Friday 4 December 2009

Dance the college away

We had a brief to photograph the dance students at wakefield college for the brief they had to have a headshot, top half shot and a full body then some of them dancing around doing there moves, I wasn't really looking forward to shooting this because i'm not really into posed people photographs i prefer candid photographs, But when we got the dancers in studio shooting i really loosened up and started the enjoy it, At first it was wierd ordering people about to do stuff because they were really stiff and not loose with me because they had never met me before.

I had to shoot one person from the second year group and two from the first year, I really enjoyed the in studio work but the location shoot didn't really go well for me as i don't know the area so i don't have knowledge of good places in the wakefield city centre area, So i shot in Thornes Park and the images were not up to scratch so i decided to not add them to the chosen photographs.

In studio i decided to use the Mamiya medium format with Phase one back with a 80mm Lens and with the space we had it was abit hard to get the moving photographs in shot with tall students as the space is not large enough to prance about, but the lens is incredible i cannot believe how sharp the images are i think it works well with portraits because the eyes look incredible really sharp!

The studio shoot was excellent i really enjoyed it here is a selection of images.

This was one of the headshots i chose, This shot was incredibly sharp i like the detail in the eyes how the softboxes reflect in the eyes giving a real nice reflection, I think simple lighting works better for headshots and photographs just to show the person.


This shot was with the same type of lighting as the one before, i think it works with the skin tone as the lad was pale so if i turned the lights up too much it would just blow out all his features and skin tone, The only thing i don't like about the image is the tattoo which is the only thing you cannot change in a image.

When in the dance studio with the second year dance student i had a incredible time it was so good messing around with lighting and different types of poses this image was said to be taken by the students tutor, I lit it with a strobe on a tripod coming from the right i cannot belive how good the image came out i edited it in a HDR kinda style and a harsh vingetting i think it works bring out the details in the shoes, tights and the tutu.

Location Location Location @ Leeds Armories

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Leeds On Location


We had a brief to meet in Leeds on location at the Royal Armories building at 9AM, I found the challenge of getting there for 9AM quite good as i had to travel from Barnsley to Wakfield then to Leeds, I made it on time!

When i got there i turned my camera on and it wouldn't read my SD card, The first problem of the day, I tried many different cards and still the same problem so my camera was pretty much out for the day, which means that a backup body is a must in the professional world if one goes down your left access to another camera.

I also had another camera on me but it was a Mamiya Twin Reflex, I loaded the medium format film, wound it on, tried to shoot and the shutter wouldn't release, yet another problem! So i was really in a rut now, lucky enough with us been in a large group i was borrowed a camera to nip round and get some shots, Here are the series of 4 i chose for the brief.


This shot is of the stainless steal supports on the Royal Armories front entrance, i was looking for lines and interesting angles to show how modern and stylish this building is, I tried shots from side angles and looking above and they didn't work the reflections didn't sit how I wanted them to. So i decided to stand on a bench stone and look square on and up to the metal supports, I wanted the texture of the metal to come out of the photograph, I liked how the windows were reflecting a gradient type effect on the image.

If i went back to shoot this again if the client was The Royal Armories i would have asked if they could get up and clean the windows! that is the only downfall of the image i think is the dirt marks on the window.

This is another shot i took of the metal supports i decided to shoot the joints of the metal supports i decided i wanted this one to look dark and just to pick out the detail on the stainless, really i wanted the same type of shot of the above shot. So it was shot around the same settings and the same angle, I like the way it has exaggerated the metal supports.

This image i decided to shoot at this angle because i saw another photograph of another building, i thought it was interesting so i looked around the building trying to capture the same kind of angle and essence of the building, As the sky looked brilliant so it fitted the kind of shot, If it was another day and it was gloomy i don't think this shot would work.


Hula Hula

For the first studio practice we had to bring a item you would find in your house, as i'm an addict to Hula Hoops i thought i would photograph them as it would be difficult with the bright packet and the reflective surface of the foil.

When decided how i'd light it i thought i'd place the crisps onto a mirror, Large softbox behind as a backlight and a small rectangle softbox as a key light, i fired a few shots off and with the bag layed flat it didnt work. So i decided to get some bluetac and prop the bag up with the large chunk of the tac. I adjusted the lights a bit moved them around so that the crisps were shown in the reflection, here is the shot i decided to choose for the critique session.

I thought the image worked quite well as you cannot see the bluetac in any of the shots i like the way there are hightlights and shadows in the packet. When looking at packaging of other photographs i noticed they was all perfect and flat with no movement or crinkes in the foil. This annoyed me so i thought i would be different and just crunch up the bag and then shoot it to make it a more interesting, If i could go back and shoot this again i think i would try the shot on a selection of other backgrounds to get the best possible image.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Explain Yourself

Hello, I'm Dale

My thoughts and ideas on photography are really based in traditional photography. The way i use my camera to express myself is to portray a story or convey a mood.

The equipment i use at the moment includes lenses with the old Pentax M42 mount which are dated from the 1950's, which means the lenses themselves could tell a story never mind using them to take a image, I love the little flaws and the kind of image they produce they are not all crisp perfect photographs, they have characteristics and problems but it gives my photographs more feeling and moods i am looking for.

The course i study is Commercial photography at Wakefield College to gain knowledge of the commercial industry so i can develop photographic and business skills. My previous experiences include two weddings, were i learnt how to manage people while undertaking a photographic assignment. I feel that the creative side of photography is more interesting than the marketing side of the industry. But i realise i need to develop skills in both areas to be successful.