March 2016 – Matthew Welsh Photography

March 15, 2016Matthew Welsh No Comments

considerations for the portrait

For my familiar portrait I wanted to have one of the portraits I took in the studio to be the final piece. I have started to like low key portraiture a lot more in recent shoots, so it only made sense to use one of these images at the top of Alice, but then I was struck with the option of black and white or colour. I used to religiously use black and white, but in recent weeks I have started to use colour in my work a lot more and it is very freeing and has helped develop my skills as a photographer and media practitioner. I feel like I am going to use the image of Alice in colour as I feel that this image is stronger. I also really like the images of Callum as they are very striking and visually appealing the way I have I have used light to just capture the face and eye, this create visual interest.

The image I have decided to go with is the black and white image of Alice as I feel like this is very complimentary to my style of photography that I am used to.

March 15, 2016Matthew Welsh No Comments

Self portrait- initial shots – wip

March 15, 2016Matthew Welsh No Comments

Portraits in the studio with nice camera- Wip

March 13, 2016Matthew Welsh No Comments

Studio Session 1

During the first workshop in which we were in the studio, we experimented with the lighting that was available in both low key and high key. This was enjoyable to work with as we got to collaborate as a team to help each other create something a bit different to just a ‘school portrait’ which is what most people think of when in the studio with lights and a white backdrop. I have had a previous experience in the studio at A Level but with much less equipment and less help. This experience has opened me up to more studio shooting which I thought wasn’t for me because I like the more candid outdoor shooting with little instruction, capturing the little moments that I see.

IMG_9200-2 — I took a few like this image but this one stuck out to me because of the way in which there is a catch light in the eye which adds dimension to the whole piece. The shadows that are cast across the jumpers also are really interesting to me, they give you something else to look at more visual interest.

IMG_9199-1 — The second portrait I chose to show is the one which is similar to the first, but this one is more solemn as we changed the lighting and how I was directing Callum, the resulting image is quite a nice thing to see, it is subtle and soft, I decided to make the shadows in the image a lot darker in post-production to make the image stand out more. The shapes that are created in this image are flowing and move you through the image. The colour palette is really complementary nothing sticks out too much and the image seems to fit itself in without too much pull from the viewer.

IMG_9792-11 — Although her love of fish is not real this image captures the love that is shared between a person and the environment, keeping the fish safe from the fishermen. Shot with a snoot this image had very directed light that made it a good low key image, the use of shadows to create a more structured face is also a good point of this image with a strong connection with the emotion of Alice and how she is portraying being attached to the fish in a stronger way than just food.

March 11, 2016Matthew Welsh No Comments

Socialising

During a break in a lecture I pulled out my camera to take just some random portraits of some of my friends just for fun, the resulting images are quite effective and have a very casual feel about them.

IMG_1871_e111 — The light in this image was coming from behind creating a very harsh light. I have had to edit this image quite a lot as it was highly over exposed but looked okay. I added a vignette to add some interest into the image also, this draws the viewer’s attention to the centre of the image.

IMG_1738_e1 — Looking out of the window looking into the world. I thought this was interesting in the way that the light was hitting the face and how that created some interest in the image. The contrast between the orange of the wall and the brown of the coat and hair makes a really interesting juxtaposition and something I really like.