shoot 5

shoot 5

plans for shoot

for this shoot, i am going to take photos in the style of Film Noire. to do this i am going to take portraits of peoples faces with a light shone from different angles. this should cast shadows and bring out the contours in their face. my aim is to get around five strong photos and edit them to enhance the shadow more.

research influence
my my research influence, i have chosen to investigate the genre of Film Noire photography. this genre was developed during the 1940-50's. the style represents the fear left behind after the second world war. the genre reflected mystery, suspicion and sinister characters. common features of Film Noire are harsh shadows, silhouettes, and a strong contrast between black and white.



this image is an example of Film Noire photography. in this photo, you can see a young man sat at a table, with his hands clasped in front of him and what looks like a nearly empty wine glass in front of him on the table. the first thing the viewer notices when they look at this photo is the light illuminating the side if the mans face. the angle it has been shone at, exposes the contours of his face, and creates a light reflection in his eyes. this conveys a feeling of sadness from him in the way his eyes look glassy and the solemn expression on his face. the glass of wine adds to the emotion of the photo as it looks like he has been drinking. this causes the viewer to wonder what has made him want to drink and why he looks so melancholy.
this photo looks as though it has been taken in a completely dark room with only one light source. the photographer most likely used a reflector as a light source as it illuminates the light on his face, and the reflections in the glasses in front of him, however the background is very dark, indicating that the area surrounding him wasn't lit.

contact sheet

best images

i chose these images because the features that are highlighted are sharp and in focus. the light also effectively brings out the contours in Hannah and Sam's features, which was my main goal for the outcome of this shoot.

images that require improvement

i chose this image because the exposure was too harsh, which meant it hid most of the detail in Hannah's face. the aim of this shoot was to use a direct light to illuminate the subjects face and bring out the contours and shadows. however, in this photo, the light blanketed over Hannah's face, which meant the shadows were lost.
if i were to take this again, i would lower the exposure of the light, so that it enhances the shadows rather than getting rid of them completely.



i chose this photo because there are multiple issues with this photo. one of which, is the position of the light. i moved the snoot so that the light shone at a downwards angle. however, this meant it was too far away and the exposure was too low. this caused the features of the face to be lost slightly. although, i do like this photo, and would use it if i were to do a shoot with a more sinister theme. in this case though, i  was looking to get more of a harsh light. another thing i would change in this photo is the dark area of the bottom of the face. this occurred because the shutter speed was too high (400 instead of 125) which meant the photo captured it closing which darkened the bottom part of Sam's face.

refining my images




to edit my photos, i started by adding a black and white layer, and adjusted the brightness and contrast so that the light was either slightly more or less harsh, then merged them together so that i could use the other tools (dodge and burn etc.).



using a combination of the eye dropper, dodge and burn, and the paint brush tools, i brightened different pats of the subjects face and highlighted where the light would hit most. this made the photos more contrasted and dramatic, which is the effect i wanted to achieve in this shoot.

final images











evaluation

overall, i think this has been my most successful shoot so far as the final images reflect exactly the style i used as my influence, and i feel like these images are effective. the things that went well in this shoot were the initial photos, as i knew what i wanted to do and had a particular image/mood i wanted to create, which was achievable using the studio. another thing that went well was the editing process. it wasn't too complicated which meant i could edit more in the time i wanted to spend on them, and the outcomes themselves are exactly what i wanted to get from this shoot.

some issues i faced during this shoot were the shutter speed. i had originally set it at 1/125, but must have had the camera on a setting that allowed it to change. this meant it went up to 1/400, which was too fast for the shutter to leave the frame. this caused a dark shadow to cover the lower part of the subjects faces, which didn't effect the photos to the point i couldn't use them, but still obscured the face slightly. another issue was the way i positioned the light. because i didn't want to blind my models, i tried to keep it far enough away from their faces that it wouldn't be too bright. however, this meant the light was too low in some of the photos.

progression

to progress this shoot further, id like to create a GIF with a short narrative shown through a series of frames. the narrative would be something involving shadows, and by doing it frame by frame, i can use more creative frames that would be much harder if i were to create a video.