Portraiture Shooting Assignment

Portraiture Unit

Senior Portrait Article

• Traditional Yearbook Portraits -----> Portraits That Show More Depth
• Lighting Effects! Unusual Angles! Post-Production Editing!
• More Demand For Edgy And Editorial Shots From Teens
• Moving Out Of The Studio And Towards Non-Studio Locations

Portrait Examples

CarisaK |  Smile | I like how she is posed horizontally and occupying the middle third of the image

CarisaK | Smile | I like the open background and how she is only a very small portion of the image

CarisaK | Smile | I like the paleness of her white shirt against the green background

CarisaK | Serious | I like the bokeh in the background with warm colors against her cooler colors

Jen Baltgalvis | Smile | The baby's bright red sweater really stands out against the white background

Jen Baltgalvis | Unique Perspective | I like how the girl's legs are framing her face and the fact that she is upside down is funny!

Jen Baltgalvis | Smile | I like the addition of the pet in the picture and I like how the flower in her hair matches the cats eyes

Conte | Serious | I like the artistic editing of the picture and I like how they all look very serious even though they 're surrounded by candy

Conte | Candid | I like the ocean as the background and I like the curve of the surf behind them

Teal | Candid | I like the solid color background and the way the white balloons stand out against it

Elaine Gates Recap

It was very illuminating to have portraiture photographer, Elaine Gates, come talk to us about how to take good portraits. I learned many interesting and important tips for when I pursue my own portrait project. It is very important to take advantage of the lighting you have, whether outdoors or inside. Shade can be good but it's always important to have some bright lighting somewhere in your picture. You should try to emphasize your subject's best and favorite features of their body. When taking pictures always shoot down from a higher angle, rather than shooting up from a lower angle, as it makes the subject look much better. I will make sure to employ all of these tips and tactics when doing my portraiture assignment.

HDR

ISO: 100 Aperture: 29 Shutter Speed: 1/13

This picture is the track on which cross country courses both start and end. This sign is positioned right at the entrance to the woods and I thought the angle of the camera with the tilted sign against the curved track looked really interesting. This image has asymmetrical balance. 

ISO: 100 Aperture: 32 Shutter Speed: 1/15

I took this picture of the inside of the gravel track that I work out on frequently. I used the poles of the football goal post to frame the school. I think the colors of the sky look really pretty and the grass looks cool.

ISO: 100 Aperture: 22 Shutter Speed: 1/2

This picture has leading lines in the row of trees that lead one's eye to the background of the image. I think the colors in this picture are interesting because they range from really bright and vibrant to duskier, darker tones. 

ISO: 100 Aperture: 29 Shutter Speed: 4

This is the entrance to the woods that I run through during my cross-country races. The trees lining either side of the dirt path create the effect of symmetrical balance. I like how the sun filtering through the tree branches looks really bright and yellow and brightens the green leaves. 

ISO: 100 Aperture: 32 Shutter Speed: 1/2

I took this picture from a different point of view than the other photographs. I made my camera go up really high on my tripod and then tilted it down dramatically to emphasize the slope of the hill even more. 

 ISO: 100 Aperture: 32 Shutter Speed: 1/6

 This is a picture of the corn field that we run around both for our cross-country races and for many of our workouts. I thought it was a cool image both because of the repetition of the corn stalks and because the brightness of the sky's colors and the grunginess of the field contrast interestingly. It shows repetition through the corn stalks in the background.