Ansel Adams

• American photographer
• B&W landscape photos of the american west especially Yosemite National Park, have been widely reproduced on calender’s posters and book.

Don McCullin

• 9 October 1935- British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of uber strife.
• His career which began in 1959 has specialised in examining  the underside of society and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and the impoverished.

Mario Testino 

• Born 30 October 1954- Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer.
• His work has featured internationally in magazines such as Vogue, V magazine, Vanity Fair and GQ. He has also created images for brands such Burberry, Gucci, Versace, Michael Kors, Chanel, Estee Lauder and Lancome.

David Bailey 

• Born 2 Jan 1938- English fashion and portrait photographer
• Captured and helped create the ‘Swinging London of the 1960’s’ and a  culture of fashion and celeb chic. The three photographers socialised with actors, musicians and royalty and found themselves elevated to celebrity status.

Gregory Crewdson 

• His photographs usually take place in small-town America, but are dramatic and cinematic. They feature often disturbing and real events. The photos are elaborately staged out and lit using crews familiar w motion picture and lighting large scenes using motion picture film equipment and techniques.
• He is renowned for his photography of tableau :a group models or motionless figures representing a story or a scene from history.

Vivian Maier 

• Took more than 150k photos during her lifetime, primarily of the people and architecture of NYC, Chicago and LA. (street photography)
• During her lifetime her photographs were unknown and unpublished and she never print many of her negatives.]
• A critic in the Independent wrote that ‘the well to do shoppers of Chicago stroll and gossip in their department store finery before Maier, but the most arresting subjects are those people on the margins of successful, rich America in the 1950’s and 60’s.

• Portrait photography consists of taking photos of an individual or a group of people.
• The focus is usually on the face, although there have been exceptions
• Portrait photography is supposed to connote the mood and tone through the expression on the face/faces.

David LaChapelle

• Published the first picture of the Beastie Boys
• Took the last picture of Andy Warhol
• Left school at a young age and went to New York.
• Went back to high school to do senior year and discovered his love for photography and art.
• Has worked with many celebrities- including Florence and The Machine.
• Started off with basic black and white photography
• Did a lot of nudity-based photography
• Concentrated more on the human form
• Artistic photography
• Works on very elaborate sets
• Has evolved from taking photos to shooting videos

Things to consider:

• Lighting (too much/too little)
• Fast shutter speed (to capture motion)
• Wide aperture (to compensate)
• Native ISO (balanced)
• Fill flash (on/off camera and diffused)
• Reflective light

Dramatic portraits on a black backdrop (without needing  a single light), a garage is a go to spot. Simplest and most makeshift looking setup. While you can accomplish this setup on overcast days, sunny days help increase the brightness of everything outside the garage- increasing the catch light in the model’s eyes. The daylight acts as a giant reflector, which hold under the subjects chin to soften shadows.

For portraits like this you will want to use a focal length of at least 50mm or longer. Anything wider angle will lead to distortion of the subjects features.

Photography Studio Setup

If the background lights are too bright, there is a lack of contrast.

Background lights are just right. Background is pure white. Contrast on subject is good.

Portrait Pictures

In these photos, we used various forms of lighting in order to gain different portrait pictures. We used 3 point lighting, however we experimented with different forms of lighting in order to see different angles of the face.

D-Day- Robert Capa- 1944

This photo was taken during the D-Day landing during the Second World War. This soldier in the image was named Huston Riley, a 22-year-old, Private First Class soldier, who’s landing craft was shelled by Nazis. The craft landed in water so deep that he had to walk along the bottom until he couldn’t hold his breath any longer, so he activated his Navy M-26 belt life preservers and floated to the surface. He then became a target for guns mowing down his comrades. After being struck several times, it took the soldier about half an hour to reach the Normandy shore. Robert Capa took this photo of Riley in the surf and with the assistance of a sergeant who helped him, later recalled thinking why there was a cameraman on shore. Apparently, Capa spent an hour and a half under fire whilst the men around him died. A courier then transported his four rolls of film to LIFE’S London offices and the magazine’s general manager got the images on the June 19 issue. However, most of the film, showed no images after processing, and only some frames survived. The remaining photographs have a grainy, blurry look that give them the sense of action, which preserves our memories of these events that took place.

The frame and composition of this picture is set around Riley and his chaotic surroundings. He is the center of the image and what is going around him shows the dangers of his situation. This was taken during the center of a brutal assault. This shows the realistic and scary effect of the World War II. It is almost like this picture is showing Riley’s story, but also shows many other soldiers stories. This photo is mainly displaying the importance of what is happening to the soldier, as there does not appear to be anyone else surrounding him, however, the photographer is not necessarily leaving out his surroundings.

However, this picture is not focused on anything. It is quite blurred as it is capturing the jarring movement of what was going on in that moment. The focus-point in a picture can change the perspective of the subjects. Therefore, because nothing is in focus, it makes the viewer of the photo curious, as you want the picture to be in focus in order to truly know what is going on. Therefore, it makes the picture have a sort of mystery to it. It is also because, you are aware that there were most likely bullets flying everywhere which meant the photographer was unsteady and unstable while trying to get the shot.

The photographer obviously used natural lighting while taking the picture. From the context, it appears that it was most likely daytime when it was taken. However, from the picture being in black and white, it creates a very gloomy, melancholy theme in addition to the events going on in picture, it is clear why this is the theme. The dark theme of the picture adds to the dark theme of Dooms Day.