Invite to Studio Session at My House

Open invitation to C & G L3 Magnificent Eight.
To a Studio Session/Coffee Morning at my house on
Sun 7 March 2010.
10.00 am to 12.00
Measham.

Main aims are to have a play with lighting and backgrounds.
Use natural day light.
Practice portrait sitter positoning.


RSVP by comment.
Please add your own aims or just come for a coffee.
If Jim brings his lights and reflectors etc. and Eric can bring the college lights we can set up a natural light shoot and a darker studio light area.

Sat 27 Feb 2010

What an interesting morning, revolving around helping Steve with his studio session. This was a trial session for Steve to work out equipment, settings, use of light meter and model positioning with the aim of producing some low key shots of his beautiful niece.

We found having 2 folk there as photographer and assitant works well, and if anyone would like an assistant please feel free to ask me. The little head torch was useful to see camera setting with the main lights off and make minor exposure settings.

I find the studio quite intimidating but will have a go at booking a session soon.

Sitting next to Jim in class if very lucky for me, thanks for showing me the blur.

Portraits from London

Soldier Boy

I'm doing some work for my old man, Paul, who's in the Tinterweb Busyness. It's for free, but they will pay (2 shirt buttons) if the pictures are used. They are doing a lot of small web sites for a book publishing company, they are usually small print runs for folk who are self publishing, hence very low budget.

If any of you guys doing 'products' wants to borrow these props and have a go, let me know.

I'm in the process of setting up a room as a tempory studio. These are taken using natural daylight, a tripod and a remote shutter release, Nikon D90 with 18 to 105mm lens. I'm using a variety of exposure combinations and ISOs ranging from 200 to 400. Higher ISOs should not be a problem, as the pictures are uased at relatively low resolution on the web sites.



I enjoy working with available light, this room seems to have good lighting qualities with light from above, the far bay window and double glass doors to the right. Eric and I have been transfixed by Irving Penn's work which was mainly done using available natural light apparently. The draw backs are it's time and weather sensitive, passing clouds on windy days make radical changes to light. I'm going to experiment with reflectors and borrow the portable lights. The brick wall to the left faces south, so most of the light is not direct.




Yes, I am doing portrait still.

Steve Has Made a Tutor Blog

Steve's Tutor Blog

Irving Penn (Do It Again!)

I've really enjoyed researching the photography of Irving Penn (although it is wearing off a bit now) and wanted to visit the National Portrait Gallery after seeing Rankin review the current exhibition of his work which is displayed there until 6 June 2010.

This weekend presented the opportunity when me, and my new best friends, visited London on a snap and grab photo trip. There is a plethora of images on the internet, but I am particularly drawn to his meticulous graphic style perhaps because of my garden design interest and background.

The exhibition was of around 120 silver and platinum prints spanning five decades of work. He died at the age of 92 in October 2009 and had worked throughout his life, hence the 200,000 plus images in Google. He was particularly interested in the longevity of his prints and used complicated dark room techniques to ensure the integrity of his photographs. The archive on show at the NPG certainly reflected that. The images were crisp and clear.

Throughout the length of his career he appears to hit on winning formulas, which work incredibly well with some subjects and less so with others. The tableaux of dancers is beautifully executed.

But the same imagery doesn't work for The Grateful Dead, who are frozen in boredom.

I looked in detail at many of the prints and agreed with what had been said that they work well in any size from thumbnail to full size print, this is particularly noticeable when the search results are shown.

Go On Try It

Like so many successful photographers, he'd originally set out to be a painter, but, after a year in Mexico he became disatisfied with his results and returned to fashion photography working for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. He gained a reputation meticulous attention to detail, Shaker like restraint in his style and perfectionism. He became known reverently as 'Mr Penn.'

The set of nudes he produced in 1949 to 50 were strangely out of character. The set of heavy, bleached out, women were the antithesis of all of his magazine work. Remembering that he was married to Lisa Fossagrives, a slim sophisticated model who was the subject of many of his photos, it is still difficult to understand this period although I can see something of their sculptural qualities.

Earthly Bodies

Lisa Fonssagrives Penn

He was roundly slated for these at the time, although thirty years later they were exhibited and acclaimed, he had achieved international recognition by then and no one was to shout of the 'Emporer's New Clothes.'

I was particularly intrigued by the portrait of Alfred Hitchcock, it really works for me as a picture, but I find it disturbing. Sitting on the trademark upturned carpet, he looks at one with himself but at odds with the world. Rankin drew attention to the fact he looks posed on a toilet but unaware and unembarrased.

I took this picture in London shortly after the exhibition, seeing the roundness of his back and outline, heavy weight supported on elbows.

" I invite the subject to the camera. I begin to search for an attitude, and then begin to expose film. I follow my plan through to what may be a dead end or to success..... I have found that for me it is fatal to change directions radically in the middle of a sitting.
I lose the subject."
Irving Penn.

Panel

I'm thinking of submitting this for the panel digital image, but not sure how to do it.
It is 1024x371. Any thoughts anyone?

Irving Penn

Irving Penn
16 June 1917 to 7 October 2009



Irving Penn was born in June 1917 in Plainfield, New Jersey. The son of a watchmaker and nurse, he went on to study drawing, painting and graphic and industrial design at The Pennsylvanian Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia from 1934 to 1938. It was during this time that he was taught advertising design by Alexey Brodovitch. Brodovitch worked at Harper’s Bazaar in New York. Penn’s graphic talent impressed him and he went on to work as unpaid assistant for two summers at the magazine.

On graduating Penn worked as a freelance designer and illustrator for Harper’s Bazaar and other clients, eventually inheriting Brodovitch’s position at Saks Fifth Avenue.

At 25 Penn moved to Mexico to devote himself to painting but after a year decided he would never be more than mediocre and returned to New York to assist Alexander Liberman, art director of Vogue. His first suggestion for a still life front cover was rejected by the staff photographers and he was asked to take the photograph himself. It appeared on the front cover of Vogue on Oct 1 1943. His photographs appeared on more than 150 Vogue covers over the next 50 years.

Vogue Oct 1943

By 1947 he’d begun his first serious portrait work primarily of artists and celebrities. He established style an instantly recognisable style of elegant minimalism that was firmly grounded in his graphic arts background. This quiet manner of photography quickly came to define the post war New York view of what was chic. A method described as almost Shaker style restraint.

‘Harlequin Dress’ (Lisa Fossagrives Penn) New York 1950.

His 1947 image ‘Twelve Most Photographed Models of the Period,’ a group portrait, includes his wife Lisa Fossagrives at its centre.

12 Most Photographed Models New York 1947

She later appeared in some of his most memorable fashion images including ‘Woman With Roses’ in 1950, the year she became his wife.

Woman with Roses

In 1948 he began to pose his subjects by wedging them between two plain walls that met in a sharply angled vee. He used this as a means of closing people in. Their reactions varied between claustrophobia and self assured composure. Penn’s portraiture wasn’t about establishing a relationship between the photographer and the subject, it was about composing a graphically pleasing image that reveals something about the subject.

Penn used the same style with almost obsessive consistency over the next fifty years. Described as ‘mathematically elegant’ it proved to be very flexible. Perhaps because of this, the least noticed and most surprising thing about Penn’s photography is that it works well in any size from thumbnail to museum sized print. He also acquired a reputation for perfectionism at all costs.

In 1949 and 50 he created a series of nudes which did not impress his fellow photographers and art directors at Vogue. They were appalled by the bleached out pictures of heavy women the antithesis of the magazine’s trademark look.

Model Number 1

It took thirty years to pass and international recognition before these pictures were finally given an exhibition.

In the mid 1960s, fashion and fashion photography switched gears decisively. Neither his style or manner matched the era’s spirit of sexual liberation nor drug assisted creativity. The ‘sticking with a winning formula’ approach produced stuck in the mud pictures.

The Grateful Dead

Passing 65 with no thought of retirement Mr Penn he increasingly devoted himself to still lifes and portraits of older artists, and began contributing to the fledgling magazine Vanity Fair. In 1985 'Mr Penn' began to draw and paint again after a gap of 43 years.

London Trip 20 Feb 2010

Here's a lovely shot that none of us took.
Thanks everyone, especially Jim for driving, I had a great time. I'm sure my photography is improving just hanging around with you lot.
Now I've got a sqillion pictures to sort through, brilliant!

Anemone

Taken in natural daylight, 105mm 1/5sec f5.6 ISO200

And the same again with an LCD torch shining into the flower.

London Trip

I've just spoken to the Nat Portrait Gallery. This is the first week of the Irving Penn Exhibition so it may well be busy, they are doing timed slots and give ticket holders priority. We could book tickets online but then are fixed to a time slot. We should be able to buy on the day depending on how busy they are, but there is lots of other stuff anyway.
Our student passes for college should be OK to use for tickets so remember to take them.

The Culture Show Thurs 18 7.00pm BBC2.
Fashion photographer Rankin gives his opinion of the new Irving Penn retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery.

Home Session 14 Feb 2010

I'd been having trouble with my camera (Nikon D90VR) which I'd largely put down to the nut behind the view finder.
It was an intermittent fault in which the f stop setting froze and switching off didn't help, it also was giving error messages with the SD card. I'd changed lots of factors and also bought a remote for it so I was at a loss. I took it with me on Saturday and everyone was very helpful. Steve and Jim suggested cleaning the contacts on the battery and running the battery right down before recharging. Rebecca was very helpful having a D90 herself and gave it a thorough talking to. She also recommended making a careful note of the settings when the fault happened. What a supportive group.

I thought I'd set up some shots with the aim of 1. Using the battery 2. Terrifying the cat.

I was using natural light from a south facing window, a black fleece blanket, a foam core reflector, tripod and the Nikon with 18 to 105 lens. Had had to use a high ISO of 800 and still had some movement blurring.

One major hurdle was convincing my sitter he would like some pics taken and with cats the best way to do this is insist he was not allowed on the blanket. He was particularly difficult because I managed to give him a big static electric shock whilst unwrapping the blanket.

The camera worked OK throughout.

Studio Session 13 Feb 2010

All links to videos of this session have been removed at tutor's request.

So all that remains is Eric.


Here we have Eric singing the Thong Song.

Studio Session 13 Feb 2010

This was my first introduction to the Studio. The emphasis with studio photography is understanding the equipment and the 'Three Ps rule'.
Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.
Health and Safety was covered. Some points were:
1. Care with cables and trip hazards
2. All lights and bulbs are fragile and hot
3. Ladder safety
4. Lighting to be moved by tutor.

Helpful Tips
Keeping the camera strap over the arm of the pillar support to help prevent it falling.

Studio Session 13 Feb 2010

Studio Equipment
Bowens Pulsar Radio Trigger

This multifunctional device can be used to trigger flash units, film and digital cameras and light meters up to 100m.
Because it uses radio transmission, rather than IR, it allows for triggering around corners, through walls and is not affected by high ambient light situations.
Choose from four individual channel and six studio selectors, each providing a unique ID for a different flash device or combine them to trigger all equipment within a given setup or studio.
Pulsar also features a hot-shoe mount, sync in and sync out terminals, a ready indicator, a test button and an external power option.
Because of its low-voltage operation, it is perfect for digital cameras.
Each unit can be used as either a transmitter or receiver and is powered by just two AAA batteries.

Bowens Gemini 500 Pro


The Gemini Pro range delivers more power and faster flash-durations making it the perfect portable flash system for fashion or commercial photographers.

Available in four sizes from 500Ws to 1500Ws the Gemini Pro monolights feature all of the benefits of the Gemini r units, including Travelpak battery and Pulsar/PocketWizard Trigger Card compatibility, but also offer flash-durations as fast as 1/2900 sec and a voltage seeking power system which makes them useable just about anywhere in the world.

Capture split-second action
If you need to capture action, then the Pro range is for you, the 500pro has an amazingly short flash-duration of 1/2900 sec! Compare this to 1/900 sec on the Gemini 500r and the decision is easy for fashion photographers.
The three electrode, flash tube is the reason for the action freezing flash times on the Gemini Pro monolights - the fastest Bowens monolights ever! The flash tube is easily user replaceable too - so, no expensive service center fees if it needs replacing.

Sekonic L 3085 Flashmate




Pocket-sized Digital Meter for Incident and Reflected Flash and Ambient Light Readings
• Smallest digital flash-meter for reflective and incident light readings in ambient or electronic flash lighting conditions
• Exposures accurate down to a tenth-of-a-stop for both ambient and electronic flash light readings in full-stop mode. Meter can also display shutter-speeds and apertures in half or third-stop increments to mirror the exposure settings on your camera with a repeat accuracy of +/- 0.1 EV
• At ISO 100, the ambient EV range is 0 to 19.9, flash f/stops range from f/1.4 to f/90.9 with a shutter-speed span of 60-seconds to 1/8000th-of-a-second (1 sec to 1/500th for flash). For cinema applications frame rates can be set from 8 to 128 frames-per-second. ISO sensitivity can be set from 3 to 8000 in third-stop increments
• Pocket-sized, and easy to stow away. The L-308S measures 2.5"W x 4.3"H x 0.9"D (63mmW x 110mmH x 22mmD), and weighs in at 3.4 ounces (95g).

Writing in Word Documents.

I wanted to keep a hard copy of my work as well as the blog, and I'd written my Statement of Intent in Word. I discovered I could not copy and paste my text into the blog from this document, as Word has its own formatting which is not compatible with HTML.
I was about to retype it all when Paul suggested copying and pasting into Notepad (in Accessories) which removes the formatting, then copying and pasting from Notepad into the Blog. It worked fine and was better than chocolates!

Assignment Title: The Obvious Illusion Assignment Ref. No: SP306310 STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY

Avedon describes a portrait as a picture of a person aware their picture was being taken.

In this shot my Great Grandfather, John Stanfield and his dog Toby sit to the left on the canal bank. My Great Grandmother and Great Uncle Will are in the boat to the left. Great Uncle Ernest is central with an oar. My paternal Grandmother Edith Stanfield is behind Ernest with the light dress and an oar.

The original picture is postcard size and dates from around 1915.
Location is Measham canal. At first glance this striking compositon appears to have happened by chance.




STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY

Theme 1: Portraits
Title:‘My Family and Other Animals.’
This title is unashamedly stolen from the naturalist Gerald Durrell’s book of the same name which chronicled his stay in Corfu as a child. I have three beautiful nieces, when recent asked how many siblings she had my youngest niece stated four. ‘And their names?’ was the next question, ‘Laura, Rachel, Mitten and Lucky.’

Statement of Intent.
I would like to produce a high quality set of portraits of my family members including some of our animals, in a variety of settings both as individuals and in groups.
I am inspired by a collection of very high quality photographs most of which were taken by my Great Uncle Will around about 1915. This family archive was discovered by my father in an old desk which he inherited.
Location: Some family members are happy to come into the studio, others are trickier and I would like to make a ‘home studio’ using portable lighting as well as setting the subjects in their normal environment and using natural light.
Understandably some members are more willing than others, I’ll need to take on board their anxieties and have a sympathetic approach, I’d like them to appear relaxed and true to there nature rather than be ‘made over’ for the shoot.
The purpose is to document our family in the present day, for future generations in the same way that this picture from around 1915 does. This will enable me to learn and research portrait photography with a view to adding ‘another string to my bow’ professionally.
The project will stretch my understanding of photographic technique, and I understand I’ll need to catch up with my knowledge to this level.
I’ve often been amazed by how good professional photographs are and I’d like to be able to produce work which is comparable.

National Portrait Gallery What's On

National Portrait Gallery What's On

Click the link above.
I'm looking forward to our research trip to London.

Fashion photographer Rankin gives his opinion of the new Irving Penn retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery.

The Culture show.
Thurs 18 Feb BBC 2, 19:00hrs.
I watched this program for the first time this week and enjoyed it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qxg3y

First attempts at studio photography

Level 2 Theory F Stop

Taken in natural light.
F/16
ISO 1000 1/60sec
Noticing the farest left back tulip is more in focus.

Level 2 Theory F Stop

Taken in natural light.
F/5.6
ISO 1000 1/60sec.

Focus is to the front tulip.
The left hand side tulip, farest back, is well out of focus.