Gaze Angle in Portrait Photography: The main argument in the article is very clear, it is about whether the subject in a portrait should face the lens or be looking out of the frame. Jim Hawkins (the author of this article) had succeed in both types of portrait, using both approaches but Hawkins have also worked with pictures that have an inner line of sight where the eyes of the subject are not even seen. Web based research about the gaze angle was done, people said that a portrait is influenced by the gaze direction of the model and also by his/her facial expression, reason being gaze direction signals a person’s focus of interest while expressions convey information about the mental state. Sometime this is a true fact because when just seeing a photo of a person one can predict the mood of that person by looking at their expressions. Studies where done, Dr. Claire Conway (university of Aberdeen in Scotland) and her colleagues, together they investigated the effect of gaze direction, gender and expression on peoples face. Participants were divided into four different groups. They were asked to rate the attractiveness of the images they were shown. Since this is a very complex process Dr. Conway noted that they are more attracted to happy faces of the opposite sex which are looking directly into the lens. Another study was done by Andrew Bayliss and his group, they found that happy expressions were liked more than objects looked at with a disgust expression. “They concluded that facial expression does modulate the way that observers utilize gaze cues and that observed gaze direction signals the focus of other person’s interest” For me this is a true fact because in my case if for example I look at two images both females and one has a happy face and the other has a sad face I would choose the one with happy face. Roberto Caldara from the university of Glasgow researched and find out that westerns generally process visual information analytically, one bit at a time and east Asians process the same information more by looking at the whole. Michael Watson distinguished three forms of gaze: Sharp: focusing on the other person’s eye: Clear: focusing about the other person’s head and face: Peripheral: having the other person within the field of vision but not focusing on his head or face, one can notice how these categories have a great parallel in the focus metering of a digital camera: spot metering, central metering and pattern metering. At last the writer has discovered that he is not as unique as he thought in working with an inner line of sight where the eyes of the subject are not seen. References:
Hawkins, J 2010, 'Gaze Angle in Portrait Photography', PSA Journal, 76, 6, pp. 30-33, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 November 2016.
0 Comments
Main Points:
Evidence:
Persuasiveness:
This article has very positive issues which I agree on, very few those that I don’t agree with, starting with the students first assignment, it is a very good idea to let the students being the photographer facing the lens as it will put them in the same positon as models. Another good point is about getting to know your clients, which is a very important aspect in photography, getting to know your clients makes them feel more comfortable and they will trust you so the result will look better and also more natural. Heading to the second assignment having some of the models get their own props is good because like that the photographer has a better chance in showing the true person, but then it is not fair on those photographers that the assigned model didn’t take any of her props, it is more of a challenge for that student to show that true model with the available props. Reference:
Hollinger, L 2009, 'Intimate Portraits', PSA Journal, 75, 2, pp. 34-36, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 November 2016. This exhibition is not so very usual from what we are familiar to see. A usual exhibition is the body of work of one artist, this includes the body of work or let’s say a piece of different artist.
Which were the parts that stood out from the others? Looking at all the work of different artists one can see that there are different talents for someone who paints to someone who films and edit. While I was looking through the exhibition I could not see that all the pieces made sense and I felt that not everything was part of it. There was a book which I started to read which I found out that the main intention of this work was all about Navigation, this is where everything started to make sense and realized why the photos of the boat with longitudes and latitudes on the photos. Ezodu by David Flazon: In my opinion the most attracted part was the game which us as viewers could touch and also play, this part was attracted for the fact that it had bright colors and that is why it stood out, I had some issues about the spot where the game was put, which at first I was thinking it was better if it was put more in front of the exhibition so the audience will see it straight away, but then I thought that it was done this way so audience will be surprised at last. A scrimshaw by Aidan Celeste: This piece of work I did not really understand what was the intension of the paper on the wall and the small booklets on the shelves. I felt like it was unfinished and done at the very last moments just before the launching of the exhibition, but then when I read about it, found out that it was all intentional as part of the artist idea. Mapplethrope reinterpreted the nude in a classical terms or in explicit ways calculated to shock. His photographs were presented as art (regardless of their content), While Ritts was able to analyze the body from different angles to create compositions that abstracted it in ways that communicates strength and poise. This is a photograph from the 1990’s era of the top models Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz and Naomi Campbell. The atmosphere that Ritts has created in his studio convinced the models to disrobe. The composition of the 5 models is very centered but the way he positioned them makes the image more as a whole image for the fact that they are touching each other, lighting used in level with the models at 45-degree angle to create a dramatic effect with very nice shadows on the models (not harsh) because if there were no shadows the image will look flat. Lighting is arranged to enhance the model’s symmetrical features, muscle definition and bone structure. Composition: the body is in perfect symmetry with his mouth and the nose at the very center of the image, his shoulder is filling the bottom of the frame and his smooth head forms a triangular shape. His eyes are closed, indicating that his work is more related to mapplethrope’s body studies. Some key points: both photographers used lighting for their advantage to give the photographs a dramatic feeling (in this case to show the muscular features of the model and in Ritts’s case of the five models to show their beauty.) Differences: Ritts’s mostly working outdoors, enjoying relating the body to the natural world, while Mapplethrope mostly working in a studio and his body studies made him working with colored models for a more dramatic body structure. References
"Herb Ritts: Nudes (Getty Center Exhibitions)". Getty.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. Scotland, National. "Ken Moody − Robert Mapplethorpe − Artists − ARTIST ROOMS − Collection − National Galleries Of Scotland". Nationalgalleries.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Nov. 2016. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2017
Categories |