THE ART OF PORTRAITS AND THE NUDE THE KODAK LIBRARY OF PHOTOGRAPHY CREATIVE Digitized by the Internet Archive 2012 in http://archive.org/details/artofportraitsOOtime THE ART OF PORTRAITS AND THE NUDE THE ART OF PORTRAITS AND THE NUDE TIME Published by Time-Life Books inassociation with Kodak books THE ART OF PORTRAITS AND THE NUDE CreatedanddesignedbyMitchellBeazley International inassociationwith KodakandTIME-LIFE BOOKS Editor-in-Chief JackTresidder SeriesEditor JohnRoberts ArtEditor Mel Petersen Editors IanChilvers LouiseEarwaker Richard Piatt Designers Michelle Stamp LisaTai AssistantDesigner SusanRentoul PictureResearchers BrigitteArora Nicky Hughes BeverlyTunbridge EditorialAssistant Margaret Little Production PeterPhillips JeanRigby ConsultingPhotographer DonaldHonevman CoordinatingEditorsforKodak KennethLassiter TheKODAKLibraryofCreativePhotography KennethOberg KodakLimited.Allrightsreserved j Jacalyn Salitan TheArtof PortraitsandtheNude ConsultingEditorforTime-Life Books ( KodakLimited,MitchellBeazleyPublishers. ThomasDickey SalvatEditores,S.A., 1°83 Nopartofthis,workmaybereproducedorutilizedin PublishedintheUnited States anyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical andCanadabyTIME-LIFEBOOKS includingphotocopying,recordingorbyanyinformation storageandretrievalsystem,withouttheprior President permissionoftheoriginalcopyrightowners. ReginaldK. BrackJr. LibraryofCongresscatalogcardnumber82-629-77 ISBN0-86706-212-6 Editor LSB7320L05 GeorgeConstable ISBN0-86706-214-2 retail Contents 6 Faces and Figures 16 Building a Portrait 18 The outdoor portrait 32 Full-length portraits 20 Natural light indoors 34 Closing in 22 Lighting faces 36 Changing the mood I 24 Lighting faces 2 38 Self-portraits 26 Hard-edged drama 40 Full-face or profile? 28 Soft-focus flattery 42 Double portraits 30 Head and shoulders 44 Group portraits 46 Sitter and Setting 48 Choosing a pose 60 The importance of 70 Using reflections 50 Faces and features background 72 Double exposure 52 Interpreting personality 62 Indoor settings 74 The art ofconcealment 54 Makeup 64 Outdoor settings 76 Portraits at play 56 Hair 66 Movement and gestures 78 Portraits at work 58 Props and accessories 68 Mood with color 80 Photographing the Nude 82 The simple approach 96 Nudes in landscapes 84 Human geometry 98 Props and accessories 86 Form and figure with nudes 88 Texture and the body 100 Changing the image 90 The minimal approach 92 Figures in motion 94 Indoor nudes 102 Glossary 103 Index 104 Acknowledgments AND FACES FIGURES Good portraits are not just pictures of people. They are interpretations of personality: instead of simply recording what the sitters look like, the best por- traits reveal what is individual about them, and perhaps what they are feeling. Sometimes, unposed pictures of friends or relatives can have this quality if the natural closeness between photographer and subject combines with technique in just the right way. But a successful portrait ofsomeone you hardly know is more difficult. You must quickly establish a basic understanding ofcharacter and a mutual confi- dence. You must decide what kind of surroundings will strengthen the portrait and what kind of light- ing will suit your subject. And then you must find a pose that is telling and which at the same time lets the subject feel at ease. The same need for consideration and control applies to nude photography. Effective pictures of nudes are never haphazard, whether they are studies of abstract human forms or natural outdoor poses. This book shows how you can extend your skill and creativity in two areas of photography that require special planning and forethought. The examples on the following nine pages succeed as they do because the photographers all had a clear idea of what they were trying to achieve. AJapaneseactress,posingforastudio portrait,performsadramaticrolefor thecamera. Perfect,almost shadowless, lightingemphasizesherexquisitebeauty. Justasmuchcarehasgoneintothepose, withoneexpressivehandincluded,a gentlycurvingzvispofstrayhairanda solitary rollingtear.