Holzhauer,+Anna+Portrait



The far left portrait, Suzy Parker and Robin Tattersall, created by Richard Avedon, was taken outside with natural light. This artist also created the image on the far right, The Comforts portfolio: In Memory of the Late Mr. & Mrs. Comfort: A Fable in 24 Episodes Nadja Auermann as Mrs. Comfort and A Person Unknown as Mr. Comfort, New York, 1995. This portrait was also done outside with the use of natural light. A majority of his portraits are done without color in black and white so I found it interesting when he incorporated color because the mood of the portrait was sad. Normally color makes you happy but his black and white portraits are more uplifting than those that are in color. I found that very interesting about Richard's portraits. In the far right image, he also used bounce light because the wet ground reflected the sunlight up and on the lady sweeping. In almost all of his portraits including the ones above, he uses the compositional technique, rule of thirds. This helps by putting the most important parts of the portraits on those intersecting points. In the image on the left, there is a sense of level horizon even though it is in the bottom third. There are multiple leading lines with the limbs of the people, their clothes, and the buildings in the background. One thing he did extremely well is having his model on the image to the right, wear red because in photographs, our eyes are drawn more to that color. It puts emphasis on her dress and that may be part of the story. The image to the left gives the viewer and interesting point of view because it looks as if the photographer was bent down looking up at the couple dancing. Both these images were pulled off of http://www.avedonfoundation.org/the-work.

The middle portrait, William S. Burroughs, was created by Annie Leibovitz. This portrait uses artificial studio lighting. The light is focused on the model and there are no harsh shadows. Within Leibovitz's portraits, she focuses on concept. In all of her portraits you know what story is trying to be conveyed. Although this picture is in black and white, the range of value and contrast really adds to the picture and it's story. She used a compositional technique of filling the frame and focal point. This portrait was taken from the website http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/annie-leibovitz-photo-gallery/19/.

All three of these portraits are true works of art because the photographer had a main concept that he/she wanted to get across by a simple yet complex photograph. Along with a well thought out concept, they used multiple compositional techniques, a variety of lighting, and face expressions so that their story may be shown through the use of a portrait. When looking at these portraits we can understand the personality of the model and how they were feeling at that exact moment. Photographers use light to add to their story and that really takes it to the next level form it being a picture to a true work of art. After looking at these artists work, I will need to focus on lighting and concept when shooting my portraits because the two go hand in hand but I also need to keep in mind compositional techniques.