Statement of Intent Theme 2 ~ People in the Landscape

Intentions/purpose
For my second theme I will produce a minimum of 10 textured images of people in the landscape as agreed with my tutor, Steve Davies.

These relate to the first theme due to the inclusion of human figures and the finishing process of applying texture to give a painterly effect.

These images can be used for illustration purposed in books and magazines or on the internet, for other printed material including calendars, t-shirts, fabrics, desk items, household linen or equipment, or as art prints.

Reasons for selection           

I have been inspired in my choice by contemporary artists, mostly through the Flickr website, who have been experimenting with different ways of presenting images rather than a photograph straight from the camera.

Using photoshop, which is a vast image editing system, many different and innovative art works have been produced and I have been trying to use the software to produce a style of my own.

Diane Gracy (Flickr)

Lasofabunny (Flickr)

I have also been greatly influenced by painters of the past including Turner the dutch masters and Gainsborough, through my many museum and country house visits which I have enjoyed throughout my life.

Equipment and medium

I will be using my Canon 5D Mk2 with a 24-70mm lens.  Since this is a full frame camera this lens will give me something towards a panoramic view of the scene.  I will also need a tripod and have available a number of filters including a polariser, which inproves colour in blue skies and cuts down glare and reflection on water, and several neutral density filters or varying degrees, which will hold back bright light such as the sun or other light sources so that detail can be retained in shadows.

I will use an internet based printing company to produce 10 prints on mat paper which I can then mount on board for display.

Technique

I will be photographing people at a distance so model release forms will not be required since they will not be recognisable.  My camera is set on aperture priority at F11 which is the optimal focus range for this lens using exposure bracketing, 3 shot bursts, set half a stop either side of the automatic exposure setting and evaluative metering, auto white balance and minimum iso.

I will process the images in Photoshop CS5, adding pre-made textures to achieve a painterly finish.

Control of light quality

To control light quality in the field, I can use evaluative metering system on the camera and combine ISO and shutter speed to give the correct exposure.  I will also have available a polarising filter and neutral density filters which can be used to hold back a bright light source or slow shutter speed to bring detail to the flow of water  or add a silky dreamy look to water.

Risk and H&S

To ensure the safety of myself and my equipment I will have a companion with me and we will travel a planned route, which will be notified to others. , we will have mobile phones and money for communication and refreshment and ensure we are dressed suitably for the conditions.  The route will follow public footpaths and highways to ensure we do not travel over private land and we will use a map and compass.  We will beware of other hazards such as triping or sliping and ensure that the tripod is set up on suitable ground and we are safe from hazard at all times.

Portrait Session 2

I have two models coming into the studio, mother and daughter, for my second portrait session.

In order to achieve the soft dreamy look for the finished images I will be using Continous lighting as detailed in previous blogs as opposed to studio flash and lightboxes, which send out a burst of light flooding the image and resulting in hard edges and shadows.

I will be using the same camera equipment hand held, not mounted since I want to move around the studio to get a more relaxed looking shot rather than one posed and held for some time.  In order to ensure sharpness I will increase iso to around 500 to get sufficient shutter speed, my Canon 5D Mk 2 is easily capable of maintaining image quality at this level without adding 'noise' to the picture.

I will go through health and safety procedures before commencing, including pointing out fire alarms and fire exits, slip and trip hazards, hot surfaces, not interfering with any equipment and not bringing food or drink into the studio.

We will have regular breaks away from the studio during the session.

Here are some of the shots achieved straight from the camera.

Textures and Portaits

Following my portrait session in the studio I have selected images that I want to work on further.  I have spent some time applying different finishes and have decided to go with the overall theme of textured images.  I prefer a more painterly finish than the usual glossy or matt studio portrait and find using pre-maid textures, collected from the internet, gives me the look of a painting without having to invest in paints, brushes etc.

I have taken several screen grabs to illustrate the process,  this first, is the original raw files opened in 'Bridge'

After deciding which file to use, I then open up into Adobe Raw..............

where I can use the histogram to check for any clipping warnings, ie under or overexposure,  these can be corrected by using 'fill light' or 'recovery', I can also play with 'white balance' to see what effect cloudy, shade, or tungsten have on the look of the shot, or increase contrast, clarity, vibrance etc., without damaging the raw file, clicking twice on a slider brings you back to the original setting.

It is all personal preference really, and how your eye sees the picture, there are no pre set instructions as to how it should turn out, only that I would like to produce something original and pleasing to the sitter and anyone else who views the final image.

Since these shots were taken in the studio, using aperture priority, and evaluative metering, no clipping warning were present, I did not want to increase brightness or clarity because of the nature of the shots and so opened into 'photoshop' without making any adjustments.

I intend using pre-made textures on my images and have taken a sceen shot of some of them opened in a file, they are j.peg images collected from the internet.

However, before I apply a texture I make any initial adjustments needed on the file.

Since his eyes looked a little dark, after copying my background layer I used dodge and burn to lighten around the outside of his pupil and burn to darken around the edge.  This just gives a little more emphasis to his eyes without making the colour look false.

I converted the file to black and white to see how this looked then applied a red filter to brighten his skin changing the blending mode to soft light.

I chose a number of layers from my pre-made file, changing the blending mode to see what gave a nice effect and using the preview button to turn on and off different layers and the slider to adjust opacity.  I can also use the brush tool to clean away some texture from his skin.

This shot shows a texture being slid into place over the original file.

Here it is sitting on top of the image file, before  using free transform to stretch and fit the layer over my image and changing the blending mode and opacity as needed.

This shows a large brush being used to clean texture away from his skin.

In the final image I have picked a pink colour and soft brush to add pink tones back into his skin.

Here is the final image fully textured and ready to print, I decided to leave a small amount of texture on his skin since it gives the image a slightly grainy finish which I like, however,  again this is personal preference.

1st Studio Portrait Session

Since I have decided to go with mainly head shots using shallow depth of field, we set us the continuous lighting equipment in the studio.

These consist of three cold lamps inside and umbrella, with a white screen over the front to soften and evenly spread the light, one on each side of the model.  These are very portable and can be moved up and down the stand or around the studio to vary lighting angles.  There are no hot lamps or flash to startle the model and are therefore very easy and simple to use.  From a health and safety point of view they are excellent, since with young children in the studio there is no fear of contact with a hot surface.

After going through the usual health and safety issues to beware of trailing cables as slip and trip hazards, making sure all electric equipment is compliant with current regulations and pointing out fire exits, I talked through the type of shots and poses I was trying to get, with my models, and showed them examples on my blog.

Since I have a 1.8, 85mm, usm lens, I decided to initially hand hold the camera for freedom of movement.  I also borrowed a 50mm lens from the college to compare the quality of shots achieved.

Here are a few initial examples of the shoot.

For the shoot with his father I moved one of the lights so that his side face was more shaded to give a moodier look, I tried with shallow dof at 1.8 but also at 4.5, after mounting the camera on the stand, so that all of his features are in focus.

By the end of the shoot, Jonathan was getting restless and found it difficult to stand still, I might try to blend these two images since I find the last one quite a fun shot.

On the whole I am satisfied with my first studio shoot, I got the type of images I set out to achieve and can use some of these in my assignment.

I am now looking forward to my next session in the studio.