Tableaux Photography:
Tableaux , French for ‘living picture’, is a still scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and cannot speak, usually in costume or a selected outfit, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and use careful lighting to enhance the effect or narrative of the composition.
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Key Images:
Hunter is a British photographer who’s tableaux photography work has gained attention from the public and other photographers, due to it’s metaphorical symbolism and the meanings behind them.
Hunters tableaux work reflects his opinion on how certain groups within society are cast out, and treated as lesser beings due to their personal life choices, or events that they have little control over altogether. Hunter’s work has heavily influenced the people that he depicts in his photographs, for example his photograph Woman Reading a Possession Order (1997), was taken in response to Tom’s squatting neighbors receiving eviction notices. The photograph sparked a debate in the local council, and the houses were not destroyed.
Hunters work often focuses on the lives of those struggling with housing issues, such as squatters, caravan-dwellers and council housing tenants. Hunter sympathizes with this community of people due to his own life experiences, and portrays their struggles and hardships through his work.
The following images are examples of Hunter’s work:
The below image is one of Hunters most popular; it takes inspiration from the artist Jan Vermeer, and incorporates a modern story into it:
Many of Hunters images make use of ordinary people as subjects, where the viewer is placed in a position where they are looking into the private lives of the subject. This gives the viewer a sense of familiarity, where they are able to relate to the subject, yet projects such as “Person’s Unknown” are titled to contradict this sense of familiarity by giving no identity to the subjects. This contradiction allows for Hunter to emphasize his opinions on matters such as evictions and the casting out of certain groups from society, as it shows that the people dealing with these issues are just regular people, and live normal and relatable lives.
Hunter has been able to incorporate his own life experiences into his work, allowing for a more personal touch to be added to his images, and uses his work as a way to advocate for social groups who are often cast out of society.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper discussing his photograph, “Woman Reading A Possession Order”, Hunter was quotes as saying, “I phoned her up last week and she’s still happy with the picture. It’s a record of her, her child and her home at the time. The great thing is, the picture got a dialogue going with the council – and we managed to save the houses.”
“Tableaux vivant” is french for “Living pictures”, and refers to a static scene containing 1 or more actors. The scene would depict a still frame of an event or incident, where the actors are posed to look as if they are mid way through carrying out an action. The scenes can often be referred to as theatrical, as they include costumes, props and theatrical lighting. The actors in the scene are often posed so that they seem completely unaware of the viewer, and are not aware that they are being photographed. This adds to the natural aspect of tableaux vivants.
Below are some professional examples of where tableaux vivant has been used in photography:
Modern Tableaux vivant photographers tend to take heavy inspiration from past artists, recreating well known paintings and images using modern actors and a camera. This is an effective style of photography, as it allows for the original image, and the modern version to be compared and contrasted. The below images are examples of photographs that have used tableaux vivant to recreate well known paintings and images, while incorporating their own style:
The above image is a painting by the artist, Johannes Vermeer, depicting a woman reading a letter by an open window. Modern photographer Tom Hunter took inspiration from this work, and developed the photograph above it using tableaux vivant.
The above images are examples of how photographers can take very well known pieces art, and use tableaux vivant to recreate the image, while also adding a modern twist. Photographer David Lachapelle took inspiration from Da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper”, and replaced the disciples with characters resembling people living in a modern neighborhood.
Tableaux vivant can be used to recreate famous paintings, as well as still frames from popular movies and films. Photographers can take well known still images from film scenes, and recreate them using their own actors and props. Tableaux vivant as a whole, is a way for photographers to capture the emotion and feelings within a single scene, using a freeze frame to show a detailed visual of what is occurring during what would usually be a fast paced moving scene.
Michael Spencer Jones is a British art photographer and video director most widely known for his work with 90s english rock groups such as Oasis and The Verve.
Jones started off studying photography and film at the university of Bournemouth, where he gained a distinction . He then moved up to Manchester just as the ‘madchester’ music scene was developing. There he met Tony Wilson of factory records. Wilson introduced Jones to The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, Both groups Jones Photographed in the images below
Although not tableau, these images give us a good idea of his style and approach to his work.
Jones is most known for his collaborations with britpop giants Oasis and The Verve. Jones shot The Verves iconic album cover for Urban Hymns as seen below
After the success of the album, Jones was directly contacted by Noel Gallagher of Oasis, who had seen the album covers and was drawn to Jones’ Style. Jones and the group immediately set about shooting the album cover for the groups up and coming debut studio album Definitely Maybe. The series of shots were taken in guitarist Paul Arthur’s House. The final image included motifs that paid homage to stars such as Burt Bacharach, Manchester city player Rodney Marsh and Director Sergio leone. Below are shots from the shoot.
The most Prolific shoot in terms of Tableaux photography by Jones, was the album cover for the groups 3rd Studio Album Be Here Now.
The whole shoot happened at Stocks House in Hertfordshire. The shoot consists of all of the members of the band around a swimming pool with a partly submerged Rolls Royce and various props such as a gramophone, a moped and an inflatable globe to pay homage to the iconic Definitely Maybe Shoot. Here are a few images from the shoot.
Chiaroscuro Lighting:
Chiaroscuro is an Italian term which means light and dark and basically refers to the high contrast light/dark style used in Renaissance painting and later in photography and cinema. In modern terms Chiaroscuro means strong or bold contrasts between light and dark areas in the photograph. It is often used in studio portraits using single-point lighting to cast a shadow across one side of the subject. This means that Chiaroscuro Lighting creates a very low key image as there are a lot of dark areas on the picture.
As you can see, half of the face in the image is completely enveloped in shadow, creating a very dark and mysterious atmosphere, similar to that of renaissance paintings of which the style is based.
Rembrandt Lighting:
Rembrandt lighting is a lighting technique that is used in studio portrait photography. It can be achieved using one light and a reflector, or two lights, and is popular because it is capable of producing images which appear both natural and compelling without needing too much equipment. The iconic sign for Rembrandt lighting is the triangular light/reflection next to the nose, under the eye, on the cheekbone usually on the side of the face that is darker or further away.
Studio Photography used to be a expensive business. Because of this, this kind of photography was relatively unknown to many photographers.
But now, a professional photo studio is very affordable! Our vast product range can be a bit overwhelming, so we wrote this mini studio guide to cover the basics and to explain some terminology.
The length and hardness of a shadow is determined by the power of the light source, the distance to the subject and the type of light: direct or indirect. Compare this to your own shadow: on a sunny day, you have a long, hard shadow. On a cloudy day, your shadowis hardly visible. This is because the clouds have the same effect on the sunlight as a diffuser has on a studio flash: it makes the light more even and bounce around the subject.
Reflectors are one of the most widely used tools in studio photography.
You can use them to lighten up shadows, or to reflected a slightly colored light onto the subject. They come in various sizes and shapes, some are 5-in-1 or 7-in-1 with multiple colors you can choose from.
They also enable you to make the best use of available daylight, when you don’t want to use lighting equipment.
experimenting with studio photography:
we went to experiment studio photography with the schools cameras as groups of threes in the schools studio. in most of the photos one was being the model photographed, one will be taking the photograph, and last but not least one will be responsible for the positioning and adjusting of the lighting.
this photograph was taken on manual settings with a slow shutter speed, and the focus point was on the persons face not the hands as they are in the front which would make the face unfocused if they were. the lighting source in this portrait was from an umbrella light, so the white balance was set on tungsten.
in this family friendly photograph the curtains in the background where white, the source of lighting was a ring light with a mixture of the room’s florescent lighting, so the white balance was set on florescent. the black part in the background was the photographer’s mistake as they didn’t chose a good angle to take the photograph from so this created some shadow in the background.
The word chiaroscuro is Italian for light and shadow. It’s one of the classic techniques used in the works of artists like Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Caravaggio. It refers to the use of light and shadow to create the illusion of light from a specific source shining on the figures and objects in the painting. Chiaroscuro means light and dark and basically refers to the high contrast light/dark style used in Renaissance painting and later in cinema.
experimenting with chiaroscuro photography in the studio:
we tried to use chiaroscuro photography in the schools studio using the school’s cameras as groups of threes. and this was some of me and my groups results:
in this portrait the model was centered in the middle as to let the middle focus point to be on the eyeball, the light source was an umbrella warm light from the right of the photograph and no reflectors were used here as to create a shadow on one side of the face. the white balance was set on tungsten.
this photograph was taken in a portrait position to display most the model, the white balance was also set on tungsten as its the same light source from the same direction.
Why do we use studio lighting? – I think we use studio lighting because the lighting can create different effects and make the photo look different and unique.
What is the difference between 1-2-3 point lighting and what does each technique provide / solve? – One is the key light, two is the fill light and three is the back light. The key light provides the technique of Chiaroscuro, adding the back light dims the effect of Chiaroscuro and then adding the fill light removes all shadows.
What is fill lighting? – Fill light is used to reduce the contrast of a scene to match the dynamic range of the recording media and record the same amount of detail typically seen by eye in average lighting and considered normal.
What is spill lighting? – Spill light is the light that illuminates surfaces beyond the area intended to be illuminated.
What is Chiaroscuro ? Show examples + your own experiments – Chiaroscuro, in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures.
For this project I took some models around school and posed them where there was a lot of light, so near a door or window. My white balance was on tungsten and I had quite a small aperture.
Red – No
Orange – Maybe
Green – Yes
I really like the outcomes of these unedited photos but I wanted to edit them a little to bit to enhance the photos.
I chose this photo for my best image because it looks the sharpest and shows my camera skills the best.
John Rankin Waddell (born 1966), also known under his working name Rankin, is a British portrait and fashion photographer and director.
Best known as the founder of Dazed and Confused magazine (along with Jefferson Hack), and for his photography of models including Kate Moss and Heidi Klum, celebrities such as Madonna and David Bowie and his portrait of Elizabeth II. His work has appeared in magazines such as GQ, Vogue and Marie Claire. In 2011 Rankin started the biannual fashion, culture and lifestyle magazine, Hunger and launched Rankin Film to produce and direct his own commercial and editorial film work.
Red – No
Orange – Maybe
Green – Yes
For some of these photos I used coloured gels to get the red and green colour you see in the photos. I also used one light on the side to create the Chiaroscuro effect. I also used two lights with a trigger flash on the camera to create full body photos.
I think this is my best image because the chiaroscuro looks really effective and the image is very sharp and well exposed. It also has a really good white balance.
As I didn’t take many with flash, I only have a few good photos. I used two studio lights and a trigger flash on my camera to get these images. I hope next time I can take more photos with flash as I liked the outcome of these few photos. Most of the images were too over exposed as I was adjusting the settings and testing out the trigger flash.
I chose this photo because it has better exposure and looks sharper and better than the other photo I took.
Overall I am very happy with how these three best images turned out. I think it shows my camera skills very well and shows that I can work a camera well also. I really like studio photography as I want to look further into fashion photography so this really helped with what I would like to do in the future.
Using artificial lighting can offer many creative possibilities, I will explore…
Tableau is french for “living picture”, meaning a picture is staged to give it a sort of snapshot effect. The image usually contains two or more models interacting with each other or props and their environment and are usually stationary and silent. props may be used as well if relevant to the context.
Paul M Smith is a UK Based tableau photographer who is most well known for his portrayal of the image of typical, working class “lads” in the 1990s. His work explores the ideas of the image of young juvenile males and their friendships and working class lives
Here are some examples of his work
These two particular images all include Smith as every character in the image. This effect was achieved by utilizing multiple images and photo editing software to give a multiple exposure effect. Essentially multiple photos are taken of the same character in different outfits in different positions and then layered over the top of each other.
Some of Smith’s most prolific work is in collaboration with Take That! star Robbie Williams. Smith was tasked with creating album art based around William’s love of football. The set features images associated with playing and watching football and helps perfectly paint the picture of the working class in the late 90s.
Bruce Gilden is a street photographer who is most known for his up-close photographs of people. He was born in Brooklyn in 1946 and has received many awards including the ‘European publishers award for photography’. The main reason for him starting photography is the film ‘blowup’. Being influenced by this movie, he went and bought his first camera and started attending night school photography classes.
He doesn’t try to be discrete at all when taking photos. He prefers to approach people and take photos of their initial reaction. He also aims to take photos of people who either stand out, or people he can portray as different.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. He was also one of the founding members of Magnum Photos in 1947.
This idea of capturing the decisive moment can definitely be seen in this photo; if the photo was taken a fraction of a second later the person in the foreground would have stepped in the standing water, which would have caused ripples and ruined the clarity of the reflection on the water.
These two photographers are very different but they have one thing in common, they both focus on the decisive moment. For Henri Carter that is the whole frame (like described in the photo above), and for Bruce Gilden it’s the moment people react to him taking a photo of them.