How do you create masterful portraits? A good portrait is about an encounter rather than an exchange. Making a portrait is often seen as a transaction, but it is more than that. It is a meeting just like any other meeting, except that photos also have to be taken. Yet there is always that expectation on both sides, because one has to give something and the other arrives to capture something. This creates a particular tension that asks a great deal of both photographer and sitter.
What exactly is that tension and how can it be explained? How can you relate to this? And how do you use that field of tension? How do you ensure that you come home with exactly the images you have in mind? But also: how do you avoid approaching the session as someone who has only come to take?
In addition to answers to the above questions, in this book you will find interviews with the masterful portrait photographers Jan Banning, Harmen de Jong, Suzanne Jongmans, Vincent Mentzel and Susanne Middelberg. They explain how they create their breathtaking portraits with depth.
In this book you will learn:
how to capture someone's character in a photo;
how to turn a photo of a person into a real portrait;
why making a portrait can also bring you a lot as a person;
how to use the narrative context of a portrait;
how to create a stand-alone portrait, a portrait series, a photo essay containing portraits, and editorial images;
how to develop your own style and why that is important;
how to use existing and/or artificial light to say what you mean.
All this is covered for both autonomous work and commissioned portraits.
Approaching the discipline of portrait photography as an encounter and a partnership based on mutual respect.
A web version of this book is available. After purchase, you receive free access plus relevant extras.
Jasper van Bladel is, among other things, a photographer and freelance journalist. He writes and photographs for clients in broadcasting, high-end vintage design and the arts. He has worked as editor-in-chief for several magazines.
Language: Dutch. This article refers to the Dutch-language edition.
Focus on Photography: Master Portraits - Jasper van Bladel
Pages: 160
Price: €34.99
Publisher: Van Duuren Media
ISBN: 9789463562775
