What is Masculinity?

Masculinity is common traits, attributes and characteristics of men and boys for example the most prominent ones would be things like the colour blue or even jobs such as mechanic.

what is Femininity?

just like masculinity femininity is attributes and characteristics that are more common throughout women that you would really see men do examples of this could be using make up or working as a nurse.

what is the definition of identity?

identity is the qualities, beliefs, personality traits, appearance, and/or expressions that characterize a person or a group. Identity emerges during childhood as children start to comprehend their self-concept, and it remains a consistent aspect throughout different stages of life.

someone’s identity can link to many different things but peoples culture is a big thing when talking about who you identify as and who you are. things like religion and race is what I would consider as one of the main things when talking about your cultural identity but things such as gender age and other things are obviously your identity.

for example one of the biggest cultural identity’s in the world is Christianity as its the most followed religions in the world with 2.4 billion followers.

(common Christian church)

social identity is a concept of who you are in public, work or even with your friends. this can be influenced by things people do or say that people see online or even when they are out in public. a popular/trendy identity that has grown in the UK is roadmen. stereotypically roadmen are usually dressed in all black, they are also known for having a postcode war which is a where a group of people feel like they need to defend there area from the other people around them.

social identity can also be shown through what you wear (streetwear, fashion etc). this can give people an insight on who you are.

a good example would be bloke core which has really been popularised in the UK over the years

geographical identity, is when someone has an attachment to their country region or city. this is shown in jersey through the jersey post with its dedicated pages to sporting events throughout the island. and through social media from pages such as sports cast jersey

peoples identity’s can be formed through their upbringing with parents and siblings. as they are constantly around family so they pick up on personality traits and the way people speak or look. so people essentially become mini versions of there parents

what are headshots?

headshots is a more specific portrait and used mostly in a professional manner for things such as websites, press releases, publications and social media profiles. Headshots capture emotions, personality and possibly professionalism. headshots are quite basic as it just a clean image of the subject looking into the camera.

why are headshots important/useful?

Headshots are important for most people but more specifically they are much more important for people like business owners or for even an employee or potential clients as this photo will be your very first impression which can help to get top known someone before you even meet them.

well known headshot photographers:

There are multiple well known headshot photographers around the world but there are handful that stand out above the rest this list consists of Peter Hurley, Annie Leibovitz, Lindsay Adler and Greg Gorman. these photographers made a name for themselves by creating the best headshots with well known celebrities and models. their photos gained so much attention as they were unique and with how well they were able to capture emotion and personality.

for this photo I tried to recreate the Henry Mullins headshots to also help create the diamond cameo

camera settings:

green coloured photos (5 star photos)

yellow coloured photos (4 star photos)

red coloured photos (1-3 stars)

these weren’t fit for what I wanted to use for what I wanted to use for my diamond cameo.

butterfly lighting edits

most photos that I’ve seen with the butterfly effect have been in black and white with your odd exceptions in colour, therefore this persuaded me to make the image black and white. and I liked the way the image came out.

this is also another image that I like because it does what a portrait is supposed to do show off the details of the subject and it also shows off the butterfly effect really well.

Rembrandt lighting:

to make the Rembrandt effect look even better I decided to make the subject in the photo more brighter however still have the textures and shades on the face as I personally think it made the triangle and the shadow on the subject pop even more.

this other photo I decided to make with Rembrandt effect was in black and white as I wanted to experiment doing different things instead of having the photos in just colour for my Rembrandt images.

Chiaroscuro lighting:

to achieve the Chiaroscuro effect I had to show the contrast between black and white by making it seem like there is an unknown source of light beaming on the subject

I made another photo which I think fits the description of the Chiaroscuro lighting effect personally I think it came out really well

what is environmental portraits?

an environmental portrait is when the object of the photo is placed in an area that you would associate it with (footballer at a football pitch etc).

mood board:

mind map:

photo must have a distinct subject that matches its background

props can be useful to help paint the picture

location of photo (inside or outside etc).

more than one person can help create more emotion in a photo

Artist study-August Sanders:

“It is not my intention either to criticize or to describe these people, but to create a piece of history with my pictures.” – August Sander

Introduction:

where was he born? August Sanders was born in Herdof Germany. he grew up having an interest in photography after his uncle bought him camera and he met some photographer who helped spark his interest in photography.

august sanders took photos of people all over Germany, even though they didn’t consist much emotion if not none from the subject but could still paint a story of what the person does or is. he did this from the early 1900s all the way up until 1964 where he would pass away he created a portfolio called “people of the 20th century” his photos helped document the change and growth in society and the differences in social classes.

august sanders helped to document changes in one of the most dominant army’s in history (the uniform and the environment of the soldiers and commanders etc).

individual photo analysis–

this photo in my opinion helps us show what August Sanders really wanted to capture in all his photos in this genre

this photo shows that he liked to use quite an old fashioned large format camera that consisted of long exposure times, as in this photo it allows him to capture all the details not only in the person but everything around the person as well such as the little details in most of the bricks the floor where he is standing. this photo tells what environment this person worked as it seems to be quite messy but so precise as his surroundings are quite dirty (floor, stain on the wall etc) and the the preciseness of how the bricks must be laid out. so to conclude this photo really portrays what this persons work life is like in multiple different ways.

all of this really helps us show what life was like in the 20th century as he is essentially creating a piece of history.

other examples

obviously after having such an influence in photography multiple people have tried to replicate his work with a modern twist it and these are some examples:

Rembrandt-

for this shoot I wanted to create Rembrandt lighting in the best possible way in my ability, I did this by making sure I had the lighting on point and making the shadows I needed to make around the face. And these are the photos I came up with.

4-5 star photos (best photos I came up with)-

3-4 star photos (decent photos I came up with)–

1-2 star (worst photos)-

Butterfly lighting– I judged these based of the lighting on the face and how well the butterfly effect was created on the subject.

4-5 star photos (best photos I came up with)-

3-4 star photos (decent photos I came up with)–

1-2 star (worst photos)-

conclusion-

in conclusion I think that there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to taking my photos as there is only a handful that I think show off the lighting technique to its best. I think if I was to do this photoshoot again I would take a lot more photos and keep adjusting the lighting until its perfect.

what is butterfly lighting?

butterfly lighting is a lighting technique that consists of where the key light is placed above the object in the photo. this helps create the shadow under the nose that looks like a butterfly hence where is gets it name from.

butterfly light lighting originates from Hollywood 1930s as it helped create some of the earliest glamour shot. German silent film actress Marlene Dietrich helped give this technique its name after how she was presented in one of the films she stared in.

why use this form of lighting?

by using butterfly its helps the facial feature stand out more (cheekbones etc) and become one of the photos main attraction, however the main focus of the photo is the shadow under the nose (butterfly) and neck as this is what makes everything pop in the photo. overall this technique is perfect for making glamour shots as it makes the person look more symmetrical and it also makes the person look more thinner.

as you can see the lighting makes the model look more eye catching as all her facial feature are popping.

how do you create butterfly lighting?

lens-

the best lens to use is 55m as it gets you a close and focused photo with heavy detail of the person.

Light-

to create butterfly lighting artificial or natural light can be used, also hard and soft lighting is also applicable for this technique

soft vs hard lighting

what is Rembrandt lighting?

Rembrandt lighting came about in the 20th century and was created by film director Cecil B. DeMille, he did this to created much more realistic effects instead of just having your average studio lighting that was pretty generic. this type of lighting became much more common in films and promotional photographs to make them more interesting and eye catching. In conclusion, this sort of lighting is supposed to make a triangle under the eyes with shadows on the subject in the photo.

why use Rembrandt lighting?

when using Rembrandt lighting you can create an eye catching photo as it can create an image that looks natural but could also look dramatic.

Rembrandt can be used with either hard or soft lighting depending on how the photographer wants to portray the subject in the photo.

hard light

soft light

as shown in these two photos there is always a triangle of shadow being created when using the Rembrandt technique.

how to create Rembrandt lighting:

light- for the lighting you are going to need one source about 45 degrees away from them (about five feet) that’s also higher than them to create the technique.

lens- A 35mm to 55mm is the best range when taking a Rembrandt photo as these provide a nice wider point of view capturing more of the subject or it can be more zoomed capturing more detail of the subject (good depth).

Photos i have created:

aperture

the aperture decides how much light is let into the photo you take. how it work? well as you make the lens smaller the less light it let in and vice versa. it can also blur the foreground and background to focus on that bracket the object your taking a photo of.

shutter

the shutter speed is what it sounds like it is, it dictates how long the shutter takes to close when you takes a photo (it shows the movement of an object)

Iso

Iso controls how much light is let in to the camera, it dictates how light or dark your photo is going to be.

exposure

exposure is when the amount of light that reaches your camera creating visual data.

exposure metre

exposure meter, also called light meter, photographic auxiliary device that measures the intensity of light and indicates proper exposure

white balance

white balance helps make the colours on a photo more realistic (more intense)

auto focus

auto focus is exactually what it sounds like it automatically focus’s on the subject of the photo.

manual focus

adjusting the focus by yourself with out an aid from the camera

this is the set up i used for one of my objects photo shoots. this set up matches the settings above i have presented.

Walker Evans

about Walker Evens

Walker was an American photographer who was widely known for his farm security administration work. most of his work was done with 8 x 10 inch view camera (a large format). Evans said this about his images of tools

“Among low-priced, factory-produced goos, none is so appealing to the senses as the ordinary hand tool. Hence, a hardware store is a kind of offbeat museum show for the man who responds to good, clear ‘undersigned’ forms.”
Walker Evans

Walker Evans – Beauties of the common tool – 1955

Walker evens began photography in the 1920s and was very well known his black and white photos he liked to show of the shadows in his photos by using the low light technique.

to make his photos Evens decides to make an infinity background effect and uses an overhead light to make an sort of shadows that were supposed to be there disappear to focus purely just on the tools and nothing else hence why the shoot is named “the beauties of the common tool”. this allows all the texture and the details of the tools to come to light.

Daren Harvey-Regan

Beauties of the Common Tool, Rephrased II, 2013
Fibre-based handprint, mounted, wooden frame with museum glass

Harvey-Regan recreates Evens by taking tools and making them main interest of the photo but puts his own twist to it by taking apart tools and putting them backing together with a different piece. and as he was a more modern photographer he was able to have better lighting by using studio lights making the photo having no dark patches where as Evens did. this meant that Harvey-Regan was able to bring out more texture and clarity in his photos.

Comparison

the main difference between the two respected photos is the fact that the modern equipment is able to out perform the old equipment meaning its able to bring out more out of the tools giving its more texture and visual quality.

however they both have the same ideas

my person attempt

for this photo I decided to take inspiration from Harvey-Regan as i wanted to have no shadow to make the tool stand out more to show off its ruff texture.