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!!!!
Proposal March 11, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Assignment, Contains Images, Portraiture.Tags: Assignment, assignment 2, bulbs, earth hour, idea, light, proposal
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I’m going to do a series of portraits entitled “Shedding Illumination”. This is a double pun:
- “Shedding” can mean giving off… or giving up something
- “Illumination” usually means light… but it can be both physical light or “enlightenment”.
So to “shed illumination” could mean to emit light, like a light bulb… it could mean giving up light, as people will be for Earth Hour… or it could mean to emit enlightenment, to “illuminate” an intellectual or spiritual “darkness”.
My portraits will feature people holding light sources: incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs, etc. In some of the photos, the bulbs they’re holding will be unlit, and in these images, I’ll light the subjects attractively and try to light them as if they, themselves, are a source of light or “illumination”. These photos represent people choosing to participate in Earth Hour, people who are choosing to “Vote Earth”. I might pose the subjects in positions that show intelligence or enlightenment – perhaps “classical” poses.
I’ll contrast these with portrait shots of people who are unattractively or harshly lit… these ones will be holding lit light bulbs, and they’ll be representative of people who are not participating in Earth Hour, either because they don’t want to or because they don’t care. I could pose them so that their faces can’t be seen, in positions that represent apathy or perhaps even death.
If I get time, I’ll Photoshop the images so that the “attractive” portraits have incongruous elements in the background, representing nature or earth, e.g. flowers coming through the carpet, plants growing in the sink; and Photoshop the “unattractive” portraits to have images of desolation in the background, e.g. a suburban background with no plants or animals.
This is a LOT to try to do!!! And I’m really not sure how I’ll manage the “lit” lightbulb shots. I certainly don’t want to accidentally fry a model. 
Writing my project proposal March 10, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Assignment, Contains Images, Portraiture.Tags: Assignment, assignment 2, earth hour, project, proposal
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I’ve decided that I’m going to try and think up a portrait photography angle on this assignment. There are several reasons:
I’m also a keen artist, and my main interest has always been with human figure and portrait drawing and painting. I already have a keen understanding of the human figure and face, which I may be able to apply to photography.- The reason I’ve always been drawn to drawing and painting people is because I think they are amazing. I’m constantly fascinated by the endless variety of emotions, expressions, and stories you can “read” in people’s faces and postures. I’m dazzled by human beauty, and (while travelling through India) I’ve been … what’s the word… overwhelmed… by human suffering too. I want to capture some of those stories any way I can… and a camera seems as good a way as any.
- If I ever decide to make photography more than just a hobby or interest, photographing people (portraits, weddings, etc.) is probably more viable and interesting than photographing objects or landscapes. This will force me to develop my skills in photographing people!
- Photographing people seems like more of a challenge than photographing things or places. I’m always up for a challenge.
I’d like to have something on paper for our discussion session in two day’s time, so I’ll try to think of a good “angle” on the assignment topic before then.
Thoughts on the brief March 9, 2009
Posted by Leonard Low in Assignment, Contains Images.Tags: Assignment, assignment 2, ideas
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The brief is really very open and will allow all of us to do our work however we want to. I’m interested mostly in underwater, low-light, action (dance), and portrait photography, so I should submit a proposal that appeals to one or more of my natural inclinations.
Underwater photography is pretty much out. Although that would make for some stunning, original shots, and an outstanding assignment, it’s getting too cold to go scuba diving any more this season… not to mention the expense and risk of getting an underwater casing for the new camera!!!
Perhaps it would be interesting to try using dancers to portray Earth Hour themes, and capture it on film? Or else doing some portraits and using this assignment as a way of improving my skills in that particular area.
