Portrait – A photo, painting, drawing or engraving of a person which captures/ depicts a face and sometimes the body.
Self-Portrait – A photo, painting, drawing or engraving of a person created by themselves.
Candid – A photograph of a person (taken informally) especially without the subjects knowledge of the photo being taken.
Environmental (Photography) – A photo taken in the subjects usual surrounding e.g. their workplace.
Birds-eye – An image taken from above, as if from a birds point of view – looking down.
Worms-eye – An image taken from a lower stance – looking up.
Surreal – Unreal/ Bizarre, Out of the ordinary.
Studio Shoots –
Two Point LightingTwo Point LightingOne Point Lighting – Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Definition – The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting, with the dark colours such as black being completely black and the light colours such as white being very clear, sharp and bright. Chiaroscuro is an Italian word for light and shadow, it uses both light and shadow in order to create an illusion of a permanent light source shining on subjects and objects in the painting/ photograph. This technique has been used throughout the history and evolution art, for example artists such as Da Vinci used this technique in many of his works.
My photos –
Chiaroscuro style painting–
By using one point lighting in the studio, at a specific brightness and colour warmth, in this case as white as it could be, sections of the subjects face are highlighted while the other parts are discarded and appear to fade into darkness. Similarly, chiaroscuro paintings and photography manipulate light and shadows in order to make only the subject visible, neglecting the background which is the style I tried to replicate in my photo shoot by the different positioning of the single light.
Ansel Adams was born on the 20th or February, 1902 in San Fransisco, California. He is one of the most important portrait photographers in the 20th century, creating iconic black and white photographs that established photography as a fine art. Adams particularly photographed famous people such as Pablo Picasso, and Marilyn Monroe.
Ansel Adams focused a lot of his work on environmental photography, taking photographs of people in their natural or working environment, where the subject feels and looks most comfortable
Georgia O’Keeffe, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, 1968
Kurt Gödel, 1956
IMAGE ANALYSIS:
gor Stravinsky, New York City, 1946
TECHNICAL:
The lighting of this image is generally quite light, clearly taken with a daylight source of lighting. You can see this lighting is natural, reflecting the focus of the photograph. The image looks generally underexposed, with a high contrast between the soft grey toned walls, and the black piano lid and stand.
The aperture of the photograph looks as if is around f/16 as there is a large depth of field. The shutter speed seems to be quite short, maybe 1/320 as the image seems to be underexposed and quite focused and sharp. The ISO also seems to be low as the image was taken in. daylight, so probably around ISO200.
VISUAL:
The colour of the image is black and white, which is very common in Ansel Adams work, with very solid shades such as those on the walls and piano, and also high contast . This very bright highlights and dark shadows (Zone System). There is not much texture in the photo as the objects are solid and flat, not leaving much surface to reflect light off. the only exception is the subjects face.
There is very clear line in the image, between the shades of the walls in the room and the dark curved edge of the piano. The subjects posture seems to be mimicking the arms stand and lid of the piano, linking the subjects working environment (music) with the subject himself. The image focal point seems to be the piano, with Igor Stravinsky located in the left bottom corner.
Environmental portrait photography, is the concept of taking a photo of a person shown in their natural environment, for example their working environment. In other words, it takes the opposite approach of formal photography, not using a blank, white or neutral background for shooting the portrait.
The subject will be shown surrounded by objects or symbols that you can relate with their natural environment. For a teacher, it can be a shot inside the classroom while they talk to their students. For a dancer, it can be a dance or ballet studio during a show or rehearsals. A politician can be depicted as an influential person by taking a photo of them inside their office, with books or papers. Since your subject is in their natural environment, they will feel more relaxed and confident. There will be minimal stiffness in the shot taken.
M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Portraiture\TO DO
and here : M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Planners Y12 JAC\Unit 2 Portrait Photography
TASK 1
You must introduce your new topic : PORTRAITS
Remember… your images must include a caption…this is especially important if they belong to someone else (copyright etc), and helps clarify which images are yours for assessment.
Try adding hyperlinks to use websites / blogs / video URLs or embed relevant YOUTUBE clips to help illustrate your key points
CREATE A VISUAL MOOD-BOARD
Choose a range of portraits / self portraits to develop a grid of images (minimum of 9) to show your understanding of what a portrait can be…
You must include a range of approaches to portraits in your mood-board…
Define what Contemporary Portrait Photography is…
CREATE A MIND-MAP
We will be studying the history, theories and concepts of portrait making…their purpose and role in our day to day lives too.
Design a mind-map / brainstorm / spider-gram / flowchart of portrait based ideas
Think about the ways in which we use portraits, and what they can say about us / reveal / conceal
define what a portrait actually is
Add your mind-map to a blog post
We will begin the unit by looking at ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS, which depict people in their…
working environments
environments that they are associated with
“An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography”
Here are some examples…
Arnold Newman : Leonard Bernstein , 1968
Mary Ellen-Mark-Circus Perfomers
Steve McCurry; Yemen, 2011
Anthony Kurtz; No Man’s Job, Senegal, 2011
August Sander : Brick Layer, 1928
Look at these influential photographers for more ideas…
August Sander (1876 – 1964)
Paul Strand (1890 – 1976)
Arnold Newman (1918 – 2006)
Daniel Mordzinski (1960 – )
Annie Leibovitz (1949 – )
Mary Ellen Mark (1940 – 2015)
Jimmy Nelson (1967 – )
Sara Facio (1932 – )
Key things to consider with formal / environmental portraits…
formal (posed) and informal / candid / natural
head-shot / half body / three quarter length / full length body shot
high angle / low angle / canted angle
colour vs black and white
high key (light and airy) vs low key (high contrast / chiarascuro)
Technical= Composition / exposure / lens / light
Visual= eye contact / engagement with the camera / neutral pose and facial expression / angle / viewpoint
Conceptual= what are you intending to present? eg : social documentary? / class ? / authority ? / gender role ? / lifestyle ?
Contextual=add info and detail regarding the back ground / story / detail / information about the character(s) / connection to the photographer eg family / insider / outsider
Photo-Shoot 1
Take 100-200 photographs showing your understanding of ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS
Remember…your subject (person) must be engaging with the camera!…you must communicate with them clearly and direct the kind of image that you want to produce!!!
Then select your best 5-10 images and create a blog post that clearly shows your process of taking and making your final outcomes
Remember not to over -edit your images. Adjust the cropping, exposure, contrast etc…nothing more!
Remember to show your Photo-Shoot Planning and clearly explain :
who you are photographing
what you are photographing
when you are conducting the shoot
where you are working/ location
why you are designing the shoot in this way
how you are going to produce the images (lighting / equipment etc)
Example : farmworker x farm x farm tools
Candid / informal Portraits
Candid portraits tend be more natural, flowing, unplanned and may even be a form of street photography at times. You should aim to capture the essence of the person you are photographing, say something about them or the moment they are caught in…
Robert Frank ; “Trolley — New Orleans,” 1955.
Elliott Erwitt: Boy, 1955
Henri Cartier-Bresson ; Albert Camus, 1947
Photo-Shoot 2
Take 100-200 photographs showing your understanding of CANDID PORTRAITS
Remember…your subject (person) DOES NOT need to be engaging with the camera and this kind of photo should not be staged or “set-up”
Then look to create a contrast between your environmental portraits and candid portraits…try photographing the same person / people and then juxtaposing the images (to compare and contrast)
Then select your best 5-10 images and create a blog post that clearly shows your process of taking and making your final outcomes
Follow this 10 Step Process and create a series of blog posts to ensure you tackle all Assessment Objectives thoroughly :
Mood-board, definition and introduction (AO1)
Mind-map of ideas (AO1)
Artist References / Case Studies (must include image analysis) (AO1) re : environmental and candid portraits
