Model Shoot

Helen Levitt

Mark Zibert

Going to get them uploaded and do my write-ups tomorrow

Bettina Rheims

Stapenhill Gardens

This is kind of the image I want to create. Nobody is ever home when I am! grrr :)

Light painting

Light painting is great fun. These pictures aren't similar to my research, but contain people so deserved an upload. Things I learned whilst doing this - I steady tripod is essential, we did this in bulb mode so with someone's finger constantly on the button there will be some shake - a steadier tripod will help, as would a remote shutter cable. In some earlier photos, the focus was way off because couldnt see that well in the dark, I will check that the focus is perfect for next time.

Behind The Scenes

The internet is down! So we have been confined to the studio, which is actually really helpful. Here you can see Rob is taking photos of his beloved whisky, trying different lighting positions to avoid reflections and get the colour of the liquid/label perfect. Here is a small behind the scene photo, taken from a generally useless 2mp phone :)
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Jared Polin - FroKnowsPhoto.com

Jared Polin is a photographer from Richboro, Pennsylvania. A jack of all trades, he covers weddings, live music, portraits, sports and other events. Not as well known as Chase Jarvis, he is the co-founder and frontman of FroKnowsPhoto.com - A website dedicated to helping others progress with photography. At the time of writing the FroKnowsPhoto youtube page has over 16,800 subscribers, and has a new video uploaded almost every other day.

I wish to produce similar work to the images below, with my favourites being the 1st and 4th image in this set. The 1st image, a self-portrait, almost makes me laugh. Simple, yet effective, the fairly shallow depth of field draws attention to his iPhone and the image it shows. Again, I cant tell whether this has been 'shopped or not. I suspect so, but would like to think not.
The 4th image in the set is of 2 members of the band SINAI, and were taken in a dressing room before a show. Although it looks like it could be candid, it was staged as Jared was following the band for the day, in the buildup to a show.

I really like the composition of this image. Great use of frames within a frame (I cant tell if its photoshopped, I think so but it is very well done). The focal point is his eyes. Use of colour isn't a talking point in this image. There is a little bit of texture coming through in his hair. There are different scales in this image, (smaller face on the phone) - if you imagine the picture on the phone blended onto his face, it would be really small. If you apply the rule of thirds, the phone is almost perfectly central on the grid. Shape - rectangular phone. I feel this image wouldn't work in black and white.

What interests me most in this image in the the way the straight lines lead to the centre, almost a vanishing point. It has a wide tonal range. The focus us set on the interviewer, but you are led to the centre of the image. The shelter they are in appears to be of a large scale. It obeys the rule of thirds as they are off to the right of the image (albeit only marginally). It is framed well, he hasn't cut off any part of his subject and he makes use of the strong available light. The only other thing worth pointing out is that you can see his shadow in the lower right corner of the image, but has covered it with his logo.

Jared takes questions on Skype for the FroKnowsPhoto page, and it is here I intend to find out more.

Chase Jarvis

Chase Jarvis is a professional photographer who has produced images for some of the biggest companies in the world, including Toyota, Mountain Dew, Reebok and SanDisk.

These works are not the type of image I want to create, awesome as they are. What drew me to look at Chase is a project named Seattle100. It is described on his website as a 'snapshot in time of a city' and consists of musicians, dancers, artists, dj's and other cultural leaders.

I am a huge fan of black and white images. What I like about these images (and what brought me to them) is that they are all a bit different to the 'normal' studio portrait. They are all framed for dramatic effect - Image 3 for example, is just someone pulling up a sock. It is different. You can deduce so much from a sectional portrait without ever needing to see a face. Image 2 is similar, you get the sense that this man is very important without the need to see anything else. Images 5 and 6 are both similar, because they include more than just the white background - they include what is behind it, lights, concrete wall, chairs. This makes the image stand out next to your conventional portrait. I am unsure as to whether the reflection in the handmirror and the spraypaint have been added in post-production, but even if it has it has been done extremely well. I have no issues with adding things in post production, and intend to do so.

Statement of intent - Assignment 105,107, and 108.

I am currently working towards a Level 1 Certificate in specialist photography. My subject will be people, with my theme as portraiture.

The equipment I have is limited, but for a lot of my of images i will use/carry:

Canon 550d+ 18-55mm lens

Spare Battery

Vanguard Tripod or gorillapod

CPL Filter

2 SD cards.

My equipment may limit me when trying to blow out the background of an image due to the variable aperture of my lens(f4-5.6) and also in lower light conditions where there may not be enough light to create a great quality image (Keeping ISO low enough to avoid horrible grain). I also do not have an external flash so I can't take any pictures with off-camera lighting when out of college.

In the studio where some of my work will take place, I will use:

Canon 5D

Radio triggers for the studio lighting

Reflectors (both silver and gold)

Whichever lens best suits the type of image I want to create.

Good image quality is essential for every photograph I take. I will be judging image quality by looking at sharpness, noise, ghosting, chromatic aberration and any other 'defects'.

The best way to check this is in a post-production application, mainly Photoshop. Using Photoshop you can usually correct these errors, unless very severe.

The final images will relate to the theme, as they will be portraits. These will be taken both in the studio, and outside, both in darkness and during the day. I will make use of different lighting and locations, to try and get a variety of different photos that still relate to my theme.

I am currently unsure how to present my images for assignment 107.

For assignment 108 (Digital Image Manipulation) I will use Photoshop to enhance my images, whether that be altering the colour slightly, sharpening, correcting errors, and even remove elements of the picture.

Statement of intent

Black And White

Shooting in monochrome can really change the feel of your images. These simple pictures taken in my bedroom look awful in colour, much better in b+w. Only used Photoshop's default B+W setting.

Blogging from my phone!

Just a test email :)
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New Camera! Canon 550d :D

Glad to have finally bought a 'proper' camera. Depth of field control just didnt exist on the Powershot S3 I was using, because of its tiny sensor! Cannot wait to give it a proper run. This picture was taken on the washlands.

Camera Wars ep IV: I find your lack of f/stop disturbing!

Annoyed! I wanted to capture some motion by using a 1/4 shutter speed but the imaage was so over exposed, even at 1/13! I flicked over to manual mode to find that the smallest f/stop available was f8! f/22 please!

And because of its tiny sensor the depth of field is pretty wide even at f2.7, will be buying a better camera soon I think..!

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I knew photoshop was powerful, but not this powerful! Look at image 3 - its a before and after screenshot - its like the bin was never even there! Just a few little tweaks can make an image change dramatically. Black and White looks OK without any adjustments, but playing with the colour curves and the balance can really bring out the blacks. I know what I'll be doing later..

2nd Photography session at college, and we looked at composition - and also a little bit of photoshop ;)
This is my favourite picture from the 30mins we were outside, made B+W, because it looks so much more dramatic. The bin is the focus of the image. Out of the ten composition styles we were tasked with, this one fulfils the Angle criteria, because it is taken at a different angle to draw attention to an object, and also Shadows.