Expressive Black and White Photography with Natural Light

Photographic vision

“We have reached the end of the course, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! During this adventure together I have shared with you several methods that I use when doing my work. Now is the time to carry out your project making use of all the tools and knowledge that you have acquired The most important thing is to have a good idea and to be able to develop it. You can realize your concept of nostalgia or, if you want, I invite you to carry out a project other than mine for the final project; Do it taking into account the different steps that I was showing you during the course, the important thing is that you express your ideas. Remember that your personal vision is the most important factor for your projects. Don't stop working on it, as it will make your work stand out and shine as you discover how wonderful the language of fine art photography is. Now I'm going to remind you of the steps that I followed to make my final project so that you have them as a reference so that you can also show them in your own way when you share your project with the community. The concept The first thing I did was define the concept that I would like to work on for the course: nostalgia.

Within nostalgia I did a broad search from another perspective to see how other arts approach it such as cinema (with the film Nostalghia , by the Russian director Andrei Tarkovski), poetry (with the poem La shadow of my soul , by Federico García Lorca) and in music (with the tango Nostalgias , by Enrique Cadícamo). Then I looked for inspiration in the one hundred of the fifties and sixties to be able to develop it, and I decided to focus on the work of Alfred Hitchcock, because of the aesthetics and because I find his films very interesting. In the search for visual material about the time, I found two photos that triggered my first concrete ideas. The first of a kind of warehouse where there are props that serve to contrast, for example, with the look of an actress of the time and that glamor that I like so much. The second, a photo of Hitchcock himself with a small camera that helped me visualize that said actress could have an item in her hand. And that's how I redirected my search from still cameras to small handheld film cameras and collected photographic material to make my point clear. Black and white photography seemed to me the ideal medium to capture it and work with it in the course. Aesthetic references With the concept and inspiration clear, I went to the aesthetic references part to begin to visualize my idea in a more concrete way. And I did it through the style, the details and the location. Regarding style, looking for photos of the actresses of those times, I discovered something that I did not know, and that is what I love about photography, how we are expanding knowledge of culture in general. In this case it was about "the first women who wore pants" read a note on a website; obviously that made me curious, since in the cinema of the time there were many examples of actresses wearing pants. The note read: "Coco Chanel played an important role in accelerating the popularity of trousers as a fashion item. Thus begins the trend of wearing trousers as a regular and normal garment among women, complementing their use with pearls, jewelry and lace. to enhance femininity in an elegant way. " Marlene Dietrich was a strong-minded, transgressive actress with an unmistakable personal sense of fashion. "Dietrich invented, spread and popularized the concept of wearing men's clothing in a very feminine way." Through this, I discarded the use of a dress in the actress from my imagination and focused on the use of pants, which, in some way, in addition to being elegant, I liked what it represented. So I looked for more references of actresses with pants: ">https://www.domestika.org/course-images/000/020/859/20859-big.jpg[/img] In terms of detail, I moved forward with the idea of the film camera as an object for the model to hold in her hand and I found a camera on the internet that fit the idea almost perfectly. I found it on one of those antique objects buying and selling pages and at a really ridiculous price for what it was (so don't forget to check out these types of props, I think you'll be as surprised as I am). Regarding the location, I found a photo on Pinterest that helped me to raise the idea, even visualize it from the middle of the room to be even more specific. In the scouting stage, in the Domestika studios we found a new space that was ideal to work on the course, and that was largely in line with the reference! With the scouting photos I was able to see how the lighting of the place worked, something fundamental that you should not forget to do to see the dimensions, apart from the incidence of light. In this project I worked with a costume designer who contributed with a creative idea for a look based on all the material raised above. Remember the importance that all this visual material was shaping my mood board to help me with the approach of the idea, visualize the details and develop my photographic vision on nostalgia. Put it into practice! Shooting At the time of shooting, remember that all creative decisions go to the photographer, who is the one who directs the session. Try to make adjustments to the location before your model arrives, if possible, so you can spend more time on it. If you need more tests with the light, do them. If you have to discard items, do that too. Take your time to explain to your model what you are going to do, you can anticipate how you are going to direct your posture in terms of gaze directions and body positions; This will allow you to have a fluid dialogue. It is also important to share with your model what is happening from your camera, so he will understand your vision as a photographer. In short, you have to be attentive to all the details that occur from materials to humans, go with all your senses on! Another very important recommendation that I would like you to take into account based on my experience, since the sessions take time, is the human side of the session, the gestures of cordiality and the connection with your model. For example, making sure you have a place to rest while you test lights and arrange the place, be aware if it is hot, have water available in individual bottles and some food details are not too much for moments of relaxation. All these details make the work environment more pleasant also with the rest of the team in case you work with a makeup artist, an assistant, a client, friend, etc. You will see how everything flows in a very positive way with all these details contemplated. Select, edit and export your favorite photos! In Unit 5 we saw two ways of editing, with Camera RAW and Silver Efex Pro filters, you can use the one that is more comfortable or both in a complementary way. These are my final 3 photos: Now it's your turn, don't forget to share your final project by clicking on "Create your project". As I have done, it would be great if you showed a picture of each step of your process and added a brief explanation about what you have done in the different stages, so I can give you feedback! You can also exchange advice with other colleagues, as it is interesting and very enriching. If you have any questions, I'll be here to solve them, I really want to see your projects! If it takes a while for me to reply to you, please be patient, I promise I will do it as soon as possible. I hope you enjoyed the course as much as I did, and remember that the important thing is to develop your own style to capture your vision of reality. See you soon! Marcelo Di Rienzo ”

Partial transcription of the video

“FINAL PROJECT Now I will make a summary of everything seen in the course. In the first part I started teaching you how is the creative process that I follow to develop an idea. Then I have shown you how to find aesthetic references for photos. In this part the most important thing is to focus on what we want to do, but go to detail. Next, I have shown you how I work photographic vision, that is, the look that will give the photos personality. Then we learned about the technical part of photography. I have told you about the different planes and camera angles, in addition to compositional fu...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Expressive Black and White Photography with Natural Light

• Level: Beginner
• 100% positive reviews (12)
• 675 students
• 5 units
• 15 lessons (2h 47m)
• 4 downloads

• Category

  Photography & Video

• Software

  Camera Raw

• Areas

  Photo Retouching, Photographic Lighting, Photography, Portrait Photography, Studio Photography