Part A
Make a series of portraits of anyone that you know (or don't know) and pay attention to the lighting and pose. Hand in 3 good examples of close up portraits using different kinds of light. Do not use flash with this project.
Part B
Make a series of environmental portraits of someone in their environment, the setting should say something about the person being photographed. Hand in 3 examples of environmental portraits.
Some things to consider: the persons sitting for you do not need to be smiling or even looking at the camera. Focus on the face, be careful of background.
Portrait photography (also known as portraiture) is all about images of a person or a small group of people in which the face and its expression are predominant. The objective is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person or people.
In a very general sense, there are three distinct portrait types: the close-up or head shot, upper-body or full-length, and the location or environmental shot. Each type has a specific look and a unique set of technical considerations.
There are many types of portraiture: portraits in the studio or on location, portraits that are flat and matter-of-fact representations of the sitter such as passport photos, environmental portraits in which the setting describes something about the person being photographed. Posing your subject is another element that impacts your image: looking at the camera or looking away, smiling or not, sitting or standing, the use of props or other elements, and where to place the frame. Focus is another aspect of your image that will determine what is important or not in your image; perhaps throwing the background out of focus in a portrait or a landscape is a method for achieving the desired emphasis.
Composition in portraiture is crucial. The choices you make in looking through your camera and deciding on a vertical or horizontal orientation, the focal length of your lens, and your camera angle all contribute to the success or failure of your image.
Examples
Diane Arbus
August Sander
Irving Penn
Julia Margaret Cameron
Sally Mann
Robert Mapplethorpe
Richard Avedon
Letta Lux
How to: