PORTRAITURE

Portraiture 

Portraiture -  is a photograph of a person or group of people that captures the personality of the subject by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait picture might be artistic, or it might be clinical, as part of a medical study.

Artist research - 

Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer. She photographed John Lennon on the day he was assassinated, and her work has been used on numerous album covers and magazines. She became the first woman to hold an exhibition at Washington's National Portrait Gallery in 1991. 

In the images below we see how she has captured her pictures with a powerful tone. By putting her images into black and white it emphasises certain facial features and the emotion within each person. The picture in the bottom right has more of an innocent look to it, whereas the picture located in the top centre shows a sense of power. 

David Lachapelle 

David LaChapelle is an American commercial photographer, fine-art photographer, music video director, and film director. He is best known for his photography, which often references art history and sometimes conveys social messages. LaChapelle was affiliated in the 1980s with 303 Gallery which also exhibited artists such as Doug Aitken and Karen Kilimnik. After people from Interview magazine saw his work exhibited, LaChapelle was offered to work for the magazine. 

In the images below we see how emotion is a great impact within these photos. By adding vibrant and saturated colours it can resemble a sense of positive tones looking deep into a soul. Showing how even in the brightest moments someone can still being going through their toughest times. 

Task 1 - 

The     Photographer Yousuf Karsh managed to capture Winston Churchill with an expression of determination and strength. The jacket would represent a zone 0 on the Ansel Adams tonal chart and this can display a very serious mood.


Task 2 - 

The photographer David Lachapelle captures this picture of Amanda Lepore as a depiction of Marilyn Monroe. This could be because she aspires to be Glamarous, Confident and impowering. By Lepore closing her eyes it may also reflect a feminine innocence about the picture.

Light Techniques for Portraiture 

Low Key Lighting an image with predominantly dark tones.

  creates a mood

  mystery

  detailed skin texture adds character

High Key Lighting an image with predominantly light tones.

  used in beauty images

  light hearted

  fun 

Contact sheet - 

Final images  - 

Lowkey Lighting-

This photo can present the idealistic woman. With a structured jaw and a simple smiling expression it can show an innocence to the picture with the contrast of negative space surrounding her. With a subtle eye makeup it can make her eyes look mesmerising. 

Midkey lighting - 

Task 2 -

Manipulated portrait - 

Thomas Ruff - 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
My idea for this shoot was to capture portraiture in the way that I can capture different textures and tones of peoples skin. I really liked the way I used negative space to make the image look more like a studio effect with a bold contrast of black and white. My favourite images produce where those with lowkey lighting this because all 3 photos show strong features of the cheekbones and jawline. However next time I would like to try and emphasise the features on their faces more for e.g- make freckles darker to look stronger. 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

Most images I've taken I used a Canon DSLR and with an exposure of f4.0- f5.8 and a shutter speed of 1/100 - 1/125. I also decided to take certain pictures at a canted angle and most were taken at wide angle. To create different ranges of lighting when I didn't have the advantage of studio lighting I decided to uses curves and burning and dodging. This created that black background behind my models in the lowkey lighting shots. I then also adjusted the brightness and contrast to make faces look brighter like the work of Annie leboitz.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

(Here you will discuss how you developed your work based on your research of e.g. artists/photographers, etc).

The artist research was helpful as It meant I could develop my work further based on looking at the photographer Annie Leboitz It showed me how I could capture people in a picturesque way and explore tones with face pigmentation and bone structure. My favourite photo that I used the same technique was the shot of Angelina Jolie as I liked the contrast of her black top with her black background which I decided to recreate in my own style with a few of my shots. When also looking at David Lachapelle I liked the use of colour and the explosion you could see so I then decided to create my own by keeping the photo in colour and using a bold lip colour and background that I edited in. 

(It is important that you show a progression of your work… which may mean revisiting a subject area and adding additional images showing a development of your ideas or refinement of the final images through).

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.  

(At the end of the entry you will discuss whether you have produced a personal and meaningful response, this means  (are my images creative/relevant to the subject area studied/connected and influenced by any research undertaken). 

I believe that I was able to produce a strong series of images based on my research and photographic intelligence. By experimenting with backdrops and lighting and then using editing tools like the heal brush I was able to improve my pictures to a higher quality. I also used the burning tool to create negative space around my image.