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THE CLASSIC SOLITAIRE PORTRAIT
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The
classic lighting styles of black and white portraiture.
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Norma Shearer |
Thank
you for your interest in attending this studio portrait lighting
workshop. This workshop is designed around the Classic Solitaire Portrait. In the 1970's I discovered this portrait description in a 1910 newspaper advertisement for a New York City portrait studio. I thought it was fitting for this portrait style and have use the description since. We see today a renewed interest in black and white portraiture. Digital cameras and new films enable photographers to create black and white images without the time commitment required to learn traditional processing methods. This freedom has inspired many color photographers to explore the black and white medium. Unlike color portraiture, black and white portraiture relies heavily upon lighting to define the subject, reliance on ambient lighting is not enough. Four basic lighting patterns are used to describe the complexity of the human face, the foundation of these four lighting patterns can be found in the movement of the sun through the sky. In this workshop you will quickly learn to identify these four patterns because you have seen them in nature all of your life. Lighting control, once learned, is a relatively simple process. When you see and understand the function of the principle lights, their use and placement becomes an obvious result of your subject and the composition. In the Classic Solitaire Portrait the subject is presented head resting upon neck and shoulders, grounded in a space of tones designed to compliment the planes of the face. The eyes, the focal point for the portrait. Through the application of correct technique you can craft a properly exposed portrait, a studied application of lighting style can carefully sculpt your subjects face, but it is your interaction with your subject that will elicit the emotion that you will record. I stress simplicity and ease because the process of making a portrait must always be secondary to the interaction of the subject of the portrait and the photographer, the technology cannot be allowed to stand in the way. The examples used in this workshop (with the exception of my own work) are black and white portraits made between the years 1920 thru 1960 when black and white portraiture was in its prime. With the advent of color materials in the 1960's, and their severe technical limitations, the traditional lighting styles of black and white portraiture gave way to the soft and even lighting that color film could record. It has been only recently that modern color recording methods, both film and digital, have reached a point where the traditional black and white lighting styles can now be successfully explored in color. You to take away from this workshop: 1) an understanding of lighting technique and control, 2) the ability to recognize and configure the four basic lighting patterns of the Classic Solitaire Portrait, and 3) an appreciation for the positive effect that your work can have on the subject and the viewer. Once learned, the “lighting styles of the Classic Solitaire Portrait can serve as a foundation for your exploration of both color and black and white portraiture. Workshop: Online study and reference: -The fundamentals of exposure control related to portraiture. -The background and description of the four classic lighting patterns and their use (corrective lighting). -An introduction to the history of popular photographic portraiture 2-3 hour studio sessions, Saturday 9am to 12pm -intro to studio lighting and ancillary equipment, light balancing and exposure measurement (tungsten lights, with model) -intro to lighting patterns, contrast control. (tungsten lights, with model) -work session, opportunity to work model in the studio. This workshop is limited to a maximum of 5 students per workshop. If you are interested please email me at jm.tharp@verizon.net for registration information. Workshop Date: (tentative) 6//21/08 and 6/28/08 Price: $225.00 Space Availability: 5 (final registration 5/30/08) Location: Beaverton, Oregon |
Gilbert Rowland
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Dwight
Eisenhower
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Bonnie
Jean Tait
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Audrey
Hepburn
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Natasha Paley
George Hoyningen-Huene |
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Copyright
(c) John M Tharp 2008
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