Shoot 1- Experimenting

To start off the experimental shooting process for my final major project I booked an afternoon in the cove studio. When planning for the shoot I had talked to a friend who agreed to model but when it got to the day they ended up dropping out. Obviously I didn't want to cancel my studio time as it's been quite difficult to find a free slot so instead I took my dad with me and used him as a model. It wasn't what I had originally been planning but it was quite a vague shoot plan so I could just wonder off in a direction specific which worked with the subject. For this shoot my main plan was to grasp characteristics and personality traits within facial expression and body language in a studio setting. Some of my images were just taken in the moment so they're natural whereas others are staged and were thought out a bit more.

For this shoot I was just getting to grips with using the studio space on my own and trialing out one of the many ways I could portray my concept of grasping personality and character in a series of portraits so I wasn't overly confident with the equipment I would need to use. For this I used the overhead flash-lighting in the studio against the infinity wall. I used a Canon 600d with an 18-55mm lens as it's the camera I feel most comfortable using. Below is the studio setup.

In the hour I had, I took over 100 images, some of these pictures had a lot of potential when it came to post production. I downloaded all of the images to the computer and printed as contact sheets. The next thing I did was rule out my favourite imagery and work choosing a select amount. When annotating my contact sheets I circled ones I would definitely be editing and then indicated how I'd edit and where I'd crop. On the contact sheets below you can see the progression from the start of a shot right through to the end where I was getting better shots in respect of lighting, exposure and overall imagery and composition.

My favourite image was the one I have selected a pasted below. I really like how the picture portrays tiredness and the feeling of being worn out. It makes you think of possible lifestyles which the subject could be living as he looks like he's been doing a lot of hard work. This could then make you think about the sort of person he is such as someone who does a lot for others, it makes you think he could be relentless and not the sort of person to back out of doing something. Someone who won't stop until he's finished the job. This shows great amounts of strength and determination. This is how images should portray feelings when using placement, composition and facial expression.

The picture to my left is the original photograph I took in the studio.

Below is the edited image, it's a lot better than the original image as I have boosted main features to make it more gripping as a viewer. When editing this piece I chose to boost the clarity as it would add much more depth and personality to the image. The tones within the image are all very harmonious along the grey-scale yet ever so contrasting from black to white. The tonal range in the piece is very moving and helps you as a viewer feel like the photo subject.

Below are another 2 images which I took in the studio and edited which are both very good a portraying the character in them. They both complete the task in the same way as the image above which is by facial expression.

The last image I want to look at from my shoot is the image just below of the hands and images. When researching for this project I looked at how hands can tell a story about a person. I wanted to try and tell a story about the model I was shooting just like the to the right. The image the right was taken from pinterest and was taken to tell a story. I feel like this image tells you a lot about the character and how a little something can mean an awful lot. Even though you cant see the subjects face you can tell that they're sentimental and holding something which to them is precious. I wanted to create my own piece to represent the hand gestures I had been studying. When I got around to preparing for this shoot, I found a small selection of old family photographs for my dad to hold in a picture. I would say my dad is a very sentimental person, he collects a lot of family things and gives gifts with sentimental value and meaning. In my picture below, you can see him holding and what you assume to be him studying the images in his hands. Even though you can't see the expression on his face, you can feel what he's feeling and you get a good idea of his person from this. You can easily identify that he is looking at old picture which points out a sentimental character who feels a lot within memories. You can see just how much memories are treasured for him. I feel like this photograph was successful as you as a viewer can see what I was trying to convey. I'm happy with the way it turned out as it portrays a characteristic and quality trait which is quite difficult to show to others.

I feel like I completed this shoot with quite a few good shots to show for it. I'm very happy with the shoot as it was very last minute. For the next shoot I'm definitely going to use reflective umbrellas to take away some of the lighting problems. Overall the shoot went well as it was only an experimental shoot for me to get to grips with the subject matter. I learned quite a lot in this shoot about how to capture the best natural images by just talking to the model, even if it takes a while to get them to come out of their shell in the studio environment, it's the best way to capture a persons true traits and personality. Another thing I learnt was how to compose a shot and how to get a model to portray a specific characteristic. You do have to work at it by getting them to mirror you or explaining the shot you want but it can be very successful if you work with them and what they already do. For example the top image of mine in this post was created by me showing him how to pose and giving him a brief of how the character would be feeling and telling him the sort of emotion I wanted him to play out. The other two are both natural shot which I took during conversation with the person. We were talking and I tried to pry you the character by making funny comments and joking to make a good true laugh appear.