Cheryl Bartram
Formal_SP
My main goal of this image was to contrast the white dresser with my black shirt, and to have the rest of my body become a middle gray. I thought this represented me because if there's one thing I've learned from life its that not everything is black or white, right or wrong. There's many shades of gray. I also chose black and white because it is my favorite form of photography to work with. There is a Ted Grant quote that says “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
Some compositional strategies I used: Instead of placing myself in the center of the image, I moved off to the right slightly. Not only does it make the image more interesting, you also get the feeling that there is movement from the photographer. There are leading lines from the drawers of the dresser that lead the viewer eyes back to the subject. There is also repitition from the shapes of my eyes to the shapes of the dresser handles.
For my formal self portrait I chose to use the butterfly lighting technique. I chose this technique because I found it to be the most flattering for my face. You can tell it's butterfly lighting because of the butterfly shaped shadow underneath my nose as well as the dark shadow under my chin which helps my face pop. I achieved this by placing my tripod at eye level and placing my spotlight above and behind my camera.
I also attempted loop lighting, split lighting, and Rembrandt lighting, but butterfly was by far the most successful. Throughout the three images I chose, I ended up taking 199 photographs. over 1/3rd of the images I took were of my formal self portrait. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to photography, so I don't stop taking images until I have the perfect shot... and then some!
Formal_SP
My main goal of this image was to contrast the white dresser with my black shirt, and to have the rest of my body become a middle gray. I thought this represented me because if there's one thing I've learned from life its that not everything is black or white, right or wrong. There's many shades of gray. I also chose black and white because it is my favorite form of photography to work with. There is a Ted Grant quote that says “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
Some compositional strategies I used: Instead of placing myself in the center of the image, I moved off to the right slightly. Not only does it make the image more interesting, you also get the feeling that there is movement from the photographer. There are leading lines from the drawers of the dresser that lead the viewer eyes back to the subject. There is also repitition from the shapes of my eyes to the shapes of the dresser handles.
For my formal self portrait I chose to use the butterfly lighting technique. I chose this technique because I found it to be the most flattering for my face. You can tell it's butterfly lighting because of the butterfly shaped shadow underneath my nose as well as the dark shadow under my chin which helps my face pop. I achieved this by placing my tripod at eye level and placing my spotlight above and behind my camera.
I also attempted loop lighting, split lighting, and Rembrandt lighting, but butterfly was by far the most successful. Throughout the three images I chose, I ended up taking 199 photographs. over 1/3rd of the images I took were of my formal self portrait. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to photography, so I don't stop taking images until I have the perfect shot... and then some!