Portrait Experiments

Thanks to the help of Ben Wray, I was able to get the effect that I wanted. He helped me with setting up the camera; decreasing the shutter speed and increasing the exposure along with the strobe lights. I began with a few test shots of having my model (Ben) and myself walk and dance in front of the camera with happy/wild facial expressions - hoping to steer clear of the daunting long exposure portrait images that I had come across in my research.

I'm quite pleased with the photo where Ben is waving his arms; He looks so at peace and almost as though he is trying to fly. Personally, I find dancing as a way to escape and feel free - as well as flying. Although the images that I had taken are similar to the ones in my research and exactly what I wanted to achieve, there is still something missing.












I decided to experiment with confuting party poppers, (as I had some for another shoot). I found that these worked surprisingly well, as the coloured paper was all blurry and blending in well with the overall photo. Confetti is used at weddings/parties - all seen as joyous occasions. The bright colours of the confuting contrast nicely with the black backdrop and all black clothing on Ben. It's a little something extra that worked quite well, with my theme of freedom.



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