Anna Saverimuttu's Photography Blog

Actor's Headshot Photography Guildford

A couple of weeks ago I did some headshots of Charlie in and around Guildford, as she needed photos to send off for castings and to agents.

We spent a very pleasant morning in town using various backdrops and locations, and she was a real joy to photograph - very easy to direct and open to different ideas and suggestions.  It's not easy to conjure up an authentic and meaningful expression from nowhere and at the drop of a hat, without it looking contrived or false, but Charlie rose to the occasion; I made a few suggestions for different moods and emotions by describing particular scenarios to her and she reacted in just the right way. 

I love the fact that you can see the emotion in her eyes and that each look is different, but in a very subtle way.  A good portrait definitely doesn't always have to be about big smiles and although it may be a cliche, the eyes really are the windows to the soul.

One of the great advantages of photographing on location and locally is that I know all these places so well and also when the light is going to be at its best in each particular one.

The photos she will use will be in black and white, but I really like the colour versions too, plus the extra shots I took in a slightly different style towards the end of the session, and which are more informal in pose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Photographer - A Job Description

Lighting expert

Business-person

Marketing expert

Photoshop expert

Psychologist

Counsellor

Stylist

Baby whisperer

Sprinter

Contortionist

Diplomat

Children's entertainer

Interior designer

Mind-reader

Weather prophet

Animal trainer

Plastic surgeon (see Photoshop Expert)

Juggler

Peace-maker

Reportage wedding photography - the myth

As the wedding season is now in full swing, a post about wedding photography.

"Reportage", "informal", "relaxed", "candid" are all words that have been bandied about for sometime now to describe a particular style of photography most prevalent in the spheres of weddings and also portraiture.  It's an attractive concept and something that most couples and families love, since it suggests the antithesis of the stuffy, posed, formal photos of a previous generation, where people had to stand around for ages with fixed smiles on their faces.

However, reportage photography has created its own set of problems, since it gives the quite misleading impression that anyone can do it.  After all, if you take enough photos then some are bound to turn out alright aren't they?  And digital cameras allow us to do exactly that. This means that couples who may spend thousands on the dress, the cake, the ring, the flowers and the stunning venue, are quite as likely to ask a work colleague who's handy with a camera to photograph the most important day of their lives.  

My heart sinks when I come across yet another website purporting to showcase the work of a photographer specialising in this type of work, and instead I see a series of poorly composed and appallingly lit snaps which could have been taken by just about anyone. To compound the problem, some of them will have been "rescued" in Photoshop.

Real reportage photography, by a skilled practitioner who knows exactly what they are doing takes quite the opposite approach.  It involves as much thought, planning, knowledge of composition and lighting as its more traditional counterpart.  And it's also a lot of hard work. 

Consider what would happen if you just turned up at a wedding or a family gathering with your camera and started snapping away quite indiscriminately; do you think that those people would just happen to be in the right place, in front of the perfect background, being lit by the perfect light or wearing  exactly the right expressions as you pointed your camera at them?  Unlikely.  Yes, of course it's perfectly possible to capture some beautiful and quite spontaneous moments by accident rather than design.  However, to do it consistently well, when it's pouring with rain or in brilliant sunshine, when there's a hideous sign in the background just where you'd like to photograph the couple, when one of the bridesmaids is having a tantrum or the vicar is being less than helpful, requires many other skills too.  

And if you look at the images created by a professional photographer who specialises in this type of work, they will have put a lot of thought into when all the right elements are going to come together to give them the perfect shot - they won't waste time or energy taking a photo if the lighting, expressions, background etc are not right.  They will wait for what Henri Cartier-Bresson termed "the decisive moment" before they press the shutter.  Each image will be the result of a lot of thought and expertise. 

The poses may not seem "posed" in the traditional sense, but the way in which people stand, the direction in which they're looking, how the light is hitting their faces, all these things have to be anticipated and captured discreetly by the photographer, without intruding on those special moments.  Two of my favourite photographers who are real experts at this are Jeff Ascough and Mark Seymour.  Their work speaks for itself.

So if you're hiring a wedding or portrait photographer and they say they specialise in informal, reportage photography, be very, very sure that when you look at their work, the photographs aren't just the equivalent of "snaps" which anyone could have taken.  And remember that "cheap" and "high-quality" very seldom go together - you get what you pay for, and with wedding photography, there really is only one chance to get it right.

© Anna Saverimuttu Photography

Conference Photography - QEII Centre - London

Last autumn I was booked to photograph a 3-day corporate event at London's QEII Centre.  The brief was to capture a wide variety of shots to sum up the occasion, which was a huge affair, attracting visitors from around the world.

For a job such as this one which is quite complex and where I need to know well in advance what is required of me, a briefing meeting with the client was essential.  We discussed the itinerary of the event in detail, and the coverage that was needed for each day.  As each day started early and ended with a series of evening events, it was decided to use two photographers; that way, I was able to concentrate on the day's coverage and know that I would (just!) have time to do a quick edit of the shots and also provide the client with the key images for featuring in a newsletter for delegates to read the next morning and to show on a slideshow on the final evening.

Here is a small selection of the 1,000 or so images which I gave to the client at the end!

 

 

A bus ride with Lord Mandelson

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to photograph Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson when he visited Guildford, along with Energy & Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband and transport minister, Sadiq Khan.

After being met at Guildford Station, the three were then taken by a special bus to the Alexander Dennis factory, which was launching its fleet of new environmentally friendly vehicles. 

This was the second time that I have taken photographs on a moving bus and despite a few unsteady moments going round corners, I secured the shots I needed!

Following a quick tour round some key areas of the factory, and a chat with staff, the visitors completed a series of media interviews and posed for photographs, before boarding the bus again and heading back to London.

The available light in the factory was quite dim in some areas, so it was a case of dragging the shutter slightly for some of the shots.

Nearer to the entrance, I was able to use available light only.

I wasn't going to miss this one!

How to Photograph Groups

Whether it be the family group at a wedding, the local football team, a school party or a corporate team picture, photographing large groups of people presents its own particular challenges.

Top Tips for Successfully Photographing Groups

1. Do your preparation - find out at least roughly how many people will be in the group; that way, at least you can plan your shot in advance and decide on what (if any) lighting you are going to use.
2. Make sure people know who's in charge right from the start.  A large gathering of people with no one to direct them will descend surprisingly quickly into chaos.  Your job on the day is really one of chief entertainer, so while you're working out how best to arrange them and all the other boring technical details, don't forget to keep talking to people; personally, I find that I'm generally talking a lot of nonsense, and can never remember afterwards exactly what I've said.  But if I've kept people amused, then that's all that concerns me.
3. If you're having to arrange people in rows (not my favourite arrangement, but sometimes a necessary one), with a mixture of some sitting and some standing, I find that it's better to have the taller ones sitting down. Having a row of tall people standing and shorter ones sitting in front increases the gap between the two rows of heads too much.
4. Rows of people often look better if the rows are curved in slightly at both ends to create a semi-circular arrangement.
5. Try and photograph them from slightly above.  This can really help ensure that everyone's faces will be seen, particularly with larger groups;  it also provides a more interesting angle.
6. This should go without saying, but take lots of pictures - the more people there are in your shot, the more pictures you should take, since the more likely it is that a) someone will blink or b) someone won't be looking in the right direction: and if you're really unlucky, it could be both! Obviously, there is a limit to how much you can shoot of the same set-up, since people's expressions will quickly start to glaze over if you just put the camera on 6 frames-per-second mode and fire away.  You need to direct them between shots, so that as well as always looking at you, their expressions are engaged and interested.
   
7. Try to avoid placing everyone's eyes on the same level.  It's probably the least exciting option as the viewer's eye will travel in a straight line across the picture and the arrangement lacks any kind of dynamism.
8. Again, with family groups, show the relationship between different members of the family and have them move closer together so there are no awkward gaps.

What Makes a Professional Photographer?

I came across this quote the other day, and its relevance to the practice of professional photography really struck me.

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives." William A Foster

This post is linked to several categories in my blog - Photographic Equipment is not one of them :)

The Inverse Square Law & Why it Matters

The Inverse Square Law is one of those things you learn about at college and then promptly forget - it doesn't after all have a terribly exciting ring to it.

If you use any kind of artificial lighting in your photography though, knowing how the inverse square law works is important.

So, what is it?  The Inverse Square Law states that the intensity of a light source falling on a given subject is inversely proportional to the square of its distance from that subject.  Or, in other words, if you double the distance of your light source from your subject, it will decrease by two stops; halve the distance and it will increase by two stops.  Basically, as light travels away from its source, it starts to spread; as it spreads, it has to illuminate a larger and larger surface area, which means that its intensity decreases the further it has to travel. 

Therefore, if your light source is positioned 1 metre away from your subject and gives a light reading of f11, and you then move it 2 metres away, the reading will now only be f5.6; by the time the light strikes the subject, it has spread out and has to illuminate four times the surface area that it would have to at its original "correct" distance of 1 metre - this equates to a loss of two stops of light.  If, on the other hand, you halve the distance of the light from the subject by moving it half a metre away, the effect will be to increase its intensity by 2 full stops, from f11 to f 22.

This is the reason why if you use flash photography at say a party, and are photographing a group of people, whilst they will be correctly lit, the background will look much darker; by the time the light has travelled beyond the group, it has spread over a wider area and is therefore much weaker.

Similarly, imagine that you're photographing a large family group in a studio.  If you position your light too far to the side, those people nearest to it will be lit more brightly than those who are furthest away. 

How to avoid unwanted reflections in your photos

How do you avoid getting unwanted reflections in your shots?  Let's imagine a worst-case scenario where you are photographing someone who is standing in front of a flat, shiny surface such as a mirror or a window, and the light you are using is a hard light source such as a flash unit.  And just for good measure, the flash is positioned on top of your camera.

When you take the picture, the light from the flash will (unless it's hidden by the person) hit the window and bounce straight back at you, causing a horrible hotspot on your picture.

This is because the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. 

What does this mean?  Basically, the angle at which light strikes a flat surface is equal to the angle at which it bounces off that surface.  Hence, if you are trying to photograph someone who is standing in front of a window and you are using a flash unit on the top of your camera, and furthermore you are standing directly in line with the angle at which the light hits the window, you will see a direct, specular reflection of the flash in your pictures.

How can you avoid this?  If you place your light source in a different position relative to yourself and your subject so that you are not aligned with the light's angle of reflection, then your camera will not be able to see that reflection.

Here, the camera is in a direct line with the both the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection.

In this set-up, only camera (b) sees the reflection.  Camera (a) is not in line with the angle of reflection.

In the first shot below, the sign was lit by diffuse frontal light, but because it has a slightly shiny surface this has created a distracting reflection.  By moving myself away from the angles of incidence and reflection, I took a much more pleasing photograph which reveals the depth of the colours.

Large apertures and shallow depth-of-field.

Using a wide aperture to create a shallow depth-of-field is a great technique for isolating a single detail in your shot.  Don't forget though that the shallower your depth-of-field, the more accurately you'll need to focus; as these were all shot handheld at f2.8, there was a lot of breath-holding and supporting myself against walls! (See "How to hold an SLR camera properly" for advice).  Of course, a tripod is always a handy accessory to have too.