Rembrandt Lighting

• Features: A triangle of light under the subject’s eye on the shadowed side.
• Use: Creates dramatic, moody portraits with a natural feel.
• Setup: Key light placed at 45° above and to the side, creating shadows.

Overview of Rembrandt Lighting

Rembrandt lighting is a classic and widely-used lighting technique in studio portrait photography and cinematography, named after the renowned Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. This lighting style is highly valued for its ability to create dramatic yet natural-looking images with minimal equipment, making it a popular choice among photographers and filmmakers alike.

At the core of Rembrandt lighting is the distinct illuminated triangle, or “Rembrandt patch,” which appears on the subject’s face under the eye on the shadowed side. This triangle of light, typically formed by the nose casting a shadow on the cheek and chin, is a defining feature of the style and contributes to the depth and dimensionality of the portrait. The illuminated triangle adds a sense of realism and visual interest, giving the image a balance of contrast without overwhelming the subject’s features.

Achieving Rembrandt lighting can be done using a single light source combined with a reflector to bounce some light back onto the shaded side of the face, or through the use of two light sources for more control over shadows and highlights. The key to this technique is the positioning of the light: the main light is typically placed at a 45-degree angle from the subject, both horizontally and vertically, so that the light falls across the face in such a way that one side is illuminated, while the other side is left in shadow, with the exception of the illuminated triangle under the eye.

This lighting technique is prized for its versatility and dramatic effect, and it works especially well for creating portraits with a sense of mystery, depth, and emotional impact. It is commonly used in both traditional and contemporary portrait photography, as well as in cinematic scenes where the interplay of light and shadow is used to enhance the mood or character development.

While the style is closely associated with Rembrandt, who used a similar lighting technique in his paintings to create contrast, depth, and a sense of volume in his subjects, it has since evolved into an established technique in modern visual arts. Rembrandt lighting is often contrasted with other portrait lighting techniques, such as butterfly lighting, which produces a more uniform and softer lighting effect, emphasizing a different mood and appearance.

Rembrandt mood board

Originals

studio Lighting photoshoot

Rembrandt Lighting photos

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Butterfly Lighting

Features: A butterfly-shaped shadow under the subject’s nose, created by the light’s high and centered position.

Use: Produces flattering, symmetrical lighting that enhances facial features, softens imperfections, and adds a polished look. Popular for beauty, fashion, and classic Hollywood-style portraits.

Setup: Position the key light directly in front of and slightly above the subject, at a 25–30° downward angle. Use a reflector or fill light below the subject to soften shadows under the chin.

Overview

Butterfly lighting is a timeless and elegant lighting technique commonly used in portrait photography and cinematography. It derives its name from the distinct butterfly-shaped shadow that forms under the subject’s nose when the lighting is properly positioned. Renowned for its ability to produce soft, even illumination, this technique highlights facial symmetry and contours, making it ideal for beauty and glamour photography.

The defining feature of butterfly lighting is the gentle interplay of light and shadow, which sculpts the face and enhances features like cheekbones and jawlines. This style of lighting minimizes imperfections and creates a luminous, polished look, often associated with the iconic portraits of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

To achieve butterfly lighting, place the key light directly in front of the subject and slightly above their eye level, angling it downward at approximately 25–30 degrees. This placement ensures even lighting on the face while casting the characteristic shadow beneath the nose and chin. Adding a reflector or fill light below the subject can further refine the look by reducing shadows under the chin and enhancing the overall softness of the image.

Butterfly lighting is especially effective for creating glamorous and professional portraits. Its ability to flatter various face shapes and skin textures makes it a popular choice for headshots, senior portraits, and beauty campaigns. While traditionally associated with female subjects, this technique can also produce stunning results for male portraits when paired with slight adjustments to highlight strength and confidence.

Compared to other techniques like Rembrandt lighting, which emphasizes dramatic contrast and depth, butterfly lighting offers a clean, radiant aesthetic with smooth transitions between light and shadow. Its versatility and simplicity make it an essential tool for photographers and filmmakers aiming to create refined and timeless portraits.

Butterfly mood board

Originals

This was unsuccessful because the lighting was to soft and not harsh enough to create the butterfly effect.

Chiaroscuro

Features: Strong contrast between light and shadow, creating a dramatic and three-dimensional effect.

Use: Adds depth, mood, and intensity to images, commonly used in fine art, portraiture, and cinematic storytelling.

Setup: Use a single directional light source, such as a spotlight or window, positioned at an angle to create sharp contrasts and defined shadows on the subject.

Overview

Chiaroscuro lighting is a dramatic technique that emphasizes strong contrasts between light and shadow to create a sense of depth, volume, and mood. The term originates from the Italian words “chiaro” (light) and “scuro” (dark), reflecting its focus on the interplay of illumination and shadow. It is a hallmark of fine art and cinematography, often used to evoke emotion, mystery, or intensity.

This technique relies on a single directional light source, such as a spotlight, lamp, or window, placed at an angle to the subject. This setup casts deep shadows and highlights specific areas, sculpting the subject with striking dimensionality. The surrounding areas often remain in shadow, drawing attention to the illuminated elements and creating a focused, moody atmosphere.

Chiaroscuro lighting works particularly well for portraiture, still life, and dramatic scenes. It has roots in Renaissance and Baroque art, with masters like Caravaggio and Rembrandt using it to add realism and emotional depth to their paintings. In modern photography and filmmaking, chiaroscuro is a powerful tool for storytelling, helping to convey tension, intrigue, or character depth.

Compared to softer techniques like butterfly lighting, chiaroscuro is defined by its bold use of contrast and shadow, making it ideal for creating impactful and visually striking images. Its versatility and timeless appeal have made it a staple in both classic and contemporary visual arts.

Mood Board

Originals

Coloured Gels

Whole Photoshoot

EXPLORING LIGHTING

Studio lighting refers to artificial lighting used in a controlled environment, like a photography or film studio, to illuminate a subject. It allows the photographer to manipulate light to create desired effects, emphasize particular features, and achieve consistent results regardless of ambient light conditions.

Why use studio lighting?

1. Provides total control over light intensity, direction, and quality.
2. Enables unique effects like dramatic shadows, soft highlights, or a specific mood.
3. Maintains the same lighting conditions across multiple shots or setups.
4. Helps eliminate unwanted shadows, balance highlights, or fill darker areas.

1-Point Lighting

Setup: A single light source, typically positioned at a 45-degree angle to the subject.

• Use: Creates dramatic shadows and emphasizes texture or mood.
• Drawbacks: May cause harsh shadows on the opposite side of the subject.

2-Point Lighting

Setup: Two light sources — key light and fill light.

• Use: The key light defines the main source of illumination, and the fill light softens shadows.
• Advantage: Balances the shadows while retaining some depth.

3-Point Lighting

Setup: Adds a third light (backlight) to the 2-point system.

• Key light: Primary source, highlighting the subject.
• Fill light: Reduces contrast and softens shadows.
• Backlight: Separates the subject from the background by adding a rim of light.
• Use: Widely used in portrait photography and videography for balanced, professional lighting.

• Long exposure
• Movement
• Memories

Francesca Woodman is my inspiration for my photography project. I like how her photos give a sense of mystery and thrill.

Francesca Woodman’s entire body of work was produced as a young person and created over just eight short years. Her photographs explore many themes that affect young people such as relationships, sexuality, questions of self, body image, alienation, isolation and confusion or ambiguity about personal identity.

who is she?

Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured. Francesca Woodman committed suicide at the age of 22, jumping from a window. She had only about five years of photography behind her, much of it done as a student. this also contributes to the eeriness of her ghost like photos.

Why is she so important?

Woodman’s feminist photography dealt with tilting the conventions of life, art, and death. In her photographs, she tried to both hide and define herself; in death, she crystallized and ensured her legacy in the feminist art movement.

How did she take her photos

Woodman used long shutter speed and double exposure when photographing so that she could actively feature in her own work. This also meant that she could capture different stages of movement, in a way that could trace the pattern of time. As a result, her image is blurred, which suggests motion and urgency.

Francesca Woodman

Who is she?

Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.

Francesca Woodman is best known for photographing herself. But her pictures are not self-portraits in the traditional sense. She is often nude or semi-nude and usually seen half hidden or obscured – sometimes by furniture, sometimes by slow exposures that blur her figure into a ghostly presence.

Meaning behind her photos

Francesca Woodman’s entire body of work was produced as a young person and created over just eight short years. Her photographs explore many themes that affect young people such as relationships, sexuality, questions of self, body image, alienation, isolation and confusion or ambiguity about personal identity.

Francesca Woodman photographed herself, often nude, in empty interiors. But her pictures are not traditional self-portraits. She is usually half hidden by objects or furniture or appears as a blur. The images convey an underlying sense of human fragility.

Why did Francesca Woodman take her photos?

Woodman knew that not showing a clear subject could be more impactful that showing it. Her photos, which already have an abstract quality due to the black and white film, present the viewer with something to interpret rather than just observe.

What was Francesca Woodman’s photography style?

Woodman applied some of the characteristics associated with surrealism to her own work. She created dreamlike environments with interesting and unusual objects, such as shells and eels, and combined familiar things in unfamiliar contexts to evoke uncanny feelings.

What is the power of identity in photography?

Defining your photographic identity will allow you to say who you are, what you want to be, and how you are to be perceived by others. This should be apparent to each viewer, regardless of whether they are a photographer or not. Your photographic identity will define how you will be perceived by the world around you.

What is identity?

Identity is the term used that, in short, makes a person who they are. Your identity can be influenced in many different ways by many different factors, such as – your environment or upbringing with reference to gender identity, cultural identity, social identity, geographical identity, political identity, lack of, loss of identity, stereotypes and prejudices. All of these create and mould the kind of person that you are today and will be in the feature. This in simple terms as the dictionary puts it ‘the distinguishing character or personality of an individual‘.

Masculinity vs Femininity

 explain how identity can be influenced?

Identity is shaped by “place” in many ways, as our environment influences how we see ourselves and how others perceive us. Gender, cultural, social, geographical, and political identities are often formed by the norms, values, and expectations of the places we belong to. For example, a particular culture or community may define gender roles, while a specific geographic or political context can impact one’s sense of belonging or alienation. Stereotypes and prejudices based on place can further affect how we express our identity, sometimes leading to a loss of self or a struggle to fit in. Thus, our identity is not just personal but shaped by the places and societies we interact with.

Case study – Claude Cahun

Who were they ?

Claude Cahun, (born October 25, 1894, Nantes, France—died December 8, 1954, St. Helier, Jersey), was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer in which she is best known for her self portraits in which she explored many different personas, but overall using the same style, while spreading the same message with each one. In 1937 she moved to Jersey with her step sister and lover, Marcel Moore and because of this she ended up being captured by the Nazis in the German occupation of Jersey, because of this she died in German captivity in 1954 through illness and from the harsh living conditions she most likely had to go through. Because of the difficult times caused by the struggles and prejudice from this time in history that she had to endure, most likely influenced the ideas and point she was trying to make within her work. As said by Cahun “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”, through this she is trying to convey an idea that was not only uncommon in those times, but also unpopular in which she created an idea much more ahead of its time which inevitably, coinciding with her Jewish heritage, resulted in her capture and demise. Cahun’s not so much sacrifice but identity which was abnormal to the world she lived in has helped to shape the way people are treated and the way identity is viewed within the world of photography. Cahun’s lover and step sister, Moore killed herself in 1972. They are both buried together in St Brelade’s churchyard as lasting memories of what they fought for.

Moodboard

Image analysis –

In the image you can see above we can get a broad yet good idea of how Cahun created her images and the idea she was trying to convey to the viewer of the image. As you can see the image is taken in black and white, which was likely to do with the time period it was taken in, the image is well lighted, it is sharp most likely using a 50 mm lens, she likely used a fast shutter speed in this image and ISO was probably relatively low due to good lighting. I plan to try to incorporate these features throughout my work while also using similar framing, form and other visual features. In the image we can see Cahun is created a more masculine look which is seen throughout her work in which she blurs the lines between masculinity and femininity. Within the image we can see that she has used a mirror, in the use of this simple object, she has created a deeper meaning and shown two sides to the story, in my work I plan to use this in an abstract way that can be interpreted but also has a clear meaning to it.

Quote –

“Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

Second artist reference – Clare rae

Who is she ?

Clare Rae, an artist from Melbourne, Australia who produces photographs and moving image works that interrogate representations of the female body via an exploration of the physical environment. Rae visited Jersey as part of the Archisle international artist-in-residence programme in 2017. She was researching the Claude Cahun archive, shooting new photography and film in Jersey, as well as running workshops. 

Image analysis –

In the image you can see above Clare Rae has used Cahun as an artist reference trying to convey the same ideas that she did. As you can see the image is taken in black and white, which was likely to do with the artist reference she used, the image is well lighted in an outdoor environment, it is sharp most likely using a 50 mm lens, she likely used a fast shutter speed in this image and ISO was probably relatively low due to good lighting. I plan to try to incorporate these features throughout my work while also using similar framing, form and other visual features. In the image we can see Rae is hiding her face to create a mysterious atmosphere with abstract yet clear ideas. Within the image we can see that she has used rock which fits in with how she creates her work by embodying the natural environment within the image, I plan to take this idea within my work to further convey this idea.

Quote –

“I am the (sublime) space where I am, that surrounds me with countless presences.”

Photoshoot plan –

I plan to go down to the sand dunes and use the surroundings as props in my images much like both my artist references did and attempt to use similar visual and contextual elements while it still having a focus on the story I am trying to create. I plan to get the subjects in my image to hide their faces which will create a mysterious and deep image. Much like Clare Rae, I will interrogate representations of the body via an exploration of the physical environment.

Contact sheet

Image selection

as you can see above I used P and X to flag my images to filter out the bad ones from the ok and good ones, next I rated these images 4 or 5 stars as 4 being ok ones and 5 being good ones, finally I gave them the colour yellow or green, green being the best and yellow being good. I will now edit these images that I selected and present them bellow.

Experimentation

Photoshop –

As you can see in the image above I used the spot healing brush tool in photoshop to remove the cars and people in the background of the image.

I then used the cropping tool to centre the subject of the image a bit more so the wall more creates line that leads up them.

Lightroom –

I then went into light room and had a look at some black and white filters that were available just to see if anything worked and found this one (B&W Red Filter V2), if I didn’t find one I liked I would have done this myself.

Outcome –

I then repeated this process throughout my selected images.

Final images

Evaluation

As you can see in the images above I have selected, edited and presented six final images from my identity photoshoot. Although these images may look different in appearance, they hold the same meaning which are taken from my artist references which explored masculinity vs femininity and my experiences.

In all of these images you can see that the subjects are hiding there faces from the camera, I have chosen that they do this to blur the line between masculinity and femininity much like Claude Cahun did in there work, on top of this, in Cahun’s work they had expressionless features on there face in which further imbedded this idea. My second artist reference for this photoshoot was Clair Rae, Rae used herself as an expression of her emotions in her images, often attempting to use the environment around her to do so, although in some images it is only used slightly, I tried to use this idea as much as possible allow interpretation from a viewer of the image, but also allowing me to create my own ideas within the bigger picture. Within the images above I attempted to create the idea of struggle which not only Cahun went through, but people all around the world go through every day for many different reasons.

Overall, I believe that although this was a good photoshoot and got some pretty good images in terms of identity, I could’ve done better and tried to stick more to my artist references and masculinity vs femininity as a whole. In my next photoshoot for this I plan to use this as a learning experience and keep what went well and change what could’ve been done better.

Virtual gallery

Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 she is an American Photographer born and film maker who mostly explores gender and identity. What made her famous is the use of her own body in roles or personas in her work, with her seminal untitled Film Stills ( 1997-1980) being particularly important. These black and white photographs feature the artist herself as a model in various costumes and poses, and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising. Sherman examines and distorts femininity as a social construct ” I like making images that from distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite, ” she reflected. ” It seems seems boring to me pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It’s more challenging to look at the other side.”

_{( information taking from artnet)}

Analyse

Visual

In this image Sherman is portraying as a house wife her hair is done and so is her make up, and she is also wearing a put together top. This can symbolize the stereotypical women that always has to look her best even when cleaning. The image is situated in a kitchen which is stereotypical place for women around her there are dishes and soap. She is standing wish a hand on the counter and the other one placed around her belly this can suggest her insecurity even when she is put together. Her gave is on something behind her might be her husband. And the her face expression looks uncomfortable.

Technical

Looking st the picture I can see the the objects on the counter around her are unfocused this suggests that the image has a wider aperture. The shutter speed is most likely fast since the subject ( women) is in complete focus. I would say that this picture was taken in a low angle comparing it to the women, I think that the camera was placed on the counter top I say this because the objects are in the way of the camera. This image is definitely a half body shot.

Contextual

Historically, women have often been portrayed in the media through limiting and stereotypical roles. The common roles include domestic caretaker who spends her day cleaning, making food, taking care of the children, prepare, dinner before the husband comes home, always looks put together while the husband goes to work a gains a lot of money. Women in Hollywood were extremely sexualized instead of being their own person with a personality they were seen as an object that sometimes it cleans and sometimes it looks beautiful and makes children. Media concisely showed women as inferior to men. They were seen as very week, always In need of help from a male character. Images of women’s appearance, hair, weight and voice consistently been distorted towards sexual attractiveness.

Conceptual

Cindy Sherman’s untitled films Stills series critiques how Hollywood and mass media construct identity and stereotypes, particularly for women. Sherman posed as typical characters from old movies and shows that those roles are fake and created to meet society’s expectations. Her photos exposes how media reduces women’s roles to simpler.

My first contact sheet -for my first Photoshoot.

This is my Second Contact Sheet.

In total for this project I took 169 photos in total. This was across two photoshoots. These photos were in various different places such as A Dolmen , Noirmont Point and some taken at Anne Port Beach. I took 169 photos to experiment with the lighting in the outside environments and to also try different poses with the rocks and the landscapes. I tried to replicate the project ‘never standing on two feet’.

This is my mood board for identity. ive chosen many photos with slow shutter speed to make some creative and intresting photos. my artist reference which relates to what my identity prodject is going to follow is Francesca woodman. her photos are imaginitve and create ghostly ideas.

Danny Evans

Danny Evans is a jersey photographer who did a project on the skateboarders from the island. Capturing the grit, scars and tattoos. This has inspired to me to my own project on the skateboarders in jersey.

Danny Evans is a freelance photographer with over 18 years of experience. He focuses on commercial photography, especially advertising and fashion. His work has been featured in magazines and on billboards in places like Singapore, Australia, Europe, and the UK. Danny is based in Jersey, where he runs his own studio. His unique lighting and set designs make him stand out, and he’s also known for working on fashion shoots for Gallery Magazine in Jersey. In 2023, Danny created an exhibition called “FLUX” at ArtHouse Jersey. This project combined photography, film, and tech to show off sustainable fashion designs from local and international creators. It was all about mixing art and technology to explore modern fashion. Danny started out using old-school film cameras like the Nikon FM but has moved on to advanced digital equipment, including the high-tech Phase One camera system. He’s always upgrading his gear to make sure his work is top-notch. Overall, Danny is passionate about turning everyday settings into amazing photos and is super dedicated to his craft. This has made him popular with both local businesses and big brands.

Pete Thompson

Pete Thompson was a skateboard photographer for 13 years in the 90s – capturing the boom of a huge movement without realising. He worked for different magazines like Transworld Skateboarding and SLAP. He even got the role of Senior Photographer at one of these roles. His photography career began with a Konica Pop point-and-shoot 35mm in the 80s – taking photos of his friends at the skatepark.

He has compiled the entire experience of skateboarding in the 1990s into one nostalgic book called ‘93 til. (I own this book and this was how I was introduced to this photographer). A lot of the philosophy of skateboarding is the desire to capture and document the life – and this is true for photography as well. Pete Thompson was clearly motivated by this desire. His photos are full of friends and good times – just hanging out and skateboarding for the fun of it. He worked with pro skateboarders like Tom Penny, Nyjah Huston, and Tony Hawk – and many others. He travelled the USA and Europe with these pro skateboarders documenting their journey along the way. In an interview with him, he speaks about how they would use the main bulk of the film roll for taking skate photos, and then there would often be a few shots left at the end – he says after a while he felt guilty for wasting these, and begun to take random shots of his friends with the last few on the roll – and these turned out to be some of his favorite photos – I like this.

Photo Analysis.

This is a film photograph of a skateboarding doing an ollie at a skatepark. The genre of this style of photography is portrait/action/identity. The mise-en-scene presents a lot of empty sky – taken up only by a skateboarder doing a large air. The floor takes up probably half the image and has curved concrete which creates an interesting shape to look at. This all creates a simple composition, with the image split into the thirds.

The colour is desaturated, although the sky is vibrant. The musty, dry looking air makes it feel like midsummer, and you can tell its hot, and dry. For example, if you look at the trees they aren’t a bright green but more of a hazy washed out green. The use of light has an old school feel – being a bit washed out. It is clearly taken in the height of summer’s heat – the photo almost has a heat effect. The whole image is very bright and slightly overexposed which creates a vintage, washed out feel.

The focus distance is infinite – the whole image is in focus and there seems to be an extremely wide depth of field. I believe that the photographer has used the rule of thirds – the image is split into three sections vertically – the floor, the sky and the skater – pretty much exactly follow the rule of thirds. I believe that the ISO is 400 – due to the amount of grain, and I believe that the shutter speed is quite high – a minimum of 1/250 because that is how high it needs to be for an action shot to not be blurry. The shot probably has an aperture of probably f/5.6 because of the wide depth of field, and the high amount of light that the other two settings let in.

As Pete Thompson says “Driven by my curiosity of photography. I always just wanted to be shooting something;” I think this is great way to describe a lot of the culture of photography and especially skateboarding. His work has a lot of black and white (not this image) – this is representative of the era he spent most of his career skateboarding – I think he has chosen to make his whole “‘93 til” book black and white because it helps non-skateboarders to understand the cultural significance of the image – a lot of these moments were future defining for the sport and even sport photography in general, without the black and white, it does not convey as well that these are vintage images of a different time – and people may not realise the impact they had. I think this says a lot about the use of colour and tone in photography in general – you have to consider what you want your image to convey and how you’re going to do that. I really admire this work, not only because I am a skateboarder, but also because I can see the thought – and often the lack of thought – he put in while taking the photo and editing it.

PHOTOSHOOT PLAN

My plan is to go down to the skatepark and just talk to the skaters and take natural photos to truly convey identity. I will use a 50mm Canon lens. I love taking photos that tell a story and show life. I think to do this I should also take photos of small details of the people and also things like the scenery and architecture of the skatepark. I think I will go at night and use my flash and a high shutter speed to create a freeze frame effect. I think my photos will end up being more similar to Pete Thompsons’ than Danny Evans’.

What is Identity ?

Identity is who you are. It can be beliefs, personality traits, appearance, expression, it is what characterizes a person. It can also be your surroundings, your environment can develop and influence your identity.

image from google

What it femininity ?

Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls – Oxford Dictionary

Femininity is socially seen as traits such as nurturing, sensitivity, sweetness, gentleness, warmth, modesty, empathy, affection, tenderness, and being emotional, kind, helpful, devoted, and understanding have been cited as stereotypically feminine. Sometimes femininity can be linked to sexual objectification and sexual passiveness.

What is masculinity ?

qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys – Oxford Dictionary

Masculinity is socially and traditionally seen as traits such as: strength, courage, independence, leadership, dominance and assertiveness. And is usually shown as a contrast and opposite to femininity. Traditionally masculinity can also be seen as being the ‘breadwinner’ of the household or house. However the standards of masculinity vary between different cultures and historical periods.

image from google

Kara Walker

images by Kara Walker

Kara Elizabeth Walker is an American Contemporary artist. Born on November 26th 1969. The main themes are work explores is race, gender, sexuality and identity. Walker is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes that often address the history of American slavery and racism.

The mural that really brought Walker to the art worlds attention was called “Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart” In 1944.

During her early career Walker lived in Rhode Island but later moved to Forte Green, Brooklyn where Walker became a professor of visual arts at Colombia University. As well as Walker is one of the youngest recipients of the MacAurthur fellowship at only 28 years old when she received this honour.

Tim & Sue Noble

images by Tim and Sue noble

Tim and Sue noble are British artists that work and collaborate as a duo.

The work that I am looking at mainly is their shadow work, which is where they use household rubbish to create silhouettes.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s work can be divided into the ‘Light Works’ and the ‘Shadow Works’, And Susan states: “We kept them both going side by side. There are two sides to the work; the shiny side and the dark side. That kind of reflects the two personalities within us. which I think that is very powerful as it links to good and evil and which could even be religion.

Photoshoot plan

For this photoshoot I took the idea of silhouettes from the artist references above and decided to put my own sort of spin on it, I really enjoyed using the coloured gels so I knew that I wanted to do something using them. And I decided to go for ore of the femininity route for this particular photoshoot. I liked the idea of kind of having the light shine through the hair of the model.

my photos – silhouettes

Edited images

this is my favourite image of the shoot. Because I really like the hand placement, it makes me think of femininity and I feel as if it kind of links to dance and maybe more specifically ballet which is a traditionally a feminine area. As well as the face the coloured gel lighting is very nicely outlining her arm, chin and I like the way that there is still some of the light shining through the hair.

Here is how I have edited this image:

Valerie Jardin

images by Valerie Jardin

Valerie Jardin is a French photographer whose photography gained a lot of followers due to its strong narrative and proving portraiture doesn’t need to be photos of a face. Jardin leads international workshops for photography has written books and has even published a weekly podcast for a few years. Jardin runs online courses and conferences as she states that she love to help and mentor other photographers .

Jardin has taken many photos all over the world. Her images are mostly classed as street photography which she is most known for.

Jardin analysis

This is image is taken using a digital camera and the genre of this photography is portraiture.

The mise-en-scene presents two people holding hands whilst sitting at a table in a park. The tone of this image is quite light, however there are some darker spots for example the tree in the background, but due the lighting and the colour of their skin the overall tone of the image is light. The use of light in this image is quite subtle, soft, almost hazy looking  looking lighting, however, it is natural lighting as they are outside. The focus distance is short as it is a close up photo and the depth of field is large as everything is in focus. The  leading lines of the images would be the lightness of where the sunlight is hitting there skin against the contrast of the darker shadows of the parts of the arm that are not being hit by the light draw your eye along the image.

I believe the ISO is 600 as everything is in as most of the image is in focus however the background is blurred and grainy. I believe that the shutter speed is 1000 as everything is clear.

photoshoot plan

My plan for this photoshoot is too photograph my dads hands as to have some masculine hands and possibly some of maybe my hands next to his to compare the hand of a women in juxtaposition to big man hands.

my photoshoot – hands

Edited images

This is my favourite image out of the photoshoot that I have done because I some what shows a story behind it, as the signal of the fist is showing strength and power ( traditionally masculine traits) I decided to make these sets of images monochrome as I thought it gave them more of a dramatic affect as well as being a bit of contrast compared to the brightness of the coloured gels.

this is what I have done to edit the image as well as cropping out some of the blank space around the edges to make the hand a bit more central and a bit less empty.

To challenge myself a bit more I decided that I would further my photographer of the hands and move to more parts of the body such as just the torso of just legs. An artist reference for this could be Bill Brandt

Bill Brandt

Bill Brandt died December 20th 1983. He was born in Germany and then he moved to England. Brandt later denied that he was German and used to claim that he was born in South London. Brandt has held nine exhibitions which include many different places such as: The Museum of modern art in New York, Philadelphia Museum of art and Victoria and Albert museum. In 1984 Bill Brandt’s images were welcomed into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum. As well as receiving a English heritage blue plaque in 2010. Brandt made his portrait of Ezra Pound in honour of visiting him after he had just survived tuberculosis.

Brandt Analysis

This is image is taken using a digital camera and the genre of this photography is portraiture.

The mise-en-scene presents a close up photo of an eye from an older man. The tone of this image is pretty dark, due to the fact the image is close up and high contrast as well as monochrome. But the wrinkles and texture in the face could also be making it look darker. The use of light in this image is quite harsh, however, it is artificial lighting as they could be in a studio space. The focus distance is short as it is a close up photo and the depth of field is large as everything is in focus. The  leading lines of the image would be the wrinkles on the skin of his face as the darker contrast and texture of the wrinkles draw your eyes to those spots.

I believe the ISO is 100 as everything is in as most of the image is in focus however the background is blurred and grainy. I believe that the shutter speed is 1000 as everything is clear.

David Goldblatt

Images by David Goldblatt

David Goldblatt was an South African photographer. Goldblatt began his journey with photography when he received a camera from his father as a teenager. David’s first photographs were not amazing so he ask a local wedding photographer for help Goldblatt states: “He would drape several cameras around my neck so that I looked very professional, and my job was to ensure that no guest with a good camera got a good picture . . . I would have to bump or walk in front of them at the critical moment so that my boss was the only person who ended up with good photographs.” a few years later in1962 he became a full time photographer. Throughout his photography career David thought of himself more as a documentarist rather than a photographer/artist. He got around the label of artist by simply calling himself a photographer. He said: “I am a self-appointed observer and critic of the society into which I was born, with a tendency to giving recognition to what is overlooked or unseen.”

Goldblatt analysis

This is image is taken using a digital camera and the genre of this photography is portraiture.

The mise-en-scene presents a close up photo of a pair of old mans hands in his lap. The tone of this image is medium tone, due to the fact the image is all mainly one tone due to the outfit that the man is wearing. But the wrinkles and texture in the jeans and palms of the hands can give the image depth and make it look slightly darker. The use of light in this image is quite soft, natural lighting, as you can see they’re in an outdoor area. The focus distance is short as it is a close up photo and the depth of field is large as everything is in focus, however the background is slightly blurred an grainy. The  leading lines of the image would be the wrinkles and folds in the jeans and around the edge of the hands as they’re areas with shadows compared with much brighter lighting.

I believe the ISO is 200 as everything is in as most of the image is in focus however the background is blurred and grainy. I believe that the shutter speed is 1000 as everything is clear.

photoshoot 3

edited images

My favourites

these two images are some of my favourite of this shoot because they are so simple but they still convey this powerful message, especially with the slight rips and sort of imperfections in the GI ( the outfit ) shows that my dad has been doing

Personally I really like this image because I like the contrast between the old worn out belt compared to the lightness and the freshness of the GI, this was one of the first black belt my dad ever got and it shows the life-long commitment and possibly hardships that have happened / been through.

I have edited this image by:

as well as to get this particular monochrome colour I used the filter: BW02

This images above could also be linked to Satoshi Fujiwara, code unknown, by how he get close up and in creases and different perspectives of looking at things.

Satoshi Fujiwara: code unknown

images by Satoshi Fujiwara

analysis of my own image

This is image is taken using a digital camera and the genre of this photography is Identity.

The mise-en-scene presents a close up photo of a belt draped over a karate GI. The tone of this image is very light, due to the fact the belt is silver and the GI is white. But the wrinkles and texture in the belt could also be making it look a little darker. The use of light in this image is quite soft, warm as it is artificial lighting because the picture was taken in my home using a wall light. The focus distance is short as it is a close up photo and the depth of field is large as everything is in focus. The  leading lines of the image would be the seams on the GI and the actual belt itself would be a leading line as it helps bring your eyes around the image.

I believe the ISO is 100 as everything is in as most of the image is in focus. I believe that the shutter speed is 1000 as everything is clear.

Virtual Gallery

I really like the way this gallery / project has come out I think it really shows my dads identity, as karate has been a big part of his life as he’s been training for 43 years ( he’s only 48! ) and teaching for 36 years since he got his first black belt at 12 years old. He has 2 organisations MMA ( mental martial awareness) which helps people deal with their mental health. And his non-profit karate club which he is the chief instructor of.

The way I made this is that I used some of the hand pictures that I previously took as they were also of my dads hand so I thought that they would be good to include as some of them especially the fist link to this kind of topic that I’m doing. As well as I have added some of my environmental portraits that I took of my dad from when he was in his GI and in his dojo.

further experimentation

Photoshoot 1

Contact Sheets:

Image Selection

Photoshoot 2

Contact Sheets:

The images in green are the ones I have chosen to edit.