This work is inspired by Henry Mullins, a photographer from Jersey who photographed nearly 9000 people between 21 years.(1852-1873)
His portrait were printed on a carte de visite as a small albumen print, (the first commercial photographic print produced using egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper) which was a thin paper photograph mounted on a thicker paper card.
Set Up of the studio
Contact sheet
Diamond Cameo
I went into Photoshop and used the elliptical marquee tool which cropped my images into ovals which meant all I needed to do was drag each image and put them into a diamond formation.
I put one of the images in black and white so that it would look like Mullins’ pictures as there was no colour photography during that time.
The purpose of a head shot is to get a professional image of the persons head, where the focus is only of them. They are often used to convey professionalism.
They are mainly used for politics and people of status, or more commonly Instagram and the social media profile pictures.
Henry Mullins
Henry Mullins is one of the most famous photographers represented in the Societe Jersiase Photo-Archive, producing over 9,000 portraits of islanders from 1852 to 1873 at a time when the population was around 55.000.
Mullins was famous for his “Diamond Cameo” he would print a Diamond shape cameo on his Carte de visite to show four different angles of a person, with almost one different card.
My Diamond Cameo
In photoshop I made 4 ovals and put them into the form of a diamond. then I dragged the 4 images on top of the ovals, then made them a clipping mask so that they went into the oval. Then a found a vintage background on Google and made it the background and also put a copy on top. The copy on top I changed the layer style and made the opacity 50 so that the pattern would be on top of the images as well.
Double / Muti Exposures
Double or multiple exposures are an illusion created by layering images (or parts of images) over the top of each other. This can be achieved in the camera settings, or on Adobe Photoshop by creating layers and then using blending options and opacity control. Artist have used these techniques to explore unique ideas and evoke dream-like imagery, or imagery that explores time / time lapse.
Alexander Rodchenko
Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko was a Russian artist, sculptor, photographer and Graphic Designer.
He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara Stepanova.
This is his work in the style of double exposure. He used 2 photos the create the effect. the layer on top is slightly transparent so that you can see the layer behind it.
My Attempt
I edited this image with Photoshop, and used several photo which I took in the studio.
I used multiple photos and layered them over each other making the eyes the main point where I aligned them, this made a blur effect for everything else.
This worked out well, and is in the style of Alexander Rodchenko, it created a unique effect where it messes with the viewers perception of the image as there isn’t a plain, simple face, unless you squint your eyes.
Left Image:
I love how the colours mix giving off a haze of lighter tones in the background.
It uses 2 different images, both use 2 point lighting, using a red light and a white light to create a half and half coloured image.
I used one of the eyes to line them up and put the top image on a 50% opacity to see through to the background image.
Overall, i think that the white light, create a nice highlight which bring out the details on the face. This is also where the main overlay is, so it put a bigger emphasis on the multi-exposure aspect.
Studio lighting is an essential addition to most photographers’ arsenal. It allows us to create natural lighting effects in a variety of situations, and is far more controllable than a flash. It also adds mood and atmosphere.
3-Point Lighting
It is used in photography, cinematography, and 3D visualizations, it is used to properly illuminate a subject in an effective and pleasing way by simply using three separate lights.
Fill Light
It is a supplementary light mainly used to lighten shadows in an image. Fill light is often used in portrait photography to create a contrast between the image subject and image background giving the scene a sense of depth
Chiaroscuro
technical term used by artists to describe their drawings or paintings that showed bold contrast and distinct areas of light and darkness.
Lighting Test
Because I was at home and had no one the photograph I used Blender and the lights in that program to experiment with lights.
Natural Light
Natural light is anything that produces light by itself. Natural sources of light include the sun, stars, fire, and electricity in storms.
Light intensity refers to the strength or amount of light produced by a specific lamp source.
The direction of the lamp determines the shadows and highlights
Light temperature, determines if the image has a blue tint or a orange tint. If it is balanced then it will appear normal and the white tones will appear white.
Golden hour is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour of light before sunset that produces a warm natural light. That window of time is determined by where you are geographically, as well as the season.
A reflector is a tool that helps a photographer to manipulate the light by providing another surface for the light to bounce off of.
My Photos
Final Photo 1
I like this photo as there is not direct eye contact in the photo, although it is still set up. I used 1 light to get the face highlighted and the background darker, this make it so that you focus more on the face. The background is also plain which attracts more attention to the subject. To edit it, I boosted the contrast and the saturation the add more pink to the face.
Experimenting with colours
I used some coloured filters on the lights, which created a coloured glow.
It made unique contrasts and clashes between the light different lights.
Final Images
I like this image as the white light is softly projected on the face, which highlights his facial features. The red draws attention to the image, and draws anyone in that looks at it. Also, the subject is centered, which is a nice touch.
I like how the images appears to merge out of the darkness, with the red glow, which gives off an evil glow.
Brassai (1899-1984) was a Hungarian-French photographer who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He is widely celebrated for his signature photographs of Parisian night life and his book ‘Paris By Night.’ Brassai wanted to ‘immobilize movement’ rather than capturing the hustle of the city, he took his images in unfamiliar places to capture the overlooked and forgotten. Brassai stated “most of the time, I was inspired by my everyday life. I believe it is the most sincere and humble depiction of reality, of the most trivial, that leads to the fantastic.” I really enjoy how Brassai captures his street photography in darkness as it creates a mysterious and eerie atmosphere in his images. I also like how he only photographs a minimal amount of subjects in the images as I believe this adds to the desolate, abandoned settings where he captures his photos.
Photoshoot Plan
Who – My aim is to photograph a range strangers with different ethnicities, clothing styles and moods. I hope to capture people with mid-shots, long-shots and some from behind to mirror Brassai’s street photography work.
What – I hope to capture people walking around town with shopping bags, phones, handbags and any other items that could tell the observer more about their personality and life.
Where – I am going to do this photoshoot in St Helier, in the main high-street in town, due to the fact that many people will be walking around there so I will have a range of different people to capture images of.
When – My plan is to complete this photoshoot on Saturday 21st and Thursday 26th of November as during Saturday afternoon’s many people are usually in town and on Thursday night its the beginning of ‘late night shopping’ so I will be able to take night-time photos similar to Brassai.
Why – I aim to take photos of people in their natural state with no posing or pre-discussed settings, I am doing this in order to capture raw moments in time and be aware of my surroundings.
How – I plan on walking through town with my camera in different positions to capture people from abstract angles. Additionally, I am going to act as though I’m taking photos of the Christmas lights, so not to draw attention and make people act differently being on camera.
Contact Sheets
Final Edited Images
Final Images
I have chosen these two images as my final selection as I believe they successfully mirror Brassai’s work while also linking to each other in terms of connotations and meaning. Firstly, I edited my images with a black & white filter to create a mysterious dull atmosphere. This monochrome filter also allows the observer to make judgments on the images without the influence of specific colours symbolising different meanings. Additionally, both photos have a high contrast of highlights and shadows; image one has the dominant tone of white whereas image two has more dark shadows surrounding the subject. In addition, the composition of my images reflect each other greatly as both subjects are stood facing side-on, away from the camera, in the foreground of the photographs. Furthermore, my final images have quite a shallow depth of field as limited landscape and space can be seen in the background. Nevertheless, the minimal space I have captured in the background of my images vastly helps allude to their meaning. In both photographs you can see an elderly man in the foreground and some sort of connotation to youth in the background- image one with a pram and image two with athletic modern clothing. This creates an impression of growth and memory as it shows the juxtaposition of young and old.
For these images I went about editing them focusing mainly on the tone and contrast of the images, using the previously studied photographer, Martin Parr as inspiration. I did this by first increasing the contrast, replicating Parr’s jarringly bold photographs. In addition, I also increased the warmth of the images, aiming to further embolden the seaside scene.
Final Image
I believe this photograph to be my best as the woman in the image is wearing very vibrant colours and also she is well framed by the two walls either side. These walls along with the horizontal railings and the road lines in front of the harbour, create quite a geometric image full of leading lines.
The image above is a portrait of Alfred Krupp in Essen, Germany, 1963 taken by the photographer Arnold Newman.
The image above shows an older man (Krupp) with strong fluorescent lighting from both he left and right side (and behind), creating a strong shadow in the centre of his face. He has a sinister look on his face and has his head resting on his hands which are shut together- this represents a sense of power within him.
The background looks very industrial. There are 2 almost symmetrical pillars on each side: the on eon the left having a slightly warmer ton and the one on the right having a slightly colder tone. There is a field of depth to the image, yet the focus is still on Krupp’s face which also indicates power.
Who was Alfred Krupp?
Also knows as the Cannon King, Krupp was a German industrialist noted for his development and worldwide sale of cast-steel cannon and other armaments. Under his direction the Krupp Works began the manufacture of ordnance. It was with the advent of railways that the rise of the firm really began. At first, railway axles and springs of cast steel were the only products made in this field, but in 1852 Alfred Krupp manufactured the first seamless steel railway tire. Later he adopted three superimposed railway tires, the “three rings,” as the trademark of the firm. He was thought to be a war criminal but was later pardoned.
“In 1963 Newsweek magazine wanted to commission photographer Arnold Newman to take a picture of German industrialist Alfred Krupp. At first, Newman declined the offer. The Jewish American photographer saw the convicted (and later pardoned) war criminal as the devil and wanted to put a knife in his back. But Newman did proceed with the job. A sinister-looking man, Krupp was seated on a platform with his factory in the background. Newman asked him to lean forward. Krupp clasped his hands together under his chin. “My hair stood on end,” Newman would later say. It was considered one of the most important photos by the man who became known as the father of the environmental portrait.”
Portrait of Philip Baudains, Writer, Advocate, Constable and Deputy of St Helier. The four headshots of Baudains are presented in a Diamond Cameo which is a process in which four separate portraits of the same subject are printed on a carte de visite.
Raw Images
I began by taking normal portrait headshots: one of the right side of the face, one of the left, one of slightly below and one straight on.
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Process
On photoshop, I began by selecting the Elliptical Marquee Tool, held left click and dragged from approximately where I drew on the blue X for an even and symmetrical cut (shown on image 1). I then pasted this cut-out onto a new, plain white document and sized it down – I repeated this step for all four images and placed them in a diamond shape (as seen in the examples right at the top). One by one I changed eash of the images to black and white and changed the colour balance levels to ‘45,0,-30’ as seen in image 2. This was to create a vintage-like tone. Lastly, I dropped an inner shadow with a distance of 20 and a size of 60 as shown in Image 3. This was to create a sense of depth.
Studio portraiture is an incredibly versatile genre of photography: images can be anything from bright, punchy, high-key images full of light and energy, to dark, intense images that draw the viewer to the subjects eyes. Studio portraits are widely used for many things, especially media.
Jean Biele
Hugo Ahlberg
References
When taking the photos, I began with a few test shots using 1 point lighting and instantly chose to include a stool- I feel like it made my photos a little more interesting. I began testing different lighting for example light, dark, warm, cold. I had previously taken photos using coloured lights and they always added a dramatic effect, so I added blue and red gels on either side of the model, creating 2 point lighting– I really liked the outcome.
First Selection
Sub Selection
When editing these images, I slightly cropped each side as my original images had the sides of the studio showing. I sharpened the face a little and increased the exposure to lighten them.
Final Image
I chose this image as the final image as the composition turned out well- I like the smooth transition of colour in the background and the strong shadow on the bottom right. The focus is still drawn to the face due to the bright colour and contrast which is what I was going for.
In this photoshoot I experimented with soft box lighting and flash lighting. I used a transmitter to set off the box lights at the same time as the shutter speed to create an intense contrast between light and dark.
ISO=100
Exposure set manually
Shutter speed=1/125
Aperture=f/16
Experimenting with lighting photoshoot
The images highlighted in red are my least successful images because they are slightly out of focus, making them blurry. One is also underexposed which makes it too dark, preventing any visual contrast of light and dark.
The photographs highlighted in green are most successful because they are not too over or under exposed and create a clear, strong contrast between light and dark.
Photoshop development
Original Image
Original Image
Edited Image
Edited Image
I wanted to keep the tones and colours in the image similar but slightly cooler, however I increased the contrast in order to create a stronger juxtaposition between light and dark and then cropped the image to get rid of excess background that I didn’t want in my final photo.
