Portriature
By: Date: November 17, 2019 Categories: Photography

Portrait photography came with the advent of photography during the early 19th century while it was trying to find its foothold as an art as well. With the invention of the camera came a more convenient way to capture a visible image rather than painting it which was more time consuming and less accurate. Each photograph back then used to have only 20 copies so the photograph had more value. With the advancement of technology, the cameras got fancier and more efficient. The clarity of each picture got better and the cameras got smaller and faster. Portrait photography advanced and changed with equipment.

Portrait photography is mostly performed professionally in a photo studio. The photographer has control over the camera equipment where he/she could adjust the direction and intensity of light thereby also editing anything that appears to be abnormal and unclear. Most lights used in modern photography are a flash. The lighting for portraiture is typically diffused by bouncing it from the inside of an umbrella or by using a soft box. A soft box is a fabric box, encasing a photo strobe head, one side of which is made of translucent fabric. Hair and background lights are usually not diffused. There are many ways to light the subject’s face, but there are several possible lighting plans that the photographer would use. For example, butterfly lighting is used to enhance an image and this form of lighting was a favorite of famed hollywood portraitist George Hurrell, which is why this form of lighting is often called Paramount lighting. Similarly, window light portraiture uses window as a source of light for portraits. This is a popular form of photography preferred by a lot of professional photographers. The best time to take window light portrait is considered to be early hours of the day and late hours of afternoon where light is more intense on the window. The composition of shadows and soft light gives window light portraits a distinct effect different from portraits made from artificial lights.