In an effort to continually build and define and refine my photographic skills, I joined a photography class at Joliet Junior College several weeks back. Last week my instructor Gene Alvear, a talented professional photographer himself, provided the class with the weekly assignment: Produce an image with some form of portrait lighting. As I reflected on the lighting styles, Rembrandt, loop or butterfly, paramount and split lighting were among my choices. I had to choose just one. In my business and in my studio, I find myself most often using Rembrandt or loop lighting. This assignment called for something different. I decided to give split lighting a try. Now for a subject: Several photographer friends of mine shouted "selfie, selfie". Ok, I decided to give it a whirl. Now for a theme: I thought about it and the black/white images of Irving Penn came to mind. The self portrait would be created as a black and white image. Now for the inspiration: I immediately thought of my brother-in-law's who is scheduled to visit town soon and his awesome shoulder tattoo. It is an image of a smiley face as one half and a skull on the other. Perfect...split lighting, black and white image, utilizing a black and white shirt for greater contrast and statement. Add a bit of compositional design and here is what I came up with. For those that might ask...one photograph, multiple lighting techniques and gobo's, minimal post production...set-up to finished product...about 1.5 hours. Enjoy. Carpe diem!
Showing posts with label Self-portrait. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self-portrait. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Self Portrait: Split Lighting
In an effort to continually build and define and refine my photographic skills, I joined a photography class at Joliet Junior College several weeks back. Last week my instructor Gene Alvear, a talented professional photographer himself, provided the class with the weekly assignment: Produce an image with some form of portrait lighting. As I reflected on the lighting styles, Rembrandt, loop or butterfly, paramount and split lighting were among my choices. I had to choose just one. In my business and in my studio, I find myself most often using Rembrandt or loop lighting. This assignment called for something different. I decided to give split lighting a try. Now for a subject: Several photographer friends of mine shouted "selfie, selfie". Ok, I decided to give it a whirl. Now for a theme: I thought about it and the black/white images of Irving Penn came to mind. The self portrait would be created as a black and white image. Now for the inspiration: I immediately thought of my brother-in-law's who is scheduled to visit town soon and his awesome shoulder tattoo. It is an image of a smiley face as one half and a skull on the other. Perfect...split lighting, black and white image, utilizing a black and white shirt for greater contrast and statement. Add a bit of compositional design and here is what I came up with. For those that might ask...one photograph, multiple lighting techniques and gobo's, minimal post production...set-up to finished product...about 1.5 hours. Enjoy. Carpe diem!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Self Portrait
Recently a good number of photographers I know have embarked on a 365 day study of self portraits. Even after much encouragement, the 365 is not for this year...maybe next year. We'll see. But I did take it upon myself to create a self-portrait the other day. I believe this is a close reflection of Daniel Kemp the photographer. Quiet, serious, introspective, thoughtful. Carpe diem.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Self Portrait: "Chevy-man"
Had the pleasure of talking with international photographer Michael Ayers out of Lima, Ohio the other day and the conversation turned to his recently purchased '39 Chevy Pickup. Beautiful condition, 30,000 miles on a 60 year old classic. So I found one of my favorite Chevy shirts and wore it "undercover" to the studio today and decided to create an image just for him (and any other Chevy guy/gal out there). This is my rendition of a "Chevy-man" self-portrait. Thanks Michael for the great conversation and I look forward to your seminar with the Chicagoland Professional Photographers Association next month! Carpe diem.
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