go in the garden and with the lens at the maximum focal length where I could contain the subjects head within the frame I started to shoot, moving the focal length downwards as I went.

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Nikon D80,Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 240.0mm (35mm equivalent 360mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 70-300 lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



I chose the aperture of f/8.0 as I did not want have a narrow depth of field.
After reviewing the image I decide that I had not framed her head correctly, so I moved the focal length of the zoom lens down a bit until I was happier with the framing.

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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 195.0mm (35mm equivalent 292mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 70-300 lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.

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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 70.0mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 18.0mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



The lens distortion at 18mm renders the image unusable; it looks like it was photographed in a hall of mirrors. While the effect may be suitable for a different style of portraiture it is not suitable here!

Torso Portrait

Again I chose an aperture of f/8 to ensure that none of the image was rendered out of focus by the depth of field.

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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 125mm (35mm equivalent 187mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 70-300mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 95mm (35mm equivalent 142mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 70-300mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.

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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 52.0mm (35mm equivalent 78mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 18.0mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



Again on closer review of the images I can see that the focal length of 18mm has made the image slightly distorted in the middle centre of the frame. It makes thesubject look like she was leaning back instead of sitting straight up. An unusual effect which could be used to my advantage at some point.

Full Length Portrait

Sticking with the same aperture, I performed the last part of the exercise, repeating the movement in towards the subject.

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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 70.0mm (35mm equivalent 105mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, 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, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



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Nikon D80, Exposure Mode Manual, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 250, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, Small flash to the subjects right with a colour balancing sheet fitted on the flash head.



The full portrait was probably the easiest to do as I could practically take all three images using the one lens.
The main issue I had was trying to level the tripod head at each location to ensure that the images were framed in the same way.

In each of these portraits I can see that the lens has had an effect on the overall image and in some cases showing that the lens is unsuitable for that type of portraiture. For example the head and shoulders image shot close up at 18mm distorts the face making it a long distortion in the middle of the image around the nose.

It was fun however to use a different lenses from what I would normally consider which is my prime 50mm f/1.4 lens. It reminded me that I can use different lenses for different situations and that it can help with the creativity to sometimes stand back and photograph from a distance.

Excercise 6 - Scoring a Portrait Session

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take roughly 20 portrait photographs in one sesion and while shooting give each image a score. Then open each image later and score the images again looking at them on a larger screen. Compare and review the scores given.
Where: At home, Indoors
When: In the afternoon, just after about 2.pm. when the sun was high enough in the sky to provide light into the room but not directly and it was cloudy enough that the light was diffused.
How: I used the same setup for Ali as I did for Mark. The daylight from camera right was diffused by the clouds before passing through the window and was then bounced back using a white deflector for fill light.

I positioned Ali sitting on the sofa and then adjusted the reflector and camera position until I was happy with the position and the amount of reflected light. I practiced giving directions to Ali, who having observed Mark in the previous exercise was much more ‘up to speed’ and confident at receiving instructions.

As I took each shot I gave a graded score between 1 and 5 for each one into a digital voice recorder. This allowed me to concentrate on getting Ali to listen and respond to my directions. I was hoping to keep Ali on the same position on the sofa and just adjust her expression and eye line, but I found that after 16 photos that she wanted to change position completely which meant that I had to readjust the camera position and the reflector and start again.

From time to time Ali would show the same psychological reaction to the camera shutter as Mark and would put on her “photo face”. I had then to stop and direct her before starting to shoot again. Ali responded well to the instructions and had a lot of fun playing for the camera.

After the session, I looked over the images on the camera screen and removed duplicate images where I had pressed the remote release too hard and had taken more than one photo. I then reviewed the images against the scores on the digital recorder to ensure that they matched.

My next step was to review the Jpeg version of the images on a large TV screen to get an idea of how they looked and allow Ali to see what we had been doing. I followed this up by properly reviewing the RAW images on a PC screen using Adobe Bridge allowing for white balance colour correction, looking at each individual image on its own and giving each image a score between 1 and 5 stars. I have prepared a screenshot showing a screen of the full set of images as shown in Bridge with their relevant star score.
Screenshot of Adobe bridge with scores given on review.



I compared these scores to the scores I had given during the session. In many cases the score differed; some which looked good on the camera screen were not as good when displayed in either the RAW or Jpeg format on a larger screen. I was pleasantly surprised to find a number where my score matched or was bettered on review on the larger screen.

Matched Score 4/5
DSC_0031
Nikon D80, focal length 52.0mm (35mm equivalent 78mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/30 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 17-70mm lens, No flash.



As soon as I felt that Ali was sitting in the right position with the right expression I took this shot and install marked it with a high score as I felt at that moment I had nailed a perfect image of Ali.

Surprise Match 2/5
DSC_0043
Nikon D80, focal length 52.0mm (35mm equivalent 78mm), aperture f4.4, speed 1/45 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 17-70mm lens, No flash.



I was surprised by this as this was one of the last shots we did and I blew a couple of plastic bubbles into the air just for fun so that Ali could see that these bubbles did not burst when touched. Ali of course being a scientist was amused to see such a thing. I thought that the shot I took looked pretty poor and that her eyes were too shaded and her expression was one of boredom, however on review I was pleased to find that I really liked Alis’ expression and that fact that her eye line was off camera as she was focussing completely on the bubble.

Low Score all round 1/1
DSC_0026
Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/45 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 17-70mm lens, No flash.



Just as I pressed the shutter release, Mark said something which made Ali suddenly change her expression. I was not happy with this image as soon as I shot it and gave it a low score, on review I was tempted to mark it down to Zero and discard the image entirely but felt that it should stay as a 1. Ali’s expression is not pleasing and with her looking off camera it just looks as if someone has been rude to her.

Low Score on review 3/1
DSC_0036
Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/30 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, tripod mounted camera, 17-70mm lens, No flash.



On shooting this I gave it a mid range score, on review however I just did not like the image and marked it down accordingly.

The overall result on this exercise was not a great surprise to me as I had found on previous occasions that the smaller screen failed to show small movement blur and shadow definition.

I decided to upload the images, taken without looking through the eyepiece, where the scores either matched or showed the greatest difference.

I also find that as the camera is not a full frame sensor and the way the camera has been designed that the image presented in the eyepiece is only about 90% of what is actually captured within the frame I try not to rely on the back of the camera, preferring to stop and review the images on either a larger screen (such as a monitor or large screen TV) or on a laptop screen usually using my instant judgement on taking the shot whether I think that it is usable or not.

I try not to “chimp” and examine each image immediately after shooting it as I think this is a waste of time and opportunity.

Where I can, I prefer to shoot portraits where the camera is tethered to a PC or a laptop so that I can instantly see what the image looks like for review and re-shoot purposes. I try to ensure that the TV/PC/Laptop screen is colour managed normally using a colour management tool like a Spider so that I know that the colours shown on the screens not only are the same on each screen I use but they are closer to the final image colours than those displayed on a small camera LCD screen.

Exercise 5: Eyeline in Portraiture

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of portrait photographs where the person was looking into the camera lens and also away from the lens at angles.
Where: At home, Indoors
When: In the afternoon, just after about 2.pm. when the sun was high enough in the sky to provide light into the room but not directly and it was cloudy enough that the light was diffused.
How: I started this exercise by reviewing some material in the book – The Portrait Photography Course by Mark Jenkinson. One of the points made in the book is to understand the use of shadow in portraiture, and in the case of this exercise I decided that I did not want a lot of shadow and that I really wanted to keep the image as simple as possible as I did not want to present myself with too many problems.

I had over complicated things by waiting for a good sunny day to do an outdoor photography session, but after waiting for two weeks for the right weather I got fed up and had Mark and Ali (my subjects/models) turn up and we would see if we could just photograph indoors. As Mark and Ali arrived, the weather did brighten up a little, but when I checked with a small hand held light meter I found that there was little difference in the amount and colour of the light outside compared to inside the house.

I set up the camera on a tripod and had Lindsay act as an assistant; holding a large white reflector off to the side of the seating position to fill as a fill light. I had a short shutter release cable attached to the camera which meant that I could move a little from the camera and not worry about how I was going to activate the shutter. This allowed me a little more freedom when I was photographing as I could swap hands as well as move away from the eyepiece. It also allowed me to check if the camera was positioned correctly. I did not want the portrait to be overly superior or diminutive so I took a while raising and lowering the camera until I felt I had the dominant eye in the right position.

After discussing what I wanted with Mark and then working through Lindsay and Ali to translate from English to Italian and back to English, Mark sat in position on the sofa. To begin with both he and I were quite nervous and I found myself telling him to relax, which did not help. I then stopped and had a short chat with Mark and while we talked I used my remote shutter to trigger a few frames through. Mark instantly reacted to the sound and we found that he put on his “photo” face and smiled directly into the camera. We took a short break and I asked him not to react to the sound of the shutter but instead ignore it and listen to my instructions instead. I then stuck a spare card into the camera and just randomly shot for a while in an attempt to stop Mark reacting to the shutter.

While I was instructing him, I started to talk to him about books he was reading at the moment and this helped to relax him. We spoke for a while and I gained his confidence when, after swapping to the card I wanted to use, I photographed him and then showed him the result on the camera screen. As I spoke to Mark, I moved away from the camera and tripod and went left, right, above and below the camera lens directing him to look in certain directions. I found that I could not get him to react to certain questions and directions as the translation took too long to perform and he had moved away from the expression or stance. Eventually I found a book, and had him read some passages from it as it focussed his attention away from the sound of the camera. I then continued to photograph him, while distracting his attention and used Ali as a distraction to help guide Mark, but in the end I ended up taking more photographs than necessary as every so often he would start to respond with his “photo” face again. While I was not looking for a deadpan expression from Mark I was hoping to achieve a number of natural photographs where I could get definitive shots of differing eye lines. As soon as I started to review the images I threw away about three quarters of them as they were unusable; Most of them were due to Mark reacting to the camera or moving too fast and blurring the image. While I was happy with the quality and colour of the light and the fill from the reflector I was not happy with the way the session had progressed, I found that I myself was quite nervous and in fact having Lindsay and Ali there as well was a bit of a hindrance as Mark would converse with them and not pay full attention to when I was directing him.

Looking into the Lens 1

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.




Looking into the Lens 2

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.




Looking Right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/500 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.




Looking Down

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Slightly Up

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/1000 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, Tripod Mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



One thing I got out of this exercise was that it takes quite a bit of preparation work to get a good session and that with practise I should get better at directing people. I think that better notes and samples of what I am trying to achieve would also help as sometime I did struggle to find the right words and instructions when directing.

Having looked over the images and looking back at the day I have realised that I was not able to get Mark to feel comfortable and that there may be problems to overcome where the subject may have a weak chin, deep set eyes or receding hairline.

Exercise 4 - Action Portrait

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of portrait photographs where the person is performing an action.
Where: At home, Indoors
When: In the morning, just after 11:00 when the sun was high enough in the sky to provide light into the room but not directly.
How: Having discussed this action with the subject. I worked around her taking photographs directly of her and also used her reflection.

I started off by setting the camera in manual mode and mounted using it hand held so that I could freely move around. I then just started taking shots so that the subject became comfortable with the sound of the shutter and that she ignored the camera and me. This allowed me to move around her taking shots directly of her and sometimes using the mirror to allow for better composition.

I had planned on using a scrim over the window, but with the light being diffused by low level grey clouds, and it not shining directly into the window, the scrim was unneccessary. The setup also meant that at times I was between the window and the subject and we would be working with just the natural light that fell into the room. I then made the subject start her actions of placing her makeup on and waited until she ignored me.

DSC_0018

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



As we worked through I noticed that I was getting in the way and blocking a lot of the light and that it was getting harder for me to compose a frame as I was getting in both my own way and in the way of the subject. Standing back allowed me to recompose using the mirror so that I was actually shooting the mirror image of the subject.
I liked this effect as it allowed me full access to compose without blocking myself or having to settle with side of the head only shots.

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Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/250 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



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Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/180 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



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Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/125 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



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Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/90 second, ISO 500, Shade white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Although the levels of light dropped off using the mirror causing me to lower the shutter speed down from 1/125th of a second down the 1/90th of a second, I did not feel that it had an impact on the way I was photographing nor did I feel that I was compromising shutter speed for composition.

On reviewing the photographs I found that the Raw files were producing a slightly warm red temperature colour. I corrected this by applying a cool blue filter to each image which corrected the colour temperature. This was probably caused by the colouration of the room and the brown walls reflecting back a slightly redder light into the room.

I quite liked one of the last images I shot that day where the subject is looking into the mirror and examining her lipstick. I attempted to change this into a monochromatic image in the style of a 1950s photograph, but I felt that there was no enough hair light coming down onto the subject and this left the top of her head and her hair as black with no definition.


One of the main lessons I learned here, was to discuss the brief with the subject and negotiate the limits and boundaries of the brief. The next lesson I learnt was patience and flexibility, if I had not waited until the subject was happy to ignore me and just do their actions and that if I had decided just to shoot from a fixed position then I do not believe I would have achieved obtaining the images that I wanted. If the subject had been self conscious of the camera then I think she would have been looking at the camera lens a lot or at me, however she went about putting on her makeup as if I was not there. Had I not moved and used the mirror to reflect her image then I do not believe I would have got a full face image.

Reflections on the Essay about news and photography.

I have been sitting reading a couple of the essays from “Between The Eyes” by David Levi Strauss. I was most interested on the essay about photographers and propaganda. The essay mainly focuses on two combat photographers (Richard Cross and John Hoagland) and the ethics and objectivity of combat/war photography.  The essay rightly points out there is no objectity in photographs, in political terms and that news agencies somehow tautologically believe that their work is outside ideology by excluding ideology. However editors select stories “to tell readers this is what we [as editors] think is important and hope they’ll feel the same way” and feel that their selection of stories to include in the news is not ideological.

The essay also makes a valid point regarding photography and the press; that to present an illusion of objectivity, photographs are presented more or less anonymously by not including full photo credits, or that a picture agency has produced them. Even in today’s world of citizen journalism, the objectivity is enhanced by news agencies asking for the publics photographs of events so that they can select and publish these images with a small photo credit to the “impartial” observer.  By doing this, the news agencies can disassociate the photographer and their ethics and objectivities and make the impression that “no one died making them”.

In this case both Cross and Hoagland were killed while taking images of what was happening in El Salvador. Hoagland was proud to say that he photographed people “doing right and wrong” and that he did not believe in objectivity as everyone has a point of view. He did not want his work to be used as propaganda.

A web search for John Hoagland turned up a small piece on Wikipedia regarding his life, but it was not detailed. It did point to two other short webpages on Hoaglands life and his work in El Salvador. Maggie Jaffe has written a detailed set of pages not only featuring a number of Hoagland’s photographs but also links to other pieces written about the situation in El Salvador then and now. The most personal piece is a single webpage written about Hoagland’s life and death by his close friend Tom Tweed. Most of the photographs by John Hoagland are poor quality scans and the rest are still exhibited around the world mainly in exhibitions on combat photographers

Richard Cross was killed in crossfire while returning from a Contra camp on the Honduras/Nicaragua border.

Hoagland was killed in a fire fight while escorting reporters in El Salvador. Hoagland’s’ last six photographs are apparently his most well known, four of scouting troops, the fifth and sixth of the ground caused by the shutter motor still running as he fell.

After their deaths, Cross and Hoagland were eulogised by their employers before they were presented as the real life version of the Hollywood propagated vision of the war photographer as a spectator-hero.

I was surprised to see the images made by Cross and Hoagland printed in the context as they were used; some of the images of violence and death stand out and force the viewer to examine them, however in the magazine layout these images fight for attention as they are placed alongside large advertisement photographs rendering a reductive impact and communications of these bloody images down to the level of an advertisement, trying to catch the readers eye and make them look into the written story beside the image. Another photograph of a line of dead bodies on the front page of a magazine vies for attention against the back of the magazine which shows a photograph of a young boy and an old man fishing. These two different images are presented in one graphically equalised axis of proximity, again reducing the impact of the war photography and making the communication about something happening elsewhere far away from the safety of home.

At times, photographs are taken out of context and presented as a form of evidence to back up the published story. At others, photographs are presented more than once, years apart to give the appearance of evidence in the story, the factualness of the photograph is never questioned.

Both of these photographers began to understand that ethically they had a responsibility for the images presented to the viewing public and that they should gain better controls on the use of their photographs in cognitive, political, economic and cultural contexts.

In particular, for every Cross photograph published in the US, five were published in Latin America, apart from one photograph of government troops. The image does not read well as it presents the government troops as strong, well organised and in control. This same image when presented in the US and Europe was read as an ironic and horrific photograph presenting the troops as calculated and malevolent.  The reading and context of the images are being presented as part of the journalist’s view of the story and due to the complexity and structure of the context it makes the reading of the photographs very difficult as the very context still influences the photograph before, during and after the instance of viewing it.

Strauss, David Levi (2003). Between the Eyes. New York: Aperture.

Unknown. (2012). John Hoagland. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hoagland. Last accessed 24th March

Jaffe Maggie. (). The Camera as a Shield: John Hoagland. Combat Photographer. Available: http://www.1400ml.com/thedagger/archive/elsal/index.html. Last accessed 24th March 2012.

Tweed, Tom. (1994). Camera with a conscience. Available: http://members.rennlist.com/tweedt/johnH.htm. Last accessed 24th March 2012

Exercise 3 - Experimenting with Light

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of portrait photographs of the same person from the same position while experimenting with lighting conditions
Where: At home, Indoors
When: Just after noon, when the sun was lower in the sky and not directly into the camera lens.
How: I decided that I wanted to use an indoor method as I could control the light easier using a number of reflectors and scrims.

Before starting this exercise I had a good look through some reference books;

AVA Academy Basics Photography 2 Lighting
A &BC Publishing The portrait photography course

Looking mainly at the basics of portrait lighting and how different setups can have an effect on the subject. These books helped me to understand some of the lighting conditions and helped with developing my ideas for a setup and for what I was looking for.
I waited for a sunny day and sat inside with the subject; I waited until the sun was slightly lower in the sky after mid day as I wanted the light to be direct but not too harsh. I then sat the subject with the light striking them through the window onto the left hand side of their face.

I started off by setting the camera in manual mode and mounted it onto a tripod so that I could freely move about and see how each setup looked. This allowed me a lot more freedom as all I had to do was lean into the eyepiece to see what was happening. I then changed the ISO down to 250 to allow me to shoot without having to change the ISO again; I managed to keep the shutter speed below the maximum speed of 1/4000th of a second and out of the slower shutter speeds. I then changed the shutter speed up and down as I experimented with reflectors and diffusion of the light.

I followed a process where I took a couple of images with each setup, starting with just pain sunlight and then used a scrim to diffuse the light on the left hand side just at the window. From there I used a white, silver and a gold reflector located below the camera to reflect the light back up at her face. From there I moved the reflector off to her right and used the white, the silver, the gold and the black reflectors one after another to see how each one would have an effect on the light.

Plain Sunlight

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/500 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I was quite pleased with this as a first shot, but the left hand side of the subjects head is very over exposed and the white light is blown out and to well defined. It also cast almost three quarters of her face in shadow and there were not a lot of contrasts in the shadowed areas.

Scrim at Window

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



The scrim was held at the window and adjusted back and forth until I felt that I had the right amount of diffuse light. This reduced the overexposure on the left hand side of the subjects face; I feel however that if I was going to reshoot this image I would use a thicker scrim as the light is not diffuse enough. I can see better definition around the lips and nose, but it does leave her right eye too much in shade and casts enough shade to make her look like she has huge bags under her right eye.

Silver Reflector below and in front

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Straight away I could see that there was an increase in the amount of light falling on the subjects face. Again I can see that the top of her head is in greater shadow than her chin and it cast a lot of shadow on her cheekbones. I think moving the reflector up and away a bit further would work better as it is an improvement on the first two, to begin with it is no longer overexposed but it does not quite give the correct amount of overall contrast and shadow.

Gold Reflector below and in front

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/3000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Again I could see that there was in an increase in the amount of light. I was surprised by how much the subjects colour was changed by a gold reflector, it was a surprise to see how much light was reflected back and how the subjects face was changed in colour, shade and contrast by such a bright reflectors. I thought that the silver reflector would have been brighter but it was not as bright as the gold. I was very surprised to see that although there was more light, the level of contrast was a lot lower than with the silver reflector; the lighting effect was good but I think it left too strong a gold cast and left her neck a little over exposed.

Gold Reflector off to the right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Holding the reflector off to one side at a distance over about one and half metres, I moved it around until I left that there was a good amount of light reflected back onto the subjects face. At the time of taking the photograph I did not think that it was too overexposed, but I was very surprised to see that the gold reflector bounced much more light back than I expected and that this time the right hand side of her face was overexposed. I did think that it gave good colour to her hair but the gold cast on her face looked very artificial. I was not expecting to see that her eyes were in shadow and it caused her to again have bags under her eyes due to the shadows and the low levels of contrast.

Silver Reflector off to the right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I feel that is a better image as the subjects face is not too overexposed and the levels of contrast and shadow over her face are better balanced and she her cheekbones do not look too dark and her eyes are not cast into shadow. The left hand side of her face around her temple is over exposed, but if I had used a thick scrim over the window this may have reduced the amount of light and brought the exposure down a bit.

White reflector off to the right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I am much happier with this image. Directly I can see that both sides of the subjects face are balanced out and that neither side is overexposed. Her cheekbones and eye sockets are a little cast in shadow, but I think that if I was to have her move her head amount a bit I could find a good position in which there was a good shadow contrast and no over exposure.

Black reflector off to the right.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/4000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I was very surprised by the amount of light that the black reflector bounced back; it did however create a vast amount of shadow and the largest amount of contrast out off all the reflectors. There is a little amount of overexposure on the end of her nose, but the overall image looks under exposed and very dark. I expected that the black reflector would soak up a certain amount of light and create a defined shadow, but I am surprised to see that it under exposed the image by so much.

I did find it difficult at time to balance the reflector in the right place after checking the shutter speeds and aperture; I also found it difficult to set up the reflectors without blinding the subject.

In the end I was very happy with the results as it showed that by experimenting with light and changing the light has a direct effect on the final image. Overall out of all the images and the different light effects I like the white reflector the best as it gave a good amount of balanced light and there was too high a contrast ratio and I feel not only does it give a good representation, but the quality of light helps the overall image.

Exercise 2 Thinking About Location

What: The main brief of this exercise was to have a look at the environment and see if I could locate and photograph some places which could be used as a background for a image. I had to then pick on and return and take a portrait,
Where: In and around Edinburgh
When: During the day, in overcast weather and in light rain.
How: I went looking for backgrounds so that I could examine them and see if I could to identify a way in which I could photograph a person against this environment without the background becoming the focal point of the image.

I took a trip into Edinburgh and looked around a small part of the Meadows area which has been redeveloped. The first location I came across was next to a hotel and I noticed the vertical brown branches against the grey horizontal slabs of the wall. After photographing the location, I sat and thought about what was in front of me and while this is an interesting background, if not used correctly it will create a grid against which the person will stand and this will cause the eye to be drawn away from the subject and into the grid.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/30 second, ISO 400, Flash white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



The next location I scouted was a wall which showed the various different colours of sliding used across the Quartermile site; the grey interlocking cladding was part of the architects (Robert Smith) design and I feel that it looks like the different colour of roof slate available to roofers for the last two hundred years. I like the interlocking shape and colours and to use it at as a background I will have to ensure that the subject wears bright colours to contrast against the greys and blacks.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f2.4, speed 1/125 second, ISO 400, Flash white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



The third location I wanted to examine was one used by the early photographers D.O.Hill and R. Adamson, they took a number of calotypes in the Greyfriers graveyard and after seeing a number of the images I wanted to track down the location of one of the images and see if it was still suitable for a background. The Dennystoun monument has changed a bit since they took their photograph and it does not have the same impact now as it did then, however I believe that using monochrome would produce a good image as although there is not a large variation in colour there is quite a variation in texture. If the image was to be taken in colour then the background would overcome the final image as there is a lot of grey there and it would take a striking slash of strong colour to draw the eye away.

Nikon D80, focal length 34.0mm (35mm equivalent 51mm), aperture f4.2, speed 1/125 second, ISO 400, Flash white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash.



The fourth location I examined was also in the Greyfriers graveyard, over in the far left corner of the graveyard is the covenanters prison, an area of the graveyard which was used as an open air prison for covenanters and their families. This part of the graveyard remains locked and is only opened on special occasions. I looked through the bars thought that a view to the bars and slightly beyond may be a good background. However on examining the images, I felt that the more modern buildings in the upper half of the frame broke the idea and drew the eye away from the foreground which is just the bars and the lock.

I went across the road from Greyfriers and into the Scottish museum to scout out a few upper story and inside locations, I had made up my mind before arriving at the location that I wanted to use the uppermost floor and get a view down the length of the Victorian main hall. I wanted to get the pillars and roof brackets as a repeating feature in the background and have the subject off centre in the foreground. It depends on the day of shooting as the amount of light coming through the roof needs to be balanced with the tungsten lighting inside the building as otherwise there may be a conflict in white balance and this may throw the final image off colour.

Nikon D80, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/45 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash


Nikon D80, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/45 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash



I then went up to the roof of the museum and looked at using the city as a background, but as this is a portrait of a person rather than the person in a certain location, the cityscape is too powerful and draws the eye away. It would probably be better suited for a travel style portrait rather than a plain portrait against a simpler background.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f22, speed 1/20 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I continued inside the museum looking for something which would make a visually stimulating but not over powerful background. I took a few shots of the lens of a lighthouse as a consideration. The lens itself is a good source of light and with a plain white reflector I feel that I can get quite a bit of light onto the face of the subject without over or underexposing the image. I do have a concern that the lens structure itself may be overcomplicated and a draw away from the eye, but I am sure that if i compose correctly that it may make a very good background.

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f8, speed 1/20 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/45 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Outside of the museum at the back of a theatre there is a long stretch of hording which has been left for people to create graffiti art on. I liked a couple of the areas and stopped to photograph them; I liked the clean lines and the bright yellows, blues and pinks I think that they would all make very good backgrounds as they are colourful but not too powerful and distracting. I found a particular good graffiti of a skull I liked but I felt that the extra graffiti over the top of it detracted from the image and I did not want to use a background which was full of swearwords and unsuitable language, mainly as I feel it would drew the eye away as people examined the image and then tried to work out what the lettering was saying.

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/3000 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



The last location I looked over that day was at the meadows, I thought about using a line of trees with the idea of using a person in the foreground leaning against the foremost tree; however I did not like a final pattern and it looked very dull and lifeless.

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/60 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



After reviewing the images at home, I mulled over a number of ideas discarding some of the locations quickly while some were harder to decide on. In the end, it was while looking at a print in a magazine I hit on a similar idea to the one they had portrayed. In the image in the magazine the model was standing in front of some industrial steel doors, the doors themselves were a very blue grey and they had the model in a bright coloured dress. With this in mind, I decided I wanted to have my model in black and orange against the multi tonal grey background.

After a few weeks of going back and forth to hospitals and appointments, I finally returned to the location of the grey interlocking cladding and having the model stand in a few feet in front of the wall, I used a 50mm prime lens at f/9 and f/1.8 to photograph her first in portrait orientation and then in landscape. I discared the f9 aperture images as the wall was too well defined and although it was a neutral colour it was very distracting.
I was instantly happy with the other results using f1.8, reviewing them on the camera with her as we could see that her hair and t-shirt provided the colour tonality that I wanted. I was also surprised to find that I had positioned her in a location that the aperture of the camera even at f/1.8 did not blur the background too much.

In the end I decided to post three of the best images here;

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



I found that in a lot of cases there was a lot of mess to be tied away or time spent waiting for the area to be clear before photographing, as well as finding a lot of locations were not consistent in tone, light or features. I think is some cases a background with strong clashing colours could work well with the subject matter and would help enforce the overall idea, in other cases it can be too distracting. Overall in this exercise I think that I have learned that plain consistent backgrounds are not always the best idea and that I should keep my eye out for locations which can be used at a later date or ones that fit a certain brief.

It has also helped me to ensure that my notes are detailed and clear and that I can find a location a second time if I want to revisit or use it.