Portraits of dementia

[lovelife65]

Maybe this isn't such a great topic, but I do want to do it.
Maybe I'll gain some better photography/portrait skills.
I'm pretty sure it is done (way better) elsewhere.
This is cropped a little tight.

#1. Peggy

FullSizeRender.jpg by sharonkay finley, on Flickr

[pschlute]

Good on you for tackling a difficult issue. She looks a lovely lady with a great dress sense.

xxx

[Rita]

This could turn into an interesting project. I look forward to seeing how you progress with it.

[Wandjina]

Sharon, this is a lovely image and a reminder that we are all aging. It is a very busy image. Maybe crop it horizontally somewhere just below the base of the wine glass and the end of the armrest .... maybe try it in monochrome then see if you can darken the white seat in the background. Just a couple of ideas to play with.

[mugge]

Sharon, I agree with Martin about the horizontal crop.

I wish you well with your project. It is giving a 'voice' to and acknowledging those individuals who suffer from dementia.

[Tom Barry]

A wonderful idea. I agree about the crop.

[DanK]

A nice portrait and a wonderful idea. Several thoughts:

-- I agree that the crop is tight.
--Given the current framing, I agree that it would be good to lop off some at the bottom, but I would crop just above the knees.
--I would keep the color. I think it's a key part of the story.

Finally, some general advice that I think I gave you a long time ago in response to one of your photos of your dogs: pay attention to the background. This background is distracting. In this case, you can't choose your background, so you are stuck with making it less distracting than it is. One way to do that is to use a narrower depth of field, to throw the background out of focus. You don't need the door in the back to be in sharp focus. Your photo doesn't have exif, so I don't know how you shot it or or what equipment you used. However, as a starting point, I would probably start with f/5.0 on a full frame camera, f/4.0 on an
APS-C camera, even wider on a micro four thirds. I'm not good enough at estimating to be confident about that, so I would try a few settings, but I think I would start with those. If you don't want to include the knees, you could go still narrower.

The second thing is postprocessing. I would do some dodging and burning to make the background stand out less and the person stand out more.

I hope you keep doing this. it's a great idea.

[lovelife65]

Thanks for the very wonderful feedback everybody. I am working on a couple more photos, and agree that this one didn't pan out technically that well. I love learning from everybody here. Yes, in terms of DOF, the background needs to be less of the photograph than the individual. The hat is because the sun was bright and hot, and they put hats on residents that go outside to keep them from getting burned.
BTW: Peggy is my mom .
Have more I am working on, dementia is a scary disease for many yet it doesn't have to mean we abandon those on the journey.

[DanK]

We've gone through this in my family, so you have my sympathy. It can be very hard. It's great that you are looking for ways to find the positive.

I like the hat.

Even in bright sunlight, you should be able to increase the shutter speed enough to let you use a wide aperture to get a narrow depth of field. To guess at exposure, we can use the sunny 16 rule: f/16 at a shutter speed 1/ISO. So if you set your camera at ISO 100, you'd have 1/100, f/16. f/5.6 is 3 stops wider, so that would be a shutter speed of 1/800. f/4 would be 1/1600. Most modern cameras can go that fast. Your exposure could be somewhat different; she's not in open sunshine, so you might be able to go with a slower shutter speed.

[Wandjina]

Sharon, I said earlier that this was a lovely image. I have taken the liberty of working on it because it has so much potential. And reason we have Photoshop is to change and modify our images. That is part of the artistic process.

[lovelife65]

Dan, thanks for the suggestion, yes I need to open up that aperture and get the appropriate setting to take away the background and focus on the subject. She's so much like the dogs, will only pose for split seconds!!
Martin, your edits have great potential. I like what you have done with the crop, but am uncertain on the black and white, as the wonderful red clothes and hat added to the story. Thank you for taking the time, it's appreciated.

[lunarbo]

Sharon- another member on here mentioned a photographer called Olivia Parker in connection with her abandoning conventional rules of composition- often with dramatic effect.
I have just been on her website to look at those images but got diverted by her series "Vanishing in Plain Sight" about her late husband John, an Alzheimer's sufferer.
Her focus is much more abstract than yours but may give you insight - not just for your own photographic journey but also to try and see the world from your mum's point of view.
I hope you can draw strength from your work and your changing relationship with your mum as she enters this twilight zone.
My thoughts and best wishes are with you at this difficult time

[moroccanimager]

Hi Sharon, this may be of interest from Stephen DiRado
One thing with portraits is to think about the camera's position relative to the subject, lower or higher than the face can produce different interpretations such as empowerment or vulnerability.

[DanK]

Darren's comment is very important and applies to many things other than just portraits. if you stand as you would be walking by, the perspective isn't novel, and it also can make even a good shot look a bit like a snapshot.

A really example of this is the street photographs of Vivian Maier, http://www.vivianmaier.com/. She shot with a twin-lens reflex, so the default position of the camera was navel height. (You look down at the focusing screen with a TLR.) You'll see that she used that perspective often, although not always, and it adds something to her photos because that's different from the perspective you would have walking by. Here's a great example:
http://www.vivianmaier.com/gallery/street-2/#slide-7

[Manfred M]

Just to add to what Darren and Dan have said; most images are taken from our normal standing height, so when a person is sitting we are looking down at them. From a psychological standpoint that makes the person seem smaller, weaker or more vulnerable. That is certainly one strong interpretation for some one with dementia. If that is the look you want, standing on a chair, step stool or small ladder can accentuate that look.

Conversely, if you want to portray a look of strength, shooting from below, where the photographer is looking up at the subject, that can be a very useful technique. I will sometimes shoot lying on the ground and looking up. At times, I have a small tarpaulin in the car so I can do that without getting too dirty, especially when shooting outdoors.

Shooting up from really low can introduce some interesting distortion and make the person look taller, but one has to be careful about the nose. Looking up into someone's nostrils does not always work all that well.

My default position for portraiture is eye level which I may vary by ±5 cm / ±2 inches or more and that generally gives a complimentary, neutral look.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Sharon,

Your photo captures a great moment and that is the main thing for a portrait, especially one shot informally like this. (Experienced models working to direction are another matter)

Sure, there are always things we see in all our photos after the click which could have been improved, but had we tried to get those things more correct, the critical moment would have passed.

Thus the capture is what it is and we can only work (in PP), with what we have, assuming we have the desire to.

If I had taken this, here's what I would try (retaining colour):
* Crop just above the knees
* I'd clone out the oval badge on the edge of the bench (just above the glass)
* A fairly subtle vignette to darken the corners, perhaps desaturate and blur too
* If I felt the vignette wasn't effective enough, I'd consider a more radical distance based, masked adjustment of blur and brightness of background elements

All the best to you and Peggy,
Dave

[lovelife65]

Wow there are some fantastic comments and suggestions here and they are very appreciated. Also love the recommendations for others doing some work in this area.
Luckily I have experience in this realm and am pretty good with this population... I totally get my mom and know how to be with her. She is sweet and I feel grateful she doesn’t have any combative behaviors.
The hardest part I think is kind of going it alone as my self centered brothers are pretty much awol. That’s their loss. But I also knows she notices.
Everything is all in the moment.
Thanks again everyone appreciate the time taken to post.