May 7

Mind Map & Statement of Intent

Played with some techniques in capturing movements:

Yellow: Some have objects cut off the frame, and some have unintended things captured (such as hair, wall, etc.), making them look unfinished.

Green: These photos below look more finished, as they contain all the requirements I wanted to include in my final photograph. However, although they look nice, some of the photos (the hand gestures) have nothing related to my social issue. Hence, I put them in the green category. 

 

final product:

Title: Filtered Reality

We, mostly youth, constantly compare and influence through social media, eventually blurring our identities. I tried to express this by making one side of myself take a picture, and the other side of myself edit the photo and texting my friends.

 

Mind map

Statement of intent

Recently, as I was scrolling down my Pinterest board, I saw this quote “We are sad generation with happy pictures.” This instantly made me reflect on the social issues teenagers nowadays often face in light of social media. I chose to use monochrome or grayscale for this project because it makes the audience feel more emotive, removes distractions, and helps focus on textures, shapes, patterns, and composition.

“By taking away the color, you remove one layer of distraction from the photo revealing, for instance, form and lighting in a new, clearer way – so important when you want to draw the eye to your subject.” – shotkit

Category: photography, Portraiture | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 5

Introduction to Portraiture

There are no rules required for taking a great portrait. It captures one’s identity, personality, and essence using photographic techniques such as composition, lighting, location, emotion, posing, and technical settings. Although people think a portrait is one type of photograph of a person that only depicts them from head to shoulder, there are countless varieties of portrait photographs, such as Selfies are considered a form of self-portrait photography:

Traditional Portrait Photography

  • This type of portrait often comes to mind when people think about portrait photography. Portrait photography usually includes the subject’s head and shoulders.
    • Beatrice by Julia Margaret Cameron,1998

Lifestyle Portraits

  • This type of portrait focuses on capturing the everyday or relatable setting of people(s). The subjects are often candidly depicted when performing day-to-day activities. On the other hand, lifestyle photographers usually do not position their subjects.
    • Finnegan by Jordan Parks

Environmental Portraits 

  • This type of portrait focuses on capturing the moment in a meaningful environment for the subject, which offers the viewer an insight into the subject’s personality. Elements such as the location, lighting, and posing techniques have a significant impact in this type of photography.
    • Igor Stravinsky, New York, NY, 1 December 1946

    • 3rd Place in the Documentary Family Awards in the environmental portrait category (Fall 2021) by Deepak Kaushilya

A photo becomes a portrait when the subject, along with the background, lighting, and emotion, can evoke a sense of connection between the viewer and the portrait photograph. Hence, a person you photograph should be included to call it a portrait. Although, some say that shaky hands or blurriness is considered a bad portrait. That may be true for some photos; a photo that does not think carefully about the subject’s position in the frame might lead to an aesthetically unpleasing portrait. However, there is still no rule for a good portrait. If taking a portrait blurry was the intention, it is reasonable. The unusualness makes it contains more symbolism and representation in the photos:
    • ex) capture surreal reflections

   

useful websites for taking portrait photography

 
Category: Portraiture | LEAVE A COMMENT