PEOPLE - Fine Art Portraiture Introduction

Fine Art is the term used to define a section in the arts where the producer of the work creates their work according to their own creative vision. In photography, this would mean capturing the image as you want the viewer to see as your interpretation. It differs from the other areas, such as environmental, candid and corporate portraiture, since it allows the photographer to create their own interpretation of the person they are photographing. Fine art is not done for a commercial purpose other than to be viewed as art.


In 1907, Alfred Stieglitz photographed passengers alighting a passenger ship, and his subsequent work entitled The Steerage, became one of the first images to become fine art and bridge the gap between that which was seen as reportage, and that which would hang on a gallery wall as something of interest to look at for its own sake. (See Image right).

I have looked at the work of Kara Walker, who is a contemporary artist who explores identity, race, gender and sexuality. She is famous for her room sized tableau black cut paper silhouettes. She raises issues such as gender and identity for African American people. Walker has received a MacArthur fellowship for her work, which can sometimes be hard to view, for example, in The Battle of Atlanta, she shows a white man raping a black girl whilst her brother looks on.
You can view her work by visiting her website at the Walker art gallery in Amercia using the following link:
http://learn.walkerart.org/karawalker

I feel that using silhouettes to photohgraph people allows you to say more in your own words about the personality of your subjects, since traits of their personality can be seen without any hinderance of colour, mood or other expression. Virtually black and white caused by exposing for your key light, which is behind your subject (Backlighting), then focusing back on the subject creates the silhouette. The camera was set to aperture priority in my images to ensure the depth of field was in focus to the edge of the silhouette. Post production I then increased the brightness using Photoshop CS4 to enhance the overall finished results. The Human Condition not only includes for emotions, but also for the way that humans want to constantly see what other people are doing, how they go about their lives, and this type of work leaves the viewer in a sense of mystery about the subject.

PEOPLE - Fine Art Portraiture Jill Greenberg Style

Jill Greenberg Style Images

This image was taken using cross lighting. I used the 4 at 45 degree system with an overhead light. f11 and 1/125th second, and ISO 200, with the wireless slave for firing the flashes. This was set up to mimic the style that Jill Greenberg uses for some of her portrait work which is particularly effective, showing character whilst also being very flattering to the subject. The overall appearance is too blue, so in Lightroom I have edited it (left) to make it a more natural photograph using the white balance tool.

You can view Jill Greenbergs work at the following website link:http://www.manipulator.com/

PEOPLE - Contact Sheet Lighting Techniques

Creating a Contact Print Sheet of your images is a really useful way to view all your images and make decisions on what to use or edit. This was made using Abobe Bridge in Photoshop CS4.

PEOPLE - Overhead Lighting Techniques

Using just the overhead light , as here, creates a different effect again and can add to the characteristics of the personality that you want to expose to the viewer.

Colour Workshop - Settings

When you want to use your images, be it for web viewing or for printing, it is important that you store your images in the correct settings depending on what output device it is intended for,i.e., a printer, a website etc.

Saving your images as sRGB files is a good all round application as it is good fro printing as well as web viewing, Adobe RGB is the best setting if you are in control at every stage from capture to print as it will deliver the best colour options, and ProPhoto is good if you need to be exceptionally accurate with tones and colours. When saving images for screen or web viewing use 72dpi, and for printing use 240 dpi.

PEOPLE - World History of Photography Candid Image

This image (above) by Emmet Gowin, 1967, Gelatin silver print, was taken from the World History of Photography Book, and interests me because of the Candid nature that the image takes, similar to thise of Mary Ellen Mark, again, it captures many elements connected to the Human Condition, because we appear to be viewing a close family portrait, the sister in the center seems as though she may be disabled and the looks of the others enquire why we are looking. There is a sadness and also an irritation about the work.

PEOPLE - Candid Portraiture Camera Settings

Camera Settings

Taking candid images without people acting for the camera is difficult, since the first thing most people do is pose and smile. To covertly take candid images, I needed to set the camera to Aperture priority, in order to ensure that I got my subjects, allowing the camera to work out the correct shutter speed to achieve the right exposure. I also set automatic white balance, since on the day the sun was in and out and I was moving between light and shade.