My favourite portrtait photo is one I took of my dad. I took it while he was taking my picture. I believe it shows my dads personality and interests in one picture. He is an avid photographer, and i don’t t think he is recognisable without the camera.
I also really like the composition. His left eye is centred in the picture and even though the lines are tilted, the face is straight, creating an impression of energy. Im also really happy with the short depth of field- F/1.8, 50mm and the way the lines of the bookshelf lead towards his face and the camera. |
One category of portraits are mugshots. These are taken often by police or other organistations for identification purposes, and this affects how they are taken. Distinctive features include hard, bright, light due to use of on camera flash, and a blank background. The subject faces the camera. It is not customary to smile, and this is indeed often not permissible. This often means they are considered 'unflattering'
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Studio Portraits evolved from the genre of formal, painted portraits. They use backdrops and formal lighting, which flatter the subject. Soft light, often from multiple directions is used to reduce shadows, which are viewed as undesirable. In this example, I used high-key lighting, with a key light at the side and a fill light illuminating the other side, to avoid shadows.
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Cambell Addy is a London based photographer. Raised in South London, he focuses on photographing culturally diverse subjects, with a strong focus on self-discovery and identity.
His work incorporates vivid colours and strong diagonal leading lines, which lead the viewer through the image. His photos are often in an editorial style. Often, he juxtaposes colours opposite each other on the colour wheel, which draws the viewer's attention through the scene. |
David Hockney is better known for his paintings than his photos. He fundamentally disliked the flat, perspective of photography, as it is taken from one angle, making it 'flat' and unlike the way humans see objects.
'There is nothing wrong with photography, if you don't mind the perspective of a paralysed Cyclops' Hockney therefore instead created photo montages, where several images are overlaid into an image, recreating how the human eye sees. This creates a fragmented viewpoint, similar to the cubist paintings of Picasso, Riviera and Braque, which attempt to make a 3D form on a 2D surface. He did this by sticking together Polaroid (instant) photos taken at multiple angles I created two of my own: one on photoshop, one by cutting and sticking. This is the one I created on photoshop. I took several images taken at different angles, and combined them into one image. I think it is almost Picasso-esque, with the disjointed, angular combination of different images. I then edited saturation and contrast in individual images, to make each one stand out. Most noticeably, I turned the left eye monochrome, which immediately shifts our attention to it. It is a repetition of the trope in portraiture to centre and focus on the dominant eye in the portrait, to draw attention to it. Here, the depth of field was too large to do so (I used an F3.5-5.6 zoom lens), so I used colour (or the lack of it) to accomplish that objective. |