Photography

apart from the obvious "people"

Chiaroscuro. Foreground. Background.

And I suppose lips, nose, ears, hair, etc.

(what the heck is a spider diagram?)

If you have experience or even if you don’t what do you think of my level of expertise.
All criticism taken constructively.

Thanks Mere Mortal.

Great Nephew: Your background is distracting — iron it to make it smooth or pull it back several feet to take it out of focus. You centered the face, which is ok, but cut off the lad’s foot — with this type of photo, you can crop to make the face dominant, but don’t cut off one foot. You need highlights in the eyes — an 11×14 piece of white cardboard angled to fill in the shadows could work. Overall, a great expression. To improve this frame, I would crop in towards the face.

Lorna: I have a feeling that Lorna is much softer and less severe in real life. You have used hard light/shadows and a stern expression for her portrait. Drop down the contrast, maybe drop in a bit of the soft-focus filter and she will look much more approachable. Or, you can convert it to a B&W image where this type of lighting works better on women. Had you had Lorna turn her head towards the light so that a small triangle of light illuminated her cheek, and had her slightly smile, the effect would have been better.

Karly: You need a bit of fill light on the left side of the photo — I’d suggest an 11×14 piece of white cardboard, or turn the highchair 45 degrees towards the window. Outstanding expression, as with the nephew. Maybe drop down the contrast a bit so the shadows are not so hard. Try placing the chair so the face and body are in the light, but the chair and background are in shadow for a more dramatic effect.

Overall: Not bad. I think the digital age has fooled people into thinking high contrast and sharp photos are the way to go, but experiment with a softer contrast and focus on babies and ladies and I think you might like the results.

With digital cameras, shooting is essentially free, so shoot, shoot, shoot! Experiment, fail, try again, but shoot! The more you shoot, the better you will be — provided you learn from your mistakes. Try joining Photo.Net or some similar online photography site for ideas, critiques, and instruction.

Tony Corbell demonstrates 3-light portraiture techniques using the Profoto D1.

Duration : 0:1:48

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For standard close-ups and simple outdoor/indoor portraits.

I use my 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS extensively for that job. It is a heavy lens, but undoubtedly the best lens Canon makes.

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=9710460

Last February 2008, Dawoud Bey and Carrie Mae Weems were in conversation discussing the work from Beys acclaimed book and exhibition, on view at the time at Aperture Gallery, “Class Pictures.” In this excerpt from the talk, Dawoud Bey explains how he decided to become a photographer, telling about his first significant picture as well as his approach to portraiture through his Harlem series.

“Class Pictures” (Aperture, 2007) features Beys striking, large-scale color portraits of students at high schools across the United States. Depicting teenagers from a wide economic, social, and ethnic spectrum—and intensely attentive to their poses and gestures—he has created a highly diverse group portrait of a generation that challenges teenage stereotypes.

Duration : 0:6:35

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I need some information on poses in art history, how they have developed and changed through time. What defines a classic portrait etc. At the moment I am doing a series of paintings which include people posing with the weirdest facials they possibly could. So I need some information about facial expressions in art history so I can place my art into context….

the most important thing is to match skin tones and never paint teeth as singular teeth, paint them as one white row of teeth with no seperation, women will pick apart a portrait simply over teeth so just keep them the shade of white they are. please take it from me, I’ve been doing portrait for 34 years, as a commercial artist I’ve dome work for Willie Nelson, Marie Osmond, George straiight, Asleep at the wheel, and about ten other musicians…….they were all for consessions, T-shitrs and cooffee mugs and the like and the "Box car Wille" mall in Branson Missouri.

i’m using an olympus e-510 (with tripod) and have tried using several domestic lamps for lighting. i’ve been struggling with tone and clarity in my photographs, in spite of adjusting manual settings repeatedly throughout my shoots.

i can’t afford expensive materials and would greatly appreciate any tips and or suggestions on how to use household items to create and reflect light on a subject.

thanks in advance!
i prefer not using flash.

Here’s a shopping list for you:

A few construction clip on lights/reflectors from home depot (about $5 or so a piece)
corresponding number of light bulbs of different power (100, 50, 30 watts)
A few pieces of banner or billboard (not sure how it’s called) paper from staples…

You should be able to get all of the above for under $30.

Then get creative. Clip reflectors on backs of a few chairs, get two at 45 degree angles from opposite sides of the subject. Put one a bit further than the other or use different bulbs, or double up on one side (put two reflectors). Idea is to have one light source twice as powerful as the other to create key light (stronger one) that will draw up the facial features, and fill light from the other side that will make dark areas less so.

Then use the rest of the lights for creative effects, for example one from above – a hair light to get that special shine to the hair, or kicker from behind to point out rear edges, a head on weak light to get a spark in the eyes, and so on. It’s easier to show than to explain, so hopefully you know a thing or two about how to set up the light.

Of course direct light from your sources will give very sharply defined edges and high contrast. To soften it up a bit you can put those staples paper in front of the lights, just not too close, to avoid possible combustion. That will create a make-shift soft box type of light. Or for even softer light try to turn reflectors away from the subject and put the papers behind to reflect the light at a subject (sort of simulating umbrella effect).

Try to use same kind of light bulbs, so that they burn at the same color temperature. Adjust the camera color temperature accordingly. Try 3500 degrees for regular bulbs, if pictures come out too yellow, lower it, if too blue – raise…

This is the basic lightning without studio equipment in a nutshell, but you really have to experiment a lot, and of course it would help if you read a bit about how studio lights are set-up, as it’s too much to explain in detail here in a single answer.

Good luck,
LEM.

magictricks3http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/magictricks3EducationPost, mortem, photography, Memorial, portraiture, memento, mori, Victorian, children, death~Victorian Memorial Portraiture~

Duration : 0:3:59

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The Swiss Wrestling Tournament and Alpine Festival is a big draw for a large part of the Swiss population. The last event in Aarau attracted more than 200,000 visitors to the site. In addition, several hundred thousand viewers followed the competition on TV. This video clip is brought to you by Roland Walliser of SwissPortraiture.com – See a wonderful world of pictorial adventure throughout Switzerland.

Duration : 0:5:24

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I mean in case of abstract arts …

Hi how long have you been painting? or drawing? You do what appeals to you. A portrait should have characteristics of the subject.If they have a dominate feature accentuate it. You can have an abstract portrait that still has their characteristics. Also most people want an accurate representation of themselves. You see street artists that do caricatures of their subjects. They have mixed realism and abstraction. I don’t know where you are with your ability . I would concentrate on perfecting your technical ability first. Then everything else will be easy. You can’t do art but have only the technical ability to do abstract and have people take you seriously. If you have a passion for art you will do it and get better. Drawing ability is key. you can email me anytime you wish with any questions. Be glad to help.