Exercise 9: Developing your confidence

For this exercise I had to choose an outdoor situation where there would be lots of people and shooting potential.

The task was to take as many shots as comfortably possible in one session.

I chose a trip to Oxford Street for this exercise.  The day and location presented many challenges for me which led to a very demanding session.

Firstly the day was very overcast and wet and this greatly reduced my shutter speeds so my first few images were very blurred.  I increased the ISO and this improved a bit however I still wasn't 100% with the results.  I have learned the difficulty of shooting moving people on an overcast day.

The other difficulties that I encountered were people.  I found it easy to see potential shots but as the streets were so busy I found that random people were getting into the frame far too often and ruining my shots!  So I decided to move to some side streets with less people.  This in turn brought less shooting potential.

In relation to my comfort levels I suppose I was a little apprehensive for the first couple of minutes as I usually shoot in the City area where people don't tend to take much notice of you.  There is also significantly less people on the streets of the city during the day in comparison to one of the busiest shopping streets in the UK.  However I did set out to challenge myself and this I certainly did.

I took about 100 odd shots before I had to call it a day due to time restrictions and the weather.  I can't say I felt intimidated or lacked confidence whilst on the street.  I just saw potential shots, framed them and pressed the shutter button before walking away.  I didn't make any eye contact with the subjects etc despite the fact that some looked like the may have clocked me.

Here are some of the best images from the day.

One of my first shots and a warm up.  I liked the blue background and wanted to capture the pace of people on Oxford street.  

Everywhere I looked all I could see was people on their phones.  I can't say I noticed it so much before.  When people are preoccupied with their phones they are oblivious to their surroundings most of the time.  I wanted to capture her pose and concentration on her mobile as the world passed her by.  

In among the frenetic pace of the street I saw this man sitting alone and watching the world go by.  I think this shot would have been better is I had got a closer shot but then I risked him spotting me and I would also have missed the hustle and bustle which I wanted to include in the shot.  With people getting in the frame and walking into you this was the best I could achieve before my subject left the scene.  

I shot this from across the street and had to crop some unwanted (incomplete) people out of the left of the frame.  I like the reflections of the people in the window and also the people inside which is clearer in a monochrome conversion.  The lights indoors were too distracting.  I like this man's pose as he sits and smokes and looks like he has a lot on his mind. 

Shot purely for the colour.  

Doing the lottery.  Even if she doesn't win she's made her way on to my blog.  

A lone figure down a side street.  

The first cold day in months and this man has been to John Lewis to get his new quilt.  

Donning your umbrella when the rain has stopped. 

I think this is my favourite.  I lied the dog and the colours of the red phonebox and the turquoise shoes.  I like the sense of movement in the shot too.  

People unaware

The street is an arena for a wide range of human activity.  Street photography requires the least amount of equipment - camera (the more discreet the better) and a small bag.  The idea is to look less conspicuous so you can explore and shoot life on the streets.

In street photography nothing is pre-planned.  You have to rely totally on your powers of observation and anticipation.

True street photography requires you to shoot people without them knowing or without stopping for permission or to explain what you are doing.  This will ensure that you get a good view or situations that are real and natural.

Emphasis is on being unobtrusive, spotting potential good shots in advance and shooting quickly.  The trick is not drawing attention to yourself, move quickly and keep your equipment to a minimum.

It is all about preparation and anticipating the shot.  You need to be quick because often 'the shot' is a fleeting moment is gone as soon as you see it.

I have more experience of shooting on the streets that I have of shooting formal type portraits so I am looking forward to this part of the course.

Here are some of the images I have taken on the streets to date for other OCA courses and at leisure.

Some more portraits...

In an earlier blog reflecting on my assignment I mentioned I have some guinea pigs lined up to shoot.

Well here's my bro!

Taken in his tool shed.  You can see the ladders hanging on the wall in the background.  Taken using natural light.  I like the way the light is falling on his face and brings out the textures and curves.  

I feel this shot has a bit of painterly feel to it.  I like the expression.  I dodged and burned the face to bring out the detail and added some contrast and clarity.  

Trying to shoot him indoors drumming wasn't easy (I didn't have a flash).  I'm not sure if I like this shot or not.  I like the way you can see the movement of the drumsticks but I feel that maybe it would be a better composition if you could see more of his face.  I do like the busyness in the scene.  It adds intensity.  

Reflections on Assignment 1

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of this first assignment.

Portraits in a formal setting are something I have pretty much avoided up until now and I feel that I gave this assignment a good shot.  I also had some good results with the projects in this first part of the course.  My tutor's comments on my work seem to reflect this too.

The images I feel are my strongest in the set are Corporate, Reflections and Expression.

Corporate

Reflections

Expression

I was particularly happy with the bleached our contemporary slant of Reflections.  

I feel that where I lacked in this assignment was technical ability - most notably my use of flash.  I was disappointed to have comments about exposure when usually I don't have any problems in this area.  I think that the images that have exposure problems are those where I wasn't comfortable with the use of the light.  Perhaps most of my effort went into concentrating on setting up and using flash and artificial light that I took my eye off the ball and the exposure was affected as a result.  

Moving forward I need to practice more using flash and available artificial light.  

I take on board my tutor's comments that it would be good to shoot some other people and I have some guinea pigs lined up for this!

I will also have a look at more of the photographers he suggested and I will post my views here on my website.  

I am hoping that I will find the next part of the course more comfortable as it gives me a chance to work on street photography which is something I have done a bit of before.  I think my only concerns will be getting up close and personal with strangers.   

  

The Strobist's Lighting 101

I have pretty much always opted for the use of ambient light over photographic lights for shooting with the exception of some experiments I did for The Art of Photography course.  This hasn't necessarily been a conscious decision - more just the way things worked out for me.  I have always shot more street and landscape photography than indoor portraits.

I suppose the time comes in every budding photographer's/artist's life when you've got to take the plunge and delve into the unknown.  

One of the reason's I've avoided the use of flash is because I've felt at times overwhelmed with all there is to learn about using a camera.  Adding flash or photographic lighting to this just seemed to make things far more difficult - but is this the case? 

Having got to grips with exposure, white balance, zone systems and metering I have now the knowledge required (and the confidence) to tackle flash.  

Some time ago I bought Understanding Flash by Brian Peterson which is a good read and easy to follow until you try putting it all into practice.  Teaching yourself is difficult especially when you don't have anyone to ask the silly little questions on things that don't seem to fit into place.  I found after reading this book I had too many of these questions and also a flash that seemed to work in a completely different way to the author's.  

I have also found that having a single speedlite was never enough to achieve the results you were after or were trying to realise.  All of this becomes very frustrating and lure for available light becomes even stronger. Until this is I came across the Strobist's Lighting 101.  

Lighting 101 is a lighting blog which gives you the run down on all the gear you need and what you can achieve without breaking the bank.  

I have started experimenting with my flash and I am beginning to feel a lot more confident about it.  What's more, David Hobby provides the answers to nearly all those niggling questions I had.  So re-visiting Brian Peterson's book is something I will be able to do and make use of.  

The only drawback with Lighting 101 is sometimes more than one flash is used and again this is frustrating if you want to attempt to achieve the desired results.  However, as my tutor has recently pointed out to me it is the photographer that makes the shot not the tools.  

My lighting set up at the moment consists of:

Nikon SB-700 speedlite

Lastolite PC jack

Honl snoot and gobo

I am awaiting the delivery of an umbrella and light stand and that will be my set complete.  

I am hoping that this will introduce a new dimension to my portraits.  I will continue to post my experiments on my blog. 

Assignment 1 - A portrait

For this assignment, I had to create five to seven portraits of one person drawing from what I have learnt in this section of the course.