Deadpan simply is described as a portrait of the shoulders up. The face central, eyes directly looking into the camera, and background plain and empty. No shadow just either a white, grey or plain colour to fill the image. The words dead and pan is a slang word for a face. Deadpan photography is a cool, detached, and unemotional presentation and, when used in a series, usually follows a pre-defined set of compositional and lighting rules. Its another image word to use for a passport image. Passport images have a lot of rules compared to a lot of portraits. But some deadpan images will be allowed to use if the right size and colour.

Examples

My Experiments of deadpan images and passport images

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Evaluation-

These two images are a good example of a deadpan image as for the dead facial expression and how central the face and shoulders are to the camera. The white background clearly outstands the portrait itself. The image on the right has a better background as all of it is white and no shadow or greyness is seen. The shadow created on the left side of the faces in both images by the spot light in front creates a cool, natural portrait. But this would not be acceptable for a passport photo or a successful perfect deadpan photo. If I was to do this photoshoot again I would direct the light either straight in front of the model, or place another spotlight/main light on the shadow side of the face to cancel out the shadow formed.