Portraits @iainlj-blog - Tumblr Blog

Feedback and evaluation of studio portrait.

Feedback from the class was that I had met the brief. They said it was lit well and that I had made good use of flags and reflectors. It had a mid tone background and was not overexposed. It also had a good representation of a character which made you wonder what sort of person the model was.

It was felt that the hooded top created a strong effective shadow and it also added to the sense of who the character was and whether she was hiding something.

The lighting created quite a harsh shadow from the nose, although it was felt that there were still a lot of details in the shadows as well as in the highlights. Overall it was said that the shadows worked well.

In terms of the character it was felt that she was a strong confident person who is powerful and serious. The angle used makes the character look taller and more important and she was someone that you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, as she is someone with authority that could look after herself. It was also mentioned that she looked shifty and that she was trying not to draw attention to herself due to the hood being up. The stance of the model made it look like she was caught in a situation as if she wasn’t sure what to do or that something is going to happen.

The cropping was also mentioned as it was felt that having the model in the centre of the frame would have added to the sense of confidence.

Evaluation – I was trying to create a portrait that conveyed a strong, confident character that you could trust and have faith in. I wanted to show a character that could take care of not only herself, but also other people, so I’m glad that that worked well. This was developed from the stances used in my research picture of the Doctor and his assistant but I wanted to get a more authoritative pose, which I think I succeeded in achieving.

The relatively strong shadows should make more sense once this is merged with my background shot, however I still think it stands up on its own as a portrait. This is confirmed due to the comments above regarding who the character is.

When I was deciding on my crop, I wanted to add an “edgy” feeling to the character so that’s why I left space on the left, although in hindsight I should have placed her in the centre to add to the confidence of the character as mentioned in the feedback.

Overall I am happy with my studio portrait, as the character turned out the way I wanted. Although I was initially annoyed at myself when I messed up the focus on my first shoot, I was glad that I had to shoot it again, because the more time I spend in the studio the more confident I am becoming in using the lights/equipment. Really enjoyed this assignment and am looking forward to putting the techniques (and lessons) learned to good use when we start shooting portraits using film.

Final submission for my studio portrait.

This was taken on my 2nd studio shoot and is my final picture of the Doctor's assistant. Reshoot for the actual Doctor is being done next week, and then both images (in focus this time) will be added to movie poster next block.

For both shoots, I used barn door lights on the right of the model with a piece of cardboard that had shapes cut out of it to try and recreate the trees and leaves that are in my location shot.

I then had two flags on the left to create shadows on that side too.

Movie poster pictures from first studio shoot. I really liked the pictures I got in my studio shoot but the only problem was I mucked up the focus. Reshoot required and lesson learned.

Feedback and evaluation of daylight portrait.

Feedback from class was that my daylight portrait met the brief. They liked the colour in it, and the subject looked relaxed and natural. It was described as quite an intimate, informal portrait too and that the subject looked as if she was in her own little world.

They also said that the curtains and the book acting as natural reflectors was well done. The matching of the subjects' t-shirt and curtains was discussed as well and was thought to be a nice touch.

The cropping was also discussed, but no one could agree where it could be cropped to look better, although someone suggested that maybe a square picture would have been more effective. The sort of book that was being reading was mentioned – one person thought was that it was racy due to the red being used in the picture, but then the expression of the subject suggests a more serious book.

Evaluation - I wanted to create a relaxed picture for my daylight portrait, so using my flatmate in her natural environment was, I felt, the best way to do this. It was developed from the Al Pacino picture that I researched, although mine was a lot lighter in tone. The sunlight was quite bright the day that I took the picture, so I cut off some of the light with the curtain that you can see in the picture as well as the curtain that is out of shot. That then left a large beam of light just behind her head, which bounced off the curtain. There wasn’t a great deal of reflection from the book, but there was a silver reflector at her feet reflecting some subtle light back onto her eyes and face.

The colour match between the curtains and t-shirt was completely accidental (unlike my self portrait), but I liked the way it turned out. The shutter speed was quite slow due to the lack of light, and I really should have used a tripod for the picture. However, lack of space meant that wasn’t really an option – but on hindsight, I should have moved some furniture out of the way to facilitate the tripod. A lesson for next time.

I did think about cropping the picture on the left to get rid of the triangle of light behind her head, but that would have meant cropping out some of her hair and because I liked the way you could see some light through that part of her hair, I decided to keep it in. Possibly cropping it to the right just after the book finishes would have been better, as this would then have got the square picture effect that was mentioned by the class.

I really liked doing this assignment, and am looking forward to continuing with this type of portraiture as it’s quite challenging but also rewarding using flags/reflectors to manipulate the picture to suit your needs.

#daylight portrait

Possible location for poster along with police box that would need dropped into scene as well. Thoughts?

Movie poster.

Finally decided on my movie poster - Doctor Who. I know that a lot of the images associated with this have a lot of graphics and effects on it, but I like the more natural look of the image above. Been thinking that I could use a location shot of Glasgow Green and then add in a picture of one of the police boxes that are around the city. On top of that I'd then add the studio portraits that we also need to take.

Been thinking about how it would look and did a couple of VERY rough sketches to see if it would work. Any thoughts?

Movie posters.

Trying to get some inspiration from the posters of some of my favourite films. Now to make a decision on what one I'm going to do: and to see if I can put my own twist on it instead of just trying to copy it.

Anyone else decided which film they're going to do?

Started our studio project last week which will eventually be part of a movie poster that we'll create. First up? Trying out different lighting settings in the studio to see what movie genres we could create.

First one we attempted was thriller, then horror and finally romcom. Really enjoyed the day in the studio and can't wait to get back in to practice some more as well as come up with some different lighting set ups.

Final daylight portraiture images.

First one is my printed file which was shot at the bay window with a reflector to the right of the picture putting some light back into the face.

Second one is using a gate as a natural flag, as well as a willing model to pretend they were asleep.

Third was taken beside a tree with a gold reflector to the left hand side. I've also included a fourth image to show the same (ish) picture without any reflectors to show the difference it made.

Do you think they worked ok?

#daylight portrait

Daylight portrait research 4

This is similar to my first research picture, but is one that I don't particularly like. Although the sunshine is once again accentuating the subject's hair, I find it really distracting this time and instead of looking at the woman, I'm constantly being drawn to the sun and I really need to concentrate on looking at her, which I think defeats the purpose of the picture.

#daylight portrait

Daylight portraiture research 3

Great use of the sunlight again in this one, as it creates the backdrop of light which I really like. Still great detail in the eyes even though the sun is behind him and he's also wearing a cap, so there must have been some reflectors being used for this.

Really like the symmetry in this and the lines, although not quite so sure about the angle. Would it have been better square on?

#daylight portrait

Daylight portraiture example 7

After our class trip to Largs, I tried experimenting with the daylight coming in the bay windows we have. I also experimented with different reflectors as in this picture of P, I had the light from the red curtains as well as the book and a silver reflector to get some detail in her face.

Shutter speed was slower than I really wanted but I like it.

#daylight portrait

Self portraiture feedback and evaluation.

Feedback from the class was that I had met the brief, as my self portrait communicated an element of my personality; thoughtful, emotional and caring were some of the initial responses.

Use of props and background were also thought to be well used, as instantly people wanted to know more about the story aspect of my picture due to the wheelchair being in it. The simple background with the light more prominent in the back was also commented on. It was thought it was used well, as it made me and the chair stand out even more.

The unique qualities of my image that were commented on was that it was a very personal, and in some ways, private, image. Comments included loss and bereavement, possible future and someone asked if the chair was actually mine that I had to use in the past. That someone could think the chair was mine had never entered my mind, and it was interesting to note what different people saw in it.

My self portrait idea came about after a mind map exercise in class which asked us to consider “Who Am I?” We discussed experience, environment, family/friends and emotions amongst other things, and that along with a brief comment on possible soulless portraiture got me thinking that my self portrait didn’t just have to be about me hiding from the camera. It could actually show a bit about who I am/what I'm feeling. In a way I was laying a bit of myself bare for people to see which although is quite scary, is very liberating. As per my Tumblr notes, the image by Judith Black was my inspiration as she had shown how she was feeling about turning 40 in her self portrait. It was such an emotional picture that had great discussion points, that I decided to just go for it. I think my portrait was effective as people did discuss it with me and wanted to know what my version of it was.

My research was mainly the mind map exercise which then reminded me of the Judith Black picture. Once I’d decided to show a bit of who I was, I knew straight away what I wanted to say so I didn’t carry out a lot of other research.

The design of my portrait was pretty straight forward as I knew what props I was using and where I was shooting the image, but how it was actually going to look was something that happened when I started framing it. I tried different angles for the chair and slightly different poses. I also had pictures on the wall in a few of my test shots, but I quickly decided that less was definitely more so that nothing distracted from the main subjects. I also initially used blue as the connecting colour because that was the colour of shirt I was wearing at the time. But then I thought that the chair isn’t the one that’s possibly changing, it’s me, so I reverted back to the chairs' original red cushion and visually matched certain parts of my dress to it instead. Also, the eye level was the biggest thing that I spent ages trying to get right, as I wanted to portray me looking at someone in the chair, and I think I got it right. Not easy when you're looking into thin air.

#self portrait

Final self portrait image.

Thought this quote was quite apt:-

“The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words.” ― Elliott Erwitt

Do you think it worked?

#self portrait

A portrait! What could be more simple and more complex, more obvious and more profound.

Charles Baudelaire

When thinking about my self portrait, I kept thinking about this image by Judith Black which was shown to us in class. The way it told a story about how she felt when turning 40 was such a vivid image. The clues about how she was feeling – the packed suitcase indicating a journey, but how she was still in her dressing gown showing she wasn’t quite ready for it. The open door representing the next step in her life. The expression on her face also shows she is thinking a lot about her future, but possibly her past too – is her life ever going to be the same again? Is it all downhill from here? Will it get better?

It asked a lot of questions, and the image could be seen in a lot of different ways, which was something I really liked about it.

#Judith Black #self portrait

Daylight portrait test shot 6 (and last one)

Similar to last one, but this time just the hands.

#daylight portrait

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