Portraits

Bonus!

Reflection: Although for most pictures I take I really like working with color, I did find that for the portraits black and white was really interesting. It changed the focus of the image to really emphasize the subject, and I think this is especially true for the formal portrait I took of Elisabeth and the self-portrait I showed here. For my second self-portrait in the bonus photos section I had also tried it in black and white but prefer the color version. 

One technical note is that I increased the contrast through lifting the white point and lowering the black point more here than I would if the images were still in color. For the light painting photos, I might try lowering the brightness for just the bright white parts, if I can get the mask to just select those.

During our class-time shoot yesterday, I was taking my pictures when the last of the direct sunlight was hitting the terrace we went to. I had Elisabeth sit on the ground where the light was, and I really like the effect because the light is still soft, but provides contrast to the shadowy trees. There were also a few sprigs of lavender that also caught the light, and they were highlighted nicely.  

I did my self-portrait after getting home from class, and I had the idea of doing light painting. I quickly realized that for these long exposures (I tried from 15 to 25s), my movement would get very blurry. I tried a few different variations, starting with using my flashlight to make random flowing motions, and then I transitioned to writing out the Chinese character for my last name. From there, I quickly realized that I would need to write it mirrored, and tried that process multiple times to get the lines to line up, while still illuminating my face. I then decided to make some light fireballs to "hold". One funny thing about these photos is that my right hand, which I used to move the flashlight, is not visible because it never got illuminated itself.

The still life and environmental portraits I took of my coworkers. Although you can't see all of it here, Selina has many layers of crocheted tops that she made herself draped on top of her desk, and it is pretty messy... but she says she can "mostly" still find things. I ran around the lab trying to find people who were tissue culturing, and eventually caught Kate as she was finishing up. I like the reflections and composition of the shot I chose here.