10/20/09

Environmental portraits

Before you look at my pictures, I just wanted to mention that I've discovered a problem with my camera's settings. No matter what ISO I set it at, the picture is always taken at ISO 1600 when I shoot on manual. I thought in the case of my self portrait I had forgot to adjust my settings, but then it continued to happen. So sorry for the ridiculous amount of grain in my portraits, and I'm hoping I'll be able to fix this problem asap!


I took my self-portrait in my bedroom, where I spend most of my time on my laptop, or drawing/painting. I'm the most comfortable in the space that I've decorated and arranged myself. I talked to you about trying this idea of peaking from behind my laptop, and I like the way it turned out (except for the grain).


I love flowers and flower shops, so I decided to go to the one in the Alexis Neon mall and ask to photograph one of the women working there. This one woman cooperated fully, and even suggested ways she could pose. She seemed happy to let me take a picture of her, and this was refreshing after being rejected by many random working strangers I asked. I like the many colors in the picture, and the nice smile she has.


This is a totally unplanned shot I took of my best friend waking up. I thought it was quite lovely even though most people look terrible in the morning. I like the grungy lifestyle that the image portrays, because of the graffiti on the wall and the raggedy Bob Dylan portrait I made for her. She has just moved into this apartment. I included it just for fun because I think it defers from the typical looking environmental portrait.

5 comments:

  1. Three great shots! I really like the colors in the flower shot, they truly stand out. The spontaneous shot of your friend is also quite nice. Although some teachers don't like a lot of empty space at the top, I like it and I think it works perfectly well in this particular shot to show the cool Dylan portrait.

    Sorry for your camera, hope it can be fixed!

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  2. Really love the shot of your best friend waking up Erica. The way his head is positioned under the poster, the interesting lighting and the graffiti to his left make for a strong composition in my opinion.

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  3. Definitely the photo of your friend is really good, well balanced in composition and colors. I also like the colors in your self-portrait, the purple-pink tones and the flowers give a touch of femininity to it.

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  4. The overall composition of your self portrait is very good, but I find it a bit hard to read because the whole of your body is hidden behind the screen. Eyes and nose visible above the screen are good. Better to be able to see the illuminated apple on the top of the laptop.

    I very much like the portrait of your friend. It's an Arnold Newmann composition with the face in the lower third of the frame.

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  5. The portrait of your friend is my favorite! Great colors, great composition, great idea to include the Dylan poster in order to balance the negative space above her head.

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