Environmental portraiture is about representing someone’s life or livelihood through the background of a portrait image or the subjects usual environment.

Examples of Environmental Work

In this photo the photographer uses natural lighting from above the subject as this photo was taken outdoors where its implied he spends a lot of his time as he is shirtless outside on the grass in between two tractors. This environment implies the subject works a job within agriculture or a farmers trade. the photo has been taken from a lower angle to accentuate the giant size of the tractors, as well as the frame cutting off half of each of the tractors to keep the subject as the main focus. We can infer the photo is un-posed as the subjects gaze looking away and he is not engaged with the camera.

August Sander

Born in 1876, Sander developed his interest in photography around 1898 when he began working in photographic firms and by 1904 he had opened his own photographic firm in Austria. He then moved to Cologne in 1909 and began to photograph the urban workers and farmers. After WW2 Sander set out to recapture the faces and document life after around 40,000 negative images were destroyed during the war so he started his project “Faces of The 20th century” also known as “Man of The 20th Century” in 1929. Sander created a catalogue with over 600 photos of the people he captured in his project. Many years later his work is still influencing photographers around the world.

In this environmental portrait you can tell a lot about the person such as the fashion of the decade, as well as this, we can guess he worked in construction as he looks to be carrying bricks. This tells us about the history of the time too as we know there was an increase in labour and construction after the destruction of the war left a lot of the cities needing to be rebuilt and repaired. The lighting is pretty dark as we can see the background is black giving the impression this was taken at night or possibly inside a construction site, such as an unfinished house. It looks like there’s lighting coming from behind the camera or the flash could be on. There isn’t much of setting due to this but because of the bricks we can interpret a lot like I’ve previously mentioned. The framing is cropped around the subject and is a three-quarter-length shot with a head on angle. The subject has a deadpanned expression and is looking at the cameras.

What Is Typology?

Typology is the study of types such as classification and categorization.

My Plan for Photoshoots

• I will first go around the school and take photos of staff and students I can find.
• I will then go to town after school and take as many photos as I can of retail workers in local shops, in the market and possibly shoppers.
• I will also take photos of my friends at school or out.

My Photos

Compare and Contrast

I believe both photos are similar as they are both taken in the subjects workplace. The lighting in both images is quite bright with Sanders looking like it was taken in the daytime possibly even outside however mine was taken under artificial lighting indoors. A difference between the works is the direction of light in Sanders is coming from the right side of the image however the light in my photo is coming from above the subject directly down. Another difference between mine and Sanders work is how they’re framed. Sander has taken his image framed as a full body image with the subject slightly to the right where as I have framed my work with a three quarter length. Sanders image looks to be posed with the subjects arm resting and the subject facing the camera with a black face gaze similarly to mine as he is posing with his arms also by having his hands in his pockets as well as his gaze is smiling and facing the camera. Each image is also taken horizontally.

Ainsworth born in 1978 is an artist from London who practices in sculpture, acting, video and 3D printing however is well-known for his striking works of urban photography. He studied and graduated in 2007 with a masters degree at London College of communication. lectures at He focuses mostly on areas of the world that are overlooked and the relationship between organic and in-organic structures excluding humans.

Some examples of his work include:

Peter Ainsworth

Peter Ainsworth

Peter Ainsworth

Frank Hallum Day

Frank Hallum Day born in 1948 who currently lives in Washington DC is a fine art photographer and the winner of many awards including the Bader prize 2006. He has taught photography as well as doing many of his own exhibitions from taking photos around the world. Hallum also worked for the US State department before he became a full time photographer.

Frank Hallum Day

Frank Hallum Day

Frank Hallum Day

Paper Ball Photoshoot

These images were inspired by Paul Jackson who was an artist from north of England. Jackson claims to have “been a fan of photography since he could walk”. He is currently studying for a BA in Photography and has trained in the New York Film Academy. Before his career in photography Jackson used to serve in the British Military. He is also a performer and enjoys travel and playing rugby. Here are some of his original works:

Paul Jackson

I then edited the Original Image using these settings on Photoshop:

I then used an auto B&W filter from photoshop.

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

I used drastic settings when changing the vibrance to create a Black and White effect

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

I also hanged the image to black and white and manually changed the settings

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

I also used the “Sharpness Tool” to help keep the focus on some specific areas.

I then edited the image using these settings on Photoshop:

I also did some texture images outside using nature to show detail with my own ideas rather than artist research.

I also used “Sharpness Tool” on the two leaves in focus.

In all my images I tried to use the formal elements. For example in this specific image I showed lines within the overlapping leaves and the lines of colour that run through them. Also, I used shape with the unusual long and twisting shapes the leaves make when they wind over each other. Space is used in the way the photo is layered and that the horizontal leaf is closest to the camera and then the others behind it are further back in the depth of field and there is more shadows in the background. I’d like to argue that repetition is used when the pattern of multiple leaves going vertically through the frame is repeating. Texture is used in which the texture of the leaf is in macro focus showing how its smooth. Colour is used as the leaf is very colourful in general especially in the bright sunlight however I have also heightened the colours significantly using photoshop to give it an almost neon green look. Tone is used in the difference of the brightness the closest leaf is in almost like a spotlight however the rest of the bush/plant is in a deep green darkness/shadow behind it. Therefore all of the formal elements have been used within this image and I’d like to say also the other images.

Comparison

A similarities between these images is the lighting is from the same direction casting a shadow on the right side of the paper sculptures. also the background is similar as there is a blend between the background wall and the floor with a grey shadow. A difference between the two is Paul Jacksons work looks to be in black and white as there is no hint at any blue shadows in the image that the white light casts and everything is on a greyscale where as my photo is in colour and you can see the different shades of the paper, the blue shadows and the yellow shade of the other papers.

Evaluation

Overall, I think the the photoshoots and editing went well especially the paper ones with multiple structures within the image as I felt there was the most depth of field used including different heights of the subjects. I also like the outdoors ones and use of colour. in my next shoot I’d like to focus even more on colour use as I felt the colour you could create with the paper ball project was limited. I’d also like to experiment more with cropping and depth of field looking at different subjects. I struggled mostly with finding the correct lighting to use for the paper balls to create enough shadow to make it interesting with out it being low quality image due to being dark, but also not having too much light or exposure to make the paper create a white glare.

Shutter speed is the length of time your camera shutter stays open while you capture the image the more light that is allowed in to hit the sensor and the longer the camera shutter stays open the brighter the image is.

Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second. 1/2000 would be a fast SS whereas 1/30 would be slow. The slower the shutter speed the more light can be accessed as well as the colours making the image more detailed and brighter.

I took some similar images while experimented with different shutter speeds.

I edited this image by cropping it and using sharpness tool on photoshop.

We also experimented with boxing and looked at the motion that was created with that. I then edited these photos on lightroom classic and photoshop.

The purpose of this shoot is to look at capturing movement using shutter speed and different settings on the camera.

Francesca Woodman

Woodman was an American artist born in 1958 and started taking photos at age 13. Later in life she was well known for her black and white images which many were self portraits where she utilises shutter speed to make the images appear ghostly by obscuring the face and parts of the body. She grew up surrounded by art her father George was a painter and her mother a sculptor. Her brother Charles Woodman grew up to be an electronic artist. Unfortunately, Woodman suffered with mental health conditions and committed suicide at age 22

In this shoot we did took the photos with the same agenda however we wanted to capture movement within the style of Francesca Woodman.

Raw Images:

IOS controls how sensitive the camera sensor is to light.

The higher the ISO number the more sensitive your sensor and the less light is needed in your photo, however this can lead to more noise in the picture. Preferably you would want to keep the IOS as low as possible and change the studio lighting instead if possible or go outside as daylight is always better quality light. However, some photographers use the “noise” created by high ISO to their advantage for artistic purpose to give the image an “old” feel to it or to accentuate the concept meaning behind their image.

You can see here the noise appear in the photo and the quality of the image decrease as more light is let in through IOS. This is why keeping a correct ISO for the environment you’re shooting in.

First I took some images inside the corridor where there was still some natural light. I took a set of seven images each at a different ISO setting but keeping all other settings the same. The first image of the corridor in the blog I took at ISO-800. The second at the highest possible ISO setting on the camera i was using which was ISO-6400 where you can clearly see the “noise” seep into the image as the sensor takes in more light than necessary to create a clear image and instead it ends up with almost a pixelated look.

For the second image I went to the fire exit door to use the bright natural light. I took the images not even a few seconds apart so the lighting outside did not change I also did not change any other setting other than the ISO and the difference is very obvious. This proves that the ISO is what causes the over exposure that forms the “noise”.

Camera Obscura

The Camera Obscura was originally created around 200 years ago. However, it’s not the world’s first camera as before them was pinhole cameras neither need a power source. They project in real time the landscape Infront of the camera onto the back walls of the room or box. This was how art first started becoming more detailed after the medieval period as painters would use the camera obscura method and paint it onto the walls and on canvases. In 1826 Joseph Niepce was the first known person to create the first photograph of a scene in Italy by using chemicals which change colours in the light to capture the scene projected.

Calotypes –  Henry Fox Talbot

Invented in 1841 next was “The Art Of Photogenic Drawing” where William Henry Fox used salt and silver nitrate to create what we now know as a Calotype. He used pressed plants on a sheet of chemicals and covered them in a glass sheet to print out the shape in the sun.

I made this piece in class by using leaves from outside collected on the school grounds. I then positioned them on the paper this way so it was clear what each one was and they weren’t over-lapping. I then left them outside in the sun with a glass sheet on-top till the paper had turned a noticeably different colour and left shadows of the plants I had placed there.

Louis Daguerre – Daguerreotype

The process of the Daguerreotype created in 1837 made it possible to turn the image inside of the Camera Obscura and preserve it. The Daguerreotype is made with a sheet of copper with a thin piece of silver which is polished until mirror like, then it’s a sensitised in a lighttight box with iodine and bromine vapours until it turns a yellow colour. This produces silver iodide. The sheet is then inserted into the camera without any light touching it. After that its fixed in a sodium and then intensified with gold chloride and washed in water. The images mirror the reality of the pose due to the Daguerreotype process.

Richard Maddox

In 1851 Frederrick Scott Archer invented the Collodion process. This was revolutionary in the evolution of photography as it took only 2-3 seconds of light to create an image compared to the 1 to 5 minutes it took previously. However, Richard Maddox realised his health had been affected due to the ether vapours from this process and began his search for a replacement. He produced the idea in 1871 of coating cadmium bromide and silver nitrate in gelatine on a glass plate. This made it possible for cameras to be small enough to be hand-held.

George Eastman

Eastman tried for 3 years to create a formula and by 1880 invented the correct formula. He also invented a machine capable of creating these plates at a fast rate which made it possible for him to manufacture and sell to other photographers which is when he started his company in London due to the high rates of businesses in the area henry Strong was very impressed, so he invested some money into it. In 1892 the company as renamed the Eastman Kodak company as photography developed further.

Kodak

After Eastman realised that the plates were making the photographers hands “go bad” he started the trade with the idea of film in rolls the venture was immediately successful but the paper grain was prone to showing up through the picture. This sparked Eastmans new idea to coat the paper in soluble gelatine and the insoluble light sensitive gelatine. With the Kodak camera in 1888 photography was ready available to pretty much everyone

Digital photography

In 1957 the first digital image was created in the USA using the first operational stored program known as the SEAC.

The 1960s space race also drove photographers to think of a new way to take photos as film would be impractical  to take to space. NASA used a magnetic tape recorder to send the tv camera into electrical impulses to send back to earth and they had the first photo of mars. Later Sasson took one of the later models of a movie camera and connected it to the most recent CCD electronic sensor and created a prototype. The company Sony then created a version small enough to hold and sell in a shop the Sony Mavica the first known digital camera.

Aperture is the amount of light let into the camera using the hole at the back of the lens and making it wider or smaller.

We use the f[stops] to measure it. The higher the aperture equals the more in focus and the smaller the hole. Depth of field is what’s in focus in front and behind the subject. the lower the depth of field the higher the aperture and less s in focus. The higher the depth of field the smaller the aperture and more is in focus .

Shutter Speed: 1/180

Aperture: 2.8

IOS Setting: 800

Shutter speed 1/125

Aperture: 4.5

IOS Settings: 400

Shutter speed: 1/125

Aperture: 11

ISO setting: 400

Depth of field

Depth Of Field is the distance between the foreground object and background furthest object or infinity (eg: the horizon) which are “acceptably sharp”. Since our cameras cant fully focus on two objects at once we use “acceptable sharpness” however this measurement varies as it depends on an individuals eyesight as well as how large the screen or print the photo is displayed on is. Sensor size of the camera also effects depth of field and therefore what is considered “acceptably sharp”. Typically cameras with a larger depths of field have smaller sensors.

To create a shallower depth of field you can move closer to the subject or open up aperture by lowering f stop number and therefore letting more light in. The opposite is used to create a greater depth of field so you can either move away from your subject or close down the aperture by using a higher f stop number and allowing less light in.