Jende-Portraits



I chose these three photos because I felt they did a great job of not just taking a picture of a person but making the portrait a true work of art. All the pictures are focused and clear and also clearly lit although using different types of light. I like how the photographers all were looking slightly down on their subjects and gave and interesting point of view. I liked how for some of the pictures the photographer removed all background clutter but still filled the space rather than simply leaving it blank. Each photo utilizes different lighting techniques to provide a different feeling in the photo. The first has dramatic lighting coming from the right side which creates a serious mood for the photo. The second is taken with dramatic lighting from the back but also with bounce lighting in the front in order to have a shadow but still allowing the viewer to notice the features in the face. The last picture uses available light coming in through the window from the sun outside. Each picture has different compositional elements to attract the viewer's attention. the first has good use of leading lines on the man's wrinkles and eyebrows to lead to the man's mouth and eyes. The second does a good job following the rule of thirds filling 3 of the 4 points that the eye is attracted to. Lastly the third image does a great job of using leading lines to move the viewer's attention from the top left by the window gradually down and to the right with the window frames and the shadows on the wall.

Picture 1: John L. Lewis, labor leader, Washington D.C., February 5, 1964 by Richard Avedon http://www.richardavedon.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=5&p=6&a=0&at=0 Picture 2: Djuna Barnes, Paris, 1926 by Berenice Abbott http://www.commercegraphics.com/ba_portraits.html#7 Picture 3: Harrison Ford by Timothy White http://timothywhite.com/portfolio/portraits/hollywood