A Story of Love

On The 9th of October, award-winning Photographer, Natalie Martin (http://www.storyoflove.co.uk), joined our HNC Visual Communications class and gave an insightful presentation into how she works and the kind of equipment she uses. She talked about lighting and showed examples of her work, which backed up the importance of natural light within portrait photography. Shortly after her presentation, Natalie assigned us the task of taking portraits of each other, which she herself would judge. I paired up with Ashley and together we went out looking for good light.

My final and winning photo as judged by Natalie.

The initial start of the task proved to be quite difficult because the weather was grey and that meant that a lot of natural light was lost. We both tried taking photos of each other facing windows, to try and get some of the remaining light, but for me personally, it wasn’t working out so I decided to move from the idea of a body shot, to something a little closer. One thing I have noticed within portrait photography is the emphasis on the eyes. They are always the focal point and really set a mood within the image. I decided to pursue that route and tried to find some light that could make Ashley’s eyes “pop”. We wandered around the college together trying out different forms of light and it was only until we entered the Union, that I noticed an overhead light that was a little softer in strength than some of the others. I carefully had Ashley position underneath the light and look up at an angle so that it reflected in the upper area of her eyes. This to me, made them look bright, full of energy and most importantly, complimenting. When I got back to the computer, I found some of the colours within my photos a little distracting, so I converted my chosen final image to black and white to help bring the focal point back on the subject. I further edited the image by cropping out unnecessary background space, which also helped define the composition of my final photo.

An article was also written for the Borders College website: http://borderscollege.ac.uk/news-and-events/students-learn-to-be-picture-perfect/