Portraiture

In composing the frame for a rembrandt portrait, gender played a huge part in deciding how to portray the subject. For instance, for the photo of Kade in his uniform I wanted to show him as an authority figure; this is why I lended myself towards a low-angle frame. For the shots of Bre, I wanted to capture both the beauty and strength of her character. Although this was a rembrandt setup, I tried to angle the frame in such a way that the lighting accentuates her high cheekbones. The gradient in the background adds a nice effect, being parallel to the shadow casted on the left side of the face. The pose was a nice touch, but I can't take credit for that part. The last two subjects were an experiment in a negative fill background. Rembrandt can create an absolutely mystifying or empowering look if shot at just the right angle. The light burst "triangle" of light on the subjects' cheek gives the face some structure as well as playing off the highlights apparent in the rest of the frame. 

1/100 f5.6 55mm

1/50 f5.6 55mm

1/50 f5.6 55mm

1/60 f5.6 53mm

1/60 f5.6 55mm

1/50 f5.6 55mm

 Glamour lighting is much different from Rembrandt lighting. Instead of telling a story, this type of lighting lends itself to beauty. Although beauty can tell a story, in my personal opinion, beauty light is much less dramatic and much more soft. The light is cast on the face in a very soft glow, which almost erases any age lines or blemishes (on women). For men, glamour lighting can be extremely unflattering. If the subject has gone a few hours without shaving, this type of light will definitely pick that up on camera. However, it is not impossible to capture both genders with this type of lighting in a flattering way. By giving the frame a slight cant and shooting a profile, beauty light can bring out the best in a male subject, giving just enough shadow to maintain the masculine features without bringing them forward to a fault. Moving outdoors created a much brighter exposure, but I personally enjoyed the take I received from outdoor shooting over the studio light setup. Using just a soft bounce and a shadow, extremely gorgeous and interesting photos can be taken. Having a background to work with, like the blossoming trees, can really add flair to a portrait.

1/250 f5.6 55mm

1/125 f5.6 55mm

1/125 f5.6 55mm

1/125 f5.6 55mm

1/125 f5.6 53mm

1/2000 f5.6 55mm

1/800 f5.6 55mm

 The following photos were edited from Dustin's take in the studio. When I received them, they were at a low ISO/ASA, around 3200 as opposed to the 5600 or so tint that was set up. My first step, if I decided to keep the saturation in the photo, was to alter the temperature to more fit the lighting scenario. For the first one, I accentuated the blue bounce off of the subject's shoulder, creating an interesting aura. For the beauty lighting, especially in the male subjects, I lowered the clarity to remove any unflattering blemishes and soften the image. It was a challenge balancing focus with a solid soft fix to effectively achieve my edit. For the black and white images, after removing the chroma, I boosted the contrast and increased the shadows and blacks by just a tad. I personally enjoy black and white photos with very strong contrast, mostly because they give off more of a story than a standard gray black/white photo. For T-Rex, I reduced the saturation a smidge, but adjusted the highlights and contrast. As a male under beauty lighting, I still wanted to maintain a masculine feel, and slightly lowering the saturation helped bring out a "tougher" take. I adjusted the final photos all based on the subject's facial expression. If she was happy, I increased the saturation and slightly warmed it up to give it more of an optimistic feeling. However, if her tone was serious, I adjusted accordingly, by lowering or removing the chroma completely and increasing the contrast.