The light quite obviously is coming from the left (viewer right) again, at a slightly lowered level but not as dramatically low as the previous shots. I've tried to keep the face as neutral as possible (excuse the glasses if you will, staring at spotlights from 9am till 3pm can really be a strain on the eyes) yet the subject is still quite isolated and hostile looking. I've not mentioned this before, but the hand positioning in most of these portraits are the same, a neutral hands to the front pose. in reflection, this is also in my opinion, contributing to the pernicious look to all of these shots. The fact that the subject looks tranquil and calm under these 'aggressive' poses and lighting scenes, suggests that he is happy or comfortable with it, that it is nothing new to him. perhaps this could go down well in the final portrait?
Next up, is a very similar portrait to the before shown, apart from a lesser intense shadow and a broader light source, made by using a filter cone on the lamp.
As you can see, the light comes in form the viewers right again, but is much more dispersed and has a larger fall off range. the subjects eyes although looking right ahead, don't ever seem to look directly into the eyes of the viewers like most onward facing subjects do (and please believe me when i tell you, this shot took almost 2 hours to get that desired effect) which gives a vacant feel to the portrait, that the person in it is really elsewhere.
it's not uncommon in cinema for antagonists to be shadowed heavily in certain scenes and promotions, as we already know, the darkness in a picture can give mystery to the subject.
In this portrait of serial killer Micheal Myers, the same effect has been done. thin but dense shadow on one side, with an intense one directional light source, and although the subject is staring head on, his eyes are almost out of the equation, again giving the vacancy and hostile mystery to the piece.
Now for the final Photographic portrait. this one also took quite a while to get correct, partly due to vanity, partly due to the fact that i wanted to completely lose the eyes but not much else in the shadows.
Its not letting me upload it in this blog entry as I've used up too much space already, so the photo will be in a standalone entry after this.
Anyway, what this is basically showing is that no matter who you are, to get anywhere, you need to slay certain demons, make certain sacrifices including your own identity at times. Ask any friends, you very rarely see me out getting wasted, I'm usually at home reading up on my sport, learning, or at the gym getting what needs to be done out of the way. I'm not a boisterous man, yet have become even more withdrawn over time due to almost segregating myself from my social life.
To sum up, my final portrait really needs to show these key features
- Hostility
- isolation and segregation
- sacrifice
- loneliness
- determination
- restriction
- and inhibition
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