For my response to environmental portraiture i decided to visit the markets throughout town in order to have an open view of someones work environment. Of the images that I took, the ones I liked the most and decided to work back into/ retouch are images 9839, 9843, 9844, 9845, 9847 and 9853.
I decided to stick to light-room for the image editing for these images as I think that the images only really needed light retouching in areas such as exposure adjustments and slight changes to the saturation. I have cropped the images to better fit in line with the golden ratio however the preservation of the background was prioritized over the the rule of thirds as i believe that the background is more important for an effective environmental portrait.
Of the photo-shoot my favorite images are those taken at the fish market as i like the interaction between the workers and the relationship that is shown int the images. I like how the images show how the owners/ workers in the more humble shops/ stalls are so passionate about their jobs and I feel this creates a good sense of community which is shown in the images.
Who: I decided that I will take images of shopkeepers at their counters at various shops/ stalls.
Where: I will be visiting the market in town as well as the fish market.
Why: I believe that the best environmental portraits show the subjects livelihood and small factors in these images can show how they feel about their jobs and lives as a whole. I also believe that the lighting in these areas will create some good opportunities for photos, especially the fluorescent lighting in the fish market, the lighting is a very cold tone there and will help compliment pink skin tones.
I personally find that the image is over saturated in certain areas, while this adds a sense of drama to the image, i personally find that it leaves the image looking rather tacky. While I dislike the amount of saturation in the photo due to the result looking rather messy, i like the sense of seriousness/drama that it creates. I like the background elements of the photo more than the foreground. While it is more cluttered than the foreground, it has a lot of negative white space which i find balances out the background of he image as a whole. i believe it also addresses the issue of over saturation and i believe that if there was more negative white space in the foreground it would result in an overall more balanced image.
Technical:
It looks as though the image was taken using a small aperture since a lot of the image is in focus. It looks as though a rather long shutter speed was used due to the color depth as well as the fact that it looks as though the photo is taken using a small aperture and so a long shutter speed would be required in order for the photo to be properly exposed. The photo overall looks to be rather warm in color temperature.
Visual:
The photo features some strong colors, particularly some strong oranges as well as accentuating the olive tones in his skin helping to add to the dramatic, evil look of the ex Nazi war criminal.
Arnold Newman was an american photographer who primarily worked in portraiture however also occasionally created abstract still life composure’s. More importantly however he coined the phrase and is the founder of environmental portraiture. This usually features a subject looking directly into the camera with the background being pivotal to either their identity or livelihood. There are however photos which don’t follow this pattern and his photos rarely include action shots. These photos are a great way of portraying ones personality and/or interests and the facial expressions are a good way of showing whether or not they enjoy their work/home life and so even a lack of emotion in a photo is able to portray strong emotions.
Due to the time period of his photography most of his work is done with film, although he had access to high end film cameras and so had the benefits of high quality images and glass while still having the subjective ‘benefits’ of film photography such as the light Gaussian grain in darker areas and interesting interactions with light when using a large aperture. The use of film also results in small imperfections in the image which I believe gives the photo more character as these markings are near impossible to accurately replicate digitally and are unique to the image. The majority of his images are done in black and white. I believe this allows for greater use of contrast and tones and results in images that look more structured and sharper. This creates a strong sense of drama in his images.
In conclusion I am happy with the final product, while my link to Letha Wilson is rather vague I feel it is still evident in the manipulation of the images. I like the lighting in the images as it creates very soft tones while still having plenty of contrast. I’m also happy with the color balance of the images as none of the tones are too overpowering except for perhaps the brown tones in some areas. The center-piece of the final product is my favorite mostly due to the strong depth of field which nicely compliments the sharp edges created by the style of editing. My favorite display of editing however is the image on the right as that had the most intersections of any image. If I were to redo this project I would likely make sure that the images were more similar in composition and perhaps color. I would also likely tone down the brown slightly as it is a bit too strong for my liking in the central image particularly in the background. I would also make sure that the 2 images on the sides were cropped to the same aspect ratio however these images simply didn’t allow for that as parts of the image were frankly boring and detracted from the image.
I chose to present the images in this manner as i liked the triadic structure however still wanted to add a mild chaotic element by removing any symmetry while still allowing the viewer to easily follow along the piece horizontally. I believe this positioning also allows the viewer to appreciate the whole piece as in order to reach the photograph in the top right corner they must reach the top of the centerpiece, which i believe is the best photograph out of my collection.
I decided to take some inspiration from the works of Letha Wilson by cutting up the image and rearranging it, I like how this creates sharp lines in the images even in areas that re intentionally out of focus. I like how it strongly disrupts the image.
I also experimented with editing the images in a kaleidoscopic fashion.
This images will be primarily chosen due to composition as i tried to make sure that all my photos were exposed optimally for the maximum amount of editing routes.
Letha Wilson is an artist that is well known for combining her photography with various industrial materials. She makes cuts and tears into her work giving it a strong geometric look, pushing and pulling various components of the images into place. she also occasionally encases parts of her photography in concrete. She often incorporates elements of architecture and 3 dimensional elements.This piece is a personal favorite of mine due to the strong geometric elements and good balance of different tones and colors.
Despite this i’m not too big a fan of the images she uses for her works as personally i find them rather boring in composition, however it can be argued that these types of images would work best with her style of work.
This piece is a personal favorite of mine due to the strong geometric elements and good balance of different tones and colors.