C&C- "Emily and Joseph"

jeffreaux2

My take on the current DSS Challenge theme....


"Emily and Joseph"




Shooting Notes:

-Canon 50D, 17-55mm F2.8IS @ 21mm, ISO1000, F2.8, 1/50 sec., single 580EX camera right.

-RAW file converted in Adobe Lightroom, Edited in PSCS3 to add noise and convert to BW (LAB method).

Trevlan

jeffreaux2 wrote:

My take on the current DSS Challenge theme....


"Emily and Joseph"




Shooting Notes:

-Canon 50D, 17-55mm F2.8IS @ 21mm, ISO1000, F2.8, 1/50 sec., single 580EX camera right.

-RAW file converted in Adobe Lightroom, Edited in PSCS3 to add noise and convert to BW (LAB method).

I'd say this works as an environmental portrait. I think if she has some headphones on and an ipod, we could really guess what she was listening to. ;-)

jeffreaux2

Trevlan wrote:

I'd say this works as an environmental portrait. I think if she has some headphones on and an ipod, we could really guess what she was listening to. ;-)

Thanks Trevlan....for commenting!:D

dlplumer

I like it.

divamum

Nice expression and a sense of 'softness" about her (not focus, just mood).

My only possible reservation is that her arm looks a little hot, but I do like the way that lightness balances her face and the white bedposts. Definitely captures a moment and a mood, and for sure the surroundings add to the story!

Memories by Melinda

I like this one. A picture should tell a story and this one has managed to take me back to some of my teenage stories. Good memories. Thanks.

adbsgicom

Very nice. Now I need to come up with a new plan for the challenge. My 10-year-old's room isn't quite to this point of being plastered by posters, but it is getting there. I like your capture very much.

jeffreaux2

dlplumer wrote:

I like it.

Thanks Dan...and congrats on your recent win!

Elaine

I like this. The perspective, comp, lighting and conversion are all very well done (as usual).

Perhaps it's just a preconceived notion I have about environmental portraits, but I tend to think of them as more voyeuristic somehow...like a peek into someone's life while they are just being themselves...almost street photography style, but perhaps with more direction. In this case, I wonder how it would have been to have her sitting cross-legged on her bed, maybe earphones in the ears, doing homework...and not so directly engaged with the camera. Maybe I'm way off here, but it was the "picture" that came to my mind.

But don't listen to me, as I'm a big chicken when it comes to those challenges. Good luck!

jeffreaux2

divamum wrote:

Nice expression and a sense of 'softness" about her (not focus, just mood).

My only possible reservation is that her arm looks a little hot, but I do like the way that lightness balances her face and the white bedposts. Definitely captures a moment and a mood, and for sure the surroundings add to the story!

I had done some research on "Environmental Portraiture" prior to ths shoot. In one article, an artist (who unlike me is VERY good at this stuff) said that there are two things that make such portraiture hard.

-Moving furniture
-Lighting

He went on to say that he prefers to use natural light, but that if he HAS to add light he goes to great lengths to keep it natural in appearance. THAT set the tone for my approach....but the furniture....other than chairs and such could not be moved.

In the room there was a floor to ceiling window(just out of the frame to the right of the bed) a lamp with a flourescent bulb, and a lamp with an incandescent bulb. Both lamps were on and the window blinds open when I arrived. I chose to leave her lighting as it was and only use the speedlight for a bit of fill. The highlight on her arm(and cheek) are from the window.

I would have liked to have gotten the stand and umbrella around to the opposite side of the camera for a cross with the natural, but there simply wasnt room....with a bookcase just out of the frame on that side.

The article was dead on with those two points though. This was in room that was approximately 12 x 14, and it was such a tight squeeze that I shot several frames with my head or camera touching the edge of the umbrella.


My nit is that it isn't as airy as I would have liked.....and while its entirely possible that I can get that with some different treatments, the best fix for that would have been to include some of the window in my original framing to let some flair in.....maybe.

Thanks for taking the time to reply with your comments and nits!

jeffreaux2

Memories by Melinda wrote:

I like this one. A picture should tell a story and this one has managed to take me back to some of my teenage stories. Good memories. Thanks.

Thanks Melinda....and WELCOME to Dgrin!:D

jeffreaux2

adbsgicom wrote:

Very nice. Now I need to come up with a new plan for the challenge. My 10-year-old's room isn't quite to this point of being plastered by posters, but it is getting there. I like your capture very much.

Thanks Andrew.

BTW....Why would you need a "new plan" for the challenge? As a moderator....I'm not planning to enter a shot, but rather used the current challenge to prompt me to shoot this place and person that I had vowed to shoot some time ago.

My advice for the challenges....

-ALWAYS shoot for the shot you envisioned, and don't let anyone else's interpretation or approach to the theme derail you!

...and when you shoot it, share it here with us as well!:D

adbsgicom

Two reasons for a new plan. One was a delay wanting to do something different. Second is now she's heading to camp for the week so I don't think I'll get the shot in the interim... You are right though, my envisioned shot was quite different in its look for a number of reasons, the only common thread was copious picutres on the walls.

Thanks.

jeffreaux2

Elaine wrote:

I like this. The perspective, comp, lighting and conversion are all very well done (as usual).

Perhaps it's just a preconceived notion I have about environmental portraits, but I tend to think of them as more voyeuristic somehow...like a peek into someone's life while they are just being themselves...almost street photography style, but perhaps with more direction. In this case, I wonder how it would have been to have her sitting cross-legged on her bed, maybe earphones in the ears, doing homework...and not so directly engaged with the camera. Maybe I'm way off here, but it was the "picture" that came to my mind.

But don't listen to me, as I'm a big chicken when it comes to those challenges. Good luck!

Thanks Elaine.

I stumbled across several approaches to EP when I was studying up on the subject. Some were shot as you depicted and others in the vein of what I have posted. I did take the time to get some frames with the ..."unaware of the camera"...approach, but in fitting with MY take on EP's I decided to edit this shot first....(and I dont think Im done with it ).

Most often when we shoot portraits we are searching for non distracting backgrounds...locations where we pose our peeps in places where ALL the viewers attention will be on the subject. My take on EP is to take that same person, similar pose, and place them in their nest. Any place that truely says something about that person. But thats just my take...as I said I stumbled across plenty more than this singular approach...and I am most certainly no expert on this genre of photography.

..and maybe after I chew on them awhile I will share one of the others...

As always Elaine, I appreciate you taking the time and effort to offer your thoughts. Thank You.

PS You have NO REASON to be chicken!!!

PSS You nearlt perfectly described an older shot of my youngest daughter....

divamum

Hmmm... I think as "photography parents" we may all have one of these...

(this was "The Road to Adolescence" which I shot for the "Chaos" challenge a few months back. My goal in this one - other than the aptness of the room for the shot (D) was to capture the crazy dichotomies of Tweendom eg the doll vs Hannah Montana; absorption in the computer rather than the toys all around; the trendy Uggs vs the collection of little-kid hairbands etc etc).



Your poster-portrait, Jeff, has some similar wonderful (to us parent-types) paradoxes - the lovely young woman, but still surrounded by little glimpses of childhood....

/waxing lyrical

I think I may have finally come up with an idea for the environmental round, although it's not what I"d really *like* to shoot (I'm just too chicken to do stranger shots in public places, and I even feel uncomfortable asking people outside the family to pose for me for the challenges if a shot doesn't emerge "naturally"). In any case, I need to try this out this week; I can guarantee that space will be the biggest limitation involved

Elaine

Yes, I remember that shot of your daughter! That is more what I think of when I think "enviro portrait." But I hear what you're saying about variations on that theme.

This was in response to Jeff's post, but I also remember that shot of your daughter, Diva. Another great enviro portrait!!

torags

So... where's Joseph?

jeffreaux2

divamum wrote:

Hmmm... I think as "photography parents" we may all have one of these...

(this was "The Road to Adolescence" which I shot for the "Chaos" challenge a few months back. My goal in this one - other than the aptness of the room for the shot (D) was to capture the crazy dichotomies of Tweendom eg the doll vs Hannah Montana; absorption in the computer rather than the toys all around; the trendy Uggs vs the collection of little-kid hairbands etc etc).



Your poster-portrait, Jeff, has some similar wonderful (to us parent-types) paradoxes - the lovely young woman, but still surrounded by little glimpses of childhood....

/waxing lyrical

I think I may have finally come up with an idea for the environmental round, although it's not what I"d really *like* to shoot (I'm just too chicken to do stranger shots in public places, and I even feel uncomfortable asking people outside the family to pose for me for the challenges if a shot doesn't emerge "naturally"). In any case, I need to try this out this week; I can guarantee that space will be the biggest limitation involved

You....?

Chicken?

Don't be.....my second choice for the theme would have been to walk into a local shop where they build choppers and shoot a guy in the shop. Who knows....maybe that would have been easier than asking a teenaged girl's parents if I could take photos of their daughter in her bedroom....

I remember that photograph you posted......aren't ya glad you got it?

jeffreaux2

torags wrote:

So... where's Joseph?

Joseph Jonas of "The Jonas Brothers" is in EVERY one of those other photos on her walls....and she has a HUGE crush on him.

Any 17 year old would know that!:D


I actually waivered on titling it. I had other ideas, but I'll keep them to myself.

torags

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Joseph Jonas of "The Jonas Brothers" is in EVERY one of those other photos on her walls....and she has a HUGE crush on him.

Any 17 year old would know that!:D


I actually waivered on titling it. I had other ideas, but I'll keep them to myself.

Ah... ha...

jeffreaux2

If interested.....


...this is a frame that I chose NOT to pursue due to the distortion from the wide end of my 17-55mm. It does, however, give a better view of how extreme her obsession really is. Every square inch...really...

adbsgicom

I was sort of hoping that obsession wasn't that long-lived. I was teaching some 6th graders last year, and they had to cast a story. They picked the Jonas Brothers for the father and two sons who all die early on... I was very hopeful that the interest level was fleeting. Now I'm worried a bit more.

jeffreaux2

adbsgicom wrote:

I was sort of hoping that obsession wasn't that long-lived. I was teaching some 6th graders last year, and they had to cast a story. They picked the Jonas Brothers for the father and two sons who all die early on... I was very hopeful that the interest level was fleeting. Now I'm worried a bit more.

Heh heh...

I have three kids...and can vouch that usually...even the deepest obsessions fizzle over time.:D