Location Lighting Part 1
Theme: Incongruity
Make a set of 3 portraits using incongruity as your starting point – the portraits must be of 3 different locations.
For each picture you need to show a version shot with a reflector and without a reflector. Make sure you use the reflector properly otherwise you won’t see any difference.
They Must be correctly exposed.
The first shot is shot with natural direct sun light facing frontwards without a reflector, which captured a flattering light on the face without any shadows, it has an even amount of light onto my face. Then I turned onto my right, Holly held the silver reflector for the second shot on the right side of my face. The silver reflector makes my right side more lighter, making my highlighter stand out more. The white reflector has a subtle change compared to the silver reflector, it bounces onto the face and creates a softer reflection, the side and my highlighter is less harsh. The final shot is with the black reflector, this makes the side of my face much more darker, a shadow formed.
Metering task
We took pictures of one another in three different positions, the first one is facing away from the sun outside, we shot this four times after the 6th picture on the first contact sheet. One picture was taken In Evaluative metering (idea for most scenes. Also useful for backlit subject), the second was shot in Partial metering (for bright backgrounds, such as with backlit subjects), the third was shot in Spot metering (for metering specific, small area of the subject) and the final shot was shot in Center-weighted average (for obtaining the average brightness, with emphasis on centra area). What I had noticed as I took each photograph, the image was becoming more and more brighter as we used each setting, where the background became darker with more highlights on the face. So taking pictures outside was very bright and hard to capture an even amount of light in areas of the photo, but when we took pictures inside, this was the opposite. This exercise made me realise the meter modes can do this.
Object task – Studio
These objects are important to me because I have had them for a long time, they have gathered dust on them from over the years. The Chinese dragon statue is a gift my brother bought me from Canada 9 years ago. I have kept this object because I love the dark glossy colour, and it is smooth and intricate, nicely designed. It sits well on my shelf as decoration and as a kind gesture from my brother. The gold Buda was a statue that my grandmother had passed down once she died 9 years ago, it reminds me of her because she was known for keeping objects and trinkets that had been in the family. The stones were purchased online about 5 years ago, I love the look of quartz. “The fair and lovely Rose Quartz, with its gentle pink essence, is a stone of the heart, a Crystal of Unconditional Love. It carries a soft feminine energy of compassion and peace, tenderness and healing, nourishment and comfort.” – Wiki. I have always kept them beside my bed to project these qualities and energy. Each object so far brings off a zen, relaxing and calming theme that is important to me to be in my everyday life. The final picture is of me and my cousins when we were younger, I love this object as it is a memory and its important to not forget those times.
5 images task
In this task we were asked to create a series of 5 images that were shot around the college area, which show incidental moments, the images must relate to each other and must use flash. This task made me think about a theme for the photographs, making sure they link together and look effective with the flash. I liked how the pictures came out because the flash creates a nice clean and clear look. When the flash bounced back of the colour black it really brings out that shine and gloss, the black the contrasts well with the background colours. The reason for choosing this theme of hair was because I thought that the flash would work well with the hair due to hair being a shiny subject matter. I wanted to change the exposure by altering the contrast, brightness, highlights and shadows. I wanted the pictures use of flash to be seen properly so I increased the contrast the most as it made the outlines of the photos bold. Darkening the photo is something I think compliments the flash too because the light in the background then really contrasts.
A book I found in the library called [ Fotot ] Antwerpen 2005 is a book I enjoyed looking at, the photos are similar style to what I am interested in and would go towards to capture the sense of place I want for this topic. They are very realistic candid shots, they remind me of photographers such as Alec soth and William Eggleston. The photographs have calming and relaxing tones to set the mood. I like how the photographers all capture a sense of place but also include people, this is something I want to experiment with to keep those themes of fashion and location.
Proposal:
Peer feedback:
- “I like the meaning behind the idea and how you are going to show place that are empty then with people”
- “Do more test shoots trying different techniques”
- “I like how you are planning to shoot the places empty and also with people”
- “I like the idea of keeping it personal to you and having the places be places from your childhood”
- “Test variations of your idea to find what you want to shoot for your final piece”
Test shoot:
Contact sheet:
Shooting in town gave me a good starting point to what direction I want to go in. Town gives me an urban style to shoot, which is the theme I wanted. Capturing the basic angles is what I wanted my starting point to be, to be able to document the structure of the buildings and gather that sense of place.
Magazine task:
Interview (magazine) Interview is an American magazine founded in late 1969 by artist Andy Warhol and British journalist John Wilcock. The magazine, nicknamed “The Crystal Ball of Pop,” features intimate conversations between some of the world’s biggest celebrities, artists, musicians, and creative thinkers. Your task is to create a striking cover portrait for Interview, this can be any person you feel would be cool and photogenic. This must be shot on locations.
Studio photoshoot:
In the studio we set up two soft box lights coming from an angle left and right where I took pictures in between the two lights. The lights were set to apertures of F8 so the camera had a total aperture of F16. However, we ended up using an aperture of F11 to achieve more richness. I liked the way these photos came out, the colours are complimenting and the pictures are not too exposed. I experimented with body shots and close up shots, however I did capture what I completely was happy with towards the end, which was the close up shots.
Contact sheet:
Final best shots:
Final magazine result:
I enjoyed making this edit because it made me pay close attention to detail and how professional editors create this famous magazine look. On photoshop I adjusted the exposure, contrast and levels of black and white. I noticed adjusting the levels of reds is what changed the tones in Callum’s face and achieved what look I wanted. I noticed Interview has a rustic and urban style, like rock and roll so I wanted these dark tones to be noticed.
Photopedagogy – Dream City
https://www.photopedagogy.com/dream-city.html
Peter Fraser quote:
‘It’s almost as if there’s a smell in the air and I’m being forewarned that a moment is approaching so I need to have the camera ready. In a sense I never set out to do anything other than make myself available, to allow that moment where there’s an upsurge of energy from the unconscious mind into the conscious mind which is the moment when I know I have to make a photograph.’
Summarise in my own words:
The process of taking a photograph has many layers to it, as if you are seeking that perfect shot, waiting for that reflex to be triggered by something your mind finds inviting and attractive. Once that picture is took, that is the representation of the period he kept himself active to capture what he was intrigued by.
‘At the core of Surrealist aesthetics, the marvellous was sometimes revealed rather than created. Always on the look-out for quirks of fate in everyday life, the artists sought this notion in the most unexpected places, in the banality, even triviality, of everyday life. The relationship between Realism and Surrealism was gradually transformed, showing that the surreal could be an inherent part of reality itself. The real and the marvellous became “connected vessels” as André Breton put it. From that point, the frontiers between work of art and document became blurred, the artist turned into a wanderer, a collector of “finds”, of “petrifying coincidences”, incessantly questioning the familiar order to unearth its “bewildering strangeness”.
— La Subversion des Images, surréalisme, photographie, film – Pompidou Centre exhibition catalogue.’
My take on Doug Rickard and Michael wolf’s screenshot work:
I wanted to portray contrast and show a gradual change in the quality of location, by focusing in different parts of England that are run down and less rundown areas. Then screen shotting areas in different countries to show the difference, I sometimes made sure people were in the shot, to really get the rawness of how people live within their home area. I liked the contrast of the red and green within the shots, I wanted a running colour scheme. I wanted each shot to be high in exposure, contrast, temperature and saturation.
More test shoots:
Me and my friends recently traveled to Amsterdam and I couldn’t take my camera, however I kept shots on my phone to keep in mind what style I am sticking to, acting as a . It was Reece’s birthday and I knew I wanted to capture a fashion shot with his suit. This was outside the hotel at night time after we got back from our meal, I love how it turned out, even though it was iPhone quality. I used flash to make sure he stood out due to the darkness. The second photo was, again, outside our hotel, I wanted to capture this graffiti on the motorway bridge because the colours against the musky sky was appealing to me. The quality of light is different in different countries depending on the time of year, which I like. I mainly like how the sky is around this time (October) due to the clouds. The area we were in was outside the city and it was very foggy most days, I liked the feel whilst I was there, you really could feel that you were in a different country. It reminded me a bit like Russia. These countries always have foggy/ grey skies which I like.
Russia, picture from Google.
More test shoots:
I stayed over in Yorkshire over the weekend to see my family, I decided to document my time here. Yorkshire is a very nostalgic and comforting place to go, due to the fact I always used to stay when I was younger. My dad, his wife, my aunties, uncles and cousins live here so it is sentimental for me. It ties in well with sense of place because the direction I am going in for it is capturing places/ people that are nostalgic and meaningful to me. Even though I enjoy seeing loved ones, I love the landscape and scenery in Yorkshire, especially in Autumn. When documenting my time there and coming back home, there was a big difference to the way the clouds cleared up traveling over the hills back into the city. There is something about the blue sky in the morning in Autumn, it is clear and the blues are prominent. This car journey I loved when I was younger, now I get the train, so I wanted to communicate this peaceful vibe I get myself through the images. The lighting creates a crisp and gentle effect with the cold atmosphere, this helped how the blue tones came across. When taking the photos I altered how dark/ light the shots would be on my iPhone, I noticed it is a sensitive thing when making sure the level of dark and light is perfect for your shot. I didn’t want the picture to be over exposed, the contrast and exposure needed to communicate a soft, eerie yet dark feel.
These are my favorite shots edited.
Experimenting with locational shots is something I wanted to practice in whilst I was in Yorkshire. Not fully focusing on people just yet has helped me know how to work with capturing the right shots to firstly demonstrate a sense of place. By editing these shots, they have brought my message across the way I wanted. You can take a photo and for it to not mean anything, but I wanted a main theme of mood and sentimental value. By increasing the saturation and contrast it really brought the shots to life. I especially love the first two shots, they have a dated style to them with the brown tones, which works well with my nostalgic theme.
A practical task I did was to take a portrait of my choice and experiment with different ways to destroy the photo. I initially used a big whole puncher on the colour picture, and then positioned the circles in a grid formation. By rearranging the circles it makes an interesting and experimental effect. I wish I would have used a portrait that was more close up with less background and even smaller circles because the picture would have had a better result with more going on visually. I enjoyed tearing up the black and white picture and the outcome, placing it on a black piece of paper makes it have contrast. I liked this exercise because it creates a different way to present your photography than just taking a picture. I liked the weaving technique the most because the two pictures, colour and black and white compliment one another.
Shoot:
Now in Manchester, I took pictures that are local to me. I wanted to capture the streets that I have been brought up around to be able to demonstrate this nostalgic theme. I wanted to remain in Zed Nelsons and Antonio Olmos style, showing the rawness and realness of the British culture/ location. I wanted to make sure a sense of symmetry is used, I think it compliments the photo, and when I come to shooting on site I am surprised with how I can capture what I want with a line of symmetry.
Final edits:
Final test shoot:
Final favourites:
The areas I shot give off an eerie and cold feel, which I wanted to capture. I am glad the shoot was took in this weather during Winter because in 2016 we partied a lot during October, November and December. I wanted to capture this nostalgic and personal aspect of my life through ‘sense of place’ by going to these areas and capturing their full and raw form. When editing them in Photoshop I brought out the dark and gloomy side to what I could see underneath the originals. Originally, I tried shooting the swings and playground with and without flash to see what works best, flash gave a very dark look due to the sky not giving enough light with the clouds. When editing these photos I chose the no flash because I feel it made the subject a lot clearer so when editing I could bring out the style I was looking. By increasing the contrast and exposure creates a bold and dark look to the picture, I wanted it to have a finished and professional feel to it, increasing the saturation brought the reds and blues out more and I made sure the images had a high texture to them to capture that rawness.
Similar to the pictures of Katie I brought a lot of contrast and exposure out, the option clarity on Photoshop brought some of the dark colours out too, I wanted to make sure the whites were at their highest so that in a way they blend in with the sky. I love how the colours and positioning of the model and the red pole work well together. There is a lot of contrast within that photo against the white background, it makes the picture more interesting. I wanted to make sure Katie was relaxed when modeling, I find when people know they are getting their photo taken they can become unsettled and nervous, but you have to work with the camera and be confident. You can always tell by body language what makes a good model with their stance and facial expressions. I wanted symmetry to play apart in my photos because I feel it is a strong feature within a photograph.
Final edits:
Evaluation:
I initially planned out to set the location to be based around Wythenshawe/ Northenden. These locations are where me and my friends would hang around during 2016. The main idea I set out to communicate was this sense of place through a nostalgic and personal theme. I wanted to show this through shooting locations where me and my friends would socialise when younger. I came up with this idea by knowing I didn’t want to take a picture and it have no meaning behind it, it had to be a personal response/ something I was passionate about. I took this theme and started to think about what is meaningful to me, which lead me to stick to a nostalgic theme. I love portrait and fashion/ street photography so, my friends were perfect for this topic and combining fashion photography along side it. My influencers and contextual references have been focused towards Robert Frank, Fred Herzog, Martin Parr, William Eggleston, Willy Doherty: Remains, Antonio Olmos: Landscape of murder, Alec Soth – Niagra, david Bailey, Zed Nelson: Hackney. Towards the end of the topic I realised what style I wanted to work in, I particuarly liked Alec Soth, Willy Doherty, Antonio Olmos and Zed Nelson the most. They all captured locations through a sensitive and dark way. I loved how Alec Soth would take photos of people and accompany them with location shots, he would like to present a story, there is a link between the images which communicated a strong message, working like diptychs. Willy Doherty and Antonio Olmos and and Zed Nelson all have that psychogeography in their own style, which is them capturing urban environments that communicate a feeling. I loved the eeriness and the emptiness of their on sight locations, they really expressed an emotion. This is what I wanted to portray within my final shots, my own personal psychogeography, my locations would communicated this by chosing to shoot during the day and night time because both times of day help to express mood and feeling. I am glad this topic fell in the season Autumn and Winter because it was exactly this season we had these memories during 2016. It also gives a gloomy and cold feel from the white ice skies, wet grounds and bare trees.
My idea has changed since I started first exploring it by focusing at work that was more driven based. I initially looked at the basics by photographing objects and people by building up my topic. I know what interests I originally had within photography, which were portraits and fashion/ street photography. I also knew my direction would gravitate towards these areas. By developing my contextual research, I started to develop a style that I would be working in. This style is a finished professional style, that is quite bold with slightly high saturation and shadows setting the mood. This style is what changed my idea to the final idea. Throughout the topic I made decisions on how I would capture my work, and what works best. I started to try long shots and close up shots of locations for test shoots. Initially, I didn’t focus on people but I wanted to experiment with places that were quite urban and raw. I never have focused on locational photography or been interested in it, but this topic ‘sense of place’ helped me enjoy it due to me focusing on psychogeography. I always feel like portraiture and fashion/street photography can portray what I am wanting to express in feeling/ mood due to the model’s facial expressions and body language is clear to see. I was unsure about approaching location in this topic, however I feel I have captured a good level to do the same. Deciding to take photos in flash and without flash also helped me to develop in my decision making with what I eventually was going to do. I noticed flash is what captures that stunning clean and professional initial shot, however in good lighting a non flash photo when edited worked well on its own. Martin Parr’s worked influenced my editing when using flash/ non flash because I wanted that high saturation and bright colours contrasting the dark shadows when using Photoshop. Even working in the studio helped me to then focus on shooting people, it helped me get an understanding of the angles and what worked/ didn’t so when I went out shooting Katie I naturally had pictures that worked well after a few captures.
The most successful element/ aspect of my work overall is how I made sure I worked in a visually progressive way. I wanted to build my work up to show there is a gradual development, going from a less specific idea to a strong concrete decision. I show each time shooting that I can capture good images that are strong and I explain and describe the aim and visual language. Making sure the balance of colours and the editing process worked well was something I enjoyed and think I successfully kept into consideration as I feel I can be sensitive in this area as well as knowing what is right within taking a photograph. I wish to improve my time management through the topics. I wish I took more photos on tests shoots. Even though my experiments with portrait photography for this topic helped me with my final shoots, I feel I could have done more to present my idea to its fullest. Before the final shoot I had ideas to shoot more friends in different locations at different times, however I did not manage my time well enough and my friends could not make the times due to us having work and college. I would like to experiment with finding more tones and colours that work well with demonstrating a mood within a photo when it comes to editing. I only edited my pictures one way, however I want to work with different lights when taking the actual photo and edit them differently to see what else I could create.
I think my final work communicates my ideas effectively because I feel I have captured a personal approach to ‘sense of place’. I have explained exactly what my images mean. The fact they are portraits of someone close to me and the locations are specific areas, I feel this approaches photography in a successful way, by having meaning behind my photos. I think I have focused on the visual response through my shots. I wanted a good balance of colours with the background and the model as well as shapes with objects. Everything was calculated, I had planned specific areas and angles/ positions for the model, which I feel strongly communicated within my photos. The reds and whites and blues are strong from increasing the saturation an it contrasting against the deep black worked well as it makes the image pop. By wanting to capture this raw and realistic style that my choice of artists influenced me in, I feel the final images and editing along side it, with my choice of colouring, helped capture that. I didn’t want to have a softness to my photos with a dark and cold, wet, Winter visual, that wouldn’t have looked right. All my final shots link and compliment one another.
Zena Hampson Photography 