Work Diary - Back of head (location)

Evaluation

I really enjoyed the back of head location shoot. I found it was different to photographing the formal elements like I had previously done, as it enabled me to be more creative. It was enjoyable looking for interesting backgrounds to shoot the back of head in front of, and after shooting in front of obvious background like walls, I tried looking for more interesting backgrounds. I also began taking pictures with two heads in the frame and took them from different angles instead of shooting just one head from straight on. This enabled me to create a larger variation of compositions, as I have more in the frame. I was also able to experiment with a different setting on the camera as an aim of the task was to make the background of the photo blurred, but the head focussed. At first this did not work well however the more I tried, the more effective the images looked. This blurring allowed the images to show depth, as well as back of heads. 

Something tricky about this task was that It was hard to get very varied pictures. It was hard to think of many compositions that you could create using just the back of the head, so a lot of my images ended up similar. Despite this I tried to overcome this by including more than one head and using a variety of different camera angles. I tried to find more interesting and unusual backgrounds to shoot against to also overcome this. 

I like this picture i had taken during the back of head location session. I like how there are two heads in the frame rather than one, and this shows depth as the head nearest the camera is clearer than the one further away. I also like the background of the photo, and how it is not just plain and shows some of the surroundings. I realised that this camera showed contrast quite well, as both people are wearing dark clothes and have dark/dull hair which really contrasts against the vivid colours of the nature in front of them.

This was the first image i had taken during the session. The background has blurred very well so that depth is clearly shown in the image. The back of the head is very focused so that the different tones in the hair are visible, and the texture of it. the dark hair contrasts against the vivid colours of the nature in the background which I think improves the image. Despite these positive aspects, I feel that this image would have been a lot better if it was not as zoomed, so that the whole lengths of hair could have been visible. I also think there is a bit too much space in the frame, as the focus is supposed to be on the back of head rather than the background.

Progression

If I was to go out and shoot back of head location pictures again i would try even more different angles in order to get a larger variety of images, and use more heads in order to create lots of different compositions. I would also use a larger variation of backgrounds to avoid images being very similar. If I found a good background, I could take lots of images of the heads in front of it but from a range of different angles, so that I had a larger chance of taking a good image.

The image below is an example of the kind of back of head photography I would like to achieve in the future. It is quite different from the shots I had taken. Mine had been very focused on the back of the head, rather than the surroundings or other content in the frame. In this photo the head only takes up a small part of the frame, so that the position of the person and the surroundings are visible. This has inspired me to focus a bit more on the other content in the frame rather than just the head, because although the back of head is the main focus, the surroundings or position of the person can completely change the feel of the image and add a lot of interest to it.