Photograph 3 - Melissa - Shooting the Photograph



ISO 800

This photograph of Melissa where she is dressed in her formal dress which she bought foran awards evening.  I visited Melissa at home on Sunday 4th December. The equipment I took was my Canon 400d, with 18-55 lens, memory card 1gb and battery fully charged.  The camera was loaned from College so no extra battery is provided.  It was a weekend where we were in the middle of a snowy, cold period.   The day was clear and the sun was out.   I arrived about 10.30 am and had a look around her garden as I wanted an outdoor shot.   The sun was not in the right position for the photo (behind the chiminea) so I waited for it to move around the garden.   Bad timing though as I missed it completely however I still went ahead with the photographs..   Her dress is a mediteranean sea green and her hair is red.  She has a hair peice clipped to the back of her hair which was dyed the same colour as her hair.  I decided I want to photograph her in a setting that was opposite to her formal dress.  In her garden there was a terracota coloured chiminea which I initially though I would pick up and move !!  Not to be as I was informed it takes two big men to move it so as I wanted to try some photographs with this in, I had to work around it.  



ISO 400

 I set my camera to ISO 400 and manual settings for the shutter speed (1/125) and aperture (F8), the light was ok but the sun had gone.  I took one picture with settings above (shown below) and another with ISO set to 800 which provided a brighter picture.   The garden is surrounded by a dark brown fence and my first few pictures were of Melissa against this, with my vintage curtain hanging on it.   It didn't work as the curtain is only half the size (or less) of the fence and I wanted to get all of Melissa's dress in.  

We took many pictures in different poses and areas of the garden.   Props were added including a small shovel with coal on it, a net bag contains blocks of wood for the chiminea and I used these to try to get the picture I wanted which was to look formal but be doing something you wouldn't normally do in a formal dress.