Project #10 - Portrait Photography PREWORK

Fine Portrait Photography: a picture of a specific character that expresses a specific mood or story coming from the person or the photographer. The photos often use composition, lighting, color, and contrast to enhance the meaning or mood.

Eric Lafforgue

Lee Jeffries

I love how both of these photos portray the life in the subjects despite their cold environment. The first one showing a North Korean soldier puts all the focus on the woman. High contrast is implemented to emphasize the paleness of her face, the dark green of her uniform, and the pale-golden glow of the shoulder-pads and the cap. High contrast and a high focus on the subject is also used on the second photo, but the contrast rather emphasizes the age in the woman's face, beautifully showing the harsh mood of the picture. I believe that both of these photos portray the subjects living in a dark world: the soldier as an invisible pawn in an oppressive dictatorship, and the homeless woman as a weathered shadow lurking in a cruel modernistic society.

Commercial Portrait Photography: a picture of a specific character that entices the public to buy the products shown in the scene. Often the lighting, color, composition, or contrast glorifies the brand of the product with the overall mood matching the intentions of the magazine/advertisement.

Benjamin Lennox

Branislav Simoncik

I appreciate both of these photos' use in corresponding colors showing the vibrance of the product they are selling. An emphasis on the subjects' highlights give the pictures a chic atmosphere as if buying the products will give the consumer that kind of impression from others. I believe that the models' clothes are the ones being sold as they are by far the pieces that stand out most in the photos. 

Fine Art vs Commercial Portrait Photography:

Both of these photos are taken of David Bowie, but each portrays a different purpose by using different techniques. The first uses focus and color to give the picture a vivid and dream-like mood, one very fitting for Bowie's musical and fashion style. The second one, however, implements high contrast and grain to give the scene an air of refinery and newness. This mood fits well with the intention of the photo as it promotes Bowie's album "Heroes". The consumer would want to buy the album because of how the photo gives a headline-like glow.