Studio Portraiture: A photograph of a person in a studio

Studio lighting: Any form of lighting equipment used by photographers, artificial or natural, to enhance their photography.

There are around 7 types of lighting mostly used in controlled studios such as:

Split Lighting

Split lighting is a technique used to illuminate only half the subjects face with the other half in darkness. This is achieved by having the light source at either the direct left or right of the subject 90 degrees from the direction of the face. Split lighting is used to create moody atmospheres and interesting effects.

After that I exported it into photoshop

 I edited the brightness/contrast and exposure slightly on photoshop however I did not make any other adjustments

 

Alessio Albi

Alessio Albi was born in Peurugia Italy in 1986 he was always fascinated with nature ad science and went onto get a medical degree and at first worked as a nutritionist before he started his career as a photographer at age 24. He takes extremely atmospheric and moody photos and focuses his style mostly on fashion, advertisement and portrait photography where he primarily photographs women to utilise their feminine features such as long hair to add to his creative style. He stated that he was inspired by some of the hard periods in his life but also the beauty he sees in people around him. He uses both natural and studio lighting to take his pictures and uses a range of different skills. He often has his subjects to pose with very subtle facial expressions to let the viewer interpretate the mood and emotion themselves. He also uses dramatic and bold shadows in his pieces to create texture and interesting shapes.

Alessio Albi Images

Technical

I don’t believe that this image has had much editing done to it as the colours look quite natural besides the classic magazine look of the blurred skin to make it look glowy. The lighting looks to be natural sunlight, however could be warm studio lights. Albi has used Rembrandt lighting a long with creating some unique shadows using an obscure object. There is a short depth of field (DoF) as the background is blurred and the camera is focused on her shoulder and face which are close to the lens however Albi still expresses the 3D-ness of the model by having her place her right shoulder to be visible in the photo but shrouded in shadow. The exposure time also seems to be average as there is no glare to the highlights and the image doesn’t look under exposed as the area in shadow is still visible and the photo overall is not dark. ISO is also

Visual

The colours are natural and contrast with each other as the subject has a lot of warm tones to her however the background is very plain and uses cold grey tones to it but I believe the overall tone is light as the use of sunlight looking lighting with the deep shadows creating the leading lines to enhance the eyes of the subject and have them the main focus. The texture is smooth as there is no graininess due to poor exposure or IOS and the subject of the photo is the girls glowy skin. The only repeating pattern I can see within this image is the spiralling line creating leading lines towards the eye however the pattern is not completely symmetrical and the line breaks off at the top of her cheek and bottom of her eye.

Contextual

• Albi states much of his inspiration comes from natures elements. He grew up in a family of artists and was heavily influenced by his upbringing.

Conceptual

I believe this photo is trying to convey the natural skin tone of the subject and how we as people naturally focus on the eyes of a person were looking at. I think with the subjects hair swept off of her face and how its just her with no make up or fancy clothes we see just the raw person herself and they say eyes are the window to the soul and I think Albi is trying to show how its not what matters on the outside by taking away from what society wants from her and rather the person the subject really is

Technical

This picture looks to be taken in a dance studio with the subject positioned lying on the floor, so the unnatural warm ceiling lights are shinning directly onto her face to create highlights on her cheeks, while the mirror creates the illusion of multiples of the subject. I can also infer it is a dance or drama studio of some kind as the subject looks to be wearing a costume. I believe this image has been edited as most ceiling lighting is not such warm colours and usually the intensity of the indoor electrical lighting would create more of a glare on the subjects skin then the soft highlights in the picture.

Visual

Albi uses warm tones in this image and has light tones to it. The subjects skin (I assume) is edited to be clearer such as often fashion photography is and therefore the texture is smooth however Albi has utilised the subjects hair draped behind her to add more fluidity and movement to the image. The picture looks less flat than many other portraits and looks more 3D due to the illusion of the duplicates.

Contextual

Conceptual

The image is taken so that you can only see the face and shoulders of the subject to add to the illusion without the viewer knowing straight away that a mirror is used to create it. I believe the image is supposed to be a show of Alessio Albi’s creative nature.

Loop Lighting

Loop lighting is similar to Rebrandt lighting where the aim is to have the cheek and part of the jawbone, under the eyebrow and the side of nose in shadow however, the main aim is to create a circular or loop-like shadow under one part of the nose. To achieve this you’ll want to have your light source at a higher angle to the subjects eyeline and at a 45 degree angle and move the light around and experiment making sure to not have the nose and cheek shadow connect.

Rembrandt Lighting

Rembrandt lighting also known as the Rembrandt Patch is the utilising the face structure and the shadows it casts to create a triangular shape under the eye. You do this by having the light at a 45 degree angle left or right from the direction the subject is facing and from a high angle looking down towards the subject. you then experiment with how far the light is from the subject depending on the subject themselves. You can also use reflectors to point the light at where you’d like the triangle to be.

My Rembrandt Images

Once I did this I opened the image in photoshop and used the “Sharpen Tool” around the subjects eye and in the highlights of her hair to keep it more in focus. I also used the “Dodge Tool” to lighten the dark spots.

Butterfly Lighting

Butterfly lighting is all about the shadows under the nose and creating a bat or butterfly like shape using the nose for shadows. To do this you stand the light close in front and high above the subject looking down at them. You can also use a reflector under the face to stop the chin from being in too much darkness.

 

I then used the “masking tool” in Lightroom to select the entirety of the subject and edited it to give her face more exposure

 

I then lowered the exposure on the background to give it a colder feel as I thought the shadows made it quite an eerie looking image

I then used the “masking tool and objective tool” to lighten the shadows over the eyes I repeated this on both eyes.

After that I felt that the subject looked washed out so I decided to up the temperature and vibrancy to bring back some colour

 

I also opened the edited image in Photoshop and cropped the image and used the Dodge and Burn tool to accentuate the lines of shadows.

 

 

 

Broad Lighting

Broad lighting is a lighting technique where the part of the face turned towards the camera is the brightest and most lit up section.

Short Lighting

Short lighting is a lighting technique that’s pretty much the opposite of broad lighting where the camera is focused on the darkest lit part of the face.

Back Lighting

Back lighting is the lighting technique where all the lighting is coming from behind the subject and the subject is facing away from the light source. This is the same technique used to create silhouettes.

Engine Photos

Mechanic 1 series

mechanic 2 series

mekanik 3

mekanik 4

Motorcycle

motor love

MotorMenace

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masking to make subject stand out

Motor Aura

Faceless series

Helmet in hand

All together

What is identity?

Oxford dictionary states identity is “The fact of being who or what a person or thing is”.

In my opinion labelling someone’s identity as one thing is unfair as identity changes constantly. Your identity is made up of your sense of self which changes daily. How others perceive you which is different for every person in your life as well as you values and actions. Also everything you learn, your experiences and your relationship with others will change all of these factors meaning every day your identity changes. Your identity will be different from when you were younger to now and even if you disagree with me and believe identity is more about physicality like your age or looks it still proves its changing all the time. I wanted to try and capture this and so I looked to find things that change all the time naturally such as the weather, time, plants growing, the sky and the sea.

Contact Sheets

Artist Research

Alicja Brodowicz

I took inspiration from Alicja Brodowicz

Alicja Brodowicz is a photographer born in Krakow, Poland in 1977. Her passion for photography started when she began taking photos of her 4 year old daughter and it grew from there to her fine art style influenced greatly by Sally Mann who specialises in thought provoking black and white portrait photographs designed to tell the backstory of the subject, along with Anders Petersen a popular black and white portrait photographer with 30 published books and won The Arles Photography of the year award in 2003. Around 90% of Brodowicz pictures are in black and white in a very abstracted style. She started the project Visual Exercises in 2018/2019 and spent months planning. She stated she usually does not plan before photographs but had the for this conceptual project.

Conceptually, Brodowicz uses the mirror method of representing reality of her own thought process and ideas of how humanity reflects nature. This was what inspired my idea of how identity also reflects nature through change and I wanted to capture this aspect in a similar mode of photography however I personalised the images by keeping many of them in colour as I prefer to take photos in colour as I feel it adds more depth and I want to appreciate how vibrant everything is and our ability to see this.

Technical

The lighting on the tree bark I can assume is natural lighting as the image is bright and trees are usually outdoors. I could guess however that the image of the person is in a studio due to the extreme shadows. The image is in sharp focus. There is a range of tones from dark to light due to the shadows and the bright sections of the image.

Visual

The image is in black and white however there is still drastic change of tones within both images. There is obviously a lot of texture within the image also as both photos are zoomed in capturing the creases and rivets in the bark and skin. The shape is quite 3D as the texture shows how the depth of field is different depending on where you’re looking in the image.

Contextual

This image was taken as a part of her Visual Exercises project

Conceptual

I think Brodowicz has taken this image to show the strength in the subject by aligning the with the sturdiness and strength of a tree.

Cindy Sherman

I was also inspired by American photographer Cindy Sherman’s work and specifically her style of editing and her use of colour and black and white. Sherman was born in New Jersey US 1954. She began her photography journey in 1972 when she enrolled in at the State University of New York in painting before swapping her subject for photography. Her most recent work consisting of photos taken from 2010- 2023 was published with FT Weekend Magazine in 2023 originally intended to be used as an abstract wallpaper setting designed so that from a distance you can’t tell what it is however when you’re up close you can tell they’re pieces of different facial expressions.

Sherman specifically takes photos of herself but challenges this stating that you will never find the real her amongst the images as she plays roles and acts characters using props and wigs. I believe her work is to represent how unsettling the idea of a woman’s value being based off of her physical appearance. She is known to take on different identities in her photography and use the art to evade her true personality which I think corresponds to how our true identities are always hanging and don’t necessarily rely on our physical appearance as looks can be deceiving and therefore shows how others perceive you isn’t defining.

Technical

The lighting is unnatural as it looks to be taken in a studio as the lighting is even throughout all the images which is hard to replicate with natural lighting. The sticker effect adds to the depth of field as it looks closer to the camera. The image is in sharp focus. There is a range of tones within the image.

Visual

There is so colour as the image is in black and white however the shadows and highlights in the image add to the different tones. The wrinkles in the skin adds to the texture and lines in the image a long with the netting used to frame her face and the way the hair is brushed back. The image looks to be more 2D because of the style of creative editing. There isn’t any patterns I can spot in this photo.

Contextual

This image was taken as a part of her Untitled Film Stills project.

Conceptual

I think this image is used to demonstrate Sherman’s views on society’s beauty standards and she exaggerates the image to look ridiculous in order to show how unachievable the standard is. The stickers stand out to show this standard is not a part of her however they blend well in tone to express how they’ve been moulded onto her through her upbringing and society’s forced ideals.

Some other ideas I found online:

My Best Edited Images

In this photoshoot I tried to look at rain and the sky for the natural elements that change frequently, as well as grass as its growing always. To do this I used a mirror and poured water on it to replicate the look of rain. I also thought to use a mirror to try to capture the idea of self reflection which is another part of identity.

Technical

The lighting in this image is natural/daylight as the image was taken outside. I used max aperture.

The shutter speed is it doesn’t look to be over or under exposed. F/ is 6.7 and the ISO is 800. The white balance was on Auto.

Visual

I kept the colour from the original image and heightened it only slightly as I felt they were quite vibrant as they were. The tone is both light and dark I feel as the image itself was taken in a bright setting however uses dark elements such as the shadows in the grass and cool toned colours. There is a lot of texture I believe in this image as the grass adds to it as well as the smoothness of the mirror a long with the wrinkles in her jacket. The mirror also contributes by adding the 2D flat shape contrasting with the length and form (3D) of the grass. The leading line of the arm adds to the image drawing the viewers eyes up to the subjects morphed ad blurred face. There is also 3D concept within this image as the mirror on the ground gives a sense of a door way or window making the image look more 3D.

Contextual

There isn’t much surrounding knowledge or historical things to know as I took this image recently making it modern. In this image I used the mirror effect within photography meaning I built my own ideas into reality it didn’t naturally occur as I interfered by constructing reality to create surrealism within the image.

Conceptual

The meaning behind this image was to create an allusion of a window in the ground as well as capture the sky to link back to my nature within humans concept. I blurred the image to make the face distorted to have the viewer interpret it differently and to have to really look into the image and its surroundings to try to understand it based on what they know which ultimately is what identity is as its more than what you first assume at face-value.

Technical

The lighting in this image is natural/daylight as the image was taken outside. I used max aperture.

The shutter speed is it doesn’t look to be over or under exposed. F/ is 6.7 and the ISO is 800. The white balance was on Auto.

Visual

This picture is in black and white and therefore the colours are very muted. The image has quite dark tones to it as there is a lot of shadow created by the blades of grass however her eyes above the mirror look to be light as the dark grass contrasts with her fair skin. There is a lot of texture in this image as the grass adds texture as well as her hair the fabric of her jeans and jacket. There isn’t much shape involved in the image except how I asked the model to extend their left leg to create leading lines. The shape in the image isn’t even and therefore adds depth to the image as her leg is further in frame than the rest of her as well as the mirror giving a 3D concept.

Contextual

In this image I used the mirror effect within photography meaning I built my own ideas into reality it didn’t naturally occur as I interfered by constructing reality to create surrealism within the image.

Conceptual

I took this image this way to convey how peoples experiences and their environment also add to their inner identity. The mirror represents how its looking into her and I asked the subject to look scared and hide behind the mirror as well as editing it to be in black and white to give a dark uneasiness to the image possibly foreshadowing her dark history to have the viewer use their imagination when seeing this image and think for themselves about what its trying to portray the way we can’t know the reasons behind someone being the way they are and it could be down to things they have been through in life.

I tried this image in both B&W and colour as I’m not sure which one suits it better

Technical

The lighting in this image is natural/daylight as the image was taken outside. I used max aperture.

The shutter speed is it doesn’t look to be over or under exposed. F/ is 6.7 and the ISO is 800. The white balance was on Auto.

Visual

The coloured version is very light and has a range of warm and cool toned colours. the tone is light overall though there are some dark shadows within it. The water droplets as well as the models wispy hair adds texture. The image has a more 3D appearance due to the water droplets adding height to the mirror affect. The grass also adds to the 3D as it protrudes over the edge of the mirror making the mirror look like its party of the ground and it frames the image too. There isn’t many lines within the image other than the edge of the mirror and the blades of grass pointing to the models face.

Contextual

In this image I used the mirror effect within photography meaning I built my own ideas into reality it didn’t naturally occur as I interfered by constructing reality to create surrealism within the image.

Conceptual

The idea behind this image was to try and capture the idea of rain and link it back to the idea of identity changing naturally and finding things that change in nature the same as the water cycle and the weather.

Technical

The lighting is both natural and artificial as the natural light is coming in through the window but there was also lights above the subject when taking the image. the Aperture used was max. The f stop was f/6.7. The exposure time was 1/90. The ISO used was ISO-100 and the White Balance was on Auto.

Visual

The colours are natural in this image

Contextual

In this image I used the mirror effect within photography meaning I built my own ideas into reality it didn’t naturally occur as I interfered by constructing reality to create surrealism within the image. However, I also used the window method as the window is behind the subject.

Conceptual

I did this to show how your choices of reality in its natural form can impact your identity and what your ideas of your own sense of self and you might not even realise it which is why the subject is not looking at herself in the mirror and reflecting instead the subject is distracted by what’s surrounding her. I also didn’t focus on the subject themselves but on the water on the mirror instead to add to this point of loosing yourself by what’s happening around you.

My Alicja Brodowicz and Cindy Sherman Inspired Images

Other Images

In the next shoot I tried to capture the lines naturally drawn over the human body such as finger prints and veins.

I think fingerprints are a huge sign of identity as every one is is different and unique. the same way people are. Even identical twins finger prints are different showing how every individuals identity is different and unique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Femininity

Femininity for me is a feeling rather than a look or a style. For me femininity is feeling empowered and confident and aligning yourself with being a woman. Femininity is being creative and passionate and in my opinion is not defined by clothes or your physical appearance however I do believe make up or certain clothes might help you feel more feminine on the outside as well as inside. I used the symbolism of femininity of flowers throughout my photoshoots and the colour pink. I wanted to focus my photoshoot less on the physical appearance of a “girl” ad instead on the feeling of femininity and the idea of “girlhood”.

Girlhood being the sense of kinship a group of girls can bring by girls supporting other girls. The growing up with and relating to other girls going through the same things and being inspired by one another.

Another idea I had was the comparison of modern day femininity versus femininity in previous times and how social media effects peoples perception of femininity.

Environmental Portraiture

Studio Portraiture

Identity Project

Evaluation

Overall, I believe it went ok I thought the studio portraiture editing went well. I think the identity photoshoot went the best however if I could go back I would go into more detail about different aspects of femininity and masculinity but I was advised by my teacher to focus on one part of the project at once as I was feeling lost surrounding the masculinity side for photoshoot ideas. I would also try more ideas for representing identity through photos such as setting up more photoshoots in the studio with props and trying to express more personal things about the subject such as how the environment around you can effect how a person sees their identity.

I believe I was able to capture conceptually how Brodowicz uses the mirror method of representing reality of her own thought process and ideas of how humanity reflects nature and identity reflects change.

In order to edit I used Lightroom and photoshop , first adjusting the initial look of the images in Lightroom and then cutting and pasting different cut outs into photoshop

I first made duplicates of each photo i intended to use , one black and white and one with colour , giving me a variety of resources

I imported the images into lightroom and created layers of cutouts of each photo as shown below

i repeated this process multiple times layering the black and white cut outs with the coloured photos to create contrast

I continued this process until the image was clear enough to make out

I then exported the images into lightroom and created a ‘mask‘ i then lowered the exposure ,increased shadows , and removed highlightsd to create depth in refrence to David Hockneys later work where he overlapped his images in production.

Evaluation

For the exploring lighting project I used different techniques like half-lighting, Rembrandt lighting and butterfly lighting, using different colour gels made the light look more interesting. The different techniques give different moods and that’s what’s so interesting about lighting.

From all my photo shoots and all my projects that i have done i have selected my favourite 12 images, i have made a virtual gallery with all my best photos. i think these are my best photos because off the way i have edited them and the variety of different photos that there is. i used different techniques to take the photos, for example different lighting techniques or different camera settings, for some photos when editing i use similar editing techniques but not for all

in conclusion to the portraiture project what i think went well in this project is my studio photos because I got many different types of photos and used many different techniques, additionally i also liked my identity project as i think that its more than just an image and it had like a meaning to it and i liked that my photos have a meaning to it, on the other hand i think my environmental project wasn’t as good because i didn’t have as many photos and the photos weren’t as good in the future I will take a lot more environmental photos and many different types of photos which also have a meaning behind it. I think that i had a good variety of images that were mostly different in a sense and took them in different location using different models and techniques when i did.

For the studio portraiture I think my favourite outcomes are the coloured lighting ones, they have a fun feel to them and I like the way all the detail on the face stands out.

Here they are in a virtual gallery.

These photos will look nice together because they both share a common shade of blue, and also have a contrasting red and green next to each other. The high amount of detail on the skin in the photos I think looks really visually effective and high quality.

Femininity: Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed and there is also some evidence that some behaviours considered feminine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. To what extent femininity is biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate. It is conceptually distinct from both the female biological sex and from womanhood, as all humans can exhibit feminine and masculine traits, regardless of sex and gender.

What does it mean to be feminine? Traits such as nurturance, sensitivity, sweetness, supportiveness, gentleness, warmth, passivity, cooperativeness, expressiveness, modesty, humility, empathy, affection, tenderness, and being emotional, kind, helpful, devoted, and understanding have been cited as stereotypically feminine.

What are negative feminine traits? Typical negatively feminine traits, referred to as unmitigated communion or unmitigated expressiveness within the literature, are those of being overly submissive, passive, anxious, excessively worried, dependent, fearful and also overly concerned with the welfare of others to the detriment of one’s own well-being.

Masculinity :Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviours and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed and there is also evidence that some behaviours considered masculine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. To what extent masculinity is biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate. It is distinct from the definition of the biological male sex as anyone can exhibit masculine traits. Standards of masculinity vary across different cultures and historical periods. In Western cultures, its meaning is traditionally drawn from being contrasted with femininity.

What does it mean to be masculine?In the socialization of masculinity, boys and men are encouraged to reject or avoid anything stereotypically feminine, to be tough and aggressive, suppress emotions (other than anger), distance themselves emotionally and physically from other men, and strive toward competition, success and power.

What are negative masculine traits? of toxic or unhealthy masculinity can include: Unconditional physical toughness. Physical aggression, fear of emotions. Discrimination against people that aren’t heterosexual. Hyper independence.

My images.

I took 220 images in total and did 2 photo shoots I have decided to only use my photos from the first shoot and I took 140 photos in that shoot.

Those are the images from my first shoot and these are my photos from my second shoot which I am not using.

These are my selected/flagged images from my first shoot.

I have edited some of these photos.

I edited all the photos of Amelie in this lighting by increasing the highlights and I made them more pink but changing the colour grading shadows and highlights to a pinker tint. I also changed the colour temperature to blue so that the pink and blue would stand out against each other. This is a before and after of 2 of the edited photo’s.

I edited these photos of Maks the same as he is also in the more feminine lighting.

 

 I took my favourite images of mine and went into power point to make them into a table with all 4 photos lined up. Amelie was my representation of femininity, I asked her to pose how women stereotypically pose for photos this is what we came up with. I used honeycomb lighting with a pink film to create a pink background behind her and then used colour gels to put over a light to create the blue on her face. I used pink and blue as they are stereotypical boy and girl colours.

 Maks was my representation of masculinity I told him to do these poses as this how i think stereotypically men would pose. For these photos i switched the colours around and had the blue in the honeycomb lighting but the pink colour gel wasn’t appearing as apparent as I wanted so I switched to red which is a more masculine colour according to stereotypes so it worked.

 

I then switched the roles and got Maks in the feminine lighting and got him to do the feminine poses and Amelie in the masculine lighting to do the masculine photos.

I then added words to the images to show stereotypes of both femininity and masculinity.

This was for femininity, I used a dark pink and smaller writing to show the positive stereotypes of women and the black large words are the negatives ones that associate with women.

This was for masculinity, I used white and smaller text for the positive words that associate with men and a light grey and larger text for the negative words.

This is my idea of trying to break the stereotypes as I have a man in the feminine lighting doing typical female poses and I have a women in the more masculine lighting doing man like poses. Amelie is presenting as strong and brave although those words associate with men and she is a female so therefore she is proving the stereotypes for women wrong. Maks is acting more feminine as he is presenting to be quite friendly looking and kind although those words are associated with women not men so he showing that men can be kind as well as females. My idea behind this was to show that by being masculine you don’t have to act like the stereotypes and to be feminine doesn’t mean you are weak.

These are my mood boards for femininity and masculinity my aim was to make the ‘masculine’ mood board very feminine and the feminine mood board very masculine.