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.

Exercise 1 - Reshot

What: Following the same brief as before as it was still the same exercise.
Where: Inside the house, during the evening.
When: During the evening.
How: having learned that the quality of the lighting in the room was not suitable for what I required I added an extra lighting component to the setup by using an EX150 studio flash with a softbox mounted on the front of it.

This time instead of having the model sitting reading a book, we had a conversation as she was sitting on the chair and I shot the images when I thought it was appropriate. We had to sit for a while as she blinked a lot on the images whenever the flash fired and we had to change the power of the flash occasionally depending on how she was sitting.

I was much happier with the quality of the images this time around as the ISO was lowered and this allowed a less dusty image

Prime Lens 50mm

I started with the Prime Lens, working my way back across the room, composing as I went to obtain the correct positioning that I wanted. One of my fears was that, as I was going to be close up to her using the prime lens that I would have to find a position that meant I was not blocking the light but at the same time allowing her to light up by the flash.

I left the softbox in the same position and adjusted the head and flash levels as I went.

At first I had a few problems with the shutter speed as I was shooting at a speed slightly higher than the camera and flash synchronisation, so at first I was having the image cropped off by the shutter sync, again I had to adjust my positioning and the flash light levels down to a stop whereby I would achieve synchronisation without over exposing the image.

Close Up

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



I was relatively happy with this shot, although the thin aperture means that the background tails off into black. However it gives great definition to the eyes and the tight close crop of her face leaves you with her eyes as the main point of focus.

After looking at the image on the screen, I decided that I would like to see a black and white version of the image. I found after a short bit of experimentation that I preferred a version with a High Contrast Red Filter as it did not distract from her face, other filters had a tendency to show up too much facial definition.




Head and Shoulders

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



It took a bit of fiddling with the lights to increase the power of the flash without over exposing her face. After a few shots I found a setting that I liked and shot of a few images of her as we spoke.

I like the colour definition and again I kept the aperture at f1.7 to create the thin depth of field.

Three Quarter Length

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



The light proved to be good at allowing her to be defined against the black and not have her head pop out of a black shape. Again I am pleased with the aperture which was focused on her eyes allowing the depth of field to isolate her from the background while still giving her shape and form.

Full Length

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/180 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



I was very surprised to find that the colour was almost over saturated when I looked at this image on the screen. I dropped the saturation back to a negative level as I found that the colour was distracting and it was pulling away the eye. I am not sure about having the cat in the image, but at the time he would not leave the room.

Lessons Learned.

Using a greater amount of light allowed me to drop the ISO level down to the cameras minimum, this gave me time to compose as I did not have to worry about the model moving and creating blur. At times I did find that the images were over saturated, probably due to the amount of light.

After I had moved the camera back to its furthest away position for the prime lens, I swapped the lens on the camera for a telephoto lens.

Telephoto Lens

Close Up.

I looked over a couple of lenses before using the 70-300 as it had the best choice of aperture, some of the other lenses I have had limited apertures as I felt that they did not give me a shallow enough depth of field for what I wanted.

Nikon D80, focal length 240.0mm (35mm equivalent 360mm), aperture f5.5, speed 1/125 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 70-300mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



I was very surprised to see on the screen that the image was not too shallow, as at first I thought I would get the defined depth of field that I wanted. Then I remembered that the telephoto lens can flatten the depth of field due to its optics.

I almost find this image a little too dark, due to the framing of her hair in the image.

Head and Shoulders

Nikon D80, focal length 122.0mm (35mm equivalent 183mm), aperture f4.8, speed 1/125 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 70-300mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



Black and White Version



As I pulled the lens back to 122mm I was able to move the aperture to f4.8 without affecting the shutter speed. I carefully framed her head and shoulders into the frame, but I did not like the front on stance that she took. I had her turn her position back to the original position of having her right shoulder forward and turning her head towards the lens.

I again had to change the strength of the flash as it was causing the front of her forehead to be over exposed and very blown out white. After repositioning the head down slightly and tiliting it off to the left I found the light to be better.

I like the framing of her hand in this position as it leads the eye into the frame and from there the eye moves up her face and to her eyes.

Three Quarters

Nikon D80, focal length 70mm (35mm equivalent 360mm), aperture f4.5, speed 1/125 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



I swapped the lens again as although both lenses had a 70mm position I wanted to flow down the focal length rather than have three images using the 70-300mm lens and one using the 18-70mm lens. The only real affect between the two lenses at the same focal length was a slight f-stop difference.

The shorter focal length lens was ideal for the three quarter and full length shots. Here I was able to frame her sitting, the model was a bit self conscious about her hands, so giving her a glass allowed her to have something to hold and feel comfortable with.

Full Length

Nikon D80, focal length 38mm (35mm equivalent 57mm), aperture f4.2, speed 1/125 second, ISO 100, Flash white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens,EX150 Flash Head with Softbox



I think as this was the last shot, she had relaxed and was smiling as it was almost over.

The only real problem I have with this image is that again she is starting to be lost in the depth of a black shape which starts to merge with the shadows behind her.

Lessons Learned.

I did learn that there is quite a bit of difference in the final quality of the portrait which depends on the aperture of the lens I was surprised to find that the telephoto lenses allowed for almost the same amount of separation and depth of field as the prime lens which was something which I had no expected.

I was a lot happier this time doing the exercise as I found that I approached this exercise better prepared and although I was self critical that the quality of the images, I found less images to reject from the pile.

I was also happy that I had used both the prime and the telephoto lenses so that I could contrast and compare the two techniques and the images which resulted from them.

The image that I am most fond off, after a little retouching;

Exercise 1 - Failing at the First Fence

Exercise 1 – First Attempt

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a set of portraits covering different views of a subject. They ran from full length of the person, Three quarter length, head and shoulders and tight in on the face.
Where: Inside the house, during the day evening using internal house lighting
When: During the evening.
How: We moved a table and a couple bits of furniture to create a area which had no distractions. We then put a chair in place and using the overhead lights took the sequence of photographs.

I wanted to use both a prime lens and telephoto as I knew that the each type of lens would bring its own qualities to the images. I started with a 50mm prime lens sitting on a tripod and before the shooting I worked out how far and close I had to move to obtain the required shots. I also worked out the minimum and maximum lengths I would need using two telephoto lenses so that I could work from approximately 18mms up to 300mm without moving the tripod.

This exercise went well on the basis that my inital ideas of using both prime and telephoto lenses created different qualities of image due to the mimumum aperture available to me on both lenses. What I had not anticipated was the quality of the light and that I had to end up shooting at the highest ISO that the camera could handle. This produced very grainey images which were okay for the full length and three quarter length photographs, but the full face and head and shoulders photographs looked dusty and the gain ended up with the model looking like she had dusted her face with power and flour.
The overhead lighting also resulted in the face of the model becoming dark around her eyes and cheeks. Even when she moved her head up the overhead lighting still produced too much shadow around her face and her eyes. I had tried using an on camera flash but the final images still were too dusty and I was not happy with the final results.

Full Length

Nikon D80, focal length 34.0mm (35mm equivalent 51mm), aperture f4.0, speed 1/10 second, ISO 3200, Tungsten white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash.



While this is not too bad, I was not happy with the quality of the image, the feet being blurred and the face and feet being isolated from the rest of the model by a large shape of black and grey.

Full Length Version 2

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/60 second, ISO 3200, Tungsten white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



This is a better quality image as there is better depth of field created by the aperture and the quicker shutter speed, but again the head, arms and feet are isolated as they are buried in the black shape.

Three Quarter Length

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/60 second, ISO 3200, Tungsten white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



While this is a clearer shot of the subject, she is still isolated from the rest of the frame by her mode of dress. The poor quality of the lighting shows here as it has cast her eyes into shade making the under area and top of her cheek as the focal point of the image.

Close-up

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/90 second, ISO 3200, Tungsten white balance, matrix metering, tripod mounted camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Again here in the close-up, the overhead lighting has cast her eyes into shadow and it is making her appear as if he has large bags under her eyes. It also casts the corners of her mouth into shade and makes her chin look larger than it actually is. The tungsten light has also had the quality of making her skin has a slight blue cast which clashes with her natural colour.

Lessons Learned.

I really failed to prepare the area properly, nor did I analyse the quality of the light. I was hoping that the high ISO quality would be better than it was for portraiture. The overhead lighting was never going to be the best but I was not quite prepared for the shadows it created nor for the blue cast it created against the subjects natural colours.

I did learn that there is quite a bit of difference in the final quality of the portrait which depends on the aperture of the lens. In some cases the prime lens depth of field was almost too thing resulting in the subjects features being isolated from the rest of their face.

I was so unhappy with the way that I approached this exercise and I was very self critical that the quality of the images were so poor, that I sat down after looking over the images of the computer screen I decided to reshoot the exercise again.

Photography and the Law

Since part of this course will involve street photography, I have been watching with interest Mickey H. Osterrecihers blog postings over at the JPGmag online photography magazine regarding the issues with street photography and the law.
Mickey was a photojournalist for nearly forty years before becoming an attorney and council with the practice area of Media and First Amendment Law. Mickeys blog covers his recent experiences in dealing with the issues arising from the collision of law and photography and the objection against a transits systems website which contained language equating photography with terrorist activities.

There have been a number of stories like this in the UK, and it has put me a little on the back foot, knowing that at some point in time I will have take some photos of strangers in the street for the course. I know perfectly well that the majority of people have no problem with this happening, but after being challenged by the driver of a car I photographed during the last course, I know that not everyone is happy to have a camera pointed at them. I do however keep a copy of this PDF on me at all time. It is available for www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr and clearly points out the rights of the photographer as per UK law. Knowing at least that I have a legal right and that I can if necessary point them out (most people are very reasonable and a quick explanation of what I am doing is enough) I feel a bit less nervous on that side of things. At the necessary point in time I shall just have to relax, compose the shot and take the image.


Moran, Simon. (2009). UK Photographers Rights Version 2. Available: www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr or http://www.sirimo.co.uk/2009/05/14/uk-photographers-rights-v2 . Last accessed 28th Jan 2012.

Osterreicher, M. H. . (2012). PHOTOGRAPHY & THE LAW: War on Photography. Available: http://jpgmag.com/news/2012/01/photography-the-law-1.html. Last accessed 28th Jan 2012.

Osterreicher, M. H. . (2012). PHOTOGRAPHY & THE LAW: Then and Now. Available: http://jpgmag.com/news/2012/01/photography-the-law-then-and-now-1.html. Last accessed 28th Jan 2012.

New Course New Blog

I have recieved my coursework for the People and Place course and I have started to read through the notes and try and get an understanding of the course.

I am looking forward to this course as I hope it will continue to instruct me and help to guide me to improving my photography and the understanding of it within the realm of art.

One of the first things I did was go through the course book list and have a look at what is recommended. Happily there is some overlap from the Art of Photography course and I have some of the books already.

What I'd like is to impove so that I can take images such as



and



More often, as I feel that I was lucky to get these rather than skilled.

Due to my problems I think that when it comes to some parts of the course I may have to stretch the definition of people a little, and use a little imagination.



After all, some humans refer to their pets as people..