Photography how and why
Some people talk about the right brain or the left brain. I prefer the phrase, photography how and why. Each of us, as individuals, create our little visual masterpieces for different reasons.
Let me take a few moments of your precise time and define how I see the How of Photography. First, how is the technical side. The juggling act of squeezing little rays of light through a lens onto a sensor. The laws of physics govern this process. Deviate from the rules at your peril.
We still have multiple tools that allow us to manipulate how our viewing audience perceives reality. And remain within the boundaries of the physical laws that bind us.
Anytime I do a live class, you will hear me babbling about my approach to photographing a subject. If I have my working hat on, I will most likely know what my client wants. We will have discussed the expected result earlier. So we can ignore the Why for the time being.
That leaves me with how to contend with. When I arrive on set, I have an almost infinite number of options. So my approach, is to eliminate those things I can’t do.
Let me explain my process.
For example, I am booked to photograph outdoors at 12 midday. Immediately I know I won’t have beautiful early or late light at my disposal. Secondly, I have only five minutes to capture a portrait of a VIP. That dictates that my gear choice needs to be made before the subject arrives. The kit I choose must be compact and preferably preset to my preferred iso, aperture and focal length.
By forgetting about all the things I won’t be able to do, I can concentrate on those I can achieve. Naturally, in a real-life, the situation is likely to be more complicated than this, but you get the drift. Focus on problem-solving, using everything at your disposal. Forget the “if I only had syndrome” and just DO IT.
Here is an example of both how and why.
We arranged to photograph a beautiful young friend in Melbournes CBD at night. Naturally, it rained. Instead of ruining her hair and makeup outdoors, we decided to create a safe shot indoors. That’s the why. We wanted to do a shoot, and it was raining. Already, our options have narrowed.
We choose to work in one of our hotel rooms. It is dry, small, and has appalling decor. Full-length or even half-length photos are out of the question. Can you see how easy this is so far? We have been able to eliminate a vast number of options for creating a portrait. I view that as a positive thing.
Our model has earlier in the day purchased a costume mask; it’s silver in colour. Robyn, our stylist and my life partner, works with the model to create a dramatic look using the mask and some black tulle. The material adds drama and hides the green wall behind our model. I think that is called two birds with one stone.
We are halfway there with the how bit at this point. All that is required from here on is to create soft, beautiful light. The solution is straightforward. Strip the single bed back to the white sheets, which will be our reflected light from below the face of the subject. The main light is an on-camera flash, pointed straight up onto a white foldable disk reflector above and to the photographer’s left. One last thing, to reduce the blackness of the tulle and increase the sense of depth to the shot, we added a second wireless controlled flash unit behind our subject so that you can see through the fabric.
That’s it for this post on photography the how and why. We have a similar post introducing our photographic journey here.