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

Louis Daguerre was a 19th century French photographer and artist who developed the Daguerreotype process which was similar to Niépce’s ‘Heliotype’ process. Daguerreotypes used silver plated copper as it’s medium, meaning that they where unique and could not be duplicated. Daguerre was also a successful artist and, with the help of Charles Marie Bouton, developed diorama theatre in 1821. He is referred to as one of the founding fathers of photography.

examples of daguerreotype

Henry Fox-Talbot

Henry Fox-Talbot, a 19th century English inventor, scientist and photographer, invented the calotype process. This was introduced in 1841. Calotypes used paper coated in silver iodine, which made the paper more sensitive to light, and could be reproduced, as the negative medium used to produce the images was never used up. Despite the reproducibility and ease of producing the Calotype, it never became as or more popular than the Daguerreotype because the images produced weren’t as clear as Daguerreotypes and because Talbot patented the process which restricted its use.

Image juxtaposition is where two images are compared to find similarities and differences between them. An effective way of achieving this is by adjusting the composition of the photos. From first sight, there are already visible similarities and dissimilarities.

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There has clearly been some violent distortion and stretching to the models’ face in one case and head in the other. Both photos are in black and white, however one of them was taken almost a hundred years after the other.

DEADPAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Deadpan photography is considered a photo devoid of emotion. Forms of deadpan photography include passport photos – the subjects stand or sit, usually making eye contact with the camera. Rules of passport photography include no smiling, no hats, and a white background.

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THOMAS RUFF

Thomas Ruff is a contemporary German photographer and prominent member of the Düsseldorf School. His work incorporates deadpan photography, both portraits and still life. Thomas Ruff got into capturing portrait photos in 1981. He mastered the required photography technique between 1981 and 1985. Along with portrait photography, Ruff was into large format printing, producing images in large seven feet (2,1 meter) by five feet (1,5 meter). This combination helped to introduce a unique feel to the pictures.

By 1987, Thomas Ruff was well settled as a portrait photographer and in high demand. This tempted him to try other photography styles and come up with innovative photos. To do that, Thomas Ruff experimented with composite faces in 1992, assisted by Minolta Montage Unit. Then Thomas Ruff started working on 8×10 colour portraits. He took these photos against coloured backdrops. Along with that, he went ahead to capture night images and buildings as well.

I used photos from our headshots photoshoot to create a grid of deadpan photos using the passport layout inspired by Thomas Ruff’s work. I made sure all the photos included a clear background and eye contact.

Juxtaposition is positioning two images together to show contrast or similarities. this could be done by adjusting the composition, to convey the contrasts in the picture.

To juxtapose an image means to place them next to each other. When those things are notably dissimilar, the juxtaposition highlights the differences between them and creates a sense of contrast. When we get it right, that contrast can be very powerful aesthetically, conceptually or both.

these images are similar because they are take in the same place, they re dissimilar because they weren’t taken in the same time. his shows the effect of time on out island.

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. Frequently, portraits are commissioned for special occasions, such as weddings, school events, or commercial purposes. Portraits can serve many purposes, ranging from usage on a personal web site to display in the lobby of a business.

Portrait photography has been around since Louis Daguerre invented the daguerreotype in 1839—the same year that Robert Cornelius aimed the camera at himself and took what is widely believed to be the first self portrait photograph ever, laying the groundwork for portrait photography to emerge as its own art form.

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History of Portrait Photography

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Portrait photography has had a long and varied history since Louis Daguerre introduced the photographic process in 1839. In that same year, Robert Cornelius produced what’s considered the first photographic self-portrait. Photography has served many purposes, mainly to commemorate occasions and periods in history.

In 1839, Robert Cornelius, who was a pioneer of photography, was able to make the first ever portrait or photograph of a person. He did so by setting a camera in the back of his dad’s gas lamp-importing business on Chestnut Street in the centre of the city of Philadelphia.

Edwin H. Land

Edwin Herbert Land was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, a practical system of in-camera instant photography, and the retinex theory of color vision, among other things.

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On 21 February 1947, Edwin Land demonstrated his one-step instant camera and film at a meeting of the Optical Society of America. Less than two years later the Polaroid Camera Model 95 and Type 40 Land film were on sale at the Jordan Marsh department store in downtown Boston at a cost of $89.75: it weighed 4 lb.

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Here I have compared one image of Luke Fowler’s with another image of Claude Cahun, to make this process easier we discussed these images in class and which aspects of each are similar and different. I have created a table below using the information discussed and laid it out clearly and in preparation to fully compare these images.

Full Image Comparison

To compare these 2 images, one composed by Luke Fowler and one by Claude Cahun I have created a this table above to better layout my first ideas, and this has helped me to build my analysis paragraph. Firstly, its important to note that the lighting of these images contrast each other, on the left the lighting is full of gradient terms and medium grey and white tones, whilst the multi exposure, Claude Cahun, piece is a massive contrast between the very light ones on her the faces and the very dark grey background, this means that these images can be linked together of juxtaposed depending on the work.

Furthermore, Fowler’s image is contains other arms of the body and in this case the mans right arm whilst Cahun’s is only composed of faces, this creates the focus just on the face and unlike in Fowler’s, the landscape doesn’t take away from the facial features. Additionally, they can be contrasted as the left is created from two images that are laid out on top of each other (with final piece being portrait) where the right is a multi exposure edit with two different landscape photos (with the final piece being landscape as well) and the fact that the final products are different orientations means this can even be compared.

These images tell two different stories, with Claude Cahun’s exploring the ides of a loss of identity and how the same person can have multiple identities and can feel as if they don’t have one personality or belonging. I can be implied that the message behind Fowler’s image is that identity is lined to this freedom, as he no longer cares about what other thinks when it comes to his identity. This idea is supported by the birds in the background as it contains the sky and birds, which represent freedom and then it links to the freedom within his identity.

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Tableau is used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the viewer

Tableau paintings were natural and true to life, and had the effect of walling off the observer from the drama taking place, transfixing the viewer like never before.

Tableau photography captures a very similar style to what interests me in photography. I love the use of props that create a cinematic feel to the piece and are composing a movie-like set to the image. The story it holds is particularly impressive and the choice of setting, props, cast, costumes etc. Is executed all for one image which I find very impressive.

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Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson is an American photographer best known for staging cinematic scenes of suburbia to dramatic effect. His surreal images are often melancholic, offering ambiguous narrative suggestions and blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality. Working with large production teams to scout and shoot his images, his photographs have become increasingly complex as if it were for a motion picture production, including its painstaking preparation of elaborate sets, lighting, and cast

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He is very well known for his incredible Tableau photography which is composed with an incredible amount of thought and detail. Every prop used has a meaning to the photo to give it a very cinematic feel. Almost like a movie set.

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Philip-Lorca diCorcia

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Philip-Lorca diCorcia is an American photographer whose work encompasses both documentary and staged photography, lending his large-scale colour prints a narrative mixture of truth and fiction. He stated “I think it’s a sense of disappointment after realizing that most of the time they’re being lied to,” diCorcia has observed of his audience’s reaction to ambiguous nature of his photographs. He also stated “And what medium has a stronger relationship to people’s idea of the truth than one that is supposed to be an accurate representation of reality?”

 His cinematic approach echoes Gregory Crewdson’s methodology, wherein the artist prepares the shots as if they were scenes in a film, as seen in his series Hustlers. The “dramatizing elements,” as the artist calls them, are what gives his images their narrative power

This artist takes a wide amount of inspiration from Gregory Crewdson who I find to be very intriguing with his photographs portraying realistic, cinematic-like scenes. They both produce very surreal settings within the art form itself, with the unusual use of props and location.

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The Diamond Cameo photograph was created around 1864. Four small oval portraits were placed on a carte de visite (a type of small photograph) in the shape of a diamond, each portrait being of the same person photographed in a different position. A special camera made by Dallmeyer was used in which the one glass negative was moved to a new position in the back of camera after each portrait had been taken, and when the paper print had been pasted on the card a special press was used to punch the four portraits up into a convex cameo shape.

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CREATING A DIAMOND CAMEO

I created a diamond cameo on photoshop using the shape tool to cut out a circle. I pasted my photos from my headshots project underneath and used a clipping mask tool to combine the shape and photo so I just adjust it however I wanted.

I experimented with different colour palettes and backgrounds to create a diamond cameo – I used a black background on bright colours to create contrast and did the opposite with unedited photos to show simplicity and inspiration towards the standard 1800’s diamond cameos.

these two images have similarity in the sense that they are both presented in black and white. In my opinion, black and white images are much more interesting than images in colour, because it allows you to focus on what is really being photographed, behind the colours which is what usually draws your eyes to something in the first place. Both of there images are portrait headshots, taken in front of a plain background to draw your attention to the subject. Similarly, both images have a neutral facial expression. These images both explore the way in which identity is presented, in my image on the left, identity is show as something that is crumbling due to a society trying to shape people to all be the same, however in Claude Cahun’s self portrait, it seems as if she is representing her personality as something that is forever changing. In my opinion, Cahun’s self portrait is inspired by the queen of hearts, due to the heavy makeup on her face. I think this is supposed to present her identity as someone who is strong and powerful, no matter the gender they identity as. There are a few differences between the images, for example in my image the design on her face is created digitally using photoshop software, this is because I wanted the cracked face effect to look as realistic as possible. In Cahun’s self portrait, she manually paints on a design on her face, I think she does this because she is forever changing the way she looks and wants the image to look as raw as possible, as well as this, when the image was taken, they did not have the resources to digitally edit these photos. Another difference between these images is that one of them is a self portrait, which shows how Claude wanted to portray her own identity, and the other is a portrait taken of a friend by myself, in which I wanted to highlight how someone else’s identity comes across to me.

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A Comparison using a Venn Diagram

Written Comparison

The image on the left is a self portrait of myself. It is a black and white, head and shoulders shot with a plain background. The image on the right is called “I’m training, don’t kiss me” by Claude Cahun in 1927. It is also a black and white portrait image with a plain background, however this image is a full body shot.

Similarities

Both images are black and white portraits, which helps emphasize the features of the model. They both use a plain background to create a contrast not only in colour but also detail, allowing the model to attract the attention of the viewer. There is also a contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the image, made clearer by the black and white filters.

Differences