Research

David Bailey

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David Bailey is a world renowned portrait and fashion photographer. 
He is perhaps known for his use of high contrast high key portraits.

Bailey's approach to portraiture seems to be very clean aesthetically and very crisp. He very rarely has anything but a plain background, usually white, as he wanted to draw 100% of the audience attention on the subject. 

Bailey seems to have absolute control in taking his images, to expose skin so high key on a white background without losing detail amazes me.
He seems to pose and shape the subjects to frame them perfectly, particularly hair and styling and makes use of negative space to acheive the same.

Martin Schoeller

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Martin Schoeller is a New York based commercial photography know for his 'hyper-detailed' head shots of popular figures.

Schoeller's portraits have a very iconic look. The shallow depth-of-field, the expression, the composition, the catchlights all make for a unique and beautiful portrait.

The portraits looks deceptively simple. Juding from the catchlights, it appears to be 2 stripboxes, presumably at 45 degree angles lighting the subjects. 
However there seemingly more scontrast than I would presume striplights would render. 
There are highlights on the bridge of noses and cheekbones that may come from a beauty dish from high above that doesn't present a catch light. 

I think what I like most about Schoeller's portrait is the simplicity. If it is a simple 2 light setup it's how Schoeller has uses the lights and his equipment.

Richy Leeson

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Richy Leeson visited the college to do a workshop on fashion portraits.

I learned a lot from the workshop and from simply watching Richy work. 
The first thing I noticed was how he moved around when shooting. It's something so simple but something, up to that point, I hadn't done when shooting portraits. It was interesting to see the images coming up on the screen he had tethered to and how the lighting styles changed simply because the perspective had changed. 

 

It was also interesting hearing about Richy's work in ecommerce. How he changed the genre and shot differently, going against the grain and it paid off. He also mentioned about some of the business aspects in ecommerce which really interested me as a possible means of income, leading me to taking some shots in an ecommerce 'style'. 

It was also Richy who said he sometimes likes to include parts of the set in shoot, something become increasing popular in the fashion industry as a whole, prompting me to inlcude a few throughout my shooting.
 

Karl Taylor

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I decided to look at Karl Taylor for this module as he creates a lot of stunning still-life and product shots.
 

These 3 images of alcohol products are all beautifully lit. I can see how Taylor likes to create a rim light on the bottles to make them pop from the dark backgrounds and that he's also a big fan of gradient backgrounds.

Taylor also has a YouTube channel full of Q&A's and tutorials. 

In particualr I looked at these 2 videos.

What I like about the videos is that one highlights the importance and advantage of building one light at a time. With his make-up shoot Taylor builds one light at a time and makes tiny seemingly insignificant changes that stack up to create an amazing image.

The other video highlights a common complaint of mine in most online tutorials; A lot of pro photographers have access to pro gear and the best equipment. Though we have access to a lot of useful equipment it pales in comparison. For example, his make-up shoot used 10's of thousands of dollars worth of lighting, there's simply no-way we could recreate the same. (though i understand that wasn't the point of the video). However, Taylor addresses this problem as shows a tutorial using simple household lights. 

This, for me, highlighted a lot of misconceptions i was seeming using as excuses for my own advancement. I often didn't bother attempting things simply because I felt I couldn't due to equipment. Though, sometimes this it true; often it boils down to a getting the foundations right first.

Gordon Parks

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Gordon Parks is one of my favourite photographers. Not only do I find his images beautiful and enthralling the artist himself astounds me due to his strong sense of social justice and bravery for his work documenting issues on race poverty and civil rights. 


Having stumbled across Parks years ago in my own reading around race related issues in America, the first image I ever saw was The Fontenelles at the Poverty Board. The image stuck an accord with me immediately. The composition highlight a distressed family, portraying the story of a seemingly single mother in another hopeless meeting with an official. The light seems to an aura around them, emphasized by the the underexposed man who is thrown out of focus, creating a juxtaposition in what looks like a seemingly hopeless and tiring situation. The light from the window behind them filling the walls around them, separating them from the background and adding to a isolated feeling of no help from the man at the poverty board.

Bessie Fontenelle and Richard Climb the Stairs.

Bessie Fontenelle and Richard Climb the Stairs.

The way Parks see's and uses light to help tell his story, The Fontenelles are a poverty stricken family in the Harlem ghettos in the 60's. 

Here we see the mother of the Fontenelle family, Bessie, carrying her son up the stairs. The leading lines of the bannister and paintwork leading the eye directly to her. 
She seems to be coming out a darkness and heading towards the light. We see above her on the landing a tricycle followed by more darkness. 

This gives me a feeling as if we're seeing just a snapshot, this one moment of a woman working her way back up to her home. The light illuminating the scene for us to see but what came before and will come after is unknown due to the darkness, perhaps reminiscent of Bessie's scenario. 

 

 

 

In this image, Little Richard, we see a portrait of one of the Fontenelle children. Presumably lit from window light, the child's expression matches the tone and mood the lighting reflects. He's dimly lit, only a little light shines on his face, perhaps Parks saw this as an representation of the child's future. We see the catchlights in his eyes adding interesting to the image and is maybe representative of the child's spark and innocence still hidden away behind his poverty stricken appearance. 

Untitled

Untitled

Here we see one of the Fontenelle children doing his school work in bed. The light source seems to be from coming from the cameras direction judging by the shadows cast from the bed frame onto the wall. There seems to be a hazy glow about the light, perhaps the room was rusty or light spilling into the lens from out of frame is causing a flare. The whites of the paper are more exposed than the any other part of the image due to their reflective colour along with the pencil. It could be argued that his education is possible a route to a brighter future.

Parks seems to use light as not only the thing that is allowing him capture the scene but as a tool he is welding to emphasise the story he is trying to tell. His images are all full of contrast ranging from bright highlights to deepest blacks. 

Rembandt

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Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a 17th century painter from the Netherlands.

Paintings and painters are always being turned to for inspiration in photography. Photographers often turn to Rembrandt due his masterful use of light and shadow. A style he often used in portraits depicts a triangle of light on the subjects cheek surround by shadows on the cheek and cast from the nose. 
 

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The lighting style is dramatic yet flattering on most people and is very simple to pull off.
It seemingly emphasises the shape and form of a person's features without highlighting flaws and blemishes

 

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