Expression

Facial expression is the most important element in a portrait.  It is concentrated not just in the eyes but in all the facial features.

You can watch and wait for an expression from your subject or you can encourage them to produce one you  may have in mind.  It is important to build a rapport with the person to achieve this.  Ways in which you can do this are by getting out from behind the camera to allow eye contact.  To do this you can shoot tethered (if you have enough money for the software) or by using a tripod.  Both leave you free to talk to your client/model/subject and both put them more at ease.  When people are less self-conscious and relaxed they are more likely to give you the best expressions.

At this point in time I'm not sure which is easier - shooting a complete stranger or a friend or family member. To date I have shot strangers in previous jobs but they were simply quick head and shoulders shots where they could spend 5 minutes of their time for you to photograph them.  I found that difficult because of the time constraints but also because when you turned up they had little to no time for chit chat.  However you should at least always try!

Shooting family members is not as easy as it seems either.  I've been asking my family to pose for me for the last few weeks and have had little to no takers.  My poor husband has been the subject of all the exercises for this first section of the course.  I have managed to line up my sister to pose for assignment one so that is a result.

There is one advantage to shooting someone you know quite well and shooting them a lot - you get to practice. And with practice comes confidence.  I need to build my confidence in taking pictures of people and I need to make them feel confident in my abilities to photograph them.

Here is a shot of my mum who kindly took ten minutes out of her busy life to pose for me.  She hates having her picture taken so she was a bit of a challenge.  At first she was quite rigid and not at all relaxed.  However as I kept talking to her she began to ease up.  The more I pressed the shutter the more she realised that she couldn't just stay still and it would be all over in one exposure.  And it was when this happened that she chilled a little and began to see it as fun.  And then  she gave me this look....

Blurry or out of focus portraits

I came across a couple of blurry/out of focus portraits the other day which I found interesting.  I decided to attempt one for myself as this is something I would like to explore further.

I took these shots when I was doing exercise 4 - an active portrait.

Colour

Black and white

I'm not sure if these actually work.  The background in each shot is a little busy but in colour the foreground is especially so.  

I can make out the person reading the book and the magazine on the coffee table is partially in focus - enough to lead the viewer into the shot perhaps. 

I think the images have a painterly feel to them especially the black and white one.
I think moving on I will try this again but in a less cluttered setting.

Exercise 4: An active portrait

For this exercise I had to ask my model to perform some kind of activity for me to shoot.  It was advised that fast-moving activity should be avoided to prevent the exercise becoming too difficult.  Instead I had to look at a more sedentary activity and what better than reading...

I also had to concentrate on the person's face rather than trying to show the activity they were carrying out.

I chose to convert the image into black and white so the focus would be more on the person without the distracting colours of the sofa cushions and bookshelves in the background.

The subject is edge lit and this lighting draws the viewer into the shot and onto the subject.  You can see that he is engrossed in his book, deep in though and very relaxed.  And very much oblivious of the camera which I feel makes the image even more realistic.

The colour version for reference.

Activity and the contextual portrait

This part of the course looks at active portraits and the benefits of getting your subject to occupy themselves with something.  This usually centres around the subject holding something or demonstrating how something is done.

The most common variants of the active shot is the interview shot which you see in many magazines.  You can capture facial expressions easily this way but you have to be careful not to let their hands get in the way or have their mouths gaping open.

A contextual portrait
A very effective way of making a portrait is to shoot someone in the context of what they do.  For example, a chef cooking preparing food or a painter painting.  This type of approach aims to tell something about the person, what they do and how they do it.

This can be seen as a form of photo-journalism.

By encouraging the subject to be themselves and to do whatever comes naturally to them you can catch them  unselfconciously.

This is also useful as it removes an self-consciousness the person has about being photographed.

Exercise 3: Experimenting with light

Different lighting can provide a different mood or effect for the images you create.  Although I don't have studio lighting I have experimented with the flash I have and natural daylight to try and get a different type of shot.

I haven't tried this much with people, so this exercise was pretty much a first for me.  

I used a combination of flash and natural daylight for these shots. 

With tight framing the distraction of the background is limited and therefore the shapes of the face are more apparent.  

This picture was taken in natural daylight that was coming into a lookout hut at the top of a cliff.  The day was overcast so I had a diffused light source to work with.  

This light on one side of the subject's face gives shape and character to the subject and defines the facial characteristics. 

This shot was taken inside with the subject sitting near a window.  I chose to underexpose the shot to remove as much as the background as possible and to focus more on the light that is actually hitting the left side of his face.  This type of low key lighting adds mood to the shot.  

Again taken indoors near a window with natural light.  I placed a piece of white card to the right of the subject to bring out some of the detail in the shaded part of the face.  

Natural light with a homemade reflector used to bounce some light back into the shaded part of the subject's face. 

Taken using flash and a piece of white card to open up the shaded area of the face. 

Perhaps a little adventurous - but I used a snoot to illuminate only the eyes in this shot.  It makes for a different style of portrait and adds a little mystery to this image.  

Exercise 2: Thinking about location

I had the role of location hunter for this exercise.  I had to find six different locations and backgrounds that would be suitable for shooting a portrait.

It was suggested that I should bring my camera with me to as many places to take reference pictures.  Not always practical but I do have an iPhone now so I can take recce shots using that.  

The locations had to be suitable for an entire body shot or torso portrait which makes sense because you don't actually get an awful lot of background into a close up shot.  

Here are some of the locations I found.  

Stone wall. 

I'd been staying at my Mum's house in Ireland when I noticed this old stone wall.  Stone walls similar to this have made a big comeback in the building trade and can be seen on nearly every new build across the rural countryside.  I felt the old fashioned and authentic stone wall would make an interesting backdrop for a shot of a local.  Or in this case my husband posing like a local.  

Another location I spotted in my house was these bookshelves.  They provide a consistent tone and texture and would make a good backdrop for a portrait of a scholar/writer/academic etc. 

This bench in a park would be suitable for a full body portrait or you could zoom in closer and use the trees as a background.  

This bridge in the trees would make an interesting place for a portrait. 

For a young portrait with a modern feel, this backdrop with the faded graffiti provides a solid toned and even textured background. 

I like the available light in this tunnel near London Bridge and I feel it would make a good location for a shoot. I would probably need to use flash though to illuminate the person's face or try and make use of the available light. 

My Michael Ackerman inspired portrait

After reading about Michael Ackerman and looking at his images, I decided to attempt to create an image in his style.

The image was taken when I was on holiday and is of a person looking out to sea.  I converted the image to black and white and adjusted the contrast to ensure minimal greys.  I also added a heavy grain effect.

I'm not so sure if I like the outcome too much.  I'm not sure if it is really my thing.  However it was an interesting experiment and possibly worth exploring for my upcoming assignment.

I like the idea of blurred or out of focus portraits.  It opens up a number of opportunities.  I think with Ackerman though the high contrast and black and white is what I find a little off putting.

Settings, backgrounds and locations

Portraits do not have to be restricted to showing the face or person alone.  We can also show the location especially when it is relevant to the person or is particularly interesting.

With the exception of the studio portrait where the shot is of a person with a blank background, all portraits of people take place in a definable setting.

The more importance given to the setting the smaller the person/subject will be in the frame.  This can be achieved by using a wide angle lens or by shooting from further away.

A suggested checklist for a setting:

• Is it reasonably consistent in tone and features?
• Does it complement or contrast the person? 
• Does it need tidying and or cleaning? 
• Are there unnecessarily distracting objects in view? Clashing colours, images and or words on posters etc? Do they add or subtract? 

It is important to fine tune these skills for hunting a location as you may not always have the time to do a detailed recce.  Perhaps it is a good idea to have a mental list of potential places for portraits so you always have something to fall back on.  

Looking at the work of Michael Ackerman

I came across Michael Ackerman the other day courtesy of a tweet.  His work is very different to the classical type portrait work of other photographers I have been looking at.

His book Half Life is a collection of images which show us a very dark and desolate world where we can do little but guess about the characters and their situations.

His images are black and white, often containing no greys at all which gives a surreal look to his work.  The images are very high contrast, and are often blurry or totally out of focus.  I can't help but feel I am looking at stills from a classic horror movie when I am looking at these pictures.

Colberg talks about photography being a game and Half Life seems to be just that.  It appears to present you with the images which contain little to no clues and it is up to the viewer to use their own imagination to give meaning to them.

One way Colberg suggests we look at the artist is someone who shouldn't have to explain his work to the world.  What is the point in that?  Why should we have to give clues and explanations to the work we create?

This is what distinguishes those who take nice pictures to those who create something - a piece of art.

I suppose up until now I have always felt the need to justify my decisions but this is part of the learning process for me.  Perhaps if the day comes when I feel truly assured in my work and confident about it I could take the same stance.

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2012/08/review_half_life_by_michael_ackerman/

Exercise 1: Portrait - scale and setting

This exercise explores the weight of attention to put on your subject's face.

I had to shoot 4 images of my subject:

• Face, cropped in close
• Head and shoulders
• Torso, taking into account arms and hands
• Full figure

I opted to use my 70-200mm lens for this exercise and I varied my position and the focal length to create my final images.  

Face, cropped in close.  

This is the closest crop I could get of the face as autofocus wouldn't work on a closer crop.  I considered using manual focus however it was a very windy day and I was finding it hard to keep the camera still. My tripod isn't solid enough for this kind of wind!

Head and shoulders.  I probably would have liked to get more of the person's right shoulder in the frame to balance out the shot a bit more. 

Torso, taking into account hands and arms. 

I opted for the hands in pockets pose which gives a very casual, informal and relaxed feel to this portrait. 

Full figure. 

Again I opted for the hands in pockets pose this time with the legs apart and one slightly bent.  I felt that this kept the informal, relaxed feel to the image carrying on from the previous shot. 

This exercise has introduced me to the various 'classic' poses that can be used in portraits.  I suppose prior to this I was more concerned about the face and less about shoulder position, where the hands are and stance.  Now that I have experimented with positioning I will be able to work more on it in future shoots.  

Portrait framing

The classic portrait framing composition include the torso, head and shoulders.  The position of the shoulders and the tilt of the head are important.  If they are square on they can give a more formal and cold feel to the portrait.

If the head is upright and straight into the camera it gives the look of honesty and solidity.  Perhaps a good composition for corporate shots.

With the head tilted to one side, a look of coyness can be seen in the image.  Tilted to the other side it can look quizzical.

Cropping in on just the face can produces an intimate portrait but needs care in technical matters like lens, lighting and depth of field.  The background should be out of focus with the sharpness concentrated on the eyes.

If you pull back you get to show the subject in a different way.  You lose the expression of the face but you are able to capture body language.

The list of possible poses is endless but here's a few I've found online that I can refer to for guidance.

http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-take-portraits-19-portrait-photography-tutorials

Early portrait photography & Juliet Margaret Cameron

I've made a start on reading Train Your Gaze: A Practical and Theoretical Introduction to Portrait Photography.  I like the way the book sets assignments for you to do which are very different to what has been set by the OCA.  

I hope to be able to give quite a few of these separate assignments a shot but I suppose my success very much depends on how long my friends and family will put up with me badgering them to pose for me.  

Whilst reading about the early pioneers in photography and their work in relation to portraits it is amazing how much photography has developed and how easy it is not to take an image in comparison.  

We have all seen the old portraits of our ancestors and how rigid and stern looking they appeared.  With long exposures of up to 18 minutes in some cases subjects had to wear neck braces to keep their heads still.  This contributed to the rigidity and serious demeanour that can be seen in early portraits.  

Early portrait photographers very much concerned themselves with producing results based on painted portraits.  This also contributed to the early style.  

Often with the use of daguerrotypes, the focus and end result was very sharp, with what we would refer to as harsh light and high contrast.  Juliet Margaret Cameron was to change this.  She was very concerned with portraying the inner person as much as the outer image.  She wanted to show the personality of the person in front of her lens.  She wanted her images to speak of the type of person they were.  

She had a technician remove some of the glass elements from her lens which resulted in a softer focus which in turn produced a more human like portrait instead of the statue like images of her contemporaries.  

From my experience softer focus and light works well for female portraits and children and a more contrasty image works well for men.  

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/j/julia-margaret-cameron-collection-highlights/

Tutor

Yesterday I spoke to my tutor to go through work relating to the course and expectations of what he expects  from me and what I want to get out of the course.

Submitting work is the same as for the previous modules I have studied with the OCA with the exception of adding contact sheets of my shoots to my assignment submissions.  I think this is a good idea and will help me to better edit my shoots.  I wouldn't say I am really bad at editing but to date no one has ever seen the images that fail to make my selects or in fact the selects that don't make it to the final set of images.

My tutor spoke about the importance of building strong editing skills and how essential research is.  I think maybe to date I have neglected the side of research in favour of learning new techniques etc.  I think I should add carrying out more research to my own personal objectives for this course.

Some websites that were mentioned during our conversation were www.flakphoto.com and Jorg Kohlberg's Conscientious http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/about/.  Both these websites introduce the work of new photographers.  This will help me find work I really like and influences.

Something which I already so is look at The Sunday Times magazines for portraits and I must continue to do that.

We spoke about using Drop-box to get my assignments to my tutor.  I must look into setting up an account for that soon.

I spoke about my desire to shoot the people and place that I grew up in in Ireland.  This could form part of the work on this course which could be part of an ongoing project moving forward.  I am going to Ireland in the next few days for a couple of weeks and I have to put a plan together for getting some shots together while I am there.

All in all I am feeling pretty positive about this course and I am looking forward to getting stuck in.

My first assignment is due on 31st September.

Simon Roberts and The Olympics

I first came across Simon Roberts when he exhibited We English in London last year.  I didn't actually get to the exhibition myself but I saw his collection of work online.  I liked the way he portrayed the everyday and quirky sides to English life in his series.  Often these sides of life are forgotten as being quintessentially English and I think he captures the old and new in a light-hearted way.

Images from this series can be seen here
http://we-english.co.uk/gallery.html

When I saw that Roberts was on Twitter I started following him and a few weeks ago he tweeted a link to his images published in the FT covering the Olympics.

With all the hype and excitement around this event, I was keen to see how Roberts tackled the subject.  We had all seen several images of the construction of the Olympic Park but what could be potentially captured during the event remained to be very much seen.

I like his use of the country/urban contrast in many of the shots from the second week FT magazine featured his images.  I particularly like the beach volleyball shot with Big Ben in the distance.  Choosing whether to include London landmarks in shots of event for me has always been difficult.  You have to be careful to ensure they don't take over the picture and leave your subject overlooked.  In this shot I feel he has got the balance right.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d89969aa-d6d3-11e1-ba60-00144feabdc0.html#axzz21sX6ZTzn

http://simoncroberts.com/news/tearsheets/olympics-week-2/

http://simoncroberts.com/news/tearsheets/the-london-olympics-part-3/

http://simoncroberts.com/news/tearsheets/the-london-olympics-part-4/

I feel he captured the mood that swept across London for 16 days where everyone became an expert of varying degrees on a myriad of sports.  There is a good mix of outside/inside shots, old and young, different sports, behind the scenes and spectators.

I feel that looking at these images again will be beneficial later for my studies on this course.  At the moment I am focussing on shooting people aware.

People and Place

After completing The Art of Photography module and nearing completion of Digital Photographic Practice I am embarking on my third module - People and Place - with the OCA.

I enjoyed the more creative aspects of TAOP to the more technical DPP.  I am looking forward to get my teeth stuck into some more creative shooting focusing on people - a subject I have not experimented with too much so far.

My course material has arrived and I am going to go through it all first before I set out on the first section, People Aware, which centres on the various types of portraits.

I think I will have a few challenges on this course.  Shooting strangers will be one of them.  I have already touched on this with street photography but I know it's something I need to work on more.

I also think I will find it difficult to get people I know to pose for me.  People are a little weird when it comes to having their pictures taken.  They are even weirder when it seems to be a friend or family member that is the shooter.  I think now might be the time to call in those favours due to me.

I will be keeping a blog for the course which like the other modules I have studies will include the exercises and assignment I have completed as part of my studies.  It will also include reviews and my reflections of galleries and exhibitions I have visited, books I have read and research I have carried out.

For this blog however I aim to include more of my own reflections on my work and details of shoots.