Photography 1
People and Place
Level HE4 – 40 CATS
This course has been written by Michael Freeman
Photographs © Michael Freeman unless otherwise stated
Open College of the Arts
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2 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Contents
Times suggested here are only a guideline: you may want to spend a lot more. Research and writing time, time for
reflecting and logging your learning are included.
Approximate time in hours
Page
Before you start
Part one People aware
Projects
Assignment one
Assignment two
Assignment three
9
11
Settings, backgrounds and locations
Light
14
15
Activity
17
Expression
20
A portrait sequence
Pose and stance
22
24
A portrait
25
80
27
A comfortable situation
29
The moment
30
Medium telephoto
32
Wide-angle
33
Standard focal length
34
Public events, public spaces
35
People and activity
36
Part three Buildings and spaces
Projects
80
Types of portrait framing
Part two People unaware
Projects
5
80
37
Space and function
38
Space and light
41
Buildings in use
42
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 3
Part four People interacting
with place
Projects
Assignment four
43
Quiet places, busy places
44
People – unrecognisable
48
A matter of balance
49
Special processing
50
A sense of place
51
Part five People and place,
on assignment
Assignment five
80
80
53
People and place on assignment
51
Reading and resources
56
Guidelines for submission for formal assessment
57
Appendices
4 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Before you start
Your OCA Student Handbook should be able to answer most questions about this and all other
OCA courses, so keep this to hand as you work through this course.
Course aims
One of the key purposes of this course is to stretch your photographic skills in terms of the
subject material you choose and to broaden the range of your work by tackling subjects that
include people – arguably, the most interesting photographic subject of all.
This course should also start you thinking in terms of photographic assignments which must
meet certain criteria laid down at the start, and also meet a deadline. Photographs to order, in
other words.
There is a considerable difference between photographing at leisure and whenever the mood
takes you, and photographing to deliver a particular result that you have promised. The former
may seem, on the face of it, to be a luxury, but the experience of most photographers shows
that the need to fulfil a target, be it creative or practical, is actually a great aid. For professional
photographers, for example, shooting an assignment to a deadline is not so much a burden as
a blessing – it focuses attention and is a directive for simply getting the work done.
The assignment ethos in photography involves planning and preparation, thinking in advance
about what and how to shoot, with constant reviews of the progress as the shoot continues.
The deadline itself establishes a cut-off point, and just by existing neatly circumvents a
common creative issue – when to stop and say that the work is finished as well as possible.
By the end of this course you should be able to:
• use technical and interpersonal skills effectively to capture images which reflect your
ideas
• demonstrate the importance of note taking, research, ideas and concepts to the process
of developing a story
• demonstrate a good level of ability in the effective selection and editing of images to
achieve objectives
• show that you can reflect perceptively on your learning experience.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 5
Your learning log
Keeping a learning log is an integral part of this and every other OCA course. If you’re new to
OCA courses, read your Keeping sketchbooks and learning logs study guide for further
information.
Your tutor
Your tutor is your main point of contact with OCA. Before you start work make sure that you’re
clear about your tuition arrangements. The OCA tuition system is explained in some detail in
your Student Handbook.
If you haven’t already done so, please write a paragraph or two about your experience to date.
Add background information about anything that you think may be relevant for your tutor to
know about you (your profile) – for example, your own practice, your reasons for exploring this
subject, what you expect to achieve from taking the course. Email or post your profile to your
tutor as soon as possible. This will help them understand how best to support you during the
course.
Arrange with your tutor how you’ll deal with any queries that arise between assignments.
Your tutor is only paid to deal with your assignments, but may be happy to respond to the
occasional email too.
Send or show your tutor a cross-section of the work that you’ve done for each assignment in
addition to the finished pieces. This should be preliminary work for the final assignment piece
as well as a sample of the work you’ve done for the various exercises. For example, you could
scan or photograph the relevant pages of your learning log and email them to your tutor and
then post the final assignment piece. Or you could post your learning log as an online blog on
the OCA website so that your tutor can see how your work is developing. It’s particularly
important that your tutor sees regular evidence of your development if you’re planning to have
your work on this course formally assessed.
Make sure that you label any work that you send to your tutor with your name, student number
and the assignment number. Your tutor will get back to you as soon as possible after receiving
your assignment but this may take a little time. Continue with the course while you’re waiting
6 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Formal assessment
Read the section on assessment in your Student Handbook at an early stage in the course.
Your Assessment and how to get qualified study guide gives more detailed information about
assessment and accreditation. For assessment you’ll need to submit a cross-section of the work
you’ve done on the course. You’ll also need to submit your learning log, sketchbooks and tutor
reports.
Only work done on this course should be submitted to your tutor or for formal assessment.
Planning ahead
This Level 1 course represents 400 hours of learning time. Allow around 20% of this time for
reflection and learning log development. The course should take about a year to complete if
you spend around 8 hours each week on it.
As with all OCA courses, these course materials are intended to be used flexibly but keep your
tutor fully informed about your progress. You’ll need to allow extra time if you decide to have
your work formally assessed.
Photography 1: People and Place is divided into five parts, corresponding to the five course
assignments. Each part of the course addresses a different issue or topic and is separated into
projects designed to tackle the topic in bite-sized chunks. The first assignment is a diagnostic
assignment that will allow your tutor to get a feel for your work and help him or her to decide
how best to support you. This assignment is not submitted for formal assessment.
It’s important that your tutor sees some printed work and not just emailed images. Make sure
that you send prints of at least some of the photographs that you submit for your assignments.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 7
Reading
You’ll find a suggested further reading list at the end of this course guide and a regularly
updated version on the OCA website.
Referencing your reading
Whenever you read something that you might want to refer to in your projects and
assignments, get into the habit of taking down the full reference to the book, article or website
straight away. You must fully reference any other work that you draw on if you plan to go for
formal assessment. To do this you should use the Harvard system of referencing – there is a
guide to referencing using the Harvard system on the OCA website. Getting down the full
reference at the time will save you the frustration of having to hunt for the details of a halfremembered reference long after the event – and ensure that you don’t inadvertently plagiarise
someone else’s work.
Public parks are good places to explore varied activities.
8 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Photography 1
Part one People aware
Introduction
There are many, many ways of photographing people. Perhaps even an infinite number. But
what concerns us here is the variety of relationships between the photographer — you — and
the subject. Does the person you are planning to photograph know that you are? Do you know
them personally or are they a stranger? Even if you do know them, and they are co-operating
in the shoot, are you directing them or are you hoping to simply record their natural actions —
as natural as is possible when they know they are under the eye of a camera? Clearly, there are
many of these essentially practical photographic possibilities.
From this practical point of view of setting out to take photographs, the most important
division is the one adopted here, between when people are aware that you are taking their
picture, and unaware. Many less experienced photographers feel apprehensive about
photographing people unawares, which is normal in street photography — passing by, quickly
observed, spur of the moment, but with the risk that the person you photograph may notice,
and may mind. To ease you through the various difficulty levels of photographing people, we
will start with people aware. This of course requires some organising, but once you are through
that hurdle, your subject is likely to be amenable.
When we think of a portrait, what we normally have in mind is this — the sitter, positioned and
lit, looking out through the camera's lens to the viewer. It is a kind of statement in which the
person being photographed is saying, 'This is who I am, and this is what I look like.' It is
deliberate and considered, and stands in a long line of tradition from the earliest portrait
painting. Underlying such portraits is an arrangement between the sitter and the photographer.
As you’ll see, there are other, more fluid and less formal ways of arriving at the same end, but
in the case of a planned and posed likeness, the two of you are in some sort of agreement to
make it work.
Who to photograph for these projects? The simplest answer is, the people you know best and
who are nearby and available.
The practical work that you’ll do on this course will be as much about social relationships as
photography, whether you’re photographing someone you know or facing the potential
embarrassment of photographing a stranger in the street without upsetting them. Please be
aware that some people – especially people with children – may feel uncomfortable about
being photographed by someone they don’t know. Be very careful not to cause unease or
anxiety and always stop shooting if asked to do so.
10 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Project Types of portrait framing
Over the years, the 'classic' portrait
composition has come to be a framing that
includes the torso, head and shoulders. The
angle of the subject's shoulders in relation
to the camera is important. If the shoulders
are too square to the camera then the
photograph may look static and formal, too
much like an identity photo. The tilt of the
subject's head also makes a difference.
Upright and straight into the camera
presents a look of honesty and solidity. If
the head is slightly tilted to one side, it can
look coy. Tilted the other way, it can look
slightly quizzical. Consider the height of the
camera in relation to the subject. Safe and
sensible is a few degrees above the subject's
eye-line. In this moderately tight
composition, your subject's clothing and
hair will be highly visible, and play a part.
The background should be relatively
unobtrusive
unless
it
has
a
constructive role to play in the photograph.
The most common formal portrait framing includes the head and upper
torso, but note the closer variation of head-and-shoulders.
Cropping in on just the face can produce
the most intimate of all kinds of portrait,
but demands the most care in technical
matters of lens, lighting and depth of field.
Inevitably, you will be working with a
relatively short depth of field, making it
important to keep sharp focus on the eyes.
If these are sharp in the photograph,
softened focus elsewhere (such as the ears)
is conventionally acceptable.
The background, naturally, hardly appears.
Tight framing on the face alone usually involves some
cropping. The eyes gain in attention.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 11
A full-length portrait, whether the subject is sitting or standing, involves decisions about the setting.
Pulling back for a full-length portrait allows you to show your subject in an entirely different
way to the more classical, tighter compositions. By pulling back you lose the detail of
expression but you gain greater freedom to explore stance, pose and body language. The
arrangement of your model's limbs, the angle of their shoulders and their position in the frame
all assume the same level of importance that facial expression has in closer compositions. In
almost the same way that we all learn to read facial expressions as children, we all have a basic
knowledge of body language. Legs can be straight or crossed, hands can go into pockets or
behind the back and arms can be stretched out or folded. Experiment with the transfer of their
weight from one leg to the other and then equally between both legs. You can also try asking
your model to lean against something – walls, door frames and posts all make good supports
and your model can lean with their shoulder, back or hands. The list of possible poses and
variations on those poses is almost endless.
12 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Exercise: Portrait – scale and setting
This exercise will help you to consider both composition and the weight of attention to
place on the face of your subject.
You will need to find a suitably interesting and attractive setting for a portrait, and then
vary the distance (or the focal length). Prepare by studying a number of examples of
portrait, from books and magazines.
It will help to keep your composition steady and consistent if you use a tripod. It will also
help if the subject is positioned comfortably.
Begin with a tight framing on the face in which at least part of the outline of the head is
cropped by the frame. Take a number of pictures and then pull back for the second
framing. This should include head and shoulders in view. ‘Pulling back’ can be either by
physically moving the camera if you are using one fixed lens; by shortening the focal
length if you are using a zoom; or a combination of the two. Be aware that shooting very
close with a wide-angle or even standard lens can exaggerate the perspective on
prominent parts of the face, with less than flattering results; we will examine this in more
detail later.
Pull back again for a third framing that includes the torso. You will have to decide
whether to crop above or below the waistline, and also what to do with the subject’s
hands. Notice how these tend to catch the eye in certain positions, and so alter the way
in which a viewer’s attention will be affected. Don’t forget the background. Does it play a
part in your composition?
Finally, pull right back for a full-length portrait. The framing will mainly depend on
whether you have decided to have your subject sitting or standing.
You should complete four scales of portrait in this one session:• Face, cropped in close
• Head and shoulders
• Torso, taking into account arms and hands
• Full figure
When you have processed the images, and selected those you consider the most
successful from each of the four subject areas, review the images and consider how a
viewer will react to each portrait in terms of the weight of attention to different
elements. The face will, in at least the first three, be the main attractant, and within the
face the eyes.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 13
Project Settings, backgrounds,
locations
A portrait does not have to be restricted to depicting the face alone, or even the person alone.
There are times when it makes sense to bring the location into the photograph, and even to let
it play a leading role. With the single exception of the 'pure' studio portrait, in which the canvas
is a blank backdrop for the sitter, all photographs of people take place in some definable
setting, and if this is particularly interesting or relevant to the person, you may want to consider
stepping back and making something of it.
The more prominence you give to the setting, the smaller the relative size of the person in the
frame will be. You can organise this either by shooting from further away or by using a widerangle lens focal length.
Photographing people on their own home ground helps them to relax and be themselves, and
so eases the occasion.
A short checklist for a setting
• Is it reasonably consistent in tone and features?
• Does it complement or contrast with the person? Either can work.
• Does it need tidying and/or cleaning? Look for scraps on the floor, anything obviously
disordered, drawers left open, doors ajar, and so on.
• Are there unnecessarily distracting objects in view? Look for strong clashing colours,
images (posters, photographs, paintings) and/or words (posters, book covers, signs). Do
they add or detract?
Exercise: Thinking about location
For this exercise you will play the role of a location hunter.
The brief is to find six very different settings or backgrounds which could be used
effectively and attractively for either a whole body or torso portrait. You will need to take
into account the lens focal length and camera position, and the lighting. Many things
can work together to make an attractive backdrop, so there is no simple formula, and
ultimately your choice will be based on what you like. That said, tonal and textural
simplicity from edge to edge is a reliable quality when you come across it.
Take reference pictures of the locations as you come across them (an example of the
advantage of carrying a camera with you as often as possible), without people. Finally,
choose one of them and return with a portrait subject and photograph them.
14 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Project Light
Lighting for portraiture can, in a professional studio, be a complex and expensive business, but
with some care and effort you can find locations in natural light that will be perfectly
adequate. Moreover, at this course level, photographic lighting can be too much of a
distraction. Here, we need simply to ensure that the lighting is neither harsh nor too flat.
Three very different uses of mainly natural light.
Beware of using on-camera flash; this has its uses, but used as the sole illumination is rarely
flattering or acceptable for portraits. If you do decide to use on-camera flash, two techniques
will help: one is to aim the flash head upwards at a steep angle towards a ceiling, in order to
give a broad, diffuse light from above; the other is to reduce its contribution to the overall
ambient lighting to about 1/4. These options depend on the particular flash unit.
The face and head are highly responsive to changes in the quality of light. A face has several
important planes that can catch or block the light, at times casting some key area (especially
the eyes) into shade, and at times casting shadows that confuse the composition (especially
the nose). There is, therefore, a big difference in effect between sunlight and shade.
On the plus side, sunlight has sparkle, good contrast and can produce catchlights in the eyes;
against this, it can appear harsh, cast unattractive shadows across the face, and cause
squinting. In favour of shade, there are no shadow problems and the overall effect is soft, which
is good for downplaying skin blemishes; against this, there may be no modelling effect, so that
the effect is flat and the face lacks volume. The middle ground of soft directional light, as with
hazy sunlight or a photographic lamp that is spread through a broad diffuser, is for most
photographers a dependable option, although not one to be followed slavishly.
Added to this is the matter of whether you are trying to go beyond the basic aim of making a
recognisable portrait. If you are trying to flatter, a common request from sitters (‘please make
me look good’), then there are well-honed lighting techniques that can help, although most
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 15
require controlled studio lighting. One such basic technique, which can be used anywhere with
a close portrait, is to reflect light up from beneath, to lighten the shadows that fall naturally
below the chin and below the nose and lower lip. There are custom-made photographic
reflectors, in silvered fabric and collapsible, but you can improvise easily with aluminium
cooking foil.
Exercise: Experimenting with light
Try and use the same person as a model for this exercise. Take between four and six
standard head and shoulders portraits that are very different in lighting effect. It is not
necessary to use professional photographic lighting, although of course if you have
access to this, by all means use it (but if you do, use it for one or two of the images only).
Find locations in which the light varies and is suitable for taking a portrait photograph.
With tight framing the distraction of the setting is eliminated so that the shape and
planes of the face will clearly show differences in shadows, highlights and the general
quality and direction of light.
Consider the time of day and weather when you use natural lighting, reflected light from
white walls and artificial photographic surfaces, and diffusion, in which the light is
filtered and spread through another material (which could be a blind, tracing paper, even
the leaves of a tree). Think also of adding light into an existing set-up, such as by using a
photographic reflector.
A Chinese artist famous for his caricature faces (based on self portrait). The background is complex, distracting, but very powerful.
16 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Project Activity
There is often value in encouraging subjects to occupy themselves in some simple way. This is
particularly useful if you don't yet have a clear idea of how to arrange the shot and the person
feels awkward or self-conscious. On arrival, before shooting look around to see if any obvious
activity presents itself. This usually involves your subject holding something or demonstrating
how something is done, and neither of these needs to be complicated.
One of the standard variants is the interview shot, a staple of magazine and newspaper feature
pages. The advantage for shooting is that it circumvents any problems of expression or selfconsciousness, but the pose and camera position are still important. Ideally, you should look
for an animated expression — it should look as if the person is in the middle of making an
interesting point. Nevertheless, there are pitfalls — an open mouth can look vacant or awkward.
Expressive hand gestures usually help the shot (try asking the person to explain something),
but make sure that the shutter speed is fast enough to freeze the movement, and watch out for
hands obscuring the face. Be prepared to shoot a large number of images from which to select.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 17
Contextual portrait
One highly effective way of making a portrait, although it takes some preparation, is to set the
person in the context of what they do – whether work, an interest, some characteristic location
or unique activity. This approach, heavily used by magazines, attempts to cram more
information than usual into the image, by telling a mini-story.
The reason it is used so often editorially is because this kind of picture usually accompanies an
interview or an article which is focused on some aspect of the person's life. In this sense it is a
form of photo-journalism. The key is to decide on what the appropriate context is – the location
and the props. It may all exist already, or it may be necessary to bring together a number of
objects. In either case, be prepared to spend some time organising the shot. There are no rules
about lens focal length, but there is often an argument in favour of a wider angle simply in
order to gather together a number of things in the frame. If the props are small, a wide-angle
lens will emphasise them if they are arranged in the foreground.
This kind of portrait lends itself to a natural, artless approach, and by encouraging the subject
to do whatever comes naturally, you have the strong possibility of capturing an unselfconscious
spontaneity. The activity itself, whatever it is, will typically take over the occasion, and remove
any awkwardness that you and the subject may feel at the beginning.
Four contextual portraits, each in a setting related to the
subject's work: a chef in the kitchen,
a French chef in her restaurant, a designer
and (opposite) a documentary photographer.
18 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Exercise: An active portrait
First discuss with your potential subject what kind of natural activity he or she would be
interested in, and whether this would be indoors or outdoors, sedentary or moving about.
For ease of execution, you might find it easier to avoid fast-moving activity, simply
because of the extra technical demands of composition, changing camera settings and so
on. The point of having an activity is to preoccupy your subject, and if this can be
achieved without too much movement or changes in location, so much the better.
As this is primarily a portrait exercise rather than an exercise in reportage, try not to get
distracted by the demands of showing how the actions are performed. In other words, for
example, if you have decided to photograph someone pruning in a garden, you do not
need to show exactly how the pruning works — concentrate instead on the person and
the facial expression.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 19
Project Expression
Facial expression is arguably the single most important variable in a portrait. And naturally, it
does vary, often from second to second. The phrase ‘capturing the expression’ has become
something of a cliché, but that is simply because timing the shutter release is extremely
important. We’ll return a number of times to the question of the best moment to shoot, but
here, as with so much photography of people, the difference between one moment and another
can be considerable in terms of the success of a photograph.
Expression is concentrated not just in the eyes, but in the interplay of all the features of the
face, and this is also affected by the angle at which you view it. Some photographers know
what expression they want from their subject and work hard to encourage it, while others prefer
to watch and capture a naturally-occurring expression. Both methods are perfectly valid and
both rely on you establishing a rapport with the subject. Time spent getting the trust of your
subject will be repaid with interest when you start shooting.
Establishing a rapport with your subject begins from the instant that you first have contact. If
the person is a friend or relative then use your existing relationship. If you’re photographing a
stranger, you will probably need to establish a relationship that inspires trust. The combination
of an easy, confident manner with some simple topics of conversation is the easiest way. While
there are many photographer/portrait subject relationships possible, the most reliable is to be
amiable, while showing enough confidence to quietly direct your subject. With the exception
of extroverts, the majority of people face a photo with some degree of reserve and even
discomfort. Hence it may take some work on your part and a little time for them to relax and
open up.
20 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Exercise: Eye contact and expression
There is an important difference in the overall look and character of a portrait between
images in which the subject is looking straight to camera, and those in which the subject
is looking away, even if only slightly. This is the photographer’s decision, and you may
have a distinct preference for one or the other, but often it is by no means obvious which
may produce the better image.
For this exercise, set up a portrait session in which the face is prominent (and so perhaps
head-and-shoulders or torso), and over the course of the shooting direct your subject to,
at times, look towards you and at others away. ‘Away’ can mean anything from slightly
away from the camera to looking completely to one side, and you will need to give some
‘stage’ directions.
Eye contact is not at all easy to maintain when you are constantly looking through a
camera so it is important to keep the communication between you and your subject alive
through conversation and gesture.
It is equally important to use eye contact whenever you aren't looking through the lens
just as you would if you were having a normal conversation. Ideally, you should use a
tripod for this project — one of its uses is that, once the shot is framed, you can talk
directly to the sitter without having to look through the viewfinder.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 21
Project A portrait sequence
Your portrait shoot will generate a sequence of portraits which differ subtly or substantially
from one another, depending on how you’ve directed the shoot and what you’ve tried to
achieve. At some stage, you’ll have to make a selection of the image or image(s) that work the
best. Here’s a short checklist to help you with reviewing a portrait sequence. You’ll get a chance
to use this in the next exercise.
A checklist for reviewing a portrait sequence
• Is the general composition satisfactory?
• Is there anything behind the subject that appears to emerge from the head?
• Is there anything that can be left out of the frame to make it simpler?
• Is the lighting balance about right?
• How is the angle of the head?
• How is the facial expression?
• Does the body language communicate ease, tension, alertness, or what?
Exercise: Review a portrait sequence
Set up a portrait session in a formal, structured way, so that you have a consistent setting
and framing. For this, it will be very useful to use a tripod, so that you can concentrate
more on the situation, and so that the only variable between the series of pictures that
you take will be the expressions and gestures of the subject.
Plan to take a considerable number of images in order to explore all the possibilities and
fine nuances of expression – at least 20. The essential element in this project is that you
concentrate fully on the person’s expression (and gesture or pose if they vary), assessing
it from frame to frame in order to select what you consider to be the best of the
sequence. This on-the-spot assessment will affect the photography in the way you talk to
and direct your subject, and in the moments you choose to make each exposure; it will
also affect the way you review and edit the sequence of images later, on the computer.
Immediately after the shooting, write down as well as you remember the frame by frame
progress of your subject’s expression, noting which you felt at the time were the best. At
what point did you decide that it was time to stop shooting, and why?
Next, open the sequence of images in your browser and review the images a second time.
Rate them as follows: a) not good, b) acceptable, c) good and d) the best single shot,
according to your judgement. How, if at all, did this later review differ from the way you
saw it at the time of shooting?
22 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Lens focal length
Portraits on the scale of framing of head-and-shoulders or face generally favour a medium-tolong focal length, for two reasons. Being very close to your subject will usually make them
uncomfortable, and the minimum amount of space that you need to give them is around two
metres; thus, a focal length of approximately 80 mm to 120 mm (the full-frame SLR equivalent)
generally works well. The second reason is that by flattening the perspective, all the facial
features are shown close to their true size. A wider angle lens used from closer to fill the frame
will exaggerate the apparent size of the nose and front part of the face.
Exercise: Focal length
Even though you will already have been using a variety of focal lengths to suit different
settings and to crop in on the face, or head and shoulders, in this exercise plan to make
exactly the same framing on a face with different focal lengths. With a zoom lens, use at
least three: at either end of the zoom scale and in the middle. If you have more than one
lens, use that, too. You will need to move the camera towards and away from your
subject to keep the framing consistent.
Examine the results. The proportions will be different, and in general, the longer the focal
length, the more attractive the face will appear. Note your own judgement of the
differences according to how attractive or acceptable you think the results look.
A sequence as shot, viewed in a browser window.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 23
Project Pose and stance
Over the course of the previous projects, you will have had to make the transition from portraits
that are fully concentrated on the face of the subject to compositions in which the face has
reduced importance in favour of the rest of the body, and the setting. Expression, as you’ve seen
in the previous two projects, is the variable that for most people makes the biggest difference
to the success of a portrait photograph.
Pulling back to take in most or all of the body makes it increasingly important to consider
another variable — the way the figure arranges itself. Pose or stance is the body’s equivalent of
expression. Certain moments in the way a figure moves or sits or stands, leans and so on are
more elegant or expressive than others.
If you take the time to study how people move, without a camera, you will begin to recognise
these moment-to-moment changes, and see them with an eye to what would look best in a
photograph. But also, with fast movement – even a person simply walking – the camera has a
habit of revealing certain unexpected moments of position. To stay with the example of a
person walking, depending on
the fraction of a second at
which the picture is taken, the
position can look mobile or
static, even though we know
that the movement is
progressing at the same pace.
However, action introduces its
own technical difficulties, so for
this project stick to a static
pose.
Exercise: Varying the pose
Take some time to flick through a number of magazines that feature pictures of people,
and note the variety of poses that are used. In addition to the basic ones of sitting,
leaning, standing, walking, squatting, and so on, there are variations in the way the limbs
are positioned, the hands, twists and turns in the torso, and more.
For this exercise set up a portrait session, and plan for your subject to adopt in turn at
least three different basic positions (sitting, standing, etc.). Within these, suggest, as you
shoot, different limb positions. Later, review the results and assess how effective or
attractive the variations were.
24 OCA Photography 1 People and Place
Assignment one
A portrait
This first assignment is to introduce yourself to your tutor and give them the opportunity to
get to know you and your work. This assignment is not submitted for formal assessment.
Drawing together your experiences in completing the projects so far, take one person as a
subject and create between five and seven different portraits.
These should differ in type and style, and each be from a separate photographic session
(there is no need to attempt this set all in one day, and indeed it will be more useful as an
assignment if you take some time over it).
In your learning log:
• Critically assess your finished work. Consider each portrait individually.
• Identify what has worked well and what has been less successful and analyse the
reasons for this
• Consider where you need to strengthen your own skills and understanding and explain
how you hope to achieve this.
Make sure that all work is labelled with your name, student number and assignment
number, then send it to your tutor together with extracts from your learning log or a link
to your learning blog. Make sure that you include some prints in your assignment
submission. You don’t need to wait until you’ve heard from your tutor before continuing
with the course.
OCA Photography 1 People and Place 25
A very simple, clean and
contrasting background (the
subject is the owner of this hotel
built entirely of ice)
London's annual Lord Mayor's
Show is one example of an
organised event with plenty of
opportunity for shooting.
A classic split-second
moment caught
26 OCA Photography 1 People and Place