Overall there wasn't many images we could use due to playing with set ups and trying to get lighting correct, however this very fun to do indeed.
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Images
As I said in a previous post about going into the studio and taking photographs I now have these photographs to put on the blog.
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
David Bailey
Who is David Bailey?David Bailey was born in Leystone, London England and is regarded as on of the best photographers in the nation. He started out as a photographers assistant at the John French studio, before being contracted as a fashion photographer for Vogue.[1]
What was his style?
Im not sure David Bailey has a style so say he has developed his own style of taking photographs, his photographs don't particularly tell a story to me however, his photographs have a lot more emotion within them rather than a story.
Within the Vogue website you are able to view all of David baileys photographs, his photographs all look very aged but somehow modern at the same time, its a very clever way of photographing and I enjoy the effect that it has when you look at the image.
[2]
[2]David Bailey is still working for Vogue and has an exhibition next summer in the National Portrait Gallery. This will Feature over 250 of his images. The exhibition opens in February.
References
[1] - Vogue. (2013). David Bailey. Available: http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/david-bailey. Last accessed 16th October 2013.
[2] - Vogue. (2013). David Bailey. Available: http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/david-bailey. Last accessed 16th October 2013.
Irving Penn
This week we was asked to research the styles of portraits by Irving Penn and David Bailey.
Who is Irving Penn?
Irving Penn was one of the best photographers of our time. He primarily focused on portrait photograph, shooting photographs for Vogue as well as having work within the Museum of Modem Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Addison Gallery of Amercan Art, and the Balitmore Museum of Art.[1]
What was his style?
From looking at images that Irving Penn has taken I can tell he liked using his black and white, however he uses in a way that it creates a sense of narrative behind the photograph, the mosels are always looking either at something leaving you wondering what is happening behind the camera.
[3]
Who is Irving Penn?
Irving Penn was one of the best photographers of our time. He primarily focused on portrait photograph, shooting photographs for Vogue as well as having work within the Museum of Modem Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Addison Gallery of Amercan Art, and the Balitmore Museum of Art.[1]
What was his style?
From looking at images that Irving Penn has taken I can tell he liked using his black and white, however he uses in a way that it creates a sense of narrative behind the photograph, the mosels are always looking either at something leaving you wondering what is happening behind the camera.
[2][3]
I feel these two images have a clear representation of what I mean they both feel mysterious and you want to know what they are posing how they are. However its not only that, technically this are fantastic. Irving Penn has a very good way of manipulating the dark to bring out the light within models faces. His photos tell a story, which is what I admire and would like to do within future work. he has managed to light each portrait so thatit has so much detail within it, you can work out every strand of hair, every wrinkle and every indent within someones face. you can tell he had the image in his head before he took them.
Irving Penn is Still life photography genuis. With every photo you see of his, they come to life you want to know what is happening behind the images, they are telling a story. He has bought the images to life.
[4]
Still life photography is when you take pictures of inanimate objects, more typically a small group of objects. Still life photography is hard, it expects photographers to form life with their work. They do this through clever use of lighting and very good composition skills. Still Life Photographers make a picture rather than take a picture.
Irving Penn died in New York in 2009, his legacy will live through his photo's for many years to come.
"A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it; it is in one word, effective." —Irving Penn."
References
[1] - Encyclopædia Britannica. (2013). Irving Penn. Available:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/449988/Irving-Penn. Last accessed 16th
October 2013.
[2] - Al Pacino. (1995). Irving Penn Portraits. Available:
http://www.npg.org.uk/irvingpenn/list7.htm. Last accessed 16/10/2013
[3] - Jamiya Wilson. (2013). This Week in Photography History: The Birth of Irving
Penn. Available:
http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/06/20/this-week-in-photography-history-the-birth-of-irving-penn/.
Last accessed 16th October 2013.
[4] - J Tennant. (N/A). Irving Penn and the Still Life Gallery. Available:
http://photography.stwilfrids.com/still-life-resources-penn-gallery.html. Last
accessed 16th October 2013.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Studio Time
During yesterdays lecture we spent this in the studios experimenting with different lighting to get the required effect that we wanted.
So first off we was in the mod cap room, using the flash kit.
Eventually we decided a shot we wanted this was a catalogue shot. e.g. No visible shadows!
We played around a lot with this trying to decide wether or not hard light was better to use than soft light. Soft light was a lot better to use, it allowed us to smooth the shadow out so to say. There was still a shadow there however it wasn't visible to the camera.
We placed a light at a 45 degree angle and attached a white disc and a softbox to soften the light. We also placed a back light facing away from the product towards the background, this allowed us to manipulate the shadow into being in the required position. It also lit the background for us which was good as it was a slightly darker grey.
With the flash kit we set both lights to 3.5, this was so we didn't have so much of a flash that it filled the picture with white. Originally we tried it at 6.0 however this was just too powerful and made our image just look like white canvases.
Once we had done this we broke down all the equipment for the other group and we went into the studio.
The other studio was more useful for taking product photo's.
We had a small bottle of aftershave to photograph. I set up the red head light and placed it at a 45 degree angle facing toward the desk, by desk i mean stage with a translucent background.
We placed the object onto the stage, and took the lid off and everything just fell into place and we managed to get some decent shots straight off the bat, our lecturer suggested using a blonde under the desk, which no one volunteered for and he kindly got on the floor to help us out. This created a very nice picture, we then continued experimenting we used a reflector for one shot and changed the aperture allowing a shorter depth of field creating a image of the product but without the background in focus.
This lecture was very fun for me, i learn very well doing practical things - I know have some practical experience in setting up lights, which is a hell of a lot more useful than having someone stand up front and dictating how to do it, to me.
I plan to go back into the studio with a few classmates and practice setting up and taking pictures of objects.
Once I have the images I will post them onto the blog.
So first off we was in the mod cap room, using the flash kit.
Eventually we decided a shot we wanted this was a catalogue shot. e.g. No visible shadows!
We played around a lot with this trying to decide wether or not hard light was better to use than soft light. Soft light was a lot better to use, it allowed us to smooth the shadow out so to say. There was still a shadow there however it wasn't visible to the camera.
We placed a light at a 45 degree angle and attached a white disc and a softbox to soften the light. We also placed a back light facing away from the product towards the background, this allowed us to manipulate the shadow into being in the required position. It also lit the background for us which was good as it was a slightly darker grey.
With the flash kit we set both lights to 3.5, this was so we didn't have so much of a flash that it filled the picture with white. Originally we tried it at 6.0 however this was just too powerful and made our image just look like white canvases.
Once we had done this we broke down all the equipment for the other group and we went into the studio.
The other studio was more useful for taking product photo's.
We had a small bottle of aftershave to photograph. I set up the red head light and placed it at a 45 degree angle facing toward the desk, by desk i mean stage with a translucent background.
We placed the object onto the stage, and took the lid off and everything just fell into place and we managed to get some decent shots straight off the bat, our lecturer suggested using a blonde under the desk, which no one volunteered for and he kindly got on the floor to help us out. This created a very nice picture, we then continued experimenting we used a reflector for one shot and changed the aperture allowing a shorter depth of field creating a image of the product but without the background in focus.
This lecture was very fun for me, i learn very well doing practical things - I know have some practical experience in setting up lights, which is a hell of a lot more useful than having someone stand up front and dictating how to do it, to me.
I plan to go back into the studio with a few classmates and practice setting up and taking pictures of objects.
Once I have the images I will post them onto the blog.
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