Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Review a portrait sequence

11/5/14

I set up a portrait session to experiment taking portrait photographs of Alex using a north facing window. My aim was to include head and torso and head and shoulders images and a variety of positions to look at avoiding reflection. As she was trying to revise, I initially worked around her whilst she read her book and once I knew what I wanted I asked her for her input. This was agreed before shooting as her available time was limited. 

Considerations:
  • Kit - 70-200mm lens would not focus, so used wide end of 24-105mm lens
  • Composition was key to this image. Area decluttered
  • reflection in glasses
  • shadows on face / balance of lighting
  • facial expression / body language / angle of head/ position of eyes
  • shutter speed fast enough to handhold camera
I started with 54 images. Using Lightroom 2, I was able to rate my images 1 = not good, 2 = acceptable, 3 = good, 4 = best single shot.



Best image
1/125 f3.5 ISO800 70mm light from north facing window

At the time of shooting, I thought I had not captured a 3/4 length shot so carried on and took a few more. I then moved to concentrating on head and shoulders which required me to engage with Alex to ask her to move her head in different directions. 

I reviewed images in camera after I had taken a small burst of photos to see if I was happy with the position of the eyes, angle of head, facial expression and general composition. If not, I directed Alex into the position I wanted to try again with.

I thought it was time to stop shooting when I lost concentration. I felt my last three images were not an improvement on what I had already taken and it was time to review my shots on my laptop.

I had more than one acceptable image. Reviewing on screen allowed me to look in more detail for the small things such as clutter, stray hair, position of clothing,  sharpness of the image, amount of contrast which I had not seen previously. I became more aware of looking for them whilst shooting following this exercise.

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