Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Self Portrait Series Stage-2 – Head & Shoulder 17 slides 17 slides Copyright © Kenji Tachibana

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Art of Seeing S ee The Light: Squint view simulation Poor and good lighting example sets with normal and simulated squint view examples. Facts: Poor lighting is achieved by having the face turned away from the light source. And good lighting is achieved by turning the face more towards the light source side. Poor lighting & angleLost detailGood lighting & angleImproved detail Normal 1Simulated squint view 1Normal 2Simulated squint view 2 This is not a layout example for this assignment.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Art of Seeing S quint View: Practice Take time to study both the normal and squint-view image sets. Then apply your squint-view technique to the normal until it looks similar to the simulated squint-view example. Do so on both sets. Practice until you get it. NormalSquint View

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Art of Seeing S eeing Exposure: Eye ball & exposure graph views 1.Eye ball image reference with black to while grayscale. Too lightJust rightToo dark 2.Histogram exposure graph views. Too light by +2 stopsJust rightToo dark by -2 stops Too light by +2 stopsJust rightToo dark by -2 stops There is no perfect exposure graph…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Art of Seeing S eeing Exposure: No perfect graph The Histogram represent the image tonal scale as a graph. And images from the real world results in an infinite variety of exposure graphs. The exposure graphs to the right are both ‘normal-exposure’ graph examples. And other ‘normal-exposure’ graphs will also look different. There is one simplistic way of judging the graph based on ‘over exposure’. Don’t let any part of the graph touch the right side as shown to the right. Although this technique only works when the shot is created using Skylight and that there is no light source in the image.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Overview observations C osmic Humor: Our truth 1.Camera controls – never perfect. 2.Zoom lens – not wide, long, or fast enough. 3.LCD monitor – too bright and too contrasty. 4.Exposure control – technically good but prone to operator error. 5.Menu control – set to AUTO for ease of use but switch to Auto-P for more control. 6.Shutter release button – press half way to set focus and exposure. Squeeze all the way down to capture the ‘decisive moment’. But the thumb pressure and the final squeeze timing will take practices to master. And wearing gloves plays havoc with both pressure and timing. I wear fingerless gloves when its cold.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Communicate S ay Something: Make it interesting 1.Tell stories about things you know well or feel passionate about. The self portrait assignment is a double edged sword. Think about what that might mean and do team-sharing on that topic… 2.Take pictures of subjects you know well or have an affinity to. Observe the subject and be prepared to learn more about the subject. 3.Support your story with 2 nd and 3 rd reading image elements to add visual and psychological depth. The elements are usually ‘packed’ into the image.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Know your exact story P eople Shoot: Make intentional images It can be sub-divided into formal, informal, commercial, documentary, illustration, and other classifications. And the same image can also end up in the different classifications. What determines the classification is more about the initial story which gave birth to the image. The following is a self portrait which I originally shot as an illustration…

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I. Photo Illustration: Example “I dare you… take a chance!” “I dare you… take a chance!” This self portrait was done to illustrate the above story idea. To get the optical distortion, I used a super-wide focal length. The super-wide also provided the very deep DOF keeping both the dice and face in amazing crisp focus. I cropped the image uncomfortably tight and there are tangency and near tangencies for creating tension. I also used dead black and extreme tonal range. And the background is broken up with an angular cast shadow leading to the eye. All these visual elements were packed into the shot to help tell the “I dare you …..” high tension story. This is not a layout example for this assignment.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Student examples About Background and Lighting: Background becomes important in this assignment. It must contribute to your self portrait story without taking over. Note that both subjects are still clearly up front and identifiable. Lighting – the top image has the correct soft side light which puts the cheek in shadow and gives catch light to the eyes. The bottom image has bad lighting direction. It puts the eyes in shadow and does not produce catch-light. It even highlights the ear, which is undesirable. Bad Lighting and Background – don’t have light sources in the background. Both images have dotted yellow rectangles showing the preferred camera cropping for this assignment

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Phase examples Pose, Posture, & Prop: You may include a prop or a hand in the shot. And attitude or a mood would be welcome but not required. Even without showing not much of the body, the body posture affects what is captured in the camera frame. Top example shows good light direction but the bottom example lighting is not correct for this assignment. The yellow dotted rectangles shows the desired framing for this assignment.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Phase 2 S-Curve: It’s an important natural form when it comes to working with the human body. The ‘S’ can be used as is, flopped, or rotated. Think of it as an organizing factor for a single or a group of objects. Look & Find: Besides squint-viewing for tone and compositional shapes, add looking for S-curves into your photography journey. And never forget the joy of finding or MAKING beautiful lighting. S

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Requirements Check List: Use this to customize your own list as needed 1.Image Size:2547 x 1955 x 72 (5 mp or close). 2.Image Quality:Highest quality jpeg (compressed). 3.Exposure Mode:Auto-P with ISO and EC control. 4.Exposure meter:Matrix and not center-weighted or spot. 5.Shutter:1/60 th (slow) or faster preferred but... 6.White balance:Auto work well with Skylight. 7.Sensitivity:ISO 100, using Auto-P will lock this in. 8.Focus:This might still be your biggest technical challenge. Add lib on this as needed… 9.Focal Length18 to 22 mm preferred. (105 mm equiv.) DSLR 50 to 70 mm preferred. 10.Digital zoom:Never use! 11.Flash:Force Off (make the icon look like this. 12.Light Source:Broad source (soft) Skylight. 13.Background:Try to keep it slightly darker and at least 6’ behind the subject.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Camera Framing and Zoom Limitations Tight Layout: Head & Shoulder Back off by about 15% from the previous Passport shot distance. Rotate the camera to the horizontal orientation. The ID shot example image is being used as a reference for the current assignment framing. The subject must be off center based on either the lighting or the face direction. The bottom example shows the subject looking into the frame from the right. That results in more negative space on the left. The light source is also to the camera left.(subject right). This is the tight layout for head & shoulder assignment. Previous passport shot camera framing Background breakup 2/31/3

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Success Mantra Do It: 1.Plan ahead and shoot early to give yourself plenty of time to re-shoot. You might be doing 3 shoots ( test shoot, real shoot, and a re-shoot). 2.Be self inspired by giving birth to an idea worth loving and nurturing. 3.Show pride of workmanship. Most of you have cameras capable of doing professional level work. Come back with images that might be seen in a consumer magazine. 4.Be open to learning from your class mates and the instructor. Although, be careful when learning from others not taking this class. There class and stage specific assignment directions. 5.Above all, keep learning, shooting, and improving. I expect you to be shooting for your own gratification beyond the class assignment.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Last Minute Thoughts A fter Thoughts: Background This might be the first time you gave thought to the idea that the background is important to the story. Or you’ve been aware of its importance for a while. I will exaggerate and say that the background is more important than the subject! A better way of thinking might be that the image as a whole must work together to tell the story. Intentional and accidental things in the background must all contribute to your single story. In this shot, place the background 6’ or more behind the subject. The narrow DOF of the ‘Tele’ combined with the aperture on the wide side will tend to throw the background out of focus to minimize its importance.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I Self Portrait: Overview O bservation: All the basic stuff that you are learning are ‘must have’ skills and knowledge for any kind of image making. Once you ‘get it’, only practice will make you better. It takes years of practice to master. And even after mastery, photographic image making will remain a performance art… The most important creative ingredient is you. Yes, you make the critical difference. Once you know what you want to say, right or wrong is no longer an issue. How honest you remain true to your vision remains the important consideration for yourself as am artist and the audience.

Teacher: Kenji Tachibana Digital Photography I x End