Assignment One – Tutor Feedback etc

I got the feedback from my tutor last week and have exchanged further e-mails with him since then.  The first thing to say is that the report was detailed, constructive and considered which is pleasing and certainly very helpful.

There were some positive indications – ‘a good collection of images’; ‘a variety of techniques and styles’; ‘fits the brief to a “t”’; ‘well executed’; ‘a definite idea of what you want to achieve’; ‘a good grasp of lighting’ – which is OK, but there were some general comments that indicate the need for further development – ‘need to develop your skills in putting people at ease’; ‘more work on developing your own style’ – which I would also agree with.  I had done virtually no portrait photography when I began this course and although I think I’ve made progress, there is still plenty of way to go if I am going to develop my portraiture skills.  In relation to developing my style, my tutor brought out all sorts of detail issues with, for example, the first image (below), comparing it to a similarly-located Mario Testino picture, and indicating how much more I might have been able to get out of it with things such as ‘use of the angle of the shoulders’, ‘a hint of what the arms are doing’.

I think this illustrates the ‘gulf’ between the professional photographer, with a professional model, and the relative beginner, such as myself.  Not surprisingly, experience can teach you to think of all the details and nuances that make the difference between ‘fitting the brief’ and making a ‘dynamic image’.  Fundamentally, it needs more practice, more thought, and attention to detail.  I feel that I can handle most of the basic technical requirements (something that I wasn’t entirely sure about when I started out), but there is a lot to learn in terms of style and creativity.

Another piece of general feedback related to this learning log, where he feels that I need to be more reflective – more indications of why I chose one image over another and more attention to where I need to strengthen my skills – so I’m trying to do that, including in this post.

Taking the individual images in turn, he felt that there could be a better crop of the first one, making the drainpipe less dominant, and I agree.

He also asked whether I had tried alternative camera angles, different poses etc.  The answer is ‘yes’ but to a very limited degree (back to the earlier comment about attention to detail).  I said in my notes on the images that the smile and positive look on Isobel’s face has a reassuring effect.  His question – quite rightly – is why would I want to reassure the viewer.  What if I wanted to unsettle them.  The truth is, of course, that I am being cautious with this image and not wanting to show Isobel being frightened, alarmed, provocative, or whatever in this seedy looking location.  And that is why I have made this choice.  I did have some alternatives, with minor variations, as below.

On the whole, I still favour the cropped version of the original, accepting that this is partly down to my own ‘caution’ and preference for the ‘positive’.

Feedback was positive on the second image, but my tutor had an alternative crop for this one, too, with which I also agree.  I wrote about the surrounding foliage framing the subject, but the tree in the top right does distract to some degree, so I go with the tighter crop.

On the third image, he liked the different style, the conversion to black and white, the sharpness in the eyes, and the ‘great expression in the face’.

He was less sure about the depth of the shadows and felt that the eyes could be lightened; suggested that the skin tones were a bit flat and could do with more contrast; and again had an alternative crop. I have struggled with trying to specifically target the skin tones in Photoshop and come to the conclusion that this particular tweak is probably a step too far, at present. I did try the lightening of the shadows and the eyes, plus the tighter crop. 

For me, the lighter version looks a little too much like dirt on the face (something I had been concerned about in my initial post).  That might just reflect my (lack of) skill in making the change, but I think I prefer the higher contrast version with the dark shadows.  The lightened eyes look OK in the lighter version, but didn’t quite work in the original, more contrasty version.  The crop, on the other hand, is fine.  So I end up with this one.

The fourth image proved to be well-liked.  He did comment on the slight shadow behind the face and felt that the image might be slightly under-exposed.

My original notes did refer to the shadow, which I had not originally wanted in the image but which I found acceptable & even felt that it provided a little bit of contrast.  Positioning my subject further from the background would have eliminated it, but that wasn’t an option for this session, working in limited space. I did produce the following version, with slightly higher exposure.

We have had a little bit of debate over the fifth image, the original of which is below.  My own notes had questioned whether my subject might be too small in the frame and whether we could see enough of her face. 

My tutor felt that the treatment was valid, and that the crop was right, but shared the reservations that I expressed, wondering whether I might have gone for a different situation e.g. grooming the horse, where there was scope for more of an intimate shot.  I agree, but on the other hand, I was chiefly aiming to show Isobel working hard in a challenging environment, rather than creating an intimate portrait of ‘girl with horse’. I did have some other images of her with the horse in the field, but felt that they had not come out right from the technical point of view – not sharp enough; some lens flare; etc – because I was having to work ‘on the hoof’ (pardon the pun!!) as she led the horse into the field.  Here are those two.

I also took some others of her doing other work in the field prior to the horse coming out – see below.

My tutor thought that a version of the last shot, but with all of her shadow in the frame, migh work well – true, but not captured at the time, unfortunately.  Another approach, with hindsight, would have been to get closer for the shot of her leading the horses.  I have done some very tight crops of the oroiginal to show what might have been possible – though as crops, the second one pushes the pixels somewhat!

On the whole, whilst there might, on reflection, have been better images that I could have taken.  Of the ones I did take, I think I made the right choice, albeit I accept that it does test the boundaries of what might be considered a portrait.

The final image, I chose to some extent on the basis of its composition.

My tutor agreed, but also commented that it demonstrates the problems with using on-camera flash – the shadow below the arm – and that perhaps a lower camera angle, showing more of her face, would have worked better.  The latter is probably true, and I was only working with the flash because the light was so poor in the stable and my D80 can become very grainy/noisy at high ISO settings (which would have been necessary to ‘stop’ the action as she worked).  That said, ‘grainy’ might have worked!  I did take a lot of images in this sequence, and there were others that I might have chosen, a selection of which are shown below.

Perhaps, looking back, I might have chosen either the second or third of these for my submission – as more interesting images that retain the context and the concentration in her face, but do show more of her face.

So, there is plenty to reflect on here.  It has left me a little overwhelmed, if I tell the truth, but I have to remember where I started out with portraiture just a few weeks ago.  If I want to pursue this further, either later in this course, or as part of Level 2, or even Level 3, then I have a lot more work to do.  As a starter, I’m not too unhappy with what I’ve done, and it’s time to concentrate on ‘People Unaware’.

Assignment One: A portrait

This first assignment requires that we take one subject and produce 5-7 images of that person, in different types/style.  My subject is Isobel, and some of the following are from projects completed in this first section of the course; others are from different sessions.

This first image is taken, on location, at one of the places identified in Project 2.  I must admit that, when I saw this potential location, it was the contrast between the textures of the site and the texture of the human face that I had in mind.  This head and shoulders portrait highlights that contrast successfully, I would say.  The softness of skin texture, the light smooth shine on the lips, the gentle waves in the hair, the slight highlight in the eyes, and the warm tones of skin and hair, all contrast markedly with the rough, hard, decaying textures & colours in the stone background and the crumbling green/rust/red down-pipe.  Lighting is primarily from a diffused, shaded afternoon natural light, supplemented with a small amount of on-camera flash to fill-in the face.  We worked on a few options in terms of posing, but I think that this gaze to the left of frame, combined with a gentle smile has resulted in a somewhat dream-like look that suits the slightly surreal contrast of texture/context mentioned above.  The smile and warmth of expression in the eyes offer some ‘reassurance’ to the viewer; whereas a more serious, even startled look, could, in this context, have produced a more disconcerting image.  It would have been possible to portray a sense of threat, for example.  I am also reminded, to some extent, of (black and white) images of Hollywood starlets in the 40’s & 50’s, in which they were often portrayed looking upwards and out of the frame; a type of portrait beautifully copied in one of Cindy Sherman’s self-portraits, of course. As a portrait of Isobel, however, it works well in highlighting her features and her hair, whilst adding interest through the slightly surprising context/location.

The second image is taken from a session that Isobel and I shot for Project 2 (we called it the ‘catalogue session’ because we felt the outcome had a look of ‘Littlewoods’ about it!).  A full length portrait this time, it is shot from a slightly elevated position with the subject looking up at the camera, lit by diffused natural light.  The soft, ‘all-over’ light has worked well, I believe, in producing relatively low-contrast image of Isobel in which all facial features, dress etc are evenly balanced.  Although we did spend some time trying different looks etc, I like the relaxed, naturalness of the stance, facial expression, and of course, the gesture with the left hand.  The crop provides a good, balanced framing of the main subject, through the tree branch top left, foliage bottom left, and leaves to the right; and the colour contrast with her clothing works successfully too.  The metal platform, on which she is standing, with its large nuts/bolts, adds another level of overall interest to the image.  As I said above, it does feel a little bit like a catalogue illustration, but it works as a pleasing portrait of Isobel as well, hopefully!

This high contrast, closely cropped facial portrait is quite different.  Also shot outdoors, it is lit by bright afternoon sunlight that is shining over my left shoulder and being broken up by trees; hence the shadows on the face and the considerable tonal range.  We had to work at finding the right position so that the eyes were not in shade but where there was enough shadow for it not to look like a dirty mark on her face, or war-paint!  I made the conversion to black and white in Photoshop after seeing the image on screen; and I did it because I sensed that it would be a particularly effective way of using the high contrast in this picture, which I think has turned out to be correct.  The image is, of course, very dark on the left of frame, almost black.  There is a fair amount of ‘information’ in the shadows in the original RAW file, and I did try versions where that shadow detail had been brought out, but I prefer the very high contrast in the monochrome version, especially since it is balanced by the brightly lit hair on the right side.  The highlights in the eyes and on the lip work well, but I have to admit that I only spotted the one on the ear-ring afterwards; perhaps some sixth sense made me capture it anyway!!  The image has quite a serious and thoughtful feel to it.  The shadows on the face, plus the tiny hint of a frown line, and the gaze directed off frame into the distance, suggest the possibility of something on the mind (other than, can we get out of this bright sunlight, it’s hurting my eyes!).  There is a ‘mature’ sense that differs from the gentleness of smile and expression in the first two – and that is also, in no small part, due to the lighting, the crop, and the mono-conversion.

This portrait is from Project 6,’Best of a sequence’, and it is, for me, the best in this sequence as well.  I have written elsewhere in my blog about my interest in the ‘deadpan’, contemporary photographic style, and this is my ‘take’ on it.  I took some care to select a background that would have as little impact on the image as possible, and then experimented with lighting that would achieve a consistent, soft and ‘low impact’ feel (a ‘bounced’, diffused, off-camera flash, as explained under Project 6), eliminating shadow as far as I could.  There is a very soft shadow behind the lower part of her face, but I came to the conclusion that this was actually quite useful in introducing just a small element of depth to the image.  I deliberately went for the frontal ‘pose’ but asked Isobel to have as little expression on her face as she could.  There is, actually, a hint of a smile, but it seemed to work more effectively than some of the others that almost had too serious a ‘stare’.  I wanted to pare the portrait down to some very basic essentials.  The near symmetry of the pose, facial expression, dress, is accentuated by the simple square crop.  It is, of course, perfectly obvious that Isobel is ‘posing’ for a portrait photo, but I have tried to get as far away as I could from any sense that she is ‘putting on’ a pose.  I want the image to engage the viewer and make him/her want to look, but I’d also like them to wonder what it is about this very simple image that makes them look.  Not sure whether it achieves that, but it is my own choice from the sequence.

In complete contrast, here is Isobel far away from any form of photographic pose.  In one of two ‘action’ portraits in the selection, she is seen with her two horses, leading them out to the field, on what appears to be a cold winter’s day.  I took a number of pictures of her outside in this context – mending a fence; spreading hay on the snow for their feed; taking the horses through gates; breaking ice on their water buckets – but I have chosen this one, even though we don’t actually see much of Isobel herself at this distance.  The low winter sun makes for an attractive light, but the presence of snow, the rugs on the horses, and Isobel’s own clothes tell us that this is not necessarily a comfortable day on which to be out and about.  The three of them make an attractive grouping, but we can also sense that one of the horses is less willing than the other.  The slight turn of Isobel’s head and the expression on her face (just visible, even at a distance) tell us that she is encouraging him, and the position of her left arm also suggests that she is having to pull him along to some extent.  I like the comparison between the previous image and this one.  The former, fully face-on and looking straight at the viewer, might be assumed to tell us a lot about her, fully-exposed to the camera’s gaze.  Actually, this portrait, in which she is relatively small in the frame, clothed in thick winter garments from head to toe, and only letting us see the lower part of her face from many yards away, has so much more to say about her.

The final portrait, another ‘action’-based image, is also from within the ‘horse’ context, but we wouldn’t necessarily know that without the clue from the previous one.  This is taken indoors, in a stable, in low ambient light, using an on-camera flash unit.  I spent some time capturing a range of photographs of Isobel as she cleaned out the stables, and several might have formed part of this set.  I have chosen this one for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I like the composition.  There is a touch of the classic ‘thirds’, with a vertical line implied by her downward gaze, and a corresponding horizontal formed by her right arm; but there are various other interesting compositional lines – the rake handle; the diagonal wooden support in the background; metal verticals, wooden verticals etc.  Then, there are some specifics that I think provide interest – the pursed lips; the hand gripping the end of the rake and the wrist angle; the concentration of her gaze.  Most importantly, I want the image to provide a narrative interest and stimulus for the viewer.  It shows a young woman very clearly absorbed in some form of manual activity, concentrating hard, tensing her face and muscles, not actually posing yet almost seeming to adopt a pose anyway.  Her smooth skin and neat hair are in contrast with the cobwebs, old wood, blue binding string, piece of plastic packaging etc lying around in the background.

Overall, this set uses a variety of styles to show several aspects of Isobel and her life.  It isn’t a comprehensive ‘portrait’ and there are other images that I would have liked to include had time and opportunity allowed – a more ‘formal’ portrait, for example, with Isobel smartly dressed to go out for the evening; and at another extreme, something informal that showed off her sense of fun and humour.  I may even add these later, but it has proved difficult to arrange suitable opportunities.