Assignment One

A Portrait ...

A challenging assignment? Definitely! 

Looking back at all the work that I did up to the point of setting out on this assignment, I decided that I wanted to come up with images that reflected what I'd learnt on the way, combined with interesting locations and, perhaps images that reflected something of my model. Terry, has a lovely smile but I wanted to capture other expressions ..expressions that were natural and not contrived.

How successful were these aims? Well, these are the final images that I've selected for Assignment One:

 

P 761: F5 @ 0.6 43mm  ISO 1600

P761 is taken in a tunnel at Hilsea Lines.The setting works well here - I wanted to use the natural light coming from the right and from the end of a long tunnel to light Terry's face.It shows a reflective, serious side of Terry ...a good pose despite the fact both she and I were practically freezing to death as the location proved to be a serious wind tunnel...Hot chocolate had to be administered when we arrived back home. 

P767:F5.6 @ 1/40 26mm  ISO 100

Terry is a keen reader of newspapers.I've seen her read papers while waiting for trains, in queues, shops and waiting rooms so standing outside, leaning against a wall and reading a newspaper is very much in character.

I chose this alley entrance, down at heel but visually interesting, as the location for this particular activity as I was looking for a slightly edgy background to compliment the reading of 'serious' news.I also wanted, in a sense, to 'frame' the activity so leaning between the wooden frame on the left and the vertical wooden planks on the right worked well. The sunlight proved a problem as it came from behind me creating my shadow as well as Terry's so I had to spent some time moving around to get this particular angle. Not sure that the lighting worked that well as I ended up with shadows lower down around the right arm. That said, I was pleased with the stance even if the technical side could have been better.

Below is my version of a more formal head and shoulders portrait, taken inside in our conservatory. I was looking for a plain background that would not work against the portrait - a rare location in our home. Again I wanted to work with natural light, avoid harsh shadows from the sunlight lighting up the background and Terry's face with patterns from the window frames but achieve enough shadow to add depth and character to Terry's face.
 

P762:F5.6 @ 1/400  87mm  ISO 800

I used a tripod and 'live' view on the camera. Terry is not a natural 'poser' in front of the camera but was willing to chat for a while which helped both of us relax into the session and achieve a variety of expressions..it was a toss-up between P762 above and P771 below. 

 

P771:F5.6 @ 1/320  87mm  ISO 800

P762 won out both from a practical point of view - I managed to avoid the division of background that appeared in P771 and the light planes worked better but also I felt that it was a more interesting expression.Not surprisingly perhaps, my model preferred the smiling image..

P765: F5 @ 1/30  31mm  ISO 100

I like this relaxed pose framed within the door frame...it works well.The lighting is less successful though.While the angle of the sun helps define the pose against the background, it produces a slightly overexposed right side of Terry's face resulting in less definition. 

 

P766: F4.5 @ 1/25  31mm  ISO 100

Contrast P765 with the image above (P766). I like the directness of this image which I captured almost by chance at the end of a session of images taken using the doorway into our garage. I wanted a dark background to bring out more definition for a head and shoulders image and discovered that this doorway came up trumps. We didn't have much of a window between days of heavy rain, and a further challenge here was the angle of light onto Terry's face made worse by the bright winter sunlight just at the time of day we were able to get out in the dry. At this point in the session I'd abandoned the tripod and moved in closer..perhaps the reason for the very wary look?

P769:F5.6 @ 1/40 22mm ISO 100

The light was difficult here but I've chosen to include this image as an 'activity' shot - I like the pose and the look of concentration as Terry sorts out Lego figures for a Geocache picture. The print version of this doesn't really do the image justice...more due to a calibrating difficulty with printer and screen profile.With hindsight a higher aperture would have worked better as clearer background detail would have added rather than diminished the image.


P763 below was taken just minutes into 2015 on the top of Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth. This is a favourite beauty spot for local people to see the New Year in. Apart from being very close to Mick's Monster Burger Bar in the spot car park, you can see all the fireworks across the city laid below and if the wind is in the right direction, hear the ship horns sounding the New year in.

I took my camera with me as it was a dry night and I was actually thinking ahead to the next part of the course i.e. 'People unaware '. That said, the idea for this image popped up suddenly on the hill and I just went with it. I like the direct, relaxed pose as it wasn't actually a contrived as such...am I imagining some anticipation of drinking the hot toddy in the flasks?


 

P763:F3.5 @ 1/60  18mm  ISO 400

P763 is not a technically good image - it was taken with the camera's built-in flash (with no diffuser) leaving a sharp edge to the shadow behind Terry.There was little ambient light so taking the image in the dark relied more on memory as to exactly where my model was ...so more hit or miss than a planned shot. But I do like the pose i.e. the position of the body and the direct, happy look up into the camera lens.Probably more a snapshot style than portrait.

I've only just invested in an external Speedlite and I wonder how this image would turn out using this flash in a more organised portrait session.