Week 5: Concept Map & Portrait Photography

Photography> Photos> Genre> Portrait

Photography Concept map

Photography>

Camera, hardware components> flash, lens, power, maintenance

Camera, software components> mode, file size, shutter speed, ISO, aperture, effects

Video> settings, frame rate, size, audio, output requirements, formats, composition
Photos, still> action, genre (food, sports, portrait, landscape, etc.)

Tools> lights, fills, flags

Art> Framing, Light, shadow, color, tone,  retouching and Photoshop

Portrait Photography

This week I've become interested in learning about light as a photographer's tool. I'm just starting out and don't have any equipment. But apparently there are some pretty neat tricks that can be done with only one light for portrait photography.

Trick 1: Cinematic headshot lighting

Tools: one light, three "modifiers"Trick: 

• "Key" light placed 45 degrees to the right of the subject.
• Flag: Black light blocker placed directly to the right of the subject. This blocks any key light from the background. The reason for doing this is to separate the subject from the background.
• Fill: White hard surface panel placed directly to the left of subject. This reflects the light from the key source onto the subject's left side.
• Flag: one final black flag placed directly over the subject's head to cut down the influence of the room lighting.

Trick 2: Finding a person's "best side"

Think about your subject in terms of how they will be framed. Study their features to get the best look.

The left eye is slightly larger than the right. There are two methods for addressing this, and which one you use depends on what you see in the moment.

1. Compensation: Choose to frame the smaller eye closer to the camera to give the illusion that the eyes are the same size.
2. Perspective: Choose to frame the smaller eye further away from the camera since our brains are used to seeing things further away appear smaller.