Chiaroscuro lighting is a technique that has been used for centuries. It entails the use of a distinct contrast between light and dark.
The above image shows Chiaroscuro lighting techniques where I shot the subject in a dark place and used fluorescent lighting to highlight just parts of my subjects face. The lighting positioned above the subject casts long shadows in a downward fashion to accentuate the facial features of my subject.
Chiaroscuro was used in old renaissance paintings such as this painting from Caravaggio where strong contrast between light and dark can be seen both on the casted shadow on the subjects faces and the background being dark and certain facial features being highlighted.
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da; Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist
Rembrandt Lighting
Rembrandt Lighting is a lighting technique where light illuminates one side of the face and there is a small triangle of light present on the subjects cheek.
Seen in the above image is my example of where I used Rembrandt Lighting. I used a fluorescent light source on the right side of the subject and casted enough of a shadow so that the nose shadow connects with the cheek shadow to create a small triangle of light on the subjects left cheek.
We use studio lighting to manipulate shadows, accentuate features of a subject, create a mood and manipulate the colour of the background.
Three point lighting is a lighting technique that uses three lights – the key light, fill light and the back light.
Fill lights are used to fill in the shadows in the background
Key lights are used to light the subject.
Back lights are used to separate the subject from the background by creating a subtle rim of light around the subject.
Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer who is known for her alluring portraits of celebrities. She is good at captivating the intimacy of her subjects.
She uses a range of lighting. Such as these images which consist of a more low-key approach on the left and a more high key response on the right
Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004) was a French photographer who enjoyed capturing candid photos and was considered a master at taking them.
He also contributed to the Magnum which as a community of photos which represents some of the world’s most renowned photographers. It has been ongoing since the 1930s and includes all types of photos such as industry, society and people, places of interest, politics and news events, disasters and conflict.
Henri Cartier-Bresson : Children in Seville, Spain, 1933.
The photo above has quite a darkening effect due to the dark tones as well as the natural lighting which has been used. In the photo you can see the repetition of what the people in the photo are wearing as they are all wearing similar clothing which adds detail.
Additionally you can see the way the photographer has used his space by spacing out the people in the photo apart rather than together. The main focus of this photograph is the people in the photo i feel this because the background is very plain however it does have sharp edges to it.
Robert Frank ; “Trolley — New Orleans,” 1955.
Robert Frank’s photography is very different to others which may be because of the harsh black and white tones or even the style in which they were taken.
I feel as if his photography is more staged rather than being a real life event which would occur. The main focus of his images is the people which he he has chosen to use as well as the environment which they are in.The lighting of these photos came across as natural however I feel that the photos may have been manipulated in photoshop to add harsher tones.
I think the meaning of these photos in which he has taken everyone has a different opinions and the use of black and white tones may hide peoples personalities as the viewer won’t be able to get a sense of the people if you cannot see the colours of the clothes which they are wearing which usually reflects ones personality.
Personally I like the way he has chosen to use black and white in his photographs as it adds variation. However I also believe that these photos may not be appealing to everyone due to the lack of colour.
COMPARISON
I feel as the two images above are very similar in several ways as the both feature people with similar facial expressions as if they concerned or confused which adds character to both of the photographs. Additionally I also feel that the use of black and white adds harsh tones as well as a variety of contrasts. The majority of the people used in both of the photos have engagement with the camera which therefore makes the viewer feel more invested in their photographs.
However they are also different in many ways as Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph is focused on children whereas Robert Frank does not have a specific group of people which he is basing his photos on. Furthermore in Robert Franks’s photograph you can see the different reflections shining onto the bus considering that in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph there isn’t any shadows or reflections but there is jagged edges which adds detail.
Henri Cartier was a french humanist photographer who was born in 1908 and died in 2004. He was well known all over most of Europe and France for his talent and was considered a master at candid photography (street photography). He was inspired when he was young by his father who was a wealthy textile merchant as well as his uncle, an accomplished painter.
The Decisive Moment –
The decisive moment refers to capturing an event that is spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself. This simply means that the event/scene is not set up , its all natural and it captures the day to day life of whatever is being photographed . No poses , no acting , just all original moments. To capture a decisive moment , first you can find a good background, and wait for your subject to enter the frame at the right time, and then click to capture ‘the decisive moment. ‘ Or if wanting a more quicker moment to capture simply taking a photo so quick without the public/ whatever you are photographing knowing. This phrase ‘ the decisive moment’ is known mostly for street photographers such as Henri Cartier who was a co- founder.
Mood Board-
Photography By Henri Cartier..
Analysis –
Berlin Wall – 1962 – Henri Cartier
In this Photograph we can clearly make out that there are children playing down a street next to a concrete wall that seems to have barbed wire/ electric fence at the top. In fact this wall was the Berlin Wall that physically divided Berlin from east Germany. This wall was created in 1961 as for this photo being taken in 1962 , these children seem to have been interested in such a big change to their town/city.
The image itself was taken in black and white and we can see that the natural light floods in from the top right hand corner. We can tell its day time as there is no artificial lighting. The lighting makes the image look like a gloomy , dull day. In some parts of this image the exposure levels are a bit over what they should be , creating harsh black objects that contrast with the over exposed parts (the bright sky). As for the children being in shorts and dresses , this images seems to be set in a warm environment. As for this photograph being in black and white , the tonal range from light the dark is quite equal . They don’t overall each other. The lines in this image seem to be even and straight mostly. There isn’t much pattern to this image. But when looking at the image first glance, your eyes are drawn down the stretch of alley was as for the angle the picture was taken.
Linking back to ‘ The Decisive Moment ‘ this scene of children playing along the Berlin Wall captures a moment in time as for the children doing there own thing. For example… no acting , they are playing among themselves . Henri does a great job at showing off his talent of understanding what exactly ‘ The Decisive Moment ‘ is, but not only that , he captures a great street photography image.
Comparing and Contrasting Henri Cartier’s Work to John Bulmer’s work –
John was known for his use of colour in photojournalism. His street photography links to Henri Cartier as for capturing ‘ The Decisive Moment ‘ . His photography captures moments in time/scene/event. As for his photography is a bit more modern than Henri’s , he still photographs in style of Henri’s images. For example…..
Comparing Johns and Henri’s photography –
Left Image – 1964 Durham (John Bulmer) Right Image 1962 Berlin (Henri Cartier)
Both images have similarities such as the setting the photo was taken in. Both images have children playing among themselves and are set in a street/alley with concrete walls surrounding the children. The dull atmosphere such as the bare skies and grey flooring creates a cold/boring scene. The colours that stands out in Johns work (the red jumper or the blue dress) gives off a more intriguing look towards the photograph. This draws the viewers eyes more to johns work then Henri’s work. Another similarity found would be that both images have a stretch of alley way looking down the picture which draws our eyes towards the natural light down the image to the right. Even though both images are set in different areas of Europe, they both have that olden feel to them. As for in present time children are found using their free time on technology, in the years 1962-1964 (when these images were taken) children would be found playing in the streets with whatever they can find.
Street photography is an essence of photojournalism that by definition consists of photography of random encounters and chance incidents. Despite the name, street photography does not nessiseraly have to take place on the street or urban setting but is rather defined by the presence of public presence weather that be naturally occurring populations of people in the public eye or public settings, street photography is the public world seen through an artistic eye.
Mood Board
Siegfried Hansen
Alex Webb
Alexander J.E.Bradley
Boogie
Bruce Gilden
Paul Russel
Shin Noguchi
Shin Noguchi
The best street photography always tends to contain an underlying social/political context that makes a statement and ignites thought.
Street photography has been a form of photographical expression and journalism for over a century. This is why this form of photography can also portray certain historical events or periods in history without words which is the exact reason these images can be so powerful. They can be used as a form of rebellion: Below is an image taken by Susan Meiselas in July 16, 1979 that gives a good example of this historical context; it is taken during the Nicaraguan rebellion; the image is extremely powerful portrays the emotion and essence that was felt of the time.
Susan Meiselas
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne. He developed an early fascination with painting particularly with Surrealism.
After spending a year in the Ivory Coast in 1932, he discovered his true life long passion – photography. Taken prisoner of war in 1940, he escaped on his third attempt in 1943 and subsequently joined an underground organization to assist prisoners and escapees.
In 1945, he photographed the liberation of Paris.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
After three years he had spent travelling in the East, in 1952, he returned to Europe, where he published his first book, The decisive moment. From 1968, he began to curtail his photographic activities, preferring to concentrate on drawing and painting.
In 2003, with his wife and daughter, he created the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris for the preservation of his work. Cartier-Bresson received an extraordinary number of prizes, awards, and honorary doctorates.
He was referred to as a humanist photographer and the master of candid.
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Seen above is an image from Henri’s book “The Decisive Moment” published in 1952. The composition is of a curved cobble street/ alley way surrounded by old buildings. There is a cyclist cycling expeditiously wearing black clothing on the street toward the left side of the composition. The photo is taken from the top of a spiralling staircase contained by a strong metal railing with evenly spread, parallel spokes, which meanders down towards the street in an uneven fashion. This gives the image a unique view point where the alleyway setting can be seen from above.
The photograph has low saturation and high contrast and it is also slightly underexposed and shot with natural lighting which gives the alleyway a low-key, darker, grungy look. The image is also taken with a slower shutter-speed which portrays the movement and briskness of the cyclist as he delays blurringly through the composition. Henri also framed the cyclist in the gap between where the railing stops and the strong line of the corner of a building. The image can give context to the rush and hustle that people can become enveloped in on these streets.
Henri co-founded Magnum Photo Agency in 1947. This was a cooperative agency where the founders where assigned different regions to photograph across the globe. Henri was assigned India and China. This is where he gained recognition for documenting Gandhi’s funeral in India in 1948 and the last stage of the Chinese Civil War in 1949
INDIA. 1948. Delhi. GANDHI’s funeral. Crowds gathered between Birla House and the cremation ground – Henri Cartier-Bresson
Joel Meyerowitz
Joel Meyerowitz is a street photographer from the Bronx, New York
Joel Meyerowitz
Joe’s pieces portray humanity in its hustle, boisterous and everyday movement similarly to the works of Cartier-Bresson.
Joes works are more concentrated to the place he grew up and he goes about his work in a manner of capturing the essence of New York and documenting the city. This is different in Henri’s work; his is more diverse – he documents the essence of different cultures and political viewpoints from all over the world.
Joe Meyerowitz
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Image comparison
Both of the above images picture a man in smart attire mid stride in a city environment.
Both images give a background to what the life of the subject looks like and their everyday hustle. The images both capture the subjects movement and direction while including the environment around them which adds to the incite into the subjects background.
Both images have low saturation and high contrast which make the black suited subjects almost appear like silhouettes. They are both shot with slower shutter speed to capture some of the movement of the subjects. Henri’s composition is more three-dimensional as the reflection on the street below the subject adds another layer to the image and creates a horizontal symmetry. Joes image is exposed slightly more which gives it more clarity.
Photo Shoot Plan
What
People on the streets
Who
Random interesting looking people
When
During day – good natural lighting. Overcast conditions – low key images – not too harsh lighting.
Where
Town, urban area
Why
To explore the techniques, methods of shooting street, photography, to capture the essence of people going about their day.
How
Talk to people, use lens with higher focal length, position myself in way that captures a unique viewpoint.
Street photography is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Street photography is a sub genre of photojournalism. The very publicness of the setting enables the photographer to take candid pictures of strangers, often without their knowledge. Street photographers do not necessarily have a social purpose in mind, but they prefer to isolate and capture moments which might otherwise go unnoticed. Framing and timing can be key aspects of the craft with the aim of some street photography being to create images at a decisive or poignant moment. Street photography can focus on people and their behavior in public, thereby also recording people’s history.
This image was taken of a mother and child by John Bulmer in 1965. Bulmer had his own style of street photography, taking intimate close shots of people on the streets and public places done with a wide-angle lens interspersed with compressed views of architecture, industry and townscape with a longer lens. The long lens was also used to isolate a figure on the streets. In addition to Cartier-Bresson, Bulmer admired the work in black and white of Bill Brandt, Larry Burrows, William Klein, Mark Kauffman, and particularly Eugene Smith; but he was asked to work in colour for the Sunday Times Colour Section from its launch in 1962. At the time, most photojournalists looked down on colour photography as commercial; and colour film was difficult to work with as it was slower than black and white and had less exposure latitude
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Portrait photography is one of the most popular genres of photography, with good reason. Good portrait photographers are able to capture the personality and emotion of people around them.
Contemporary portrait photography focuses on modern values from today’s world and how they are referenced or challenged in a photo and the message or emotions that reflects. They can either reinforce or challenge modern ideas and feelings by portraying different emotions.
Examples of Contemporary portraiture
Fernando Rodriguez
These images were produced by Fernando Rodriguez a Santiago based photojournalist and fine art photographer.
Street photography, a genre of photography that is taken of everyday life in a public place. The more busy the public setting is enables the photographer to take candid pictures of strangers, often without them knowing which is a positive as street photography is not often posed, its whats happening in the moment. Street Photography is not often photos down the streets of towns and cities, its a photographer walking around and encountering random incidents within public places. This style is capturing a person or a group of people in their own thoughts, their own actions, their own day to day life. As the years go on , street photography has developed, but here are some examples of some modern and old street photography…
Mood Board –
Modern and Old Street Photographers …
These images above are a range of scenes that can be found in day to day life. Weather it be someone on their way home on a bus, or a fallen drunken guy, they’re all no staged, live moments captured in a photograph. We can make out the type of incident that is happening by simply the facial expressions by the innocent people and their body language. For example , the top right image has a woman resting her head on her hand with wide open eyes . This indicates that she is tired and the fact that she is sitting down what it seems like a bus, makes out that she might be on her way home from a long day of work. This example is a clear indication that this is one way to capture a live moment in the day (street photography).
Street Photography does not have to be capturing a portrait of just one face , the cities we live in are filled with thousands/millions of people . This is an advantage to photograph what goes on in E.G rush hour, lunch times, quiet nights, Friday and Saturday night clubs etc…
Henri Cartier–Bresson (1908-2004), arguably the most significant photographer of the twentieth-century, was one of the co-founders of Magnum Photos in 1947 and champion of the “decisive moment”. He brought a new aesthetic and practice to photography, initiated modern photojournalism, and influenced countless followers.
He enjoyed street photography and viewed photography as capturing a “decisive moment”
Analysing one of his images-
Seville, Spain 1933
Technical- It looks like this photo is taken in natural lighting as there would be no way of getting artificial lighting in at this scene. There’s a lot of contrast between the white and black sections of the photograph especially seen when there are 3 young boys wearing black suits and the rest are in normal white clothing. There’s no colour which creates quite a cold tone and the photo is taken from further away making the whole background visible. Its a sharp and focused photo which was most likely taken on a high shutter speed as it’s not blurry.
Visual – The photo is in black and white with many different tones of light and dark. There’s an oval like shape of the walls which creates a suttle frame for the photo and gives me the illusion of looking through into a different world. The boys standing on the edges makes it easier to look into the photograph.
Contextual- This photo was taken in 1933. This photograph has sometimes been misinterpreted as a document of the Spanish Civil War, but it was made three years before that war began.
Conceptual– Knowing that was this photo was taken 3 years before the Spanish Civil War makes the viewer think about what might have happened to all the young boys during the war- did some of them fight and be soldiers or did some not make it?
Henri Cartier- Bresson was one of the co-founders of Magnum photo agency in 1947. He was the first foreign professional photographer to be allowed into the USSR since the death of Stalin in 1953.
Comparing to Dougie Wallace-
Dougie walks around the British streets and photographs random individuals that he thinks stand out or have interesting characteristics. Once he spots the person he wants to photograph he simply gets up really close to the them and quicky takes a photo with the flash on. He uses the flash because it creates the idea of a busy atmosphere and anxiety as large cities tend to be packed with different individuals and are always very busy.
Differences- Dougie uses flash when he takes his photos whereas Henri doesnt. Dougies work is in colour and there’s more going/ movement in his photos compared to Henris photography which is all in black and white and has a powerful meaning behind each photo. Dougies work makes you think that you’re there in the city as the photos are so close to the different individuals , however Henri’s photographs his work from a lot further away and tries to capture the background as well as the people.
Similarities- Both Dougie and Henri focus on street photography and try to capture how different people live or lived. There’s not many similarities between the two because they have both very different styles of capturing various moments in the streets.
I think that both of Dougie and Henri have completely different intentions when trying to capture street photography. Dougies photos are very vivid with colour and the atmosphere of the photo is chaotic whereas Henri’s photos are dull and black and white which creates a sad atmosphere and as if there’s a meaning or story to tell behind each photo.
Environmental Portraits is a form of portraiture where the typical working environment of the subject is showcased.
Anthony Kurtz
Kremer Johnson
Dennis Walsh
Brian Megens
Environmental Portraiture Mood Board
Kremer Johnson
Kremer Johnson Pieces Kremer Johnson
The above three quarter length, head-on image taken by Kremer Johnson is a perfect example of an environmental portrait.
It is a good example because the image is of a man engaging with the camera wearing his wetsuit and fishing accessories while holding a spearfishing gun and sporting wet hair. This indefinitely shows us that fishing is his passion/job.
The image also has the ocean as the backdrop of the ocean which concludes the overall scene and setting of the environmental portrait.
The image is lit using natural light with aid from a more fluorescent light which fills in the right side of of the subjects face and creates a shadow which intensifies his features and helps drive the idea of a well weathered fisherman in the portrait. Kremer uses a smaller aperture to create a large depth of field by isolating the subject from the background and creating a bokeh effect. There is also use of a warmer white balance to accentuate the theme of pride.
Kremer has created texture by using a high resolution camera and lense combined with the lighting. The texture is constructed around the contrast of the smooth neoprene chest plate with water cascading down it and the fishermans rough hands and facial features and metallic gadgets which tells the story concealed in the portrait.
PhotoShoot Plan
Who – Surfer
When – Later in the afternoon so natural light is not too harsh
Where – By the ocean
What – Subject holding surfboard in a wetsuit.
Why – This portrays her passion/hobby clearly in the portrait.
How – Use a warm white balance and a combination of natural and manmade light.
Contact Sheets
Final Images
I chose to use a low saturation and a high contrast to give my image more tonal depth and clarity. This helps outline the subject and make her the focal point of the portrait.
I used a combination of natural and fluorescent for the first few images the sun was hitting my subject from the side on creating an outline on one side whilst casting shadows on the other side to emphasize her facial details. for the last two images I wanted to light my subject head on so I use a one point lighting system and it worked well with the background.
I used a lower ISO to slightly udder-expose the images to relay a gloomier mood to emphasize the winter environment. This also gives us more context into the life of the subject relaying by informing that she is a more passionate surfer as she endures colder weather.
