Researching shot types and lighting

The first thing I learnt when researching shot types was that one of the most important rules when taking photographs of people is to ensure that you don’t cut the star vehicle(s) at the knee, neck, elbow or other joints. To avoid this, you must cut your image off between the joints.

There are many types of shot; I will go into further detail on extreme close ups, close ups, head and shoulders, bust, medium and a sport specific shot of freezing motion. All of these are commonly used when creating media products similar to my own.

Extreme close up: This shot type is often used to reveal intricate details about the model of the picture to show some form of emotion that needs to be put across to the target audience.

  

Close up: This shot type is used to show detail in a more subtle way than the extreme close up shot. It is also less dramatic for the target audience.

Head and Shoulders: Where as the previous two shots were focused on giving detail this shot consists of having just enough detail to notice the model’s facial expression and lips, but doesn’t go into a great depth of this.

Bust Shot:  The bust shot shows your subject from a view that only shows the subject from the knee’s up and focuses the audience on a certain part of the model to attract their attention.

Medium shot: This shot is from just below the waist and spans to above the head. This type of shot is used to give a view of the whole model as opposed to focusing on one specific area. This is a shot often found on the cover of magazines.

Freezing action for sport photography: In sports photography freezing the action is often used to gain a detailed action image. There are essentially two techniques to achieving this. 1) Fast shutter speed. There is a direct link between aperture, shutter speed, ISO value and the light in the scene. Basically, to achieve this type of shot you will able to use speeds that will freeze motion, a fast lens, high ISO setting and good light. 2) Fast light source. The alternative of shooting with a fast shutter speed is exposing with a light source that has a very short duration, like a portable flash. Most on-camera flash systems output light for durations of between 1/800 and 1/30,000sec. It is this brief flash that freezes the motion, usually between 1/125 and 1/250 sec – the length of time that is used to expose your frame is based on the flash’s duration.

Prior to commencing my photo shoots I decided to conduct some research into how to light a shoot. One of my shoots was for a sports star/model in a studio.

 I found this YouTube video that instructed me how to move lights in order to create certain pictures, for example in order to create a dark shade on half of the models face positioning two lights, one away from the face and one close to the head. The video also showed me how

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTzg2EKlt8M

whilst on YouTube and continuing to research I came across another video on lighting. This type of lighting was important to me because it showed how to create sun light on an overcast day, in an outdoor shoot. This was important for me to learn as I had to take many shots outside, of football players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGoCc6F2XJ0

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The next thing I learnt was the importance of light stands. I learnt that they were a crucial part of a photo shoot because they prevent the lights from shaking and moving around. This prevents the lighting being shaky and helps you to keep the light in one place.

Secondly, I learnt how to use a spotlight. This was good for me to learn because I need to take shots of a model in a studio, along with some other equipment for my products. I learnt how to make a model or subject of the shoot stand out from the back ground using a spotlight. The lights must be correctly positioned so that no shadows are created. Usually two spotlights would be used for this type of shoot, one either side of the model/piece of equipment.