Despair - emotional and powerful - how to shoot it
THINKING:
Not every picture has to be happy. I believe that the purpose of art is to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. This may be joy and pleasure in beauty, but negative emotions are also valid.
Emotion in portraits is crucial to me. Nearly every picture I shoot I am trying to catch some element of emotional content or story. I am always trying to trigger something beyond the core image.
SEEING:
There's no pretence that this is anything other than a shower cabinet. By sitting Harriett down, instead of her standing, it immediately takes on a different feel.
Combining a strong facial expression and the hand reaching out for help strongly evokes the emotion.
The vertical lines of the cabinet act as inner frames - enclosing the figure - but also evoke prison bars.
DOING:
The image was shot in artificial light that I have toned right down into blues to give a cool, downbeat feel.
There is a studio strobe flash unit firing into the ceiling. This gives a soft diffused light and no reflections in the glass of the cabinet.
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This is an excerpt from "Art Nude Photography Explained" which shows you how to create nude images and how to read and evaluate art nude photographs
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