Project: People Photography

Formal Portrait photography (also known as portraiture) is the capture by means of photography of the likeness of a person or a small group of people, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The objective is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. Like other types of portraiture, the focus of the photograph is the person's face, although the entire body and the background may be included. A portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the camera, but not always.

An Environmental Portrait is a portrait executed in the subject's usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject's life and surroundings.

By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the subject will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience.

The surroundings or background is a key element in environmental portraiture, and is used to convey further information about the person being photographed. The details that convey the message from the surroundings can often be quite small, and still be significant.The key seems to be in the symbolism expressed by various elements in the background, for instance, a baseball cap may not tell you much about your subject (unless he or she is a baseball player), but a chef's hat gives you a lot more detail about who he is and what he does.

For this your assignment, you are to shoot 24 - 36 shots. You are to go out and find a person or persons you find to be photogenic. You can choose to photograph them in a formal portrait fashion or as an environmental portrait. Don't forget the rules of composition, our discussions about lighting and lenses, or our discussion about photographing people.

You will choose three images to present to the class. Use Photoshop or Adobe Camera Raw to enhance these images.

You will also be turning in a proof sheet of all your images.