In this section I will be focusing on the expression of self identity within portrait photography. Self expression adds meaning to the portraits as it can help to express personality, which ordinary portraits cannot. The theme of identity is expressed within photography through the use of unique images and techniques- this can be achieved through the use of photoshop on-top of the positioning of the individual being photographed in the initial images.
Research: Jason Travis
Jason Travis is a photographer from Los Angeles who creates interesting personal photography. Travis first captures images of individual people and then asks them to empty the contents of their bags, he then arranges the contents into a neat way and takes pictures of it. Whilst editing the pictures he places the image of the bag under the portrait, this is interesting as it shows a glimpse of the personality of the individuals- which can be difficult to express in ordinary portraits. The following images are examples of Travis' work.
My Own Work
Raw Images
In this section I will be taking inspiration from Jason Travis' style of photography. Travis' work is inspiring as photographing belongings and presenting them underneath a portrait shows the people viewing the images more about the person in the photograph, this is because everyone carries different things in their bags that relates to them in some way, therefore this allows the people viewing the image to relate to the person more as they will view them as ordinary people rather than as models. In order to achieve images in the style of Jason Travis, we first chose a background that we believed expressed or personalities and then took individual portraits. After this we mimicked Travis' style by emptying the contents of our bags and arranging them into a neat and organised manner before photographing it. On top of this, we also included some group portraits as well as arranging all of our belongings together to create diversity in the final product, this worked well as the group portraits allowed us to show the difference in personalities. We also took portraits against a blank background in order to allow us to explore our photoshop techniques as we would take the portrait and place it onto a different background that expressed our personalities. The images below are the raw images we took for this section, these include individual portraits, group portraits and images of belongings.
The images above show group portraits with a projected background, for these images we each chose an image we believe represented our personality. Following these images, we arranged our belongings together and photographed them- the use of group images makes the variety of images more interesting and adds a personal touch to the work inspired by Jason Travis. The images below show the photographs of our belongings, the first image is the group's belongings whereas the second image is of just my belongings.
The image above shows the first technique we tried out for this project. We first decided to project a background that we believed represented us and captured images in front of it. For my portrait, I decided to use the background of The Neighbourhood's album cover for their album 'Wiped Out!'- the reason I chose this background is because I often listen to music and this album in particular therefore I believe that it represents my personality.
We then tried a different technique, as shown above. For this technique we captured images in front of a blank wall, this developed our work as it allowed us to use photoshop skills to create the final image. After taking the images, we took them into photoshop and cut out the portrait from the blank background, we then placed it on a different image that we felt represented us and our personality.
Edited Images
The following images are edits I have made in the style of Jason Travis. To achieve these images I used portraits against a blank background and cut the portrait out of the background, I then collected an image for the background that I felt represented myself and placed the portrait onto it.
For this image I decided to use an image I have taken myself as the background. This image expresses my personality as it shows street photography, which is a thing I have a strong interest in and do fairly often; the background also links to the image of my belongings as in this image there is a camera charger present, this shows I have an interest in photography therefore the background adds to this by showing specific types of photography I am interested in. Using my own image as the background is also effective as this means that everything in the image is personal to me- adding to the Jason Travis' theme of personal photography.
Identity Within Portrait Photography
Research: The Work of Other Photographers
Andreas Poupoutsis
The images above show the work of Andreas Poupoutsis. Poupoutsis is a portrait photographer from New York who expresses self identity effectively within his work. I have chosen to research Poupoutsis as I believe his work is interesting due to his unique style, in his work he expresses identity through hiding the identity- this is effective as despite not being able to see the features of the models, self identity is still expressed through the facial expressions that can be seen through the sheet that is wrapped around them. For my own work I hope to take inspiration from Poupoutsis and experiment with self expression through hiding identities.
Other Photographers
The following images show different techniques and styles within identity photography. I have chosen this selection of images as they each show different and creative ways of expressing self identity within photography through both the use of positioning of the models in the initial photograph and photoshop. The images also show that black and white photographs are a common theme within this theme, I will take inspiration from this and use many black and white images within my work as they appear to work well along with this theme. I will take as much inspiration as possible from the images I have collected and try to include the different style in my own work.
My Own Work
Initial Photographs
The following images are all straight from the camera and unedited, I will later take these images into photoshop to make them more interesting using different photoshop techniques.
Edited Images
Personal Project
Within this section I will be working independently to create images that are personal to me. Due to this project being about myself, I decided to focus on the theme of light as this allows me to create different editorial images; I believe this is personal to me as editorial photographs are usually related to fashion and that is something I have an interest in. I am also interested in using different forms of light to create interesting images as this is something I experiment with quite a lot due to my interest in night-time street photography.
Research
Geoff Jones
Geoff Jones is a portrait photographer who specialises in fashion and editorial photography, within his work he uses a lot of neon lights- the images below show a selection of his work. From the images below it is clear that Jones uses red neon lights often, this is effective as the colour is bright and reflects well off of the models; the images also show that Jones usually photographs the models nude yet in a modest way- this makes the effect of the neon light more effective as it bounces off of the bare skin, making the colour stronger. For his work, Jones photographs models against a blank, dark background- this is effective as it shows that the subject of the images are the models as this makes them stand out.
Brandon Woelfel
Brandon Woelfel is a photographer based in New York who focuses on the use of light within his work- he achieves this through the use of fair lights and neon lights. Woelfel also uses the booked technique within his work to ensure that the model stands out. The images below show a selection of the work he has produced- to achieve these images he would first take the images then edit them within Adobe Lightroom to produce interesting images.
Shadows in Portrait Photography
The images below show examples of the use of shadow with portrait photography. Using shadows in portraits is interesting as the shadows can be created in different ways, for example the images below show examples of shadows created by different objects as well as hands.
Reflections in Portrait Photography
The images below show a selection of different ways reflection can be achieved within portrait photography, this is an interesting technique as it adds more depth and personalisation to the images.
My Own Work
After researching different ways in which light can be incorporated into portrait photography I have decided to use neon lights within my work as I believe this creates effective images. For this project I will be taking self-portraits as the project is about self-expression.
Initial Images
The images below were all taken on a canon 750D camera. First, I tried out different methods of creating a 'neon effect' and eventually settled on using a laptop screen to reflect the light- the dark background was effective for this as it allowed the colour to stand out more. To begin with I took self-portraits, however I then decided to pose with my friend Sarah to add more variation to the images.
Edited Images
For this project, I believe that the images I have captured do not require much editing as the neon light is already strong therefore editing the images too much could cause them to look unappealing. For the images below I have used photoshop subtly to create a more interesting effect in some of the images by adding more colour, such as blue and green- this adds more variation to the images and makes the collection look more interesting; I have also used photoshop to fix any imperfections in the images, such as light flares in the background.
Duotone Effect
For the images below I have used the duotone effect within photoshop to make the images look more interesting. I believe this effect worked well as it strengthens the colours within the image. To achieve the images below I first added a black and white filter and adjusted the levels, after doing so I added the first colour using the 'solid colour' tool and selected a bright red then changed the blending mode to 'multiply'; this enhanced the strength of the red neon light already in the image. After this I added a second colour in the background using the same tool, however this time I selected different shades of blue and purple as these worked well with the red- for this colour I changed the blending mode to 'lighten'.