in addition to the environmental photography study i did on my grandmother, i and a few other students took a camera across school to take photos of teachers and school staff in there everyday enviroment
This photo school not only helped my confidence in photographing people i am not close with or comfortable with but also taught me a lot about the camera and helped me learn how to take high quality and in focus photos quickly and under pressure, with the teachers anxious to get on with there work we did ou best not to occupy to much of there time and therefor had to learn very quickly about how to focus and use the camera as quickly as possible, unfortunately a good amount of the photos we took did end up being a little blurry but the ones above are what i believe to be my best work from the hour we spend around school.
i edited these photos to be black and white/greyscale in imitation of Daniel Mordzinski’s photography style when photographing the ‘human atlas’ one of his most famous photography series.
Rembrandt lighting is a technique utilizing one light and one reflector or two separate lights. It’s a popular technique because it creates images that look both dramatic yet natural. It’s predominantly characterized by a lit-up triangle underneath the subject’s eye on the less illuminated area of the face
The style of Rembrandt lighting is particularly useful in the Making of Film Noir as, “It illuminates not just the physical landscape but also the emotional landscape of the characters.” In a genre where character and setting are integrally linked, Rembrandt Lighting provides an intimate insight into the characters
for the photos bellow I used three point Rembrandt lighting with one light behind one light to the right side and a light reflector to the left, this creates a lighter effect than traditional Rembrandt lighting
diagram of lighting set up used in the photography
i like these photos because i think it demonstrates the signature triangle on the left cheek while still achieving a soft overall atmosphere to the photos
here is my editing process when trying to create a high quality photo and I believe I achieved this for the most part creating the traditional triangle shape on the left cheek.
my pictures bellow are using traditional Rembrandt lighting at its most basic, Rembrandt lighting consists of a single light source placed on a 45 degree offset from the subject, about 5 feet away. Positioned roughly two feet higher than eye level, the light source is angled slightly downward and hits the side of the face that is farthest away from the camera.
the photos above are what I believe to be the best i have of this photo style, I believe Rembrandt lighting is not what I am strongest in but I think I have managed to achieve the desired effect in a good amount of my photos specifically the ones listed above.
above is my editing process when creating these images, i edited the photos not to change the images but to enhance the key features of this photography style .
Butterfly lighting is a portrait lighting pattern where the key light is placed above and directly centred with a subject’s face. This creates a shadow under the nose that resembles a butterfly.
butterfly lighting is typically used in beauty and fashion photography, because It’s a light pattern that flatters almost everybody, making it one of the most common lighting setups. Butterfly lighting was used to photograph some of the most famous stars from classic Hollywood.
some examples of butterfly lighting are:
All Paramount lighting consists of is a key light placed above and directly centered with a subject’s face. You want this light source to be above and behind the camera, angled down towards your subject. This can be achieved with either a continuous light softbox or a strobe / off-camera flash.
my attempt:
as you can see here I achieved the signature butterfly shadow under his nose in most of my attempts in this photography achieving both a softer approach to the photography style and harsher and sharper shadows.
in an attempt to better understand the lighting set up and the effects of different posing i later put my self in the place of the model and experimented with different angles, lighting positions and reflective sheets.
Here are the results after editing:
In these first two I attempted to recrate the classic holly wood editing where this style of photography originated, with very harsh shadows allowing for the contouring of the cheekbones and drawing focus to the jaw and eyes, I believe I achieve this effect in these photos and I believe I achieved the signature butterfly shadow.
In these photographs I attempted to achieve a softer look in the photography, still outlining the key features of the face and still showcasing the signature butterfly shadow but creating an over all softer effect for the photographs.
“With my first photograph a story of love towards photography and literature was born, I don’t know if these portraits have more of photography or literature, but I’d say it has a lot of both and I like to believe that this love story was born as a way of narrating, telling, proposing, suggesting and invite to read too”
Mordzinski is a photographer with a very specific niche in black and white portrait photography of latin American authors.
Each photo is very individual and impactful in his portal of the authors, because he is so consistent in his style and niche he is extremely specialised and talented in this style of photography, he always manages to produce an image that invokes emotion and create a sense of personal undertanding towards the author he is potraying.
Although more renowned photographers such as Arnold Newman and woody Allen are extremely talented and in the world of portrait photography considered the best in the game, with some very thought provoking and emotion enduring work i personally find Mordinzski’s work and commitment to his very specialised area more impressive in many capacities, not only is his ability to stick to such a specific personal style a clear representation of his love and personal devotion to his project the ‘Human Atlas’ that love and devotion always shows through his work.
All of his photographs have a depth of personal character and emotion that is very hard to capture without a long personal history with the model this is inspiring to me for many reasons not only is he extremely talented and consistently produces high quality photography but he also evokes deep thought and consideration in his audience.
For the route i want to take in my experiments with environmental portraits photography i believe he is the best photographer for me to draw inspiration from.
The Human Atlas
Known as “the writers’ photographer,” Daniel Mordzinski has been working on his ambitious “human atlas” of Iber-american literature for 38 years. The Argentine photographer, who lives between Paris and Madrid, has created portraits of the most important figures in Latin-American literature. The author of numerous books, Mordzinski’s works are continuously exhibited in Latin America’s most important museums and are included in the best collections of contemporary photography. He is an important literary festivals photographer.
