#seeingthelight

Before

1. What was the project theme and what did you think of it?

The project theme was about the use and manipulation of natural light in imagery. I like the idea of the project and feel it was a good starting point to help me familiarise myself with different pieces of equipment. 

2. What part of the project did you enjoy the most/found most interesting (making the photographs? Optimising images? Printing?)

I enjoyed getting outside and doing portraiture and controlling the light to work in my favour and help me achieve an image I desire. 

3. What new techniques have you experienced?

Learning what different pieces of equipment are and how to use them such as flags and actually putting them to the test. 

4. What technique would you like to develop further?

I would like to develop my editing as I feel this is a definite weak point and in a lot of circumstances can be the make or break for an image. 

5. Which photographers did you research throughout this project?

Richard Avedon and Mark Mann

6. How have they influenced your photographs?

They showed me that a portrait is far more than a photograph and is actually a way to capture the model's true self and show a side to them that may not be seen regularly. 

7. Which technique did you enjoy the most? 

Definitely trying the new equipment as a lot of it was new to me and I wanted to experiment with it and see what was possible

8. What do you feel is the most successful part of your project and why?

I am happy with how some of the photographs turned out. A lot of this was new to me and I feel I got to grasp with things quite quickly which I am happy about

9. Did you encounter any problems in your project?

I failed to capture my images before the deadline and then as the year progressed there were far less sunny days and I ended up leaving the project until June to finish off.

10. How did you learn from them and how did they affect your final images? 

This meant that for 2 of my shoots I had a bit more experience and they look a little better however I didn't enjoy having the project looming over me for such a long time.

11. What would you do differently given the chance to complete the project again?

I wouldn't rush to finish but would definitely push to have it completed quickly while the weather was nicer and not leave it too late. 

12. Discuss any technical issues with your final images? (Focus, sharpness, exposure, highlights/shadow detail)

I think in some of the images there could be some more highlights to make them stand out more. For some of the images I think my composition could be better and a little more interesting which would really help the images. 

13. Going deeper; if you were asked to do a project using this technique what would you do? What new ideas do you have? This may be explained as a visual, a drawing, sketch, photograph...you decide how much you present in this section.

These 2 images are framing shots and used direct sunlight as their main source of light.

These 2 images have wide and narrow apertures and flagging has been used to block out some of the sun. 

These 2 images are about point of view (high/low) and the main source is window light.  

For this final shoot I needed to capture framing shots. I took the shots in Glasgow green where I placed my model on a step between 2 trees. 

My first image is facing on the subject with the trees in the background and the second image is between 2 trees shooting towards the model. 

I am pretty happy with how these images turned out and will definitely use some of them for submission. 

Months ago, it was our life, our adventure and our future.

Now it's just me, and I was scared. Alone for the first time in years. Trying to go through this adventure on my own by myself.

Little by little I realized I'm not on this journey by myself but with myself. I'm discovering myself, who I am and what I can be.

Reflectors

A reflector helps photographers manipulate light by providing an additional surface for light to bounce off. They aren't too expensive and can really improve images. The Silver side of a reflector creates a neutral effect on the image. The White side does a similar thing to the silver side but is much softer. The Black side is sometimes included with a reflector but does the opposite, instead of taking away a shadow it creates one. Translucent acts as a diffuser so it should be placed between the subject and light source to soften the flash.

Coloured Gels

Coloured Gel are thin, square-shaped pieces of coloured material that is placed over a light source. 

Flagging

Brandon Woelfel

Brandon Woelfel is a 27 year old photographer from the United States, originally he never intended to become a photographer he originally went to ‘The School Of Visual Arts’ in Manhattan to study computer art and started doing photography as a hobby. Now he’s a freelance a photographer based in New York, working with clients such Buzzfeed, Apple, Nikon and Urban Outfitters. Woelfel has also released photography two books, One called ‘Luminescence’ and the other being ‘Ultraviolet’.

Woelfel has become well-known for his portrait photography, usually he only has a singular subject posed in front of landscape while being surrounded by lighting. He achieves his photos by using a Nikon D850 DSLR or the Nikon Z7 with a Nikkor 58mm f/1.4 lens, He tends to make use of objects such as CD’s and LED String lights to achieve his final image.

When it gets to editing, Woelfel said he likes to ‘view an image as a painting’ by starting from scratch and pulling everything out of a single image, He tends to tweak the contrast, temperature and colours in his images, but with night-time photographs he tends to add a blue tint or shadows, but with daytime photos he doesn't tend to do much editing.