Wowing: The Thousand Portraits Project May 28, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Portraiture, Reading.add a comment
Just a quick one. The 1000 Portraits Project was an awesome experiment done in the UK where a couple of photographers asked everyone who they passed (no exceptions) if they could take their photo. So many of these images are beautifully natural, and real; and as a whole, these candid, spontaneous images convey to me a sense of humanity. I won’t include any of the individual images here, because the proper impressions are best conveyed by their sets:
Portrait Post-Production May 27, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Post-Production.Tags: 800 images, finishing, fussing over each little pixel, no life, photoshop, portrait, portraits, Post-Production
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Okay. I haven’t written an update on my portrait shoot for a few days, and you might be one of the people who have been asking me what’s happening with them, or alternatively, why I’m not dancing/socialising/sleeping as much as I usually do. 
The simple answer to all of the above is: I’m doing “post-production” of all of the images from the portrait shoot: selecting the best images, adjusting the colour in each photo by changing settings in the RAW (”digital negative”) files, composing and cropping each image so that it looks its best, and “Photoshopping” each portrait so that each model looks flawless. A recount of my photos puts the total at just under 800 images altogether.. and this translates into a LOT of work!
So bear with me while I go through this lengthy and gruelling post-production phase. This is, really, the critical stage that turns good photos into extraordinary ones; and having put so much work into taking the photos, I’m determined to do the very best job I can at finishing them properly.
Tired but Happy. :) May 22, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Assignment, Contains Images, Portraiture, Studio, Studio Lights.Tags: beauty, drama, dramatic, hair, make-up, models, portrait, portraits, Portraiture, stylists, thank you, thanks, yaay
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Months of learning, weeks of planning, and days of preparation came together last night in a portrait photo shoot that (successfully!) yielded both my assignment photos, and a large stack of portfolio/professional-quality images. Some stats:
- 8 models (6 girls, 2 guys)
- 1 hour to set up
- 2.5 hours to shoot
- 2 separate sets:
- a high-key set with two diffuse modelling lights, primarily geared for “beauty” shots; and
- a low-key studio flash key light/back light set, primarily geared for “dramatic” photos.
- Hair by Sheryn from Hair in the City; Make-up by Kim Balaga.
- Took over 500 photos, in 22 megapixel RAW and low-res JPEG.
- That’s over 18GB of image files.
Un-Photoshopped image taken on the “dramatic” set.
I’d like to recommend my hair and make-up professionals to anyone looking for awesome stylists. They were promptly on time, treated my models (who are my friends, so this was important!) well by all accounts, and did a fantastic job. Thank you, Sheryn and Kim!
Un-Photoshopped image taken on the “beauty” set.
And thank-you to my models -my friends-, who volunteered for this to help me with my assignment and were awesome sports, even when I ran out of time (and memory cards! 
) towards the end of the shoot and couldn’t photograph them in as many outfits as I would have liked.
Next step is to comb through the images, cropping, processing, and editing! To achieve the results I’d like for my assignment, I’ll need to photo-composite a few of my best studio shots onto various backgrounds. I did one for fun in about 10 minutes this morning.
So the work’s not finished yet – but at least this next stage should be a lot less pressure, and quite a bit of fun.
Finally, extra thanks to Red and Judy for easing my post-shoot nerves with a couple of first-class scotches. You guys always seem to know just how to make everything better.
Thinking About: The Shot List May 20, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Assignment, General Comments, Portraiture.Tags: Assignment, here we go, nervous, omg, photo shoot, portrait
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Tonight I’ll be writing up my final Shot List for tomorrow’s portrait shoot. While I’m going to have to be quite spontaneous and creative with the individual portraits, I have a fair idea of the shots I want for my assignment. In both cases, however, I’m going to change some of my techniques considerably from how I did my first portrait session:
- I’m going to shoot from further away from my models, whenever I can. This is for two reasons: firstly, it will give my photos a flatter, more flattering (no pun intended) perspective; and secondly, it will allow a more forgiving depth of field. This handy Depth-Of-Field calculator shows that using a 50mm lens at f/1.4, from a distance of 2m, gives me only 13cm of acceptably sharp depth of field (much of which will be slightly blurred and out of focus). These are the settings, and the distance, at which I’ve been shooting most of my previous portraits, so no wonder I’ve had trouble getting the eyes in focus! At a range of 3m, the acceptable DOF more than doubles to 30cm, making it possible to focus close to the eyes and get them sharply in focus in the shot.
- I’m going to be shooting with a narrower aperture – NO WIDER THAN f/2.8. Again, this is for two reasons. Firstly, an aperture of f/1.4 contributes to the unforgivingly tight depth-of-field mentioned above. Shooting two stops narrower (f/2.8) at a distance of 3m gives me an acceptable depth-of-field of 60cm – which should give me nice, sharp facial details. Should I desire a blurrier background, I can always add extra blur in Photoshop later; but I cannot bring back detail lost due to shots being out of focus. Secondly, although the lens I’m using, a 50mm f/1.4 prime, is optically excellent, it suffers from some documented sharpness and flare issues between f/1.4 – f/2.2. So shooting with the aperture narrower than f/2.8 will avoid those optical limitations and result in sharper images.
- I must remember to remove my protective filter this time. Although it has no explicit optical effect, it is another piece of glass for light to pass through, and has caused flaring and ghosting with some night shots in the past. Removing the filter removes a potential cause of problems.
- Attention to detail! If there’s one thing my first portrait session taught me, it is that every tiny detail shows up in these photos. The smallest hair or shadow out of place can ruin the portrait! So I’ll be much more careful with composing and taking my shots this time around.
- More creative lighting and posing. I was very, very conservative with my lighting in my first photo shoot (where I basically stuck with a Hollywood/on-axis formula), but subsequent sessions have taught me to be more creative, and that experimentation can yield some fascinating results.
- Shoot in RAW. It’s better than JPEG. ‘Nuff said.
There’s a truckload of stuff to do tonight:
- Make sure all my batteries are charged, my memory cards are clear, and all my equipment is working perfectly (e.g. lens, viewfinder and menu screen clean!).
- Make sure all my equipment is packed, ready to go (including battery chargers – just in case).
- Write up my final shot list, keeping all my “lessons learned” in mind!
- Make up some platters of food to keep my models fed and occupied while I’m shooting.
- Keep reading through the portrait photography books and magazine articles I’ve been collecting, so that hopefully some of the advice will seep through into my subconscious.
I am nervous as all heck. Keep those fingers crossed for me!!!!
Reading: Viewpoint in Portraiture May 20, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Contains Images, Portraiture, Reading.Tags: dominant, passive, portrait, Portraiture, power, relationship, submissive, viewpoint
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It makes a lot of sense: the vertical angle at which you take portrait photographs conveys subconscious messages about the relationship between the viewer/photographer and the the subject/model.
- Straight on: an equal relationship between the viewer and the subject
- Slightly above: can make pleasing shots, as the eyes appear larger. The sitter can appear passive or (with extreme use) submissive.
- Slightly below: subject appears dominant, important, or confident. Needs to be used with care, though – it can also make the subject look scary!
Preparing: Professional Portrait Shoot May 19, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Assignment, Contains Images, General Comments, Portraiture, Studio.Tags: artist, hair, make-up, model, models, portrait, portraits, Studio, stylist
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Oh my god. I seriously hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew here.
I’m preparing to do a really big portrait shoot, in which I’m hoping to achieve a few things:
Take my “final” photos for my major assignment for PHOT122. This will involve getting my models to hold unlit light bulbs in various poses, though some of the bulbs will be made to APPEAR lit, by using a strong, focussed, on-axis light.- Take portrait shots which will be “portfolio pieces” of my own work – a visual summary of my learning in this course. Whether or not I decide to start doing professional work, I think it’s valuable to create some beautiful images that show my ability at this point in time. I will be giving copies of these photos to my models (who are mostly my friends who’ve volunteered for this!) and to my make-up artist, in return for very generous student pricing on their professional services.
Yes that’s right. I’m getting a professional make-up artist and a seperate hair stylist to work on this shoot with me. It will be as close as I can manage to a professional portrait photo-shoot. Somehow, I will be trying to coordinate eight models, two stylists, and various interested spectators, while trying to stay focussed on taking the best portraits I’ve ever taken.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Reading: Pet Photography Tips May 19, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Contains Images, Reading.Tags: animals, pet, photography, professional, tips
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There’s an excellent and entertaining article on professional pet photography over at the NY Times Blog. Check it out: Expert Tips on Photographing your Pets.
“I end up doing a lot of gymnastics during a shoot. I’m crouching, kneeling, on my back, on my side, waking up sore the next morning. Shooting from just where you are results in a photo that’s pretty boring, because you’re capturing your pet at an angle that everyone else also sees. I do mostly shoot at the animal’s eye level. Now you’re in their world, two or three feet off the ground, and it results in a more personal, intimate photo.”
Practice: Event Photography May 11, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Available Light, Contains Images, Outdoor, Practice, documentary.Tags: day, event, glebe, mothers, park
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I had a try at being an “event photographer” at the Mother’s Day event held in Glebe Park over the weekend. The light varied between sunny and diffuse, so I had to continually pay attention to available light and adjust my positioning and exposure. When I got the images back home, I slightly increased their colour saturation to boost feelings of fun and life.
Studio: Portraiture May 7, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Contains Images, Portraiture, Strobist, Studio, Studio Lights, Workshop.Tags: back, backlight, hair, hairlight, light, portrait, Portraiture, reflector, snoot, strobism, Studio
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Today was our last day of “classes” – we had our last theory test today, and from now on, we’ll be shooting in the studio. We kicked things off with a “free” studio session tonight after our test, and I set up for portraiture. After a few pretty ordinary shots, my group started getting more creative with lighting.
These were done by backlighting with a strong snoot, then reflecting the light back onto the subjects (and the white background behind them) using a flexible gold reflector with an irregular plastic surface – like a gold plastic sheet taped over a piece of cardboard. In the left image, the reflector was curved to focus the reflected light onto the subject; the light was kept more diffuse for the image on the right. The wide aperture served to blur the reflected light in the background rather nicely.
Practice: Abstract Twilight Shots May 6, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Available Light, Contains Images, Night, Outdoor, Practice.Tags: abstract, cars, diffuser, diffusion, long exposure, sunset, twilight
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On the way home last night there was smoke all over the road due to a burn-off (fire hazard reduction) at a nearby nature reserve. I thought it would be interesting to take some sunset photos through the smoke (which would have acted as a diffuser, for a nice red sunset) but by the time I found a place to safely pull up, I was through the smoke! It was mostly behind me, and the light was fading fast – there was no time to walk back up the road to make the shots. The few sunset photos I took weren’t terribly spectacular. However, in one of the shots, a cyclist rode through the frame, leaving behind a trail of light in the captured frame… and that gave me some ideas. I turned the camera around and took some shots of the road behind me!
The smoke from the burn-off caused the yellow street lights to diffuse, giving the air beneath them a yellow hue. I also added a diffusion filter to my lens to make the car headlights turn into brightly glowing arcs of light. The resulting images are quite interesting!
