Amirah Al Idrus, Photo #2, Mike Leibel REDO

Mike Leibel talking about his work with nozzles for Baltimore Air Coil,  College Park, Md.,  June 4, 2013. 

Mike explains what cooling towers do, College Park, Md., June 4, 2013.

Mike, who graduated last month with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, looks forward to his summer with Baltimore Air Coil, College Park, Md., June 4, 2013.

Reflections:
I realized there is not as much depth in the first photo as in the second and third. Leading lines are important. The first looks flat.

This time, I shot outside (much better light), but I realized after taking 109 photos, that in a lot of them, the sky/trees in the background were brighter than Mike's face. I used the dodge tool to lighten the shadows on his face, especially those in and around his eyes for the second photo.

I enjoyed playing with the aperture and shutter speeds and enjoyed actually having a background to play with.

As with the portraits of James, I found photographing my subject while chatting with him made him more comfortable, and less conscious of the camera.

The original assignment is below.

I chose to interview James Verdone, who graduated two weeks ago. Unlike me, he did not 'escape' directly to graduate school, so I asked him about his transition from college life to 'real life' and his plans for the future.

We talked while I photographed him. In my first twenty photos, he was stiff if not posed, and not completely at ease. Chatting with him warmed him up.

James Verdone, who has just received his B.S. in biomedical engineering, explains one of his projects at his home in Baltimore, Md., May 31, 2013.

This is my favorite photo of James. He is in the midst of explaining his project to develop better testing methods for detecting bladder cancer. It took many, many shots to achieve one that captured his excitement. I didn't crop to just his head and shoulders because I liked the way his arm continued the horizontal movement of the photo. This allowed me to make full use of the rule of thirds. I wanted to shoot him in natural (day)light, but his schedule did not allow it, so I had to get creative with lighting and color correct. I used the burn tool on the light part of the background so it would not contrast so starkly with the shadows.

James Verdone poses during the interview, Baltimore, Md., May 31, 2013.

This is one of the few posed photos I took. I stood close to him (maybe awkwardly close, but I am getting more comfortable with being in people's faces) and slightly above. While it was more difficult to compose this close-up with strict use of the rule of thirds, I kept him off center. I like the closeness of the subject as well as the eye contact. I also like the shadows in this photo and the one above. They break up the monotony of the plain white background.

James laughs as his roommate makes a joke, Baltimore, Md., May 31, 2013.

This photo is similar to the one above, except that it isn't posed. This is one of just a few profile shots; in the future I will think about shooting from many different angles. Like with the previous close-up, I tried to put him off-center because it was difficult to adhere strictly to the rule of thirds. I like my candid photos more than the posed photo. I feel that they say something more tangible about James, his personality, and his work.

Things to think about:

After seeing other students' photos, I realized that the background does not need to be blank to not be distracting. In future, I will attempt portraits with varied backgrounds.

Shoot in natural light. Next to a window if not outside. These photos came out very yellow and it took a lot of color manipulation to make them look like what I saw.

Think about wider shots and props.

Think about a variety of angles.