Reading Notes-pg. 108-113: Portraits

• Working with People
• photographer must gain the subject's trust and cooperation
• a successful photographer learns to work with both known people and strangers
• a good portrait involves building a relationship with your subject, even if it's only temporary
• Camera Formats
• many professional photographers go with medium format cameras , because of their bigger negatives and their ease and speed of operation
• Film Choices for Portraits
• Films Speed
• Slow Films (50 to 100 ISO)-usually mean slower shutter speeds
• Fast Films (400 to 3200 ISO)-more sensitive to light and are ideally suited to available-light photography; candid and environmental portraits
• Black and White or Color?
• black and white-focuses the viewer's attention on the subject
• color-can carry feelings and impressions
• Equipment Choices: Lenses for Portraits
• 24mm-too close; distortion is obvious
• 50mm-shows the face as less rounded and broad
• 100mm-gives you the most flattering image
• Camera Accessories
• tripod-three-legged metal stand on which you can mount your camera
• cable release-a flexible wire, one end of which attaches to the camera's shutter release
• reflector-anything that will reflect light into shadows to lighten them for a flattering and three-dimensional portrait
• The Formal Portrait
• the formal portrait is the simplest portrait and should emphasize the person and nothing else
• Julia Margaret Cameron (England, 1815-1879)
• Victorian photographer
• her photographs had a lasting effect on the history of photography
• inspired and influenced Alfred Stieglitz and the Pictorialist photographers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries