A journey of photographic adventure, Two Views was born by two friends having a blast and learning from each other on a photo shoot in the autumn sunshine, asking the question “How can we continue to push our photographic boundaries in terms of technical knowledge, new challenges and creativity and have fun at the same time?” The answer we came up with was to set ourselves a project every two weeks, and then publish the results together. Two Views of the same subject / idea or technical approach. By the end of this year we will have covered 26 subjects and produced at least 50+ awesome photographs, and have learned a huge amount along the way! We’d love your comments, critiques and ideas, and if you want to “play along” too, please do let us have your shots by links in the comments sections! TJ & The Brunette

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Portrait by TJ


One of the most difficult things about the portrait topic was to feel comfortable about doing a self portrait. It certainly wasn't my first idea, and I have never been amazingly comfortable being in front of the camera or liking pictures of myself full stop, and that is in spite of the fact that numerous pictures on my Facebook profile might suggest otherwise! So I found the whole experience of doing a self portrait an interesting challenge. It soon became clear that just a normal pose just was not going to work, and so it took a little research and practice to come up the guitar idea. The photo was converted into black and white and then a hint of blue was added back in thanks to some nifty new software I invested in. I played around with the brightness and contrast, and then softened the image although I was not too greedy with this. Short of being able to create this image in a proper professional studio with proper lighting and background, I was quite pleased with my dining room effort!

The image below shows the development of the project. On the left hand side shows the idea of a more traditional guitar playing portrait with the blue colour idea. I did at this point start to think about the background, and the pictures on the mantlepiece were strategically placed as was getting my head in the mirror. The centre photo shows the landscape attempt of the final idea, with the right hand shot showing the colour photo before it was edited.


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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous24 November 2011 at 20:01

    The most important thing about a portrait is the eyes. "The windows to the soul" can be a big draw for a viewer and creates afocal point to the picture.

    You may do well by looking in how light effects photos. If you look at examples of how great photographers use light both available (daylight) and artificial (flash or strobe). After all light and the patterns and shifts of same over the subject that you are interested in is what you are trying to capture.

    If you are happy with this portrait try re-taking it but find a way to light your eyes...

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  2. TJ24 November 2011 at 20:21

    Yes I eluded to this in my write up, as having to rely on poor lighting in the dining room I knew the shadows around the eyes were an issue. It is something given better lighting (which I may get around to sourcing) I would try again. My house is not a great environment lighting wise for indoor photography. But I would also say that the essence of this photo is that it was a snapshot in time and very much captured me in a moment and maybe if I tried to do it again part of the magic might be lost, and therefore maybe best left to leave it as be and appreciate it for what it is flaws and all.

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  3. Alison M25 November 2011 at 05:10

    the fist shot, i didnt notice the mirror face until i read it. it is cut off, more of it would have been better. the middle shot i like the most as it seems more relaxed than the final image, not so intense. The final shot i would have played more with the contrast as overall there is alot of grey in the pic, your face and background are nearly the same tone. Great job on photos though very intersting and inspriring.

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  4. tim25 November 2011 at 07:43

    The mirror idea was deliberate and the fact you only noticed it on reading the post kind of achieved the desired effect. Strangely the middle shot is my least favourite, but that is the beauty of photography and our different perspectives. The grey tone to the final photo was the look I was going for as I wanted to bring in the hint of blue on the guitar. Thanks for the comments as given another attempt I would take them on board and push myself in the pursuit of the perfect shot if that is indeed achievable in photography :)

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  5. Adam Hodgson28 November 2011 at 20:24

    Which photographers do you follow? Who's work do you admire? Do you ever get up to the NPG? look at the examples in there. There are alot of free exhibitions if you scout around. These can be great sources of inspiration. You may do well to look at or become a member of flickr or have a look at the Guardian competition each week which does something similar to what you are only you could get to win a pukka camera. Just by becoming a consumer of photography will help your own technique.

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  6. Adam Hodgson28 November 2011 at 20:31

    With regard to my comments about the portrait lighting (for it was me) Now that you have the shot or the idea you can always re-visit it. In the studio, if ever we weren't happy with lighting we'd go back and shoot it again. Try it in daylight. If you are shooting mono you can experiment with table lamps. It is all about experimentation.

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  7. tim28 November 2011 at 20:59

    Yes a daylight attempt at the shot is probably something I might try. I was probably a little under prepared lighting wise as of course there is not a table lamp in my house! :) I have heard about the Guardian competition and I am taking in more and more stuff as I go along. With each topic myself and the blonde approach I am researching, learning and most improtantly enjoying :)

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