Portrait Photography

For all the difficulty of taking the ideal landscape photo, even harder, in my opinion, is the really good portrait-- especially one that doesn't look like it came from a studio. At least in my experience, such portraits require the right lighting, angles, background,  expression, and often come from pure luck.

The problem is most people have a hard time with even wanting their photo taken and instantly freeze up for the camera or put on a goofy expression that is nothing like their real face. Some believe because they take poor photos that they aren't attractive which is not true. Being photogenic does not relate to how a person appears to others. You can have beautiful people who take terrible photos and people who in person seem rather blah but bloom through the camera lens.

When in Mitchell, we watched a DVD on National Geographic photographers, of which many do specialize in getting interesting photos of people of all ages and from diverse cultures. When you study their results a bit, you notice two things. One, they take a LOT of photos to get one. Two, the lighting they choose is also best for landscapes, strong light with equally strong highlighting shadows.

If you have ever seen a set up for celeb photos by the gifted portrait photographer, Annie Liebovitz, there are often lights and reflectors to get that 'natural' look. Because I really like her work for its creative aspects, I bought the book-- Annie Leibovitz A Photographer's Life 1990-2005. It was very expensive but worth it for me as it's full of mostly black and white portraits of ordinary people as well as celebrities where light and dark are used very excitingly even in real natural settings. The photos of her lover, Susan Sontag, were especially poignant as Susan was dying.

So trying to get good portrait photos, of others as well as set up conditions to get interesting self-portraits or photos of myself, is always a challenge. I can't really explain why I do it other than it's out there like climbing a mountain would be for someone else.

Once in awhile something comes along that leads to a better photo than all the rest and such a moment came in the Painted Hills. The lighting had been fantastic for landscapes with the kind of shadows I always like. The time, around 2 PM would not be good during the summer but fall is a different ballgame.

We were back from our hike; and as I opened the pickup's back door to put the camera inside, I noticed my reflection in the glass. Wow, I really liked it. Kind of a mythic look-- Native American, maybe allegorical, kind of like me and not as it showed the lines, my age, stretched my face a bit but mostly had the angles of light I always want.

So I took one shot which cut off half my face. Then I asked Farm Boss to give it a try which at least got my whole face. Interesting photo but it made me wonder if there was some way to get a direct shot that might capture that lighting.

He took a series of photos from the driver's seat to where I stood outside the passenger side with the high desert view behind me. Some had expressions I didn't like quite so well (like everybody else, I tend to get the same smile on all my photos) but the skin tones and shadows were the most realistic I think I've ever gotten.

Farm Boss thought the results might have been enhanced by reflections of the gold truck door giving me some of what Liebovitz gets with her reflectors. Some was just that autumn light as I saw some of the same color in the top photo here where we had hiked to the end of the trail, a woman, who was eating lunch out there, spontaneously asked if we'd like her to take a photo of the two of us together. I am not sure why but every so often we have someone offer that. A random kindness, I think.

I get no creative credit for the idea of that photo or the fact that it worked so well with the pose which wasn't actually chosen with Farm Boss standing above me on the rim of the trail, and even with us squinting into the sun. I like it as well or better than any joint photo we have had taken.

In the one above (that led to all the rest) when I was looking at the image later, I saw something I hadn't seen when I snapped the photo. Look at it carefully and you see what appears to almost be a ghostlike image and a moon lending it all a mythic quality.

The reality of the image is half the face of a woman, trees reflected against a sky but we had to think a bit about from where that almost Olmec mask had come and decided it was also the clouds reflected against the seat back. The moon is a sun reflection. I mean the whole photo is reflection but the lucky combination created what you'd usually have to create with paints. It doesn't often happen in a photo unless it's photoshopped which this one was not.

The rest were all taken by Farm Boss, first two reflected in glass. Second two trying to duplicate that and not quite making it. Finding the right expressions in a photo is as hard for me as anybody else even having attempted it so many more times.

A really good portrait photograph is not about making it super flattering. Photo shopping out all the lines or sags would turn it into something plastic. The best photos reflect the person as they are at that moment. Such photos are a challenge to get, but part of the joy of mastering photography is facing those challenges. This last one I liked best because it's me and in the kind of country I love very much.