My exam is based on the high levels of pollution in China in which on a daily basis, have to wear mouth masks to help filter the toxic air. I have taken this to the extreme in which i will be creating multiple sequences of photos which the first photo will be my model happy in a beautiful environment, the second photo will be my model wearing a mouth mask and the third will be my model wearing a gas mask in a beautiful environment. The photos will slowly get darker and the last image will be a dark black and white photo to create drama.

I did a specification for my shoot previously in which i stated that i will do this shoot on Victoria Avenue beach and People’s Park. However due to weather conditions i was unable to do so which is why i did a practice shoot indoors using all the equipment necessary. I took some photos free hand, using a tripod and i used a timer due to the slow shutter speed i was using for most of my images.

This shoot was mainly for me to practice with Aperture and Shutter speed as i am not very skilled with them. I chose to photograph against the light as it is more difficult so required work with Aperture and shutter speed. Also i could not photograph in any other place as i had furniture and it is dark in the rest of my house so i was limited to what i could do. However, i do understand that they are not well composed and i will not be using these in my project, they were simply for me to get to grips with photographing with the mouth mask and gas mask. The pole in the middle of the window was difficult to work around but i was not concentrating this as i wanted to create a sharp and crisp image before i start thinking about composition.

All of these images are experimentation as i have many of the same image so that i could see what it would look like with different apertures and shutter speeds. This is also why i practiced using a tripod and self-timer.

These are the beginning images of my experimentation:

As you can clearly see, i was experimenting with aperture and shutter speed to see what i would need to do. This is also when i started using a Tripod because i was reducing the shutter speed and need to keep the camera still and level. I did this so that when i am outside, i will not spend a long time setting up as i now understand aperture and shutter.

Mouth Mask experiments:

As you can see, i was experimenting with both aperture and shutter speed as i was still using a tripod. I wanted to understand how they both worked so that my model did not have to spend very long in this mask as it is not the most comfortable thing to wear and it does restrict breathing slightly. So i had a limited amount of time as the light was fading and i did not want her to be in the mask for a long period of time. After this series of experiments, i will be able to set up my camera with the correct settings for a sharp and crisp image for my official shoots on Friday 24th March. I also tried adjusting the ISO but this made the image much darker so i left it on 100.

Experiments with self-timer:

Many of these photos are blurry as i could not get the self-timer to get a focused image but the last three in this gallery are clear and they are sharp and vivid which is what i want when i go to my official shoots later in the week and next week.

The Sharp Photos:

Gas Mask experimentation:

With the gas mask, i have a maximum of 20 minutes otherwise there is a risk my model could faint due to lack of oxygen. This is why i did not do these very well as i was rushing as i did not want to put her safety at risk also it is uncomfortable to wear. The light was fading at this point and i could not get the aperture right but this allowed me to understand that if the light is dark, then the mask will be very difficult to work with, but this means that i know to photograph the gas mask first if the light is fading. I understand that it did not help that the light was behind her but it has helped me learn what not to do when doing these portraits. During these i was still using the tripod and self-timer which is why many of them are blurry and it did not help that my dog kept moving and entering the picture.

Summary:

• I have learnt how aperture and shutter speed work and i am much better at setting up quickly
• I understand that the light must not be behind the model as it makes a silhouette
• I now know i will be using a tripod and most likely a self-timer to take the images
• I cannot photograph the gas mask in fading light as it makes her eyes much darker and almost invisible
• The mouth mask is easiest to photograph and i will have to find more interesting poses for the model when she is not wearing any sort of mask,