portraiture independent shoot 2

–Photographer Research

Alec Soth is an American photographer  who makes "large-scale American projects" featuring the 

midwestern United States. His work is focused around an out of the ordinary view on modern 

America. The banal style of his work has created a comparison between him and Walker Evans. 






























The images were shot using the rule of thirds with the models of the image central so that the objects 

in the background look out of place and contrast with image. In most of his images there is little to no 

colour which creates this bland, banal, abstract feel and where there is colour (as seen in the bottom) 

image they are unsaturated colours and this nullifies the image and makes it interesting as when there

 is colour within a photo you expect it to give the image life but in Soth's images it doesn't. 

I have gained inspiration from Soth's compositional arrangement and his bland banal colours and I 

will look to incorporate this into my work. 

–Image Bank

These are the types of images I am hoping to reproduce. I want my portraiture to make a social comment of modern day families and youth. The simply nature of these photos are similar to that of Alec Soth's and this will be incorporated into my work. 

 (AO:1.  You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued. )

–Contact Sheet

–My Best Images

–Images The Require Improvement

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

With reference to the images that require improvement I do not think that they are all bad images I think I just used the wrong backdrop for the colours I was using. 

The first image had an issue with the exposure. The background was still the white back drop this made it difficult when adjusting the camera settings and so when the shot was taken it was over exposed. 

The second, third and fourth images are not bad photos but suffered from my poor choice of background and some framing issues which meant that I did not see these images as the strongest that I've produced.

With reference to my best images as a collective I like the simplicity of the images and think this links nicely wight the work of Alec Soth that it does not matter what is seen the back it's what is in the foreground of the image that is important. 

I tried to take forward the ideas I displayed in my first portraiture shoot of the perfection displayed in the image hence why I arranged my model in a way where she is playing with her hair to create the 'perfect look'. The glasses with the McDonald's vouchers in them is there to comment on how engrossed people have become in the consumer world and how when people go out to eat their first thought are these fast food chains. I like how the lighting creates the look of perfect smooth skin and how it is there to question our morals as to whether we should expect perfection. 

Where the second image is concerned I went for a similar message. I really liked the abstract style and chose to have my model off centre to create a lot of dead space as it makes the image feel quite awkward. The purpose of the bag over the head was to divert away from giving the model any identity to show how we all have become encapsulated  in this consumer society. 

The third image again portrays the same message only this time I was experimenting with the props I had previously used. I am happy with the outcome as it was an experiment, merging the two ideas together. 

The fourth and fifth images are there to challenge the stereotypes of gender and social norms. The lipstick smudged across the face is there as a response to the 'perfectionist' society we live in and the expressionless blank mask is there to comment on how we should decide what beauty is. The use of a male model is again meant to challenge the gender norms, the make over their face also makes it questionable to what gender the model is, which helps bring my point across about challenging gender conventions. 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, 

reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

For this shoot I was using a Canon 5D with the camera settings at F8 with an ISO of 200. 

Above is the set up used to shoot these images. I and two soft boxes either side of the model to get an even lighting and reflectors in the back to help increase the exposure levels of my images. The soft boxes create even lighting as inside the soft box there are mirrors that reflect the light so that the rays reflect out from ever angle. The reflectors then reflect any light back into the image. 

EDIT 1 

In the first instance I used the healing brush tool to smooth over any marks that were visible in the images backdrop. I then used the curves to increase the exposure so that the skin had a very light tone and smooth texture. This was done to mimic Alex Soth's style of having bland and banal colours. It was also done to comment on how most models are edited in the fashion industry to give off the impression of 'perfection'. 

I then used the brightness/contrast tool to make the image a little bit darker as I felt that the curves I had applied to the image to change the skin had made my image too bright for the message I was trying to send. 

Here I used the selective colour tool to bring out the red in the lips to help make a comment on the gender norms of society. 

To finish off this edit I put a black and white filter over the image and then applied a mask to the image. This then allowed me to use the paintbrush tool and reapply the relevant coloured areas back into my image. The way I applied the colour was to make it look like it was almost bleeding out into the black and white. This help aid my message of challenging the gender norms. 

EDIT 2 

Knowing that I was later going to add a black and white filter, my focus was to create the smooth perfect skin and then bring out the red in the glasses to continue making that statement. 

I then applied the brightness/contrast tool 

EDIT 3

EDIT 4

Shape

–Definition and Theory

•A shape is an area enclosed by a line. It could be just an outline or it could be shaded in.

•Shapes can be either geometric, like a circle, square or triangle, or irregular.

•When drawing shapes, you must consider the size and position as well as the shape of the area around it. The shapes created in the spaces between shapes are referred to as negative space.

–Photographer Research
Bill Brandt was British photographer initially known for his images for magazines such as Lilliput and Picture Post. He was later known for his distorted nudes and portraits of famous artists.






Brandt's choice to shoot in black and white makes the images look very abstract and so it takes the focus away from the specific object that the viewer is looking at but the shapes it creates. He uses different composition rules in his images e.g. in the first image he uses a triangle composition and in the last one its a more traditional rule of thirds. I will try and incorporate the black and white style of Brandt's work into my own.




–Image Bank


–Contact Sheet


–My Best Images 


–Images That Need Improvement

Colour Independent Shoot

–Definition and Theory
This the same the previous post on colour. 


–Photographer Research 
Rankin is a British fashion and portrait photographer. He studied at Barnfield College Luton and later the London College of Printing. It was here that Rankin met Jefferson Hack and in 1992 the two went onto produce the magazine Dazed and Confused. Rankin has 49 bibliographies ranging from 1995 to the present day which include but are not limited to; Visually Hungry, Tuulitastic, Sofasosexy and Beautyfull.





Everything within Rankin's photographs are well planned out to give the highest contrasts. With reference to the last image the skin tone of the model the gloss over the black lipstick and the vibrant red used for the chilli are all highly contrasting image and make for a striking photograph.
I particularly like Rankin's use of props in the mouth, the gum ball and chilli both have quite sexual connotations one connoting something quite sweet and fun about it and the other with a sense of danger.
In my own images I would like to similarly send across my messages from  the positioning and use of props and this has been inspired by his images.

–Image Bank




I believe I can capture these types of images in my home with a makeshift studio. These images are very similar to those of Rankin's and i like the change in expressions and the manipulation of the lips.

 (AO:1.  You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued. )
–Contact Sheet

I was pleased with the result of my shoot however, in the early stages there were still a few out of focus shots but on the whole the outcome is exactly what I wanted.

–My Best Images 

–Images That Require Improvement

 I chose these images as the ones for improvement as the framing is not right and the use of wrong camera settings has led to the shot being out of focus.

The first image was shot using automatic focus and because I was so far zoomed in this made it difficult for the camera to pick up a specific area to focus on. I did change this setting during my shoot to manual focus but if I were to reshoot this specific shot I would make sure that I am using a manual focus.

The second image suffers from the same problem as the first although this was were I decided to change the setting to manual focus and was able to produce a better image but I did not think it was good enough for my best images.

The third imaged lacked the right composition the models face was off to the right and not facing forward to the camera. The poor composition was somewhat down to my choice of prop as the rose was not small and I wanted to frame it where by most of the rose could be seen. If I were to reshoot this image I would cut down the rose to a size that could fit within the frame.

For this shoot for colour I wanted to express how colours convey emotions through the expressions of the lips. The red connoting- love, white- purity, black- anger etc. This was inspired by my research of Rankin as he does something similar with his fashion photography, which gave me the idea of using lipsticks. I had to pay particular attention to the shutter speed as to not make the image over exposed.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

With reference to my best images I had all the compositions so that my model was central so that her lips were the point of focus.

The first image I used the red lipstick and asked my model to stick her tongue out the side of her mouth. This was used to connote a sexual type of love as if she is about to lick her lips. This was inspired by Rankin as similar sexual connotations can be seen in his images.

In second image I went for the black lipstick I wanted to create the contrast that can be seen in Rankin's image with the chilli and so I set the exposure a little bit higher by increasing the shutter speed. I believe that I got the desired effect despite the fact the lipstick did not come out as well as I would have liked. I will continue to improve this image within editing but if I were to reshoot I would buy a decent lipstick instead of buying a cheap one.

The third image was shot using the pink lipstick. I wanted to create this cheeky, playful vibe that the colour has connotations for. I liked how this came out and was influenced more by the image bank that I had created beforehand where in one of the images a baby pink was used.

The idea of playfulness was carried over into the fourth image where again I used the pink lipstick. This was my favourite image as I really captured what I was seeing in my minds eye. I like the use of the straw prop and there's something almost sensual in the way it is hanging out of her mouth, the use of prop to convey a message was influenced by Rankin's use of props.

Within image five I have used the white lipstick. This was create this idea of purity and to further cement this message I used to prop of a white rose. Roses have romantic symbolism but they are also viewed as pure and I wanted that innocent vibe. I really like the way that Rankin uses and correlates his props with the makeup he has used and I tried to incorporate that here.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

When shooting I used a Fuji Finepix S9600 for all the images. I shot the images in F8 and ISO 200 as that was the closest I could get to the setting used in the college studio (F11 ISO 200).  This was perfect as the images I had taken were extremely close up and therefore I needed the widest depth of field possible as to keep most of the image in focus. These were the settings I've used for all the images taken in this shoot.

To improve my images further I've decided to import them into my photoshop. The aim was to further cement the messages I was trying to send from the photos. In some cases this meant creating a higher contrast.

The screen grabs show how I kept the colour in the image to get a contrast between black and white and colour. I started off by using the cloning tool to smooth over some of the blemishes in the photo. I used the magnetic lasso to select the lips and straw and used the selective colour to exaggerate the colour of the lips.  

–Before 

–After

–Before

–After  

–Before

–After 

–Before

–After

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

My artists research was useful as it gave me inspiration as to what sort of shots I wanted to take. Not only this but it gave me an idea of what sort of props I should use. The research on colour meaning was useful was it allowed me to instruct my model in a way that I could create emotions these colours connoted. 

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I like how my images have come out and I feel like I have produce a good set of images inspired by Rankin. The composition and props from my images were similar to that which are found in his. For most of the images the editing consisted of exaggerating the colour of the lips, and smoothing over any of the blemishes. From this shoot I've have seen first hand the moral issues within the editing of models, as there is this need to create this image of 'perfection' with smooth and spotless skin.