Three point lighting set up for portrait photography

Platon

Platon

Platon was born in London in 1968 but was raised in the Greek isles until his family returned to England in the 1970's.

I really like Platon's portrait work, I love the amount of contrast the image has and i like how most of his shots are close ups of a person, so the face is the main thing in the frame. 

The series of images that is my favorite of his is the 'portraits of power' series. This series is a collections of images of people who are considered powerful and influential, examples would me Michelle and Barack Obama, George. W Bush and up to 97 other world leaders like this. 

Platon published all 100 of these images in a book, this book was actually the second book he had published. 

One thing i did notice about the series of images is that almost all of the leaders who featured in this series were male. Only 4 of which were female. I'm not entirely sure if that was something he was trying to put across at all but it is definitely something that i noticed straight away.

I have chosen three images from the series to put forward to analys. You will notice that i have chosen to use images that also have who the person is, where they are a world leader, when they were born and also the date in which they have been in office since. 

I really like the portrait of Dalia Grybauskaite, I think it looks really powerful. I think this is mainly down to knowing that she is president of Lithuania but also because if the pose she is in, also the way she appears to be staring right into the camera which in return means when you look at the photo she appears to be staring right at you. I like how close Platon has got to Dalia i think the close up shot leaves less room for a background to distract the eye from the main focus. 

The portrait of Muammar Qaddafi oozes power to me. The way the camera is pointing up towards him showing that Platon was clearly at a lower angle, maybe crouching. I really like the use of the whole torso and head in this photo. That combined with the low angle shot and the fact his head is tilted a little up whilst looking down makes him look powerful, if this was to be displayed on a wall on a large scale it would definitely look as though Muammar was looking down at you. I also like how his clothes are gold. Gold is always linked to wealth and the added fact of the colour also makes him appear powerful. Another thing you

 can notice with this shot is the background, as it is a longer, less close up shot there is a background and i really like the use of colours having the white glow around the person almost like a its radiating from him and then the darker greys to blacks towards the edge. The fact the colours are quite dull also makes Muammar stand out more. 

The portrait of Brian Cowen is similar to the portrait of Dalia Grybauskaite, its very close up and he is looking straight into the lense so it looks like he is looking at you in the picture. The only difference between the first 2 portraits and the last one is that the last one has some form of expression whereas the first two don't really have any expression. He has a half, side smirk on his face now that can be interpreted as a good or bad thing because to me it looks smug. But others may disagree with that. 

The thing i find interesting is how these portraits are in color, because the majority of the portraits i have seen are in black and white. I think colour looks best with these shots because they are modern day leaders so it would only be right to show them in colour than in black and white. I like the high quality of these shots. They have great lighting but also they show every bit of detail making these leaders be shown in their true form not edited or manipulated for the public eye.

Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon in an American photographer who was born on the 15th of May 1923 and unfortunately he died on the 1st of October 2004.

Richard was said to have helped define Americas image of style, beauty and culture for at least half a century with his fashion and portrait work.

I really like how Richard Arden's work is highly exposed making the whites in the photo's very white and the blacks in the photo's very black, using high contrast is something that i do when shooting portrait work, I either will use a black or white back ground with lighting close to the models face to achieve harsh bright light and also shadow. 

Although some of Richards portraits have some facial expression in them quite a lot of them do not, the models have natural faces and this is something i also like in portrait work.

I have three examples below of Richard's work.

You will notice that Richard has photographed a lot of famous faces, this is something i realised as soon as i searched the internet for his work. The models he has photographed stretch from Marilyn Monroe to J F Kennedy and his wife.

This in itself shows how famous Richard must have been as a photographers to have the opportunity to photograph these people.

I really like all three of these photographs. I think although they are all showing very little emotion you can almost know what their lives are like and how they feel about their lives. I also like the use of different shades for the background all three of these photos are bright and high in contrast however there is a medium gray, dark gray and bright white. I do prefer the bright white background however because i think it just draws the eye towards the model and not the background. 

Andres Serrano

Andres Serrano

Andres is a New York based photographer who was born there in the 1950's/
His portrait work doesn't tend to have a similar pattern when it comes to the models in which he photographs. They can be old, young, middle aged, black, mixed raced or white. There is only one thing that is similar throughout all of his photos and this is the background, 
Although the background of the portraits are not always the same color the pattern the colors are in, in the background is almost always the same. 
The pattern the light is in, is  lighter shade of the color will me in the middle and this lighter color will be all around the persons head and upper torso in a circular shape and then the darker shade will be right around the outside also in a circular shape.

I have chosen three example of Andres Serrano's work to accompany this piece of text. 

As you can see i have chosen to use a example of an older person, young person and a middle aged person. I really liked the portrait of the old man. I love the fact he has used a war vet and put him in uniform, the background also fits with the war theme as it looks as though there is something exploding behind him because of the color of it (orange and yellow).

I think the picture of the little girl looks really cute. Mainly because the girl herself is really cute but also because of the pink background i think ever detail of the image i.e. the background, the girls hair, her posture and facial expression, have been really thought out to create a really beautiful image. 

I chose the final image because i thought it was an all around good image. I think its quite quirky because most portraits have the models showing little or no facial expression but this image shows a lot of facial expression. I also thought that the angle in which the photo was taken was quite unusual for a portrait because you can clearly tell Andres is lower than the model looking up at her, usually portraits are taken at around about the same level as the model.

Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff is said to be one of the most influential photographers of today. Ruff was born in Germany and still lives there to this day in Düsseldorf. He was born on the 10th of February, 1958. His portrait work is often showed in gallery's on a massive scale. Huge in comparison to human beings. I think for his portrait work in-particular showing his work on a larger scale is very effective. It makes you really pay attention to detail and with the way in which he photographs people for his portraits this is very important, especially for the message he wants to send through his images. 

A quote from Ruff himself states, 'you can only look at the face, and from that start to imagine who this person might be.'

This suggesting that he wants you to look at the work and imagine what the person could be like. Think about what their life might be like. Having the image on a large scale to me is only helping the audience to think about this point. Another thing that would make the audience think more into who the person might be is that the people in the portraits are emotionless showing as little expression as possible, making sure not to give away away anything about their lives.

I am quite a fan of Thomas Ruffs work because i think it is a clever thing he does getting the audience to make assumptions on other peoples lives, i think this is a really cool and clever concept because the possibilities to peoples view on a persons life is endless. There will have been many many different assumptions that no one will ever know about. 

These are just three examples of Thomas Ruff's portrait work. These were three that i really liked. All of the backgrounds are very natural, pale colors. This makes the subject itself (the person) stand out a lot more. I also like how these three images have all got people with short hair even though they are both male and female. I did notice that the bottom image of the man had a match within it. The color of the guys shirt matches the color of his eyes. I am not sure if this was intentional or not but i do like the fact those things match its very subtle but it takes you not time at all to realise it. 

Another thing i realised was that the two women had minimal make up or none at all on. I think this is a really helpful when it comes down to his concept of having the audience guess or think about their lives without knowing anything about them because you can tell a lot about someone through how they dress.

Malick Sidibé

Malick Sidibé

Malick Sidibé's work is very new to me and straight off that bat you can tell his work is older than the modern day portrait shots. Through research i discovered that this was actually the case as he was born in Bamako, Mali in 1935.

On first glance his work to me shows a lot of african culture. And quite often includes women in traditional african outfits, not to mention it is obvious that the people both male and female he photographs either live in Africa are from African descent this is obvious through skin colour, outfits and also the background and surroundings on many images.

I chose to talk about these three images in particular because i felt they went together quite well. All three appear to have the same type of background, just a plain wall with no detail in it. Another thing i thought was very similar was how the people aren't making eye contact with the lens. The people in the top and bottom photographs are quite obviously not looking at the camera lens at all and although the women in the middle photograph's body is quite obviously pointing forwards towards the camera lens you have no idea where she is looking as you cannot see that. So to me collectively none of the people are actually looking. 

Another thing i like about Malicks work is that he manages to capture a persons personality by what they are wearing with out adding a background or a facial expression.

A new project, introduction to studio.

Portrait photography

We are starting a new project no after we had handed in our street photography work. This new project is called 'introduction to studio' and will be all about using studio lighting in a professional way to achieve 3 or more portrait shots. 

But before i go on researching portrait photographers i wanted to see what portait photography actually is. 

What is portrait photography?

Portrait photography is when you capture the likeness of a person or a small group of people (known as a group portrait), where the face and expressions are predominant. 

The objective of this style of photography is to show the likeness, personality, and even sometimes the mood of the subject (person/group).
Although the majority of people would think a portrait is only from the shoulders up, this is actually not the case. The main point of focus will be the persons face and facial expression but a portrait can actually be a full length shot and can in many cases not only be shot in a studio but also in other locations. The only thing that is always the same for any portrait shot is that it is not a snapshot of a moving subject but a still pose.

The good thing about this style of photography is that quite often the models are not professionals unlike most other styles of photography. They are normally everyday people who get a portrait done either in a studio with a  photographer or a school photography or for a graduation etc. 

This is also a style of photography i used a lot of times during my studies at A level and is something i do enjoy doing and i am very looking forward to using the studio and the various styles of lighting.

Evaluation

Evaluation

At the start of the project i wasn't entirely sure what direction i would go in and i didn't have much of an idea about what street photography was but through research i started to discover more about it and it lead me in certain pathways.

Watching a short clip about Bruce Gilden was the thing that really started to inspire me to strive to be more outgoing with this project. I found myself being quite reserved when taking photos of strangers in the start of the project and i noticed that by the end i was a lot more confident and i think watching Bruce gilden in action in the clip, watching him not care what people thought and not be afraid to stand his ground if he needed to really empowered me to do so.

My final outcome to me does meet the requirements for the brief. I have captured in my own way human interaction on the streets there really isn't a way you can go wrong in this project as long as you are capturing human life in the street as it is happening, i believe my five images perfectly capture everyday human life and i am extremely happy with the way they came out.

One thing that i feel i could have done a lot better is choosing the location in which i took the 7 shoots. I feel like i stayed in the same location far too much and that i could have gone out a lot more, maybe to larger cities or different towns. I feel this way i could have got a larger range of different cultures in my photos and with that maybe more interesting images. 

I could definitely improve my work if i had spent a lot more time on my photographs when enlarging them. There were some photographs that i though could have benefited from manipulation like dodging certain parts because they were geting too exposed compared to the rest of the image. But having said that i do like the effect that can give on images sometimes and it hasn't ruined my photographs in any way. 

Through this project i do believe i have developed greater people skills/social skills. Street photography has forced me to take photographs of complete strangers and in some case actually talk to them and communicate, a lot of the time just to avoid any heated situations. This definitely chucked me in at the deep end and this was one of the main factor that made me more confident in taking photos leading to better and better outcomes with each shoot. 

This assignment was very challenging in that it was a completely new topic, something i had barely if at all heard or been told about. I had to research a lot to be able to understand the concept, to then lead to me having a go myself. I did like the challenge aspect of this project it makes you strive to achieve greater things so you can beat the difficult aspects of the challenge itself.

Overall I feel for a first project this was really good. It wasn't extremely difficult to understand and follow but it was challenging enough to get you interested in giving it a go. If i was to go back and do the project again i think i would have tried to be much more outgoing with this project and strive to get closer to the people i was photographing in order to achieve better images than i have already got. 

The final 5

My Final 5

Below i have put my final chose images for the street photography project, and i am going to explain why i chose each one and how they are good together collectively in my opinion.

This image was taken at a market and is the second to last shoot i did out of the 7 i have done. It is also from my favourite shoot of the project. I feel the shoot that this image came from was more outgoing than my previous shoots because i wasn't as reserved whilst taking photo's i had gotten more comfortable in myself so i wasn't too aware of people staring or commenting. I was just getting the job done. 

The market was taking place next to the shopping mall in Hartlepool. The majority of people there were older people which was ideal for me, as the older people in the population tend to be who i was targeting in this project. There were a lot of interesting characters at the market young and old but i feel i have captured the best of what was there to shoot. 

The reason i chose this image in particular to be one of the final five is because i like one the old man bending over slightly to look at the goods on the table but also because of the use of lines. In the foreground you can see a tall pole that is partially covering the mans face. Then if you look in the background, again you can see a similar pole almost in a parallel position. Then as the top of the image you can see railings with vertical lines also. Another thing i did like after looking at the photo more is how the tables are right to the edge of the photo and it looks almost like a tunnel or pathway through the market, it draws your eyes into the centre of the photo and i really liked how that looked.

 This image is from the same role of film as the previous image. The main thing i can really say i liked about this photo is the amount of character the guy has. To the modern day society what he is wearing is quite strange, you don't really see those kind of hats and the trench coat and trousers anymore, I do remember that on this day it was really sunny and to see someone so wrapped up was quite unusual, his appearance would make me think that he was going somewhere rainy or maybe fishing.
Another thing visually i like in this image, something that i think is visually appealing to the eye is the lines on the building in the background of the image. all of the angles are similar and it also fits with the angle of the market stall you can see at the bottom left of the image. 
I am quite fond of images that give the viewer a lot to think about. Something that gives the image a lot of mystery always entices the viewer and this is something i will always want to try and achieve in my work i just think it gives the viewer a hell of a lot more to think about.

I chose this to go with the first image as one of my final 5 because one it has an older person in it and i have noticed this is a theme running right through my shoots and two because i have also noticed that neither subjects from either image are looking at the camera or are aware there photo is being taken. 

 This is also similar to first image and is from the same shoot. You will notice that almost all of my chosen images are from the same shoot. 
I do prefer this one a lot more because of how central the man bending down is in the picture, as he was my main focus.
The fact the guy is in the centre of the image is one reason why your eyes are instantly drawn to him but another i feel is that everyone else around him is stood up and he isn't making him the odd one out in the photo and also everyone else is either looking to the camera, at him or out of frame apart from the main guy. 

 This is the only image out of the five that did not come from the same role of film. This shot was actually in one of the first couple of films i shot. I saw an old sat alone on a bench and luckily i managed to capture this moment right before anyone walked past her or sat next to her. 
This is by far my most successful print. It is clear and the lighting is perfect and the lines in the image look really good. 

The fact there is an old lady in the image combined with the saying on the poster makes an interesting link. To me associating post card sayings with the older generations just fits. There is a saying on the poster that says 'wish you were here'  that combined with the old lady being alone does make for a sad image but i think for me to capture those two things together and almost making a story out of the image i think is a great achievement and it makes me look at things a lot differently, it makes me want to open my eyes more and capture these interesting links in photos. 

The final image i chose is for my final 5 is above. This image again is from the same shoot as the first three images. At the market there was a greasy looking burger van and there was two old ladies sat outside of it in a chair and a wheel chair. They were busy nattering away so i decided to take a quick photo and i didn't think too much about it until i looked at the developed negative and saw it properly. I havent got much of a main reason to chose this photo other than i like how the two ladies are just doing something really normal and every day and i love how you notice the ladies more so and then you see the guy in the burger van off to the right i like photo's where you keep noticing more and more detail.