assignment one

Well I have come to the first assignment in the DPP and I have decided to do portrait photography or photographs of a Young girl jumping and playing as well as the more usual photographs of her sitting.
Luckily for me my six year old niece is always willing to be used as a sitter and is happy for me to take my time.

I     have noticed that we need to make a note of strengths and weaknesses something which I have been putting a lot of thought into during this early section of the course, my strength I think is that I love what I do and try to reflect that in my work, my weakness is that I need to have more faith in myself and my work, something which I am aware I need to work on.

I have prepared my work flow as follows:
1) choose a subject, I have chose to photograph my niece Alyssa

2) make sure camera equipment is already batteries charges, lights set up and settings prepared, change backdrop to white.

3) take a series of photographs of Alyssa, sittings, standing laying and jumping give her some props to play with, flowers, hat feather boa maybe some too big shoes to get that cute child dressing up look. aim for about 50 shots.

4) upload photographs and do the technical edit , take out the poor exposures, bad expressions and blurred photographs.

5) do the next edit and pick out the photographs that please me the most,

6) leave it for a while then go back and pick the best 6-12 shots do any post production making sure I keep a note of what has been done.

7) send photographs to be printed, upload them to my blog.

8) send to Russel my tutor and sent form to oca.

9) sit back and wait for comments.

It will be interesting to see how this work flow pans out as I go, it might be that I get her mums thoughts on the photographs and it will be interesting to see how or if our opinions match up.

I have also decided to read through a couple of books I have on the subject of portraits the first one is called The Art of Children's Portrait Photography by Tamara Lackey and the second one is master lighting guide for portrait photographers by Christopher Grey both books are published by Amhurst Media and details can be found under books I have read.
We the shot has been done the photo's processed and some sent to be printed, below the six shots I chose,

The camera settings used for this one were
F14
Shutter speed 1/125s
100mm focal length.

Processing done to the photograph:
small clarity adjustment
layers: levels and brightness and contrast
Catch lights added.

I choose this one as there was something of a rock chick about this photograph, Aylssa is very good at posing and was happy to try my jacket on, I had to roll the sleeves up and try and pull it in at the back but with her hat I liked the overall image.

The camera settings used for this one were
F14
shutter speed 1/125's
focal length 125mm

Processing done
Small amount of clarity adjustment
I flipped it and used a small amount of levels.

This one is my favourite I like the fact she is looking away from the camera and the way the light falls across her face. I have also processed this is sepia which gives a very sort feel to the photograph.

The camera settings used for this one were:
F13
shutter speed 1/125's
focal length 100 mm

processing done

small amount of clarity
layers brightness and contrast.

I gave Aylssa a bunch of three silk flowers then got her to lay on the floor cupping her hands round them, this one I liked because of her expression it was part cute because he front tooth was missing and part cheeky.

Camera settings used
F16
shutter speed 1/125's
focal length 125 mm
processing done
Removal of extra catch light
small amount of clarity adjustment
layers brightness and contrast.

These last few are Aylssa at her best, she is quite girly and I gave her a  hat and a feather boa and told her to have fun with them, the hat was too big but that didn't seem to matte and she wrapped the feather boa round her and just smiled at me, i am so glad I got this shot.

Camera settings used
F 16
Shutter speed 1/125's
focal length 72mm

Processing done
again a small amount of clarity adjustment,
layers brightness and contrast.

This one I lust liked it was taken as the next shot from the one above, although I do think the light is not quite as good on this one.

camera settings used
F16
shutter speed 1/125's
focal length 200mm

Processing done
Small amount of clarity
layers brightness and contrast.

This was one of the last photographs of the session and she wanted to pull a face but then giggled instead covering her mouth as she did so, luckily I had the camera in my hand and just pushed the shutter hoping something would come of it, this would be my second favourite.



Reflections at the end of the first assignment,

Have I demonstrated technical and visual skills, I have used studio lights a flash meter to the best advantage and taken a selection of about 100 photographs of a young girl. Are the photographs of a good standard are they clear and sharp where they need to be, and have I showed imagination? Yes I think the photographs are of a good standard the colours are good and I have used props including hats, flowers and boa's to add to the overall effect, I had to add the catch light to image one and I  must admit I am not completely happy with them but I liked the photograph over all so decided to leave it in.

I used a couple of books already mentioned for ideas on posing and arranging the lights.
Portrait photography is something I really enjoy particularly with children as they tend to be natural in front of the camera, one of my favourite shots for that reason is the one of Aylssa giggling.

Overall I was happy with the shoot especially as Aylssa had a cold and I think I managed to hide that fact in most of the photographs I took, I did consider rearranging  but then realised that in a professional setting the model could be ill and it is something I would need to learn to work around.

finally did my workflow work? yes it did apart from a couple of minor tweaks it worked fine.

Below are a couple of almost there photographs.

This one is included as although she has her eyes shut overall its a peaceful photograph and there is something I really like about it but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.

This is  a cute shot but not quite there as it doesn't really show her personality off.















These final two are just because I liked them and wanted to try something a bit different with them.

Well that's it the first assignment is completed and just needs to be posted off and then wait for the comments, always a nerve racking time.

 

The results are back and overall I am very pleased with the comments I have received.

My tutor has given me some very positive feedback on the photographs Submitted and also a couple of pointers that I need to look into one of them being an ICC profile as the colours are slightly out on screen and the print versions, this is something I will need to look into my screen is calibrated and I thought this would be enough but obviously this is something I need to address.

 

It was also surprising how easy it was to deviate from the 50 photographs I planned to take to the 100 I finally took, another interesting comment was on the use of a prime lens which is something I own and must make more use of.

 

It was also good to read his comments on the rest of my blog as this is something that I struggled with on the Art of Photography and it is reassuring to know I am getting right now.

 

What comes next?

I have already made a start on the next section of the course, which I am looking forward to with more confidence now.