Portraiture location work diary

Description of shoot:

For this shoot I mainly used an F stop of 8.  This was to get a shallow depth of field which helped create the effect of putting more emphasis on the face of the model which was naturally, the focus. I took photos mainly outside in natural looking locations. I also took some inside certain settings.

I think this worked quite well in some of my pictures as the background got noticeably more blurred then the person. Below is an image I took that I think shows this well:

F stop: 4.2

Shutter speed: 1/60

ISO: 1000

I think her face here is very defined and emphasised as standing out and being separate from the background setting. You can tell that the background is slightly blurred and out of focus. This photo was taken in F 4.2. This is therefore showing a shallow depth of field as the foreground is in focus but the background is slightly blurred.

Image I liked and editing process:

Below is my favourite picture that I took. I really like how she is in a dead pan view and she is looking straight into the camera. I think this draws our attention straight onto her. I also like how she is placed in the background of trees and branches, I think this makes a nice effect. I used multiple processes on photoshop to edit the levels and curves of the picture.

This is the original picture. I took it in F stop 22. This made the whole image in focus and there was no focus point. I did this because I quite liked the effect that the trees in the picture. To put more emphasis on her face, I did the vignette which I have explained below. 

This picture shows a screenshot from photoshop with includes all the different layers which include the different effects and edits I put on the picture. I slightly sharpened a copy of the layer and I sharpened the eyes. This was because I think the eyes are a crucial factor of portraiture as they draw a lot of attention and they capture our attention aswell. So especially considering this picture is in dead pan and she is looking straight at the picture, I felt it was important to focus her eyes to draw in even more definition and emphasis.

This is a screenshot of the effects that these layers have put on the picture.

To draw even more definition to her face I added a vignette process on the picture which darkened the edges of the picture so in this case I darkened the whole image using the curves tool. I then highlighted her face by applying the vignette only to her face. This made her fact seem very defined as it made it stand out more which I think is important to separate her from her background as this is portraiture.

This is the final outcome. 

Progression and image I disliked:

I didn't like this picture as the focus wrong as it was on the background instead of on her face. I think this doesn't work, especially in portraiture as the face is the most important part and she her face isn't defined or emphasised. Also the flash was on and I think this made her face too highlighted considering she wasn't in focus.

If I had a chance to improve this shoot I would vary my use of backgrounds more to get some interesting and unique settings. I think even though I did get a variety of backgrounds, some of them are quite similar or have similar ideas.

Inspiring images from the internet:

This image is from Alec Soth and I think it is a good example of a portrait picture that is in dead pan and has a vignette on it to make the face more highlighted to capture our attention. This was the same idea that I had in my black and white edited picture above.

Portraiture Location Contact Sheet

Portraiture contact sheet

Portraiture Photographer Research

Alec Soth

"I fell in love with the process of taking pictures, with wandering around finding things. To me it feels like a kind of performance. The picture is a document of that performance."

Alec Soth’s work is rooted in the distinctly American tradition of ‘on-the-road photography’ developed by Walker Evans, Robert Frank and Stephen Shore. From Huckleberry Finn to Easy Rider there seems to be a uniquely American desire to travel and chronicle the adventures that consequently ensue. He has received fellowships from the McKnight, Bush, and Jerome Foundations and was the recipient of the 2003 Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His photographs are represented in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Walker Art Center. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial and a career survey at the Jeu de Paume in 2008.

Here are some examples of his work:

I really like how in all of the above pictures, the background and 'props' in the picture is of a lot of relevance. This is because of the way his pictures seem to capture the personalities and life stories of the person he is photographing. It's like we are seeing them in their natural setting where they seem to fit in, depending on what kind of person it is. I have found that the majority of his pictures are outdoor settings but different landscapes outdoors. He also captures people of all sorts of races, gender and age.

His pictures are mainly taken in areas in mid-western  America.

Comparison to Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer who is now considered one of America's best portrait photographers. Her two main works have been with the Rolling stone and the Vanity Fair Magazine. She photographs many celebrities for various sorts of shoots.

Here are some examples of her work:

As you can see  by the pictures above, she does many pictures in black and white these pictures show a high contrast between the dark tones and the light tones. The way she edits her pictures, along side with this contrast in tones but a lot of emphasis on their faces which draws our eyes towards them. Some of her photos are shot in dead pan like the bottom one and top one however the middle shows more expression and maybe more inspiration.

The connotations of the three pictures above (and a lot of her other pictures) share a common thread of showing power and strength. I think this is because of the contrasting tones but also the face that the celebrities are showing and what expression that gives off. The three above are in dead pan and they are all staring right at the camera which makes them seem more powerful and this helps capture our attention more.

Comparison:

The two photographers I have researched have clearly very different approaches when it comes to portraiture photography. Alec Soth's portraits consider the background, setting and context of the person he is shooting, this makes the whole image important as the background and the style of the person says a lot about the picture and person. Each one of his pictures has a different story and context to it. That's because of the way he shoots them. On the other hand, Annie Leibovitz seems to consider the facial expressions of the people she is shooting a lot more. This seems to be the most important aspect of her portraits; the focus and definition of the face and the facial expression. So whilst her pictures don' t show much context and other factors that help support the portrait, the way she edits the tones and contrasts in her photos defines the face which adds a lot of emotion. This leads on to the other clear difference between the two as Alec Soth's pictures don't seem to be as obviously edited and they seem to be taken from very natural and real life scenarios whereas Annie Leibovitz's portraits are highly edited and  a lot of them look like they've been taken in studios.

Portraiture Image Bank

I really like this picture. I think the her expression portray a slight expression of power. I think this is emphasised by her looking into the camera. I like how her neck is blurred out, the focus is on her face, this draws the attention to her face.

I like how this one is very over powered by negative space, as it takes over half his face then fades into a highlighted area. This emphasises all of the contours on his facial features. I think it makes him look very masculine. I also think it is quite mysterious as he isn't looking to the camera and isn't showing much expression.

This picture shows quite a sad and serious connotation as she is looking down. I also like how we can see her arms and how she appears to be slightly hunched over. You can see that a vignette has been put on this picture, as the outer edges are quite dark in tone. This makes her more highlighted. 

I really like the dark tones in this picture, I like how they emphasis the lines and wrinkles in his face, this highlights the texture of his skin. I also like how there is a shallow depth of field. Making the background completely blurred and unfocused, this separates him from the background quite a lot. I also think this picture has a lot of meaning to it; his eyes show a lot of soul and character.

Portraiture Definition Post

Official definition:
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant.

My interpretation:
Portraiture is a form of capturing a representation of a person. This can have many different forms and styles. However they all share a common ground of the person's face being the main focus of the photograph.

Dead pan: A person having no/a neutral expression on their face.
The image below is an example of a dead pan picture.

Depth contact sheet