Portraiture is a very old art form going back at least to ancient Egypt. Before the invention of photography, a painted, sculpted, or drawn portrait was the only way to record the someone’s appearance. Getting painted portraits done was only available to families in the upper classes of society. That all changed when photography came into existence.

Photography

Portrait photography is the process of taking a picture in an attempt to capture the subject’s personality. The idea of the subject being aware separates portrait photography from every other type of photography involving people in the frame.

Richard Avedon says,

“A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he is being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he’s wearing or how he looks.”

However, portrait photography hasn’t always been that easy. In the late 18th century, the process behind creating a single portrait took immense amounts of laborious, economically conscious efforts which had an effect on how portraits were done.

In 1839, Robert Cornelius shot the first successful portrait photograph in the form of a self-portrait.

He used the natural light outdoors to get a faster exposure. Robert had to hold this pose for a whole minute before rushing back and putting the lens cap back on due to the early type of camera he was using.

Nowadays, portraits have become a staple in photography and can be seen in the media. As with many other styles of photography, portraiture has evolved and modernized with the aid of smartphones and devices, and the self-portrait has been made more convenient with the selfie.

The selfie is a form of self-portraiture that has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Although the word “selfie” didn’t start becoming used until around 2002 which isw nearly 150 years after Cornelius snapped his first self-portrait and the term didn’t really catch on until around 2011.