In this photoshoot I took the photos in the studio using one point lighting to get the brightness and exposure that I wanted in the images below as the light exposes part of the face rather than all of it whilst leaving a dark background with hardly any light hitting the backdrop. The model I used was asked to move and tilt their head at different angles to get different outcomes that were similar to the some of models facial in other chiaroscuro photographers work, such as Clair Obscur. I wanted to use another spotlight for a different part of my shoot in order to experiment with the one point, two point and three point lighting but unfortunately only one light was working during this photoshoot. I have chosen not use some of my photographs as the model was not always pulling the right facial expressions or didn’t have their head tilted at a good angle. I have also chosen to crop some parts of the images to make them more symmetrical. My best images were the ones where the model was pulling the correct facial expression and had their head titled at the right position as well as the photos being in focus. Overall I think I prefer the majority of the photos with the black background over the photographs where you could see the backdrop more clearly.

Contact Sheet

My Best Photos

I have specifically chosen these photographs as my best images because they had the best lighting on the model’s face and in the background/the model had the best facial expressions. These images were also the most in focus due to the camera being on a tripod keeping the camera steady.

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Editing My Best Image

I have edited one of my best images from this photoshoot to look more like Clair Obscur’s work. I have made the photo black and white and I have intensified this by lowering the red and yellow tones do allow more contrast to be seen. This image was one of the most successful as it was the most in focus and you can see minute details such as the freckles on the models face, similarly to some of Clair Obscur’s models.

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Final Outcome:

Chiaroscuro in art and in this case photography, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. In the words of photography Chiaroscuro is a popular technique used in studio photography as the lighting equipment and backdrops available allow photographer to complete the technique accurately. Chiaroscuro usually consists of a 1 point lighting system in a dark room with a back backdrop, so there is only one source and direction of light 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.

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The technique was vey popular during the Renaissance, where the term originated from. It involved drawing/painting on coloured paper and then the artist would work from the paper’s base tone toward light using white “gouache” and would do this using dark ink, body-colour or watercolour.

Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci is said to have invented chiaroscuro, discovering that he could portray depth through slow gradations of light and shadow. Now, rather than using this technique in just painting many photographers, such as the ones below, use the chiaroscuro technique to have a dramatic contrast between the model/object and the background.

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The definition of identity is who you are, how you think of yourself and how you are viewed by the world. Identity can be a make up of social, gender, cultural or place identity, and can therefore result in a lack of identity.

Typical ways of expressing identity is through the choice of clothing, makeup, hairstyles to more permanent things like tattoos and piercings; which often stretch to aspects of cultural identity

Examples of Identity photographers include:

Jessa Fairbrother: She frequently appears in her own images, piercing and embroidering them to employ process as action. Needle perforations and thread puncture the skin of the photograph, extending image-objects beyond a single time and space.

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Phillip Tolendano: One of his projects ‘A new kind of beauty, shows portraits of people who have re-created themselves through plastic surgery. He believes that we are at a turning point in history where we are beginning to define not only our own concept of beauty, but of physicality itself.

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Diana Markosian: known for her experimental approach to storytelling, She uses photography and video to explore peoples personal journeys. Her work is both conceptual and documentary

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