Assignment preparation

"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, 

and not quite enough time." 

-Leonard Bernstein-

The above quote might not have been made by a photographer, but I think it's apt for my situation. Now I'm not suggesting I'm going to do great things, but my tendency to procrastinate means I'm an expert at the second part, and with a lot of help from Marie, I hope to sort out the first part.

Supplies

Confucius once wrote: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Well in my case it was actually a three hour round trip to Ikea. I appreciate that's not quite as poetic, but I'm not a philosopher, so how about cutting me a little slack?

Having chatted to Marie, I've decided to keep my pictures as simple as possible to start. If after taking a couple of test shots I decide something else is needed, then I should still have enough time to make some changes. With that in mind I set off in search of some plain material to use as backdrops. As I said before, I'm not actually sure how big a piece of material I'll need for the various shots, so I thought I'd err on the side of caution and get 3m of each colour: red, blue, orange, yellow and purple. The only problem I might have, is that the widest material available was only 140cm (sorry about all the metric, but that's the way they sold it), whilst that's fine for some of the close-up shots, it might be a bit short for any full length ones. Actually that's not true, there's another problem...my stupidity! I was feeling quite smug about starting to get on top of things. That was until yesterday, when a group of us went in to the studio. I discovered quite a few of the backdrop colours I was after are already in there, not only that, but they're actually closer to the shades I originally wanted than the cloth I spent a fortune on. I know I should have checked first, but I'm obviously not that intelligent. Damn it!

As well as the material I also bought some props for the various pictures. A 271/2" x 391/4" picture frame (which I hope will be used to create an illusion of the subject coming to life.) Again I think I might have made a mistake, this time bought something that's too big, but we'll see. A smaller 81/4" x 113/4" frame for set dressing. A vase similar to the one in a Steichen picture (I'm hoping to surreptitiously stick it in a photo as a reference to his work.) I know this doesn't sound like a lot, but as I say I'm starting off with the bare minimum.

That's a bit more information for you. As I'm working in the studio I won't be using my own equipment, so can't yet tell you about any of that (other than I'll be using a Canon 5D camera.) I keep meaning to make a note of the lens and size of the CF card, but always forget. When I do I'll edit this post.

When I get a chance I'll take some photos of the material and props. That should make this post a little less boring.

Idea Development

If you've read my last post, you'll remember my promise to be a bit more consistent in my blog posting. Well, here's my second post in as many days.

Look At All The Pretty Colours

Having decided that black and white pictures with colour accents wouldn't cut the mustard, I started looking round for further inspiration. It wasn't hard to find, and it came in two forms: John Rankin Waddell, better known as Rankin, and as already stated, Edward Steichen. Both have an amazing ability to make a feature of colour. That's exactly what I want to do. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not talking about making a colour picture, but making a picture of colour (does that make sense?) What I mean is, I want the colour to be as integral a part of the picture as the subject posing. I'm not sure if that's the right attitude to have when doing a specialist certificate in people, but there you go.

Photograph by Rankin

Take for example the picture above. Without Rankin's liberal use of pigment, it would just be a standard picture, well composed and exposed, but a standard picture none the less. It's the strong contrast between the models pale skin, and the vivid colour, that really makes the picture stand out. The effect is further heightened, by the use of a plain white background and a strong light source.

Clearly I can't go around throwing art supplies in people faces (they tend to be funny about that sort of thing), I can however, use assorted other methods to add a sense of vibrancy to my pictures.

Backgrounds

It goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway), that choosing the right background, is one of the most important aspects of producing a well composed photo. Although the college studio has a selection of  background boards I could use, I'm probably going to bring in my own. I've been looking around, and have found a number of different fabrics that I think would work well as backdrops. I haven't decided yet whether I'll use a single block of strong colour, or try a patterned/striped background.

Photograph By Rankin

I'm going to be producing a mixture of different  photographs: head shots, partial body shots, full body shots. That means I'm going to need a wide selection of material sizes. I think a 1x1 metre section should be fine for the head shots, but for the rest, I'm going to have to consult Marie.

As I explained with the first picture, a simple white background can also work well, but it does mean you're relying on the subject, or props, to add the impact to the photo. In order to achieve a pure white background, you have to correctly use my next subject: lighting.

Lighting

For the pictures with a pure white background, I'm going to try and create a high key effect. What's high key you ask? Good question. High key photography, involves using overly bright lights to remove the majority of the shadows from the picture, and thereby reduce the level of contrast in the image. When used with bright colours, It gives the picture a real sense of life and vibrancy.

With the coloured background pictures, I'm going to try a couple of different lighting options, then see which I prefer. I'll try a high key look with some of them, but for others I'm going to try to add a little variety. I've seen a look in a few photos which I'd like to replicate. It involves allowing the colour to gradually darken as it reaches the edge of the frame, giving the subject a sort of halo.

I'm not sure yet if I'll try to achieve this practically or not. I could probably create the look fairly easily in the studio. I'd just have to use a snoot as the light source for the background, rather than the usual softboxes. If I decide to create the look in post processing, I'll just add a vignette in photoshop. Oh well, another question for Marie.

Props

I can't really go in to too much detail about which props I'm going to use, because I'm still trying to finalise my plans.  In most of the pictures, any use of props will be minimal, but I've got one idea that calls for a number of different pieces. I'll try to explain more in a future post.

There you go. Under a thousand words.

Initial Ideas

As you've probably noticed by now, I'm fairly useless when it comes to this blog malarkey. I'm usually too busy taking photos, or coming up with convoluted schemes for taking those photos, to actually get around to posting anything. I'll try to do better in the future and be a bit more consistent.

Well I promised Marie I'd finally post my initial ideas up, so give me a few minutes of your time and I'll explain my thought process thus far.

Most of my classmates have already picked their final themes, or are at least very close. I on the other hand, have been struggling to pin down exactly what it is I want to do. I'm sure given an unrestricted budget and an endless amount of time, I could come up with a sufficiently impressive idea. Unfortunately, I have neither! 
Although these restrictions have forced me to compromise on the complexity and scope of my theme, I'll do my best to make sure they won't compromise the quality.


If an idea's worth doing, it's worth doing well

When it comes to planning, I like to be meticulous, to be sure an idea's fully formed before I release it on an unsuspecting world. That's why it's taken me so long to actually write this post. you wouldn't believe the number of drafts sitting in my blogs memory. So, where did I start? 

Marie recommended we try and add some coherency to our nascent ideas by drawing up a mind map, that seemed as good a place as any.

 I listed as many different forms of portrait photo as I could think of, then expanded on each with at least one idea. As you can see they're very basic, but I just wanted to try and get the ball rolling. After speaking with Marie again and showing her what I'd come up with, she told me to pick two of the ideas and see if I could develop them in to something that appealed to me. Of all the things I'd written, the studio and documentary ideas sparked the most interest.

Documentary Photography

I've always been a fan of documentary and street photography. Though street photography can be just as formally arranged as any studio portrait. I think a hastily snapped clandestine photo, or impromptu blink and you'll miss it shot, will often convey far more about a persons true character, than hours spent in a studio with even the most easy going participant.
The same goes for documentary photography. How many times have you seen an amazing picture, where the photographer happens to have come across a group of refugees, or a wizened old crone with a captivating gap toothed smile? That's the sort of connection I'd want to make with the person viewing the picture.

The plan would have called for multiple shoots, over several weeks. At first, I'd have tried to take as many candid photographs of the market traders as I could. I'd have tried to capture establishing shots of them in the early hours while they were setting up their stalls, and then again throughout the day whilst dealing with customers. Before finally getting them packing up. After taking these informal shots, I'd have introduced myself to them and explained what I was doing, hopefully then, they'd have allowed me to take some of the more formal documentary style shots.

Obviously for the candid shots I wouldn't have been able to take too much equipment. People might suspect something, if I started assembling a tripod next to them and taking light readings from their face.

I'd have taken my D80 camera and all three of my 4GB memory cards, I know that sounds like overkill, but something might happen to one and you never know how many photos you're going to take! I''d have fitted my 18-135mm lens, because the extra focal length would have allowed me to remain unobtrusive. 

When it came to the more formal photos, I'd have been able to pack a little more heavily. Again, I'd have taken my D80 and all three 4GB memory cards. As far as lenses go, I'd have still taken my 18-135mm, (you never know when that extra focal length will come in handy), but I think I'd have used my 50mm lens for some of the close ups. my larger lens would be able to take similar pictures, but the 50mm is designed to be as sharp as possible at the sort of focal length I'd want. plus it has a much wider aperture available, should I need it.  To help me get the sharpest pictures possible, I'd have also taken my tripod and remote shutter release. I could probably have used the self-timer function, but the subject might have been annoyed by the wait, they're there to work after all. Lastly I'd have packed my pop-up reflector. The reflective surfaces would have allowed me to add a little extra light when needed, and the black surface would have dampened any unwanted ambient light.

Although I really like this idea, there were a couple of reasons why I eventually went with the other option. Firstly, if you read many of my other posts, you'll notice a common problem...the weather! I wasn't willing to risk failing this course, because of the vagaries of the British climate. Markets are only on twice a week, and if the gods were against me I'd have been unable to get the photos required. Secondly, in order to get the morning shots, I'd have had to get in to town incredibly early. Whilst I wouldn't have had a problem with the lack of sleep, unfortunately I wasn't going to be able to fit it in to my work schedule. 

I'm aware that's an awful lot of information for an idea I've already consigned to the dustbin, but I'm not sure how detailed these things are supposed to be. Sorry!

Studio Portraits

Everyone still with me, good! I'll try to make this as brief as possible, and even include a picture or two to relieve the monotony.

This idea has gone through a number of different iterations, but I'll start by explaining the first idea, then explain the evolution in another post. I won't go in to as much equipment detail here, as that will also be covered in the other posts.

 One of my favourite photographers has always been Brian Duffy. I love the clean and simple approach he has to many of his portraits, it's often just the subject and a plain  background (more of this in a future research post.)

Photo Duffy © Duffy Archive

Now, even with all the best will in the world, a monochrome picture against a white/black/grey background, isn't going to get me a distinction on my certificate (I appreciate I'm being ambitious, but that's what I want.) So I reasoned that I would have to try and keep the general feel of those photos, but add a twist. That twist came in the form of accent colours.  I'm not claiming this idea is original, or in hindsight even particularly interesting, but it was all I could come up with at the time. 

Achieving this look would require the extensive use of props and the careful selection of certain items of clothing. I'd initially thought to use a single colour for the accents, thereby helping to form a single unified vision. I subsequently decided to use a selection of colours, as this would make each individual picture unique, whilst still adhering to the main theme.

Although this style is relatively easy to produce with a minimal amount of post processing in photoshop. My main concern, was that when done well, this look can be extremely effective, but when done badly it can make even the best picture look cheap and tacky. In the end, I just wasn't confident that I could guarantee a sufficient quality of images.

As you can see, this was the framework of an interesting idea, but it just wasn't enough. There's definitely one element I'll keep though. I'm firmly in favour of an all studio shoot. Mainly because, unless something has gone seriously wrong (or you're the victim of some sort of biblical reckoning), it very rarely rains indoors. It also gives me complete control over every aspect of the set-up and photos.

Phew, we made it. Well done!

I'm afraid there's much more to come, but you go get some rest for now. I'll try to keep the next post under a thousand words. No promises though.