My Editing

I have had to edit all my photos, some more than others. Here are two photos that I have edited:

Here is my unedited version. As you can see the woman's hair is duller, and less rich in colour. There is a pipe on the wall in the background. The photo looks like a simple snapshot, rather than a nice photo.

Here is my edited version. As you can see I have removed the pipe, and altered the contrast, saturation and made her hair more vibrant. I have used GIMP, CameraRaw and Picasa to edit this photograph.


Here is another example of my editing:

Here, you can see the end of the backdrop. The lighting is completely natural, so the white backdrop is pretty uneven in terms of shadowing.

Here is my edited version:
As you can see I have cropped the image in order to get rid of the edge of the backdrop and get closer to my subject.
I reduced the saturation of the suit to make it more black and less blue. I then increased the saturation of the skin in order to get some colour back.
In GIMP, I used the paintbrush tool to create a spotlight, which I lacked in my original photo.
Using the select tool, I selected the shirt and balanced the colour to more or a Cyan (-50). This was to make the shirt pop out. I chose Cyan because it mixed nicely with the other colours.

Photo in the style of Platon

For my second mini task, I was asked to replicate the style of my chosen photographer. I chose Platon, as I thought I could create some interesting compositions and shots using his methods. I specifically chose the photograph Platon took of Bill Clinton, because I found that was the shot that I would find easiest to replicate, as I had a short amount of time to take it.

Here is some background information on the photograph:

It was Platon's first President shoot, and Esquire magazine said to him, “Right, Platon, we want a nice dignified headshot of our President looking very slick, very warm and friendly. And don’t do any of that weird wide angle stuff—whatever you do, don’t use that lens.” They gave him eight minutes to do the shoot. They closed down a 200 room hotel just to do the picture because Clinton was on tour. Eventually, he walks in the room after this big buildup. Platon spent seven-and-a-half minutes doing the pictures for the magazine and then thought, "Screw it. This is the moment where you step up. I need to express myself here as an artist." And against all opposition, Platon thought: "How many times am I going to be in front of the President again? I owe it myself to do a Platon picture." So he put on his usual wide-angle lens and said to him, “Mr. President, will you show me the love?” and everyone in the room gasped in horror. There were about thirty people in the room—all Clinton's White House aides, drivers, security—and they all thought, "Oh no. Whatever you do, whatever this guy’s after, don’t give it to him!" And Clinton told everybody to be quiet as he knew what Platon wanted. So, he put his hands on his knees and he gave the Clinton magic. Platon had about ten seconds to take the picture. Clinton was a new generation of Presidents at the time—he was a rock n’ roll President—and Platon was a new generation of photographers. He hated that stuffy portraiture with a hand on the chin and everything that the establishment wanted. He wanted something much more punk rock. So you put them together and that’s what you get.

Here is my recreation of the image using one of my photography teachers, Mr. Pressnell. 

Because Platon used a wide-angle lens, I did too. I used a Sigma 10-20mm f/1.8-5. In the shot of Clinton, the wide angle lens creates the illusion of him having very large hands in comparison to the rest of his body. In my shot, however, I went for the illusion of a larger head because I didn't want the picture to be exactly the same as that of Clinton's. 
In order to get Sir to pose the way I wanted him to, I asked him to sit on the stool, with his feet on the floor. I then asked him to place his elbows on his knees, and to flip his tie over his shoulder, which he did. However I still didn't feel the photo was going to be as interesting as I'd wanted it to be, so I asked him to remove his glasses, yet keep hold of them. When it comes to the facial expressions, I had originally planned for him to create a stern look as he stared directly into the camera - but without me asking, Sir went for a more mischievous approach by raising an eyebrow, which I thought created a much better photo.  
As to the editing, I reduced the saturation of the suit, and then lowered it slightly less in order to keep some colour in the skin tone. In a software called GIMP, I selected the shirt and I balanced the colour to more of a Cyan in order for the shirt to pop out more. I chose Cyan because blue is one of the main colours in Clinton's portrait.

Candid vs Posed, which one is better?

We've all tried to look good in a photo, whether it's finding your good side or your best smile, does posing always look better? Here is an example of both a posed shot and a candid one:

Here is my posed shot. The expressions shown in this photo are simply two smiling subjects, nothing is really interesting. All it is is a simplistic self portrait, there is no relationship shown between the subjects - these could be two perfect strangers simply smiling for a photo.

Now here is my candid shot. I feel this photo is a lot more interesting to look at as the two subjects are so busy laughing they are completely unaware of the camera taking a picture. This shot raises the questions, "what are they laughing at?", "why are they on the floor?" etc.
These two people are obviously friends, you can tell by the fact they're laughing together. This makes the shot a lot better than the posed one, in my opinion.

Initial Portraits

The first task I  was set during my photography course was to take portraits of people, preferably strangers. I decided to follow a theme and photograph tattoo artists. I chose this theme because I believed it would be more interesting than photographing some of my relatives, for example. I chose two local tattoo parlours and asked whether I could photograph the artist. This is the result:

Out of the 12 images I have taken, this is by far my best work. I love the picture of the two artists lighting a cigarette, because it was a candid shot. Despite them being complete strangers to me,  I can really see what the relationship between these two people is. 

I love the soft light on this picture, as it really complements the features of these people's faces. Even though the man in this photo has a very prominent beard, it doesn't take any of the attention away from the rest of his face or what is occurring in the photo. 

This photo was taken at  an aperture of f/5.0, with a shutter speed of 1/80th of a second, at an ISO of 400.  

This photo, however, is my least favourite. I dislike the artificial lighting used in the tattoo studio; it creates an orange tone on the skin, which I highly dislike. Even though I tried to change the warmth of the photo to make it 'colder', it didn't quite work and it still didn't look natural. Also, the subject's eyes aren't in focus, so even if this photo had a great composition and lighting, I would still discard it.

The mistakes I made while shooting this photo I will avoid while shooting in the future. I will work on making sure the eyes are in focus, and placing my subject in a nicely lit room or area, hopefully being able to use natural light instead of artificial.
I asked the subject to think of a happy memory, something that made him smile. Although he didn't seem as happy as I'd wanted him to be, I don't mind the expression on his face; I feel it makes him look as though he's daydreaming.
This photo was taken at an aperture f/5.6, a shutter speed if 1/60th of a second and an ISO of 1100.




This photo I find is better than the previous. Although it was taken in the same room, the blinds were up and the light still on. This created a mix of natural and artificial light. I still don't find the light appealing in this image as it makes the subject look rather red on the face, I much prefer it to the previous photo. Also, the eyes are in focus, which is a bonus.
I asked the subject to think of a moment where he felt quite low. This helped him look distant, which creates a certain atmosphere in the photo.
This was taken at an aperture of f/5, a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second and an ISO of 800.




This is a photo I quite like, because it shows this individual's character. The way his hair has gone wild after he brushed his hand through it really makes it stand out. What I do dislike, however, is the lighting. I used an artificial ceiling light which was in the tattoo parlour. Although it gave him nice shadows on his face, it made his skin tone look orange. I tried to adjust the white warmth in Adobe CameraRaw, which seemed to have helped, but only slightly.
I asked the subject to talk to his colleague, so I could get a relaxed, non-awkward  expression on his face.
I took this photo at an aperture of f/5.3, a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second and an ISO of 800.