Big Image Preview Gallery

Big Image Preview Gallery - Anthony Calleja Portrait photography or portraiture is photography of a person or group of people that displays the expression, personality, and mood of the subject.

Like other types of portraiture, the focus of the photograph is usually the person's face, although the entire body and the background or context may be included.

The relatively low cost of the daguerreotype in the middle of the 19th century and the reduced sitting time for the subject, though still much longer than now, led to a general rise in the popularity of portrait photography over painted portraiture.

The style of these early works reflected the technical challenges associated with long exposure times and the painterly aesthetic of the time.

Subjects were generally seated against plain backgrounds and lit with the soft light of an overhead window and whatever else could be reflected with mirrors.

Advances in photographic equipment and techniques developed, and gave photographers the ability to capture images with shorter exposure times and the making of portraits outside the studio.

Big Image Preview Gallery - Anthony Calleja When portrait photographs are composed and captured in a studio, the photographer has control over the lighting of the composition of the subject and can adjust direction and intensity of light.

There are many ways to light a subject's face, but there are several common lighting plans which are easy enough to describe. Big Image Preview Gallery - Anthony Calleja