Portrait Task 1 Digital Photography Project

Research and Inspiration: 

The first Portrait Photography was invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre in 1835 but in 1839 it became available to the public and in 1842 it led to the opening of the first portrait photographic studio in Boston. The opening of the studio brought portrait photography use all across Europe and America. 

For this assignment, we had a class discussion about how to set our camera settings and how to angle the lighting as I was a beginner at this. I had also done some work during our class that consisted of a product shoot to a long exposure shoot. 

The Photographer that I chose for my project's inspiration is Maxim Maximov, he is a portrait photographer from Moscow and he also won the International Federation of Photographic Art World Cup (FIAP) in the Portrait category in 2017. He also conducts training sessions in Russia and in other countries. I decided to replicate his work because I was inspired by the soft touch in his photography as he used unique backdrops and the way he used lighting techniques also inspired me to replicate his work.

When it came to selecting the pictures that I wanted to replicate I chose images in which the main focus was on the subject and the background was blurred. The camera that I used is Canon EOS 1300D  and the models I chose for my project were already my friends.

Pre-Production:

Before the shoot started I decided to experiment with the lighting and decided to take some pictures to use as samples. Although it was my first-time portrait shoot and the lighting was creating an issue for me during the shoot I decided to find a way to make shooting a bit easier.

 

I shot these pictures as samples but did not finalise any of them as i was not satisfied with the way the lighting was set up. Once i knew that the lighting set up matched the idea i had in my mind, i decided to take the final shoot. 

Final Shoot:

For the final shoot i had to get some help and once everything was appropriately set up i told the models how to pose so that the pictures could somewhat resemble the inspiration pictures. The inspirational pictures were as follows

Inspiration 1

Inspiration 2

Inspiration 3

The following were the finalised pictures i decided to chose for the project. All of these pictures were taken indoors with proper lighting and within the time limit given to me.

Inspiration 1 Replica: Rembrandt Lighting 

(Focal Length: 100mm. Aperture:f/4.5.

Shutter Speed: 1/200. ISO:800)

Inspiration 2 Replica: Split Lighting

(Focal Length: 140 mm. Aperture: f/7.1. Shutter Speed: 1/200. ISO:100)

Inspiration 3 Replica: Split Lighting with Background Lighting

(Focal Length: 80mm. Aperture: f/4. Shutter Speed: 1/160. ISO: 800)

                                  Inspiration 3 Replica: Split Lightning with Background Lighting

                        (Focal Length:85 mm. Aperture: f/7.1. Shutter Speed: 1/200. ISO:100) 

Self-Evaluation:

I had no background with photography before i started the course but taking classes and learning about the photography techniques and learning camera set up, i have become more fond of photography. For me photography has become a way of being creative and a way of thinking creatively as well. 

Behind The Scenes:

Inspiration Artist Profile: Maxim Maxim Flicker Profile