Portraiture

PaulieC

Anouilh wrote: »

surely this is both a snapshot and a portrait as one eye is engaged while the other is seemingly unaware...

Dragan

melekalikimaka wrote: »

exactly what i think

snapshots rarely cover that... nor modelling shoots, a portrait is something personal, that almost tells the persons story by looking at it

I don't think "snapshot" and "portrait" are two mutually exclusive things.

You can have that quick snapshot element that is the result of a photo taken from a very obvious, and often a very intimate, situation and it is there to be seen and interpreted.

I don't want to take the argument elsewhere but i guess it really depends on what you think a snapshot is, and if by being a snapshot it has limits that do not apply to what you think a photograph is?

This is why i love and hate photography.:)

melekalikimaka

Dragan wrote: »

I don't think "snapshot" and "portrait" are two mutually exclusive things.

You can have that quick snapshot element that is the result of a photo taken from a very obvious, and often a very intimate, situation and it is there to be seen and interpreted.

I don't want to take the argument elsewhere but i guess it really depends on what you think a snapshot is, and if by being a snapshot it has limits that do not apply to what you think a photograph is?

This is why i love and hate photography.:)

a snapshot imo is a photo taken with no intention other than to capture what is there...and exposed relatively correctly, not thought on framing , dof, background etc...

Dragan

melekalikimaka wrote: »

a snapshot imo is a photo taken with no intention other than to capture what is there...and exposed relatively correctly, not thought on framing , dof, background etc...

Okay, then i have definitely seen snapshots that i would consider to be portraits, simply because everything about them tells you that both photographer and subject were deep in a moment and you get the engagement and the proper portrayal as well.

Fajitas!

So what though?

Sometimes a photograph just has to be taken.

Who cares if framing, focus and background is carefully thought of if it still works as an aesthetic photograph? See, sometimes people need to let go of all that. Seriously, shoot a whole day with out of focus images. You might even like it.

Hugh_C

Fajitas! wrote: »

Check out Liz Wells; A Critical Introduction to Photography. It's a fantastic book, with chapters written by several different theorists and edited by Wells. It sums up a lot of what you're looking at, from Benjamin to Barthes.

That book can't be any good at all, just looked through the index online and it doesn't mention Joel Peter Witkin.

Fajitas!

Pffft. It says critical for a reason...

Anouilh

Fajitas! wrote: »

So what though?

Sometimes a photograph just has to be taken.

Who cares if framing, focus and background is carefully thought of if it still works as an aesthetic photograph? See, sometimes people need to let go of all that. Seriously, shoot a whole day with out of focus images. You might even like it.[/QUOTE

An interesting thought...

I don't much like "out of focus", I have to admit.

cnocbui

Anouilh wrote: »

Fajitas! wrote: »

So what though?

Sometimes a photograph just has to be taken.

Who cares if framing, focus and background is carefully thought of if it still works as an aesthetic photograph? See, sometimes people need to let go of all that. Seriously, shoot a whole day with out of focus images. You might even like it.[/QUOTE

An interesting thought...

I don't much like "out of focus", I have to admit.

Have a look at this persons photos, some of her out of focus shots are wondrous:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30279269@N04/

Hugh_C

sometimes a portrait is just a portrait ...

perspective

.

Anouilh

I agree, Hugh C.

However, the body of analysis that has grown around iconography, notably the writings of specialists in aesthetics, can help photographers to see what they are doing more clearly.

Or so it seems to me...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/anouilh/3336973283/

Anouilh

There are plenty of ideas in this paper, notably on the subject of background in portraiture, to help photographers as well as artists compose interesting portraits.

http://www.selftaughtartists.org/books/otherpub/american_art_review.htm

Anouilh

Dragan wrote: »

What is a good portrait? Somethings that engages the viewer and portrays, accurately, an aspect of the subject.

The question of accuracy led me to choose this photo to upload.

http://photographedublin.blogspot.com/2009/03/portrait-in-bw.html#links
Capturing a person's personality is quite mysterious.