Assignment 5

Assignment five looks at professional photography being performed to order, for a contracted purpose, and deliver results that the client has asked for. This well-defined assignment should benefit the photography as it directs the creative effort, which is what I will explore.

This assignment started off with the suggestion of photographs taken for a opticians in my local town centre, photographs which could help to update their website. Researching the subject I came up with a list of possible shots, with updating the website in mind:

Assignment 5 - shot list for website update

This list would produce a good selection from which the opticians could pick from for their website and also a number of suitable images for the assignment,  but I felt the assignment would benefit from a little creativity & progressed with the idea of a set of images to depict 'a day in the life of an optician', bringing in the element of telling a story, which would add some direction to the assignment.

The assignment begins with the introduction of Emma, the Optometrist and subject of my assignment - permission obtained from third parties.

Emma's morning begins with her first consultation, which includes the reading test, directing the client to the correct area to read whilst explaining the reason for the test.

I used a speed light aimed at the ceiling to bounce light into the room without draining the light out of the subjects, the light balance needed to be altered using the sliders in Light Room and also the temperature needed reducing slightly.

Image 1
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 28mm, f/4.0 1/30sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

The next step of the examination uses the slit lamp, which allows Emma to look at the back of the patient's eye to identify possible problems such as bleeding indicating further, urgent investigation.

As the speed light was used, the white balance was different in these two images, I used Lightroom to adjust the temperature of the white balance to get the best match for the color of the image using the wall and the red coat.

Image 2
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 17mm, f/2.8 1/60sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

This image shows the lenses & prisms used for refraction,the measurement of strength of lenses required in order to correct the vision to the best possible result, know as the tools of the trade. I used a shallow depth of field to lead the eye to the numbers of the lenses showing the sequence of their storage.  Again the temperature of the white balance of this image was adjusted in Light room to keep the sequence of colour for the set of images.

Image 4
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 54mm, f/5.0 1/25sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

I wanted to include a couple of still life images in this set, the sort of image produced by Taryn Simon's Contraband, where photographs were taken of items detained or seized from passengers and through the mail entering the United States from abroad. The series gives a fascinating view of what people are prepared to try to bring into a country, and what people feel might be an important item to take with them, it makes the view wonder why this particular item held such importance:   examples of Taryn Simon - Contraband

This image below of a slit lamp is take in a similar style, I would have preferred not to have any background such at the water pipe, but moving the equipment was a little tricky, the background saturation was reduced and shadows lifted in order to achieve the 'sterile' look of Simon's work, more negative space around the object would have produced a more authentic Taryn Simon style image but space was at a premium being in a small optometrist consultation room.

Image 5
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 21mm, f/45.6 1/25sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

The image below, again in a Taryn Simon style, was taken using white A4 paper on the counter with one of the receptionists kindly holding the glasses (out of shot) by the arm and pointing upwards in order to reduce the shadows created by letting the glasses sit on the paper. I wanted the eye of the view to see the Dolce & Gabbana for obvious advertisement purposes in order for the opticians to use the photo for their website. I Lightroom I reduced shadow, increased clarity, black and quite a bit of white in order to get a cleaner, more clinical look.

Image 6
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 55mm, f/5.0 1/125sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

For the image below, Emma had moved to the main part of the shop, where a patient wanted her glasses fitted correctly, Emma is seen here adding a dot to the lens in order to fit the frame to the face. I wanted to include an image of Emma working in the shop area in the set to show the variety in her working day. 

Image 7
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 37mm, f/2.8 1/125sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

Emma finishes off her day with the required paperwork. The white balance of the image was matched to the images taken with the same wall as a background to ensure continuity throughout the set.

Image 8
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 42mm, f/4.5 1/25sec, wb daylight, Canon speedlight fired

During the planning discussion, the owner of the optician's had asked for images of the designer frames, that they could use in the 'shop' or on the website. This image below of some Jimmy Choo sunglasses was taken with the focus on the sunglasses, I felt the blurred out 'Jimmy Choo' was obvious in the background and didn't need to be in focus, the subject of attention being the actual product. This, and the next couple of images are shot with a similar approach, the designer name in the background with the product in focus, shot in this way to gain continuity for a set of image that the client may wish to use.

Image 9
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 44mm, f/2.8, 1/125, wb daylight

Again with image 10, the blurred out 'Tiffany & Co' was enough to gain the interest of the viewer. 

Image 10
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 54mm, f/4.0, 1/160, wb daylight

The name of the designer, 'Dolce & Gabana', is a little harder to see in this image as it appears on the lens of the glasses, but the large, sparkly letters of the brand, leave the viewer/customer in no doubt of the designer.

Image 11
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 38mm, f/3.5, 1/160, wb daylight

The client wanted images of the children's glasses, the first images of the racks of different coloured lenses appeared very flat, I soon discovered that taking photo's of glasses is very 'samey' , I felt the change in the angle of view added a more dynamic and fun look, which, after all, is what the client was looking for. I would've preferred to have a model child to added a different element to the images, unfortunately the only times I could take the images were in school hours. 

Image 12
Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 34mm, f/3.5, 1/160, wb daylight

For this image above I tried to capture the colours of the frames, putting the frame on an angle for added dynamism and movement. This was a difficult image to take as the restriction of space and reflection made it difficult to get what I wanted

Image 13

Canon 70d, RAW, exposure TV, ISO200, 31mm, f/3.5, 1/160, wb daylight

I wanted to show the variety of frames available to the customers and tried to get as many of the frames into my frame as possible. I cropped off the corner of the cabinet in the first image as this was too distracting from the subjects. I also converted into black and white to see what this looked like with regard to the lines, but felt the colours added the required depth for the subject I felt.