DEPTH OF FIELD

Depth of field is important when you are taking photos in a studio. The lighting and composition of the photo will make the photo either great or not so great. In the lesson we experimented and created a number of images...

In this photo the lighting is low key, the soft box was over the light and was above the model facing down towards her face. A reflector was also used to get the best result. The hair colour is brought out a lot making it appear brighter and the facial features are soft and glowing with highlight on the nose and tops of eyelids.

I like this composition because of how soft the face looks and almost airbrushed, i think this would work really well for a beauty shot.



In the second image we created, the lighting was again low key. The soft box was over the light and was now behind the model facing the camera and on a slight angle. Because the light is behind the model is the main focus and appears to be far away from any background. The image can sometimes can turn out really dark which is when you will have to turn up the flash. This made the models hair stand out and I love how the detail in the face is created because no light is washing it out. I dont really like the fact the light shines on the top of the head making the hair on the top hardly visible.

In the third image we used lighting that was high key, it was a hard light which was facing the white background. The model had bright coloured hair which stood out really well using this lighting. The details in the face were different to the other compositions we tried they much more contrasted. This one we had to change a few things during the shoots. The lighting at first was too dark meaning we had to change the aperture on the camera to make sure less light gets in and the image becomes brighter.

We wanted to compare this to another lighting with the same model so we used a high key lighting again but with a hard light shining on the walls of white reflective board. The boards added more light to the picture, make it brighter and showing more detail. It made the model's face look flawless and smooth. It also distorted the pupils making them look like cat eyes.  It made the facial features looked totally different. I didn't particular like both of these images as I think the first one was too dark and the second was really blown out and too bright and the eyes looked crazy.

Learning to shoot at home

Shooting at home can be difficult if you don't have the space but if you have a basic white wall this will give a good background for a light to shine onto which will then reflect back onto your shot. 

We practised this in the studio using a black background and a light reflecting off a white wall opposite. We also used a reflector under the model's face to create more light on the hair and facial features. The photo turned out really well and ellie looked beautiful, the contrast was really high in the photo making the lips and hair colour really rich. It also brought out all the undertones of red in her hair. This was interesting to know you can create such a lovely image at home. 

White Balance

AUTO- automatically adjusts the white balance settings to whatever light you are in so you don't need to change it.

Shade- if there is a lot of shade, the white balance will change the blue tones to reds and oranges to brighten up the picture.

Cloudy- used if shooting on a cloudy day. Similar setting to the Daylight mode, will add warmer hues to the picture which are what you would want in landscape and portrait pictures.

Daylight- used when direct sunlight is hitting your subject, adds warm tones into the shot to make it less bright.

Tungsten- best used when shooting at home, takes out the warmer yellow tones from the image and swap them for cooler blue and purple tones.

Fluorescent- used for fluorescent lighting which is found in offices and gyms, takes out the cool tones and add more warmth into them by adding orange and red tones.

Flash- basically the same as the daylight one, but it is a little softer, it adds cooler tones as well as warmth.