Relationship - Married Couple - Research

Photographer, Jordon Matter made a series of photographs showing professional athletes go about their everyday lives with the same drive as they have for their sport. The series was called 'Athletes Amoung Us'.

This image is of professional NFL player, Erik Coleman on Valentines day showing a different approach to romance in the bedroom. I chose this image because it shows what would usually be seen as a very intimate private moment in an amusing way combining the relationship Coleman has with his sport combined with the relationship he has with his wife.

The intimacy and closeness of the relationship is still clearly shown from the physical connection of the pair along with the clothes they are wearing and the environment they are in. Matter has carefully framed the image using a fair wide angle lens in the room so he can clearly show the environment they are in whilst ensuring that the couple are his main focus.






Photographer, Murad Osmann has become very well known recently for his extremely unique project which involves him following his girlfriend, Nataly Zakharova around the world taking photographs from the same position behind her, holding her hand in exotic locations.

This particular image shows the couple at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. Each of Osmann's images appear to have a very 'HDR look' which makes them look quite cartoony in a way. Normally, I do not like this in a photograph because I think there should be a clear line between a completely computer made image and one taken in a camera. Having said this, in this series of images (such as the two I have shown here), it works well to show the magic and adventure in the couples relationship.

Another couple of small aspects that trend throughout the set is that the couple always hold the same hand and that Zakharova always has the same ring on the same finger. This gives us more information about their relationship, showing a small intimate detail about them.













I am unsure of the photographer of this image. The couple (Chantelle and Nick), had been dating since 2001 (year 10 in high school, USA) but had left it this long to get married to ensure they were both ready for the commitment.

This image is very similar to my final image for my 'married couple relationship' photo. As I did, the photographer has shot the image with a very high aperture in order to drop everything out of the acceptable point of focus other than the ring. This is to clearly show the relationship between the two people. The single hand of the man and woman are also in the photo but not in focus because they still offer important information to the frame, emphasising that the relationship is between 2 people.

The image is very simple with extremely bland colours to ensure the focus is kept on the very subtle detail in the centre of the frame (the ring) which gives us the most important information in the photograph.

Relationship - Couple - Final 3

I chose this image for my final 3 because it shows the two important aspects of this shoot clearly, the marriage of 2 people and the closeness of their relationship. The closeness is shown by the hands touching and that they are both wearing their wedding rings and the marriage being shown in background by the folder of pictures from their wedding.

Since the wedding and engagement rings are so small and could be overlooked, I decided to shoot this image as a close up in order to make them the main point of focus. I also used a very high aperture of f/2.8 in order to reduce the point of focus even more.

I chose the background to be a portrait of Richard and Penelope shown in the folder of their wedding photographs. I felt this gave us more information about their relationship. I dropped it out of focus for the reason above, ensuring the attention was drawn to the rings. Having said this, I did want the portrait to be in my photograph so framed it accordingly.

I found it difficult to decided between the image at the top and the one to the right. Although they are very similar, I decided to go for the to one. This is because I think the lighting and framing is better and it shows the photo in the background far better giving more information. Also, I think there too much of Penelope's wrist in the foreground of the one to the right which is distracting as does not give any more relevant information.

This image shows Richard and Penelope enjoying looking through their photo album of their wedding in their home in the New Forest. One of my favorite parts of this image is the fact that their happiness and relationship seems natural and not forced due to the presence of the camera. Although this image is not technically brilliant, the reason above is why I have chosen it for my final 3.

This shot also clearly displays all of the necessary information, the couple, their environment, what kind of relationship they are in and something that gives us a rough idea on how long the relationship has lasted so far.




I was going to try and include a more diverse final 3 images for this shoot. Having said this, I planned before the shoot the images I really wanted to shoot. I was fairly sure that the top one was going to be my final but knew I should try some other angles and include other information in order to gather a series of images to choose from. The last image would be good for an establishing image because it shows the couple and relationship very clearly.

Relationship - Couple - Contact Sheet

I did this shoot of a locally known couple Mr Richard and Penelope Styles in their home in Cadnam, New Forset, Hampshire. The couple have been happily married since 19 (24 years) and were looking through their wedding photos for the first time in 10 years. The relationship in this case is very clearly love and the couple wanted an image of them showing their rings which they ensure I knew they both never took off.

The lighting was very bad in their home and the shoot was done when it was dark outside, therefore I used a flash throughout the shoot.

Relationship - Fire - Research

I could not find which photographer took this image or where it was taken but I found it on getty images and thought it was a great example of friendship (relationship) using difficult light in an interesting way.

The only light source apparent in the image is the fire right in the centre of the frame. As in my photographs of the friends around a fire in Dorset, the fire aesthetically lights up the subjects sitting around it and fades gradually the further from the centre of the frame you go. This also helps to portray the closeness of the group and show the small area they are all within.

One of the aspects of this photo I do not like is the angle at which is shot at. I would have shot this image at an angle which would make the horizon more horizontal. Also, some of the subjects head are not completely in the frame. I think this definitely makes the image weaker because it feels as though they have been cut off and I feel that it really distracts me from the meaning of the photograph.




This photograph was taken by Ed Longdon of a group of friends around a fire at night. What I really liked about this image is the effect use of thirds. The fire is clearly the main point of focus but the silhouettes of the girl and boy in the foreground taking up the left and right thirds along with the people dropped out in the background in the left and right of the shot show the relationship in the image.

The people in the background of the image almost seem unnecessary in the image as very little of them can be seen and it looks like the shot may have not been planned well and they weren't initially supposed to be in the frame. Having said this, this changes the meaning of the image quite drastically making the relationship go from being between two people to a group of people.




This image was taken by Sam Thiara in 2012 of children jumping whilst holding hands on a beach and is titled, "A long standing relationship over a very short time". The idea behind this image was to show how friendships and relationships are grown over time and build as you get to know each other more.

The relevance to my work in this image is far less clear than the two above. Having said this, there are several similarities. First of all, this image such as the other two and mine is using low light. In this photograph, the low light (probably sunset) is used to silhouette the children jumping.

I really like this image because it shows next to no detail of each child but shows their close relationship with one another very well. The silhouettes are extremely clear and defined which is helped by the conversion to black and light and angle of the natural light.

Also, there is nothing else in the frame to distract us from the subject. This could have caused a problem due to the lack of detail in the subjects but since the backdrop is completely blank it brings out the children well.

Relationship - Fire - Final

This is the photograph I have chosen for my final from my beach fire shoot.
I struggled with noise in the top half of the image where it is very dark. I had a play with some tools such as contrast and clarity to try and mask this a little. I did this because I didn't want to clone any of the image as that would change the information within in it, so I just tried to hide it slightly but overwhelming the small white dots with black with manipulation tools. Despite this problem, I still feel that this is the strongest of the 3 images and best shows relationship.


One of the reasons I chose this photograph over the 2 was that it shows is very natural. I took the image off to the side and slightly behind a dune so that the 3 friends didn't know it was being taken.

Also, the lighting shed across my subjects and the small amount coming through the grass on the right of the frame add aesthetic appeal.

Relationship - Fire - Final 3

Below are the final 3 images from the second shoot that I am far more pleased with than the shots from the first shoot.

What I really like about this first image is the closeness of the two friends, Sarah and Emily. They have had a close relationship as friends for a long time and are clearly very comfortable around each other. This is emphasized by the blanket covering them both to keep warm on a cold winters evening.

I composed this image to have the fire in the foreground because I loved the way the light lit my subjects and gradually faded as it got further up their bodies. It shows how small this pocket of light on a vast beach was and emphasizes even more the closeness of the relationship/friendship.

I had to use a graduated filter in post production in order to ensure the fire wasn’t too over exposed and that my subjects weren’t too under exposed. This was not possible to do in the camera without the use of a flash lighting up the two girls because the only light source was the fire which was in the frame.

I chose this photo for one of my final 3 because I love the backdrop. In the other two images you can see small bits of light from houses behind, whereas in this image it is completely blacked out. This means there is no distraction away from the subject and does not give any unimportant information. Also, this image shows all 3 friends comfortably sat together to show their relationship. They do not appear to notice that the photograph is being taken which means they are not posing and the image is very natural.

As before, the fire (my only light source for the shoot) is in the foreground of the image lighting up my subjects aesthetically with a yellow glow. Although the light is fairly dim on the subjects faces, it shows enough of their expressions to determine who they are. I tried to lighten them further in post production but this also increased the noise levels in the image and I decided that having a very clear shot of their faces was not the most important part of the image.



One of the main aspects of the photo I really liked is how I used the sand dune in the right of the shot to frame my image. Also, the light coming through the grass in this area adds an aesthetic feel to the photo along with the light coming off the fire.

Similar to the last shot, the friends appear to be acting very naturally as if the photograph wasn't being taken making it more realistic and informative.

I struggled with noise in the top half of the image where it is very dark. I had a play with some tools such as contrast and clarity to try and mask this a little. I did this because I didn't want to clone any of the image as that would change the information within in it, so I just tried to hide it slightly but overwhelming the small white dots with black with manipulation tools.

Relationships - Fire - Second Shoot

As explained before, I was not entirely happy with my first shoot of the friends around the fire due to poor lighting and very noisy photographs. Having said this, I still really liked the idea and composition of the photographs that I had already shot so I decided to reshoot with the same group of friends the next day at Sandbanks beach in Poole, Dorset.

This shoot went far more to plan and I got 3 images that I am pleased with. The fire shed more light over my subjects and the environment of the beach helped me emphasise the relationship between Mitchell, Sarah and Emily.

Relationships - Fire - Final 3

These 3 images were originally my 3 final 8x10 prints. After looking back at them carefully I decided that the level of noise from the low light and therefore high ISO really ruined the images for me and took away the attention from the 'relationship' in the images. Therefore, I went out again on the 02/02/2015 to shoot with the same group of friends at a different location, Sandbanks beach, Poole to try and get similar images but of better quality.


I really liked the idea behind this first image because is shows the close relationship between the two teenagers without showing any detail due to it being a silhouette. The closeness of them both shows the relationship and is aesthetically back lit by the fire.






These two images are very similar but shot from slightly different angles. The first (on the right) shows a happy a fun side of the friendship/relationship of the two people as they seem to share a joke. Both of these images also show a very nice contrast between the huge burst of light from the fire in comparison to the complete black out of the back drop. I did not use a flash in any of these images because I felt that the light from the fire gave a far better, natural and warmer feeling to the photograph and suited the brief of relationships better. I thought a relationships photograph where the subjects do not seem to know I'm present e.g. no flash or posing makes for a far more powerful and informative image.

Relationship - Fire

I did this shoot in Lytchett Matravers, a village in Dorset, where a group of friends had a fire in a private field on 01/02/2015. I found it extremely difficult to take well exposed photographs due to the lighting being extremely poor. Therefore, I was having to shoot at between 4000 and 6400 ISO meaning I lost a lot of quality and the photos generally were very grainy.

In an attempt to get around this, I only took photos when my subjects were very close to the fire and the light source was very bright. Although this helped eliminate some grain, some quality was still lost.

Relationships - Ideas

Second Semester - PEP140