Hyon-Young Kim, Photo #2, Kristin Marsh Song

Kristin Marsh Song looks towards her right at her home in Rollins Park on June 2, 2013.

I tried using the light from the lamp to bring Kristin's profile into sharp focus. I don't think I was entirely successful, but I thought the shadows of Kristin's face stood out against the bright light behind her. The sharp contrast between dark and light conjured a somewhat silhouette feel to the photo. I slightly increased the brightness of the overall photo and used the dodge tool to lighten up the left part of her face.

Kristin Marsh Song at her home in Rollins  Park on June 2, 2013.

I really like this particular photograph because of Kristin's eyes. I filled the frame of the photo with her face, leaving nearly no room for background. I decided to take this photograph from a higher angle so that her eyes would be directed upwards and would be opened wider. Since the only light available was the lamplight (no sunlight because of the rain on Sunday), I had to brighten up the overall picture so that her face wasn't full of shadows. 

Kristin Marsh Song talks about her work at her home in Rollins Park on June 2, 2013.

This medium shot captures a different facial expression that I thought was the most natural among the expressions I was able to photograph. I left some room for the background because her eyes were directed towards her left. She was telling me about the work she does (from home) and I was curious about what kind of facial expression I could catch on camera without having her striking any particular pose. 

Reflection:

Overall, I made an effort in taking a variety of wide, medium, and tight shots from various angles, but I wasn't happy with any of my wide shots. My subject works from home, so I photographed her at her home in her work setting. However, the background did not tell me anything about Kristin and her work, so instead I focused on capturing various facial expressions in close-up shots. I definitely need much more practice in taking advantage of available sources of light; I tried to use the background light to highlight Kristin's face, but the photos came out darker than I thought they would. This assignment gave me a key opportunity to experiment with close-up shots and to minimize the background to this extent.