Studio Photography Brief

I have to say I've enjoyed this part of the L3 course but it also requires patience. It takes up a lot of time setting up lighting, choosing the subject and positioning them/it in the best way to take advantage of the lighting and props used.
My first submission is High-Key Lighting, essentially this type of photography aims to light a object or the sitter with plenty of light to the front and rear but still keeping essential detail of the subject. Ideally several flash units should be used. A white backdrop is normally used with a dedicated flash head for background exposure whilst the subject is lit by either two flash units lit from a 45degree angle or one at 90 degree to the subject giving a well lit image with no shadows although shadows can still look good in High Key, there are no rules!
 Below I've included a typical High-Key lighting setup but this is is only a guide, experimenting can give you better results.

The image below is a studio shot I took of Pat, my willing volunteer for the day. Using a similar setup as the one above her face is lit up from both sides using flash strobes with soft boxes, the rear backdrop is also lit with direct flash with no diffuser.

As you can see Pat is well lit from all angles and there's little in the way of shadows, I think the shadows around the eyes neck and nose are important otherwise the image could look blown out instead I've kept important feature definition and detail.

Low-Key Photography.

Low-key photography is nearly negative or reverse of Hi-key, also known as Film Noir, this type of photography concentrates on a very dark images at the same time keeping the subject well or partially exposed. At a lighting point of view the back drop is black or a dark colour, the subject is usually lit from one side sometimes with a reflector to include extra highlights.

My Low-Key image is of a chrysanthemum, white always works well on a black background giving greater depth an clarity. The flower was lit by a single flash strobe with no diffuser. White on black gives great results. The light shows up the detail and the shadows give the flower depth.

Product or Commercial Photography.

My next challenge was photographing a object for commercial purposes of which the studio had a predetermined lighting setup by John and the subject was jewellery. The ideal setup is a well lit product, although this depends on what your photographing, some sort of background and maybe a prop to go with the product, in my case below a piece of granite but first I've included a typical lighting setup for commercial photography.

In the image below I've included a typical lighting setup as above but I haven't included the beauty dish. I did include a reflector to bounce light off the front but kept the two rear flashes to give an even base for the subject.

My next image is another commercial image setup by John. This time the product was placed on perspex to allow lighting from underneath and also to include a background perspective from below which was lit by a honeycomb filter, the rest of the set was lit in the same way as the jewelery shot. Post processing was done with Photoshop© and Perfect Effects©.

I've chose another commercial image because, frankly, I got what I thought were good results. My third image was done in the studio but in this case it was setup by myself with a single flash head, situated at quite a high elevation pointing straight on to the subject, I was shooting from quite a distance away giving my a large frame to include text. I think the lighting suits the subject and the company, I've also noticed that a lot of selling techniques for products today have a lot of black in their images so I thought I would give my interpretation of it. (Other training shoe companies are also available!)

My last studio image submission is flowers, this was quite easy lighting, which included a single flash head, the background was neutral just so I had more flexibility for post processing of which I've done to the image below of which I've also included a texture.

The last duo of images in this blog contain a instructional image and the image I shot at home.
This was my attempt at a home portrait, my wife Louise, by using off camera flash, which basically means the use of a flashgun that is not mounted on the camera taking the image, as the image shows below, except in my case there was no cable connecting the camera to the flash, instead it was synced to my cameras internal flash.

Now as most photographers know this can cause problems if you don't want the camera flash to expose the image or at least reduce it. So what I did was I set my flash exposure to 1/2  setting, placed the off camera flash 90 degree to the left of Louise and with a piece of white card directed the flash up to the ceiling triggering the external flash but not over exposing with the camera flash. I know it would have been easier with a sync lead but I didn't have one so I just made do. I'm happy with the end result and so is Louise!

 Summary:

Although this has been the most challenging assignment so far, I've learned a lot, I could waffle on about exposure, aperture and white balance but at the end of the day it's experimental and not an exact science, there are all sorts of things that influence a studio shoot whether its heating, lighting or even the mood of people you shoot, take it as it comes and react to the situation, to me it's been an exciting challenge!


                                                            Sean Wareing 2013 ©                 

The Portrait in Photography

An experiment with Portraiture.

What is Portraiture?
A portrait may be difficult to explain and there are many ways to create a portrait image but in essence the following generally apply.

The Face
This can include facial expressions such as frowning, grinning or smiling. Hair and personal appearance such as make-up and hair style.

Pose
Whether the person is standing, lying, sitting also the manner and attitude in which they present themselves.

Clothes
This may represent social class, sex, cultural values and fashion.

Location
This could be a studio, urban or landscape setting etc. The image may contain clear shots of the environment or it may be a case that a shallow depth of field is required to blur out any distracting objects.

Each of the above elements effects another in the overall potential for meaning. Various photographic techniques such as framing, lens, focus, depth of field, lighting, view point etc. are used as ways of controlling the four key elements and thereby communicating special information about the sitter.
By using the key elements above I've attempted to produce some portraiture of some willing volunteers. A special thanks to Jasper, Butha, Patrycja and George.

My thoughts
Despite the strong sunshine,I feel that I handled the shoot well going for a more candid style in some of my shots depending on my victims. I have no explanation why I shot in mono, I just felt it was right for the day.


Sean Wareing 2013 ©

Architectural Photography

The Plan.
 To catch the bus into Manchester with the family to take architectural images.


Equipment.

I will be armed with a Canon 500d with a Tamron 28-74mm F2.8 Lens. Harry, my son, is commanding a Canon FTb 35mm SLR boasting a 50mm f1.4 prime lens, the camera is loaded with Kodak Gold Ultra 200 film all under my expert guidance of course. My wife fancies her chances also so she is equipped with a Canon 450d with a 50mm f1.8 prime lens for the family pics. Last but no means least there's Libby 6 years and Katie 3 nearly 4 clutching my trusty Kodak Z650 loaded with new Duracells and set to auto.

 

  

 Theme.
Architecture for me or anything that doesn't move.

Weather.
A glorious day with an ample amount of light to cast those all important shadows and allowing me to Stop Down the aperture to give me depth of field and sharp images, no need for a tri-pod today.

The Hulme Arch.

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This was one of the first images of the day taken from the number 256 bus window.

Deansgate office building.

 Not sure on this buildings function but the contrast of the blue sky and the building gave me a great opportunity to get a decent shot. I especially love the way the sun hits the front of the building and then reflects through the side giving vertical lines of light.

The John Rylands Library.

 This image was taken in the stairwell just behind reception. The glass roof allowed light to pour down creating shadows around these internal window frames showing great contrast. The next few images are also taken in the library and what a stunning place it is.

The three images above were also taken in the stair well of the library. The first two are two of my personal favorites from the day. The abundance of available light allowed me to experiment a little so I messed around with exposure and white balance to give me abstract images.

This image may seem out of place with this collection but I included it because it was taken in the same building as the previous shots this was a more difficult challenge as flash photography is not allowed in the building so I had to use the limited light that was available. Trying to get an aperture of f 5.0 and above I was in the realms of the use of a tri-pod but I got away with this one managing to keep the camera steady enough at 1/13 sec.

Georgio Armani

Adjacent to the library is the Armani shop which gave me an opportunity to get the moon in shot as well as this great building. Only problem with this image is that it comes across a bit flat but it was in a shaded area.

Manchester Court building.

This was a great opportunity to get old and new architecture in one shot, a reflection of the Town Hall at the entrance to the court buildings.

The Avenue.

A shopping and restaurant area situated behind the library gave me this next opportunity, looking up from the corner of the building. I love how the building takes on the colour of the sky intersected by black horizontal and vertical lines.

The same building taken at the far end. I also like the way the light hits the geometric glass panels.

The court buildings.

Another great opportunity, this building is fascinating and looks like its made of lego. My only disappointment is that I couldn't take the picture from a more elevated position and directly in front to give me more parallel lines.

Not sure about this building but I love the curves, it gives the eye a break from all those sharp geometric angles of the surrounding buildings. The great colour and tones in this image are probably down to the building opposite reflecting light back.

Sundown.

 Taken on the bus going home was another great opportunity as the sun began to set, these two images were taken in the Old Trafford vicinity.

Summary.
All in all I was pleased with the results, architecture has to be one of my passions and I hope I've conveyed this in my images. The weather was kind and gave me the opportunity to get great results.
It cost me £8.50 for a family return bus ticket, worth every penny I'd say!

Sean Wareing 2013 ©