Halp Meh!

d1blet · Feb 6, 2009

Let's be honest, my experience with photography is very very limited. I have absolutely no experience whatsoever when it comes to post-processing and all that I do know when it comes to photography is the holy trinity of exposure (shutter, aperture, and iso), how aperture plays with dof, and the rule of the third. I've fallen hard for photography, but I'm not exactly what you would call talented.

I have the Xsi with the nifty fifty, kit 18-55 and soon the Canon 10-22. I shoot in RAW and only shoot in either M or Av modes. Well here's the problem:

My University is hosting a photography contest. One of the themes is "identity". I know this is probably an idea that's been beaten to death before but what I was thinking that my submission will be a collage. I'm thinking about taking pictures of 3 boys/girls, all very diverse, doing a BW conversion and then combining it all together in a simple frame and then calling it quits. The shots are going to be simple headshots and the models/people I pull off the street/campus/dorms are all going to look quite different from one another.

So my questions are:
Should I try something with lighting? I have a crappy halogen lamp that I can prolly play around with that can accentuate tones or make soft shadows with their facial features.

Should I do something a bit different? Instead of having 6 pictures all lined up and neat, I could try to combine it so that it kinda looks like a face. I think this might be a bit hard seeing as I have on post-processing abilites at all haha.

What would you guys do?

finch13 · Feb 6, 2009

Post processing rarely gets you brownie points with judges. Remember, it's a photography contest, not a Photoshop contest.

Check the rules on it too, having a collage sounds like something that wouldn't be accepted. I wouldn't combine them though, it sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Taking pictures of faces is very plain (and hard to do artistically), I would try to take full body shots and try to capture some emotions. Maybe you could try to capture a fingerprint as well, those are 100% unique to identifying people.

As far as lighting goes, a reflective disc goes a long way for adding an almost surreal effect and life to a person's face. You can buy a windshield sun reflector too.

xluben · Feb 6, 2009

I would think that natural lighting and minimal post processing is probably going to be your best bet for that kind of contest, but I could be wrong.

finch13 · Feb 6, 2009

xluben said:
I would think that natural lighting and minimal post processing is probably going to be your best bet for that kind of contest, but I could be wrong.

I would agree, but if he's taking photos of faces, there's a good chance he'll get "raccoon eyes" if he doesn't reflect some light upwards or shoot at dusk/dawn.

ryan s · Feb 7, 2009

i bet an HDR would win the contest :ugh:

seriously though...i do like black and white. loading a camera with black and white film means you only get black and white...you cant transform it as easily as from color.

having said that, i bet 90% of the other entries will be B&W or have selective desaturation (leaving color in only one place). buck the trends and go for color. theres plenty of PS methods and turorials online that wont turn you into a photoshopper.

d1blet · Feb 9, 2009

Well we are allowed multiple submissions. I really want to go with the collage thing in BW. It doesn't seem like that there is a gigantic amount of interest in this contest, but meh. According to Honda, we all learn from our failures right?

Other then that, thanks for the ideas guys.

d1blet · Mar 20, 2009

I'm in a pretty happy mood. I did a half-assed job and essentially made a poster. But I still won this biznatch. Here's how the final outcome:

Yes. It's not exactly what I call artistic photography. But it worked.

Oh...and I picked up a Canon 10-22 and a Sigma 30 f/1.4

Makes me even more happier. :omghi2u:

Yea. When I asked the judges, they said it wasn't a "pure photography contest" and anything goes. So I guess I lucked out of this one. Otherwise, if it was I would have been stuck.