Jayama - take two.

Okay so after a successfull first photo-shoot with my mate Jayama and his delightful family it is time (tomorrow) to photograph him individually to satisfy another of the studio portrait assignment requirements.

The brief asks us to photograph our subject in 3/4 - full length alignment and focus on light and shadows to convey something about the person. With a less is more approach.

So... considering Jayama's story extends to the civil war that broke out in Sri Lanka a few years back. Long story short, he was ambushed by rebel soldiers and shot through the shoulder. Wounded and with no medical attention available to him, he lay hidden in bushes basically bleeding to death for two days until someone he knew he could trust crossed his path and aided him to safety.

With this in mind, my aim is to photograph Jayama in a way similar to the photographs below. I would like to have some facial engagement from Jayama as he looks back over his shoulder (with the bullet wounds) at the camera.

I feel the key to the success of bringing out the best in this portrait is to try get Jayama to think back to that moment in his life to bring out some genuine emotion. It might be hard, because he is always happy, but i'm sure i can make something work.

I will keep the lighting simple - perhaps a single light with a grid to concentrate the light more where i want it to fall across Jayama's shoulder area and then add a single reflector at a parallel angle to the source light below shoulder level to bounce light back into Jayama's face to balance up the ratios.

Will be bringing in all of my own equipment (apart from the lights) to do this shoot and i look forward to achieving a good result.

Stay tuned..


D.

I don't mind the angle of the subject in this photo and
i can see myself posing Jayama in a very similar
manner. The way the light has been concentrated
across the shoulder and face is also much like
what i plan to do - hence why i have used this as a
reference photo i guess :]

Cropping in this much won't work, but i do like the
look given off by this subject.

A good example of how much of
the subject needs to be included
when shooting a 3/4 portrait.
i plan to crop in a little more than
this though - perhaps as low as the
hand up to the top of the head.
Position will also be flipped as
Jayama's wound is on his left side.