Before

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Print Tests

 

Photoshop

 

Contact Sheet

Recce

My subject for the Environmental Portrait will be my brother, who is really into cycling. I had an idea first of all for a picture of him where he goes often in Peebles but the shot I wanted I think personally, really only worked in landscape, not portrait.

I asked what he’d normally do on a break and he said they’d normally stop in a wooded area for a smoke and a coffee, so I went to Corstorphine Hill and had a look around the woods. I found some areas I thought would be good composition wise. I used my husband as the subject and have left space for the bike etc to be placed. These haven’t been processed – they are just recce shots for me to work out what I’m doing. The light could have been better, the sun was splitting the trees and there were lots of shadows but I will be using flash to light my subject in the final shots so that hopefully won’t be an issue.

I took a lot of shots, these are the ones I think could work – there are a couple of issues I can see – I need to fill the frame with my model a bit more in a couple (pics 3 & 5) and not have him with branches sticking out his head like in pic.5! Overall just now I’m leaning towards pic 2 for lighting, composition and depth in the image (bike would be leaning against the tree, biking gear used as props and model in biking clothes)

Research

Magazine  – Mountain Biking UK https://www.mbuk.com/

• Founded 1988
• UK’s number 1 Mountain Bike Magazine
• 13 Issues pa
• Demographics – 95% male, average age 24

Image below by: Barry Orillia

I like the composition with the trees in the background although I feel it’s maybe lacking depth (like it could be a flat backdrop) The neutral tones of the trees are contrasting with her outfit to make her stand out. The good thing about trails and paths like this is they add a leading line on which to place your focal point. I personally think her thighs and that area of the bike look a little overexposed but that could just be my screen.

Image below by: Scott Markewitz

I like the shallow depth of field here, the soft tones, the light behind the model making him stand out. I like the composition also. I am wondering if that is the leg of a tripod at the back with flash bouncing off the bottom side of the tree?

Image below by: Steve Wyper

The Photographer here describes himself as a Graphic Artist. I think it shows in his work as it’s mostly quite heavy on post production. This is the opposite of the first image – here the background is more colourful than the model, who aside from a couple of pops of colour on the shoes, gloves and bike looks like he has been de-saturated the toned with platinum or something. I think there’s too much been done to this but it suits the image, which is quite cool with the tattoos etc. I can’t decide whether the light coming through strong at his neck is good or too much. I like the image overall.