i was challenged to take a 'chiaroscuro' portrait by my get-pushed partner this week @brianarmoured.
until this week i thought chiaroscuro was a spanish pastry that's dusted with sugar granules and dipped in really thick chocolate. and then someone politely told me it's churros, not chiaroscuro. someday when i grow up i will memorize a whole dictionary.
in any case, i want to go back to sleep so let me tell you what chiaroscuro is. "Chiaroscuro originated during the Renaissance as drawing on coloured paper, where the artist worked from the paper's base tone toward light using white gouache, and toward dark using ink, bodycolour or watercolour." chiaroscuro is Italian for 'light-dark'. "in art is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures. Similar effects in cinema and photography also are called chiaroscuro." - from good old wikipedia.org
i have no takers this week for free portraits so once again you get to see mon visage. quelle horreur! read all the instructions online, set up the lighting once again. remote was necessary. ISO of 100, f/13, shutter speed of 1.3 seconds. soft box on my right facing downwards and a white reflector on my left. all lights in the living room and kitchen were all turned off. then i stubbed my already broken little toe, dagnabits! i followed all instructions so if brian would tell me this is not it, i shall eat a lot of cake tomorrow when i wake up.
trimmed in camera, sooc.
i tell you, i was so tempted to wear my bowler hat, but that was so last week. i have a shot, one shot, of partner but he doesn't want me to post it. so he's been banished to his side of the apartment, and i hope i don't need anything from him for the next three days. :-)
you're still reading? well, thank you. i appreciate it.
Of course read to the end! Would we not? Your visage is beautifully lit and captured. Shame about the toe and poor Brian, be extra kind and he might let you post his picture. I grovelled for the silouhette Love the sound of the churros but I am on a firm diet :O(
I'm still laughing at your story! I love your sense of humour! I think this photo would be perfect if you had dabbed a bit of powder on the shiny spots! Actually picmonkey can do it too and it doesn't hurt! You have a soft box?
a portrait photographer told me this is not chiaroscuro in the strictest sense. in my laptop at home, i can see details in the darker side of my face while in my tablet and office monitor, only half of my face is discernible (thank goodness!!). which means you will see another selfie in this style soon. you've been warned. :-)
@slash - you're much too generous with that fav and i thank you so much, susan.
@claireuk - i don't know why he had to be a diva when he knew i needed help. so he was the first to talk because why? he needed me for something else. and still i can't post his photo. which i think i've found a solution - i will post it in one of the older vacant slots of my album so it won't show in my feed on the right of the page. i'm so clever! tee-hee! thank you, my friend claire.
I think this is an acceptable 21st century version of chiaroscuro. Of course the Renaissance version is usually a bit more dramatic (Rembrandt's The Calling of Matthew is the classic example of this), but for a first attempt I say you've met the challenge. Now you will hone the skill with more photos to follow- but in them you may not be bound by a self portrait. And of course we read to the end- we are always surprised as to where you end up next!
@kali66 - thank you, kali.
@dol6200 - thank you, sara.
@slash - you're much too generous with that fav and i thank you so much, susan.
@claireuk - i don't know why he had to be a diva when he knew i needed help. so he was the first to talk because why? he needed me for something else. and still i can't post his photo. which i think i've found a solution - i will post it in one of the older vacant slots of my album so it won't show in my feed on the right of the page. i'm so clever! tee-hee! thank you, my friend claire.
@redy4et - thank you, elizabeth.
@barneyone - i gave up on dieting a long time ago! :-) thank you, rita.
@brigette - thank you, brigette.
@678tabby - but have you heard of churros? it really tastes good!
@k1w1 - thank you, my friend.
@deburahiru - thank you, deb.
@redpants - thank you, sue.
@tara11 - thank you, tara.
@maggiemae - powder is good, i shall invest in some and see if it works. i do have a soft box. you want to borrow it? thank you, maggiemae.
@altadc - thank you, alta.