Creative Portraits are photos which focuses on both the surroundings of the photo as well as the person in the photo. Its a excellent way to depict a lot of information of a person just from looking at a single photo. Creative Portraits usually consist of images and other elements being combined to create unique images. There is many styles you can use in Creative Portraits which can help make your images look more creative and unique.
Double/Multi-Exposure
Double or Multi-Exposure is the process of layering a portion of images on top each other to create illusions. This can be done by either using a camera and adjusting the settings in order to take these multi-layered images or you can take multiple photos in the same place but different poses and then layer them on top of each other using photoshop.
By layering the photos it can result into some spectacular photos being created as there is many different ways you can layer out the photos to achieve the effect and look that you want. For example you can place the images very close together to make that blur effect or space them out evenly or away to create that ghost effect.
Photo Montage
Photomontage is the process of taking and gathering images and then editing them together mainly by cutting, gluing, rearranging or overlapping two or more together to make it into a new image. However Photomontage doesn’t have to be done physically, you can use editing programs like photoshop to edit your images in the style of photomontage like cutting pieces of the image and rearranging them or rotating them. As long as your edits fit the style of Photomontage then it can be done digitally.
This style is very popular and it was famously used to make political images. A Good example would be Russian Constructivism where many people created posters using Photo-Montage by using a solid background and a main subject for their images with usually a message written on it to get their point across.
Artist References
For my Double/Multi-Exposure I have chosen Man Ray as my inspiration as I like the poses that his subjects use in the photos as well as how he positions the subject to make the double exposure look unique and interesting which is something I want to replicate myself with my own ideas.
For my Photo Montage I have chosen Kensuoke Koike as my inspiration as I found it really interesting how he reconstructed the image in a way where it looked odd but appealing, most of the images are cut then reformed into different shapes and patterns which made it look more alluring to look at which is why I want to also replicate his photos and try achieve the same effect that his photos have.
My Photos
Double/Multi-Exposure
With my Double/Multi-Exposure images, I have been able to match the same style as Man Ray but with my own ideas, For the first image I told my subject to have a sinister look while also using a red colour gel to portray the red side as an evil while for the other side using a blue colour gel I got my subject to maintain that same position but to smile instead to show that the blue side is more of a happy/positive side. In the end it created a really interesting and funny image where you can see both sides of the Double Exposure perfectly. For the second image I tried to replicate that same idea but differently, I got my subject to make an angry expression like he was yelling with the red colour gel inserted to show the anger in his face while with the other side using the blue colour gel I got him to tilt the other way while making a happy and carefree expression which in the end resulted into another image I am quite proud of.
Photo Montage
With my Photo Montage images, I wanted to try replicate that same style that Kensuke Koike used with the shapes and patterns, so using photoshop I was able to find some shape and pattern templates and I ended up overlaying them on top of the image so I was able to cut out pieces of the image and rearrange them into unique patterns. In the end result it made for some very interesting and creative images with the first image being square pieces of his face flipped which worked out well thanks to the colour gel lighting in the image and with the second image being cut out triangle pieces of his face being rearranged in a way that ended up making it resemble the Rhombus shape.