Portrait Photography
Background:
What is a Portrait?
A
portrait should capture the likeness and spirit of the subject. It should go
beyond the pleasing, the anecdotal. It should be a work of art. It should live,
not just for today, but for generations to come.
Portraiture
has always existed.
It is natural for people to record their presence, their image, for their time
and as a memorial to pass on. Portraits have been painted to honor those of
stature, from business leaders to political leaders to clerics. Portraits also
represent the love of one human being for another, the parent for a child, the
husband for a wife, a partner for their mate.
A
portrait will illustrate a moment or time in the life of a person. But it must
also incorporate the spirit of that person, something intrinsic at almost any
age.
Portrait http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait
Face to Anti-Face
Adam Harvey
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/14/opinion/sunday/20121215_ANTIFACE_OPART.html
Andrea Labgold
portfolio
https://andrealabgold.myportfolio.com/about-this-portfolio
Daguerreotype
Portraits (Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/daghtml/dagport.html
Daguerreotype info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype
Portrait Artists:
Mary Ellen Mark
http://www.maryellenmark.com/
John Coplans
https://www.google.com/search?q=john+coplans&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1011&bih=539&tbm=isch#imgdii=_
Google Image Search
http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=1237
http://www.nordenhake.com/php/artist.php?RefID=3
http://www.solwaygallery.com/john_coplans_exhibition.html
Julia Fullerton
http://juliafullerton-batten.com/small.html
Hanaah Wilke
http://www.hannahwilke.com/index.html
Diane Arbus
http://diane-arbus-photography.com/
Nikki S. Lee
http://www.tonkonow.com/lee.html
Louis Camitzer
http://www.alexandergray.com/artists/luis-camnitzer/
Sleep of the Beloved:
http://www.schneggenburger.at/
Sleeping lovers over-exposed:
http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/28/sleeping-lovers-over-exposed/?hpt=hp_c3
New York Times
Photographer: Phil Mansfield
Tony Oursler
http://artobserved.com/2015/06/new-york-tony-oursler-at-lehmann-maupin-through-june-14th-2015/
Aligned with his signature style of analyzing high technology and
its idiosyncratic tone in correlation to the human body, Oursler delves
into the limits of human expression in his new exhibition.
Rene Levasseur
Simple Portrait
Photography Tips
http://photo.net/learn/portraits/
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Portrait Lighting:
Lighting Basics
* Contrasting light creates a somber/serious mood
* Even lighting creates a balanced feeling
* Side lighting adds depth
* Flat lighting minimizes features
One Light setup: the closer the light source, the harsher the lighting
In-direct light creates a soft
light: the line between highlight and shadows softens and diffuses
2-Light setup: Second light fills
in the shadows
The farther away the fill light, the deeper the contrast and
shadows
The closer the fill light the more even the light
http://www.lightingdiagrams.com/Creator
Rembrandt Lighting:
Named after Rembrandt Van
Rijn
1606 - 1669 Dutch painter, draftsman, and etcher of the 17th century, a
giant in the history of art. His paintings are characterized by luxuriant
brushwork, rich color, and a mastery of chiaroscuro. Numerous portraits and
self-portraits exhibit a profound penetration of character. His drawings
constitute a vivid record of contemporary Amsterdam life. The greatest artist
of the Dutch school, he was a master of light and shadow whose paintings,
drawings, and etchings made him a giant in the history of art.
Self Portrait 1629, Rembrandt Van Rijn
Self portraits: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/self/
Other work and info: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/
Butterfly lighting:
Butterfly lighting is a
classic technique for lighting a model or sitter using just one light and a
reflector. This style is also called Paramount, after the Hollywood studio that
made this style popular. It is associated with the glamourous look of
black-and-white movies, and places a distinctive 'butterfly' shaped shadow under
the nose of the sitter.
To butterfly light,
put the key light with a softbox or shoot-through
umbrella directly above the model and high, then place the reflector at about
chest height, pointing up towards the face. This is easier with a modeling
light. To practice, you can do this using regular continuous light.
Note that the
position of the light needs to be such that the shadow under the nose doesn't
touch the lips. It's also common to use a V-shaped or U-shaped reflector to get
a more consistent distribution of reflected light under the eyes. A
high-contrast reflector, silver, for example, will product crisp and beautiful
images.
Edge lighting:
How to on Portrait
Lighting for Photography and Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmmZECtP3oM
Overview of all
lighting techniques:
http://digital-photography-school.com/6-portrait-lighting-patterns-every-photographer-should-know/
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Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
(English: /kiˌɑːrəˈskjʊəroʊ/;
Italian: [ˌkjaroˈskuːro] (light-dark))
is Italian, meaning, literally, light/dark. In photography, it refers to the
play of light and shadow in an image. It is an artistic technique, developed
during the Renaissance, that uses strong tonal contrasts between light and dark
to model three-dimensional forms, often to dramatic effect. Rembrandt lighting
and edge lighting work well for this effect.
We will photograph each other using this technique for photography,
digital painting, vector reference, and installation.
Like this 1650 portrait of Juan de Pareja,
by Diego Velázquez that can be
seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He uses subtle highlights and shading on the face
and clothes. It captures in great detail Pareja's
countenance and his somewhat worn and patched clothing with an economic use of
brushwork. In November 1650, Juan de Pareja was freed
by Velázquez. Pareja was an artist in his own right.
Tania Bruguera
https://mobile.twitter.com/MuseumModernArt/status/964555197904314369/photo/1
https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3898
Decoding Chiaroscuro: How To
Shoot
https://contrastly.com/decoding-chiaroscuro/
Low Key Portraits: Take and
Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba1Hiq3w3kc
Color correction tutorial:
Chiaroscuro techniques in video, but can be applied to Photoshop from the lynda.com
tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tF4Ad1iA9o
Shading with Light and Form
in Your Digital Painting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYXEpNOqKNY
Revealing the deep seated
attitudes of the subject. What is it that the subject is thinking?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tF4Ad1iA9o
The four canonical painting
modes of the Renaissance: sfumato, unione, chiaroscuro, cangiante
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp4G1pXx-cs
The term
chiaroscuro can also be applied to drawing, but in a very specific way.
A chiaroscuro drawing is made on medium-toned paper using both dark
and light (usually white) lines to create the illusion of three dimensions.
Sfumato:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is considered an important figure
in the development of chiaroscuro, especially in his later works, but he’s best
known for his use of another technique, sfumato, meaning smoky, in which
the outlines of figures are softened, as if seen through a haze of smoke. the
technique of allowing tones and colors to shade gradually into one another,
producing softened outlines or hazy forms. He was the first artist to use value
consistently across colors, achieving tonal unity in which a figure presents a
single, swelling, homogeneously generated volume in contrast to the inevitably
fragmented effects of colour-modelling.
Describing his
Chiaroscuro technique, Leonardo da Vinci said:
“I would remind
you O Painter! To dress your figures in the lightest
colors you can, since, if you put them in dark colors, they will be in too
slight relief and inconspicuous from a distance. And this is because the
shadows of all objects are dark. And if you make a dress dark there is little
variety between the lights and shadows, while in light colors there will be
greater variety.”
Technique in
drawing Sfumato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bi8NhFTjtU
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For Natural Light:
Reflectors can be used when there is a large difference in intensity in
the highlights and the shadows
- Use reflectors to bounce back light and fill in the shadows
- If there are harsh shadows, you can add a diffuser to soften the light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tin5q2-yPew
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=339/423&pq-locale=en_US
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Retouching:
retouching
retouching 2
Retouching everything away N.Y. / REGION | November 20,
2010
No Boo-boos
or Cowlicks? Only in School Pictures
By SARAH MASLIN NIR
The practice of altering photos has trickled down to the school portrait, as
more parents increasingly choose retouching.
Issues of Beauty:
What is beauty? Cultural, historical, ethical & economic considerations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty
Retouching all the originality out of us
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/fashion/09skin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Artists dealing with
issues of beauty and commodification
Nancy Burson
http://nancyburson.com/
http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/burson/
Bobby Neel Adams Age Maps:
http://www.bobbyneeladams.com/age.html
Barbara Kruger
http://www.barbarakruger.com/
Cindy Sherman
http://www.cindysherman.com/
Coco Fusco
http://www.thing.net/%7Ecocofusco/
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The Unreal Person:
Lighting set ups in Blender:
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/03/07/how-to-visualize-photography-lighting-setups-in-blender/
Portraiture in the Digital Age, Irit
Krygier
http://strikingdistance.com/unreal/Pages/artists.htm
http://strikingdistance.com/unreal/Pages/irit01.htm
Making our Game Characters more real than we are:
http://www.webdesign.org/web/3d-graphics/tutorials/high-polygon-realistic-character-creation.5519.html
The New Face of America http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101931118,00.html
Dan Ostrov The Faces of RPI Project, IDI Sp’06
Open in IE browser only:http://www.arts.rpi.edu/~ruiz/IDI-spring2006/final/ostrov/realization.htm#