Themed Portraits

          For this project, we were to come up with a theme that we would like to somehow incorporate in our series of photos. Originally, I wanted to do a group of photos where people were just laughing. It captures moments where happiness is present, and I loved the idea of that. But then, when I first started shooting I got a couple images where the subject was just singing and snapping. That's when I decided I just wanted my them to be 'Real Moments'. That could be laughing, smiling, or anything that captures a true moment that isn't usually captured. The photos below, in my opinion, show 'Real Moments'.

Relaxed and Just Doing Her Thing Before She Knew I Was Shooting...

When She Found Out Something Shocking That My Classmate Told Her...

One of My Classmates Had Complimented Her and This Was Her Response...

 She Heard Her Favourite Christmas Song Come on and She Started Jamming...

The Feeling of Being Photographed Made Her Feel Awkward...

          As you can see, lighting changed between the black background and completely white. For the black background, I had the black backdrop down and one light. This light was the bigger light and it was off the the side of the subject outside of the 'safe zone' (refer to diagram in post before). I had my assistant act as a boomer and hold the light almost above my model. This gave me a bit more of a harsher light and dramatic look, but I liked it with the black background and it seemed to go well with the girl I was taking shots of.

          For the photos with the completely white background, there was a little more set-up needed. To keep the background white and not grey, I changed the backdrop and then put two lights of the same height and power 4 feet from the wall. These lights were just along the edges of the backdrop and aimed just to the right and left of the centre giving even light all along. Then there was the big light being held by my assistant just above from the side once again. The power of that light was not as high as the portraits with the black background making it a little softer on the subject. There wasn't really a reason for why I changed the background, it was just a different day and other people needed the room meaning I couldn't turn off all of the lights for the intense dark background.

          I held the camera vertically because I wanted portraits so it follows the direction of the body. All of their expressions are in the moment. They were not posed or planned, I simply just sat there with the camera until the right time to snap came. Some expressions show what calm looks like, some show confusion, awkwardness or just happiness. I love real expressions and I'm happy I could capture just a few of them!

Thanks for reading this post!