Exercise 7 - Focal length

"Pretty much every compact digital camera on the market has a zoom lens, and of course there is a wide range of zoom lenses available for all digital SLRs, as well as a variety of non-zoom lenses with different focal lengths. A zoom lens is one that has a variable focal length.

The focal length of a lens is an expression of its magnification power, and is usually stated in millimetres. If you look on the front of your camera, usually inscribed around the front of the lens you'll find the focal length range."  (Explanation of focal length from -http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/digital-photography-tutorial-focal-length

I have a Nikon D5000 and used a DX VR 18-105 mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lense to obtain the following pictures to illustrate the different focal lengths.  As you look through the pictures you can see how using a longer focal length reduces the width of the picture and condenses the image.

First image with focal length at 18mm, f11 @ 1/1000 sec

First image with focal length at 18mm

Second image with focal length at 24mm, f11 @ 1/1000 sec

Image with focal length at 24mm

Third image with focal length at 35mm, f11 @ 1/1250 sec

Image with focal length at 35mm

Fourth image with focal length at 50mm, f11 @ 1/1250 sec

Image with focal length at 50mm

Fifth image with focal length at 75mm, f11 @ 1/1250 sec

Image with focal length at 75mm

Fifth image with focal length at 75mm, f22 @ 1/400 sec

Image with focal length at 105mm

Exercise 8 - Varying pose

These images are in a sequence of pictures which I took as part of Assignment 1 where the subject showed various pieces of jewellery which she made to sell.  The first two were too far away to see the necklace she was wearing clearly but the mother was holding it to empasise it. 

Various poses showing off jewellery

The later poses worked better for me as they formed a natural image but the main problem was the background.  There was very little room in the subject's house so we stood in the hall. It wasn't until later that I realised how hard the background looked in that colour blue and that the stairs intruded to much into the picture.  As there was no chance of doing a reshoot, I had to use Photoshop to remove them.  The images were much improved when I had done so.

Exercise 6 - The best of a sequence

I decided to use some of the pictures I had taken for Assignment 1 as I have been working through each portrait and these images also fit in here.  The pictures were taken in the living room of Lucy's parents' home.  The lighting was quite different for the pictures and needed to be adjusted through the Levels feature in Photoshop.

I spent some time talking to both subjects about things in general to get them to relax.  At the time I thought the sunburst mirror would be good to feature in the pictures but it just drew the eye.

Picture 1-good, balanced image, Picture 2-too dark, heads together, Picture 3-too twee, with mum looking at daughter

Picture 4-nice relaxed portrait, Picture 5-doesn't quite click, something about mother's gaze into distance, Picture 6-same as picture 5.

Again, not sure, jewellery too small to be seen, mother's gaze works better; Pictures 7 and 8 more relaxed and working together.

I tried a different situation with mirror in the hall. The colour of walls in the hall made such cold images, I also couldn't get far enough back to get a good shot, I was actually standing pressed against the hall coat stand as it was. Difficult to know where to focus - back of Lucy's head, mother's head, faces in the mirror?  On reflection the faces should be in sharp focus in the mirror, good image in Picture number 12 with both faces in sharp focus and looking round.

I tried to reintroduce the necklace but still didn't work.  Still couldn't get far enough back to get a good shot.

We had a good session trying to incorporate a family portrait but not suitable for final portrait as mother introduced another area which was not related to the theme of the whole series of pictures for assignment 1 - people aware.

it was a good exercise in portraiture and communicating with subjects to keep them interested and relaxed.

Exercise 5 - Eye contact and expression

These images were taken at my further education college in Guildford where I was taking pictures of students as they exited the refectory.  This student was known to me (as was the man in the background) and he acted up as I continued to press the shutter on his approach. We had good eye contact as he came nearer.

When I played the images back I was amused to see how the woman in the poster seemed to be looking over the student's shoulder. I cropped out the extraneous matter to focus on the student and the poster.

Exercise 4 - An active portrait

I have always been fascinated by people's hands and enjoy taking pictures of them whilst that person is working.  This fisherman was mending his nets as the fishing boat was unable to go out due to engine problems.

There are always nets drying over racks on The Cobb at Lyme but rarely do you see anyone repairing on them.  The first two images of the contact sheet above show 2 or 3 men working on them, Image 2 features one man with his shuttle mending a large hole in the net.
Images 3 and 4 show a closeup of his actions threading and knotting the line.

Mending the nets

Exercise 3 - Experimenting with light

I used my poor husband ,yet again,in various points around our main room using window light as a natural light source.

This picture on the left was with fill in flash

My final choice is this one below.  On reflection, I could have used a white reflector to bring more light onto the right hand side of the face/sweater.

The definition of the face has been held, but it would have been if the light had been too strong. There were no nets/voiles to diffuse the light if the sun had been shining strongly.

Exercise 2 Thinking about location

There are plenty of locations in Lyme so I wandered around to find different ones which enabled me to frame the portrait.  I used my Olympus 1000mju and covered about a dozen location and even took one picture that I thought would be acceptable but, for some reason, couldn't download them.
Went back to some acceptable sites and retook the pictures to reproduce them here.

Here's a contact sheet of some that I thought would be okay. and the image below is the one that I chose for a final location with subject in situ.
I like this picture as the subject is surrounded by lines leading the eye to him; that is apart from the line of rocks going in and out of each ear. The handrails and fences and harbour walls surround the subject

I had to use fill in flash as the subject had his back to the sunlight and his face was consequently in shadow.  Fill in flash enabled him to be shown but not squinting in full sunlight.  I had to move in closer so that the flash was effective otherwise there was very little noticeable effect.