Technical Term Clarification Please?

SheriffBubbles

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Hey, all!

So, I know "portraits" are photos capturing people or animals. But, to be defined as a portrait, does it have any specifications? Like, does it need a face? To be posed? Built solely around the subject?

If not, what do we call those other pictures? What would we call a shot of someone walking through the woods and being part of the landscape? Or a couple playing on the beach?

I hope I'm making sense!

Thanks!
 
From the Webster site
:
picture especially : a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face

Well subjects in paintings had to be posed to be painted.
Maybe it is a more formalized posing and image, rather than a casual "snap shot."
So I would not consider a couple playing on the beach as a portrait.
But pose them on the beach, and it could be a portrait.

There is "environmental portraits" which do include the environment as an important part of the portrait.
Example a pianist at the piano, or a firefighter at the firehouse or with the firetruck.
So with someone in the woods, would be no different than posing someone in a library.

The other is number of people.
Some consider a portrait ONE person. And further narrow it as head to chest, or head and shoulders.
But then you have President Carter's portrait (in the National Portrait Gallery) as a full length.
It can also be a couple (husband and wife), family (couple + kids), and multi-generation family of a couple/few dozen people.
Is it a family picture or a family portrait?
 
If you want to call something a portrait, then you can call it that. Some people will agree and some won't.

Portrait is not a technical term. AFAIK.

Personally, I would call it a portrait if the main purpose of the photo is to present the subject and when the image was purposely created...through the skill/art of portraiture.

I might say that the art of portraiture is using light to paint/sculpt/create how a subject will look in an image.

It's doing something purposefully to create or control how the subject (primarily the face) looks. It might just be asking them to turn or pose in a certain way, or it might be setting up 27 lights.

I teach a portrait lighting class, and what I tell my students is that there is a line. On one side, the photo is clearly about the person in the image....typical portrait. On the other side of the line, is when the lighting doesn't show enough of the person's face to make their identity the primary subject...leaving the lighting to be the main subject, or maybe the mood created by the lighting as the main subject.

For example, a portrait with basic loop lighting and a 1:3 ratio, shows the identity or personhood of the person. But if the main/only light is behind the subject, as all we see is a silhouette or a rim or accent or kicker type light....then the photo is hiding the identity and the 'subject' of the photo is the lighting itself, or the mood/feeling etc. is the primary message delivered to the viewer.

Is that still a portrait? Hard to say, I might be less inclined to call it a portrait but I would still include it in the realm of portrait lighting.
 
por·trait
/ˈpôrtrət,ˈpôrˌtrāt/
noun
  1. 1.
    a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.

I personally consider this definition to be a "formal" portrait. That includes such photos as an entire family "staged" for the shot, which I would call "a family portrait".
Portrait is also considered to be a more "professional" term than "photo" or "snapshot".
 

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