Blog 2 Statement of Intent 1 Low key portraits/Faces

Low Key Portraits/ Faces

Statement of Intent 1


The first subject I have chosen for this course is low key portraits/faces. The purpose and reason for this choice of this type of photography is to give me a new dimension to my skills and hopefully enable me to produce a much broader scope to my photography

I intend to to produce a set of low key portrait images or faces for my first subject. I will be using the college studio to produce these images

I don't really have much experience of using a photographic studio so I hope to to gain a lot more knowledge and experience of this subject over the next 15 weeks

I intend to use the college studio for a 2 hour practice shoot initinally to help me to get used to the studio and the lighting. I then intend to follow this up by a lot more studio sessions over the next 15 weeks to complete the sets of images for my portfolio

I will be bringing my niece Hannah into the studio to model for me, she's a 19 year old and very photogenic. I intend to shoot images of Hannah from a variety of angles including, front, back, side and overhead

I need to learn about the different light sources available within the studio, their strengths and intensity's. These will include flash and ambient lighting

I think this will be a really good learning curve for me to help me to experiment and get to grips with this type of photography

I have been doing some research on low key images and understand that I will need to use controlled selective lighting to achieve the deired effects

Shown here on this page below are some examples of low key images. These photos  were taken from the internet. The images have given me sources of inspiration of this type of work which I would like to emulate. I think this will be a really challenging subject to undertake but hope to improve and increase my knowledge of this type of photography

Influences
                                                                     

I came across this  American photographer above his name isVal Tourchin, he produces a lot of low key images especially of black people.I have studied some of his images on  his website and found inspiration from this person. I have included a few images from this photographer shown below

Other photogrphers who I have been studying and whom I find could  influence me to produce this type of photography include Steve Pyke, Yousef Karsh and Irving Penn. They have all produced some low key work throuout their carees. Here's just a sample of some of their images.

Yousuf Karsh

Irving Penn Images

Hitchcock

Another of Penns Images

Steve Pyke

Below are some random images that I have found on the net that have inspired me to produce some low key photography

Randon photogrpher found on the net

The image above was taken by a random photographer from the Internet. I love this image for is sublety and hope to produve some simular kind of photography

Equipment:

The equipment that I will be using for this project will consist of the following


Cameras:

Canon 5D (College camera)

Canon 400D DSLR
Fuji F11 Compact Digital

LG Viewty camera phone (brilliant macro camera)


Lenses :

Canon 70-210 F4 zoom lens
Canon 18-55 Wide angle zoom lens

Velbon tripod
College tripod

Sony Vaio laptop

Software:


Adobe Phototoshop CS3 for image manipulation
Adobe Elements 7.
Adobe Bridge
Sandisk Compact flash memory cards

I will possibly use Photoshop CS3 to put some final touches and manipulationsto my images. I may lighten or darken some of them and possibly add selective focus


Lighting :

Bowens 1000 and 500 watt lighting unit/flash heads
Various snoots,barn doors,reflectors

I hope to produce and present my final images on cd or dvd


Health and Safety


During our first week at college we were taken into the photographic studio and given a health and safety talk by our tutor Steve Davis who outlined the dangers that are present in the studio

There are a certain amount of health and safety considerations to take in to account when using a photographic studio. Most of the work will take place in a darkened room so there are a number of dangers lurking for the unsuspecting photographer

1-Trip Hazards
here are various trip hazards in and around the studio,these include:

2-Tripods and lighting stands:

These are very easy to trip over and which cannot be seen easily in a darkened room. Some have long booms with large counter weights on their ends. Be careful not to bang you heads and be weary of low positioned lighting heads

3-Trailing power cables, leads and extension blocks: Again easy to trip over and carrying very high voltages.Tape cables to the floor where possible with warning or hazard tape

4-High voltage Flash and lighting heads: These units which produce the lighting in the studio can become extremely hot due to there high power outputs. The side casings of these units can become very hot, handle them with care. Do not hang or drape coats, shirts etc over lighting/flash heads. This could overheat the lighting and produce a fire risk

5-Strobe lighting and flash: Be sure to warn people accompanying you into the studio that there may be a risk that the flashing lighting in the studio may trigger of epileptic fits

6-Water and liquids: Be extremely careful if using liquids and water within a photographic studio. Liquids and high voltage electricity don't mix. Always use dry hands when using any electrical equipment within the studio

7-Fire extinguishers: Make sure you know the location of the fire extinguishers within the room. Make sue you know the right kind of extinguisher to use on a fire. There are different extinguishers for different kinds of fires

8-Telephones: Make sure you have acess to a telephone or mobile phone while using the studio. Sometimes the studio door may be locked or restricted for people entering the studio while a shoot is taking place. If an accident was to accur the use of a telephone is essential. Always notify people that you are using the studio

The links below show some basic health and safety procedures for studio photography:

http://www.ehow.com/video_2371507_photography-studio-equipment-studio-safety.html



Lighting and techniques

For this particular shoot I will be experimenting with lighting my subjects from different angles. I want to try to illumminate my model from the rear of her head giving the illusion of a silloutte

I will try to create a low key sillouette with lighting from behind my model. I intend to blow a fan on to the front of my models face then light her hair from behind her head as her hair dances through the breeeze of the fan

I will be experimenting 1,2 3 and posiibly 4 light sources with different intensity's to create different lighting effects and styles

I intend to take a mirror into the studio and experiment with some reflections

I may experiment with lighting 2 elements in one image, lighting the main subject in the foreground then lighting a 2nd subdued element in the rear of the shot,hopefully giving a feeling of depth

I may possibly transform all of my images from colour to monochrome

Blog 1 College 30th Jan start of the course

Start of new Level 3 C and G course


Started new modules on C and C photog course today at Burton College. I was introduced to blogger a web based blogging software that we will be using for the duration of this course course. I hope to produce two portfolios of images using studio photography.

The first subject I have chosen is low key portraits, I have never attempted portraits or any kind of studio photography before so this will be a really good learning curve

Shown opposite are some ramdom images that I have found on the internet. Looking at these kind of images gives me inspiration to produce similar kind of work of my own








I hope to produce similar kinds of results to the images shown here but know I will have to work a lot on gaining the right kind of lighting to produce the mood and ambience of the images