Getting Ready

A candid shot of my girlfriend doing her make up while getting ready to go out for the day taken on a Canon AE-1 Program with 50mm and on Ilford XP2 ISO 400 film.

I love how the lighting from the window above and just out of shot radiates down on the back of her neck and hair giving a lovely glow whereas her face is more in shadow but still light enough to make out features in crisp detail.

The level of graining in the under focused areas of the image is something I like also, with the tripod at the bottom left of shot giving a nice example of depth, showing that rather than just a blurred background with no features there are other things going on beyond the main subject. With it’s colour being dark it gives a nice example of contrasting tones in the image, although the patterning of her dress and perhaps the headband gives the best example of this.

What I’m particularly pleased with about this shot is how finely detailed the in focus areas are, after all it’s all very well having nice bokeh but with it a sharp focal point it feels a little meaningless. With that said I love how the focus has been able to show the dress in this much detail, with the lighter parts of the pattern showing through in the shadowed areas and vice versa in the lighter areas. I also love how the lighting has given an almost halo effect to her hair, making it stand out against the background to the point where individual strands of hair can be made out.

This is probably one of my favourite shots I’ve taken of a person, although a standard portrait can look very nice when done properly I much prefer this kind of natural feel to an image of people just doing normal, mundane things as if you weren’t even there.