Studio Practice

So in this practical today, we tested our photography skills in the studios. This was to not only test lighting and angles but learn how to direct a model and be directed yourself.

This was the first time I had been in studios properly. I hold my hands up and admit that I know absolutely nothing about photography. I was shown different light fittings to give different looks to a photograph. As I have no experience in studios I had no idea how these lights made a difference but after a while of messing around changing the settings and angles I realised how much of a difference it can make. Below are some examples of what I noticed.

It really helped to practice this as I now have some ideas for my beauty shot assignment. I realise that different lighting and settings work slightly differently on different people so my next step would be to test out with different people or even my chosen model.

Being the photographer felt a bit uncomfortable to begin with as I wasn't familiar with the camera or how it worked. To begin with the camera was set up as told (apt 100, raw,) to test out the lighting. I noticed how turning the lamp up or down really affected a picture. We then tested with reflectors and how they can bounce the light into a different position. To be the photographer was difficult to also tell the model what to do especially when you run out of ideas. We had a lot of uncontrollable laughing fits due to models feeling awkward but after a while it does settle. Some models are different. When shooting head shots of Annabel, she listened to what was asked of her. Em was more embarrassed so I had to catch the shots when she didn't notice. Philippa had a natural instinct to pout on every picture so it was hard to break her out of that.

As for being the model, I felt so uncomfortable and unnatural to start with. I usually hate my picture being taken and laughed a lot when we started. After becoming used to being in front of the camera and also seeing a couple of decent pictures of myself it became a bit more natural. I think I found it easier to do my own thing and mess around while the photographer snaps away.

This practical really helped me and has made me feel more positive about my up coming project as I haven't been in studios much, especially being on the photographers side.