When I read this week’s assignment, I was excited because I knew exactly who I wanted to photograph – my husband. Like most nurses, the pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on my husband. He has worked countless 12-hour shifts in an understaffed and overcrowded ER. He’s had to wear head-to-toe gear to protect himself from COVID-19. He’s come home with bruises on his face and pain in his eyes. My goal with these photographs was to capture this emotion. I also included my children in the photos because when their dad isn’t at the hospital, he is at home taking care of their scrapes and bruises.
I chose two different lighting locations to emphasize different moods. For the darker photo with my younger son, it was taken in an east-facing window during the morning. In this photo, I tried to capture the shadows, soft light, and textures in the room to depict subtle sadness.For the lighter photo with my older son, it was taken in a west-facing window in the late afternoon. I tried to highlight the sun’s rays, beautiful evening light, and happiness from sharing a moment listening to heartbeats. As for the portrait of my husband, I wanted to capture his intense eyes and exhaustion. Since he looks tired all of the time, it wasn’t too difficult to document this. For improvement, there are a couple of things I struggled with this week. I still have a hard time directing my “models” to be in the same plane so they are in focus. I shot with my 50mm at 1.4. I find shooting two individuals like an adult and child can be challenging because if they aren’t on the same plane, one will be more in focus than the other (nevermind a 2 and 4-year-old who can’t sit still). I continuously struggle with getting my camera to focus how I want. I think I’ve outgrown my Canon 6D and want to transition to the Mark 5 which gives double to triple the focal points. Finally, I still struggle with skin tones in post-processing. My husband’s facial skin has a lot of freckles and redness. I found it extremely challenging making his skin look real. I spent too much time trying to tone down reds and yellows. His skin was so different from my two-year-old’s caramel color. Skin tones are something I want to keep working on.