Project Nine - Two Portraits

Fine Art Portraiture

For my semester one final, I chose to emulate a self portrait of an older teenage girl. When thinking about fine art portraiture, I thought that my unit final method would work very well to convey the emotion that I was able to capture in the emulation. I used the same model and the same set up while shooting. However, I chose to put more emotion into the photo. By having the model show her bare shoulders while mimicking the Rosie the Riveter stance, she demonstrates a balance of beauty, while demanding respect. I chose to edit with a daguerreotype finish because it added a timeless effect to the image. I am very happy with the intimidating final outcome of the photograph.

For my second fine art portrait, I decided to use a natural model. In my first portrait, I staged it much more and used a message that I chose to convey. In this second one, I used my sister again but I chose to use a setting that represented her. She really loves soccer, so I decided to show her in a strong stance yet it one that was more reflective of her. This image was different than the one I was going for. I knew that I wanted natural lighting and that I wanted her in her soccer gear, but I initially but her against a brick wall. The brick wall didn't fit well with the message, so this final shot was in front of a dark door. I like how the light goes from bright to dark in her face, yet how there is a light wall to juxtapose the light side of her face. I am pleased with the final outcome of the photograph.

Commercial Portraiture 

For the commercial portraits, I knew that I wanted to make a sport magazine. I took my sister out to the park to run her through a series of drills to create a calculated yet natural stance (such as running or kicking the ball). This final image that I chose to use was the first picture from the entire shoot. I caught her tying her shoe and then told her to look up at me into the sunlight with a serious face. I am happy that my lighting worked out - I thought that the fading daylight might overexpose the image, but it worked out in my favor. I like the color of the writing on the magazine as well, I think that it works well with the bright color of the grass, yet stands out against the dark of my sister's hair and her outfit.

Here is another possible magazine cover. This one would work well because I left space for the title above of her head. As with the other images, her face is serious so as to convey a demanding and powerful message. I think that all of my photos are a bit "monotone" in the facial expression - they are all quite serious. This wasn't intended: it just so happened that all the images I liked and chose to edit had a serious expression. In the next project, I would like to experiment more with different types of facial expressions. 

Upon further reflection, I decided to put one more possible magazine cover on my blog. In this photo, the model is smiling, a departure from my previous images! I edited this with high contrast, as with the image before this one, because I have seen many sports covers in particular that use this type of edit.