Week Three – Uses of Photography Test Shots

Taking inspiration from Magdalena Wywrot I wanted to create high contrast pieces. However, this took me a few shots to get right. The following image was shot at a low ISO (100) and my model can hardly be seen within the blacks of the room. In this image I had two dedo lights one bouncing off the roof as a spotlight and another on the legs.

While I tried to aim the lights directly on my models face, the ISO I was shooting at was still to low. A lot of my test shots are on the dark side, so going into my second shoot I will know to up the ISO as when I shot around 800 the photos were much brighter.

 

I like the warm light in this photo but I don’t know how this will translate in postproduction when trying to create high contrast pieces. I also like the use of depth of field as it makes her body look almost dettached.

In this test shot where I used a prop to create the bokeh effect around my model. I am exicited to see how this effect could translate in greyscale as I think it could create an errie shot. However I am still shoting at to low of an ISO at this point.

The ISO here was bumped up to 800, and my shutter speed was 1/60. I was trying to capture movment however figuered I would have to go for a longer exposure.

 

 Turning to shutter speed down to 1/30 allowed me to get this shot however I want to push how much movement I can capture in my photos. I also like how the hard spot lights gives the image a natural vingerette.

The shutter speed for this image is 6 however I did not capture at the right time. I think 2 secounds would have been enough to capture the movement. This is a skill I hope to  improve on in the furture. I will also try using a tripod next time I try long exposure.

Reflection: 
Looking at these images it is easy to focus on the errors. However by completeing this shoot I now know my probable technical procedure and  also the kind of images I want to create. I like tight compostions where the model’s face is mainly in focus or long body shots where depth of field works to break up the body. I like using moition and long exposure to create overwordly images and I like the intergration of props to create something different. Reshooting these I will look to keep the ISO high (at least 800) will work to create hard spot lighting rather than soft bouncing effects and use a low shutter speed 2 to 3. Fstop changed based on what I was shooting. But could range awhere from 5 when shooting long shotx  to 36 when shooting long exposure.

Uses of Photography Week 2: Inspirations

 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) Cinematography: Willy Hameister
Nosferatu (1922) Cinematography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Günther Krampf

While deciding what to photograph for the semester my mind kept circling back to the idea of horror. I first thought of myself sneaking into graveyards snapping away whilst the sun set. But, as I began to research how horror cinematographers capture an eerie mood I found myself stuck on images utilising the high contrast and tightly knitted compositions that existed within the German expressionist movement. I began to look for the same contrasting blacks and whites when picking a photographer to present to the class. Upon stumbling across Magdalena Wywrot in a photography issue of VICE magazine I felt as if it was meant to be. I was particularly drawn to the following two shots:

http://magdalenaswitek.tumblr.com

I had never really considered “movement” as a technique of photography. But after seeing Wywrot’s first image, it prompted me to try and take advantage of the sense of uncertainty that blur and movement can cause. In the second image, I was taken aback by how the contrast worked to create something otherworldly and sinister. When I consider how this photo might read in colour or without the use of hard lighting, I do not believe it would have the same uncanny effect on a viewer- As it would reveal the figure behind Wywrot’s daughter rather than letting them exist as a set of disembodied hands. Another element in Wywrot’s photographs is how she asks her models to pose and will shoot the back of the subject, and other unfamiliar angles to the viewer. In the second image, her daughter throws her head back in a more dynamic and unfamiliar pose than having the subject look to the camera. I will experiment with shooting my subjects from different angles and have them pose in a lot of different ways, trying to create a more striking result.

This idea of capturing something unnerving and eerie is what I’m looking to achieve this semester. I will try to utilise the same techniques found in both the german expressionist movement and Wywrot’s photos, paying particular attention to ways in which I can express a sense of tight space through composition, how I can use light to create high contrast and how I can use props and movement to achieve these aesthetics. I have also made the decision to focus mostly on the portrait as I am really hoping to achieve a final result that makes the human body seem unfamiliar or ethereal.

Continuing to work on PB2 I will look to recreate this hard lighting in order to achieve a juxtaposition between white and black. During the next week, I will begin taking test shots to better understand how light interacts with the face and body.