Work Diary&Progression- Location Portraiture

Evaluation:

In today's lesson we were told to carry on with out portraiture theme, but this time not photographing in the studio, but on location-similar to Alec Soth. I enjoyed this shoot as I prefer shooting on location, in comparison to the studio, this is due tot he fact that you have more freedom to experiment with your images ion different locations; whereas in the studio you can only stay in that one location. I learned how to control my camera settings more, allowing me to get the right amount of lighting in my photograph, due to not having the luxury of changing the outdoor lighting like we can do in the studio. 

The image on the left is edited, whereas the one on the right is the original photograph. This is my best image of the day as in the portrait you're drawn to the face, due to the curving wall, almost acting as a leading line pointing you into the direction of the face. In addition, as you can see the background in the distance this creates a sense of perspective as you realise there's depth to the image. I like the way i edited the image as by making it darker it allows you to focus in on the face, the darkness of the image creates further tone, form and saturation of the lips. I also like the deadpan look on the face, as it compliments the dark contrast of the image implying a sense of seriousness. The eyes are looking straight at the camera, which creates a serious monotone appeal further. 

This was my worst photograph of the day, if i was to re-shoot this again i would ensure eye contact was made with the camera, and that the person was ready for the image to be taken- as they're in mid-conversation in this image. The angle of this image is good as it's unexpected/unique for a portrait image. I would ensure that she wasn't looking too far down, as it stops me from photographing her whole body, aswell as the face, due to her body being closed down, because of her leaning over the bars. 

Progression:

Final 5 Images- Location Portraiture

Contact Sheet- Location Portraiture

Research for Portraiture

Thomas Ruff:

Thomas Ruff is a portraiture artist. Personally, I do not like his images as I believe they're boring, and not 'art', due to the fact anyone can easily photograph images like these. 
Ruff may have used deadpan expressions to highlight the various details in individuals faces. The people in these images appear almost as dolls/not real people. Thomas would have done this using the lighting.
These images challenge norms as in the image on the right the man is on a pink background, whereas the woman is on a blue one. This is strange as blue is associated with boys, and pink with girls. 
 These images are extremely structured, and not free. Ruff used the deadpan expression to highlight how you don't know what the subject is feeling, whereas in normal portrait imagery you capture emotions. These images would have been shot on a high aperture score, due to the face, and the background being in focus (wide depth of field.)

Alec Soth:

 I like Alec Soth's images as he also captures the environment, and backdrop in which the image is photographed, as well as the portrait. This gives you a sense of perspective, as to how small us as humans are too the environment/world around us. In the image to the right, and the one below the backdrops are grand, which implies they're more than us as humans, and were merely a pinprick in the world. 
I like how in the photograph below, the man is captured with toy planes, this gives us an insight into his hobbies or likes- as clearly he enjoys planes/ building things, as his clothing appears as though he has been making objects, due to the splattered paint over it. 



Muted colours are used in Alec's photography, these imply calmness and silence as they're not saturated and extreme colours which would imply business and fun. However, the image above of the man lying down has slightly brighter colours, in contrast to the other two images. This image has more autumnal images, in the organs and browns. These images (especially the one of the man holding planes) would be shot on a lower aperture, due to the background being blurred (shallow depth of field.)

Alec Soth is considerably more interesting to me than Thomas Ruff as his images are not just on plain backgrounds, and include the environment in which the images are taken too.

Work Diary&Progression- Portraiture

Evaluation:

In today's lesson we went in the studio and focused on portraiture. We used an orange and a white background. I learned how to work with individuals that I am photographing in order to get them in the position I want them. 

This is my best image of the day. I edited it into black and white as you can see more of the tone of Fern's face. This highlights the contrast of colour on her face. I captured the emotion of happiness in this image, and i caught an action shot of Fern laughing. Fern's body is evenly proportioned in the image, none of her upper body is cut out. In addition, i believe there's enough space between Fern's head and the top of the image. Furthermore, i like how in the black and white image it's a dark black and white, not a lighter black and white- this draws your eye in more, and creates more texture to the image. 

This is my worst image i took of the day, if i was to reshoot this image again i would ensure i didn't cut out Fern's head from the top of the image. Furthermore, Fern's arm is cut out of the image, therefore this picture is not of her whole upper body as parts are cut out. I haven't really captured any specific emotion in this image as Fern's hand is obstructing her face. Consequently, if i was to reshoot this image again i would ensure her hands weren't obstructing her face, therefore id be able to capture her emotions within the image.

Progression: 

Portraiture Studio Final Images

Portraiture Studio Contact Sheet

Portraiture Image Bank

I like this image as it appears to have a green tint over the whole image. The girls eyes and the background seem to be saturated and create a colourful appearance as a whole of the image. The green works well with her blonde hair, they compliment each other nicely. The girl obtains almost an expression of confusion and this is the emotion captured in the image overall. 

This image is photographed extremely close to the mans face, it has a darker contrast and highlights the tone and texture of his face. In this image the man appears to hold a sad/lonely expression, this allows sympathy to surface in the viewer. He is also looking away from the camera, when i shoot i will take some images where the person is looking away, and into the camera.

I like this image as due to it being in black and white you can see the tone and texture of the woman's face, in her wrinkles. A rough texture is created due to the woman's consistency of her skin. The background is blurred which allows the viewer to focus solely on her face. The woman looks sad, almost as if she's asking for help. 

This image shows the boys skin to be smooth and soft, the lighting compliments this as it's soft- and not harsh. This is a simple portrait image, however the boy appears to be looking away from the camera, and not in it. Furthermore, the boy has a deadpan expression on his face, implying there's no emotion present. 

I like this image of the girl as the gritty lighting shows the contrast in the colours and shadows of her face. Due to her hair being messy, it adds texture to the image. The girl appears to be angry, as her eyes are glaring down the camera lens. This is a close up of the girls head, with barely her shoulders in the image i would like to create an image like this when i shoot. If I wanted to achieve a blurred background like this image, the I would set a lower aperture (e.g. 2.8).

In this image the woman's freckles are enhanced due top the lighting shining directly on her face. Additionally, she's looking up into the camera lens and not directly, straight on. This image has a lot of tone and texture to it. In addition her collar bones are in the dark, which again highlights and emphasises her face.