Brighton - personal

During my to Brighton pier I took the opportunity to try and capture a few colorful images of the funfair, trying to capture movement and colour.

f/9.0,  1/20,  100, M

f/9.0,  1/20,  100, M

f/9.0,  1/20,  100, M

f/36.0,  1/10,  100, M

Jane Bown through the decades

Jane Bowne photographic carrier has spanned more than fifty years, she became a photographer almost by accident, picking up a camera at the end of the Second World War after leaving the Wrens.

The revealing portraits she has taken for The Observer newspaper group have become legendary, working in black and white, avoiding the use of artificial lighting she has a tremendous knack for capturing the personality of each individual sitter.

Bertrand Russell, 1949
I like the way this portrait has been shot, the position and posture of the sitter within the square format bottom right, Bertrand’s side profile is also shown in hi-contrast with only the main facial detail and shirt collar picked out using the available light, the background blocks of grey also add to the overall composition.

Orson Wells, 1951
This square image has very little detail in the background at first glance, the face seems to be floating in a solid black colour but as you look closer you can see some background detail possibly panelling which helps to break up the black area of colour.
The position of the arm with the white shirt cuff works as a counter balance to the face which seems to disappear in to the blackness.

David Hockney, 1966
This landscape shot focuses in on the face and in particular on the eyes which are framed by chunky glasses, cropping in and around the face makes the portrait stronger and tighter in composition, also the position of the sitter to the left balances well with the background.

Samuel Beckett, 1976
This portrait seems to capture the intensity of Beckett, every crease on the face seems to have been burnt in to the image, the eyes are looking directly and engaging with the viewer, the body has been cropped away to focus in on the face.

Bridget Riley, 1989
The way in which the sitter has been positioned and how the hand is covering the mouth seems to capture an intermit moment, the angle of the head also add to the natural look and feel, as if you are engaged in a private conversation with Riely.

Sinead OConnor, 1992
This portrait seems to capture a private moment, the position of the face, looking down portrays a private moment and the way in which the picture has been tightly cropped helps to intensify this moment.

David Bailey, 2005
This landscape image of David Bailey captures an intense strong stair, he seems to be engaging with the viewer directly, the light which is captured on the right of his coat helps to bring him forward from the background.

Image manipulation - Ass 211 i'sh

The idea for this portraiture shot was to use a coloured lens filter as a prop, Chris the model for the day is budding photographer and I wanted to bring some part of his hobby into the photo shoot, from discussion I set up the camera and lights, the main focus point would be the hand held lens filter, positioned over his right eye.

After taking the shots I downloaded all of the images to my desktop and I selected one of the image which I felt had the right balance and lens position.

For the next stage in the image process I needed to develop and colour montage in Photoshop, I decided to turn the image in to black and white with a hi-contrast look and feel, I would also retain the red filter colour and a yellow background was chosen as a balance to the overall image.

Lens EF-S18-55mm f/5.7

Ass 207 - Task 1b - Advertising concept photo shoot

Once the idea had been approved, the first part of my assignment would be to secure clothing props for the shoot, I was able to secure the clothing with help of local amateur cricketers, 2 pint glasses were borrowed from a local pub and for the final prop I made the discission to use larger beer instead of a darker bitter, I felt that a lighter coloured beer in the glass would give a cleaner brighter look, unlike a traditional brown bitter.

For the shoot I used 2 lights to lighten the background, the background might be removed at a later date to allow for either landscape or portrait use. This way of working would provide a flexibility of image use later on. A single light was used to light up the model, the position of the light was to the front and slightly off to the models right.

The type of pose and the creative idea were discussed with the model and provided an understanding about what type of image I hoped to capture, we also discussed how the session might unfold as we worked together during the shoot. A few test shots were taken to make sure that the position of the lights and camera were okay, I also looked and tested both of my lenses (Canon 50mm lens and a Canon 18-55mm lens) after looking at the test shots I decided to use the 18-55mm lens for the rest of the shoot, I felt that this lens gave me the most flexibility for the shoot. To get the shot I was looking for I positioned the camera at a high position on the studio tripod, slightly above eye level, because of the angle and position of the camera I needed to use a step-ladder, before ladder use I made sure that all safety protocol and procedure was followed.

During the photo session I took just under 100 images, once I had downloaded the images from my camera I was able to take a look at all the images and started a selection process of the images which I felt met with the following requirements; good focus on the face, balanced lighting, good posture, and hopefully a range of characturers.

From the 100 images I made a selection of just 19 images which i felt encapsulated the above criteria, I imported the selected images into Lightroom to take a closer look at the individual images and if I felt that there was a need I could make changes to the colour balance of each of the images, once I was happy i exported them to a new folder on my desktop. These images would be reduced further to only 10 images, then finally I would make a final selection which would then be used and incorporated into the advertising poster.

9 of the best

Making the final selection I wanted to eliminate the weaker shots and those shots that appeared very similar in both stance and facial expression.
My final choice for the prefered image to be used in the poster was the umpire_ 6. I felt that this image had a good posture balance, and great facial expression.

owzthat...

Alton day trip - personal

During a day trip to Alton Towers this summer I took the opportunity to take some shots trying to capture the enjoyment of the day, I have cropped each of the images to hopefully improve the picture balance.

Air - I positioned myself under the ride and set the camera to a fast shutter speed, hand held. I was hoping to capture the enjoyment on the passengers as they past by overhead.

Pirate ride - for this shot I had to stand in the line of fire as the boat carried on its journey, as soon as friendly fire hit me I new it was time to retreat...

Oblivion - for this shot I used a wooden fence as a temporary tripod. I tried different shutter speeds trying and capture the movement of the ride, I also decreased the apertures to reduce the amount of light entering the camera to avoid image burn-out, the above image is the one were I think it worked best.

Whilst walking past a large group of deckchair users I decided to try and take a landscape shot, I shot this image by positioning myself to the left of the last deckchair in the group in a crouch position (some strange looks) and tried to capture a sense of isolation, for the post production work I firstly saved the image as a sepia then I hand tinted areas and then I cropped it as above.

Ass 207 - Task 1b - Advertising concept theme 1

Intentions/purpose of the photography to be undertaken :-

The idea is to take one of my original rough sketch ideas for a poster recruitment campaign and to turn this early concept into a photographic image, the image needs to work with the headline “know anyone who would make the cricketer’s successful?”
I have sourced various props for this session which will be used to dress the model as a cricketing umpire. I am hoping to create an image that is both interesting and hopefully humorous.
I will also discuss with the tutor about the opportunity to try some different lenses to see how they work differently from my own in both use and the resulting images.

Reasons for selection of theme (including inspiration from the work of others) :-

I chose this theme because I wanted to see my idea develop and enjoy the opportunity to take a sketch idea free from external influence which I have in my daily work, inspiration has been gained from Rankin, his ability to capture a look, feeling or different emotion time after time for each new advertising brief and how he continually can come up with new creative ideas is something I can only try to emulate.

The photo imaging equipment and medium that will be used and why :-

For the studio session I will be using my Canon 500D with a shutter release cable and a hotshoe adapter linking to the studio lights for firing, a minimum of two lights will be used one to light the subject and one for the background, the use of reflectors might be used if I feel they can add something to the images.

The lenses I will be using are a Canon 50mm lens and a Canon 18-55mm lens. For the post production work I will be using the software Lightroom to process the work and Photoshop CS3, once ready I will upload the selected images to my blog and I will also incorporate one of the images into an artwork visual as well.

Techniques that will be used and how they will help convey the visual message :-

I will be trying different positions for the lights to see how this effects the contrast within the image and how it changes the overall look and feel of the photograph. I will also be moving the position of camera to try and get the right viewpoint. Depth of field settings will also add to the overall atmosphere of the image.

Safety considerations:-

All health and safety guidelines will be observed once the studio has been entered,I will familiarise myself and model with the fire evacuation routes from the studio. I will always keep the door clear of all obstruction, we need to find out the contact name and number of the first aider before starting work in the studio and report immediately any accident or near miss to the tutor and in general act responsible at all times and look after and tidy up all the equipment once used.

Table top footy - personal

This shot was taken on top of the dining table, I used a small anglepoise lamp to help create the dark shadows and once the camera was set up and positioned I started to move the players around to create to composition. The lens used was a 50mm, during this session I also tried different F-stops, exposure times and ISOs. This picture was my favourite from the evenings work/play.

Level Two Certificate in Specialist Photography & Presentation

I have chosen to undertake this photographic course so that I can improve my ability to use a camera. The assignments that I have opted to undertake are 207 - principles of studio photography and 211 - Presenting photo images.

Personal work - college

Personal work - these two images were the result of my first solo flight in the college photographic studio. The exercise was to work in pairs - having to working both sides of the camera would hopefully help us to understand what it is like for the ordinary person to sit in front of a camera and be asked to pose.

For this session we used 2 lights, one to light the subject from the front or side and the second one for the background. The lens I chose to used was a 18-55mm with f-stops of 3.5 to 5.6.

For the first image I got Tony to use the camera as a prop keeping a straight face looking directly at the lens and leaning back in the chair slightly. For the second sitting I asked Tony to sit upright balanced on a stool, I tried to get him to relax by talking, using the odd swear word and laughter with this informal interaction between us I feel that this photograph captured part of his personality.

Once I had downloaded the images and made my selection I worked in Photshop for the post-production work, I was looking to alter the contrast and create the bleach look and feel.

Rankin portraiture

John Rankin Waddell, working name Rankin, is a British portrait and fashion photographer. studying Photography at London College of Print, Rankin has gone on to work with international companies on advertising campaigns, photo shoots for various magazines and worked with many stars of music and film.
The work which I really enjoy looking at is his collection of portraiture shots, his ability to capture a look, mood, feel and a sense of humour  comes through his work time after time.

Justin T shoot... the use of strong background shadows ads to the dramatic impact of the overall image, the stance has a strong feel of the Andy Warhol "Elvis - Gun Slinger" Screenprints produced in the 1960's linking past and present international stars together.

Ian Brown - this intense image of Ian works in so many areas, the picture has been taken in mono with a strong use of contrast, the background starts to blend with the subject intensifying his face and stare.
The light used to highlight his face has been captured in his eyes and this also adds to the look, the camera has been lowered below his face level giving the impression that he is looking down on the viewer again adding to the overall feel of the portrait.

Bill Nighy - the subject is engaiging directly with the viewer, the use of his glasses as a prop and the way in which he is holding them - putting them on or taking them off adds to the composition, a white highlight has been captured in the eyes bringing them to life (I would be intrested to know if the glasses has glass in them). The angle of the pose, his face shape and smile/pout helps to emphasize and capture his personalty.

The image has been cropped through the face and body, this close crop helps draw your eye towards the face and the use of white space to the left helps to give the image a well balanced look and feel.

Goat walking...

After watching a goat race in Dorset "as you do" the young goats were all given a drink and then allowed in to the meadow for a warm-down walk, each goat was handed out and I think we ended up with the tourette kid, this idylic walk quickly ended in a battle of wills for the direction and speed of the walk, better grazing always seemed to be in the other direction...

With the battle of wills taking place between goat and handler, I took the opportunity to try and capture some close-up shots hopefully capturing the enjoyment of the day.

The lens used was a 50mm with an f-stop of 24, shutter speed 1/1,600, give or take a little.