Exercise Title: Portraiture of Self
Purpose: Study what portrait styles you gravitate towards and how to manipulate light
Method: Before we can get comfortable taking proper portraiture images of people it is really important to understand the styles that you enjoy and how the light is created. That means this is a two part study.
Part One: Study Portrait Photography
Look up the following photographers and study their work. Make notes on style, head placement, where the subject is looking, overall feel of the image and whether or not you like it. If you do, what elements are you drawn to. If not, what is it that you don't like........understand this so you don't repeat it!
Look up the following photographers and study their work. Make notes on style, head placement, where the subject is looking, overall feel of the image and whether or not you like it. If you do, what elements are you drawn to. If not, what is it that you don't like........understand this so you don't repeat it!
- Richard Avedon
- Sue Bryce
- Lord Snowden
- Annie Liebovitz
- Julia Margaret Cameron
- Platon
- Arnold Newman
- and anyone else you stumble across
- Sue Bryce
- Lord Snowden
- Annie Liebovitz
- Julia Margaret Cameron
- Platon
- Arnold Newman
- and anyone else you stumble across
Part Two: Self Portraits
Using what you have learned during your analysis of other photographers create a set of self portraits. You can put your camera on self timer, or preferably if you have it a remote release......that makes life soo much easier :-). Find a way to work out where your focal point should be. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube on doing self portraits if you feel like seeing some ideas on how to go about it.
Using what you have learned during your analysis of other photographers create a set of self portraits. You can put your camera on self timer, or preferably if you have it a remote release......that makes life soo much easier :-). Find a way to work out where your focal point should be. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube on doing self portraits if you feel like seeing some ideas on how to go about it.
Analyse: This is a great way to understand light and how frustrating it can be to get a good portrait. Learning how you need to move and how you work your face to get the look you want is, in my opinion, the key to working with other people. The next stage will be to work with a single, very patient model, as I will get you to work with different lighting setups.
Exercise Output: Pick three of the photographers you like best. Create a single shot in the style of each photographer you choose. Send me the three images with details on who the photographer was and why you chose them.
Exercise Output: Pick three of the photographers you like best. Create a single shot in the style of each photographer you choose. Send me the three images with details on who the photographer was and why you chose them.