Final Products

Final Group Portrait

This is the photo i chose to have printed as my group portrait. I am happy with the idea but the lighting could have beena lot better. I would like to get rid of the light on Sarah L's face and have light coming the computer screen but otherwise I am satisfied with the image although it is my least favourite of the three.

Final Self Portrait
I am extremely happy with the timing of this image. The trick i am doing is a 360 flip and in skateboarding photography this is the perfect position to be in, although it didnt come easily. I had a lot of trouble with sharpness as it was hard to have bright lighting and keep the background dark. There seemed to be a slight softness on the computer screen but i thought it would be acceptable, unfortunately it looks very soft on the print.

Final Single Portrait
I believe this was my most successful image of the three. It is similar to the original photo i was working off but i changed it slightly to suit my preferences. The one thing i would have changed would be the skateboard but this was the only one i had access to at the time. It looks cool printed so i am happy with it.

Single portrait progress

For my single portrait i chose to have a single coloured background with no props other than the obvious skateboard. In my reference photo the model is covering all but her eyes. Here is a photo of my medel Carly posing in a similar way the original photo.

Hair assistant Cayley helping Carly with an urgent fringe dilemma.

I tried a range of different poses including showing the full face and holding the skateboard out from her body but the style i liked the most was having the board covering only part of Carly's face.

Self portrait progress

Unfortunately it seems someone has broken into my room, hacked my computer and deleted my fisrt set of practice self portraits as i cant seem to find them anywhere. They were much the same as these just with unwanted background matter and lower quality tricks. The hardest part was fitting myself into the frame without showing the walls or room but the problem was overcome with the help of my assistant Cayley. Here are a few different tricks i was doing(kickflip, pop-shovit, 360 flip). If i was to change anything it would be the colour of my jeans as they tend to blend into the black background but other than that i am fairly happy with this shoot.

Group shot proposal change

I have decided to change my idea for my group portrait of having skaters to one that is easier to get models for. Most of my skateboarding friends are only free on weekends and therefore unavailable when the 1st years have studio time. I have instead decided to have a group of people watching a computer screen and being shocked/discusted at what they are seeing. This is in relation to the many "two girls, one cup reaction" and other similar videos on youtube.

Here are some of the shots i took while trying to make the subjects seem as discusted and grossed out as possible. If i was to re-shoot this set up i would try to some how have the light coming from the computer screen, which i tried to do on the day and failed.


As you can see it was not easy to get all the models reactions equally discusted and in sync. Here i believe i have found the source of the problem:

You know what they say, "Never work with children, animals or Ned".

Studio (portraits) Assignment Proposal

Self Portrait
For my self portrait I am portraying how I wish others to perceive me which is as a skateboarder. I intend to have myself mid trick looking at the camera whilst wearing typical skateboarding clothes. The background will most likely be a solid colour. My inspiration for this it taken from this advertisement of Paul Rodriguez but it will be slightly more comical as I will be looking at the camera.



Single Portrait
For this shoot I want to have a girl posing with a skateboard for a mens/skateboard magazine the girl will have minimal clothing and be covering themselves with the skateboard. The shot will be similar to the photo below but taken from the waist up.



Group Portrait
For the group portrait i am going to continue the skateboarding theme. I will get some of my mates who skate to do a cover shot like this transworld magazine cover.

Group Portraits

1) f15 ISO400 1/50th
2) f16 ISO400 1/50th
3) f13 ISO400 1/30th
4) f13 ISO400 1/30th

For this shoot we found out the hard way just how tricky group portraits can be. I believe there are many small faults in all the photos: distracting shadows, incorect lighting, concept/composition with no real theme or outstanding idea etc. If revisited, spending more time organising the lighting set up correctly would do wonders for the photos but as it was our first group portrait shoot we cant expect perfect pictures.

Protraits (pairs)

1) 1/30th @ f11
2) 1/30th @ f7.1
3) 1/30th @ f16
4) 1/30th @ f5.6

First three photos taken by David Woltschenko.

To improve this set of shots a larger backdrop would be helpful to create a solid hessian texture rather that reveal parts the underlying wood. Also bringing the subjects forward will help to at least soften the currently harsh shadows.

Portraits revisited

Hollywood

+1 stop ..........recommended light meter settings..........-1 stop



Broad

+1 stop ..........recommended light meter settings..........-1 stop



Rembrant

+1 stop ..........recommended light meter settings..........-1 stop


Double portrait?


Looking back on this shoot a few weeks on i realise that the background shadows are very distracting and could easily be fixed with two crossed back lights pointed at opposite sides of the canvas. Also better backdrops would have made the pictures far mor interesting.

Single Portraits

1)Hollywood - f11 @ 1/60th
2)Rembrant - f9 @ 1/60th
3)Narrow - f10 @ 1/100th
4)Broad - f5.6 @ 1/100th

In photos two and three the shadow in the background are too dominant. We should have had the subject stand further out from the backdrop but unfortunately the colour roll was quite narrow so the subjects needed to be close to it to prevent the edges from being shown. The light on the sunglasses is pretty bad as we were using an un-diffused floodlight rather than a softbox so it is to be expected.