I have taken these photos in the style of the author I took inspiration from, whom took photos of high school students decorated with items that symbolize their academic careers in school because I aim to capture this sense of nostalgia from high school with teachers that have graduated a long time ago with the same props and feeling.
The above are the 10 photos I have selected as a result of my green selection. I have selected these photos because they not only present the sense of being a student, but also something that is visually intriguing. For example, many of them include intriguing facial expressions that are distinct to most other photos I took before, their props are very symbolic and important to the photo to convey the sense of nostalgia, or that the utilization of space and lighting was performed exceptionally well, or a mixture of multiple details mentioned. For example, the book and the football are examples of the props that make the photos more intriguing.
These photos convey a student that is enjoying academic related hobbies as a high school students, which can be shown within the sophisticated facial expressions and some details. The details include the props, the braces, and the lighting. They tell the story of a high school student who is captured enjoying school related subjects. The braces prove that he is a student, the book and the football reveal his hobbies, and his facial expression tells us how he feels. When taking these photos, I have learned to use warm lighting when conveying a positive emotion within the photo, and I have also learned to use negative space to highlight the subject figure, and have learned to adjust the camera to focus on the subject’s eyes so focus is on the subject and to follow the rulesof portraiture. Comparing to previous tasks, I have learned to put focus on a subject that I want to capture, in which utilizing negative space, focus on eyes, and lighting saturation could complement. In the next shoots, I would like to decorate the background a bit more, and exclude external distractions from the background, as well as finding more intriguing props and clothing to help establish the nostalgia when filming grown adults.
This is one of the best photos in the set. When first looking at the photo, the eyes of the audience will be drawn towards his eyes as well: it shines brightly and it is as if he is looking at hope and the past coming from his facial expression. Moreover, the lighting presents a story: he is staring at brightness. The ball in his hands show his childhood passion, and this could be applied to the actual set where it tells the story of a grown up looking back on their past, and in the photo they would be looking at brightness. There are no distractions, and exposure and focus are all correct. Thus, this photo will be taken into account in the final set due to its beautiful light composition and the gaze of the subject.
This photo can serve as a counterexample. In some cases, I seek movement to corroborate the prop in the photo. However, in this example, the movement caused the camera to go out of focus and caused many distractions in the photo, such as the shadow, the weird facial expression, and the prop turning from a supplement to a conflicting item. Moreover, it does not really tell a story. To inflict nostalgia, the photos should tell stories through composition, lighting, props, etc. Therefore, this one is too distracting due to movement and in the actual photoshoot I seek to minimize movement and will try to capture moments where movement does not serve as a distraction within the photo.