Ryan Sharman

Unit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice

Research of other photographers work (P1, M1, D1)

Photographer: Mario Testino

Ryan Sharman

Theme or focus of images When searching for fashion photographers I did a very basic search into google and found this photographer Mario Testino. He has done many fashion photo shoots for big magazine companies including GQ and Vogue. The photos that I researched and found are all very similar in some way. When looking through these images I identified that most of them were portrait shots and this is the type of photography he does. Most of the shots focus on the looks and attractiveness of the model this is common within fashion photography. The photos would either be taken in a studio or at a location for example like a beach in the second picture. When it comes to what’s happening in the photographs in all 4 the models are posing and while doing this showing off their clothes and what they are wearing.CompositionIn all the images above the photographer decided to get the clothes in the shot because this is the type of shoot he is doing. Clothes are the subject of the photo because he is doing a fashion photo shoot. If the photographer decided to zoom out I think in certain photos you would see a lot more, for example in the fourth picture the photographer is very close to the model and for him to move back you would see more of the models arms and maybe more of the background and this could show off where the models location is. When it comes to cropping of photos sometimes this can be important because when the photo was taken and when it goes into editing when reviewing these pictures it could look too busy or something that was not needed in the shot. Therefore the photographer would crop the photo getting rid of all the unwanted things in the background for example.

Ryan Sharman

Techniques usedWhen looking at all the photos I have chosen and comparing them together I think they all have the same aspect. Now moving on the techniques which are used within these photographs first of all there is shutter speed. I think the shutter speed in all of the shot would be very fast because it gives the photographer quick shots and allows the models to change poses for example. Now that the shutter speed is fast not much light would be let into the camera, this meaning the images won’t come out over exposed. When it comes to rule of thirds I personally don’t think it was used on these photos. Finally onto depth of field I would say for all the photos they quite a narrow depth of field because of how unfocused the background is. Strengths & WeaknessesMoving on to the strengths and weaknesses of the photos, personally I like them all but there are certain things I would have done differently and I will now explain them below. First of all and this is what I think for most of the photos is that he doesn’t have all of the model in shot and this really bothers me because what’s the point in not shooting a whole body for example and leaving out say a little bit of the head. For him to improve it would definitely make a difference if he got the whole model in frame and not cut off the top of their heads. Other than the whole cropping issues I have no other dislikes with his work only now positive, one of them being the theme of the black and white photos. I like this idea because black and white photos now days are not very common and also the way he works the dark clothes with the dark props/ make up etc. and I think it works really well. When it comes onto how he can influence my work, I definitely will take an interest in the whole dark and black and white theme, because I think it just works really well and would love to interpret it into my work.