Portraiture - Level 3 Photography

Portraiture

In your posts you will need to discuss the journey that Portraiture has taken over its history. For example the movement from Rich and Powerful people having expensive portraits made for them to the works of Portraiture photographers depicting the inner conflicts and catching their subjects in moments when they are least prepared.

Arnold Schwarzeneger, candidate for Governor of California, New York, June 23 2003

Richard Avedon has many weird and wonderful portraits of celebrities. However he seems to  wonder into the weird and abnormal side of photography, to portray a different meaning to the picture and the character in the photo. Portraiture is used for many things, including the very famous bank note, or a celebrity family to the galleries where they are criticized for their moral values and in depth meaning from the photograph.

Techniques

Lighting: Lighting is one of the most important techniques used when doing any form of photography, but mostly in portraiture it is used to show a deep meaning to the character and bring out hidden expressions, for example the Arnold Photograph shows heavy lighting from the right side however on the left side it starts to darken, this could mean he has a darker and secretive side to him which is hidden behind a fake reality of which we see him as.

Studio Set-up: This can be very important when taking a  portraiture as if you are trying to portray sadness or show the character to be hiding something they may use a soft box to bring out shadows on the facial expressions.

Catching the model unaware is an overused technique for many photographers. This is a very clever way to catch a photograph that has meaning without actually meaning to. The model when aware will try to show a specific side to them, a fake side which they feel they would be accepted within society however when caught unaware it brings out their true expression and portrays the real them and not a fake persona.

The paper canvas can be a difficult choice when it comes to printing the final image, using a landscape orientation when capturing more than one person in a portrait can come helpful as it gives you a wider range, however using a portrait orientation gives the sense of loneliness in a way. Photographers go to that much detail that even the page layout can have an inner meaning to it.