Casey Chong Jing Ping (0318756)
Introduction to Photography
Studio Photography: Photoshooting
Lecture
The class session for this week is mainly used for the last half of the photoshoot. There is basically no lecture this week, but Mr.Vinod did tell us that we had to do something important this week. He told us that the final project was to be submitted on week 16, (which according to my blog is actually week 17 because I somehow managed to write out an extra post somewhere along the line), and it is 2 weeks after this week. Mr.Vinod told us that we should do a test print for our photographs and he suggested we go to a photo printing ship at SS2 to do our test print. He gave us clear instructions and told us to follow them clearly as this is very important and the lab people do not tolerate amateurs like us. Everything seems so complicated to me, but we will go as a group to do our test prints on 3 different pieces of paper, and choose which paper is the best for our work. After Mr.Vinod told is that, we resumed our photo-shooting.
For our photoshoot, Cigie starts off as the first model with Mae-Chel as her photographer. Cigie started first as she is the fastest in finishing her make-up. I was pretty much done with my preparations as I did not need make-up because my photograph was not going to be a close-up. I could have helped with Cigie's photoshoot, but I did not as I was lazy and still having the sleepy morning blues. Mr.Vinod also said that those who were modeling did not require to help in the photoshoot until they are done modeling, so technically I did not need to help yet. But I still felt guilty. After Cigie, I was next to model, because my photograph was the most difficult to shoot and we needed to get that done and over with quickly just in case anything happens. My photoshoot had some complications at first to fix the special lighting up, but after that it went by very fast. After that, I helped them take down the heavy light that was needed to make my photoshoot. Next up was Katrina, who was also my photographer. I did not help in her photoshoot as I was tired from the modeling and I was lazy again after working hard to model and be still in one position for so long. After around the 3rd or 4th photoshoot, everyone was getting tired, so I chipped in to help. I helped out a lot for the middle and last few photoshoots, as I was feeling energetic by then and I helped fill in the places of those who went to rest. I helped a little on putting down and pulling up the backdrop screens, but mostly I helped in determining the lighting position and the model's position. Shortly after Katrina's photoshoot, Mr.Vinod had to leave us to our own devices as he had to go to an important meeting. I thought that we would be lazy or very rushed after he left, but suprisingly, we were calm and professional, and we managed to do every photoshoot perfectly, if I would say so. We took quite some time for each photoshoot, as we want them each to be perfect. We did very well, and finished by 12.30pm. After that, we cleaned up the photo studio, tidied it up, switched off all electronics, and locked the door before we left for lunch.
Special Limited Feedback
I received some feedback from Mr.Vinod on Thursday on my previous post, mainly on my 5 photographs for my final project. This is what Mr.Vinod wrote:
"Week 14, limited feedback.
Casey, when you write you eportfolio, reflection you can divide observation on two topic areas; lighting and your series of 5. It might help the reader who reads it to identify what he/she is reading. I see that your series have gravitated toward textural subject matters. The picture of the unused benches was very interesting, nice shot. The others were okay, I liked the wooden boards as well, but I feel you need to shoot much more in order to achieve something "more" distinct."
"Week 14, limited feedback.
Casey, when you write you eportfolio, reflection you can divide observation on two topic areas; lighting and your series of 5. It might help the reader who reads it to identify what he/she is reading. I see that your series have gravitated toward textural subject matters. The picture of the unused benches was very interesting, nice shot. The others were okay, I liked the wooden boards as well, but I feel you need to shoot much more in order to achieve something "more" distinct."
Exercise
Studio Photography:
This week, instead of being a photographer, I am placed in the role of being a model. It was an amazing experience and these are the photographs I had of this great experience. Credits to Katrina Khaw as my photographer. And other credits to Mr.Vinod and my other classmates who helped in any way, especially setting up the heavy light.
This is the photograph I used for my photoshoot.
Katrina has not sent me the final outcome photographs yet as she has them on her DSLR. So here are two photographs taken with June or Wafaa's phone cameras.
Behind the scenes of the photoshoot. Taken by June's Samsung Galaxy S5. That light that everybody is holding up is the heavy special light I typed about.
THE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH IS HERE!!! I LOVE THE OUTCOME OF THIS AND THANK YOU KATRINA FOR BEING MY PHOTOGRAPHER!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HELPED AND THANK YOU SO MUCH MR.VINOD FOR TEACHING US AND BEING PATIENT WITH US!
Here are the original photograph(flipped) and my version of it. I wish the dress was longer, but all in all, I absolutely Love it!
Just wanted to share an edit that I made of my pose. I like it.
My photographer, Katrina and I, post photoshoot. Having some relaxing time before going back to work for Katrina's turn to model. It was cold so I wore my blue cardigan. RayBans by Jannie Nguyen.
I just wanted to show you this is how it's like during the photoshoot with everyone cooperating. That was during Wafaa's modeling turn and I took a few seconds to snap this selfie photograph before going back to help them. Ignore the sunglasses.
THE RESULTS OF MY PHOTOGRAPH AS MY PROFILE PICTURE ON FACEBOOK:
In the screenshot above, my profile picture on Facebook is the photoshoot photograph of me.
This is what appears when you click on the profile picture to enlarge the photograph.
This appears in all my ''friends'' feed once I put the photograph as my new profile picture.
These are the comments I got for the profile picture. As you can see, 84 people liked this profile picture (on the day that I screenshot this), which is the most amount of likes I have. The second most liked profile picture for me is the phooshopped 'selfie' picture.
Continuation of the comments.
Final Project:
I absolutely love this shot and this is why I put this photograph first of all the rest. It looks like where a beggar or homeless person might live at. And the sad feel to it is so... Real... And did you know that there was a rat there hiding under the wooden thing? It took so much courage to stand there and take the photograph. SO MUCH COURAGE.
I love this shot too. It has so much texture and you can see that the wood is obviously peeling off and left to die there.
This is not the ground. It's something like wood, but it's very moldy and nobody would ever want to go near it, much less touch it. My DSLR and I went extremely near to get this shot, and that is what I call bravery!
This is a moldy wall. It's an okay shot. Not that good, but I still like it. I feel like something is missing from this photograph though.
It's rust. Again. I like it, but not enough to actually use it in my final 5. Not rusty enough I guess.
Final Project Extras:
I like this one, because it has a lot of texture and feel to it. I love it! It's actually a drain. It's concrete.
Guess what??? I went back there again. And I found this gem!!! RUST. The black part is completely rusted over and so disgusting. These are actually white stairs, and the entire stairs are rusted like that. I'm so glad I found these rusted stairs.
I'm not sure about this one. I kind of like it, but is it rusty enough?
I really love this shot. I don't know why, but I love it.
I like the wall, but I feel like the others are better.
I don't really like this. Too normal.
The final 5 photographs that I have decided to use (Not fully confirmed)
This one was rejected and replaced by another photograph.
Screenshots of the Hardcopies:
Photoshoot Exercise
Final Project
Reflections
Observations:
This week, I have observed that by the 2nd week of the photoshoot, we all pretty much know what to do with not much help from Mr.Vinod. We were not as hectic and scared as last week when we had absolutely no idea what we were doing and what we were supposed to do. We had quite a lot of help from Mr.Vinod last week, but this week, the only main help we needed was to set up the special lighting for my particular photoshoot, as we had never used that light before. The rest of the way, we pretty much were independent, especially when Mr.Vinod left for his meeting after the 3rd photoshoot, we did not freak out and we were cooperative and knew what we were doing. I also observed that even though we knew that we should have prepared the make-up and everything before we come to class, we still did not, and we all did our make-up when we arrived in class. That made us start the photoshoot a little late, but thankfully Cigie does her make-up very fast and she was the first to model, which saved a lot of time in waiting. I was 2nd as mine doesn't require make-up as it was not a close-up shot. Furthermore, we all only did our make-up when we arrived to class not because we were lazy, but mainly because a lot of us are shy and insecure. That is one other thing I have observed. I was one of the shy people, as I did not dare to wear my long dress before class and changed in the bathroom after I reached class. Also, I saw Cigie rushing to class from the parking lot not because she was late, but because she had put on some make-up and she wanted to reach class faster so she could go to class without being seen with make-up on. I also observed that most of us helped during the middle stages of the photoshoot, mainly the 3rd to 6th ones(there is a total of about 8 photoshoots), as they were all too busy preparing for their own photoshoot or were lazy like me, and during the last few photoshoots, everyone was tired and wanted to rest after around 2 to 3 hours of continuous photoshooting. This week, we did not freak out when Mr.Vinod left class early for the meeting, but we cooperated and helped each other out. The photoshoot went by smoothly and all the shoots turned out great and awesome! When there was some complications, the complications were solved very fast, such as lighting problems(the light won't work, had to wait for 10 minutes before it started up), and once, the grey background was stuck while pulling it back up, but Cherry's magical hands managed to get them to work nicely. After that, there were no more complications. Next, I observed that we all remembered the rules of the photo studio, and cooperated and tidied up the studio before leaving. I also observed that we had actually had a lot of fun doing this photoshoot and it was an amazing team building experience for us. I am very glad that we had this photoshoot experience for class work.
Experience:
I had an amazing experience during my photoshoot. I was the 2nd to model, and I did not expect to model so fast, I thought I would be in the middle or last, but I went 2nd after Cigie, and I had fun and loved it a lot, even though it felt weird after first and it was quite tiring. I went 2nd mostly because I was done with preparations as I don't need make-up on as the shoot was not a close-up one. All I needed to so was my hair and my dress, Cigie helped me to braid my hair up and pin the braids on my head like a bun shape to create an illusion that my hair was curled up. I couldn't use the curler as the curlong iron had a different plug and needed the universal plug to work, but we forgot to bring the universal plug, so the braid bun was the next best thing to do. The model in the photograph had dark coloured lipstick so I applied Cigie's plum lipstick, it was minty and I loved it, although I usually do not like to put on make-up or lipstick. My photoshoot needed a special lighting to help enhance it, that is why it is the most difficult of all the photographs. It took quite a while to get the light up and to wait for the light to switch on and work. It was a very heavy light too and requires many people to hold it up. All my classmates helped to hold it up as I posed, and they were really tired after that, I felt so bad. Posing was a little difficult at first as I wasn't used to it, but I gradually got used to it and I had no problems with that after a while. It was also very cold as I was wearing a sleeveless dress, and we were in a fully air-conditioned room. After a while of posing, I got used to the cold too so it didn't really bother me after that. At first I thought that it would be so awkward to actually be the model with posing and everything, but I found out that it wasn't that bad and I didn't fell awkward or weird at all. It felt natural, and I guess it's mostly because they were all my friends and there was nothing to be weird about. Suprisingly, my photoshoot went by very fast, and my photographs turned out great, all thanks to my amazing photographer Katrina Khaw, and everyone who helped in the photoshoot, especially those who held up the heavy light. After I was done, I felt very guilty so I helped them to take down the special heavy light.
This Saturday, it was yet another time to go back to church, and take some photographs along the way. I had to focus a lot this week as it was going to end soon and I need to buck up and get even more better photographs. I was getting better, but that is not enough for me as I wanted the best. So, this week, I went the extra mile and went even further into the abandoned buildings. I also took a lot of extra photographs and went crazy with taking photographs. As I went further into the abandoned section, I found more things that are interesting and a lot of good texture. Somewhere along the line (when Mr.Vinod told me through the feedback that my shots are getting more to the textural side), I considered changing my theme to Texture. So, I asked Mr.Vinod and he said okay. I found that I am better at taking close-ups of texture, so I focused more in that. I arrived a little early in church so I took a few photographs. After church, I still had some time to take a few more photographs before leaving for dinner, even though the session was quite long that day, but I still managed to get some awesome shots. There are a few stares and questions asked, but I am used to them by now and I just answer them and tell them that this is for my assignments. I love most of my shots this week. I feel like I did quite a great job. I hope everyone else thinks so too.
This Saturday, it was yet another time to go back to church, and take some photographs along the way. I had to focus a lot this week as it was going to end soon and I need to buck up and get even more better photographs. I was getting better, but that is not enough for me as I wanted the best. So, this week, I went the extra mile and went even further into the abandoned buildings. I also took a lot of extra photographs and went crazy with taking photographs. As I went further into the abandoned section, I found more things that are interesting and a lot of good texture. Somewhere along the line (when Mr.Vinod told me through the feedback that my shots are getting more to the textural side), I considered changing my theme to Texture. So, I asked Mr.Vinod and he said okay. I found that I am better at taking close-ups of texture, so I focused more in that. I arrived a little early in church so I took a few photographs. After church, I still had some time to take a few more photographs before leaving for dinner, even though the session was quite long that day, but I still managed to get some awesome shots. There are a few stares and questions asked, but I am used to them by now and I just answer them and tell them that this is for my assignments. I love most of my shots this week. I feel like I did quite a great job. I hope everyone else thinks so too.
Findings:
This week, I found out that modeling wasn't so bad after all. I'd much rather be behind the scenes helping the photographer but not actually being the photographer, rather than be a model, but it was fun and very awesome to be able to do it and see the success in the outcome in the photograph. It was not that scary after all. Quite tiring, but overall still fun. Next, I discovered that one photoshoot roughly takes about half and hour to one hour to do, because we want awesome photographs and not just "okay" photographs. One of the things that I discovered very important was that this exercise on photoshooting actually is a good team building experience and I felt that we really bonded through this and we helped each other more. We also had so much fun doin this and it also helped us to be independent. It helped us to be independent as without Mr.Vinod, we were basically stranded, but we still managed to take the wheel and do the entire photoshoot in time for lunch. We were very sure of what we were doing and we discussed the details throughly when we have small disagreements, for example how the model's correct position is and is the lighting placed correctly. In the end, everything turned out great. From the photographs that we had chosen, it seems that the studio photography was very easy, but I learnt that studio photography is not as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of work to get the right photograph, and we have to be very patient. Lighting is also very important and where we place the lights plays a very important role in studio photography. Also, the height of the camera with the model is very important too, whether it's eye level or other levels. Moreover, I discovered that it takes more than just one person to do studio photography. We need a few people to handle the lights, a few for background screen, and some others for additional things. From this exercise, I learned how to apply all the different lightings and how to position the lights. I also learned how to pull the backdrop back up and I know now that pulling the backdrop up or down requires two people, one on each side. In addition, I have also learned that although photoshooting might be time consuming and tiring, it is also very fun and enjoyable, it's also team building and independent learning. Lastly, I have discovered the beauty of studio photography, as it has better quality photographs with no busy background. I have learnt to appreciate studio photography, and therefore appreciating photography and all the photographers out there that provide amazing photographs.
This week, I found out that modeling wasn't so bad after all. I'd much rather be behind the scenes helping the photographer but not actually being the photographer, rather than be a model, but it was fun and very awesome to be able to do it and see the success in the outcome in the photograph. It was not that scary after all. Quite tiring, but overall still fun. Next, I discovered that one photoshoot roughly takes about half and hour to one hour to do, because we want awesome photographs and not just "okay" photographs. One of the things that I discovered very important was that this exercise on photoshooting actually is a good team building experience and I felt that we really bonded through this and we helped each other more. We also had so much fun doin this and it also helped us to be independent. It helped us to be independent as without Mr.Vinod, we were basically stranded, but we still managed to take the wheel and do the entire photoshoot in time for lunch. We were very sure of what we were doing and we discussed the details throughly when we have small disagreements, for example how the model's correct position is and is the lighting placed correctly. In the end, everything turned out great. From the photographs that we had chosen, it seems that the studio photography was very easy, but I learnt that studio photography is not as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of work to get the right photograph, and we have to be very patient. Lighting is also very important and where we place the lights plays a very important role in studio photography. Also, the height of the camera with the model is very important too, whether it's eye level or other levels. Moreover, I discovered that it takes more than just one person to do studio photography. We need a few people to handle the lights, a few for background screen, and some others for additional things. From this exercise, I learned how to apply all the different lightings and how to position the lights. I also learned how to pull the backdrop back up and I know now that pulling the backdrop up or down requires two people, one on each side. In addition, I have also learned that although photoshooting might be time consuming and tiring, it is also very fun and enjoyable, it's also team building and independent learning. Lastly, I have discovered the beauty of studio photography, as it has better quality photographs with no busy background. I have learnt to appreciate studio photography, and therefore appreciating photography and all the photographers out there that provide amazing photographs.
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