Up Close

Up close photography involves taking sharp and detailed photos of the subject, usually isolating the subject so that it’s the only thing in frame which draws a lot of attention towards all the details [such as texture, scratches etc] in the final image.

Taking up close portraits usually creates interesting results as the wrinkles/texture in the skin are exaggerated in a way that emphasises the persons features as they are. Japanese photographer Satoshi Fujiwara is a good example of this as he secretly takes extremely close up portraits of passengers on trains in Berlin and edits them to make the ‘models’ unrecognisable, emphasising on their skin, imperfections and obscuring their individuality.

“I set out to obscure the individuality and specificity of the subjects in the pictures/images in this series. In facial close-ups, I used framing and trimming to make it difficult to identify the individual by eliminating elements such as clothing and personal effects.” –Satoshi Fujiwara

Another photographer who takes interesting, up close portraits is Bruce Gilden, an American photographer whose goal is to take unflattering photos, with the help of a flashgun, of random people he sees in a variety of places from New York, France, Russia and many more. He originally started by taking photos in black and white but has gradually switched to shooting in colour, allowing him to truly capture the people he sees.

“I’m known for taking pictures very close, and the older I get, the closer I get” -Bruce Gilden

My Portraits

In order to create these edits, I increased the saturation and clarity of the images, giving them a more distant and unrealistic feel. I then increased the sharpness of the images to make sure each detail was clear in the area that was in focus [as I used a shallow depth of field for my photos].