Above and Below: Class practice.

 Today we were asked to complete a class practice called "Above and Below". This was a practice of photography, with different settings. High and low angle portraits. The setting we were practicing were aperture, ISO and exposure. 

We discussed a photography of well known artists in the class, the one that took my attention was a photography of Paul McCartney taken by Terry O' Neill in 1970. I think the light in this shot played the main role, McCartney's face is highlighted, stands out from the picture. The next thing I am noticing straight away is the piano. People are just the background. This photograph is about the music, I can see the passion in McCartney's face and body. I think the photograph tells us a really interesting story. 

I have looked further in to Terry O'Neill's photographs and could not decide on the one I find the most interesting. I loved the photographs of Bridget Bardot and Audrey Hepburn. Photographer shows their emotions and their beauty in a very interesting way. Most of the portraits are black and white, I have decided to search for some colored photograph and found one of Dustin Hoffman, which I think is very interesting due to the choice of background. I like how the actor kind of blends in with the black part of the wall. What catches my attention first is the yellow wall with the writing on it and actor's face that stands out from the black part of the wall. I think the photographer had to know exactly how to set the light to make the face stand out but also not too bright. I do see some triangular shapes in the background, that was mentioned to us as one of the elements that make the composition more interesting. 

During the session we went in a groups to take portrait photography, practice the settings and composition. I went for a shoot with two of my course friends and we posed to each others photographs. When we returned we were asked to create the contact sheets in Photoshop. To do this we had to click on File, then automate and then the contact sheet. We had to save it under the JPG format in a Desktop folder and then we could use it for our blogs. 

Below you can see the contact sheets of my photographs.

Later we were asked to choose few of our photographs we would like to talk more about, look at their EXIF details and explain how the settings and framing with composition worked in below pictures. 

Sandra. 

F/5, 1/60, ISO 400, FL 40 mm, no exposure compensation.

It is a slightly higher angle image. I chose to show it as I like the composition, Sandra's silhouette hits the points of interest in the rule of thirds. Picture is divided in to two parts by the curb in the background. Background colors are mild, that makes Sandra stands out. We can see the triangular shape of the ground on the first plan. Sandra's outfit also creates a desired shape. Unfortunately we both were working on our cameras at the time of shoot and Sandra was busy looking in her camera screen. I used ISO 400 and F/5, it was a sunny day but the area was shaded and I needed a bit more sunlight.  

Iwona.

F/10, 1/60, ISO 200, FL 27 mm, Black & white.

It is a low angle image, I decided to lay down on the low hedge in front of the bench to take this shot, I like how the hedge shows in the first plan. The way Iwona sits, helped me to compose the picture according to the rule of thirds. I used ISO 200 and F/10 as the bench was situated in a sunny spot and I did not want too bright spots in the photograph. I can see now that it could be composed slightly different. I think composition is something I need to work more on. 

As the final piece I have decided to use below photographs. I called it The bench. I like both photograph's composition and how they look together joined in one piece. The bench is a symbol of awaiting for something new.

References:

O'Neill, T. (1970) Paul McCartney. Available at: https://iconicimages.net/gallery/terry-oneill-screen/ (Accessed: 15/01/2024)

O'Neill, T. (1988) Dustin Hoffman. Available at: https://iconicimages.net/gallery/terry-oneill-screen/ (Accessed: 16/01/2024)