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. This technique has been used for centuries in the form of paintings.

Early Pioneers

Louis Daguerre + Daguerreotype

Louis Daguerre was a French artist and photographer, recognised for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography. He is known as one of the fathers of photography. He was inspired by Nicephore Niepce who was a French inventor of the 18th century

The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. This method consisted of treating silver-plated copper sheets with iodine to make them sensitive to light, then exposing them in a camera and “developing” the images with warm mercury vapour. Unlike heliography, this process only needed 20 minutes of exposure.

Henry Fox Talbot

Henry Fox Talbot was an English scientist, inventor and photography pioneer who invented the ‘salted paper’ and ‘calotype’ processes.

The ‘Salted Paper’ process was discovered in 1834, and it was used to create photogenic drawings, meaning drawings produced by light. The process involved dipping the paper in a solution of sodium chloride and coating one side with silver nitrate. An impression of an object was then made by placing it on the sensitized side of the paper and exposing it to the sun.

Calotype(Ancient Greek for “beautiful impression”), also know as Talbotype, was introduce in 1841. In this technique, a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride was exposed to light in a camera obscura; those areas hit by light became dark in tone, yielding a negative image.

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian men and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature.

Cameron was often criticized by the photographic establishment of her day for her supposedly poor technique: some of her pictures are out of focus, her plates are sometimes cracked, and her fingerprints are often visible. She is now know for those “mistakes” which made her work more unique.

Henry Mullins

Henry Mullins is one of the most prolific 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. The record we have of his work comes through his albums, in which he placed his clients in a social hierarchy.

I printed out some of my photos from Hamptonne [using a mix of buildings, portraits and objects] along with a couple of my still life images in order to attempt to create some photomontages by hand. I made sure to use well lit photos that weren’t too big so the images wouldn’t overpower each other when being arranged with each other along whilst thinking of ways that the photos could be combined together.

After printing my images, I started to cut out different sections of them and placed them on top of one another in different places and angles, photographing whenever I moved a photo. I made sure to vary the images I placed with one another to ensure I used all my photos at least once and could get as many different montages as I could.

For Example:

Once I was happy with the quality and the amount of images I had, I uploaded them all onto the computer so I could make some small edits to improve them further i.e: increase contrast, saturation etc.

My Final Images

When enhancing my images I mainly focused on sharpening them and increasing the contrast in order to improve the quality of the images along with cropping out any unnecessary details in the background i.e: the edge of the paper .

——– Edit 1: ———————————–

I enhanced this image by cropping the image to eliminate the background as it was unnecessary then increased the brightness and saturation so the details in the bottom layer could easily be seen. Finally, I used the burn tool to darken and exaggerate the edges along the top layer.

——– Edit 2: ———————————–

For this image, I cropped out the background and increased the contrast so the creases in the paper were more prominent. After that, I subtly desaturated the colours in and increased the highlights slightly in order to draw more attention towards the darker areas of the photo, therefore accentuating the shadows.

Overview

Below I have displayed my final images, which will be printed as A3, A4 or A5 photographs as are going to be graded as our final work for this segment. These photos include environmental portraits (taken in the Troubadour pub and at Troys estate agent), Hamptonne portraits, Hamptonne interiors, still life work and one digital experimentation.

I like the symmetry of this photograph and the wide variety of colours especially from reds in the top left corner to blues in the top right corner. In addition, this image turned out oddly similar to Annie Leibovitz’s work as this helped inspire me, the composition of the image, with Noel being in the middle and the light shining on him, illustrates how the background of the image is just as important as the focus of the image itself. I edited this image but increasing the exposure, as when I took the original image the ISO was low and the shutter speed was too high, also added some saturation to bring the background forward.

• 

• 

Here are two of my best final Hamptonne portrait images, that i have selected to be apart of my final images collection. I like how both these images are so similar yet so different, as the subject of the photo is the same but the background, lighting and images are so varied. Furthermore, as the living history characters is looking away in both images. it attracts our attention to her clothing and other areas as her facial features aren’t an important part of these images.

The most eye catching part of this still life image has to be the Jersey cow bell in the centre, as the surroundings of this object all look edited to be monochromatic, this makes this object appear more vibrant even when the old glass milk bottle is probably the most focused part of the image. This was composed of three old Jersey heritage objects and I like how these gave the image an old fashion aspect whilst being taken with a very modern camera, and altered which modern editing.

Images including vibrant colours such as this one make for cohesive final images, as the red lines in the background of the photograph match with the bright red material of the couch. In addition, I like how this is my strongest environmental portrait, with the lighting being the best without much editing and the people being central. This photograph required the most editing, as the original portrait was far too zoomed out, with unwanted aspects in the surroundings.

As part of my final images it was advised to add an experimentation, using an interior image from Hamptonne and a still life image in Photoshop, I created this piece of work. I used the erase took to keep the top of the red wheel (at the bottom), this was an attempt to keep the authenticity of the original picture. In addition, I like the contrasting colours of red and green, which also helps with to highlight the difference between the old Hamptonne building and the very modern studio we took the still life images in.

Above is one of my best Hamptonne interior images, I have selected it as one of my final images as it is a busy image, with each object matching well together, and being edited by altering the exposure, I have created a successful final piece. Furthermore, it is one of my most unique images as the angle is at a much lower level compared to eye level, making the saddles in the foreground of the image appear larger and the ladder in the background appear smaller.

Finally, I have selected this object image as I like the contrast of the brighter orange wood in the violin compared to the stale grey metal of the box. This created an aesthetic image as the image as I edited the angle of the image, making it straighter. Additionally, I think the difference in shapes creates an aesthetic piece as the violin is made of straight and curved edges, whilst the box is just made from straight edges.

This week your priorities are...

Blog Posts to make :

1. define “identity” and explain how identity can be influenced by “place”, or belonging, your environment or upbringing /gender identity /cultural identity /social identity / religious identity / geographical identity / political identity / lack of / loss of identity / stereotypes / prejudices etc

2. Add a mindmap and moodboard of ideas and starting points, inspiration

Choose a range of photographers that you feel explore identity as a theme and create a CASE STUDY on Claude Cahun and then compare Cahun to a chosen artist (that will have an influence on your final outcomes re : MOCK EXAM)

3. You should have 2 x photoshoots complete and imported to Adobe Lightroom by the end of this week ready for the start of the Controlled Conditions next Monday 24th January…

REFER to THIS BLOG POST

File Handling and printing...

This will ensure you have the correct ASPECT RATIO

Ensure you label and save your file in you M :Drive and then coip across to the PRINT FOLDER / IMAGE TRANSFER

For a combination of images, or square format images you use the NEW DOCUMENT + PRINT PRESETS on ADOBE PHOTOSHOP to help arrange images on the correct size page (A3, A4, A5)

The process for your project should include blog posts 1-5 by the end of this week

1. Mood-board, definition and introduction (AO1)
2. Mind-map of ideas (AO1)
3. Artist References / Case Study (must include image analysis) (AO1)
4. Photo-shoot Action Plan (AO3)
5. Multiple Photoshoots + contact sheets (AO3)
6. Image Selection, sub selection (AO2)
7. Image Editing/ manipulation / experimentation (AO2)
8. Presentation of final outcomes (AO4) ENSURE THIS IS A SEPARATE BLOG POST
9. Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference(AO1)
10. Evaluation and Critique (AO1+AO4)

If you feel that need for help, come along to Camera Club on Wednesday Lunchtimes…

To get you started we are going to learn some more studio methods…using a variety of simple lighting techniques. Oliver Doran will be joining us, and running a few MASTERCLASS sessions . Here is his website for you to explore..https://www.oliverdoran.com/

Oliver has been influenced by the likes of Platon, amongst others…http://www.platonphoto.com/menu/

Monday 22nd Nov – Task

Develop and write an introductory blog post…

Use the information below to help you create the content for your blog post…

Early Pioneers…

Louis Daguerre France (18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851)

Henry William Fox-Talbot (1800 – 1877) UK

Fox Talbot was an English member of parliament, scientist, inventor and a pioneer of photography.

Fox Talbot went on to develop the three primary elements of photography: developing, fixing, and printing. Although simply exposing photographic paper to the light produced an image, it required extremely long exposure times. By accident, he discovered that there was an image after a very short exposure. Although he could not see it, he found he could chemically develop it into a useful negative. The image on this negative was then fixed with a chemical solution. This removed the light-sensitive silver and enabled the picture to be viewed in bright light. With the negative image, Fox Talbot realised he could repeat the process of printing from the negative. Consequently, his process could make any number of positive prints, unlike the Daguerreotypes. He called this the ‘calotype’ and patented the process in 1841.

Julia Margaret Cameron (11 June 1815 – 26 January 1879) UK

She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian men and for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature.

Much of her work has connections to pictorialism and even movements such as The Pre-Rapahelites, and often had a dream-like, constructed quality to the images.

Robert Cornelius (1809-1893) USA

Henry Mullins Jersey (1854-1921)

(Jersey-based) See also Ernest Badoux, William Collie, Charles Hugo, Thomas Sutton

20th and 21st Century Approaches

Watch : Rankin on “beautiful portraits”

Studio Lighting

Exploring Technique

1. Natural Light

In most cases we can make use of natural or available / ambient light…but we must be aware of different kinds of natural light and learn how to exploit it thoughtfully and creatively…

White Balance (WB) and Colour Temperature

2. Studio Lighting

Using artificial lighting can offer many creative possibilities…so we will explore :

Using Flash

Above : An example of “bouncing” the flash to soften the effects and create a larger “fill” area…try this wherever there are white walls/ ceilings

Flash units offer a range of possibilities in both low and high lighting scenarios that you could explore such as…

Evidence of Your Learning

During this unit we would expect all students to complete 2-3 blog posts  detailing how you are experimenting with various lighting techniques eg CHIARASCURO / REMBRANDT LIGHTING

Add information / links showing how Chiarascuro has been used since the Renaissance in painting…but also how it used now in photography and film

You must describe and explain your process with each technique…add your images to your blog as you progress, print off your successful images and evaluate your process using technical vocab and analysis skills. Think carefully about the presentation of your ideas and outcomes…compare your work to relevant portrait photographers as you go eg

Annie Leibovitz, Irving Penn, Rankin, Richard Avedon, Yousef Karsh, David Bailey, Mario Testino, Steve McCurry, Jill Greenberg, Nick Knight, Tim Walker, Corrine Day, Jane Bown, Rineke Djikstra, Thomas Ruff et al…

Expected Final Outcomes by Monday 7th December 2021

Show you can provide evidence of head shots, cropped head shots, half body, three-quarter length and full length portraits.

Show that you can employ interesting angles and viewpoints…

Make sure you ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS IN YOUR BLOG

Independent Study

1. You must complete a range of studio lighting experiments and present your strongest ideas on a separate blog post
2. Remember to select only the most successful images
3. You should be aiming to produce portraits that show clarity, focus and a clear understanding of a range of lighting techniques
4. Editing should be minimal at this point…we are looking for your camera skills here
5. But…be creative and experimental with your approach “in camera”…extremes, uniqueness and possibly thought provoking imagery that will improve your ideas and outcomes.

https://www.wefolk.com/artists/nadav-kander/information

“People and Places”

Further Explorations

LINK TO JOHN COPLANS

Always follow this 10 step process to ensure that you are covering all areas of study for this unit…

1. Mood-board, definition and introduction (AO1)
2. Mind-map of ideas (AO1)
3. Artist References / Case Studies (must include image analysis) (AO1) re : environmental and candid portraits
4. Photo-shoot Action Plan (AO3)
5. Multiple Photoshoots + contact sheets (AO3)
6. Image Selection, sub selection (AO2)
7. Image Editing/ manipulation / experimentation (AO2)
8. Presentation of final outcomes (AO4)
9. Compare and contrast your work to your artist reference(AO1) and show analysis of at least 1 of your images
10. Evaluation of your images, process and Critique of your final outcomes(AO1+AO4)

Always refer to this to help you with image analysis, knowledge and understanding etc

Resource Packs are stored here…

M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Portraiture\TO DO

and here : M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Planners Y12 JAC\Unit 2 Portrait PhotographyINDEPENDENT, READING, RESOURCE, TASK

Walker Evans

This image taken by Walker Evans is very simplistic, and it is easy to recognise what the picture is of. This image has no shadows due to the way Evans laid out the object, with sort of stilts holding the object up to give it a ‘hovering’ look, and positioned the light source, which looks to be about 12 o’clock and slightly above the object. The light itself is not too harsh nor too dim, giving the image a very formal and straight-forward look. The object does not have many angles, it is mainly curved with a few straight lines on the inside of the head. The contrast of this image mainly comes from the bold shadows on the handles, the hole in the centre and the edges of the head. The background in this image is very plain, it is pretty much the same colour as some parts of the object, this allows the darker segments to stand out more.

Darren Harvey-Regan

This image by Darren Harvey-Regan looks fairly unnatural, it uses a lot of straight lines and formal shapes to give the object an interesting appearance. The straight lines allow for lighting to give the image clear highlights and shadows, giving the rough texture of the image, as well as some of the shapes created by the lines, a greater emphasis. The light source is likely from around 1-2 o’clock of the object which allows for shadows behind the object and some faces of the pedestal to appear. This image uses contrast as a way of making the object more interesting, cutting out a straight shape in the rough/natural object, as well as placing the object on a regular shape, creates a contrast of shapes and lines. The background in this image is fairly dark, which also contrasts with the object that has been well lit and makes it easier to see the rugged shape of the object.

Comparing the Two Artists:

Similarities

• Both artists used black and white, I think this is effective as it allows the shadows and highlights to be differentiated more clearly, it also makes light the main focus of the images, rather than colour.
• Both artists used a plain background as a way to give the object a greater importance in the image

Differences

• Evans’ image is very simple, with the objects having a simple and well-known shape (being common tools), whereas Harvey-Regan’s image uses an object which has a complex natural shape, but has also been modified to have another simple shape within it.
• Harvey-Regan made use of a pedestal in his image which helps the object by giving it something simple to compare it to. Evans did not.
• Evans does not use shadow at all in his image, this makes the object look both simple yet confusing at the same time. Harvey-Regan’s image uses shadow as a way to embolden texture and shape, making the image clearer and more complex.
  

My own Images

I chose this as a Final Image because I like the way the two pieces of paper subtlety blend with each other, allowing the focal point, the apple, to stand out behind a peculiarly-shaped white backdrop. I think that colour is interesting, as the image is made up of an image with colour and one with black and white (with a part of it in colour), which gives the image a unique look to me, I also think that the soft tone of the blue background gives the image a more gentle and calming look.

I chose this as a Final Image as it stood out compared to the other images, because of how dark it was overall. I decided to make this image black and white because I thought it would allow the grey colour behind the window to stand out more. I think that the shine on the black paper gives the image more pattern and a greater variety in tones. The plant seen behind the left window frame is mainly made up of straight lines, however in an irregular order, this compared to the regular shape of the window frames, creates a nice contrast.

I chose this as a Final Image because I like how it is arranged, it looks as if the pieces have been placed in a planned way, while also looking like they were just thrown on. I think the model is the main focus of this image as she not only contrasts with the objects in the image as a human model, but also as a darker part of the image (contrasting with her white backdrop). I also like how the colour was arranged, with the colour being only seen in the centre of the image, and becomes black and white as the image goes towards the vertical edges of the page. I think the white backdrop gives the individual pieces room to breathe and helps them stand out more.

I chose this as a Final Image because I think that the outline of the woman, while it is not exactly the focal point (though it does enclose it), has an interesting look. Unlike the last image shown, the pieces are arranged quite erratically, which helps it look unique, but also rushed and unordered. I also think that the limited colour in the image is almost like a complete opposite to the last image, with the colour being mainly seen on the outer parts of the image.

At Hamptonne, there were several 15th century buildings, fields and farm areas which provided me with interesting exterior perspectives.

I chose this as a Final Image because I think that it’s use of shadow is effective. This picture was taken at the start of the trip so it was fairly early, which allows the rising sun to create a bold shadow on the left of the plant, as well as between it’s stems which creates a clear contrast between light and dark parts. I decided to make the image black and white because I wanted to emphasise the shadows, rather than the colours of the original (I like how you can still tell what time of day it is even with the black and white filter on). I think the erratic lines coming off of the plant creates an intriguing effect as it contrasts with the straight lines on the walls behind it, as well as the lack of lines below it.

I chose this image because I like the way the window mesh/guard creates an interesting pattern, which gives the focal point (the window as it is the darkest point in the image and is central) leading lines which lead the viewer towards it, and away from it in all directions. I think the way lines are mainly straight in this image, as well as the fact that the lines from the cage are symmetrical, gives it a man-made and unnatural form. I decided to give the image a slightly pink tone to give the image slightly more colour, as well as make the contrast higher and aperture slightly lower to give the image slightly more clarity.

I chose this image because I like how the lines created by the building are easily noticeable, which makes the building’s form stronger and clearer. I think that the way the building towers over the viewer, taking up a very large amount of space in the image, because of the low-angled viewpoint used, is effective as it makes the building seem that more abstract than a full-body shot of it. I like the way the focal point, the triangular shape on the right, stands out as it has a different pattern, using bricks, than the thatch, which is more of an unordered array of lines, and the sky. As this part of the building is shadowed, there is no shadow seen in the image, which makes the darkest part of the image the window/gap in the bricks, which also helps make the focal point stand out.

I chose this as a Final Image because I like it’s simplicity. I like the way distance is clearly shown from the diagonal shape of the building with the left side of the building being the closest and right being the farthest to the viewer. I made the tone of the image slightly warmer as I thought it would bring out the browns and greys (which take up a large majority of the image), while also loosely making the buildings seem more rural and old-fashioned. I like the way lines from the structure of the buildings are clearly seen in the image, while the forms of the plants scattered around the image are irregular, which creates a nice contrast.

I chose this as a final image because I like its simple yet effective composition, with the building’s roof ascending diagonally creating a composition similar to a golden triangle photograph. I also think that the 60:40 ratio of building and sky is effective as it gives the building space to breath, as well as a way to create a minor contrast in tones. I chose to make the colour of the image slightly diluted as it makes the image look a little older to me, linking to my theme of Heritage. Line is also interesting in this image as it creates a contrast between the man-made lines from the buildings and natural, soft patterns from the clouds.

I chose this as a Final Image because I like how the low angle that the image was taken at creates a clear sense of distance between the top and bottom parts of the wall shown in the image. I decided to make the image black and white because I didn’t like the greenish tone on the original, I also think the black and white makes the white patches on the bricks stand out more, which gives the image a nice balance between black and white. I also like how the lines between each brick are clear, as it gives the image an organised look, while the bricks themselves are erratic with the white patterns they adorn.

Lightroom Edits:

Photoshop Edits:

I took a still life of a bottle and put the Hamptonne persons head to appear to come out the top as if the bottle was her body.

this still life of a group of objects. I cut it into strips and inverted every other strip to create this effect.

this photo of a person in Gorey I changed their face to a zoomed in dandelion and turned Goreys beautiful bay into a bush

this one I cut out the figure and replaced it with a stained glass window of jesus christ

this is the cut out person from the previous image and i have stood her next to a grass protruding through the stone at the Hamptonne this messes with the perception of the viewer because they are at different scales.

I used a flagging system on Adobe Lightroom to choose what object photos to use and which not to use

Using one of my best images I experimented with Adobe Photoshop to improve the images and make them more interesting with editing

Basic Edits

I first started with just making an object photo black and white to give it an older feel to the picture, to tie it in to heritage

Further Edits