14/10/2021
I selected this photo because it's a wonderful portrait of Liam, in my opinion. The background is nice and buttery, and the model himself is in focus well, and posed in a way that looks natural and reflects personality.
I saw an opportunity for a good shot on top of this big fountain structure at Parkwood Estate in Oshawa, and so I sent Liam up there to pose. Straight out of the camera this image exceeded expectations, and so all I did in editing was bring out the colours a little more to make it pop.
I didn't do anything fancy in terms of the composition; I simply centred the model in the frame. I think the simplicity of it just being a high up place with the model in focus and nothing else helps the meaning of the image; It's just a chilled out, laid back portrait.
14/10/2021
This photo is another quite simple portrait. The background may be a little busy with the fountain on the left, but the posing and expression of the model, Patrick, sells a chilled out vibe. This is one of many images to utilize a borrowed lens, an EF 70-200mm, which is a beautiful lens, and admittedly did most of the work aesthetically. Other than that, I placed the model on the rightmost third of the frame, facing the left side to create an open and inviting feel. I feel that if I had placed him in the middle, it would've looked slightly claustrophobic due to how far over to the left his shoulders are turned. I am glad I made this choice compositionally.
All I did in post, as usual, was give the contrast and saturation a slight boost, for some pop.
14/10/2021
I liked the way the light was hitting these stairs at Parkwood Estate, and so I had Bryanna sit on the steps. The way she naturally sat down made for a nice photo, so I positioned myself so that her shoulders were slightly angled to my left, and put her roughly on the rightmost third of the frame. I actually like how the stairs are angled, I think it makes the photo look more informal, like the previous two.
07/11/2021
I like this shot because I never use a flash! In this particular photo, the model was illuminated by some sunlight, but I wanted a more washed out artificial look. With some lightly applied makeup on the skin to ensure the light diffuses a bit when it hit the model's face, I used my built-in flash in tandem with a long focal length for subtlety. I also like how the flash created a small glint in her eyes. My usual style of a very buttery background is also present, using the absolute widest aperture this lens could muster, which I believe was about f/5.6 at this focal length.
02/12/2021
While the overall quality of the image isn't perfect, this photo was extremely fun to take. Rebecca is a fantastic model and very easy to work with. The posing is playful and natural, and the lighting is coming from windows all around this cylindrical room, creating a very well lit and natural looking shot, chromatically. Almost nothing was done to this photo other than an attempt to sharpen it up, but I just had to include it despite the focus issue.
13/12/2021
Another great shot of Rebecca just being Rebecca. This was taken in the DC studio, off to the side of the camera she was using to do self portraits. The sharp focus on the eyes compared with the blurry mid-swing arms is what sells this photo to me. There's not a whole lot going on here compositionally, it's just a naturally pretty shot, which I think is only aided by my thought to process it in black and white. This shot was actually quite the cleanup project for black and white, because the highlights were quite blown out by the studio light. I had to force them back down in Lightroom to get the left side of her face to look natural at this exposure. Thankfully it worked out, and this is one of my all-time favourite shots.
13/12/2021
Ah, split lighting. Instantly make anyone look dramatic and moody by turning off one light! I think it really works in this DC studio shot of Liam, especially in black and white, with the contrast cranked. I really like how the background changes here, the model perfectly bisects the lighter grey on the left from the sheer black on the right, with a smooth gradient occurring over his head. This was initially a wider and more centred shot, but I cropped in and placed his dark-side eye on the upper left third convergence.
13/12/2021
I like this shot because it's well composed and lit pretty nicely! Everything looks relatively evenly lit and the colours pop with what little processing I did. Most of the shots taken in the studio ended up getting the monochrome+contrast treatment, but this one shows how nice the colours actually were, pretty much straight out of camera. The model here, Erin, is easy to get looking natural in both pose and colour, so this was just one of those lucky snapshots.
13/12/2021
A high shutter speed allowed me to take this totally accidental shot. Erin was moving her arm when this shot was taken, and the shot itself was a result of my finger twitching as I attempted to lightly press the shutter button to test exposure with the light meter. Not a whole lot of processing needed to be done with this, as, like the above shot, the colours in the studio did pop quite a bit with just a tiny nudge of the saturation slider.
17/10/2021
This was the first photo I heavily processed, and while it was for an Image Processing class assignment, it turned out so good that I'm sliding it into my portfolio here.
The shot itself is a simple photo taken with a nice long focal length in front of some trees, with rule of thirds applied. Some of the editing techniques I used were skin softening, teeth and eye whitening, and even added a little pop to the model's earring.
13/12/2021
Tying it together with an action shot. Rebecca laughing here is another favourite of mine, because it's candid and well composed. The black and white, as with the earlier similar shot, really works here to offset the fact that the black backdrop doesn't quite fill the entire background, as it's mostly darker tones regardless.
