Rei teaches photography - Assignment 1: A Portrait
I wanted to get everyone shooting on something before I started getting into the boring stuff, so we are going to do a basic assignment that gets everyone shooting. It is a basic portrait of someone. If you feel intimidated by the rules, please don’t be. I will be available to answer all questions that you have, and will be able to help you understand anything that doesn’t make sense to you about the assignment. In fact, below the rules, you will find some explainations and examples of things that should help everyone out.
The rules are as follows:
- You must use a key light and a fill light to do your photo. You have to do this on purpose, and be able to repeat the results consistently.
- You can NOT use a photo that you took before you read this thread.
- You must shoot the portrait on full manual mode.
- No photoshop allowed. These are the photos that you made in the camera.
- You have to turn in two photos, one is your final photo, and the other is your setup shot. You may post and submit other photos, but you can only choose one as your final entry. The setup shot is specifically done so that all the other people involved can see how you did your photo.
- You will have to join the SRK IMM flicker group to turn in your photos. The group is invite only, so post in the SRK photographers thread if you need to get invited. You will tag all your photos for this assignment with “srkimm” and “srkassignment1”. Your final photo will also have the tag “final”. Your setup shots should also have the tag “setup”. If everyone does this, then a flicker search by those tags should bring up all the photos submitted by everyone.
- Due in 3 weeks, but early submissions are encouraged, and you can change your final submission up until the due date.
- I will choose the best photo based on a secret system involving TigerGenocide (the mod, not the move) and the way the chicken bones land on my plate the next time I eat at KFC.
- Prize is to be determined. I’m working on this, but right now it consists of bragging rights.
Minimum equipment needed for this assignment: a camera that has Manual mode, although, you can use any equipment at your disposal.
Read on and I will explain some basic ideas that will get your started.
Key Light:
A key light is the primary light, but more to the point, it is the light that creates highlights and casts shadows. You see, in order for us to see texture, we have to interpret the highlights and shadows that a object creates. A key light creates those highlight and shadows, and as a result, is almost always the most powerful light in your setup.
Fill Light:
Fill lights are lights that help control the textures. If you have a hard key light, then it will sometimes blow out highlights, and cause black shadows that have no detail. Sometimes, you want this, but other times, you need to see something other than black in your shadows. So, you use a fill light to control how dark the shadows are, or, for that matter, if there are any shadows at all.
Manual Mode:
Get used to manual mode. Basically, manual mode is like using a custom joystick, and automatic modes are like using a pad. While the automatic modes are helpful, your camera will try to outsmart you when you start doing things on purpose. If you have P-mode on your camera, use that to get a ball park figure of what settings the camera would pick, and transfer those to your manual settings.
Assignment example:
http://rei.bustkaratedojo.net/post/srkphoto101/001.jpg
This is a portrait I shot this morning in my bedroom. I used the classic key/fill light combo that portrait photographers have used since the 1800s.
http://rei.bustkaratedojo.net/post/srkphoto101/002.jpg
In my case, I have a sliding glass door with a sheer curtain as the key light. As the fill light, I have a gold reflector. Simple way to do this, and people have built portrait studios around this setup before flashes and strobes were even invented. If you don’t want to go out and buy a reflector, then a sheet of foil will do just as well.
Basically, you can get this type of shot at Chipotle’s by using the sun as your key light, and then using the foil from your burrito to fill in the shadows.
