Purpose: This assignment is all about people. And Black & White photography. Four portraits demonstrate different types of portraits: 1) A formal posed portrait using natural or ambient light; 2) A candid portrait; 3) An environmental portrait and a 4) self portrait
Formal Portrait
(with natural or ambient light)
“Room and a View”
Carolyn Kelley sits on the floor of the graduate lounge in Harvard Law School’s Wasserstein building on Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge Massachusetts on November 16, 2018. A content editor for Harvard Law School’s website Harvard Law Today and a musician, Carolyn explained how important singing is now and always has been to her happiness and wellbeing. Photo by Linda Grant
Camera settings: 50 mm (f 4.5, 1/60) ISO 320 with natural light/no modifiers.
Reflection (Formal Portrait): This image was taken in room with windows on three sides on the 5th floor of a building. It was a cloudy day and about 3 p.m. I chose this room because it has great natural light and was in a quiet part of the building. I didn’t want us to be interrupted as we had a limited amount of time. I brought along a reflector but didn’t end up using it. My camera was hand held. Carolyn enjoys being photographed but it took some time to find the best part of the room to shoot. In our first set up she was facing the window and a lovely marble wall was to her right. It was one of the images that I first considered picking for the final image. During the shoot I had Carolyn sit, stand and turn to different sides of the marble column to see what might work best.
I stuck with my 50mm lens throughout. The 50mm is my only prime lens. I like it in these situations because I don’t feel there is a big hunk of lens between the subject and I. With a shorter lens I find it easier to converse and to feel connected with the subject.
Carolyn and I were both tired when we started the shoot but once we started and got laughing about a few things we felt more energized. I found that she started to laugh uncontrollably when a certain word was mentioned. As we moved to the different poses I spoke to her about various topics including her study as a singer. To change her expression—all I had to do was to say the word and she would be in a different emotional place—she went from contemplative to silly. I ended up with some great candids of her laughing. After about 40 minutes, I wasn’t sure that I had a strong selection of image options so I suggested to her that we both sit on the floor. By then we were both relaxed, it was then that I felt that I captured her spirit.
What I learned:
I am happy that I chose this location for the portrait. It was comfortable to work in (little distraction) and I had natural light to work with. From this shoot I recognized how important it is to go into a shoot with some energy. There is an effort (both mental and physical) that one needs to recognize. I was lucky to have a subject who was able to focus despite being a bit tired. Once she got going the “performer” in her started to shine through. It was important to keep engaged with her throughout. Having water handy would have been helpful..but forgot to have along this time.
In editing the photo I needed to remove some large blotches in the marble and small natural marks in the stone. When I was taking the photo I remember thinking how much I liked the texture but, I found that the blotches/dots were very distracting so removed them in photoshop. There was also a lot of dust on her top and scarf that I also needed to remove to finalize the image.
Candid Portrait
“Sales Pitch”
Valerie Gould talks about the craft items she has for sale at the annual Belmont Senior Center Craft Fair in Belmont, Massachusetts on November 17, 2018. Gould was one of dozens of crafts persons at the event, which is fundraiser for the senior citizen program in Belmont. Photo by Linda Grant
Camera settings: (50 mm (f 2.5, 1/25) ISO 640. No flash or other modifiers.
Reflection (Candid Portrait):
This shoot was taken in a tightly packed dining room turned craft fair in a senior center in Belmont. There was about two feet of space between the rows of crafters and lots of people milling about. This posed two challenges. The first was that there was no room for me to position myself so that I could photograph her and her table and sense of the environment as well. In addition, the room was dimly lit so I had no choice but to use my 50mm lens. I found myself negotiating a space to stand with my camera as people passed by ( and occasionally backing into passersby).
Valerie was more than happy to have her photo taken but once I pulled out the camera she started posing and was somewhat self-conscious. I told her to try to ignore me and to keep doing what she was doing, but…that didn’t work. So I put my camera down and we talked for a few minutes about the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots blankets and the other crafts that that she had made for the fair. I offered to take a few photos of the craft items for the Facebook page where she advertises her business——and then we spoke some more. It was as she was giving me some details about her crafts thatI started to take a few more photos. She was so absorbed in telling me about the blankets etc. that I was able to get some better shots. I did get some images of her looking up at me (that were a little less posed) along the way but chose this because I feel I got her real expression, she is engaged in the activity and it gives a sense of place. This final image was slightly cropped as there was some distracting background details. I chose a shallow depth of field so that the focus was of the image was her. I edited out a lot of dust on her sweatshirt but chose not to soften any details on her face. In a more formal portrait shoot I would have tried to soften the light on her face.
What I learned:
Although the sharpness of the image isn’t bad, it might have been slightly improved with a higher shutter speed with adjustment in the f-stop to compensate. I had to work with the situation at hand (small space, lots of people, bad light), but would have liked to try shots from above and perhaps a shot that would have allowed me to get more of the crafts on her table—but I had no way to pull back. Shots looking up at her from below were not flattering. Initially I felt some concern that the shoot wasn’t going to work at all as she was playing to the camera every time I picked up the camera. I was glad that I pulled back for a few minutes and changed direction so that she became less conscious of me. It was hard to get her to look up so that I could see more of her eyes and to not pose—a bit of shyness/ self consciousness I think. For that reason I think this image captures her. These sorts of shoots need time to pull off and I am glad I took the extra time to make things happen more naturally. Hopefully she felt okay about the whole experience in the end as well.
Environmental Portrait
“Janet and Jackson”
Janet Van Ness sits in her backyard with her 1-year-old golden retriever named, Jackson in Watertown, Massachusetts on November 18, 2018. Jackson, is Janet’s third gold retriever and perhaps her most rambunctious one. It is a rare moment when he settles off leash. Photo by Linda Grant
Camera settings: 35 mm (f 4.5, 1/160) ISO 250
Reflection (Environmental Portrait):
What I was imagining for this shoot and what actually happened were very different. I had hoped to be able to take some nice photos of Janet in her home with her dog in the background. She has nice light in her living room and her study. But unfortunately her dog ate the carpet in the dining room earlier that day so things were a mess at her house. At the last minute so she asked if we could take the photos at my home. I quickly had to rethink everything.. How was I going to do an environmental portrait in a space that didn’t have her stuff in it! To make things more interesting the light of the day was slipping away.
I suggested to Janet that she bring over her dog, Jackson. It was a option worth trying but he added some challenges to the shoot. As soon as Jackson arrived he ran around the living room and Janet had a lot of trouble getting him under control. We attempted to get a few photos near a window in my dining room as she fed him treats, but she since couldn’t take her focus off of him most of the photos are of her bending over trying to calm him down. The light and colors were nice but Janet was too stressed to be present for the photograph.
So I decided to move the shoot to her backyard. Once he got to the backyard Jackson ran off some of his energy as they played catch and I tried to capture some shots of her engaged with him. But, again I got some shots of the two of them but none that really showed her face and expression as she was always bent over and hair covered her face.
So it was onto to Plan C. For this shot I asked Janet to sit on a moss covered rock ledge in her backyard with the forest behind her. The dog, now a little worn out, settled for about 4 frames and in one of them she didn’t have to have her hands at his collar. He was off in his own world and she was able to look up at me—finally!
The image really captures her personality. Her forested backyard is a very important to her. She looks out to the forest from her living room and kitchen windows and here in the image—now that the dog is more settled one can see her confidence and sureness. She is a bit disheveled, after having managed the dog and a busy weekend, but looks comfortable in the setting. Having the dog in the background a bit works here. The dog has been disruptive to her life as he is the most stubborn retriever that she has had—but but despite that he is clearly important to her and I think the image captures that.
What I learned:
Initially when I started the shoot inside I used my 50mm lens. It worked well for the light but to get a wider shot and both Janet and Jackson I needed to sit on the ground and pull back quite a way.. (Janet was sitting on a chair near a window) and Jackson was laying/sitting on the floor. I learned (and should have known) that adding Jackson into the mix was going to add a lot of challenges. Moving outside was a great next plan. I changed to my 24-105 mm zoom lens and we walked over to their home. There was still a decent amount of light but it was fading. I’m glad that for the last few minutes we were able move to a less candid moment. I like the shot, but wish I had been able to slightly fix her hair at the top—otherwise I am happy with how well it captures her.
Self Portrait
“Reflecting Back”
A self portrait taken in Watertown, Massachusetts on November 18, 2018.
Camera Settings: 50 mm (f 6.3 1/30) ISO 2500
Stacked image
Reflection (self portrait):
The self portrait exercise was a series of experiments. My original inspiration was the work of Vivian Maier. Last week I played around with double exposures and reflections in a mirror in an outside environment. Here is a page of these self portrait experiments. This week I continued to play around with reflections but tried to incorporate some meaning into the image. My goal was to also challenge myself technically. To take this image I have the camera pointed to a full length mirror and in that mirror I capture the mirror from Granada. To get myself in the image stood at the back of the room and positioned myself so that my face would appear to the side of the painting of Alberobello that is reflected in the mirror. It took many many tries to get my head in the right position in the Granada mirror and to not block the painting. The other challenge was to get a decent expression…most of the time I look frustrated, surprised or only part of me could be seen!
I also ended up blending two images. In one image the exterior of the Granada mirror is in focus. In the second image I am in focus. I ended up liking the ghost-like effect around my face. I also removed a light switch which was below the mirror and had to clean up a slight mark on the wall to the right of the mirror.
What I learned:
I really enjoyed playing with mirrors and reflections but, they introduce lots of technical challenges. Focus was one challenge. Outside there were issues with highlights and positioning to get a good image. Inside there were issues with positioning in a small space—watching for extraneous items in the image. Working with the camera and holding a mirror at the same time is also tricky (outside)…but a stand would have gotten into the frame. I don’t think I would have been able to take this picture at the beginning of the semester. It really pulled together many of the technical skills we have been developing—lighting, focus and composition to name a few. I needed the two weeks to do this as the idea had to develop and it was nice to have time to experiment and to develop those skills.