Comparisons

As indicated by Steve, I have put one of my recent shots and a Joe Miles image in here to provide some comparison.

Whilst I am pleased with the results of my shoot, the light was very flat and I was not able to get the exact result that I wanted. Having said that, I am very pleased with the result as you do get the same contrast in the colours and the model is nicely positioned in the right hand 1/3rd of the image.

By standing the subject a few paces in front of the structure, Joe has created an element of depth that is slightly lacking in my own and the use of strong light has also helped to exaggerated the shadows in the background structure.

People and Portraits - Samples

Having been looking at locations, although the weather conditions were not brilliant, I wanted to get out with my camera and experiment. I took a number of images and have not done (with the exception of the B&W image) any real post production work on them.

I am now starting to build my portfolio of images, from which I will decide what Photos to publish. Here are a few samples below.....

 ISO 200: F4.5 1/30: Lens 18-55mm

 ISO 200: F4.5: 1/80: Lens 18-55mm

 ISO 200: F4.5: 1/80: Lens 18-55mm

 ISO 200: F4.5: 1/250: Lens 18-55mm

These images were taken during the morning and early afternoon on an industrial estate in Lichfield. Timing was everything, as we needed to make sure that traffic was at a minimum and that the areas were safe. So, no traffic, or delivery vehicles etc, giving us cause for concern.

When taking the photos however, I did have one person just checking to make sure that no cars were coming.

On Saturday I purchased a 5 in 1 reflector kit, to enable me to use natural light to enhance images. I have used this on a couple of photos, to get rid of unnecessary shadow. However, I also realise that when doing this you now need three arms, or extra people to assist.

We made sure that there were no obstacles or trip hazards and that the area was clean from relevant debris.

People and Portraits - Backgrounds

In order to get orgainsed for taking my pictures, I have been walking with the dog this morning and have taken a number of backgrounds that could do well in my final portfolio. The aim has been to get vibrant colours, different texture, and different shades, to provide contrast within the image. All of which I have managed to find within a mile of my front door!

Ideally I am also looking for some graffiti and some concrete too, as this will add to the mix. However, I think that may involve a trip to somewhere like Birmingham.

These were just experimental photos, so I was not too worried about the settings in the camera, as I really was just trying to get an idea of location(s). However, I have included settings for reference purposes.  They were taken quite early in the morning and the sky was cloudy and dull, so the colours are a little bland.

 ISO 800: f/10: 1/250: Lens 18-55mm

 ISO 800: f/10: 1/13: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/10: 1/100: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/10: 1/25: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/10: 1/15: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/10: 1/80: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/10: 1/60: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/10: 1/60: lens 18-55mm

 ISO 400: f/32: 1/13: lens 18-55mm

ISO 400: f/5.6/: 1/13: lens 18-55mm

Setting The Scene

I have spent a lot of time looking at images on the internet and magazines etc, thinking about my portrait portfolio and have put a kind of story board together, although these are just rough ideas of what I think I would like to capture.

Use if Light - People and Portraits

In many of the photographs that I have seen the models are highlighted with additional lighting. Clearly I do not have a full set of lights and all of the necessary equipment that may be necessary to achieve much of this. However, I do have a Nissin Di622 Speedlite Flash gun.

I have been researching the internet to see how I can get the most out of this as a tool.

So far I have learned that:

• The flash is triggered remotely using the infrared burst from the camera flash.
• To avoid the camera flash affecting the shot too much, you can adjust the Flash Exposure Compensation, on your Canon camera. Hence I have adjusted this down by 2 whole stops.
• The infra red receiver needs to be able to 'see' the infra red burst from the main unit.

I spent a while yesterday evening trying to set up different scenarios. Using my camera on my main Manfrotto tripod, I put the remote flash unit onto a smaller tripod and adjusted it so that I could use both flash units at the same time. The results were quite pleasing, although I did not have a subject in the shot, I was happy with the way that I got both of the units working together.

The next step is to take them both out with me to test a 'shoot', which I hope to be doing over this weekend.