Assignment 34 - Portraits

homer simpson

Hi all, Longshanks100 wont be about for another week or so but he asked me to thank everyone for voting, and to post up the next assignment for him so here goes.....

The theme of this assignment is 'Portraits' .

General rules apply:

*Photos must be in by 2 weeks of given task - closing date 6pm 22nd April.
*No old photos. Only photos taken with this task in mind qualify - sorry. Therefore, dated 8rd April onwards.
*Photos must be on the given task.
*ONE photo per post. Post as many as you like.
*C&C to be encouraged - but be nice about it.
*Stretch yourself - no limitation to what you can do to produce the image.
*Next task/subject to be chosen by person who has the most thanks after their post (must include a picture in the post ).

Have Fun!!

Examples taken from Longshanks flikr...

Martron

NO WAY, i am not doing it, its out of my comfort zone, its against my religion, i dont have the gear, i dont like people, i dont like photography, i hate the clicking noise my camera makes, its the same as the one on public transport..........

Now that all the moaning is done and over with time to start taking photos.

Good one alright ( and its not the same as the public transport one as you can pick your own model ( one that probably wont punch you in the face ))

homer simpson

Martron wrote: »

NO WAY, i am not doing it, its out of my comfort zone, its against my religion, i dont have the gear, i dont like people, i dont like photography, i hate the clicking noise my camera makes, its the same as the one on public transport..........

Now that all the moaning is done and over with time to start taking photos.

Good one alright ( and its not the same as the public transport one as you can pick your own model ( one that probably wont punch you in the face ))

I lol'd at that, its something i have never actully done before myself (a portrait) either but i'm thinking on ways to try and make a portrait but not like a usuall portrait, or maybe im just better trying the standard one first instead of jumping ahead of myself, lol...i duno we will see i guess, full credit to longshanks though it is a good topic!

pete4130

The funny thing is, I did take a portrait on public transport of a person of a different ethnicity than myself on the way home form work today....granted it was a bit sneaky and isn't that sharp....what the hell!

pete4130

projectgtr

Martron wrote: »

NO WAY, i am not doing it, its out of my comfort zone, its against my religion, i dont have the gear, i dont like people, i dont like photography, i hate the clicking noise my camera makes, its the same as the one on public transport..........

Now that all the moaning is done and over with time to start taking photos.

Good one alright ( and its not the same as the public transport one as you can pick your own model ( one that probably wont punch you in the face ))

hahahahahhahah id like to see someone try to moan after that now to find a victim

baby and crumble

I have decided that from now onI'm going to try and enter at least ONE shot in every challenge... So here's my starting effort-

sprinkles

pixbyjohn

pete4130

squareballoon

SP from this morning.

bp

Resistance is futile....

bp

I decided to leave the interpretation of 'portrait' open.....

"The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.... A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer."

Wall-E/ Person - much the same thing!!!

Slidinginfinity

Here is an article about taking portraits. Ran across it though it might help others, too.

Link

oshead

pete4130

pullandbang

pixbyjohn

Trev M

The ageing self

plasticman3327

A pic of my unsuspecting misses - went for a slightly out of focus image to see how it would come out....not sure if it works or not...

phog

Sucking Diesel

pixbyjohn

.Longshanks.

Great to see this moving so well & thanks to homer for setting it up for me.
I had orginally thought of making it self portraits only but thought all hell might break loose!!

trooney

pete4130

oshead

trooney wrote: »

http://photos2.pix.ie/61/62/61625588FF9D4EB1BD29EC2A125A13DA-800.jpg

Great angle on this. All the lines on the ground and the wall lead to her.

NooSixty

Martron

just a question. a lot of the pictures although great are just pictures of people rather than portraits, no?

.Longshanks.

Martron wrote: »

just a question. a lot of the pictures although great are just pictures of people rather than portraits, no?

Yep. We've already had street photography (twice )
The aim of the challenge is the opposite of candid shots - the idea is that you first engage your subject. If you already know them or not is another story

Nebezpeci Mys

oshead

Longshanks100 wrote: »

The aim of the challenge is the opposite of candid shots - the idea is that you first engage your subject.

I was wondering the same myself. Like a collaboration between the photographer and the subject to produce the portrait. Though in saying that, some nice people shots here no matter what the brief or true definition is.

pixbyjohn

Buzz Lightyear

trooney

oshead wrote: »

I was wondering the same myself. Like a collaboration between the photographer and the subject to produce the portrait. Though in saying that, some nice people shots here no matter what the brief or true definition is.

But like a lot of the challenges, is surely open to interpretation and shouldn't be taken too seriously (within a reasonable limit)?

Martron

oshead wrote: »

Though in saying that, some nice people shots here no matter what the brief or true definition is.

well we need to stick to the brief and definition or there will be no point in doing the assignment. asa it will defeat the purpose of having a set subject if no one follows it.

oshead

Martron wrote: »

well we need to stick to the brief and definition or there will be no point in doing the assignment. asa it will defeat the purpose of having a set subject if no one follows it.

With all things considered 'Art' there is to be a certain amount of interpretation which can vary wildly form person to person.

Here's what I found on answers.com about the subject.

Quoted from Answers.com.
Definition of Portrait
n.
A likeness of a person, especially one showing the face, that is created by a painter or photographer, for example.
A verbal picture or description, especially of a person.


It goes on to say that unlike a snapshot, a portrait is a composed image of a person in a still position.

pete4130

Didn't the last "street" assignement have a winning image of a childrens playmat/rug with a road design on it with some model cars shot indoors with tungsten lighting....thats as far away from "street" photography as it gets and it still got the most votes

If its engagement with subject thats being looked for, then so be it!

homer simpson

Ok so..... went for a run yesterday and took 3 photos of the OH on Sleive league (highest sea cliffs in europe) and couldn't decide which one was better so i'll prob post the 3 of them up before the end of assignment here is the first....




Its the first time ive ever done anything like this either, so they are prob crap(the tripod is dam annoying, but hey i gave it a go, lol. Any feedback is welcome...

pullandbang

I'd have to agree with oshead on this. A portrait should be a "formal" picture taken of the subject and not a head crop from a zoom shot of someone you don't know or a random street shot.

Now when I say formal, I don't mean sit down in your finest outfit with full make up, but there should be some interaction between the photographer and the subject - even if it is only "Do yo mind if I take your picture?"

homer simpson

And a second one too.... light playing havoc here but meeh i still think its ok, any thoughts?

oshead

pete4130 wrote: »

Didn't the last "street" assignement have a winning image of a childrens playmat/rug with a road design on it with some model cars shot indoors with tungsten lighting....thats as far away from "street" photography as it gets and it still got the most votes

If its engagement with subject thats being looked for, then so be it!

Funny you should say that. I also did a search for anything with an authoritative air to it and couldn't find anywhere that said engagement with the subject is a requirement.

pullandbang wrote: »

I'd have to agree with oshead on this. A portrait should be a "formal" picture taken of the subject and not a head crop from a zoom shot of someone you don't know or a random street shot.

Now when I say formal, I don't mean sit down in your finest outfit with full make up, but there should be some interaction between the photographer and the subject - even if it is only "Do yo mind if I take your picture?"

For me a portrait is a collaboration between the photographer and the subject in order to produce an image that displays artistic style of the photographer and both the likeness and personality of the subject.

pullandbang

homer_simpson wrote: »

And a second one too.... light playing havoc here but meeh i still think its ok, any thoughts?

As you've asked.....No, it doesn't work for me. As you point out the light is playing havoc. Her face is in shadow, she'd too centred in the frame and there is far too much going on around her that is is focus. I'm looking at the long white fence to see where it goes instead of looking at the subject. It's a holiday snapshot to say "we were here". It's a nice snap, but not a portrait.

Einstein

Gonna have a bash at this
Barbeque yesterday afternoon, my 4 year old nephew...

sprinkles

Buzz Lightyear wrote: »

http://photos2.pix.ie/A2/0D/A20DF8041CE54DFD8D27E067588E1268-500.jpg

Really like that Buzz, what kind of PP did you use?

Martron

oshead wrote: »

a portrait is a composed image of a person in a still position.

yeah so i would interpret that as a set up picture where you possibly have control over the person. rather than takin a picture of someones face who is walking by.

Martron

pete4130 wrote: »

Didn't the last "street" assignement have a winning image of a childrens playmat/rug with a road design on it with some model cars shot indoors with tungsten lighting....thats as far away from "street" photography as it gets and it still got the most votes

well technically it was a picture of many streets. and it was literal interpretation of the assignment.

but i think people need to read osheads link about portraits and work from there. as i have said the pics posted are quite good but in my opinion are not portraits. ( but they still getting voted for........ brings me back to my one voting system but thats an argument for another day )

oshead

Martron wrote: »

yeah so i would interpret that as a set up picture where you possibly have control over the person. rather than takin a picture of someones face who is walking by.

I guess so.

Maybe Longshanks100 could step in at this point and clarify this. After all, he won the last challenge.

Martron

yeah clarification will stop this exploding out of control and then people blaming Pete4130 for something and we are back talking about people on a bus!

.Longshanks.

oshead wrote: »

I guess so.

Maybe Longshanks100 could step in at this point and clarify this. After all, he won the last challenge.

ahem...;)

Longshanks100 wrote: »

Yep. We've already had street photography (twice )
The aim of the challenge is the opposite of candid shots - the idea is that you first engage your subject. If you already know them or not is another story

I think Dave nailed the definition I was originally thinking of / looking for

oshead

Longshanks100 wrote: »

Yep. We've already had street photography (twice )
The aim of the challenge is the opposite of candid shots - the idea is that you first engage your subject. If you already know them or not is another story

Donno how I missed this earlier. Must have been pre-occupied with some other stuff.

pete4130