The Human Condition #1: Environmental portraits

Concept
“By ‘on location’ or ‘environmental’ portraits I mean portraits taken of people in a situation that they live in (work, rest or play) and/or a place that says something about who they are. Before I get into some ‘how to’ tips for taking environmental portraits let me chat a little about ‘why’ I like them.
Why do I prefer environmental portraits?
• they give context to the subject you’re photographing
• they give points of interest to shots (something you need to watch as you don’t want to distract from your subject too much)
• they help your subject relax
• they often give the viewer of your shots real insight into the personality and lifestyle of your subject
These shots sit somewhere between the purposely posed shots of a studio portrait (they are posed and they are unmistakably ‘portraits’) and candid shots which capture people almost incidentally as they go through their daily life” (Darren Rouse at http://digital-photography-school.com/environmental-portraits#ixzz0j7NPlPtx).

When I started this brief I didn’t have a really strong idea about what kind of images I wanted to produce and did some research to find examples. Set out below are some of the photographers and their work which I discovered along the way. These first photographs were all taken by LIFE photographers (http://www.life.com/):

Joseph R McCarthy by Hank Walker

Luisa Pierotti in a wine shop by Carlo Bavagnoli

John L McClellan by Martha Holmes

Gold Miners, South Africa 1950 by Margaret Bourke-White

Tractor Factory, 1930 by Margaret Bourke-White

The following images are by contemporary outdoor lifestyle and environmental photographer Dennis Welsh  (http://www.denniswelsh.com/): and I love the saturated colour he uses:

These final examples are taken from http://www.illustratedphotography.com/photography-tips/top-tips/environmental-portrait (which has an article on top tips on environmental photography):

You might argue that the two images above are candid shots but I am putting them here as they had been classed as environmental by the website author.  The selection of images above demonstrate how wide the environmental portrait genre can be and how there can be clear cross over with candid type portraits.

Having done some research I had some ideas about places I could go to and the people I could photograph to try out this genre of portrait photography.  On each occasion I used a Canon EOS 50D with an 18-200mm lens.

Outcomes
1) Ian in Canada
In between the candid shots I took whilst on holiday in Canada in February I also took a few shots of Ian which, because they are more posed, I feel fall into the environmental portrait category rather than candid. All the photographs were taken outside using only the ambient light.  Some thumbnails are included on the contact sheet at 2) below and here are some examples.  These first two are images I selected as environmental portraits.  Not everyone will agree as they don't show a lot of the environment and could simply be called outdoor portraits:

120mm f/11 1/40 ISO100

The original image was too blue, so post production, I adjusted the white balance to increase the temperature and removed some black clipping from the background.

100mm f/5.6 1/400 ISO100

Post production I applied a black and white preset and, as Ian's face and jacket were in shadow, I added fill light.

The pictures below show more of the actual environment and can more readily be classed as environmental portraits.

20mm f/18 1/200 ISO100

Again the original image was too blue so post production I adjusted the white balance to increase the temperature.

20mm f/18 1/200 ISO100

Post production I adjusted the curves and brightness/contrast using adjustment layers in Photoshop.

I think it is pushing the edge of portrait photography to include the last two images as you can't really see the subject that clearly.  But I can't tell you just how much Ian enjoyed this day trekking across a frozen lake to face of a glacier - the environment he is in tells you a lot about him.  However, I accept I have probably broken the rules of portrait photography and allowed the environment to distract from the subject.

20mm f/18 1/200 ISO100

Post production I reduced the exposure and increased the red and blue saturation to make Ian really stand out against the background.

18mm f/3.5 1/320 ISO100

Post production I adjusted the exposure and added fill light in order to remove areas of shadow.  Then I used Photoshop to convert the image to black and white.  I used the brush tool to 'brush away' the black and white to leave Ian in colour.

2) Stable girls
I took my camera with me one day went I went up to the stables to see my horse Billy. Some of the girls on the yard had agreed to pose for me. I found it quite difficult on the day as, although they had agreed to have their pictures taken, it was actually really hard to get them to stand still long enough. Therefore, the pictures were taken using just ambient light, without using a reflector, although I did have to use an on camera flash for the indoor shots.

Some of the images are included on this contact sheet, with a selection of them shown as larger images below:

18mm f/6.3 1/25 ISO 100

I positioned Amanda in front of this wall because I thought the colour worked well with her pink top and orange barrow and I increased the colour saturation post production.

28mm f/4.0 1/8 ISO100 plus on camera flash

I haven't done a lot of post production editing on this yet.  To get to a final version I would like to tone down Carolyn's pink cheeks. The editing I have done was to adjust the white balance (the original image was too warm) and I add some fill light to bring out some of the detail of the tack.

32mm f/4.0 1/60 ISO100

Post production I reduced the exposure by 0.5 and increased the red and blue saturation.

Sue just wouldn't stand still while I took this! 

70mm f/5.0 1/200 ISO 100

I was shooting into the light and the sky came out very bright so I reduced the exposure by 1.0 and then reduced the dark tones and used (perhaps a bit too much) fill light  to brighten up Carolyn and Henry.

3) Firemen

These images were taken at Washington Hall International Fire Training and Development Centre in Chorley (http://www.washingtonhall.co.uk/).  I thought this would be an ideal location for both my alien landscapes brief and for environmental portraits and I was able to arrange to follow a team of trainees for a day.  Here are a couple of examples of people photography from the website:

On the day, as we moved around the site to different training areas, I took hundreds of photographs, some of which cross over between environmental and candid portraits.  They were all taken with a Canon EOS 50D with 18-200mm lens.  I chose to use this lens as I wasn't sure how close I'd be allowed to get.  In the event I was able to get right in the action.  Here are a couple of contact sheets with some examples:

and here are a few selected which hopefully full more within environmental than candid!

70mm f/6.3 1/40 ISO100

No editing

 200mm f/6.3 1/30 ISO100

Post production editing included some slight cropping and adjustment to the saturation.

60mm f/5.0 1/25 ISO100

Post production editing included adjustment to the exposure levels.

These last two below are an indulgence - I am not sure they quite qualify as portraits but they are my favourite shots for the day and I just wanted to show them off!

Chemical plant fire

130mm f/6.3 1/20 ISO100

No editing.

Magnesium fire - 1,200°C!

60mm f/6.3 1/800 ISO100

No editing.

I enjoyed this session at the fire brigade - it was a fascinating day and there was interesting stuff going on to photograph - it would have been difficult not to get some reasonable shots.   Also, the people involved were happy to pose unselfconsciously or be photographed candidly which made it relaxed and fun.  And I enjoyed working 'on the hoof' without having to worry about setting up lighting etc.

4) Big issue vendors

In discussion with Andy Farrington it appears that my interpretation of environmental portraiture (above)doesn't always hit the mark.  So I decided to go ahead with another photo shoot - one I had been considering for a while but had put off as I thought I might find it too challenging.  Through my previous work experience I am used to dealing with people, but I am naturally quite shy and its quite different approaching people in the street rather than dealing with people at work.  Anyway the idea was to photograph street vendors in Manchester - street vendors, big issue sellers, buskers and charity collectors etc .  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the day - all the guys I spoke to were really friendly and helpful.  I only got one refusal to my requests to photograph people and that was from a guy handing out the free loacl newspaper who said he wasn't allowed to be photographed with the company logo.   I even got some life stories along the way.  Here are some of the results on contact sheets followed by some selected images:

Tommy

"You can take as many pictures as you like if you buy me breakfast"

Jenny
Charity collector

Busker
Didn't get his name 'cos he was singing

Bob 

Called me "sweetheart"

The quality of some of the images could be better - it was difficult at times to get the exposures right as it was a really bright day and some of the backgrounds have blown highlights (see Bob above) as I had to overexpose the backgrounds in order to get the subject correctly exposed, and some of the images just aren't sharp enough. But I do think the concept is right and they do capture something of the lives and personalities of the people involved.

The Human condition #2: Candid photography

Concept and planning

Candid portrait photography is about taking informal pictures of people, often without their knowledge. This allows the photographer to capture life as it is, warts and all. It focuses on spontaneity rather than technique.

It is best described as “un-posed and unplanned, immediate and unobtrusive.....Candid photography's setup includes a photographer who is there with the "subjects" to be photographed... The events documented are often private, they involve people in close relation to something they do, or they involve people's relation to each other”. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candid_photography)

One of the great candid photographers was Weegee:

Henri Cartier-Bresson defined the instant at which the shutter should be pressed as the “Decisive Moment”

The decisive moment is what the candid photographer should be trying to capture.  Alfred Eisenstaedt certainly achieved it in his famous picture taken on VJ day in Times Square:

-

whilst Robert Doisneau was found to have 'cheated' in using two models to create this classic candid shot of young lovers in Paris:

Many contemporary photographers carry on the tradition of candid street photography. The images below are examples of work by Jesse Marlow (http://www.jessemarlow.com/about/) :

 

Whilst there are many examples of candid photography by great photographers, I didn’t approach this assignment with any preconceived ideas about who or what I was going to take pictures of. The aim was to take images in a variety of settings, light and weather conditions. There was no real advance planning – I just looked for opportunities when I was out and about to take the camera with me and see what I could get.

I used one of two cameras; a Canon EOS 50D with an 18-200mm lens (so I could stay further away and use the zoom) or a compact Ricoh Capilo R2 (which was small and unobtrusive). Details of the cameras and lenses used are given by selected images below.

Outcomes

1) The Great British Picnic
I took this series of pictures on Barbecue Day at Cartmel Races before I started this course.  I recently came across these images from his series We English by Simon Roberts in Ag Magazine –

- and they immediately put me in mind of the pictures I had taken at Cartmel so I decided to include my pictures here. They were taken on a day when it was largely overcast, so the light was a bit flat.  I used the Canon 50D which I had just bought and so was using on fully automatic setting.

A selection of images from the day are included on these contact sheets:

These are some of the selected images from the above sheets – showing the Great British picnic in all its eccentric glory  The first version of each is my original. 

Canon 50D 120mm 1/250 f/6.3 ISO400

(Post production editing = exposure reduced and colour saturation increased)

Canon 50D 170mm 1/250 f/6.3 ISO400

(Post production editing = exposure reduced and colour saturation increased)

Canon 50D 60mm 1/100 f/5.0 ISO160

(Post production editing = exposure reduced and colour saturation increased).

Andy Farrinton suggested they would be more effective if cropped more closely, so here are cropped versions:

I think some of Martin Parr’s (http://www.martinparr.com/) work also fits in neatly here, not that I'm suggesting my work is like Martin Parr's, but his images from This is England also show the English at play...

2) Parbold Hill
In January I went to Parbold Hill to take some snowy landscape pictures in the Fairy Glen. 

This father and son had the hill to themselves and were having a really fun time, so I took a few snaps of them as well:

 The above images were all taken with a Canon 50D at 200mm 1/320 f/5.6 ISO200.

3) Banff, Alberta
I was on holiday here in February and thought it was a good opportunity to try some candid photography. I still feel self-conscious about taking photographs of people without their knowledge and find it easier in a holiday environment where lots of people are taking photographs, so you don’t stand out.  Pictures were taken indoors and outdoors on different days, so I was dealing with different light conditions.

Here is a contact sheet with a selection of images:

The selected images below illustrate some of the difficulties in candid photography.  For example, people turn away just as you photograph them -

or you suffer camera shake caused by either trying to photograph quickly or by using a slow shutter speed trying to photograph in low light without a flash

The images below were more successful:

Canon 50D 200mm 1/400 f/5.6 ISO100

(Post production editing = some cropping and, as the image was taken into the sun, the use of some fill light was needed)

Canon 50D 200mm 1/250 f/5.6 ISO100

(Post production editing = some cropping and a slight adjustment to the exposure to reduce black clipping)

Canon 50D 200mm 1/100 f/11 ISO 200

(Post production editing - cropping)

Ricoh Capilo R2 18.6mm 1/90 f/4.6 ISO 400

(Post production editing = cropping and, as the photograph was taken indoors without a flash, the exposure was increased and some fill light added).

I also took some action shots at the terrain park - I am not sure that these really class as portrait shots but I have included them because they do capture the decisive moment. (See also contact sheet under 4) below).

Canon 50D 200mm 1/1000 f/7.1 ISO 100

(Post production editing = cropping and adjusting the exposure and colour saturation to compensate for the fact that this was shot into bright sunlight)

Canon 50D 110mm 1/1000 f/5.6 ISO100

(Post production editing = cropping)

Canon 50D 110mm 1/1000 f/5.6 ISO100

(Post production editing = cropping and adjusting the exposure and colour saturation to compensate for the fact that this was shot into bright sunlight)

4) Focus on Imaging, Birmingham

On 7 March I visited the Focus on Imaging event at the NEC in Birmingham and took some candid shots using my compact camera. This was an indoor event where lots of people were wandering around with cameras so it was quite easy to take pictures and if people realised they didn’t seem to mind. A selection of the photos I took are included on the contact sheet below:

Here are some of what I thought would be the best shots but some of which are out of focus, again due to camera shake on slow shutter speeds as I didn't want to use flash:

and some more successful images

I think the above three images have good composition due to the backgrounds they were shot against which give them a strong narrative.

5) Blackburn Town centre
On Monday 8 March a group of us - Emma, Mark, Colin, Kat and me - decided to take a walk round Blackburn town centre to take some candid portraits. I felt more self-conscious and found this more difficult than at the events above because we stood out much more.  I think we were all concerned about people objecting to us taking their photographs without permission but the fact that there were 5 of us and we could support each other if we were confronted made us all feel more confident. I also used my 18-200mm lens to allow me to zoom in from a distance (unlike Mark who has the bottle to stand right in front of people and take their picture).  It was a very bright day and in the sun the light was very harsh but there were also lots of areas of shadow.  This meant having to constantly and quickly change camera settings to try to get the exposure right for different shots.  I again found that some of my images came out blurred – this time due to rushing in an attempt to take the picture without the subject noticing. For example, this wider angle shot looks okay but when I tried to zoom in on the lady on the bench I panicked and ended up with a totally out of focus result:

It was clear when taking some shots that the subject had observed me and didn’t mind having their picture taken. At other times the subject just didn’t notice me.  So one thing I have learnt and need to put into practice is that you can afford to take a little more time in order to get a better quality picture.  A selection of images is included on the contact sheet under 4) above and here are some of my favourites:

50mm 1/8 f/16.0 ISO 200

Post production editing = exposure reduced and fill light used as the person was largely in shadow.

200mm 1/60 f/9.0 ISO 200

Both the images above have been cropped.  I tried cropping the last one down further, just to show the two men on the bench

 

but didn't feel this worked as well as the version above.  It looks better with the wider context and also, in the second version, it looks odd with the cropped person in the background.  The first image only just works though - the tree almost growing out of the man's head is not good compositionally! and something I need to observe and take more care over.

110mm 1/60 f/9.0 ISO200

This is my favourite of these three images as it is more dynamic, although the first one perhaps has more narrative.

I also tried converting these images to black and white as that is more my style:

Overall I am most pleased with the photographs I took at Cartmel as, although they may not be technically accomplished, they have a clear theme.  When I saw the various families and groups having their picnics I knew what story I wanted to capture and the fact that they speak about human nature and British eccentricity.  Whilst I am pleased with some of the other images individually, I am most satisfied with the concept of the Cartmel images.