1. Describe your decisions made before the shoot: the lighting (natural, reflected or studio), the composition (tight, open, closed), the style (formal, informal, action, etc.), the location (studio, on-site, outdoors) and the ‘gaze’ you chose (how you want your sitter to be viewed).
Before the shoot, I knew I wanted natural lighting and that I wanted somewhere between an open to a closed composition. The style I wanted was informal and natural. The location I chose was outside in a ravine near Upper Middle. The gaze I chose could be described as: expectant, curious, and thoughtful.
2. Describe the shoot. Did you have to change your plans? Did it go the way you had anticipated? Did you run into any problems? How did you solve them?
For the shoot, I did Rehab's (model) make-up, and hair and chose what she would wear :) Then we walked to the ravine and we did a lot of different emotions in the gazes and many different compostions in the photos. I asked her to think of different emotions and some experiences that could help her express them through her gaze. I did not have to change any plans, although I found it harder to get emotions through her eyes as I would have thought, I think it went pretty successfully :). Thankfully, I did not run into any problems, and the shoot went smoothly.
3. Describe the feeling or message you personally take from these photographs.
The feeling I personally get from these photographs are a sense of hope, some anticipation, and some curiosity from her gaze and body language.
4. The Gaze: describe how you wanted the sitter to be viewed. How much power did you have as a photographer to manipulate the image of your subject? Describe the decisions you made to do manipulate ‘the gaze’.
I wanted my sitter to be viewed in a way that is natural and sincere. I wanted Rehab to show real emotion so that the viewer can relate and understand. As a photographer, I manipulated the image by changing the tone, contrast, lighting, and the composition of the photograph. To manipulate my 'gaze' photo, I changed the tone by desaturating the photo and by heightening the contrast from the original photo. I also cropped the photo closer to her eyes so that the photo is concise and well compositioned. Then I used the dodge tool to brighten up her eyes and some features on her face. I think my photo came out very well, and the gaze is strong and engaging :)
