Photography - Portrait Assignment
Research
I looked at various website to compare varying styles of portraits and I researched the techniques needed to produce different lighting effects. Some of the sites I visited are listed below:
tp://www.westongallery.com/karsh.htm
http://www.digitalpicturezone.com/performance-metrics/pros-and-cons-of-artificial-vs-natural-lighting-in-portrait-photography/
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Portrait-photography--a-practical-guide-4670
http://www.studiolighting.net/high-middle-and-low-key-lighting/
http://www.photographers.co.uk/html/photographic-studio-lighting.cfm
3 Photos Of A Fellow Student In Different Styles
I have chosen to use Sarah Aylward as the model for my 3 images
Style 1
The first image has been taken in a photography studio to show the effect that lighting can have on a photograph. I used a high key lighting style, this was very challenging as it is easy to over expose the image and lose detail. It was also very hard to try and eliminate shadow using this style of lighting. I asked Sarah to sit on chair for this shot and I tried framing the shot landscape, portrait and at various angles, I decided to use one of the angled shots as I felt It gave the image a peculiar sense of style.
Style 2
The second image has also been shot in a photography studio to show the effect that lighting can have on a photograph, only this time I used a black background and set the lighting to create a low key effect. I wanted to try and create the effect of someone hiding in the shadows with the light just picking out a small amount of detail. I just used one light positioned to Sarah’s right hand side and I asked her turn on an angle slightly facing the light.
Style 3
The third image was taken using a different camera to the other two images in this assignment. I chose natural light as the style for this image to show the differing effect to the two previous images that both used specific controlled artificial light sources. I used my digital compact camera for this shot as I was trying to show that while high quality cameras, expensive lighting and backdrops can create amazing results they are not essential, you can get good results with an average camera in almost any location.
Self Portrait
This part of the assignment was quite hard as we were set the task of showing our personality effectively in the image. I have tried to show an aspect of my personality rather than my personality as a whole, I also tried to encompass an object that shows something about me and my life.
The image itself was taken with the help of a fellow student Sarah Aylward. I chose a style for the image, in this case high key with a white background shot in a studio. I chose a prop that had a relevant meaning in my life, my headphones. They represent the job I have done since the age of 14, I am a bar and nightclub disc jockey. This was important as it represents a massive part of my life, sixteen years to be exact.
The pose I enacted was to try and convey the fact that I contemplate things. I chose to place myself at the left of the image leaving a large amount of space at the left to try and give the viewer a sense of the depth in which I think about things. Sara Aylward took the picture under instruction, thank you Sarah.
Recreating a Portrait In The Style Of Another Photographer
During my research I found a portrait that I liked, the image was shot in a high key style but I used a hood to create a checkerboard effect that would normally be used in low key styled photographs. The image is by Michael Tarasov it is below alongside my recreation.
Samantha Balyen posed for this shot and we used a black scarf to recreate the hood effect.