The staged portrait

Off camera flash
Lighting techniques in photography
The staged portrait
The School of Photography of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia had invited
me to do an illumination workshop applied to the staged portrait, ie, a portrait in
the context of a set. The workshop was about understanding the importance of a
staged space, a set, as a support to the character wanted in a portrait.
We had to make a portrait not only around a decorated space but also with an
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adequate lighting, and a characterization of the personage. I thought it would be
interesting to take a picture on the idea of the linear perspective. Photography
obeys its laws and it seemed amusing to distortion the perspective a bit. This was
not a new idea, Vincenzo Scamozzi had already developed it in the Teatro
Olimpico in Vicenza, a work by Andrea Palladio to build up - on stage and behind
the proscenium - the spectacular view of the five ways of Thebes.
© Marco Ferrari
In the twentieth century Maurits Cornelis Escher also played with the perspective
and optical illusion, as did Futurists like Tullio Crali, with dizzying perspectives
that glorified speed and movement. More recently, the building Turning Torso by
Santiago Calatrava in Malmö, Sweden, turns 90 degrees from the bottom to the
top, forming an almost unreal aspect.
Stairs © Escher
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Incuneandosi nell'abitato © Tullio Crali
© Marcelo Isarrualde
The idea was to create a space of infinity and a costume for the character that was
easily confused with the decor, to act as a camouflage and that way pass more or
less unnoticed by the eye. Hence, create a visual game of the idea of the portraits
as description of the figure or character of a person.
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The perspective
Let's start with the idea of the linear perspective as a simulation of the visible that
- mathematically ordered - can include the volumetric effect of objects on a flat
surface, or two dimensions.
© Big Dog Sleeping
I always liked that the chess checkerboard was a recurrent resource to understand
the perspective. We all know that the frame is square formed cells, white and
black, alternated. So I thought the set should have a recognizable pattern ... What
better than a trihedral painted as a chess board!
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And now ... How would a small cube in the chess board painted trihedral be seen
if it was painted as a chessboard as well? The optical effect would be disturbing,
so I put the following example which is funnier, and we can rest our eyes a litte
bit.
Just the distortion of the perspective missing ...
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The set was then built, not of three planes formed of three squares, but ... two
trapezoids and a diamond!
And the suit? An oil painting of Paul Cezanne reminded me of the Harlequin
costume and with that the problem was solved.
Arlequin by Paul Cezanne
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The illumination
It was important that there were no shadows to confuse even more the support of
the subject in the set. For this we used three large soft boxes by Hensel, the
biggest one placed above the set and the other two on each side of the camera, all
with equal intensity.
Then there was only the "acting" of the character left ... And to shoot the picture!
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© Jordi Vidal
The photosensitive material
We used a Hasselblad camera with an extreme wide angle to further exaggerate
the perspective and also a beautiful Nikon F2A with a 24 mm lens, both with
EPP100 Kodak film. The photographs with the Hasselblad were developed with a
"cross process" like it was a negative film , with C-41 chemicals. This way the
contrast of the colors became greater, generating a negative image on a
transparent base. Today this technique has become synonymous with the
Lomography movement, inspired by another analog jewel such as the Cosina CX1. The EPP that was used with the Nikon was developed with the standard E-6
process for color reversal films.
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Today this process can be simulated by manipulating the contrast, brightness,
saturation and curves in Photoshop, but without the unpredictability of the images
of the traditional cross-process.
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Any reproduction, in parts or in whole, is forbidden without the written consent of
the author.
All rights reserved. © Marcelo Isarrualde
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