Not quite a portrait

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Actually a test shot for a cd cover for a friend of mine. He wants the same shot, but with a little less smile next time.



-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 22, 2000

Answers

Actually of the 3, this seems to be the best portrait.

-- Altaf Shaikh (bshaikh@nyc.rr.com), November 22, 2000.

um, i can only see one image. that one, a headshot against a dark background, i find to be very, very good. it is obvious that the subject is comfortable with you as the photographer, which i think is one of the keys to good portraiture. my only complaint is the presence of the "ghosts" in the upper right quadrant, which i feel detract from the impact of the "suspended" image.

-- wayne harrison (wayno@netmcr.com), November 22, 2000.

(One image in each of the three posts.)

The background is the trunk of a 500-year-old oak that he is sitting in front of. He's very metaphysical and chose the location because of his connection to the tree.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 22, 2000.


And, actually, none of them are intended to be "portraits" per se.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 22, 2000.

I'm not sure I understand (not that that's news or anything). If this and the others were not intended to be portraits, then what did you intend them to be? This one is a particularly good portrait in my opinion. I like it a lot.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), November 22, 2000.


Actually I didnt know that Jesse Ventura had launched a music career...

-- Chris Yeager (cyeager@ix.netcom.com), November 22, 2000.

If the tree is a significant object in his life, I think it should be a little more recognizable. How about increasing the depth of field a touch? I'd have a better chance of seeing the trunk texture and determining that it was a tree.

-- John Thurston (John_Thurston@my-deja.com), November 22, 2000.

Well, "portraits" - at least the way this board thinks of them - seem to be based on the idea of communicating something meaningful about the subject. I really approached this (as I did the others) from the opposite standpoint - with only the desire to create a strong image. In this case, however, the result is somewhere in between, both because of the subject's involvement and probably because he feels pretty relaxed with me since we've known each other for a while (and he used to do photography too). And personally, I think that's the ideal relationship for any shoot: let the photographer concentrate on creating the image, but with the active involvement of the subject.

As for the background, I don't think pictures need to be self- explanatory. (After all, it could just have easily have been a painted canvas back there.) This picture will probably end up being used in the CD insert along with some text about the tree. We'll reshoot this without the necklace and with less smile and then crop it square from the left and right down the center of his face for the cover, leaving plenty of room for the title over his shoulder.

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 22, 2000.


Hey John... when you reshoot, try a few from a lower point of view, which would give more emphasis on his face, and less of the dual hotspots on the dome. Now that I think about it, maybe a black cloth from one side of the tree out to his right (camera's left) would remove one hot spot, and serve the second purpose of creating more modeling of the contours of his face. Maybe a flying black flat, above and to his right (again, your left) would do the same for the hotspot, yet still give a nice keylight effect on his jawline/cheek, which would seperate his face from his neck (got a 'roid back for the rb?). A turtle neck would help with this last seperation issue, as well, but might not be his style... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), November 22, 2000.

Don't touch the necklace! Why would you change something about him that he apparently values enough to wear around his neck? Personally i like the picture because of his expression and posture, its coming at me and I assume what he aspires his music to do as well. I think you'd have to be crazy to dump a shot with this much personality coming across. It's rare to have a nice honest shot, unlike the other 2 which don't really speak to me or make me want to meet the person, this one definately makes me curious and that's in my mind a good thing. I wouldn't make the tree in focus either, the lack of DOF adds to the focus on him and not on the tree.

-- Altaf Shaikh (bshaikh@nyc.rr.com), November 23, 2000.


What is his name?

-- Altaf Shaikh (bshaikh@nyc.rr.com), November 23, 2000.

Good suggestions, but I think you can overanalyze a shot. We went with this look when I serendipitously caught him changing positions through the viewfinder and then "Polaroided" it (if that's a verb). In larger sizes the separation is better - and avoids giving it a disembodied head look (though we will probably use a turtleneck on the final shot for the impact). I also specifically chose the angle to make him look a bit more imposing and to keep the hotspots there to emphasize the 3D effect.

This is a shot we did some time ago - but under the same tree. (It needs a bit of tweaking to fix his complexion and to add some catchlights.) He actually looks better with hair than bald, so that's another reason I went with the angle I did.



-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 23, 2000.


Looks better blad, gives him more character.

-- Altaf Shaikh (bshaikh@nyc.rr.com), November 23, 2000.

but blad is more of a hassel (hahaha, couldn't resist)... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), November 23, 2000.

He looks better bald from this angle. He tends to look rather "gnome- ish" otherwise. Becasue of the crop we need for the cover pic, we'll do without the necklace, but as I said, I think this one will be the interior shot. He also wears some terrific rings that I'd like to get in a shot sometime.

His name is Vick DeGiorgio and he's a local (Orlando) folk-singer who writes both lyrics and music, performs, and records all the tracks on his albums (at least for the first mix). He's a technical writer by day and used to be a research chemist as well as a photographer. Of course, with his name, I keep telling him he should get a satin jacket and become lounge singer ("The song stylings of Vick DiGiorgio").

-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 23, 2000.



I really like the first picture, but think it would loose a lot of its impact if it lost all the symmetry as you propose. Can't you crop it sqare from the left edge, leaving in his whole face and head (and the pendant)?

I think the reason I like it so much is the tension between the dramatic angle and lighting, and his smile - which is the sort of smile you give to someone you know well. I can't help feeling I've been caught stealing apples by a tough but indulgent neighbour.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), November 24, 2000.


Here's a mockup of what we're talking about. (Actually I like it the way it is. We may not have to reshoot.) The tricky thing about a CD cover is leaving room for the text while still creating a strong image.



-- John Kantor (jkantor@mindspring.com), November 25, 2000.


Oh! Wow. Like that cover. Very powerful indeed. Mmmm, well done. Like it a lot.

Funny thing is it surprised me after having seen the original shot. I hadn't seen it comming, as it were. Very interesting illustration of how one can create covers. Thanks.

-- Allan Engelhardt (allane@cybaea.com), November 25, 2000.


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