TOM. Portraits on location.

using natural light; the image needs to be sharp and focused prominently on the eyes of the subject. You have to make sure your not over exposing the subjects skin tones by checking the histograms of the pictures you take and changing the F number so that the subject is as exposed correctly as well as possible. Also changing white balance and spot metering should help the subject skin tones.

The location you take the pictures in is really important aswell, where it is, whats around the shoot, using the scenery as props(leaning on a tree etc). Having a narrow depth of field is a good way to separate the subject from the background and also under exposing the background then getting the subject to stand the frame then using your flash to highlight the subject is also I really good way to separate them from the background. When choosing a location you have to consider the direction the sun is coming from because if the subject is facing the sun although it may be better lighting in some cases- they'll be forced to squint and therefore the picture will be horrible nether the less.

using the flash/fill-flash can be a good way to fill in any shadows on the subjects face although it depends on how strong the flash is compared to the sun, using a reflector is also a good way to fill in any shadows on the subject face and if you want to create shadows for a mood effect- use a gobo.

(no flash, no reflector, no editing.)
(flash,editing, no reflector.)
(flash, no reflector, brightness edit.)

(flash, reflector, exposure edited(darker))

(flash, no reflector, spot metering,editing and cropped version)

STEVE. Creating my own camera obscuras.

On my day off college I spent a good four-five hours creating three camera obscuras around my house.

what I used;

(water with washing up liquid is in the jug.)

1st attempt- My room;


the Camera Obscura image showed my back garden from above from my rooms windows.



I wanted to see if I could get the image clearer so I went out and bought some black bin liners but they ended up being useless so I dug out an old white plastic apron and it worked better, it brought the image together of the street but it didn't make it clearer at all. I thought maybe a room with smaller windows/less chance of light coming through might work better...

2nd attempt- the bathroom;

The Bathroom one didn't really work, I think this is because the room was smaller and the window itself was smaller, at first I thought this would be a good thing but it turned out to be noneffective. Also outside the window, there wasn't really much that could be reflected through as an image only the top of our shed really is see-able here.

After doing two rooms I wanted to try another room to see if I could get a better result...

3rd attempt- My parents room;

My parents room is the biggest room I made a camera obscura in, I made sure to cover up as much of the window's light gaps as I possibly could in attempt to get the best result I could since this was my last chance as I was running out of tin foil.


The result was that it worked amazingly better then my first two trys;
(wall to the right side of the window is showing the clearest image of the end of the street.)
(Opposite the window is showing the houses across the street.)
(ceiling image showing our front fence, a bush and the street & grate.)

again I tried to get a clearer image of this room with the plastic apron...
It worked better but still wasn't as clear as I hoped.

what I learned is that camera obscuras seem to work better in a bigger room, with big windows. I also learned from doing it by myself that the image you get isn't always a clear/sharp or a clearly see-able one, it only when a took a slow shutter-speed image/reflection of the walls that a saw a clearer image of the outside. When I did this in college the effect was so much better and clearer with being on the 9th floor- I learned that camera obscuras are not 100% reliable for a good/clear/noticeable/effective image because of my attempts all being not as good as that time in college and each other my three attempts having a totally different effect/impact.

TIM. Lighting experimenting.

By adjusting the lighting and trying out different set ups- i've seen how the lighting set up effects the images result and mood, also having lighting placed certain ways can highlight different aspect of the subject such as hair, outline of their face and you can also make the back of their head less prominent focusing mostly on the face. you can also create unique effects by just trying out the lights in different places. lighting has the power to flatter the subject or effect the subject badly though, finding the best lighting is key for a studio shoot.

lighting the back and front, but stood a the side of the subject;

above lighting but angled more to the back of the subject;

Back and front lighting to the height of the subject;


lighting the front and back with one light;

lighting the front with one light;


"Lip Lighting" lighting/highlighting the nose,lips and rest of the faces edge to create this effect;

having the light coming from behind the subjects head and onto their face, creating a flare(2 lights);

MARIA. Zine Assignment. Fixed versions of my final images for the zine.

TOM. Landscape and Architectural photography. Lesson 2.

When doing these images I learnt that when you have a z or an z shape when doing landscape photography it leads the eye into the image. Also you have to take images that are different to what anyone else would think of taking in order to make an impression in this kind of photography.

(edited out trash.)






When we took these images it was a really dull day and there was no sky whatsoever, so I attempted to Photoshop a sky into my image, then I tried putting a sun-set instead to see if it created a different mood for the image which I found it did: