In the past few weeks I have had a number of opportunities to photograph people who were posing for a portrait in a relatively formal setting as well as those people who were involved in various activities when being photographed. What a massive difference it makes for both the photographer and the sitter!
In the first instance, my subjects were mostly focussed on me and my camera work and I found myself working harder - talking to them, making comments or suggestions and generally keeping some kind of conversation going to make them feel more relaxed and forget for a moment that they were being photographed.
In the second instance, my subjects were focussed on what they were doing so I felt at times unnoticed and free to move around, change my position and the camera angle, experiment with different settings and ideas or even stop to check the results on the camera screen.
I have noticed in the past that it helps to talk to people who are being photographed about the things that they like doing, such as hobbies or leisure activities. It also worked for me in the past to show interest in their particular craft or skill and ask them to demonstrate their technique or some results of their favourite activity. I found this especially useful as it helps to switch their focus from my camera to their favourite craft, especially when my subject gets really tense or freeze in front of the camera - no smile, a frozen, forced expression on their face, an awkward sitting position etc - I am sure we are all familiar with this kind of situation. It's just amazing to see how quickly it helps people to relax, feel and look more natural. The outcomes are often good, showing spontaneous facial expressions and alive with passion.
With these thoughts in mind I was really looking forward to completing the OCA exercise 'An active portrait' which required me to show my subject in the process of some natural to them activity. My task would be to focus more on the portrait rather than demonstrating the activity that they are performing; on the person's face expression rather than the details of their action.
A perfect opportunity came up soon as I was asked to take part in a street festival in Cambridge. This event presented me with a wonderful chance to photograph some of our well-known local professional and street performers.
For this exercise I focussed on a local singer who was happy to be photographed and was very relaxed in front of my camera. The setting was outdoors, the day happened to be dry and quite mild so it wasn't too cold for the band to perform and for me to work with my camera. The light was natural and the sun wasn't too bright on the day so there were no strong shadows - a perfect setting for a series of portraits. I used my Canon 5D with a choice of zoom lenses to cover the focal length from wide angle to telephoto. As there were plenty of natural light I opted to work without any flash.
The instruments and speakers were positioned on the pavement and my lady singer was sitting on a small stool with her back to a front door of a local shop. The location was agreed in advance with the fair organisers so I did not have any influence on it. I thought it would be a nice extra challenge for me to work on.
When I got back home, I reviewed my photos in Adobe Lightroom.
Screenshot 1 below shows a selection of images from my session.
Whilst reviewing the images, I also reviewed the strategy I used to approach my subject: moving closer to the singer to eliminate the cluttered background, deciding how to position the straight lines within each frame etc.
The surroundings were not special or attractive so after taking a few general shots with my wide-angle lens I decided to crop the shots showing just my subject and her instrument as below.
Photo 1
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Photo 2
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Photo 4 - I tried to make sure that the instrument forms a natural line across the frame and not parallel to the frame edge to lead the eye of my viewer towards the subject's face.
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Below is a selection of the images that I thought were interesting and more successful in showing the singer's changing face expression.
I think that the images 6 and 3 captured the moment well.
Photo 6: I like how the lines within the image (the instrument, microphone, angle of the face and positioning of the hands) are working together to lead a viewer's eye to the centre of the image. Comparing photo 5 and 6, it is amazing to see how a very subtle change, such as a slight turn of the head, could have a significant impact on the resulting image. The background is nicely blurred allowing to focus on the main subject. The gentle smile on the singer's face is working well and create a connection with the viewer. The eyes are looking across the image, not straight out like in photo 5.
Photo 3: I think this photo captured a very engaging smile and a sense of joy on the singer's face. Again, I think that the straight lines within the image work well together creating a dynamic but harmonious picture. The background is more prominent but in my view it isn't too obstructive. It also adds a bit of vivid colour which seem to suit the image and make it brighter.
Photo 5
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Photo 6
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Photo 7 could be cropped tighter to get rid of the background space on the right and bring the subject closer to the viewer. I am including a second photo (7a) below, to show how a slight crop helps to make the composition work better hopefully resulting in a more balanced image.
Photo 7
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Photo 7a
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Photos 8 and 9 are lively, dynamic and playful. I like the face expressions captured in these two images. However, the images aren't as engaging as photos 6 and 3. The main reasons for this might be:
- the singer is looking to the left and out of the image, not across the image
- The hand in photo 8 does not work for or add anything to the image
- The microphone is positioned closer to the middle of the frame and the line is too short to help the viewer's eye or create a flow/ dynamic.
See for yourself if I am right!
Photo 8
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Photo 9
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Photo 10a
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Photo 11
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Photo 12 shows quite a nice shot taken from the back/ side of the singer. I usually try to be mindful of the straight lines within an image which go parallel to the frame edge but in this instance the lines created by the instrument worked well.
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Photos 13 - 16 captured the changes of the singer's face expression. It is interesting to observe how each photo changes with the direction of the singer's gaze. More on this in the next blog!
Photo 13
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Photo 14
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Photo 15
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Photo 16
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With these thoughts in mind I was really looking forward to completing the OCA exercise 'An active portrait' which required me to show my subject in the process of some natural to them activity. My task would be to focus more on the portrait rather than demonstrating the activity that they are performing; on the person's face expression rather than the details of their action.
A perfect opportunity came up soon as I was asked to take part in a street festival in Cambridge. This event presented me with a wonderful chance to photograph some of our well-known local professional and street performers.
For this exercise I focussed on a local singer who was happy to be photographed and was very relaxed in front of my camera. The setting was outdoors, the day happened to be dry and quite mild so it wasn't too cold for the band to perform and for me to work with my camera. The light was natural and the sun wasn't too bright on the day so there were no strong shadows - a perfect setting for a series of portraits. I used my Canon 5D with a choice of zoom lenses to cover the focal length from wide angle to telephoto. As there were plenty of natural light I opted to work without any flash.
The instruments and speakers were positioned on the pavement and my lady singer was sitting on a small stool with her back to a front door of a local shop. The location was agreed in advance with the fair organisers so I did not have any influence on it. I thought it would be a nice extra challenge for me to work on.
When I got back home, I reviewed my photos in Adobe Lightroom.
Screenshot 1 below shows a selection of images from my session.
Whilst reviewing the images, I also reviewed the strategy I used to approach my subject: moving closer to the singer to eliminate the cluttered background, deciding how to position the straight lines within each frame etc.
The surroundings were not special or attractive so after taking a few general shots with my wide-angle lens I decided to crop the shots showing just my subject and her instrument as below.
Photo 1
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Photo 2
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I then decided to move even closer and devoted most of my time working with my telephoto lens to catch those beautiful moments when her face expression changes. It was fascinating to watch her face as she sung so I spent most of my time focussing on that and trying to catch the magic of the moment.
Photo 3 - Moving closer to my subject also helped me to get rid of the slightly distracting advertisements on the background - see the two images below for comparison.
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Photo 4 - I tried to make sure that the instrument forms a natural line across the frame and not parallel to the frame edge to lead the eye of my viewer towards the subject's face.
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Below is a selection of the images that I thought were interesting and more successful in showing the singer's changing face expression.
I think that the images 6 and 3 captured the moment well.
Photo 6: I like how the lines within the image (the instrument, microphone, angle of the face and positioning of the hands) are working together to lead a viewer's eye to the centre of the image. Comparing photo 5 and 6, it is amazing to see how a very subtle change, such as a slight turn of the head, could have a significant impact on the resulting image. The background is nicely blurred allowing to focus on the main subject. The gentle smile on the singer's face is working well and create a connection with the viewer. The eyes are looking across the image, not straight out like in photo 5.
Photo 3: I think this photo captured a very engaging smile and a sense of joy on the singer's face. Again, I think that the straight lines within the image work well together creating a dynamic but harmonious picture. The background is more prominent but in my view it isn't too obstructive. It also adds a bit of vivid colour which seem to suit the image and make it brighter.
Photo 5
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Photo 6
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Photo 7 could be cropped tighter to get rid of the background space on the right and bring the subject closer to the viewer. I am including a second photo (7a) below, to show how a slight crop helps to make the composition work better hopefully resulting in a more balanced image.
Photo 7
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Photos 8 and 9 are lively, dynamic and playful. I like the face expressions captured in these two images. However, the images aren't as engaging as photos 6 and 3. The main reasons for this might be:
- the singer is looking to the left and out of the image, not across the image
- The hand in photo 8 does not work for or add anything to the image
- The microphone is positioned closer to the middle of the frame and the line is too short to help the viewer's eye or create a flow/ dynamic.
See for yourself if I am right!
Photo 8
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Photo 9
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I also experimented with different angles (front, side and back) as well as some close up shots of the singer's hands. Below are some of the images which I thought caught some interesting moments.
Photo 10 is a close up shots of the singer's hands. I thought it would benefit from an even tighter crop - the second image 10a shows the result of cropping the image and changing the angle and the direction of the natural lines within the image - in my view it offers a better balanced photo.
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Photo 10a
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Photo 11
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Photo 12 shows quite a nice shot taken from the back/ side of the singer. I usually try to be mindful of the straight lines within an image which go parallel to the frame edge but in this instance the lines created by the instrument worked well.
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Photos 13 - 16 captured the changes of the singer's face expression. It is interesting to observe how each photo changes with the direction of the singer's gaze. More on this in the next blog!
Photo 13
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Photo 14
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Photo 15
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Photo 16
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Generally, I think the session was productive and a good learning exercise.
My key learning points are:
- be mindful of the lack eye contact and the main subject's gaze being directed down, away or out of the frame
- watch out for the natural lines within the image and try to position them to lead the viewer's eye
- consider the background and foreground carefully, use aperture controls to manage how the background appears on the photo
- it's challenging sometimes to catch an interesting and natural looking face expression so pay attention and focus on person's eye and face
- an active portrait makes the photographer's job easier in some ways but might come with its own challenges: difficult lighting, lack of space to move around, can't just pause and rewind (well, not always!).
