Thursday 27 November 2014

Studio and Location photography - first practice

Outdoor Location photography

I have been using my 50 mm lens for outdoor location, and only natural light.


This is my first outdoor location. I have decided to ask my friend to stand next to the college sign, where I was able to see her reflection. She was looking directly in to the camera while I have captured her as well as her reflection in a landscape format.  I like the idea of reflection but because it was a quick photo I didn’t think about the background carefully. We can unfortunately see a person walking in the reflection, which makes her shadow unclear. Also we can see some buildings in the background of the photo, but it doesn’t really affect the photo very much as I have used a large depth of field.


In my second outdoor location I have thought more about the background of the photo. We can see some nice leading lines behind Kitty, whereas she’s sanding in the middle of the road where they all start. I have also framed her a little in the right side of the photo rather than in the middle. I also like the old building in a colour of red, and the lines on the road stand out nicely as they’re bright yellow.  


This is my third outdoor location photos. In this photo I was being careful about the foreground. I made sure that the circle in right in the middle, but unfortunately I didn’t pay much attention to the background where we can clearly see that the photo is not straight because of the building line going down a little bit. Overall I like the composition of this photo as well as the pose of my model who is looking to the side, also not standing up, which makes him hide behind the nice steam, which has been blown to the side by the wind, uncovering my models face. 


This is my next photo from outdoor location photo shoot. I have decided to take a portrait of Kitty, while our teacher is also taking a photo of her. I like this because she’s looking in my camera but we can also see him taking photo of her. One thing that I didn’t think about was the background of this photo, because there’s a lot happening in the background and it doesn’t really look nice.  


This is my next photo from outdoor location shoot. I like this photo, but again I have concentrated more on the person rather than background and the model. I like her face expression, as well as idea of holding this fence which looks like she wants to get out of somewhere. The composition is also good, but it would have been a lot better if I would do think on the nice background of some building.

This is my last photo from outdoor location. In this photo, even though the locker is in front of my model I have made sure that she’s the one that is in focus because she’s the main subject in this photo. 

Contact sheet - Outdoor Location photography



It was very helpful to firstly take photos in an outdoor location, because I was able to concentrate on the foreground as well as the background. It was also very interesting as I was able to try out my 50mm lens which I haven't used properly before. I am happy with the photos that I took, even though the weather was very bad.

Indoor Location photography


This is my first photo from indoor location, where I have used my additional flash. I really like this photo, that I have took from low angle. The first thing that I like is that by using additional flash I didn’t create any unwanted shadows. She’s not looking directly into the camera, and her pose is also nice, as she’s holding on to the stairs handles, from which I have created almost a little frame to the photo.


This is my second photo from indoor location. I have also been using my additional flash, but because I have decided to take a portrait format photo it has created some shadows at the bottom part of the photo. Overall I like the place and composition of this photo, as it looks really like. We can find some leading lines through the photo from stairs handle. Whereas my model is standing right in the middle, it makes us follow our eyes to look at her. 


This is another photo from indoor location which I think is one of my best photos from this day. I have also created a frame from stairs and framed her directly in the middle of the photo. I like how she’s looking up because the flash is directly on her face and it didn’t create any unwanted shadows. She’s the only one which is in focus in this photo, which lets us concentrate on her rather than on the stairs handles in front of her in the photo.


This is my next photo, which is very similar to my previous photo, but this time is a close up. I have still decided to do it through the barriers of the stairs to create a frame in my photo, but the focus is still on my main subject of the photo. I have also been using an additional flash to create her skin look nice and soft and also natural. I have framed her a little bit to the left side of the photo, with the format of landscape picture.


This is my next indoor location photo. I have been using a natural light for this. Danny is more or less framed in the middle, but I have also wanted to get the blue door in the background in the photo. I like this photo, because it looks natural.


This last photo from indoor location is very similar to my previous one, but I have decided to take it as Kitty’s shirt match very nicely with the background, as the colours are very similar. I have framed her in the middle of the photo, using natural light coming from big window, also using big depth of field as the background wasn’t very interesting.

Contact sheet - Indoor Location photography




I am really happy that I got a chance to take some indoor location photos in college, because the light is very bad and the conditions were quite hard to take pictures in, but because of this I have learnt how to use my additional flash, and I think that some of the photos came out great. I didn't like the idea of using the flash before, but after this technical task, I have realized that you can take some really nice photos with flash while working in an indoor location, with really bad lightning. I was also using natural light, coming through the big windows on some corridors.

Studio photography



This is my first studio group photo, taken from eye level angle in a landscape format. This photo was taken with a light box, therefore we can see that my models faces are nice and soft, looking natural. I have also asked my models to make a funny face so that the photo is a little bit different from other ones. I have also put the models from smallest to tallest to make it look nice and neat. 


This is my second photo from studio. I have decided to take a portrait of my model, and framed her in the middle of the photo. My model is smiling, looking directly into the camera. Unfortunately my lens was a little bit dirty, and I didn’t realise it until I have put my photos on to the computer and realised there is a blue circle on some of the photos, right in the middle.  Overall I like this portrait, as its sharp and focused correctly.


This is my next photo from studio. I was also using a soft box for this photo which is in a portrait format. I have framed my model in the middle of the photo and decided to use a little bit of movement. Overall I like this photo because it’s also a little bit different from the rest of my studio photos.


This is my next photo of two of my models. I have decided to ask Danny to stand the other way round, and Dimitra to stand in front of him, looking at me through his shoulder. I like the contrast between her red t-shirt and his yellow writing on the t-shirt. I like the photo in general.


This is my next photo from studio, that I have decided to make in black and white, because I thought it would look better, and I my opinion it does. They both look happy and the photo looks really nice in general because of the composition, nice framing and poses of my models.

This is my last group photo from the studio photo shoot. I have decided to ask all three of them to sit on the floor and smile directly into the camera. We have been using light box therefore the photo looks natural and soft. They are all sat in a different position which makes the photo look a little bit messy but I think it’s effective. 

Contact sheet - Studio photography



Overall, I am happy with my photos from studio. It was the third time in my life when I was working in a photography studio, and I have learnt new things. I think that the photos would e even more interesting if we had a time for planning, because I wasn't sure how to pose my models and I have wasted a lot of time because of this, but as it was only a practice I am happy with the final results.

Task 1A - historical and contemporary research

Historical photographers

~Marylin Monroe~ 1957
Photographer: Richard Avendon


I have decided to look at the photographer who took photos of the most beautiful women. It was Richard who had the great opportunity to work with such an amazing icon. He was an American fashion, but mainly portrait photographer. His portrait photography define America's image of style. I really like his photos, even though most of the are black and white. The contrast of the photos are really good, and they look amazing in black and white. He has photographed for magazines like Vogue, as well as worked with advertising campaigns for Versace or Calvin Klein. 


~Celebrities~ 1959
Photographer: David Bailey

David is an English fashion as well as portrait photographer. He has starting working in photography industry in 1959 and still continues working now. I really like David's Bailey's photography as it is simple but show a lot of emotions in his black and white portraiture photography. He has been working with a lot of famous people like Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He always goes for simplicity in his photos, which looks really natural and nice. Bailey has also recently gained a lot of rewards for his amazing portraiture photography. 



Contemporary photographers

~Maleficent~ 2014
Photographers: Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.

I have picked to do a research about photographers from Maleficent, Disney film from 2014, because this is my first idea of a film that I want to work on. Therefore I have decided to look at the photographers work from this  film. I have found that Mert Alas as well as Marcus Piggot were both taking the photos of Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) for posters. They were working is studios, just as we have the opportunity to work in studio in this project. Their work has really caught my eye, as the face expressions as well as the lightning are clearly thought through and we can really see it in their photos, especially photos for a poster to Maleficent film. They have also work with other celebrities like Madonna, Lady Gaga, Victoria Beckham or Jennifer Lopez. They are mainly know for fashion photography. They met for the first time in England in 1994.


~Harry Potter~ 2011
Photographer: Jaap Buitendijk

This photographer grew up in Holland. I really like his photos from the last Harry Potter film. They're are very high quality photos and show a lot of emotions, they are mainly photos in action. I really like the way he captures the poses, emotions as well as the equipments and the background of the photo. It looks really good. Jaap has studied documentary photography and since then he started exploring documentary skills. He captured beautiful photos on film plan as well as behind the scene. He worked within a lot of films including Harry Potter as well as some other as World War Z or Gladiator.











~Resistance~ 2011
Photographer: Jules Heath

Jules Heath has a very strong passion for photo journalistic and fine art. His shots are taken spontaneously but carefully composed, and cropped for maximum impact. His goals is to make the picture that challenge the viewer, asking more questions that they answer. Which simply means he wants the viewer to look deep into his photography. I think it really works, because all of his photos have different meanings and they are very powerful in terms of emotions. He has a lot of film credits on her list such as Resistance, and many more. He has also shot for many TV series like BBC, Sky, CH4. He has worked with clients like BBC Worldwide, 20th Century Fox, SKY, and many more. For his excellent work, not only in my opinion he gained some awards like : 2009 - World Wildlife Photographer of the year, 2012 - PND World In Focus and Creative Review Photography Annual. 





~Series of Disney themed celebrity portraits~ 2014
Photographer: Annie Leibovitz

Annie is considered as one of the best portrait photographers in America. Annie started her career with the Rolling Stones magazines in the 70's, and from then on she has worked with a lot of celebrities. I really like her photographs that she took with different celebrities with the theme of Disney movies. She has a lot of photographs from all Disney movies, but I have decided to pick these four which stood out the most to me. She uses a lot of Photoshop in her photos, especially in this photo shoot, but who doesn't? I really like the different kinds of effect on the photo which match so well with the photography of the celebrities. In my opinion there's something magic in every single photo that she took, and I think this is what she wanted it to be like as it is all based on Disney.


Scarlett Johansson as Cinderella.
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony from Aladdin.
Beyonce, Oliver Platt, and Lyle Lovett as Alice in Wonderland. 
Taylor Swift as Rapunzel.


Historical film stars


Julie Andrews~
Julie born in 1935, is one of the greatest film stars. She sang like an angel in Mary Poppins. Julie is an English film stage actress, singer, author, theatre director and dancer.




Charlie Chaplin~
Charlie was born in 1889  and died in 1977. He was one of the greatest English actors, comedian as well as film makers. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona 'the Tramp' and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His active years through his life were 1899 till 1976.Chaplin has also wrote, directed, produced, edited, statrred in as well as composed music for most of his film. 



Contemporary film stars

Angelina Jolie~
Angelina born in 1975, is an american actress as well as filmmaker. She has received a lot of important awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress in 2009, 2011 and 2013. She is a beautiful women, who played a lot of amazing roles in contemporary films.




Leonardo DiCaprio~
Leonardo born in 1974, played a lot of great roles in amazing as well as very well known films. Two of my favourite films with Leonardo DiCaprio are definitely Titanic as well as Romeo and Juliet. He is an american actor as well as film producer. He has been nominated for a lot of important award, winning most of them including Golden Globe for the best actor. 





Historical Portraiture

The Blackboard Poland, 1948
David 'Chim' Seymour (American, born Poland, 1911 - 1956) ~ 

One of the founders of Magnum Photos in 1947. Chim firstly gained recognition for his portrait photography from Spanish Civil War and the Popular Front in Paris during World War 2. His ability to identify and record very important key moments in the events and of the surroundings, allowed him to access the emotional look of a subject. He has used his photography talent mainly for photographic children.





Still from an Untitled Film, 1978
Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954) ~

Between 1977 and 1980, Cindy photographed herself in a series of sixty-seven staged scenarios meant to suggest Hollywood films of the 1950's. 









Contemporary Portraiture

Jamie Warren ~
I have found really interesting photographer, who did a very inspirational as well as funny photo shoot. Jamie Warren decided to do portraits of celebrities as food. Jamie is a photographer who lives in NY. She has received an amazing reward in 2014, it was Baum Reward for an Emerging American Photographer. She has also exhibited a lot of solo projects in different kinds of museums etc. all around America.

 Tuna Turner
Lasagna Del Rey
Madonut

 Andreas Laszlo Konrath~
I have this American photographer who do a lot of portrait, mainly of friend but has few series of celebrities portraiture as well. I have picked him because I really like the compositions that this photographer uses as well as how he frames the photos. Not all of them are straight and some of them have bits cut off them, but they look really effective. 




 Historical Films

  • Dirty Dancing ~ 1987
  • Scarface ~ 1983
  • Casablanca ~ 1943
  • Singing' in the rain ~ 1952
  • King Kong ~ 1933
  • Snow White and seven dwarfs ~ 1937
  • Mary Poppins ~ 1964
  • Miracle on 34th Street ~ 1947
  • The Godfather ~ 1972
  • Charlie Chaplin ~ 1925

Contemporary Films

  • Maleficent ~ 2014
  • Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra ~ 2002
  • Zorro ~ 1998
  • Titanic ~ 1997
  • Pulp Fiction ~ 1994
  • Taken ~ 2008
  • Jingle all the way ~ 2014
  • Home alone ~ 1990
  • The Hunger Games ~ 2013
  • Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows ~ 2007