Portraiture

This project was very interesting for me as it challenged my creative abilities as a photographer. I am typically a landscape photographer and have never experimented with portraiture. The most difficult part of this assignment was creating interesting portraits and not just something where you point and shoot. In my selected image, I tried to really use techniques to create a strong image, and utilize the natural light. Using a fast shutter speed and a shallow depth of field I was able to capture snowflakes in the air, and cause them to be blurry in the foreground. This adds both depth and interest to the photo. THis was a self-portrait and I needed to get the lighting perfect for it to be effective. This shot relies on the natural light to provide contrast and value. The vertical trees in the background add lines and form almost a box around me. Space is really important here. The 70-200mm lens allowed me to open the aperture all the way up and create a really nice bokeh that blew out the background, creating mostly empty space. Using that lens was one of my favorite parts of the project as it allows you to capture such detailed high quality photos. Through this project I learned new techniques for my portraiture other than just the standard, looking at the camera senior portrait type. It was really fun to step outside of my comfort zone, feel a little awkward, and take some engaging portraits of myself and others.