Changes in Portraiture with Time - Essay Example

Running Head: CHANGES IN PORTRAITURE WITH TIME CHANGES IN PORTRAITURE WITH TIME 341391 ABSTRACT This study is about a comparative and analytical examination of the earlier and the current studio portraiture. It seeks to establish if and how changeover of the studio portraiture to the digital format has changed the style and the type of photography available today and the significance of the change to photography. Thus it will dwell on research on knowledge of studio portraiture that is definition of its nature, history and development and its nature today. Back ground information. The term studio portraiture is used to denote production of a photographic, painting or sculpture representation of a person whereby the concentration of the photography is the person i.e. his or her appearance and mood rather than his or her environment. Portrait is far distinct from a snapshot for it shows someone in immobile state thus it can be termed as the best expression of a personality in photography. This explains why since the time immemorial, portraiture as an art ; painting, sculpture and photography, has been used in making impressions of great people such as kings , emperors and pharaohs among others. Moreover, it has been used in the same magnitude on important occasions like funerals weddings. Donnan (2004) claims that in political arenas, portraits are so important that it is deemed a symbol of national unity to have portraits of the head of state in important places. It is common that if a portrait of a certain personality is used too much it can lead to worship of that person either politically or in other ways like in the case of Stalin in Russia. Families have heightened demand on portraits to enjoy in commemoration of important events like weddings and birthdays among other various events. Portrait photography has developed since the time immemorial to become a vast and technologically sophisticated industry today. Studio portraiture has expanded creating many jobs and careers and the other hand developing talents. As technology advances so do the techniques of photography which makes the talents developed in studio portraiture to be taken far outside a housed studio (Donnan, 2004). Today's advancement in studio portraiture is solely due to digital formatting technology which is narrowed from electronic technology. Digital technology is the system controlled by digital circuits where electronic logic is transmitted discreetly using gates and flip-flops this is the opposite of analogue electronics whose systems continuously varies. Digital format is use of the said digital technology in a calculation or solving of a logical problem. Digital formatting has led to greater developments in photography techniques such as high key lighting. it has also led to development of digital cameras which are very efficient in studio portraiture. This study will be used to gauge by what ways change in studio portraiture to digital format has affected style and type of photography available today (Donnan, 2004). Problem Statement Gradual changes of portraiture brought about by technological advancement have been perceived to have brought about negative impacts to the society in terms of style as well as types of photography available today. Justification of the study. Since the discovery of portraiture as an art which through history, dates back several thousand years back, there has been a great revolution in the ways it is carried out and the outcome. The development in different techniques of portraiture has led to increased performance of portraiture as an art in satisfying the need of the user the drive of the artist. The emergence of portraiture industry has led to springing up of many studios in the recent times which have later developed as big film or photography companies; this implies large scale business which requires talents in portraiture. In earlier times portraiture was more of vocational than trade this is where its definition and development started with development of small studios where painters or sculptors did their work and nurtured young talents into portraiture; there is need to develop schools in art of portraiture to effectively cater for increased demand in the art. There is need to know portraiture today to ensure in its advancement it rewards those that are involved in it. This can be justified by the knowledge that by example in Holland where there were established centers of painting of portrait, artists who are today so much renown e.g. Gerard ter Borgh Salomon Msdacha and Paulus Moreelse remained left out in society despite their great contribution in art of portraiture (Hooqsteder 2009). Due to advancement in technology studio portraiture has transformed by far the latest technology being digital format which emanates from electronic technology this has led to emergence of gadgets used in photography such as digital cameras, techniques like high key photography among other developments. With regard to this it is of great importance that the generation of today get the elementary knowledge of digital format and its correlation with the studio portraiture. On the other hand it is quite clear that there is tendency by people to cling to the old ways of studio portraiture e.g. painting and sculpture e.g. where sculptures of great people like presidents are mounted in places of some significance, or paintings of family members in family houses or in other various gathering places, this necessitates the study of studio portraiture and current techniques and methods used in it so as to understand it better and well relate it to today's life. Hypothesis The style and type of photography available has changed dramatically due to change in studio portraiture to digital format. The change in studio portraiture to digital format is positive rather than negative to the technique of portraiture. Main Objective The research study aims at deeply understanding portraiture, its significance and its development from earlier times and development of digital formatting and its correlation to studio portraiture in current the time and hence define special or advanced techniques in understanding of studio portraiture e.g. high key photography ,digital camera and its importance. This will enable the study to conclude on the possible advantages and disadvantages of these techniques. The outcome of the study is to conclusively establish if and how this has changed the style and type of photography available today hence know if the changeover has impacted available photography either positively or negatively. Specific Objectives To define the term studio portraiture. Make a comprehensive study on development of studio portraiture. Identify various techniques in portraiture and analyze their nature and their development Put down the significance of the techniques. Make a conclusion on the study: if and how changeover of studio portraiture to digital format has affected style and type of photography available today. Analyze the possible changes above and note if they are either positive or negative to photography available today. Literature Review Development of portraits making was devised even before invention of portrait photography. Most of the rich and aristocrats during this era used to paint their portraits. Photography came into satisfaction of the new portrait craze in the mid 19th Century. Other fresh approaches of satisfying the demand for portraits were also invented during this time. These included the Silhouette, the miniature as were as the camera Lucida drawings. Among all these inventions, Photography emerged as the most popular one as well as the fastest approach of taking portraits. Portraits have different styles as well as techniques which create the portraiture to be unique. They are currents employed in expressing several ideas as well as indicating the gradual development of family and friends. In early 19th century, there was great demand for portraits that were not so expensive resulting to two very major developments in the invention and innovations of portraiture. Use of miniature that was considered much cheaper was in great use. The other invention was the use of popular profile pictures which could trace from the shadow cast by a lamp and freehand paper work. This technique was referred to as Silhouettes, after its inventor, Etienne de Silhouette in 1756 after creating some profiles of pictures that were embellished with gold hence became very famous. Several inventions throughout the history of portrait photography by several scientists and researchers have led to the current crop of high speed and quality portraits. In 1839, Louis-Jacques-mande Daguerre came up with the daguerreotype portraits. This portrait had a direct positive process and made some detailed image with no need of the negative use. In 1965, Diane Arbus, produced advertising photographs for his father's store as well as for fashion magazine. While taking some personal pictures which would catch an individual's eyes, she ended up creating pictures that were considered invariably confrontational with the subject appearing as if it wanted to get out and express its own flaws. As people tried to create images, they encountered several challenges such as skills that were necessary in making these portraits. These skills were not in much supply hence there was a lot of shortage and they were expensive as well. This trend went on until and made portraits to be perceived as privilege of the rich people until the 19th century. Currently most portraits gives the artist a chance to depict whatever they can view as well as what they like or believe to show through this medium. In several occasions, famous and wealthy individuals were painted in a way that created sticking difference which was hard to identify what the sitter was actually looking like. Photography invention made a watershed for portraiture development. This made photography to create such n instant appeal in Europe as well as in America and became available to all people of all classes as a natural leveler. This practice also created a good chance for making a lot of money to those involved in it. This invention had some specific features including: the process was sensitive only to certain colors such as blue and white thus calling one to put in the most appropriate colors in order to get quality photos (Leggat, 2008). This process also demanded that the weather had to be suitable thus the studios had to be placed on top of most buildings; several approaches of keeping a sitter still were employed such as a metal clamp which was not shown to the camera but placed behind the sitter's head. This method was most employed in conventional portraiture. One was demanded to sit for about eight minutes, as the camera operator promenaded the room using a watch that helped him to count after every five minutes up to when the fountains of his eyes became dry. Some of the pictures taken by time were by Hill and Adamson photographers. They had one big problem in that they could not resolve the control of the eye. This resulted to so much exposure leading to sitters to close their eyes if they were not effective in maintaining their eyes open for long without blinking. Another problems was to keep the sitter for this long, it was really hard fore the sitters. Leggat (2008) claims that innovations in late 19th century in portraiture created the boom in development of portraits. During this era, portraiture was considered to be more good because of quantity but not quality. The photographers of this time were seen as exonerated due to the technical factors that dominated the production procedure. Most of the portraits produced during this era were given more priority on creation of quick money than the quality portraiture. There was a lot of uninteresting lighting as well as stereotyped setting which someone could easily give the date the photograph was taken. Most of the create images indicated some quick impersonal photography in which the practitioner was not interested in the sitter as a person but on the quick money and less time. These styles were not determined by the considerations of ones finances but by fact that it was considered fashionable to get images that took someone from the actual and harsh universe and bring them more well-to-do world. This called for the use of pros that brought such images. Most of the produced images were photographs with full length which indicated the props as well as the mock glamour more than the images being indicated. Provided that some portraits were appearing to be cruel, arranging the photograph in this approach gave the clients the satisfaction they needed as a sitter (Leggat, 2008). The photographer however went to greater heights and portrayed, as the painter would have portray him; production of close-ups of the image which indicated the personality of the sitter by employing some more adventurous lighting as well as discarding backgrounds which appeared trite. Research Methods and Resources Different but related methodological were used in acquiring data for this research Research Design In any research undertaking the most significant consideration is data since the conclusions arrived at by the research report mostly depends on accessibility suitability, and accuracy of data collected in initial stages This research has been carried out using materials mainly from secondary sources. A number of relevant documents were reviewed from the materials in the websites and books. Research Procedure A sample of various techniques and their impact to style and type of photography as used in portraiture and photography from earlier times to date have been identified and analyzed the techniques are analyzed and discussed as follows. Sculpture and painting Photography The infrared, full-spectrum and Ultraviolet photography Digital photography Sculpture and Painting Sculpture By definition sculpture is a solid artwork usually done by joining together or molding hard materials e.g. stones, papers, grass, wire, plastics etc. Sculptures are either cast carved or made by assembling together materials of art and then binding them in different ways. Examples of kinds of sculptures in portraiture: Statue - this can be denoted by a sculptured showing a given person or a certain animal. A statue can either be a bust (shows representation of a person from the chest to the head)or Equestrian statue which represents an important person riding on a horseback. A free standing sculpture- is the on surrounded by space except at its base. Jewellary: portrait sculptures are made decorate or put other meanings to jewellary Relief sculptures are sculptures that are put against a background. Sculpture materials. The durability, portability and elegance of a sculpture are determined by the material used in its production. Therefore sculptures are keen to determine the materials to use in their artwork. The other factor that influences the choice of material to be used in sculpture is the cost of the material and its workability (Ravi 2004). It is usual that sculptures are painted, tempera i.e. oil painting sandblasting, and gilding is among the various techniques of sculpture painting. There is always a great endeavor by sculptors to make their art by use of unique materials for example Pablo Picasso used bicycle parts in his work, this to the sculptors enhances creativity and originality. (Ravi, 2004). Sculpture methods and adventures have been in existence since medieval times, this art also is diverse from one place to another. In China artifacts of sculpture work have been found and are believed to date as back as 10000 BC. The most common techniques that have been used in sculpture work are: Casting It is where a material is melted and then poured into a mould to solidify slowly acquiring the shape of the mould. This is mostly popular with metals with bronze being the most preferred this is because of its element of expanding before it sets out in a mould hence enabling it fill the mould appropriately. Carving stones It is a very old way of sculpture which involves a systematic removal of parts of a hard or soft stone so as to acquire the required shape. It is usually very useful in covering large works. Carving wood This usually involves wood whereby the sculpture concerned uses carving tool to shape apiece of wood into the required shape Painting This is the art of using any medium with coloration e.g. paint on a surface to create an impression. According to historians the art of painting dates back several thousand years back. The word painting is used in denoting the activity, and the results of the activity itself. Paintings usually carried out on surfaces of different materials e g. papers, walls, wood glass, etc. This art of painting comes in different forms, it cold be a composition r a drawing. In different forms paintings either express nature, represent something in nature, its photographic, expression of symbolism of something, expresses mood or certain content. The fundamental issue in painting is seeing and showing intensity. Intensity varies from place to place in space thus it is represented by varying colors. By a mere use of color a painting artist can produce a shape by controlling intensity of color of the various surfaces of the shape. The most significant elements of painting are color and tone. In the art of painting color is used to express the subject of the matter in the painting work, this varies from place to place, for example in the West black is expresses mourning while in the East white color serves that purpose. There are many theories on color as a way of expression but it is considered to harbor more generality than other forms of language. In today's painting artists have included other techniques in painting for example collage (Hoogsteder, 2009). It is noted that since the invention of photographic film and the first production of a photograph. Photographs became so popular that painting as an art became obsolete as the records keeper to the history seen by the world; this mainly happened in the West whereas in Africa and East the style in art of painting remained unchanged. Today painting as an art dwells much on ideas rather than the importance of keeping records. This makes many people to think that painting is extinct. Although real painters still have very strong impetus to undertake the art of painting with a lot of zeal. Technical Aspects of Painting Painting Aesthetics Aesthetics of something is its beauty in appearance. In 19th century philosopher Hegel in his aesthetic essay quoted painting, poetry, and music as romantic arts for their symbolism in intelligence. Plato a great early philosopher noted that art of painting cannot express the truth but it copies it. Painting Styles There are ways that are used in stylizing the art of painting which have numerous styles. Work classified according to the method and technical aspects or other perceived features of an artists work. The school or the group the artist works or practices his/her art. Photography Photography is a Greek word derived from photo which means light and graphy which means writing. It can be defined as a production of images due to effect of light which is directed to a light sensitive material i.e. film. Photography was invented by Nicephore Niepce and Louis-Jacques-Mande Daquere from France in 1837.In the earlier times photography mainly was used in landscape and in portraiture. The increase in popularity and use of photography spread rapidly in Europe since its invent and was accelerated by the event of the first and the second world wars. Photography escalated with great popularity since its inception with township areas in the whole world experiencing a fashion of photography studios as a matter of fashion and celebration. The development of digital technology in 21st century has made photography acquire more flexible techniques through use of digital formats in like digital cameras making it to expand in purpose and use. Process and Types of Photography The process of photography is due when a film of silver halide chemical which is sensitive to light changes to an insensitive silver metal on parts of the film exposed to light. The unchanged silver halide is then removed using solution that dissolves it leaving behind a plate film which by optical projections is used to generate photographs of various sizes. This is different from digital photography where electronic photo sensor capture images directly. Mainly photography is used in portraiture, advertising purposes and making other impressions either for commercial or non commercial purposes. On the other hand photography is very significant in scientific applications whereby it can be used to make record of things which a normal human eye can't for example where the event to be recorded is very small, swift, too far or associated with hazards. The infrared, full-spectrum and Ultraviolet photography Both infrared and Ultraviolet have been used for several decades and have been in different types of photographic ways since early 1960s. Some new technologies employed in digital photography have created some fresh dimensions as far as full spectrum photography is concerned. Careful filtering of several choices of visible, ultraviolet as well as infrared results to some fresh artistic visions. With modification of digital cameras, there has been detection of some ultraviolet light. The visible as well as infrared spectrum is like digital imaging sensors which have sensitivity of about 350 nm to about 1000 nm. Most of-the-shelf digital cameras have some infra red hot mirror filters which are employed in blocking almost all the infrared as well as some ultraviolet which could have been detected by the sensor and narrow the allowed range from about 400 nm to about 700 nm. If the hot mirror or the infrared filter used for blocking light with some infrared pass would give chance to detection of the wider spectrum light by the camera but at some much greater sensitivity. If the hot-mirror is not employed, then the green, red as well as the blue or the yellow, cyan and magenta colored micro-filters situated over the elements of the sensor would be able to pass some different amounts of blue window or ultraviolet as well as infrared which basically contain red and some less green and blue micro-filters. Full spectrum photography is used in fine photography as well as in forensics and enforcement of law and geology. It is also used in ghost hunting as claimed by (Joseph & Barbara, 2008). Digital photography Imaging with digital photography employs electronic image sensor in order to store the image inform of an electronic data set instead of chemical changes on the film. The major distinction between chemical photography and the digital one is that the chemical photography is not as versatile in technique and in use as digital photography since it employs photographic paper as well as film. On the other hand, digital photography is very flexible and can easily be manipulated in technique as well as in use (Krebs, 2004). This distinction permits certain degree of processing of images after they have been processed. This factor makes it advantageous for digital photography in that it has greater potential in communication and applications. The digital film cameras which are point-and shoot are currently been the most common consumer goods outdoing the film ones. They have other new characteristics such as audio as well as video recording gadgets. Most camera manufacturing companies have stopped producing reload able 35 mm cameras. Other companies have stopped the manufacture of modes of film cameras (Krebs, 2004). Research by Joseph & Barbara (2008) indicates that about 68 percent of photographers have more interest in film cameras than the digital ones. This is because the film ones are more superior to the digital ones in getting more data on average as well as on large film formats. They are also good in establishing good photographic look and create clear shadow as well as illustrated details. Film cameras are also known for making wide exposure film attitudes and having archival storages which the digital ones lack. Several ethical questions have been raised due to the fact that digital photographs are easily manipulated after the processing of the photos. Several photojournalists have vowed not to crop the produced photos as well as combine features of several photos in order to create some illustrations. This makes them feel like actual photographs. Even for the novice photographer, the current technology has made editing of photos easy and simple. Digital figure printing of some RWA pictures have been allowed by current alterations in in-camera processing. This helps in making sure that digital pictures are not tempered with especially in forensics application. The art of photography has been used in recording of several events as well as information as used in engineering and general science. This is also employed in crime scene as well as in scenes of accidents. The approach has been expanded by application of other several wavelengths including ultraviolet photography, spectroscopy as well as infrared photography. Apart from camera, other approaches used in formation of images with light include xerography or photocopy machines which creates permanent images although they employ the use of static electrical charges transfer instead of photographic film. Conclusion Photography as an art in portraiture has far advanced and it seems it is almost at its pick currently. With digital formatting taking over in processing of photography from the traditional filming and photographic paper method, it can well be noted that digital photography which is enhanced by digital format technology has far altered the style as well as types of photography available. This is illustrated by the fact that photographers through digital photography cam manipulate photographs to acquire several styles and types as far the processing. Krebs (2004) asserts that digital photography, also, combines separate post processed photographs to give a required illustration by a photographer which could sometimes be deemed illegal or unethical depending on the impression of the photograph illustrations. Digital photograph can also be used with much ease to attain low key photography or high key photography. According to Joseph & Barbara (2008), current photography has brought about several social issues due to its effects to the community. Camera is perceived as gadget for promoting voyeuristic inhibitions while the photographing act is seen as more than just a passive observation. Camera indicates both sexual as well as sadistically violence technology which finishes and captures pictures of anguish of people's lives. References Donnan, C. (2004). Moche Portraits from Ancient Peru. Texas: University of Texas Press Hoogsteder. (2009). Portrait painters in Rembrandt's World. Retrieved on Dec 4, 2009 from http://www.kunstpedia.com/articles/606/1/Portrait-Painters-in-Rembrandts-World/Page1.html Joseph & Barbara, A. (2008). "The Myth of Persistence of Vision Revisited," Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 45, No. 1: 3-12.Retreived on Dec 4, 2009 from http://www.uca.edu/org/ccsmi/ccsmi/classicwork/Myth%20Revisited.htm Krebs, R. (2004). Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Leggat, R. (2008). A history of photography: Portraiture. Retrieved on Dec 4, 2009 from http://www.rleggat.com/photohistory/history/portrait.htm Ravi, B (2004), Metal Casting- Overview. Bombay: IIT Read More