Portrait - studio project (LO1, LO2, LO3)
Preparation for the project
Research on portrait paintings and artists
Preparing props
Studio set up
Camera set up
Finalising and editing images
Presenting final image
Conclusion
Research on a portrait painting and artist
George Tsui
George Tsui was born in Hong Kong and moved to New York in the late 60s. He was studying first at the School of Visual Arts and later majoring in oil painting at the Art Students League. Tsui went on to work at NBC where he was awarded the prestigious 1997 Emmy Award for Best Individual Art and Craft.
After twenty years in the New York art scene, Tsui embarked on a creative journey into China in the pursuit of reaching the next level in his artistic career.
I chose his paintings as an inspiration of using the lighting for my portrait studio project.
Preparing props
I asked my friend to sit as a model and I also asked her to bring a paper fan and a colourful dress.
Studio set up
For all portraits I set up a black backdrop and placed a stool about 2 metres in front of it. After positioned the model I directed one light at the hand and the second one slightly more higher aiming at the face of the model. For both lights I used snoots. I tried first a beauty dish but it didn’t create enough contrast of light/shadow I intended to have on the face.
Later on I also added another light for the backdrop and for that I used barndoors and orange gel.
Camera set up
I prepared my Nikon Z6 camera and prime lens 85mm f/1.8S, which seemed to be the right choice for portraits. Shutter speed 1/100s, ISO 100. I was experimenting with aperture f9 and f11. Below are my images taken during the studio shooting.
Finalising and editing images
I used Lightroom for editing and final touch ups on my images. My aim was to create images that look like painting.
Presenting final image
Time spent in the studio was a great practice for setting up lighting and also positioning my model.
I selected this image as my final one for couple of reasons. The main reason is the light on model’s face. It is soft still defining her features. I also like model’s pose here and how nicely fills up the whole image and evokes the triangles devisions. Her white earring also stands out in the dark part of the image.
I took this image with my prime lens 85mm f/1.8S, 1/100s, f/11, ISO 100 and edited it in Lightroom.
Conclusion
My aim was to produce images using studio lighting and my inspiration was in George Tsui’s pictures. I was mainly concentrating on light in model’s face. I could have played more with backdrop lighting as well. Overall I am happy with my images and feel confident in using basic studio lighting to produce desired images.
Source: school course materials; internet
