2 independent shoots (portraiture)

Selected and Edited Images

My intention with this shoot was to achieve the portraiture style achieved with Alec Soth’s work. I wanted the low depth of field which blurred the background and allowed for full focus on the subject. I also wanted to make sure that I got the dead pan look that was in most of Soth’s work.

I used my cannon 5D and manual mode. I made sure that I got a high aperture to achieve the low depth of field, this meant I had the blurred background and in focus subject. The shutter speed was kept high to make sure that the all movement was paused.

My research into Alec Soth was vital in my process of recording portraiture. Seeing Alec Soth’s inspired my own shoots to shoot on a location with a low depth of field to achieve the style he had created. The dead pan look which set the tone of the photo was also important to me and inspired by Soth’s work.

Over all i think that my photos resembled the style of Alec Soth and was a good portrayal of

portraiture. I managed to get the low depth of field that made Alec Soth’s work so good and I also

managed in some of my photos to achieve the dead pan look that set the tone of the photo.

Shoot 2

For my second shoot I wanted to focus on my own style and focusing on more of a commentary of teens but still relating to the style of Alec Soth with the blurred background. 

Overall from these photos I chose these five.

A lot of these photos are over slightly too over exposed and required some editing to create a style I was happy with. 

Overall with these edits they create a much more visual interesting photo, they have a higher contrast and better range of colour. The photos use Alec Soths style by using his blurred background style and the use of props, body expressions and location to create character. With my shoot I was focusing on teen life and the series has links to that.