Photo shoot - Experimentation with expressions, lighting an composition...

I spent the majority of the day experimenting with ways to provoke an emotion in the sitter: This consisted of setting up a photo shoot in which I would show material as well as give the sitter a scenario that would correlate to the emotion I wanted them to express.

During this photo shoot I also experimented with the lighting to set up as I knew that I didn't want to use any complex set ups which may affect the mood of the image, i.e to much shadow would hinder an image expressing happiness etc. The lighting set up had been inspired by Martin Schoeller's series of celebrity portraits. I used one soft box light which was situated above and slightly to the side of the camera (which had been place on a tripod) and got two people to hold two large pieces of black card each side of where the model would sit as this would reflect the light back onto the model - This lighting set up was done to create a similar reflection of the light in the sitter's eyes as seen in some of Schoeller's most iconic works that I have been researching.

I also experimented with how I wanted the composition of my photographs to look - I personally felt that I wanted to frame the shot as close up to the face as possible so it would basically show just the face and very little else in the composition. The idea behind this was so that the view would be exposed to he expression and as there would be nothing else happening within the image then the viewer would feel inclined to study the face further. I found that the composition worked very well and was an easy effect to achieve using a zoom lens of around 150mm. However such a close up shot did have it down falls at times, particularly in terms of catching people's facial expressions - For example if the sitter reacted quickly and strongly to what is shown then at times they would appear of screen because any slight movement affected the framing of the shot. I think for further reference I will zoom out and frame the shot as more of a simple portrait so that I can capture all of the sitter's movement and then I will crop the image in the post-prodcution stages of the project, more than likely using Photoshop.

As for the people who I asked to model - I wanted to keep it simple and try not to photograph too many people as this would make it harder for me to experiment with ways to create a response as this was my main focus rather than who was modelling. However I did decide to ask some drama students to participate so I could see whether if I was to give them a scenario or role to play that this would help them to create an emotion which related back to the part that they were playing - (This idea has been inspired by Howard Schatz's photographic series In Character: Actors Acting, which I have researched and presented images of in my sketchbook) - The girls I asked were very nice and helpful towards my project and did in fact create some interesting facial expressions however I found that the way in which the photo shoot was directed, i.e asking the drama students to act out scenarios didn't work, this may have been because it was an open area so other people were around or it could have been because the drama students found it to hard to be in character without being distracted by the camera.

This problem that I have now noticed is interesting and may be something that is hard to get over as I know the sitter is always going to notice the camera at times - However I feel in a darkened studio environment with just lights and the camera it might be a slightly less daunting prospect for the sitter. I also feel that showing images is not as effective as showing video footage this may be because the emotion is a lot shorter by looking at images so its harder to capture. But I also feel that by showing videos then the sitters attention is elsewhere so the expressions are more natural and they are also less aware of the camera - this idea of just using video is something that I feel I want to experiment with further in the project....