Portraiture - Work Diary

Portraiture - Work Diary

Evaluation

In the sessions this week, we were given the task of exploring the topic of portraiture. At first, I thought that this was going to be quite a boring topic but as the sessions progressed, found that I was able to produce some effective and striking images. In Tuesday's session, I focused on taking images in the studio where I tried to work in the style of Richard Avedon and Thomas Ruff. In Thursday's session, we went out and captured portraits on location. I found that shooting on location was much more enjoyable as I was able to capture more natural expressions of my subjects and found that the individuals being photographed were more relaxed and therefore easier to capture in my images. I also enjoyed experimenting with the different backgrounds that were available and also the shallow depths of field in my images, as these aspects helped to add interest to my images. In addition, I found that being able to manipulate the depth of field helped me to adapt and add interest to my images. I was able to manipulate the depths of fields by having my camera on aperture priority mode and setting a low f/stop if I wanted a shallow depth of field and setting a higher f/stop if I wanted to get a wide depth of field. Below shows some images which I captured during this weeks sessions on portraiture.

I really like this image and feel as though it could be considered as being connected with the image below. I edited this image using photoshop and altered the curves as well as increasing the saturation to obtain a more striking and bold image. I also like how the subject is not face on as the image therefore presents an alternative perspective of portraiture in the form of a side on angle. This is one of my favourite images and was captured during Thursday's location shoot.

I really like this image and like the way that the subject is natural and not looking directly at the camera. I altered this image using photoshop and increased the brightness, increased the saturation and also altered the curves to make the image vibrant and make the subjects skin bright so that they stand out more. This is another of my favourite images from the shoots on portraiture.

This image presents a screenshot of the photoshop page from when I edited the image above and on the right hand side, shows the layers that I added. 

This is one of my least favourite images from the sessions on portraiture. Although there is nothing specifically wrong with the image, I feel that the actual element of the portrait is detracted from due to the background and foreground which, in my opinion, is too busy. I feel like the image would have more successful had the subject been positioned in a plainer looking setting.

Idea Development

If I had the opportunity to go out and shoot for the topic of portraiture again, I would attempt to produce a range of images which featured the same subject but in different situations. I think that this would be effective as I feel as though the images would interconnect with each other and be more interesting. I would also try to photograph more people in their natural setting as I feel that this helps to add interest to the images and also helps for the audience to work out and have a better idea of the subjects identity. I would also experiment more with my images in photoshop and would perhaps try black and white filters on them as I feel that this would make the images effective and also would show various tones within the faces which would make the images more eye-catching and appealing to their audiences. Below shows some images which I would use for inspiration if I were to shoot for this topic again.