Workflow and creative camera techniques
Task 1
Image 1
1/125 f/22 ISO 1600
Image 3
1/20 f/10 ISO 100
Image 4
1/4000 f/4 ISO 5000
1/640 f/2.2 ISO 100
Image 2
Image 5
1/125 f/10 ISO 25600
Task 2 - Great Inspiration
Image 1 - Sean O'connell (brothtarn)
I chose this image as I am a big fan of Sean O'connell's work. I felt this image was one of his which could be recreated, as many other pieces of his work have very unique features and subjects.
This image required two shoots to be successful, as my first location didn’t give me enough flexibility to properly replicate the original scene. This first shoot served as a practice, ensuring things such as styling worked inline with the original. By the time I did my second shoot, I had found a much better location and idea of what I needed in mind.
Shooting at f/4 allowed me to isolate my subject, without totally removing her from the background. I shot at 1/100th of a second, allowing me to freeze any motion and create the correct exposure. my ISO remained at 100, limiting any digital noise and I had a focal length of 67mm, which correctly composed my image. Whilst shooting I ensured my subject was composed in the top right third of the frame, as in the original and held the correct posture. It was important to have the background visible, as in the original I feel this plays an important part of the shot.
Once I had made my image, I moved to editing. During post production I made minor adjustments to the crop and lighting as well as selecting the background of the image, which was slightly overexposed, and bringing this down by decreasing the exposure and the highlights.
COntact 1
COntact 2
Image 2 - Robert Mapplethorpe
I chose this image as I like Mapplethorpe's unique style and ground-breaking view of photography as a whole. I felt this image was a simple yet complex example of one of his studio still life's.
Recreating this image seemed the most simple of the three, yet the simplicity is deceptive. To get this image successfully, again it took me two shoots. I created a small black background using card and during my first shoot, I lit my subject with a camera mounted flash, to give me the fully frontal lighting which Mapplethorpe seems to have here. I tried to ensure I shot with a relatively soft light, so I used a diffuser and shot on the lowest power flash, yet this still created a bit of a harsher image than the original. I used very limited tools throughout post production in order to keep this in line with the brief, and be as authentic as possible. However, Even after these adjustments, my image compared slightly too contrasting to the original lighter tones.
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For my first shoot, I shot at a shutter speed of 1/250th which allowed me to correctly expose the image. My aperture was wide open at f/1.8, giving me a very isolated image. Finally, my ISO remained at 100 which limited any loss in image quality and my flash was on its lowest power of 1/128.
I redone this shoot using the same techniques, minus the flash, simply using daylight. Exposing for slightly longer and controlling shadows using a piece of white paper. This gave me a much softer light and proved to actually be more straightforward, aside from having to pay closer attention to controlling the shadows.
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As mentioned, my settings remained much the same. I just aimed to have a slightly softer light. So my aperture remained the same as shoot 1, as did my ISO, only my shutter speed slowed down to 1/60th which correctly exposed the natural light.
Contact 1
COntact 2
Image 3 - Nasos Karabelas
For my third and final image, I chose to replicate a Nasos Karabelas piece. I like his ambiguous and unique style which you see running throughout his work. I chose this specific image as I like the shapes and feel of the image as a whole. I began with narrowing down props which I’d need to use in order to authentically recreate this eg - the jacket and bracelet. I determined my settings and began shooting with my model.
I shot at 1/8th of a second, allowing me to capture the movement we can see in the original. I shot at f/8, allowing me to correctly expose the image alongside the slow shutter speed and relatively high ISO. In order to create slight noise, I shot at an ISO of 2000, giving me a similar effect to the original, which I then improved upon in post production. Working with my model, we replicated the original pose, and once this was held, my model moved slightly left to right, creating slight motion blur. I then moved my image into Lightroom, where I made small adjustments to the crop, lighting and added grain.
Contact
Task 3 - Portrait of an individual
1/160 f/1.8 50mm iso 500
1/320 f/4 50mm iso 4000
1/320 f/4 47mm iso 640
1/125 f/22 28mm iso 1600
Lewis Rogers
A successful bmx rider, who has travelled the world riding his bike. He is now working towards his latest project: a video part. With a range of sponsors attached to his name, there is pressure to impress. This short photo series documents an insight to moments between filming, showing his working environment for the past 8 months.
Making these portraits was enjoyable and exciting. I planned backup locations ahead of time which I thought had potential to be impactful and successful. However, having shot with Lewis on several occasions, I know that we often go off the beaten path and this becomes more interesting than our original plan. This inspired the idea of shooting wherever we ended up, following our noses as such. This also seemed a more authentic way of photographing my subject in their environment. We began by heading to the top of the town, to an industrial estate and worked our way down throughout the day. My portraits document our journey (slightly unchronological), with each image telling a different narrative using varying photographic techniques.
Contact 1
Contact 2
Contact 3
Contact 4
