Weekly Favorite Portraits showcase

We are back again with some more interesting emerging photographers, who are sharing their favorite images and some interesting facts about behind the scene of that portrait.

Few of them had been successfully running their 365 project on Flickr so make sure to follow them!

Young blood

I went for shooting with my friends this day with no specific place to go, we decided to see the exhibition of the book Genesis (by Sebastiao Salgado) and one of the ways is to go through the Santa Tereza Viaduct, here in Belo Horizonte – MG, Brazil, so we did. On half of the viaduct I called Vanessa and then that simple action became one of my favorite, best, and known portraits.

I was using a friend’s Canon T3 + 18-55mm at 55mm Aperture at f5.6, ISO at 400 and shutter speed at 1/160. Shoot at the Santa Tereza Viaduct, in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Using Natural Light and edited I’ve with a VSCO Film Pack, on Adobe Lightroom.

Photographer: Bruno Queiroz | His instagram profile

Chaos

I called the photo “Chaos” because the expression somehow reminds me a lot the chaotic thoughts everyone makes sometimes and by that time it reflected my mood a lot back then. The spinning thoughts in our head we can’t control even in the ultimate silence. The reason I like it because it’s quite an extraordinary face with a certain aura.

I took this portrait for a small test editorial photoshoot, with my hairdresser and our friend in my room. I used my fellow Nikon D5100 and a 50 mm f 1.8 lens. The light source is a 100% natural light, coming from my tight window’s spotlight. After I managed not falling from my tiny balcony, I made the post-processing on Photoshop mostly moving curves and putting a black and white filter on soft light mode.

Photographer: Aggeliki Hristoff | Her Flickr profile

Alice

This portrait is of my friend Alice. She is a London based writer, actor, and all-around creative. Whist visiting the States, we spent an afternoon shooting on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles. Upon wrapping up, but before heading back down, I snapped this shot of her just to finish up the roll. It ended up being my favorite from the entire day. In a way, this happening serves as a reminder to me to always allow spontaneity to be present whenever shooting. You never know what you’ll come back with once you let go of reins a bit.

This photo was shot with a Pentax MX on Kodak Portra 160 35mm film with my favorite sunglasses situated in front of the lens for added effect. As mentioned before, I shot this in downtown LA in beautiful natural light. In regards to post-processing, this image is SOOC(straight-out-of-camera).

Photographer: Mekael A Dawson | His Facebook fanpage

Dementia

I’ve recently begun a concentration in portraying mental illness. It’s a crucial area to explore for me because many people don’t comprehend the internal and individual effects of it. With mental disorders continually developing such a rash stigma, it’s becoming more difficult to discuss and understand. This is the first piece of this series, titled “Dementia.”

Technical aspects: Captured with a Nikon D3000 and a NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4 lens. ISO: 100; Shutter Speed: 1/15 seconds; Aperture: f/1.4. Post-production consisted of adjusting the image to black and white, adjusting curves, and then creating a brush to use in order to make the head turn to dust.

Photographer: Sara Barber | Her Facebook fanpage

The Rising

This is a self-portrait that I photographed titled ‘The Rising’. Prior to the picture was taken I had been going through a tough time and this photograph symbolizes the end to it and the beginning of a new life. At some point in our life, we go through darkness, and then we rise out from it – into the light.

The image was captured with my Canon 5D Mark III using a 50 mm 1.4 lens. I photographed this image in the forest at dawn. The smoke is coming from a smoke emitter that has been lit behind me. I extended the frame and did some color adjustment in Adobe Photoshop CC.

Photographer Gabriel Isak | His Instagram profile

State of Madness

Attached is one of my favorite photos that I’ve produced thus far; it’s entitled “State of Madness” (number 180 in my 365). The model in the photo is my friend Chelsea. My photos tend to depict bizarre situations that may not make sense to the viewer–one might not know if it’s humorous or serious. This particular photo conveys a mood in which one might think humor, sadness, and madness. The subject in the photo is indeed in a state of madness, reaching for something that she can never have–whatever she is reaching for is surely a mystery.

The photo was taken around midnight on my front lawn under a street lamp; I also used a reflector. My camera is a Nikon D5000 with a 50mm lens–the settings were at 1/25 sec f/1.8. While my camera was on a tripod, I stood to the right of Chelsea holding (out of camera view, of course) a reflector towards her while using a remote to take the photo. I then took additional photos of everything surrounding the subject for expansion. The processing in PhotoShop consisted of loads of leveling, curving, color balance, channel mixing, a bit of saturation, and some dodging and burning. I also had to do some clone stamping for objects visible in the background. I believe I also used a texture, as well.

Photographer: Stephanie Jeter | Her Flickr profile

Woods

Mostly I like to make weird or a little bit of different things. So this portrait is a bit different from the photography I mostly do. When I photograph models, I always like to capture the moment right before they are finished with posing. I always think at that moment, you can see more emotions, especially in the eyes.
Ayla van de Burgt is a great model, so that also worked for this portrait.

We had a beautiful forest as a location. In Photoshop I removed a few spots, brighten up the eyes, and turned it into black and white.

Photographer: Charmaine De Heij | Her Facebook fanpage

Peaceful rest

The image attached is my 12th picture of my 365 project. It is titled “peaceful rest”. This photo is special because I have always had a love and passion for nature. I feel so connected when I am wandering around in the woods. Listening to the birds sing their songs, the rustle of the leaves in the wind. Finding a soft mossy area to sit and think for a while. It is all very tranquil for me. I think it is important for people to explore nature and see its hidden beauty. We get so caught up in technology these days because we are surrounded by it. It’s nice to turn everything off and just relax once in a while.

My camera is a 5d Mark III. I used the last 15 minutes of sunlight left. I set my camera on a tripod using a shutter release remote. Post-processing was used with Photoshop CS6. I made composite then used selective coloring and curves with some lighting effects.

Photographer: Ashley Murphy | Her Facebook fanpage

Healing Powers

Sometimes the worries and stresses of life can consume and trap you. Reach out to what magic heals and gives you peace.

I am grateful for the process of creation that allows me to express myself. I have used this medium time and time again to heal when hurt and to celebrate when happy. The last few weeks have been rather emotional, haunted by memories, and a tough decision to make. Creating this image was very healing for me.

The prop used here is a shark jaw that belonged to my father. It has hung in his garage for over 30 years. It now hangs across from the bed I still struggle to call my own. I have been staring at it for some time and knew I wanted to use it in an image. It struck me though that although this jaw has been in our family for almost my whole life, I never knew the history of it. Where did it come from? How did my father happen to have it? It saddened me that I would never be able to ask him these questions. My father had a funny way of telling stories and I am sad I will never hear this story. I asked my mother these questions and all she knew was that it was gifted to my father.

I created this image on what would have been my father’s birthday. Somehow just going through the motions of putting it together was incredibly healing. I felt a sense of peace and closeness that I am grateful for. What was also amazing is that this shark jaw still smells of the ocean and somehow I found that magical.

This image is somewhat darker and rather different from most of my work. I wanted to push myself and create a space that was a bit different from what I usually use. It is very much inspired by the work of Brooke Shaden and her sewer series. I love the work she produces in that simple, yet perfect space. I do not have anything quite as fancy as Brooke’s sewer, but just used a tiny strip of the wall outside the house. An added bonus is that the wall has a deck above it and that provides shade for most of the day for the flat light I love to work with. I already have another concept I will be creating here soon, so I am thrilled to have a simple and easy access space that I can create magic in.

As you can see from my before shot, I had quite a bit of work to do to get to my final image. This is the base shot that I used to build my image on and contained the left skirt flick. The strip of the wall is narrow and low, so I had to do quite a bit of cloning and expanding. I also had to correct the perspective a bit, which I did with the warp tool. Note my cat Bono in the window supervising matters :)

Some technical information…
Equipment:
– Canon 5DMKIII
– Canon 24-105mm F4 IS lens
– Canon RC-5 remote
– Tripod

Shot with only natural light and edited in Photoshop.

Photographer: Margherita Introna | Her Facebook fanpage

Retro Beauty

In this beauty, I really like what you achieve with as little equipment like light, what more could care composition to transmit force in the look and elegance in the pose of the model (for certainly very beautiful) reflections in eyes beauty product as the main dish and 3 white light reflectors make it even more seductive and appealing expression … gives me simplicity: style, elegance, and freshness. Aspects in which I use a lot in my creations :)

This time, use my main studio camera, Nikon D600 is a full-frame lens in combination with the Nikon 70-210mm f/4. for light use only one light source (never fails and is very effective work for editorial or head-shot) a more or less beauty dish above the model at a distance of one meter and 30 centimeters, hung on a boom arm, to fill in the shadows and give that extra touch of interest to your eyes, put three reflectors boxy one down each side and 2 respectively, this system call it “beauty box” and I really love the results. Forget to say but the background used is a white paper.

In post-processing, add more contrast, fix minor imperfections in the skin and makeup, and finally add some grain to give it more texture and that retro touch in black and white.

Photographer: Nicolás Athens | His Facebook fanpage

It is one of the last pictures I have created. I do not like to explain my pictures a lot, is not important. I think that the observer is the one who has to give its own meaning. I can say I like the atmosphere and tension that have the image, and lighting.

I used a Canon 600d and 50mm f1.8 lens. Natural light and candlelight. I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to correct colors using curves and gradient map.

Photographer: Jairo Alvarez | His Facebook fanpage

Jeremiah

I took this portrait of my cousin in Liberty State Park, New Jersey for the victims of the 9/11 attack using my four-year-old camera D5000 with a 35 1.8G. The 9/11 memorial is so heavenly beautiful. I love taking street photos and portraits, especially in black and white. I’m not the kind of hobbyist who wants to post-process too much. I just want to create simple photographs that anyone will appreciate.

Photographer: Jambrayl Razon

I absolutely love conceptual/contemporary photography and I would consider this photography to fall into that category. To me, this photograph conveys anxiety. The flames represent changes in life that we cannot control closing in on us. Although they’ll eventually burn out, fires don’t usually disappear without causing at least minor damage.

The subject of this photograph is my sister. I shot the flames in my friend’s yard and my sister in my driveway. Nothing fancy. As for post-processing, to get the effect I wanted with the matches I had to burn multiple matches and composite them into the image. I also had to composite the subject. After the composting, I just played with the levels and evened out the lighting.

Photographer: Jillian Adams

Sweet Sophia

Alphonse Mucha inspired portrait. I love setting up these shots because I can just focus on the subject and see what is the best pose and look for them period. After that, I can remake the background to support the subject further.

All my Mucha project pictures are taken with my 60D in front of a studio wall I built in high school. Once I take out the background in photoshop I use pictures of just about anything, from wall textures to animals, to make up the background. Most notably in all the photos I use nature shots and overlay them. It’s not quite abstract so you can still notice trees and leaves and things but it’s done in a way that blends all of these elements together. Videographers know this as compositing. I just like the idea of using real-life pictures to make up geometric patterns instead of solid shapes or stock textures.

Photographer: Austin Taylor

Flower

I love this one because for me represent peace at the same time that gives mystery and the flower shine is like something is just about to start.

I used a Canon Rebel t3 eos 1100, a 50mm lens, I took it in my house with a black background. about post-processing work I used Photoshop cs6, I used the ” dropblues” filter for this one and I retouch with bright and contrast, but the position of the light make all the work.

Photographer: Gabriel Gomez

Free yourself

With the theme “Free yourself”, the picture chosen depicts a strong quest for freedom, has a bit of sadness and repression. Freedom is essential in the life of any being, often try to block it, I represented the desire for freedom. What I like about the photo is the expression of the model, open arms and hands holding the gate.

Specifications:
– Camera: Canon EOS REBEL T5i;
– Location: Araucaria – PR (Brazil)
– ISO Speed​​: 400
– Exposure time: 1/800

I used Photoshop CS4 program for editing, I did adjustments in brightness/contrast, exposure, noise, and added blue tones to the picture stay cooler.

Photographer: Weiller Ornelas

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