Exercise 1.06 – Review a portrait sequence.

I’ll be using the workflow developed in the ‘Digital Photographic Practice’ course, which worked for me, to work through the images in this exercise. I should have done this using the previous exercise photographs, as I went through them in a similar fashion as part of my normal workflow.

The exercise asks for a rating system of ‘a’ to ‘d’ with ‘d’ being the best image. I’ll be using Lightroom 4 for my importing / cataloguing etc., and using its star rating system so 4 stars will be the best image.

Planning:

I’ve been using the reviewing method on the computer as a matter of course as I’ve done the other exercises, so it’s a shame I didn’t take the opportunity to use the previous images to complete this, before I deleted those which were not to be used – must read ahead more in the future! This time I’ll use the following ‘Exercise 1.07 – focal length’ for both exercises.

As I’ll be doing this exercise in conjunction with the next, I need a situation where I can move a significant distance away from the sitter, so depending on the weather I’ll use the Sneaton Forest backdrop if it’s bright sunshine in the morning (we need to be there before the hordes arrive), as the leaf cover will soften the light. If it’s overcast I’ll use the seating area in our garden.

I’ll use the remote flash with a mini beauty dish for shadow fill and take my reflectors to use as required.

I anticipate taking at least 24 images, but probably more as I try to capture ‘The one’.

The session:

After waiting days for the weather to break, we set off early to Sneaton forest – not because of the light but because of the wind – it was too breezy to use our garden, so the shelter of the forest was the obvious choice.

As the object of the exercise was to vary the focal lengths I reviewed the images after each zoom setting – varying between 3 and 5 frames per set. This helped the session flow without too many stops. I reviewed the images using the checklist in the ‘Photographing people’ book:

· Is there anything apparently sticking out of the subject’s head?

· Is the general composition satisfactory?

· Is the lighting balance about right?

· What about the angle of the head?

· What does the body language say?

· How is their expression?

· Is there anything I can leave out of the frame?

· Is there anything missing from the picture?

· Do I have the picture yet?

In some cases I retook an image if I wasn’t happy with result.

I took the images as per the plan, with a few additional frames during the main exercise and then some extras after completing the programme.

When I’d captured these images we decided that it was time to leave – it was getting busier with dog walkers and hikers which were distracting and we had to wait for them to pass before taking the next frame. The main exercise had been completed, plus a few ‘extras’ and we were also getting cold and needed breakfast! I’d also captured what I thought were good pictures that portrayed Viv well.

These are the 35 images I captured:

These were further reduced by selecting the best images from each focal length set so that there was only one of each pose per set, plus the ‘extras’ as follows:

They have been ranked by stars, with the higher number being the better.

The review at home was much easier than the ‘on location’ review because:

· The computer screen is much bigger so more detail can be seen.

· The resolution is far greater than the camera LCD, so decisions can be made on post processing and saving / discarding of any image.

· It’s easier to compare images, so selecting the best is much easier. Lightroom is excellent for the comparisons and ranking of a sequence.

The ‘on location’ review is useful for getting the image right, before ending the session, but the review on the computer is much better for deciding which images are best and which to save for post processing and / or future presentation.