Zimmermann+Portrait

These artists make their portraits become true works of art by being conscious of lighting and different compositional techniques. Some of the lighting and compositional techniques that I noticed in both photographer’s works were artificial light, rule of thirds, leading lines, and framing. Their work might influence my own, because I never really have taken a portrait before and just by seeing their works, I would like to experiment with new lighting techniques and using rule of thirds, leading lines, and framing. //Alfred Kurrp Essen Germany 1963// I think that the first photograph //(the one to the left)// by Arnold Newman is a good portrait, because it makes it seem that this man is a serious man and that he is serious about his work (emotion). The type of lighting used in this portrait was artificial light. It looks like Newman used a bounce light, because there is light on both sides of the subject’s face. There is also artificial light in the building that he is in as well. There are 3 compositional techniques that Newman used: leading lines, level horizon, and framing. He used leading lines within the lines of the building, which lead your eye to the center of the photograph, almost where the subject is. He also used level horizon, because the horizon lines are completely level, almost like the photographer used a tripod. Finally, the artist used framing, because the pillars on both the left and the right sides of the subject frame him.

//Carol Haney, Jim Hutchinson and Peter Gennaro, actors, in The Pajama Game, New York, 1954// I think that the second photograph //(the one in the middle)// by Richard Avendon is a good portrait, because it shows the playfulness of all of the men in the photograph. The type of lighting used in this portrait was artificial light. It looks like Avendon used bounce light and fill light, because the subjects looks like they are lit by one light source, but there are shadows so this means that the light is bouncing off of the bounce light to create light on both sides of the subjects. It looks like this photograph was shot in a studio because of the white background. There are 2 compositional techniques that Avendon used: leading lines and movement. He used leading lines in the people. The way that they are positioned leads your eyes around the photograph. He also used movement in the people as well. Just they way that they look frozen make it seem like there was movement at one point and that they could move at any moment.

//Chet Baker, singer, New York, January 16, 1986, Edition// I think that the final photograph //(the one to the right)// by Richard Avendon is a good portrait, because it really shows the emotion in the man. The type of lighting used in this portrait was artificial light. It looks like Avendon used a bounce light, because there is light almost all over the subject’s face but there is still a lot of shadows on his face. There are 2 compositional techniques that Avendon used: rule of thirds and leading lines. He used the rule of thirds in this photograph, because the man’s face isn’t right in the center of the photograph. It is almost making the ‘L’ shape that represents rule of thirds. He also used leading lines in the man’s face. Just the way that his face is positioned makes your eye move up the picture

"Arnold Newman." Arnold Newman. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. http://www.arnoldnewmanarchive.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=9 "Portraits." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2014. http://www.avedonfoundation.org/
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