I enjoy self-portraits. They were the focus of my final project for the class that got me serious about photography, Digital Photography I at CCV in Winooski. For that project, I dressed up as Vincent van Gogh, and emulated eight of his famous self-portrait paintings. The final shots can be seen here.
Dan Lovell is the instructor for the class at BCA. He is encouraging us to think about and experiment with different types and directionality of lighting, which is how this shot came about.
Although there is some dim window light coming from my right, the main light source is a portable LED light held in front of and above me. Some processing was applied in photoshop - I increased the blacks to isolate my face, increased the contrast and clarity for visual 'pop', did a little noise reduction, converted to black and white and applied a sepia filter. I like the 'strikingness' of it.
ISO 200, f/8, 1/3 second. Focal length 30mm (micro 4/3).
Hi Ben,
ReplyDeleteI am a University student in New Zealand, and for an assignment which we have to create a poster for, I have chosen to look at depression within NZ as this is a huge issue within our society (especially amongst young people). I was looking on the internet for a striking black and white portrait photograph to use as my main image within my poster. I understand that your focus when creating this photograph wasn't to convey sadness or depression, however it would fit in perfectly with my theme. Because, of this, I wanted to ask you if I could please use this image for my assignment. You would of course be acknowledged within my poster, and if you would like, I would be happy to send you a digital copy of it when it is finished so you know that your beautiful image was put to good use.
I hope to hear from you soon,
Kind Regards,
Franca Bauer