Photography, Sprint 1

PHOTOGRAPHY 2/13

First, something technical then something creative:

Lighting the Backdrop

Spend the first bit of the period working out how to get the backdrop both dark and light using a combination of distance and lights. There is a special short stand specifically designed to be placed on the floor behind the subject such that the photographer can throw a blog of light on the backdrop to get a glow on it. Hence, you get a three light shoot that looks something like this:

Note that you need to have the backdrop further back in order to get separation on it from the Key light — otherwise the Key throws light equally on the subject and the backdrop. Generally you need to double the distance to get a 1 stop drop off in the light.

Formal Portraits

I need seven portraits shot of the girls in the arts class. These should all be dramatic, high contrast pictures with plenty of interesting shadows falling on their faces, interesting light on the backgrounds, etc. Now, don’t just shot weird pictures, make the people look good. To do this, you need to find their good side.

The “good” side of a person’s face depends on two things – the curvature of their nose and the relative sharpness of their jawline.

Noses curve.They have a slight bow shape. On some people it can be really extreme. Usually if you set the camera shoot into the curve, the net result will be the nose appears straighter in the photograph. If you shoot across the curve, the nose will look more curved usually.

Jawline - in nearly all people, one side of their face is a little bit fatter than the other. One side has more definition, the other side less so. Generally, people will look a little better if you show that sharper side of the face in some sort of relief and keep the fatter side in the shadows or hidden.

For each girl, shoot a number of pictures such that we get a nice dramatic one that shows their face to advantage. Then, choose the best shot of each girl and either email them to me or give them to me on a flash drive. I need this done by tonight.