Class # 3: February 7, 2008

This week we looked at PORTRAITURE.

We looked at the work of several well-known photographers to demonstrate a variety of portraiture styles and trends including fashion, lifestyle, headshots, environmental etc.

We had a demo on understanding the Inverse Square Law.
The Inverse Square Law states that as a light source is moved farther away from its subject, its intensity drops by the square of its inverse.

Here's the exercise we did together to understand this law:

1.Photograph a full length portrait of a friend with a single light. Place the light bulb slightly above their head at a distance of about 3 feet away. Meter the light from the head to toe to see the dramatic light fall off that will occur. Their feet will be 6 to 9 feet from the light- at least twice as far from the light as their head.

2.Keeping the light at the same angle as your subject’s face, move it 8 feet away. Meter again from head to toe to see that there is less light fall off.. The feet are now about 11 to 14 feet from the light- meaning that the relative difference in distance to the light from the feet and from the head is much less than in the previous shot.

HEADSHOTS

Knowing how to do headshots is a basic skill that any photograher who is just starting out should know how to do. We looked at several examples and then did some together in class using hot lights and a white backdrop. Here are a couple standard examples from www.digitalheadshotsnyc.com :





Remember to be about 4 feet away, crop from the shoulders up, use a wide aperture to kick the background out of focus, use a lens in the range of 85mm to 135mm, and make sure your subject's eyes are sharply in focus.

ASSIGNMENT due FEB 14
Headshot of a friend in the class showing 3 different “looks”. All 3 photos should be of the same person. These need to be in COLOR, but one image can be BW if you choose. Should be on a gray/white background. This needs to be shot in the studio, using a light meter and hot lights.

“Looks” can mean 3 different characters this person might play as an actor, or 3 different personas this person might want to portray. Perhaps this person needs headshots for 3 different movies they’re auditioning for: One is a comedy, one is a Drama and one is Action. They need a headshot that would work for any of those auditions. You should ask your subject to bring 3 different shirts, one for each look.