Lee Jeffries

There is a style of portrait photography that I've really wanted to try out and while it does involve quite a bit of post-processing, I feel that it severely adds more depth to the initial shot, which is a base for the final photograph. I've seen people doing this style before, but I was to yet find out who.

Today while going back to see if I could find out more, I came across Lee Jeffries who is a British Photographer that makes amazing use of this technique. By adjusting contrasts in his images, he brings out so much clarity, which greatly enhances detail and is further boosted by sharpening. This appeals to me because I love capturing detail with photography. I think his work is beautiful and it reflects the subject matter incredibly well, emphasizing the harsh reality of homeless life.

These are a few examples from his "Portraits of the Homeless" series. I really want to try something similar and I think it will be quite fun trying to replicate his style.

Regarding the technique: It appears that he is making use of natural lighting and maybe one or two additional soft lights. I can't tell if he uses a digital or film camera for this but it's certain digital editing is done afterwards. It might be a good idea to try both and see which yields better results. Definitely one for the Sketchbook!

Further pieces of his work can be found at http://500px.com/LeeJeffries

Testing Orange

Today I went out with the sole purpose of testing an Orange Filter (screw on) with Black & White Photography. As much as I love spending time editing my photos, lately I've been trying to get away from that and take on a more natural approach. That doesn't mean I won't do that in the future, I just want to see if I can actually achieve that. I took over 100 shots but these are the only ones that came out to my liking. 

A typical Orange Filter. I used a 58mm one with an adapter for a 52mm threaded lens.

I discovered through this test that the light meter within the camera was slightly off and I was getting mixed results. I decided that to get an even set of shots, to over-compensate the exposure by two positive stops and see how that worked. It helped give a little bit more light, especially as it was looking like it was about to rain. All shots were taken using Monochrome settings with maximum contrast. I never use anything but manual mode.

The first shot was taken in the garage before I left town, the reason I took it is pretty self explanatory.

f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 400

The next was taken on a quiet country road. I say quiet but 3 cars passed before I could even get the composition I wanted. I like how the road just disappears into a flat surface and you're left wondering where it carries on. Also, the sky at that moment in time reminded me of a big tidal wave that was slowly creeping upon the land.

f/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 200

There are many fields of sheep around the countryside of the borders but this one caught my eye due to the Rams. I really liked how they were grouped up together, it made for an easy composition. I don't usually like things that are centered but seeing as this is below centered, it worked. The only let down is that I wish I had taken a zoom lens with me because I would of loved to have gotten some closer shots. The Ram second to far right was just frozen looking at me the whole time, so I definitely would of had time if I had brought the right equipment.

f/3.5, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

This statue was upon a hill and behind a fence, so I had to do a little bit of hiking to reach it. Thankfully I'd come prepared with the appropriate boots. I took various angles of the statue but nothing really stood out to me. I liked this angle best because the light is directly facing the right side of the stone and the trees add to making him stand out more. The only thing I didn't like was the intensity of the light, so I had to try and balance between having a bright statue and bright trees or having a dark statue and dark trees. I forgot to take a note of who this actually was.

Edit: It is James Hogg, a Border Poet.

F/3.2, 1/80 sec, ISO 400

As I was walking back, I saw a lot of wild mushrooms and this one had been snapped, maybe by my careless walking or someone else. I didn't want to just shoot it in the grass it was laying because grass quite frankly, is boring. I moved it to a nearby rock that was covered in a subtle moss. I believed the extra detail in the rock went well with the underside of the mushroom and helped bring out the contrast.

F/3, 1/160 sec, ISO 800

Driving along at regular speed, I had to think twice to what I'd just seen. I wasn't sure at first, so I went back. Somebody had sellotaped an inflatable saxophone to a gate. The complete random nature of it made the decision of shooting it for me. Funnily enough, the Saxophone was bright orange but because of the filter, it had turned closer to white. If this had been a colour image and turned to b/w in post-processing, the result would be very different.

f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

Slightly further down from the Saxophone was an area where walking down to the edge of the water was possible. I didn't want to get a shot that just went water > scenery > sky because I've tried that before. I found this little corner where a broken bank and stream ran into the loch and I feel it added a sense of depth in regard to the scale of the loch. 

f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO 800

Capturing motion is something I really like because it fits into the category of detail that is otherwise missed. The following image is a composition of two shots because on their own, they don't really work. I really like how the second water splash has a hole in it where the skimmed stone jumped back up out of the water. One thing I was unhappy about at this time was how the light was really starting to dim. I had to push up to ISO 3200, which started making grain more visible.

F/2.8, 1/800 sec, ISO 3200

Ideally, I want to try this on a sunny day, where I don't have to worry about pushing the cameras sensor due to bad lighting. I also aim to test the effects of the other colours of filter and see how black and white responds to them. I think for quick purposes, a small home-studio setup may be the best bet.

A Different World

Yesterday we were sent across to the High Mill for a little workshop revolving around textiles. It was nice to get out and try something different but I can't really say that the later techniques were something I enjoyed. The tutor was really nice and the people were very friendly. Stacey was a great help and it was interesting hearing about her own projects. 

I first tried screen printing, which having done it before came naturally. I liked the idea of combining nails and the "Peace Sign". For some reason I was thinking of Pink Floyd at the time. It didn't turn out so bad but the colour scheme was disgusting, hence sticking the image in black and white through phone image-processing.

The second technique was by screen printing a substance (can't remember the name) over the material, waiting for it to dry and then going over it with an Iron. The point of this was to puff up the material to form a raised surface. I did this over a dried screen print, thinking it'd look cool but in the end it just looked like one of those really cheap t-shirt prints that cracks after 2 washes. The black and orange gradient I had previously printed pretty much disappeared completely.

Lastly, the same process was used as before but instead of it puffing up the surface, it removed fibers in the material and left a semi-transparent design. A different type of material was used due to the structure of the cloth, it wouldn't work on the previous type of material. I didn't like this technique but I can see how it could be used for table cloths or similar.

One thing I did notice when first entering this building was it's sheer size and the equipment. They had huge working spaces per person and everything you need to screen print. For example: An exposure machine, quick drying racks and even a spray room to quickly clean the screens. I was actually annoyed with how much resources this place had in comparison to our art department, which practically has nothing. I know there is a difference between University and College, but this big? Unfortunately, that's how the system goes and is unlikely to ever be changed.

So that's basically how that morning went. While I did have insight into some otherwise unknown processes, I personally didn't find the workshop to be that beneficial. I did however find it interesting what another girl was doing, using a magnetic technique of spraying metallic fibers into a design. 

Overall, it's definitely a wonderful place suited for Textile and Fashion Students.

Drawing Classmates

Today was actually pretty cool. We started off by trying to draw each other using the same technique we practiced last week with the hands. This time it was more of a challenge because we had to hold the clear perspex up and draw at the same time. I had trouble with it because my hands kept on shaking but I tried my best to minimize that. I found that keeping my right eye closed enabled me to keep a pretty tight view on my subject, so my proportions came out fairly accurate.

After using the projector, I did notice that a lot of my initial sketch was way off, so I spent a lot of time tidying it up. Many areas still need work but I'm really pleased with the result. Humans are one of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to drawing, so I think I made a positive step forward with today's lesson.

This is just a progress shot on what I currently have. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time in class for me to finish it (mostly because I try and take my time) so I'll be finishing it at home for next week. I'm actually looking forward to working on it this weekend and thankful for having my phone back so I have an accurate photo to work from.

Slightly enhanced the contrast for web viewing! I'll try and darken the appropriate areas when I've filled in the rest of the tone!

Hands!

Today was quite interesting and as a class, we were presented with a new approach to drawing from life. The process was to take a piece of clear PVC and using markers, draw onto clear projector sheets whilst positioning our hands underneath. It sounds tricky but it wasn't really. The hardest part was keeping still because the slightest change could screw up the drawings proportions. I found that taking the suggestion of closing one eye really helped with maintaining accuracy. After we had finished drawing onto the clear sheets, they were then projected onto A2 paper and then traced. 

This was my initial outline sketch of my hand after it had been projected. Just basic lines with no toning.

The next step was to add in tone and what made that difficult was the ever changing light source from in and outside the room. I found that the hand position I had chosen wasn't particularly great when it came to harsh shadows, which would of made things a little easier. Another problem I was having was with the creases in the skin. I think my drawing gave the impression of a hand that was much older than mine.

By the end of the day, this is what I finished with. It was pointed out that the palm lacked a curve which would of added further depth to the drawing. I hadn't considered it at the time due to the "flat" lighting in the afternoon, though looking at it afterwards I can definitely see that further work needs to be done on it.

Overall, I liked how class went today and it was pretty awesome to try something new even if I didn't get spectacular results. I am pretty pleased with how my drawing turned out but I think I'll be more content with it once I've made some revisions. Definitely a positive experience and I do believe that things like this couldn't happen if we didn't have the entire day devoted to observational drawing.