Final 10 images 1st Subject Low Key Portraits

Final 10 images for my 1st subject Low key portraits

Here's my final images for my 1st subject, please let me know your oppinions, having your images critiqued on is a great way to learn and I always want to better my photography, I don't mind critisism so please be honest. Some of the images have some noise in them,but I expected this in very low light conditions


Reasons

I chose these images as my final 10 for varoius reasons. The majority of them I am quite pleased with. They show exactly what I set out to do,which was to produce a set of low key portraits. The majority of the images are correctly lit the way I had planned them to be. Although a couple are a little out of focus I expected this as focusing was extremely difficult in a very darkened room.

They all follow the same theme which was part of the assignment

I did have a lot more images from this particular studio session but I chose these 10 because of the correct exposures,poses and originality. I always try to produce work that is slightly different from the next photographer

These I think were my best 10 images, others were blurred,to dark or to light. In others my model was posing wrong and didn't look right. The backgounds were the wrong colours or there were distractions in the photo

I find an image has to be interesting to the eye to keep the attension of the viewer. It's like a holiday snap, if youv'e seen one you've seen them all. So I try to be different and original, I like to try new directions. The reseach I have carried out on this course has given me fresh ideas and new directions, it makes you aware of other photographers work, otherwise your work would become to samey and repetative.

I think we are all inspired by other people's works and materials,this has an effect to make you want to try something more different and perhaps more creative. This I'm sure can only make your photogrphy more interesting and rewarding. 

I chose low key images as a challenge and it did prove to be a challenge I hadn't done any kind of this photography before but I found this to be a great learning curve for me which has added a new dimension to my photography

Final 10

Image 1

F 4

125th of a sec

100 ISO

I used barn doors on a 500 watt bowens flash head in the college studio to produce this shot. I lit my model from the right hand side.I used a large black deflector to decrease the light falling on the model as it was a little intense.

I was really pleased with the overall results. I wanted to blur any background distractions so decided to use an Fstop of F4 which gives a shallow depth of field

I tilted the image using Photoshot to give a different perspective

I chose this image as 1 of my final 10 because of it's subleness and delicate feel. I am really pleased with the image. It shows what can be achieved with just allowing the slightest amounts of light to reach your subject. This photograph shows the true meaning of photography "Light"

Image 2

F 4

125th sec

100 1SO

Again simular to the image above using the same lighting but a little more intense and the angle of light was projected more from a frontal direction

I choose this image because it creates a sense of mystery. There is a little with a bit of a sinnister look by my model which creates a sense of mystery. Is this woman a terrorist? a polictical activist or is the covering of the face just a part of her religion. You decide!

Image 3

F 5.6

125th sec

100 ISO

I wanted to light my model from behind her head and direct light through her hair to give a type of sillouette effect.

 I used 1 flash head with barn doors attached directly behind my models head on a setting of 3

I also wanted a little bit of light shining on the face from the front. I set up another flash head from the front right on a setting of 3

Image 4

F 5.6

 125th sec

100 ISO

In this photo I used a aperture of 5.6. I used this f stop  to give me  more depth of field in the image to make  as to make sure the hands and the face were all in focus. Using F4 didn't give me enough depth of field

Image 5

F 8.0

125th sec

100 ISO

Again another image lit with 1 500 watt flash head from the left hand side. I used the flash head on the lowest setting N0 1 but the light was still to intense. So I stopped up my camera to an aperture of F8 so the camera let in less light.

Image 6

F 5.6

125th sec

100 ISO

Another one of my images lit again from the front and the rear but with a little more light intensity add to the image. Adding a little more light gave a nice shimmer on my models lips which I thought added extra interest to the shot

Image 7

F 5.6

125th sec

100 ISO

I tried something different with this shot. I asked a friend to hold a bunch of dried flowers a couple of feet away from my models face. This threw some nice shadows onto my subject. I made a kind of window in the flowers to allow my models face to be seen through the curling stems. I like this shot, I love just a hint of a catchlight in my models eye it gives the illusion that my model had curly hair even though her hair is very straight

Image 8

F 5.6

125th sec

100 ISO

Again I experimented with shadows from my light sources which added a new dimension to my photographs.

I seperated my models hair to cast shadows onto her face which gives the photo a more interesting focal point

Image 9

F 5.6

125th sec

100 ISO

This was the most trickyist of shots to produce and certainly made me think. It was very hard to direct the light source in a position which creates just an outline of a face. I used 2 black screens to cut out the light source from my 500 watt flash head. Positioning these screens enabled me to direct the light source just on the left hand side of my model face. The image is a little blurred as I couldn't use auto focus on my camera as the room was in virtual darkness. I manually focused but this was hard to achieve in a very dark room

Image 10

F 5.6

125th sec

100 ISO

One of the more easier images to set up. I used a single flash head from the left front. I controlled the light source falling onto my models face by using a black piece of board which enabled me to blank out the light reaching the right hand side of my models face