GCSE (9-1) Art and Design Delivery Guide (Learner Resource) - 3

Learner Resource 3 Photographing a model in water

Introduction In this activity we will explore lighting and camera settings for producing dynamic water based photographic portraits.

Version 1 1 © OCR 2017 Photography – Individual differences Activity Place your model in water in a bath. Position your light source to the side of the shot. If available use a strobe flash behind an umbrella or use a soft box. Alternatively use natural lighting from a window or a permanent light source. The trick is to avoid harsh shadows and reflections in the water. You could point the flash to the ceiling and bounce the light off of this neutral surface to evenly light your subject. Arrange floating objects such as flowers around your model. Use a wide angle lens if available to photograph the whole of the bath, alternatively photograph sections using any lens available to you. Experiment with moving the water to create surface texture. Slowing the shutter speed to ¼ of a second will blur the water whilst the model remains still and focused.

If available import the images in to Lightroom and use the spot removal tool to edit blemishes and remove harsh reflections from the surface of the water. Edit the clarity, saturation, whites and blacks of the image. Alternatively use the spot healing brush tool in Photoshop. Using a graphics tablet and the brush and smudge tools explore painting onto your resulting images inspired by the work of Rosanna Jones (link below).

If you do not have a bath or pool available shoot a series of water surface images. Explore the work of Lee Kirby (link below) use a computer projector to project your images onto your model in a darkened classroom. Photograph the resulting projected portraits

http://www.staudinger-franke.com/portfolio-barrier-i-206.html

Rosanna Jones http://cargocollective.com/rosannajones/FASHION

http://www.leekirbyphotography.com/pro-ject/

Extension Increase your shutter speed to 1000/sec, at this speed you will be able to freeze water in motion you will need to adjust ISO and F-stop for correct exposure based on your lighting set up. Visit the work of Iain Crawford (link below) and explore a portrait shoot using coloured water, freezing the movement of liquid to create dramatic experimental images.

http://www.iaincrawford.com

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