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Perhaps it's my mind, but I can't seem to think of anyone here who shows a lot of interest in portraiture.
I enclose a few links to one man: Barry Lategan, the guy who created Twiggy in a single afternoon.
Looking at the videos of the time, I note a strong resemblance to the face work of Sarah Moon, especially on the portrait on the wall to the right of his head during one section of the first vid. (8.37); so Sarah's Cacharel! The same eyes are on show in so many of the pìctures which might simply be because both snappers might have used the same make-up artist: Barbara Daly.
Anyway, if you like portraits, this might pass a few happy or, at least, interesting moments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mItrjVj1SGA
http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Features/photographer-profiles/fashion-photographer-barry-lategan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCNmHWP4c48
On the final one, shame somebody decided to sqeeze sideways.
Perhaps one reason why there's not a lot of it on show is the same as mine: inability to find models who don't expect big bucks. All in all, I think I have reached a time in life when I coud happily stand or, better yet, sit on a bar stool behind a 500 Series and just look at faces and click. The essence of a woman is, in the final analysis, visible there more than in any other aspect of her.
Rob
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I like portraiture. That doesn't mean others like my portraiture though...
Thanks for the links
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Portraiture on the internets gets short shrift, because it's not about technical details as much as it is about timing and personal rapport (or a good simulation of same).
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Rob,
...I think I have reached a time in life when I coud happily stand or, better yet, sit on a bar stool behind a 500 Series and just look at faces and click. The essence of a woman is, in the final analysis, visible there more than in any other aspect of her.
The face, or the eyes?
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Rob,
Thank you for the links. Time well spent watching a master at work.
Rich
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Rob,
Thanks your suggestions are always the best.
Peter
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Rob,
The face, or the eyes?
Hi Rob,
They work best in tandem.
On the assumption that the question wasn't a tease, try this: go into a website or consult a magazine where you find big cosmetic ads – even just the covers, in many cases – and conceal the face of the girl to reveal ony the eyes. You will often discover that you have just found a dead fish.
I think that a mouth can reveal far more emotion and intent than do eyes.
Equally, if not ridden to death by post-production jockeys, it can work the other way: tight close-ups of eyes can be very powerful.
But there we touch on the problem to which I referred in the OP: models.
To do much in the manner of expression takes one of two things: a God-given skill and/or life-experience, of which the latter is the not-so-secret weapon of 'international' women in their mid-forties upwards. Maturity betrays youthful skin and freshness, but the years add their patina of sophistication which, of itself, has immense appeal to the more experienced adult.
Who wants to photograph teenagers?
Rob
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I like portraiture. That doesn't mean others like my portraiture though...
Thanks for the links
My pleasure; here's a link to one of the most successful lady snappers of the Italian cinema era of the 50s - 60's; the Dolce Vita period.
Her 'blad shots remind me, painfully, every time I look at her work, of the stupidity I displayed years ago ditching my brace of Swedish squares for a series of disappointments with larger Japanes rectangles!
Such monetary consideratons aside, I just happen to be one of those folks who finds the square to be the most powerful shape for portraits. And for much else, too.
http://www.chiarasamugheo.com/4.aspx?sr=0
Rob
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Rob,
Thanks your suggestions are always the best.
Peter
Hey, I'm blushing already!
Rob
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Rob,
Thank you for the links. Time well spent watching a master at work.
Rich
Glad you found them interesting!
Rob
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Rob,
On the assumption that the question wasn't a tease...
It was not a tease.
Thank you for clarifying.
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I see a lot of bad portraiture on the internet - Flickr, YouPic, 500px etc. Poor lighting is the biggest issue, silly poses another. But one thing that always strikes me is the eyes. When we look at someone, and their pupils are constricted, our response is likely to be 'meh'. Offer us dilated pupils though, and things are transformed. Dilated pupils suggest interest, and we find them intrinsically more attractive than constricted pupils. Candle-lit dinners are romantic, at least in part, because both parties will have dilated pupils, so indicating that they find the other person interesting, and making them appear more attractive. For the less handsome amongst us, the low light has other benefits too, maybe the darker the setting, the better it is. But the principle holds; trust me, I'm a psychologist. :)
So, if you can arrange your lighting so as to promote larger pupils, your photo will look better, all other things being equal.
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I see a lot of bad portraiture on the internet - Flickr, YouPic, 500px etc. Poor lighting is the biggest issue, silly poses another. But one
So, if you can arrange your lighting so as to promote larger pupils, your photo will look better, all other things being equal.
This is true and perhaps a dilating drop or two!!
Peter
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As a teacher I took hundreds of portraits for school magazines, etc. It was amazing how many 6x4 prints were stolen by students. I didn't mind, but there was this lust…
Cheers,
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I see a lot of bad portraiture on the internet - Flickr, YouPic, 500px etc. Poor lighting is the biggest issue, silly poses another. But one thing that always strikes me is the eyes. When we look at someone, and their pupils are constricted, our response is likely to be 'meh'. Offer us dilated pupils though, and things are transformed. Dilated pupils suggest interest, and we find them intrinsically more attractive than constricted pupils. Candle-lit dinners are romantic, at least in part, because both parties will have dilated pupils, so indicating that they find the other person interesting, and making them appear more attractive. For the less handsome amongst us, the low light has other benefits too, maybe the darker the setting, the better it is. But the principle holds; trust me, I'm a psychologist. :)
So, if you can arrange your lighting so as to promote larger pupils, your photo will look better, all other things being equal.
You're kidding, right?
Large pupils equate with deep, black pools of nothingness; you then can hardly tell if she's blue- or brown-eyed! Gotta have powerful enough modelling lights to keep the pupils stopped down, not 'romantic' restaurant lighting. At least, if you are inviting her back to pose for you after dinner, in the literal sense of the invitation, in which case, my respect soars!
;-)
Rob
P.S.
I suppose we could always rely, in the last resort, on the photographer's favourite solution: red-eye.
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No, I'm not kidding. Larger pupils are more attractive than small ones. Our brain sees a person interested in them, and we're programmed to respond positively to that.
If you take two identical photographs & touch-up one of them so the pupils are larger, then ask people which one they prefer, the larger pupils will win.
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No, I'm not kidding. Larger pupils are more attractive than small ones. Our brain sees a person interested in them, and we're programmed to respond positively to that.
If you take two identical photographs & touch-up one of them so the pupils are larger, then ask people which one they prefer, the larger pupils will win.
Only in the mating game, in the gloom of lowered lights; in photography, looking at a face with two large black holes where there should be the colour of iris is not a winner.
Look more closely at magazines covers. You can still create moody light and shade but retain iris colour. The secret's in the strength of modelling light, not flash power.
Maybe troglodytes do it differently, have different song sheets...
;-)
Rob
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IMHO, on-line Portrait photography suffers the most from the 'fix it in post' mentality of the internet photo age.
While it's hard to know what the butchered landscape photos might have looked like the before the 'magic' of Photoshop, a portrait where the subject is not even a little interesting really stands out.
That said, I occasionally see some awesome portraits, but they don't seem to get any attention unless they've been absolutely hammered in post.
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I am not a professional but I have been doing portraits for some time now.
Critics welcome. Thank you ! :)
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-Ppwhmbw/1/X2/i-Ppwhmbw-X2.jpg)
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Haven't done any formal portraiture since my kids were young, but here's an informal one I like. As I recall, the lady was 102 when I shot her playing a part in a play.
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Nice photograph Russ !
The lady is pretty sharp and the shallow DOF enhances her presence.
Well done !
Which lens have you used ?
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It was Nikon's 24-70 f/2.8, Antonio, and I was at f/2.8.
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Large or small pupils? This is how I solve the dilemma:
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7572/16073558391_56444d8279_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qunbV6)
Dave Byron, Portrait (https://flic.kr/p/qunbV6) by Slobodan Blagojevic (https://www.flickr.com/photos/slobodan_blagojevic/), on Flickr
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I didn't think portraits were what this site was about since it has landscape in the name.
I do some portraits or headshots but it's not my forte. I'd love to get better at them.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8815/16986762270_1fc4b2b897_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rT4ABy)IMGP7900 (https://flic.kr/p/rT4ABy) by Matt Burt (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbnet/), on Flickr
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Thanks for the links. I shot in the same studio facility as Barry for a few years. He's a wonderful, funny man; much more exuberant than those videos portray him.
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Large or small pupils? This is how I solve the dilemma:
Slobodan, No. "Show Us Your Worst" is over on User Critiques.
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Slobodan, No. "Show Us Your Worst" is over on User Critiques.
Never seen a musician playing with eyes closed? Maybe the context would help?
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7474/15888209520_49b65dcb45_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qcZe9U)
Dave Byron Rocking (https://flic.kr/p/qcZe9U) by Slobodan Blagojevic (https://www.flickr.com/photos/slobodan_blagojevic/), on Flickr
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Thanks for the links. I shot in the same studio facility as Barry for a few years. He's a wonderful, funny man; much more exuberant than those videos portray him.
Hi, glad you enjoyed!
As you know some of the characters, perhaps this might interest you too, if you haven't seen it already:
http://www.duffyphotographer.com/video/
I often wonder about Donovan's ending, and question if he perhaps felt the end of an era looming large. Bailey, in a video I saw a few days back, said that he saw the death of photography thirty years ago, though I'm not sure of the date of that video. He then says that he simply switched his attention to art. Did Donovan have that choice, any further outlets?
It's not an easy life to lead, however well you do, it seems.
Rob C
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It was Nikon's 24-70 f/2.8, Antonio, and I was at f/2.8.
Then, mine must have been a unique lemon! It never looked crisp at any stop or length.
Just as well: it was far too heavy for the carry-around I'd hoped I'd been buying.
Rob
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So we get feedback on our portraiture too? In that case ...
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I am not a professional but I have been doing portraits for some time now.
Critics welcome. Thank you ! :)
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-Ppwhmbw/1/X2/i-Ppwhmbw-X2.jpg)
Hi Antonio,
Nice shoot with good engagement from the subject.
My only CC would be that the solid black background is a distraction and doesn't add anything to the shot.
IMHO, the same shot, with some depth in the background - like a darker grey - would be better.
Cheers.
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...(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7474/15888209520_49b65dcb45_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qcZe9U) (https://flic.kr/p/qcZe9U)
...
Excellent ! I like it very much ! :)
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Yeah. Context helps.
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Sometimes a decent skylight and softlight through a window helps too. One round softbox for circular catchlights and you're done.
SG
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Sometimes a decent skylight and softlight through a window helps too. One round softbox for circular catchlights and you're done.
SG
Thanks for demonstrating my point, that seeing the colour of the iris if far nicer than being presented with two black holes, which is what hits you if there's not enough available light to stop them down!
Rob
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Hi Antonio,
Nice shoot with good engagement from the subject.
My only CC would be that the solid black background is a distraction and doesn't add anything to the shot.
IMHO, the same shot, with some depth in the background - like a darker grey - would be better. Cheers.
David, this background is constant - or consistent - among many of my last portraits. It is deliberately black because I like images with lots of darkness.
The one I post today has been done with natural light and a tad flash. The background is black in that room.
Thank you for commenting. I do appreciate the fact. :)
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-t4mjvKt/0/X2/i-t4mjvKt-X2.jpg)
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.
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Bill, is this shallow DOF natural ?
Which lens did you use ?
Thank you ! :)
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Can't resist temptation.
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Bill, is this shallow DOF natural ?
Which lens did you use ?
Thank you ! :)
It was an old Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF on my D700, and at f2, so a natural DOF
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It can also be elegant.
http://leclownlyrique.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/le-visage-nuptial/
Rob C
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One "typical case" for me: couple of portraits of a singer, will meet her at her home. Warned to be a difficult case, writer wants to be present. Thank God he got sick and could not come. She is bit difficult at first, wants to be shot outside walking her dog. Claiming cloudy weather and imminent rain, we move to her apartment. She warms up quite nicely in 10 minutes, and after about an hour this is what we came up with (2 B&W full pages, one full page color). Illumination from one 30x25cm LED panel, background is a painted bed board which happened to be leaning against the wall in her living room. Recipe: humor, genuine interest (?), persistence. Some NIK Collection Silver Efex thrown in. Fujifilm X-T1 with 56mm f/1.2 at full open.
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One "typical case" for me: couple of portraits of a singer…
Excellent! Composition, tonality, texture & expression. 8)
-Dave-
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Her neck needs to be differentiated from her right arm.
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It can also be elegant.
http://leclownlyrique.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/le-visage-nuptial/
Rob C
Like I said before, Simply the BEST...
Peter
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Gotta have powerful enough modelling lights to keep the pupils stopped down, not 'romantic' restaurant lighting.
Each their own. I'm with Bill. Romantic is good. Small pupils look evil.
That's why flash wins over continuous.
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Here is one more before I retire. Did a series of workout videos with her for her fitness/lifestyle blog, and asked for a few hours of portraits in various styles. Shot with Nikon D800e and 135mm DC Nikkor. NIK Silver Efex again.
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Petrus - you can tell it's good because the composition is rock solid in the thumbnail and the detail just makes it better when you open full size. Beautiful tones and sculpting, that is a great skill I would love to have. It's all about the light as they say :)
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Petrus - you can tell it's good because the composition is rock solid in the thumbnail and the detail just makes it better when you open full size. Beautiful tones and sculpting, that is a great skill I would love to have. It's all about the light as they say :)
Thanks, and the full size is actually 36 MPix size, talk about detail then! And the almost 20 year old 135mm f/2 DC Nikkor is one sharp lens when stopped slightly down.
Light was from one "wok pan" flash head fitted with honeycomb, with a large lightbox for fill-in from the front. NIK Silver Efex gives countless usable varieties for B&W processing, "Wet Rock" worked quite well with this approach of the subject, applied at 60% opacity over the straight B&W conversion.
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Thanks for the details, I can only dream. Oddly I find wet rock a very usable conversion in Nik for subjects other than this.
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.
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Bill,
Handsome portrait. Since the model's name seems to be "Eric," I have been tempted to steal it to use as my avatar.
But I guess my current avatar does look more like me. ;)
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I made these two portraits today on the way home.
The guy on the left is Portuguese while the other is Brazilian.
I printed a colored photo of each image and went to give them They were happy. So am I ! :)
From my new folder "Random Images (http://www.antoniocorreia.com/Black-and-White/Random-Images/)"
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-ckDXjv3/1/X2/i-ckDXjv3-X2.jpg) (http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-n6CcMDW/1/X2/i-n6CcMDW-X2.jpg)
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Very nice, Antonio. As usual the light is the key. I used to do what you did with these two guys, but I did it with hoboes on the street. When I was out on the street I'd carry a collection of small prints to give to the guys I'd photographed. One time, when I handed a picture to a transient I'd photographed a week earlier he started crying and said, "That's the first time anybody's taken a picture of me for twenty-five years." I've always hoped he saw the light, turned around and got a job, though I know that's wishful thinking.
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Thank you for your comment Ross. :) Much appreciated.
This is not the case. I was driving home and when I was some 250 meters away I saw these guys working I decided to walk back and ask them if they would allow me to photograph.
They agree and I have done the work.
I have a project called "Work (http://www.antoniocorreia.com/Black-and-White/Work/)" which is quite some years old and I intend to keep doing but now with my different skills.
This here is one of the photographs I have made for this project. However, I do not intend to use it because I do not like the strong distortion of the right area.
I will use another photograph but that is for a moment to come ...
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-J3Xrh7T/0/X2/i-J3Xrh7T-X2.jpg)
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Good stuff, Antonio. You obviously know what you're doing.
Here's my crying street guy.
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I think I could do such a thing here but I wouldn't be very comfortable with.
To tell you the truth I have thought to do something similar with guys who help parking cars.
I see them everyday...
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I made these two portraits today on the way home.
The guy on the left is Portuguese while the other is Brazilian.
I printed a colored photo of each image and went to give them They were happy. So am I ! :)
From my new folder "Random Images (http://www.antoniocorreia.com/Black-and-White/Random-Images/)"
Nice images; you certainly are able to keep a personal identity flowing through your work.
Rob C
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I hope so indeed Rob ! :)
I like "This Site Contains No Orphan Work" ! ;)
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Let's not forget the distaff half of the portraiture equation.
http://www.elisabethnovick.com/PEOPLE.html
Have a browse through this gallery, and then click onto the next one devoted to artists.
This lady has been around in my head since the 60s – I remember her work from British Vogue - and from those days, my memory of her oeuvre is all about black/white, unlike today.
Anyway, well worth a look, IMO. (I think I even see a portrait of a young Sarah Moon!)
One of the problems with portraiture – insofar as it seems to be understood in some forums – is that there's a kind of assumption that lighting has to conform to a kind of classical combination of key, fill and rear. Not so; it can be anything that delights the heart of the person with the camera. Unless there's a client, of course, with radical views of his/her own.
Enjoy – I hope.
Rob C
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Bad portraitists think it's about they light.
Good ones know it's about that moment.
If you can get 'em both, great!
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Hi, glad you enjoyed!
As you know some of the characters, perhaps this might interest you too, if you haven't seen it already:
http://www.duffyphotographer.com/video/
I often wonder about Donovan's ending, and question if he perhaps felt the end of an era looming large. Bailey, in a video I saw a few days back, said that he saw the death of photography thirty years ago, though I'm not sure of the date of that video. He then says that he simply switched his attention to art. Did Donovan have that choice, any further outlets?
It's not an easy life to lead, however well you do, it seems.
Rob C
I've not met Duffy or Donovan, or the late-great Bob Carlos Clarke for that matter.
Will check out the Duffy vid as soon as I have an hour (thanks again :). There was an exhihibition of his work in London a few years back, and his imagination + technical ability were highly impressive.
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(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-ZqF4zHc/1/X2/i-ZqF4zHc-X2.jpg)
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Another very successful lady with an often very minimalist portrait style:
http://www.brigittelacombe.com/index.php
Another, totally different, but very worthy, and usually filed in a different shoebox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrODn0f1z0g
Rob C
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STANLEY
From a series of 'portraits of residents' who live in a Care Home.
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A few recent examples in quite different styles:
(http://airstreampictures.com/PORTFOLIO/content/images/large/zXe_LIFESTYLE-7607.jpg)
(http://airstreampictures.com/portfolio-images/people-jpg/DSC06189-Edit-3.jpg)
(http://airstreampictures.com/portfolio-images/people-jpg/Nia_Copeland-1625-1.jpg)
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Another very successful lady with an often very minimalist portrait style:
http://www.brigittelacombe.com/index.php
Another, totally different, but very worthy, and usually filed in a different shoebox:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrODn0f1z0g
Rob C
Thank you Rob for the excellent links provide ! :)
Brigitte Lacombe is a great photographer indeed. And so was Dorothea...
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STANLEY
From a series of 'portraits of residents' who live in a Care Home.
What a "serious" work Brian. By "serious" I mean excellent, exquisite and pleasant work.
I am sure it has been rather difficult to do. I am sure some people agreed and some didn't, obviously. I am also sure you were very patient.
Did you photograph with a large format camera or a DSLR ? The light seems very homogeneous and all the portraits are sharp. Excellent work Brian !
Why did you opt for color and not black and white ?
I noticed that all your images are very coherent and consistent in style. Good, good ! :)
thank you for showing us your image... :)
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Another woman absolutely overloaded with talent is this one:
http://www.dominiqueissermann.com/#!parutions/cr6i
We poor guys must start a campaign to ban ladies from touching cameras; they (women) have far too much vision, talent and access.
;-)
Rob C
P.S. Don't skip the movies. On the first one, think what you could do with a face so plastic! Dream on...
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Pondering portraits, I was reminded of the infamous (in the UK, at least) Christine Keeler chair shot by Lewis Morley; funny to think Edward Weston did much the same with Charis Wilson.
Of the Weston 'muses', I would feel obliged to give my vote to Tina Modotti over Charis. Nothing personal, you understand, just that I think the latter a better face for photography. Those eyes... Sarah Moon would have had a field day; maybe she actually was influenced by Tina.
Rob C
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Tina Modott... Those eyes... That compact body...
I agree, Rob.
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(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-JdkxwGJ/0/X2/i-JdkxwGJ-X2.jpg)
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A colored one for a change
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-jB7SDs6/0/X2/i-jB7SDs6-X2.png)
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António, you have a lovely approach (and execution!).
Stay with what you do. It works very well.
Rob C
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António, you have a lovely approach (and execution!).
Stay with what you do. It works very well.
Rob C
Thank you Rob. :)
I worked on the colored version long ago. Now I think some fine detail is missing in the hat...
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The leader of the Maiden's dance procession at Repkong Shaman festival in Amdo, Tibet.
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Good work Petrus ! :)
An old image from Buthan
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-2xLB3sW/0/X2/i-2xLB3sW-X2.jpg)
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I agree, Rob.
This link's quite useful:
https://www.google.es/search?q=edward+weston+tina+modotti+imagenes&biw=1255&bih=889&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CB8QsARqFQoTCM-LoMmpi8gCFQY6iAodxRACoQ
Speaking of tight bodies, imagine this: it was in the days before plastic ones.
Again, I have to sigh: them wuz the days!
;-)
Rob C
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Oh Rob... so many good images to see ...
Thanks ! :)
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Oh Rob... so many good images to see ...
Thanks ! :)
Yeah, but these people were different: they led lives, not existences. And it didn't depend simply on dough rey me.
When you think back to their times, they flew smack in the face of so much prejudice, hypocrisy, and took it all in their strides or simply ignored it.
But artists are different, regardless of the PC noses that may put out of joint.
Rob C
P.S.
http://www.gallerylumiere.com/english/ex/edward/main.asp
A very short tale about the pair.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/10104447/Tina-Modotti-An-amazing-life-in-photography.html
The above about Tina.
https://www.google.es/search?q=margrethe+mather+imagenes&biw=1255&bih=889&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCIQsARqFQoTCP-Jtqa3i8gCFcbYGgodvIoLIw#imgrc=SazbcCnrFrysiM%3A
Above, yet another 'friend' until he tore her out of his catalogue - both ways.
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Rob you are a box of surprises ! :D
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Rob you are a box of surprises ! :D
Nope, just a romantic old soul!
Truth to tell, when photography becomes a love affair, you have little choice...
Rob C
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I don't get to do as much portraiture as I'd like, being mainly limited to family for models - this is one of my nieces. If I get a chance to re-shoot this, I'll make sure the rose is in better focus. Any C&C that doesn't pick up that obvious flaw, welcome :)
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Bill, I think the photo is pretty good.
The rose is not in focus but that is not important. What is really important is that the eyes are focused.
What I do not like so much is the noise. Perhaps it is a little too much but That depends on how large a print would be.
Perhaps you could clone the imperfection on her face... :)
I do not understand why you people do not insert the images here with a better size...
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-dKX6c47/1/L/i-dKX6c47-S.png)
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You're right about the dust spot. The 'noise' isn't infact noise, it's to give a grainy-film look to it
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OK then that is very well done !
And how is it on print ? What size ?
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I haven't printed it yet
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Well done Bill ! :)
The hair is lacking detail a little bit or is it my monitor ?
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There's detail in the full-size version, but he has very white hair & the detail does get sort of lost a little
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Couple of editorial shots just before the parliament elections earlier this year. Then prime minister Stubb (conservatives leader) and the populist "true Finns" party leader Mr Soini. Shot with D800e, conversion with Nik Silver Efex Pro.
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The first gent - looks distinctly weird. I think he's knocked on my door in the past, and asked me if I know Jesus & can he give me a leaflet.
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Portrait of a young musician in London
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@ Petrus
Did you have anything in mind when shooting these portraits ?
Did you mean to have their portraits so... aggressive in visual terms ?
Portrait of a young musician in London
Good work Brian ! I see you have carefully chosen the background !...
Have you considered a tad vignetting ? and brightness on his face ?...
Here is one of my portraits (again) where sh lady is not separed from the background ! Shame on me.
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-nTJkjD7/1/X2/i-nTJkjD7-X2.jpg)
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I don't get to do as much portraiture as I'd like, being mainly limited to family for models - this is one of my nieces. If I get a chance to re-shoot this, I'll make sure the rose is in better focus. Any C&C that doesn't pick up that obvious flaw, welcome :)
Wow! Bill. That one stopped me in my tracks scrolling the page. Almost mistaken it from the ones in Rob C's google image links.
I'ld say it's pretty iconic. How does your niece feel about it?
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.......I'll make sure the rose is in better focus.
That would be a shame, lovely just exactly as is...( maybe a bit more disalignment of the axis of rose and the nose line and light) (yes, no such word, but carries the intent...)
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@ Petrus
Did you have anything in mind when shooting these portraits ?
Did you mean to have their portraits so... aggressive in visual terms ?
These shots were part of a series of pre-election articles about the party leaders for the six largest parties in the election. One of them was to become the next prime minister. I aimed at "pure" slightly aggressive processing in B&W, on white background. On the second page there was a facial portrait shot with Sigma Art 50mm at f/1.4, slightly desaturated by combining Silver Effex "wet rock" B&W conversion with the color layer at about 25% opacity. Here is the (then) prime minister Alexander Stubb, now the minister of finance. I was not trying to be "nice", it is politics after all…
And by the way: AE, AWB, AF… Had to increase exposure about 0.5 stops in Lightroom.
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Having not liked the B&W shots all that much I find I do like this a lot.
I like the energy you have captured but I am so impressed by the way you have handled his spectacles. Did you clean them for him (or remove the glass)? And the focus it looks like the lens on the left as we look has affected the focus of the shot in a good way. I am aware that with spectacles you can have regrettable magnification/distortion but you seem to have avoided this and possibly used it to your advantage.
I am a little confused as a 50 at 1.4 will have very narrow DOF and yet the studs on the frame seem as sharp as the eyes. Possibly the key word is seem and crafty post processing has helped.
I can't/don't take portraits so I'm very impressed and I hope you were well rewarded for your skilled work :)
Mike
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Petrus, that is a nice approach to the theme "Politics"
I myself had one asked to photograph all the members of the town hall here but the president refused my proposal and all the others followed her (she is a woman)
I was sorry because those portraits would / could be the star of a long run project which could be followed by others when time comes.
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This can be a portrait, right ?
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-PCfXHVS/0/X2/i-PCfXHVS-X2.jpg)
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Wow! Bill. That one stopped me in my tracks scrolling the page. Almost mistaken it from the ones in Rob C's google image links.
I'ld say it's pretty iconic. How does your niece feel about it?
To be honest, I don't think she's seen this iteration, just the original colour version. Glad you liked it though.
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When I was young fashion photographer I used to enjoy it a lot – mostly, but greatly dependent on, client – and also enjoyed portraits, for which I would us longer lenses. The two disciplines were kept apart, in my mind, as being totally different animals.
The funny thing about doing a longish stint of heads, for a hairdresser, for example, was that I realised that one could actually become a little bit body-blind, especially if not working with someone one knew quite well. As a result, the temptation was to shoot the two things rather apart, timewise, even on the same assignment, and not because of lens changes, just for the comfort of the inside of one's head. That was how it was most of my working life.
Recently, I have been attracted very much to the idea of doing portraits again, but can't find anyone that I want to shoot who wants to be shot, if you see what I mean. So nothing happens. Which of course, saves a lot of bother, one way or the other.
Anyway, it occurred to me the other day that I had been labouring under a delusion and confusion of words: full length, heads, portraits, when it comes down to it, it's all exactly the same thing: it's actually all a portrait of me, the shooter.
And it doesn't stop at people. Pretty much everything at which I point a camera ends up being part of me, felt inside by me, accepted or rejected by myself.
I think it's safe to extrapolate here: everything any of us does is a bloody great selfie, a life-long self-portrait.
Rob C
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I hope I am understanding what you mean Rob.
Our portraits reflect ourselves and our vision. At the same time this allows us to separate from the others creating our own style.
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-nP8sTq3/0/X2/i-nP8sTq3-X2.jpg)
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I think perhaps you have both missed out one word - good portraits cane say as much about the photographer as the subject. But I susect that's true of all images we create.
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I think perhaps you have both missed out one word - good portraits cane say as much about the photographer as the subject. But I susect that's true of all images we create.
Indeed... :)
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Just playing with ... oh, never mind !
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-bdnVJK8/0/X2/i-bdnVJK8-X2.jpg)
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Old photography was really something else. I know we've had silly cat fights about film v. digital regularly crop up, please let's not destroy this post by starting back into them: it's not up here to fuel the fanboy flames - on either side - more a taste or, perhaps, illustration of the very different 'look' when smoothness is not on the agenda. I think it's actually rather more realistic, if you like, as an experience, even though in the final analysis, it can't be unless you know a lot of people with bad skin conditions.
Maybe younger people find it challenging, sometimes, to appreciate gritty mages because they just haven't been used to them...
https://leclownlyrique.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/linstant-qui-precede/
Enjoy - I hope!
Rob C
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Jean Paul Belmondo je croix...
Oh Robert Doisneau quando on pouvais photographier presque sans contraintes...
(https://leclownlyrique.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/jean-paul-belmondo-and-jean-seberg-on-the-set-of-c3a0-bout-de-souffl.jpg?w=774&h=535)
Lucien Clergue ! Super !
(https://leclownlyrique.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/lucien-clergue-1934.jpg?w=774)
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Antonio,
Belmondo
As a result of all that PR manipulation and restrictive access control, it's my opinion that the entire celebrity thing has been turned into a nonsense. Who can seriously look at any 'star' images on the covers of Vogue or wherever else and feel any remote affinity with the people shown? There is nobody being shown: you see a mask.
Turn the mind (or Dr Google) back to the days when Magnum was covering movie productions and you see a raft of great, evocative and actually emotional images of people like Marilyn et al. (The Misfits). There's nothing to compare anymore: just more plastic fantastic with all the heavyweight, spiritual clout of a dry sponge. Try to work your way through ¡Hola! without falling asleep!
The old magazines may also have been filled with lies, propaganda and bullshit, but at least the people concerned looked human and desirable. No, I don't think paparazzi fill the gap: they simply sweep the floors.
Lucien
Wasn't he very fond of the Pentax 67? I bought one of the later ones and had to dump it fairly soon; perhaps if I'd wanted the lenses with shutters it might have been different, but at that time I had no need for them. In that shot, you can almost taste skin. I never feel that way about contemporary stuff...
Rob
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(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-bdnVJK8/0/X2/i-bdnVJK8-X2.jpg)
Antonio, I'm going to take the risk to say what I think... and I can only speak for me, I don't claim to be a great photographer, blah blah blah :-)
The problem I have with this portrait is that it feels fake. There is a guy with some books in which he is supposed to be interested. But at the same time it is obviously a studio shot: black background but particularly the highlight from the viewer's right. It would be a very peculiar working environement indeed that was lit like that.
So, we have a guy pretending to work while sitting in a studio, lit as one is "supposed" to light a studio portrait. Exposure is perfect, it's appropriately sharp, tonal range is good, but I feel a bit cheated: what environement does this guy really work in? Is it messy, well lit, half dark, in front of a big window? What is he reading? Is it what he really reads or works on, or is it something he was handed as a prop? Is he a cartoonist or a physicist?
All I have is a guy with an interesting face sitting in a standard studio :-(
Compare it with this St Ansel photo of Georgia O'Keefe:
(http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-06/62705961.jpg)
Probably it's also fake in the sense that she's not really using those brushes... but it is her painting, in her studio, and the light is the light of her studio and it's not trying to add magic with a highlight...
Once again, just the result of my personal prejudices...
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Graham, you don't dig Karsh?
;-)
Rob C
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Ha! It has to be said that if you have Einstein or Churchill sitting for you, there is less need to put them in context.
Then again, he didn't always use classic lighting:
(http://photofocusblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/karsh.jpg?w=770)
Makes me think of Le Corbusier, famous for the buildings that least exemplified his philosophy, viz
(http://m3.i.pbase.com/v3/80/576280/1/50723893.eglise1.jpg)
versus
(http://rosswolfe.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/le-corbusier-paris.png)
(I have a much higher opinion of Karsh than Le Corbusier, the world's most over-rated architect ::) )
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True, but he wasn't allowed to finish (off!) Paris with nightmare blocks.
Karsh I shall never forgive for what he did to Bardot.
Rob C
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Antonio, I'm going to take the risk to say what I think... and I can only speak for me, I don't claim to be a great photographer, blah blah blah :-) The problem I have with this portrait is that it feels fake. There is a guy with some books in which he is supposed to be interested. But at the same time it is obviously a studio shot: black background but particularly the highlight from the viewer's right. It would be a very peculiar working environment indeed that was lit like that...Once again, just the result of my personal prejudices...
Thank you so much for exposing your own perspective on this photograph.
Let me try to answer or rather explain or... never mind, what this portrait is about and what was it for.
For the second year I am building a series of portraits with some people from my home town.
The concept goes like this:
"OUR PEOPLE
Human existence leaves irreversible traces and marks which are perpetrated for ages. Man always had an essential role in the developments models of society and in the evolution of the World and in the societies it selves.
Since ages he left artistic marks in different supports - not always of great perennial - which are today an heritage to he Humanity. Man along history has seen his memory preserved by the artistic representation and, this way his virtual existence perpetuated.
From the first iconic representations Man evolved to more fanciful forms of the reality.
With this basic idea in mind, it would be interesting to deploy a collection of Photographs of notable citizens which could be or not Setubal native but somehow connected to the city and who are or may become important in the national and international communities in any area of activity, assuming the work as a legate to future generations.
This publication is dedicated to those who have been invited and have cooperated willingly.
This is a work in progress."
It happens by change that this fellow is a mathematician two days younger than myself and it also happens that we know each other as we have studied together. But this is not important.
The photograph chosen for the project is not the one shown before but this one:
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-jnP69LZ/0/X2/i-jnP69LZ-X2.jpg)
You can if you wish to see the other images from the same project here: http://www.antoniocorreia.com/Black-and-White/Gente-c%C3%A1-da-terra/
I want to use always the same - or about the same - lighting throughout this series as well as in many of my other portraits.
Now, about the lighting. I love this bloody light !
But it happens that the main light from our left is coming from a rather narrow window in a sunny day. The facade of the building is in shadow and so is the window. And yes, the light from our right is a simple flash which is a tad too strong and doesn't light his shoulders. You know, I am never satisfied with my images... there is always some silly detail I should have thought about or/and correct.
And yes again, the guy was really interested in his books and writings... here nothing is supposed to be fake.
Perhaps now you will like better the image as a new perspective and context is explained.
Can you read Portuguese ? Similar to Spanish ! Or vice-versa !
Please, do not hesitate to criticize or show your points of view regarding my images. Feel free to do so whenever you wish. And thank you again for commenting ! :)
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I have to laugh... I was originally a mathematician working in systems of differential equations :-)
Thank you Antonio :-)
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Mathematicians?
You guys scare me! My wife was a whiz at maths and science at school and went on to work and study as an analytical chemist until I saved her, married and made her pregnant (in that order) and released her to the far greater thrill of keeping ME! happy!
Actually, I always knew she was far more intelligent than I ever could be; whereas she weighed things up in her mind and reacted according to the evaluations she made of the relative values of alternative courses of action, I almost always made the mistake of reacting immediately! In my defence I'd say this: whenever I thought things through too thoroughly I ended up unable to do anything at all.
Rob C
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Today I had the rare opportunity to photograph someone I do know for quite some time.
After fine tuning the flashes I edited in LR. Only in LR !
In an hour I will have another important person to include in my gallery "Gente cá da Terra (http://"http://www.antoniocorreia.com/Black-and-White/Gente-c%C3%A1-da-terra/")"
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-rSTMWGT/0/X2/i-rSTMWGT-X2.jpg)
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I like this one more... the fact that the sitter is looking at the camera means to me that there is an honesty that he has come to sit in a studio for the photographer, rather than trying to recreate what he does when he is not posing. And if I'm still not a fan of the halo light (why give dramatic importance to his earlobe), the more frontal main light is less dramatic.
And Antonio, thank you very much for putting up images and being open to subjective criticism! I need to work out why I can't get attachments to stick, so you can kick me in turn ;)
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Graham, come on show your portarits !!!! :D
About my last portrait:
How and why was this self portrait done ?
I was preparing the scene to make another photograph to be included in my "Gente cá da terra / Our people" http://www.antoniocorreia.com/Black-and-White/Gente-c%C3%A1-da-terra/. The person who was coming is quite busy and - as usual - things had to be ready.
I set one flash and tested it. I set the other one and tested again. Camera on the tripod. I focused the back of the chair, set the timer and made a few steps to seat waiting for the shot to be taken.
The timer is just enough to walk and seat.
At the computer I realized that the focus was OK and I was pleased with the lights.
I switched off the flashes and camera and waited for my model.
My hand was there as it could be somewhere else. I am sure a tighter crop is more pleasant.
The flash from our right is perfect here because I have hair. When people don't have that much hair a problem may occur. Never mind. This is not supposed to be a commercial photograph.
The ear is too big ?! Perhaps you are right... ;D
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-GsKHLKn/0/X2/i-GsKHLKn-X2.jpg)
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Ok, I think I've worked it out, need to limit to 1000px...
This is Emmanuelle, she's a sort of life-coach who washed up on my couch for a couple of nights. Previously a life-model, so not scared of cameras (or paint brushes) :-)
Single soft-box, 85mm/1.4 Sigma
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Here are Caroline and Matilde, two French photographers and models, whe were holding an exhibition in a stairwell in an old Lyon walk-up.
70mm, f2.8 & 1/20 at 800 iso, so they were never both going to be in focus. Would have been better if it were Caroline, since she is looking at the camera. Oh well.
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Discovered that the humble mouth organ can actually make music; it never did when I had one. ;-(
Rob C
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/4108512_orig.jpg)
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Nice image with nice bokeh Rob ! :)
Last Friday I went to a conference about Painting.
He sat in front of me.
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-FXTwjnN/0/X2/i-FXTwjnN-X2.jpg)
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Thanks, António, it's a 2.8/135 Nikkor (manual), if I remember correctly. Used to have a 3.5/135mm originally.
Nice lens length for heads.
Rob C
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Thanks, António, it's a 2.8/135 Nikkor (manual), if I remember correctly. Used to have a 3.5/135mm originally. Nice lens length for heads. Rob C
m4/3 Panasonic GX7 + Olympus 12-40 f/2.8 at f/2.8 and... 1/8 sec !!! and sharp ! at 28mm that is 56mm in 35mm.
One for the night. No black frame this time ! ::)
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-8H8PgHs/0/X2/i-8H8PgHs-X2.jpg)
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These shots were part of a series of pre-election articles about the party leaders for the six largest parties in the election. One of them was to become the next prime minister. I aimed at "pure" slightly aggressive processing in B&W, on white background. On the second page there was a facial portrait shot with Sigma Art 50mm at f/1.4, slightly desaturated by combining Silver Effex "wet rock" B&W conversion with the color layer at about 25% opacity. Here is the (then) prime minister Alexander Stubb, now the minister of finance. I was not trying to be "nice", it is politics after all…
I like the B+W white as well as the colour image. A nice change from the usual dull political shots.
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True, but he wasn't allowed to finish (off!) Paris with nightmare blocks.
Le Corbusier's concept for large blocks of flats was very different to how they ended up being used.
His concept was to free up large amounts of green space for people to enjoy, not to simply cram as many people as possible into an area.
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Le Corbusier had lots of great ideas... the problem was that he didn't seem to be able to think through the technical aspects, or to accept advice. He didn't think about what the wind through those open spaces between the towers would be like, or the fact that people tend to like complicated spaces where they can move between landmarks (like cafés). Similarly for his idea that appartments shouldn't have doors....
The Red Cross building in Paris had the the second glass skin, with the ventilation system moving heated or cooled air between the two: idea was you could adjust your own comfort by simply opening a window into the inter-skin space. Brilliant, except he didn't calculate how much power would be needed to adequately heat or cool and circulate the air that way... the system failed, people smashed out the glass so they could breath.
One of his buildings still survives near St Etienne, it has the rather nice innovation of having very large corridors so that they become "streets in the sky", large enough for kids to go out and play with the neighbours and so on. My architect friend met some of the inhabitants who really like it... but it was only partly occupied, was falling apart, it didn't suit a lot of people. The "machine for living" concept was based on a view of humans being willing to accept uniformity, that everyone's appartment was the same as everyone else's... and by extension, that they were themselves interchangeable.
Of course the implementation was also wrong: the French idea is to encourage "mixité sociale", so you have wealthier people who will attract small businesses that the poorer ones can use... like a village. However it was the period of de-colonisation of Algeria, huge numbers of people needed to be housed and so the "barres" were filled with poor immigrants. The ones who did well got out asap, so the problem became worse: the cités are a catastrophic problem for French society: on one hand many have been taken over by gangs, on the other they are symbols that are exploited by the extreme right. But it's very variable: the one directly across the road from me seems to work well, the one 200m behind and down the hill a bit has 50% of the windows broken, smashed furniture all around, and the road scarred from regular burning of stolen cars. I'm not easily spooked, I've wandered around Cape Town at night without feeling particularly troubled, but I'd hesitate to walk down there at night. No way I'd go with a DSLR in my hand...
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Back to portraits: the neighbour's cat came to keep me company while I'm stuck at home with a virus...
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Le Corbusier had lots of great ideas... the problem was that he didn't seem to be able to think through the technical aspects, or to accept advice. He didn't think about what the wind through those open spaces between the towers would be like, or the fact that people tend to like complicated spaces where they can move between landmarks (like cafés).
Wind doesn't suddenly appear because you built a tower block instead of a thousand houses. Regarding your other point, find a study that says people would rather live in areas with green spaces that are built on and have difficult navigation.
Also, why wouldn't you have cafes in your green spaces? It's very green around here in Sheffield and most of the parks and woods spaces have cafes to feed the people enjoying the greenery
One of his buildings still survives near St Etienne, it has the rather nice innovation of having very large corridors so that they become "streets in the sky", large enough for kids to go out and play with the neighbours and so on. My architect friend met some of the inhabitants who really like it... but it was only partly occupied, was falling apart, it didn't suit a lot of people. The "machine for living" concept was based on a view of humans being willing to accept uniformity, that everyone's apartment was the same as everyone else's... and by extension, that they were themselves interchangeable.
So terraced housing or estates with identical houses would be failures too by that reasoning. Plenty of high rises also command high prices too for their apartments/flats because people want to live in them for whatever reasons You seem to have forgotten that once decorated and furnished people's homes will look very different from each other.
Sheffield also has 'streets in the sky' with walkways big enough for milk floats to deliver milk. Now being gentrified and marketed to the young (http://www.urbansplash.co.uk/residential/park-hill)who want to live close to work with a great view over the city. Won prestigious awards too.
Of course the implementation was also wrong: the French idea is to encourage "mixité sociale", so you have wealthier people who will attract small businesses that the poorer ones can use... like a village. However it was the period of de-colonisation of Algeria, huge numbers of people needed to be housed and so the "barres" were filled with poor immigrants. The ones who did well got out asap, so the problem became worse: the cités are a catastrophic problem for French society: on one hand many have been taken over by gangs, on the other they are symbols that are exploited by the extreme right. But it's very variable: the one directly across the road from me seems to work well, the one 200m behind and down the hill a bit has 50% of the windows broken, smashed furniture all around, and the road scarred from regular burning of stolen cars. I'm not easily spooked, I've wandered around Cape Town at night without feeling particularly troubled, but I'd hesitate to walk down there at night. No way I'd go with a DSLR in my hand...
Sheffield had some landmark brutalist architecture which although state of the art and well built was a disaster, because of how it was implemented on a social level. Not because of the architecture.
Good architecture can also have positive social implications, but sadly penny pinching or ignorance demonstrated by local authorities may well scupper such good intentions.
Anyway here's a portrait against some brutalist style concrete. ;)
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You know he hated the translation of "brute" (=raw) as brutal ? ;)
Champagne also comes as "brut" or even "brut de brut" and no one dares translate it as brutal bubbly ;D
Anyway, the wind can be intensified as a result of tower construction, it would seem:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33426889
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You know he hated the translation of "brute" (=raw) as brutal ? ;)
Champagne also comes as "brut" or even "brut de brut" and no one dares translate it as brutal bubbly ;D
You've all got it wrong, it's Breughalist architecture! ;)
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Anyway, the wind can be intensified as a result of tower construction, it would seem:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33426889
I was thinking more of the larger empty areas away from the tower as I was aware of the Venturi effect with tall buildings in close proximity.
I recall that some cooling towers fell down (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_hDzxkF8o7oC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=venturi+effect+cooling+towers+collapse&source=bl&ots=eu9Ce94mFs&sig=aMFMqPnT_23nb62PDUksI3B83Bg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwA2oVChMI2LLu4rXOyAIVw5WACh0CPgQW#v=onepage&q=venturi%20effect%20cooling%20towers%20collapse&f=false) because of that and didn't the Twin Towers in Manhattan also have such issues?
Sheffield until recently also had it's own iconic twin towers that were very carefully taken down - with explosives.
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...Didn't the Twin Towers in Manhattan also have such issues?
A chilly statement...
Peter
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You've all got it wrong, it's Breughalist architecture! ;)
:D
I work in a 13 storey tower and am reminded regularly of the venturi effect: if there is wind, the rear sliding door has to be locked since the wind will suck it off its tracks... so I have to stomp around to the front door in my bicycle shoes.
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I work in a 13 storey tower and am reminded regularly of the venturi effect: if there is wind, the rear sliding door has to be locked since the wind will suck it off its tracks... so I have to stomp around to the front door in my bicycle shoes.
Get recessed cleats like SPDs, no problems walking with them. Make more sense for commuting anyway.
And to get back on topic, here's a cyclist with a different kind of shoe altogether.
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Bitter-sweet memories of a day when I made a big mistake: I'd asked the other sister to try modelling, and it was a disaster - as to be fair, she told me it would be - and when this sis came back from a swim, I thought it only fitting to get her to give me a few minutes too. I wish I hadn't seen the first sister first: this one was the perfect Italian movie star except that she comes from Ibiza, and not Naples or Rome.
Sadly, she was married and that put the lid on photography. Had she not come along to 'babysit' the first girl, I wouldn't have this shot either.
Cruel, cruel world.
Nikon F3, I think - and Ektachrome 64.
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/2812831_orig.jpg)
Rob C
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Interesting story Rob ! :D
The picture is very 60. ies isn't it ? Yes Sir, she is nice ! But married :'(
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Get recessed cleats like SPDs, no problems walking with them. Make more sense for commuting anyway.
And to get back on topic, here's a cyclist with a different kind of shoe altogether.
Love the shot; illustrates exactly why slightly wide lenses were so popular in fashion photography during the 60s/70s: 'different' take on reality, but still within the bounds of not creating ugly. My then choice was the 2.8/35mm Nikkor.
Rob C
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Interesting story Rob ! :D
The picture is very 60. ies isn't it ? Yes Sir, she is nice ! But married :'(
António, I am very sixties! It's my secret weapon that nobody younger can steal!
;-)
Rob C
P.S. It's one of life's regrets that I live in a country with so many pretty, local girls, that will probably never want (or will never be allowed) to model. They are possibly better out of it, anyway, but I do regret the lost chances. I gave up asking and feeling bad about myself, as if I was someting dirty, or like that...
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Love the shot; illustrates exactly why slightly wide lenses were so popular in fashion photography during the 60s/70s: 'different' take on reality, but still within the bounds of not creating ugly. My then choice was the 2.8/35mm Nikkor.
Ta.
Never thought of that sort of shot as beings 60s-ish, but I think you are spot on there now you mention it. Shot at 16mm on my 16-35mm lens
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Might as well hang up the only other shot I though okay. The two were shot in about three minutes; the sister had about thirty, and we got zilch. Which yet again underlines the value of what's in front of the lens being worth at least 50% of the credit. Or blame. But, in this case blame was mine 100%: sister no.1 told me it wouldn't work before we did the shoot. Shows you; never too old to be misled by a fine pair, even after a career of them.
Getting caught via a honey trap should be banned from all court proceedings: it shouldn't count, there's no defence against it.
;-)
Rob
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/8711646_orig.jpg)
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This is not from the sixties is it, Rob ? :)
It is nice and spontaneous ! :D
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This is not from the sixties is it, Rob ? :)
It is nice and spontaneous ! :D
No, both were shot somewhere between 2005 and 2009, though I'd have to check out the RAWs to know exactly when.
I was thinking the other day about the passage of time, and how it changes with your age and circumstances. My wife died almost exactly seven years ago, and my stay in India was also seven years long. It seems like I'd lived in India about half of my life, but that it's like yesterday that I lost my better-half. I also seem to remember endless summer days in Scotland, where I'd cycle to school and then cycle back to town later in the evening to spend time in the local café and feed the Bal Ami... I'm sure the reality is that summers were far from endless, that it was just a very relaxed state of mind that seemed to make time pass slowly and sweetly.
Like VND filters - illusions abound: never owned one (ND, not illusions - owned many of them) until last week when one came in through the post. I wanted it in order to play with slow shutter speeds and people walking in public places - trying to make them turn into rivers through canyons... I went out to the local market today to find crowds, there's a gale blowing - and trying to hold anything still at a 1/15th of a sec (the speed I'm trying for my first experiments hand-held; no tripod will get used) in a gale is difficult. Also, disappointingly, the paperwork with the filter tells me that using it at maximun light-cutting power will induce crosses that can't be removed. Didn't read that anywhere before I bought!
An added problem: when people see you pointing a camera in their general direction, their polite reaction is to duck out of your way, the opposite of what I want them to do, which is to keep on walking straight ahead. (Obviously, we get a better class of tourist here: nothing much for them to do except take trips elsewhere for the day.) Also, it's surprising how slowly people in markets actually move; I may have to try hand-holding at a half!
Rob C
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Also, it's surprising how slowly people in markets actually move; I may have to try hand-holding at a half!
Find a wall or something solid like a lam post to hold camera against. I did a 2sec shot like that and was nice and sharp
Getting caught via a honey trap should be banned from all court proceedings: it shouldn't count, there's no defence against it. ;-)
;D
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Find a wall or something solid like a lam post to hold camera against. I did a 2sec shot like that and was nice and sharp
;D
Well, I ran the stuff through the computer just now and it's hopeless: far too quick a shutter speed (1/15 sec) and yet far too slow for my hands - in a gale (my only consolation thus far!). I have a light tripod that works reasonably well with two legs extended as better than a monopod, and with the two feet kept at about a foot apart, small enough to avoid traffic, good enough to give some rigidity in one direction. I'll try that next time, but I think it'll need at least 1 sec.
I tried a shot of the sea, too, leaning against a palm, but it was in motion as much as was I! Perversely, the sea looked normal desìte the spray. Not one of my better days.
Rob
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Find a vantage point where a tripod can be used would be the best solution.
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To point out the failure at slow speeds: this was actually at 1/10th sec. at f11 in a hope to get some depth within which to place the blurs... not what I got! Might have worked, with the couple the only crispies.
Oh well, next time.
Rob C
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/3985092_orig.jpg)
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Find a vantage point where a tripod can be used would be the best solution.
I can imagine the problem... hard to look inconspicuous with a tripod. It may even be unconscious, people register a camera on a tripod as an obstacle they will need to avoid tripping over. A man with a camera and a short lens still has the silhouette of a man. Be interesting to see how you get on with the mono/bi-pod.
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Graham:
yes, you're right; they already get out of the way just because I'm standing there looking through the camera in their general direction. But apart from my current problem with it, it was exactly the same decades ago when I wanted to make 'normal' pictures of resorts etc, for travel companies: people still tried to avoid the evil eye! It looks so wrong to see empty lanes within a pedestrian traffic flow!
Keith:
yes, I did consider that option and even tried some shots in the hope of making the people look more phantasmagorical as they fled (slowly) across my vision, but the problem then was thinness of stream. To catch what I was looking for requires a thick flow of people that wasn't there. Actually, jjj was right about the elevated vantage point, and the Sunday market, in contrast with the local option, offers that, even if only the added height of a stone bench at the edge of the market area. Thing is, it means getting up at 7.30 a.m. just to find a parking space! Remember it all too well from when Ann used to go shopping each week. Also, it could all be in vain, because the stalls employ overhead plastic sheets to keep off rain, and also umbrellas in summer, so the likelihood is lots of plastic tops with little humanity on show! But the honest bottom line is this: to rise early or not to rise early! I'm not sure it's worth the sacrifice!
But here's a funny thing: when I have tried the occassional 'street' kind of image, I have always felt a bit unhappy about doing it; but, trying to get a specific 'look' into a shot removes that entirely - it's like being absolved of some sort of guilt! How peculiar the workings of the mind: I never felt any such qualms doing anything in public as a pro...
The best illustration of what I'm after is to be found in a shot of a huge Bombay railway station of many years ago by Frank Horvat; I think HC-B did the same thing - or perhaps it was the other way around. It's from on high and some people are frozen, the rest in motion.
Rob
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Might be worth some arithmetic: I'd say top walking speed in a markey, unless you've just stolen something, is about 1m/s... so if 25cm is blur is absolute minimum and 50cm is just starting to get interesting, 1/4 - 1/2s are going to be minimal shutter times.
It could be interesting to try rattling off multiple exposures and stacking them, but you'd still have the problem of keeping some reference points fixed. There was an article somewhere by a travel photographer explaining how he did the now obligatory blurred water shots without a tripod, by shooting at 5fps then using some PS tool to align the images. It's at least a decade since I've bought a copy of PS, so I can't help with details...
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(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-9xNhWkc/1/X2/i-9xNhWkc-X2.jpg)
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Ouch! This guy needs a wife to carry all those sacks on her head for him. ;)
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yes, you're right; they already get out of the way just because I'm standing there looking through the camera in their general direction. But apart from my current problem with it, it was exactly the same decades ago when I wanted to make 'normal' pictures of resorts etc, for travel companies: people still tried to avoid the evil eye! It looks so wrong to see empty lanes within a pedestrian traffic flow!
Here's a thought, why bother trying to keep cameras still at all. A way of solving many problems like this is to turn things around and make the problem a solution, with creative stuff make the 'mistake' so obvious it looks deliberate. Slightly out of focus or slightly blurred usually looks like bad technique.
So use a really low/long shutter speed and move yourself too.
For example and to go back to portraits....
.
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Ouch! This guy needs a wife to carry all those sacks on her head for him. ;)
Have a heart - she's already carrying Atlas!
Rob C
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Well, I could have saved myself the expense, and certainly the too early morning reveille I have yet to heed.
All it takes is some PS - and a king's ransom in patience. Maybe the filter's easier after all...
Rob C
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/136284_orig.jpg)
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Here's a thought, why bother trying to keep cameras still at all. A way of solving many problems like this is to turn things around and make the problem a solution, with creative stuff make the 'mistake' so obvious it looks deliberate. Slightly out of focus or slightly blurred usually looks like bad technique.
So use a really low/long shutter speed and move yourself too.
For example and to go back to portraits....
.
Like those two shots, but they are not the same thing that I was trying to get. I had a specific thing in mind, and I accept that the only way to get it will be to use a tripod. Unfortunately. I really wanted something a little less predictable than using the Vaseline, yet doable hand-held.
Cheers,
Rob C
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Like those two shots, but they are not the same thing that I was trying to get.
They weren't mean to show the motion that you were after, just examples of how very wrong can be seen as deliberate. As opposed to slightly wrong, which will be viewed as a mistake.
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(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-KXvB9Zh/0/X2/i-KXvB9Zh-X2.jpg)
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(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-ndT4BV2/0/X2/i-ndT4BV2-X2.jpg)
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Antonio, I like the Indian photos very much, thanks :)
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I thank you Graham ! :)
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Antonio, I like the Indian photos very much, thanks :)
I do too.
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From the streets of India back to portraits, and Italy…
With (then) new Canon 5D and 85mm f/1.8 full open. Desaturation with Nik Silver Efex and layers.
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From the streets of India back to portraits, and Italy…
With (then) new Canon 5D and 85mm f/1.8 full open. Desaturation with Nik Silver Efex and layers.
Very nice shot, delicate and feminine as suits the subject.
Delighted, too, to see some iris detail and not just empty black orbs. Some will be so disappointed!
;-)
Rob C
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False dichotomy, Rob. It's quite possible to have larger pupils whilst retaining some iris detail.
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False dichotomy, Rob. It's quite possible to have larger pupils whilst retaining some iris detail.
Possible, but usually sacrificed to the great god low modelling light.
But from the fisherman's point of view: just caught one! (But I know you were in on it and playing too!)
;-)
Rob C
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Petrus, excellent ! Well done. :)
I have never tried something like this.
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Back to Portugal: Bakery Project, portrait of a young baker
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-CvKkNpT/0/X2/i-CvKkNpT-X2.jpg)
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How about these pupils then Rob?
This is from a series of shots for the NHS translation service and this chap Seed, was a Doctor himself back where he escaped from. Can't recall which country offhand.
Yet could only get work as a translator here.
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Very nice shot, delicate and feminine as suits the subject.
Delighted, too, to see some iris detail and not just empty black orbs. Some will be so disappointed!
;-)
Rob C
Thanks. It was taken in full daylight across a street cafe table, so the irises reflect mostly that. She was a professional volleyball player as a way to finance her studies. We did a Via Ferrata TV-documentary together in Brenta and she was the guide (I had known her almost 10 years already). The year is 2006. Besides desaturating the image and cleaning backgrounds the lipstick color (she really did not have any) is made to match her tank top.
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Thanks. It was taken in full daylight across a street cafe table, so the irises reflect mostly that. She was a professional volleyball player as a way to finance her studies. We did a Via Ferrata TV-documentary together in Brenta and she was the guide (I had known her almost 10 years already). The year is 2006. Besides desaturating the image and cleaning backgrounds the lipstick color (she really did not have any) is made to match her tank top.
Nice attention to detail re. the lipstick! I always preferred natural light to anything else, but obviously enough, living in th UK meant a studio was pretty much unavoidable if I wanted to work every day.
As the general mid-field decline began to hit at the end of the 70s I ended up doing more cheap stuff in the studio against white Colorama, but also more expensive stuff abroad for calendars. It was, it seems to me, an era for the two extremes of work, with the centre ground getting hit harder and harder. Some folks think it only hit us in 2007/8, but I sensed it going pear-shaped a long time before that. It was so noticeable with the younger competion: they cut ever lower: free model-girlfriend offers for fashion shoots, on and on down the hill towards today. The 80s saw stock supply overflowing in every genre you could shoot on spec. and digital soon appeared to make that even worse because not only did the main players not want more material they hadn't specifically asked for, they themseves began to feel the pinch from all quarters.
I really respect those still able to make a good business out of photography today: we had it much simpler and pretty much knew where we stood, year to year.
Rob C
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How about these pupils then Rob?
This is from a series of shots for the NHS translation service and this chap Seed, was a Doctor himself back where he escaped from. Can't recall which country offhand.
Yet could only get work as a translator here.
A good example of the genre: devil-worship!
;-)
Rob C
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A brief portrait:
https://vimeo.com/126796116
Rob C
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Bailey's as cuddly as ever.
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Natural light.
(http://www.antoniocorreia.com/photos/i-k97GgNR/0/X2/i-k97GgNR-X2.jpg)
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Natural light #2 with Fujinon 60mm macro:
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Great work !
Sharp and soft at the same time.
Like the gradation in it !
Beautiful model also !
:)
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It is all in the eyes and the smile...
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I recently got a new (to me) lens I'm excited to use for portraiture, a Pentax FA 77/1.8 Limited. I haven't been able to have a real portrait session with it yet but I did have a quick shoot with my only available model when the lens arrived on my doorstep. Only cost me a few biscuits in modelling fees.
Shot at f/1.8 because I can. :)
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/616/22695202126_5aec6c8356_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/AzuQUo)IMGP2917 (https://flic.kr/p/AzuQUo) by Matt Burt (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbnet/), on Flickr
Looking forward to moving on to human models soon!
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I recently got a new (to me) lens I'm excited to use for portraiture, a Pentax FA 77/1.8 Limited. I haven't been able to have a real portrait session with it yet but I did have a quick shoot with my only available model when the lens arrived on my doorstep. Only cost me a few biscuits in modelling fees.
Critters are handy test subjects. Also cat fur/eyes I find are really good indeed at testing camera/lens ability.
Looking forward to moving on to human models soon!
Need to upgrade to chocolate hob nobs or jaffa cakes then. ;)
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Maggie Mae Purrs Real Loud
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At last! Kittehs, what the interwebz was made for :)
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Meet Erik :)
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Oh god, what did I start! :o
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At last! Kittehs, what the interwebz was made for :)
Indeed.
However Michael I gather is not too keen on cat photos. So we can all blame MattB for this. ;)
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... we can all blame MattB for this. ;)
Of course.
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None the less, I'm impressed by the bearing of jjj's model.
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None the less, I'm impressed by the bearing of jjj's model.
Thank you. That particular critter is currently dangling on my monitors as it is now getting cooler outside.
Can be tricky to work at times when they all want to get on board as menus vanish beneath fur, tails and legs.
It helps I use keyboard shortcuts for most things. ;D
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Cat photography can get recursive.... ;)
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Indeed.
However Michael I gather is not too keen on cat photos. So we can all blame MattB for this. ;)
I'm a younger sibling so I'm used to getting the blame. But I didn't even post any of the many cat photos I have taken!
Like this one for example.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8099/8575857619_f3d07b4da9_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/e4PvG8)IMGP1214-Edit (https://flic.kr/p/e4PvG8) by Matt Burt (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbnet/), on Flickr
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So, is this a portrait?
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Meh, I don't see any cat in the photo.
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Good point.
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Okay, it's in Spanish, but the pictures you can access are not!
Penn; 'nuf said.
https://belfioreph.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/irving-penn-maestro-del-retrato/
Rob C
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Outstanding... particularly the nude of Kate Moss, where she manages to look simultaneously serious, comfortable, private and, well, nude.
Plus of course of course all those blocked up shadows in the Pacino shot, terrible technique ;-)
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Also worth following the link to the gallery of images by Jeanloup Sieff
http://culturainquieta.com/es/erotica/item/573-jeanloup-sieff.html
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Also worth following the link to the gallery of images by Jeanloup Sieff
http://culturainquieta.com/es/erotica/item/573-jeanloup-sieff.html
Thanks, Graham; he's one of my favourites. If you don't yet have his Taschen book, called, simply, Jeanloup Sieff, I recommend it to you. Some of the pictures in your link are included, and some (in the link) are totally new to me, so a double thanks. For my money, his writing in the book is as interesting, funny and sharp as are his images. My copy, bought in Spain, has Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. I get by using a mix of the first two - perhaps the edition in less 'Latin' of the European countries has a text in English, French and German? Along with Cowboy Kate, it's my prized tome! I would, however, have preferred Five Girls to Cowboy...
Rob C
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Will look it up, thanks :-)
A propos, last night I tripped over this youtube version of the Gainsbourg-Birkin "Je t'aime"... do you know if the photo is be Sieff ? The wikipedia site has some portraits by him of Gainsbourg in a similar style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fa4lOQfbA
(and for those who don't know the history of this song... it's worth looking up :) )
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Will look it up, thanks :-)
A propos, last night I tripped over this youtube version of the Gainsbourg-Birkin "Je t'aime"... do you know if the photo is be Sieff ? The wikipedia site has some portraits by him of Gainsbourg in a similar style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3Fa4lOQfbA
(and for those who don't know the history of this song... it's worth looking up :) )
I haven't seen the image before, but I'd be surprised if it's Sieff. Most of his work is simply lit with what seems to be a single key light.
The song, AFAIK, was originally done in conjunction with BB but she changed her mind and didn't want her version with him released - or some such story. However, there's a voice in my head telling me that I have heard her sing this, but it could just be 'voices' as I say.
Rob
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BB's husband of the time wasn't thrilled, so she begged SG not to release it. But years later she went back to him and suggested they release it, in 1986 I think. The Birkin version came out in early 1969.
Here we are:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_t%27aime..._moi_non_plus
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Who wants to photograph teenagers?
Rob
I don't mind…
This is also in response to thread http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=107274.0
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This seems to be a thread less travelled... Let's raise a little dust and spook the sheep.
(http://www.roma57.com/uploads/4/2/8/7/4287956/d-2845_orig.jpg)
Maybe it should be under 'street' protection instead.
;-)
Rob
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From an Art Performance... she wished not to be identified :)
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I've done quite a few portraits since I last posted in this thread. I did a project that has just been installed as part of a remodel of the OB unit for the local hospital with 27 portraits of people born there. The prints were black and white on glass. These are some early edits.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5666/31404719435_dc13332a75_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PR8oXV)IMGP6345 (https://flic.kr/p/PR8oXV) by Matt Burt (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbnet/), on Flickr
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5529/31368416356_5c94eb2a9a_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PMVkjL)IMGP6328-Edit (https://flic.kr/p/PMVkjL) by Matt Burt (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbnet/), on Flickr
...and some teenagers too. This one is mine.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5612/31007811200_816b74fb0b_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/Pf48Yu)IMGP6238-Edit-2 (https://flic.kr/p/Pf48Yu) by Matt Burt (https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbnet/), on Flickr