For my second Environmental portrait shoot, I took photos of my friend who is amazing at playing the drums . We decided to take the photos in a recording studio. We experimented with different angles and a different IOS.
This is the original and the edited version of one of my environmental portrait images. We used the Adobe Photoshop to edit the image. To begin with, I cropped the image to get rid of some of the background, so the foreground filled more of the image. I then experimented with the saturation , by either making it more saturated or less saturated. I decided to make my image black and white, because it creates a natural vintage feel to the image. Once I had done the saturation, I then slightly adjusted the contrast of the image, so that the image looked more defined. To finish I flattened the image.
When editing my image, I tried applying the rule of thirds so that the photo looked more pleasing to the eye. I also really like the use of the natural light in this image because it softly eliminates the girls face and features.
My First shoot is at the CCA Art Gallery, because my friend, called Victoria loves art and is an extremely good artist. I didn’t have much time in the art gallery so I used the few images that I took and edited them a few times to get more photos. I took photos like this because I wanted to create an artistic image so go with the character of the subject and the environment.
HIGH ANGLE– A high–angle shot is a cinematic technique where the camera looks down on the subject from a high angle and the point of focus often gets “swallowed up.” High–angle shots can make the subject seem vulnerable or chicken when applied with the correct mood, setting, and effects.
LOW ANGLE-A low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Sometimes, it is even directly below the subject’s feet. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful.
CANTED ANGLE-A canted-angle shot is a type of camera shot where the camera is set at an angle on its roll axis so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame
White Balance is the process of taking away unrealistic and unwanted color casts. This is so that objects that appear white in person, are shown white in your photo. Using White balance on your camera , means the camera has to take in account the color temperature of a light source, which is the relative warmth or coolness if the light.
The table below is a guide to the color temperature of some common light sources.
Color Temperature
Light Source
1000-2000 K
Candlelight
2500-3500 K
Tungsten Bulb (household variety)
3000-4000 K
Sunrise/Sunset (clear sky)
4000-5000 K
Fluorescent Lamps
5000-5500 K
Electronic Flash
5000-6500 K
Daylight with Clear Sky (sun overhead)
6500-8000 K
Moderately Overcast Sky
9000-10000 K
Shade or Heavily Overcast Sky
These images below are the display images that would appear on your camera when changing your white balance.
Auto White Balance
Custom
Kelvin
Tungsten
Fluorescent
Daylight
Flash
Cloudy
Shade
Here is an image of the Kelvin Scale to show the differences in the color of light between the different temperatures.
What is a contact sheet? – a piece of photographic paper onto which several or all of the negatives on a roll of film have been contact printed.
Photographers use a contact sheet to display all the photos that they have taken in one shoot. They also use it to easily chose and highlight the best images from that selection.
I don’t like this image that Martin Parr has captured, as the colors are too saturated, and the woman is out of focus, but it feels like she should be in focus. The image looks like it was taken by accident.
The person that took this photo is called Martin Parr. He was born on the 23rd of May 1952. He is a British photographer, and photo journalist. He has also done a bit of street photography. He particularly likes documenting the different social classes of Britain.
Most of Martin Parr’s work is extremely unique and exaggerated. The images that Martin likes to capture are strange, the colors are very strong, and the perspectives are unusual. Martins images are mainly based around three things. These are criticism, seduction and humor, and because of this his photographs are original and amusing. They also make us think of how we live, and how we present ourselves to others.
The main concepts that Martin has been researching is Leisure, consumption and communication. Parr manages to capture things that seem familiar to us, but are shown in a completely new way.
Here are some more photos that Martin Parr has taken.
