My Edited Digital Fine Art Photographs

All of my photographs were edited using the DAM software 'Lightroom 2.0'.

To achieve these looks I used and experimented with the features below, found within the develop section of 'Lightroom':

• Cropping
• Graduated Filter
• Highlight Recovery
• Dust Spot Remover
• Black Clipping
• Contrast
• Sharpening
• Vignette Amount

I did originally choose the two pictures above as part of my final edited shots however after having a second judgement I decided to further crop the images to give a more personal and tight composition, thus bringing the viewer's eye to the main relationship shown within the photograph of working mother and her daughter, cropping unnecessary space at the bottom of the photographs.

I am really pleased with the outcome of the shoot and especially in the ways in which I have captured the relationship of working mother and daughter. I enjoyed the whole studio experience and feel this may be an area in which I wish to continue to pursue my creative photography throughout and after my degree course.

The Fine Art / Corporate Studio Shoot

First things first, after welcoming Natalie and her 6 month old daughter Gracie into the Studio (unfortunately her son Oliver was unable to attend) was to set up my planned lighting. I decided to use a cross lighting effect purely as having these many lights available would enable me to experiment more rather than at different intervals adding more lights if needed!

I decided to use my Canon 50D DSLR camera whilst experimenting with lighting effects as wanted to ensure that I achieved the perfect lighting for my ideal corporate / fine art portrait before introducing using a medium format camera for my final product.

Below are my selected favourite's of my original unedited raw images:

DSLR settings for all the above photographs - ISO 200, F11 @ 1/60

DSLR settings for the two below photographs - ISO 200, F22 @ 1/60

Not being as keen on the background that was being created via the use of all five lights, for my corporate portrait shot I decided to change my lighting set up as shown below, directing the two lights behind Natalie towards the white drop background to create a halo of light effect.

DSLR settings for the three above photographs - ISO 200, F22 @ 1/60

DSLR settings for the two below photographs - ISO 200, F20 @ 1/60

I then wanted to capture a corporate style portrait with the use of high key lighting and to do this I completely changed my lighting set up, disregarding the main front key light and back lights and incorporating 2 large soft box lights at a 45 / 45 degree angle as shown in the diagram photograph below.

I also set both of my lights at the same settings as detailed below

And below are my favourite selected unedited raw photographs all using DSLR with settings at ISO 400, F13 @ 1/250

As Gracie had woken up after a short nap I thought that using this type of lighting would also be effective for my Fine Art Portrait's :-)

As our studio time was approaching the near end I then experimented with the use of continuous fluorescent tube lighting which I positioned to the left hand side of Natalie, photographer's right and below are the unedited raw photographs took on the DSLR ISO 800, F3.5 @ 1/40

As time had flown so quickly I was unable to proceed on using the medium format camera however I plan to again book for more studio time and hopefully all well being that Natalie and her daughter are available on the same day, photograph them then with my idealised lighting from the selection above.

Fine Art / Corporate Portraits

It is my intention tomorrow to welcome a close friend of mine Natalie, her 3yr old son Oliver and her 5 month old baby Gracie, into the studio who have kindly volunteered to be photographed in a style of my choice. Being aware of my brief I plan to photograph Nat within a corporate portrait theme with her posing in her Fire Brigade uniform. I also plan to convey a message through incorporating her son and daughter into the shoot, so I am not only capturing her standing proud through her career achievements but also through a personal insight to her life through juggling her demanding role within the fire brigade as well as being a dedicated and loving mother to her children!

Below are some images of some fire women I found via the use of Google Images to give me some further inspiration to my already thought out idea. The first image I came across which caught my attention was photographed by 'bamboquiri' - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboquiri/ to see the rest of his stunning images please use the web address above or below his photograph to access his Flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboquiri/

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o308/duane_2007/004.jpg

http://www.vervemag.com/storage/july-august-2008-photos/Fire-Fighters-Steve2.jpg

http://www.911gifts.biz/images/g1_09.jpg

http://fotosa.ru/stock_photo/Rubberball_JI/p_792430.jpg

As I will also be trying to achieve a personal, intimate, family approach by means of including her children to some of the overall photographs, I again have searched via Google images 'mother and child' and below are some of the images which I found to give me the most inspiration.

Below are the art work paintings of Gustav Klint whose fascinating paintings below incorporate abstract patterns with the real resemblance of a mother and child. Maybe it is possible that the way in which photographers choose to photograph this type of subject 'mother and child' has been through the influences of such works like Klint's or his influenced predecessors, such as Leonardo Di Vinci perhaps!

http://www.umcwy.info/uploadedimages/Additional_Services/Women_and_Children/wc_

http://www.whyoga.com/assets/images/classes_portraits/Mother-and-baby.jpg

Another great influence in regards to portrait photography is the 19th Century portrait photographer Julia Margaret Cameron who embellished in photographing portraits that depicted the emotional state of her sitter rather than paying attention to the mastering of perfect accuracy of sharp detail within her photographs. She uses strategic codes and symbols to show the sitters individuality, their status and personality.

http://www.westbynorthwest.org/winter01/mary.motherandchild.jpg

http://www.imageandnarrative.be/painting/images/fulya01.jpg

Most of Cameron's photographs have a spiritual sensibility, and are peaceful and romantic. The mood is sombre and contemplative. She did not photograph action or care much about backgrounds. It was the essence of the subject that motivated Cameron's photography. (Jody Zellen)

http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/juliamargaretcameron/juliamargaretcameron.shtm

http://www.victoriaspast.com/JuiliaMCameron/juliacameron.htm

http://www.victoriaspast.com/JuiliaMCameron/The%20Kiss%20of%20Peace%201869.jpg

http://www.victoriaspast.com/JuiliaMCameron/A%20Study%20of%20the%20Cenci-May%201868

http://www.victoriaspast.com/JuiliaMCameron/Julia%20Jackson%201867.jpg

http://www.portraitstudiolighting.com/Studio_lighting_Diagrams.html

http://www.riversidephotography.co.uk/gal-mother-baby-photography.htm

Artwork