Stephen Salmieri

http://www.salmieriphotographs.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0

These photographs are good inspiration for my photography as for the first workshop we are doing our 'task' is to photograph more than one person in the frame, the composition of the people within the frame can be used to tell more about the people : if one fills the frame more they become seemingly more important than the other, same with height as the taller person becomes the main focus as they are seen first. The way the people in the first two images have been posed shows us their relationship with the other people; the way they are touching in the first image appears to be a loving embrace which is strong and passionate whereas the second image is a gentle soft touch as there is a child between the couple.

The two last images are close ups showing just the persons face, these also show the personality and some background information about the person; the musical instrument connotes that the model is a musician.

What Should I Budget for?

Well lets see what I will need for this project :

9.5*12 paper
£10 for 10 sheets

20*24 paper
£40 or £45 for 10 sheets

12*16 colour paper
£45 for 50 sheets

5*4 film
£2 per film (one film takes one photograph)

120 film
£5.50 per film (12 shots per film)

120 film developing
£5.70 per film


Hmm this is looking as though it is going to be an expensive module, lets just hope it all works relatively smoothly and I do not need to buy multiple packets of each paper.

Principles of Portraits

There are certain preconceptions people have when somebody says 'Portrait' many people think of highly make upped photographs of women as in our society the 'Selfie' has become a large part of the daily photography we are exposed too. People think of the scaling the phone automatically does and how the quality looks.

Typical art portraits have been done in portrait orientation as this how the person would be stood and be seen naturally, usually there is little in the background of a staged portrait as most are done in studio's or with a shallow DoF, straight portraits such as those in Street Photography can be both close up or environmental shots which show the background as well as that is part of the narrative within the photograph.

Many photographers compose their images to follow the Rule of Thirds; the invisible lines our eyes create through the photograph, and then their main focus of the photograph is on composed over where these lines would be. This 'rule' is a useful tool as it does lead the viewers eye around the image and can help with starting out photographers as it is a standard that people can understand and expect to be followed. However it does not always have to be in place as not all photographs follow the this rule as not all can, it depends on the subject.


When photographing people it is much easier to have a mid DoF as this means the background will still be out of focus and it allows the model some movement room as people can not freeze and stay exactly still in the same position for the length of time it takes to focus and take the shot. DoF is a useful way of making sure that the model is the main focus of the photograph as the background can not be made out as it would appear blurry.

Printing layouts are unlimited, but the most common way it is done is one photograph per paper with a white border around the photograph, many people have different views on the size that the border should be, personally I think that images should have a small border as this means the viewer is drawn into the image and can clearly see the edges of the photograph and the framing you as the photographer chose, plus it also helps when handling prints as any marks made will be over the border and not the photograph and it will not be as noticed.

5*4 Photographers

Edward Weston

These photographs are environmental portraits which give more information about the person as it shows us their habitat and how they are living, it can also tell us why they are dressed as they are; the first subject is wearing simpler clothes that would be easy to mend if they got broken while working. the location looks more rural than the second image because of the planks of wood used on the building and the floor appears to be broken stones over mud.

I would not say the second photograph shows us much information about the perso as the details of his face can not be seen, I would say this is a generalisation of the business men in urban towns and cities; this man could be anybody you pass on the street but you can't tell because you can not see his face in this photograph.

I think it would be fun to experiment with not showing peoples faces and showing generalisations or stereotypes however this would maybe not fit into this brief of taking portraits to show who the person is as hiding the face would defeat this objective.

Paul Wakefield

These are also environmental portraits, one in landscape and the other in portrait, if the person works or lives in an interesting environment I think it would be interesting to show them in their location, this would also help the subject feel more at ease as they are somewhere they feel comfortable and they can and will relax more. 

I might take the camera out one night and shoot some people I know in their houses, as this will mean they are comfortable and I can take my time with the camera talking to them to make them feel more relaxed before I start to set up the shot, people on the street usually do not like to stop and chat as they have somewhere they would rather be and it will be starting to get colder.

Possible Ideas - Black and White

For the black and white photographs the brief says :

"produce prints in the black and white darkroom made from 5x4 negatives that explore shallow, mid and long depth of field portraits of strangers in a public place. "

I am going to take the camera into Church Square as this is easy for me to access both interesting backgrounds and a wide variety of strangers as people pass through here. People of all ages and occupations (such as college students to the retired gentlemen heading to Wetherspoons).

I do not want to do environmental portraits but photograph mid body as this shows the way the person is representing them-self and the detail in their face and still keeps some details in the background.

I am possibly going to photograph groups of people or couples as this adds more information about the person as it shows who they choose to hang around with. This will also challenge me as I have not photographed groups before and I think models will be more willing to model if they can be with their friends.

30 Expressive Portraits

http://www.stockvault.net/blog/photography/30-expressive-portrait-photographs/


I think that the more the persons face fills the frame of the photograph the more detailed the expression becomes and the more eye catching it becomes because the person seems to become life size and as though they are they infront of you rather than in a photograph.

In my own photography I am going to look at doing close ups of people as more person less background seems appealing to me as sometimes backgrounds can be decieving about the person, sometimes the person would not choose to be in the location they have been photographed in. I also think that the closer in it is the more you can see about the person and the better the expression becomes because of the detail in their face.

Inspiring Dynamic Portraits

http://www.stockvault.net/blog/photography/inspiring-dynamic-portrait-photographs/

Majority of these portraits show the persons personality through the use of props, props can be anything as small as a cigarette right up too a plane. Most people carry items with them daily and any of these could be used as props, the items the person carries show how the person represents their self or would like to be seen as.

Props can also be a good way to get the person more relaxed infront of the camera as they feel as though the attention would be on the prop rather than them. Looking for people who are carrying small items could be a good way to get more natural looking photographs, rather than some nervous people who have been stopped in the street by strangers with a camera.

30 Captivating Photographs

http://www.stockvault.net/blog/photography/30-captivating-portrait-photographs/


These portraits show people in a wide variety of ways, both staged and straight and I like the differences between them, the photographer is showing their personality and capturing the models personality and feelings by the pose, the background, the composition, and the lighting set up.

Some images were high key which connotes positive feelings because the photograph is so well lit and bright, whereas some were low key which can connote negative feelings because of the darkness of the image but can also just be atmospheric purposes and to draw out the details of the face.

I am going to look more into the details of the faces of the models and I will be looking for characteristic faces when I go out shooting.

DoF workshop

DoF stands for : Depth of Field, it is a photography term used to describe the 'blurriness' of the background of the photograph, or sometimes it is in the foreground.

It means that whatever is being focused on will be drawing the attention of the viewer because the eye can easily distinguish what the subject is with little effort and it is easier for the eye to look at.

DoF should be understood by all photographers as it can be used effectively in all genres of photography, shallow DoF can be used in portraits and artistic still lifes to highlight certain areas of the objects and to make them stand out against the background. Large Dof works efectively with commercial shots where the product must be fully in focus so potential buyers can gain a complete vision of the product, and it also works for landscapes so that the foreground flowers and the field in the background can both be in focus and clearly seen.

It is always best to experiment with different DoF's in every shoot as sometimes when you think it might not look right it can lead you to getting a better shot than before.

DoF can quickly be changed by changing the F stop; a small number means that the DoF will be small (only a small amount in focus), and then as the number increases so does the range that is in focus, The position of the subject will also affect how the DoF looks, if the subject is closer to the camera the range of focus will be smaller and the further away the bigger the focus range will be. This is also true of moving the subject from the background, if the subject is near the background then most likely the background will be in the range of focus, to clearly see the DoF changing move the subject away from the background and take the same photograph three times on three different F stops, the background will change 'blurriness'

Editorial Evaluation

For this Editorial project I have looked at how people are changing as they become active on social media sites.  I looked at how people portray themselves online: many people edit their lives down and only show the best of themselves because they do not want people to see their real lives. My photographs look at how people are becoming lost to the version of their world they have created digitally and I feel that my photographs show this through the use of shallow depth of field with the focus on the mobile phone.

I have been influenced by society and modern culture: it is acceptable to take a ‘selfie’ during any activity and all ages can be involved; the only limit is the length of your arm. Many celebrities and powerful political people are becoming involved and the genre quickly became instantly recognisable by the simple styling of the photograph. Personally I do not understand the obsession with taking ‘selfies’ throughout the day just to post online for fun but exploring my own self-image during this project was intriguing.

I feel that my final outcomes have been successful in showing that people are losing themselves to technology, the depth of field showing the person through the phone was a symbolic way of showing people online because many social media sites have apps that can upload photographs straight from phones. My first idea I tried for this project was not as successful as I hoped for because when I showed people my work they did not see the image in the same way that I did so this made me stop and rethink my idea to find a way that people would be able to see my idea more clearly.

My images could have been improved if I continued with studio shooting as I feel these are more successful in showing the person becoming lost to the social media sites because the plain background makes them appear as though they aren’t in a location anymore and have been taken into the digital world.

I have used many different techniques for this shoot as I have explored a few possible ideas for my project. I enjoyed being able to develop my technique from in the studio to going out on location; in the studio I was shooting on ISO 100 and this meant the shutter speed was slowed down so in many of the images there is slight movement with the phone so the screen looks distorted. While I was on location I was using the natural lighting available so I raised the ISO and this allowed me a faster shutter speed that stopped the motion blur.

I did not encounter any major problems however one slight problem was that I struggled to manually focus the image so that the phone was sharp as the person could not remain still and each model was stood in a slightly different position so the focus point was constantly changing, to try and get the phone in focus I took multiple images changing the focus each time.

The weekly group critiques we had helped me to focus my idea as people did not understand what was I was trying to show with my first idea as I think I took the idea too far and did not make it literal enough to be easily understood. In a tutorial we discussed ideas how to improve my technique so that I was not getting motion blur, this helped me to greatly improve my photographs, as the focus of the image is more obvious.

I think this project has helped me improve my studio skills as I do not use the studio often and trying a new technique in the studio was difficult at first but once I got back into the studio I really enjoyed it.

This project as challenged my ability to work with models who I have never met before as the many of the models from the studio shoot were from around the university building and I have never talked to them before.  On location I was challenged again because I was working with younger models who did not want to sit still and pose for long while I was struggling to focus manually.

If I had the chance to start this project again I would not spend so long trying to make my first idea work and go right ahead with my second idea because this worked faster and easier and I feel that it gets my idea across that people are becoming lost to technology and social media sites. 

Editorial Final Five

Martin Wilmsen - Biker Portraits

The shallow depth of field in these photographs are similar to what I am shooting, although in these images the entire face is in focus and has not been obscured the effect is still similar to what I would like.

I think the lighting that's been used helps to bring the focus onto the face as the biker has a halo around him which brings the viewer in. The colours used look muted and toned down which gives a calm and neutral atmosphere (many people stereotype bikers to be loud and aggressive and these images don't make me feel like that).

Shoot Five

These images I have taken some more of my family because I was not happy with the amount of grain in the image because I had the ISO on around 3200 because any lower and the image was not exposing correctly. To correct this I shot earlier in the night when there was more light available and I also turned my camera from Manual to AV (I have been shooting in full manual for so long I have forgotten that I have other available options - whoops!) this meant I was not worrying so much about trying to work out the shutter speed as the lighting changed and I moved around the living room.

I have also asked my neighbor to model for me so that I can show a wider range of ages.

In the first five images I have asked my cousin to pose with my phone showing a selfie of him, although keeping a three year old still long enough to manually focus on the phone was hard I like the images of him looking through the photo album on the phone as it shows that even at three he can understand the mobile phone enough to be able to look through photographs to find himself.

I included the photograph of just the phone by itself because I liked how the shallow depth of field draws the viewer and in because there is no sign of the person in the photograph or of the owner of the phone.

The last two images are more of the people posing with the phones, in one image the model did not want to be photographed as they were but they had a "pre-approved" image that was taken previously before a date night. I think that this speaks more about how lost we are because the model wanted to completely change the perception of her by using a different selfie and not show people her everyday look, I think it shows just how much people edit their lives down for the online world because they do not look "perfect" everyday.