Week 3: The Senses

Week 3: In our Photography II Class, we are focusing on advancing our skills in articulating our ideas and visions into compelling and aesthetically pleasing photographs. This week, we focused primarily on the subject matter of the senses and how to portray that through photography rather than the technical aspect of the media. The subject of this assignment is four senses (tasting, smelling, hearing, and touching). We used propers as well as models in our photography. The photos above are the twenty selected pieces I have chosen to illustrate the work I have done this week for the class.

Craft: The Craft of this assignment is the following: Digital SLR Camera (Canon E05 Rebel T5i), a computer, photo lights, Bowens Camera Studio Lights, and the model/subject matter of the photos, my friend Armani. I used these resources to create the images above. The Bowens Camera Studio Lights came with stands as well as studio umbrellas for the lights. I also used props such as food and drink to illustrate two of the senses.

Composition: In this class, we were tasked with taking photos to fulfill some requirements for the assignment. The process that I took to accomplish this is as followed: first, I had to set up the overall setting on how the model(myself and a friend) would be positioned into relation to the props I would use. Next was the lighting in the photo shoot studio that was already set up. The setup was quite simple. It consisted of a black background, a stand with black paper atop to blend it with the backdrop, and Bowens studio lights for lighting the studio. That was for the shoots involving more close up shots. When I was shooting shots that could not be in a controlled environment, I made sure that there were no distracting elements in the background that For each photoshoot set, I set up my model in various poses and sitting arrangements and lighting situations. The most technical aspects of this project were managing the ISO, Aperture, and shutter speed to make sure that the images were not too washed out or dark. I had forgotten to recalibrate this after each shot so some shots in each set were not in the correct exposure. After that, I did some slight edits such as correcting exposure and straightening the image in Photoshop.

Concept: In this project, we were tasked with creating photos that incorporated the following requirements: we had to use a model, and incorporate at least two senses in our photos. I chose smell and taste as it was the simplest and most straightforward senses to showcase. For the controlled environment of the studio, I chose to use black and white as it was much easier to control lighting. For the natural lighting, I chose to go outside. I used this to work and challenge myself with unpredictable situations and to work accordingly to make the composition work. For the photographs set in the photo studio, I focused on lighting as the main driving force of the composition. Making sure that the wisps of heat from the coffee and tea were the most difficult to achieve.