Faceless Portraits.

Design Process:

Understand the Problem

Research and Investigate

Generate Possible Solutions

Select AND DEVELOP Best Solution 

Model and Prototype (Create)

Test and Evaluate

Produce

Understanding the Problem:

Faceless Portraiture is an artistic illusion of portraits showing emotions without faces. The challenges of this sort of work is trying to express emotions in the images. Or according to am article on Flickr, The faceless portrait is a creative, imaginative image that leaves open the imagination to interpret observations, small and large details of the scene without a person's facial expression to dictate the mood of an image.

Research and Investigation:

Faceless Portraiture is a new challenge for photographers to do. Creating scenes where emotion is captured without showing facial expression. In order to see what I want o plan I looked at Julius Walther, Rocio Montoya, Zen Garcia, and Greg Sand (All photographers are seen on Behance) have very different takes on this concept. The following photos are some of their works. Their different styles and technique show different emotions and conceptual ideas. For all of these examples the artists either replace the face, delete the face, or blur It out. The different styles composed have unique structure that emphasize the idea of faceless portraits. 

Generating Possible Solutions:

My idea for this project I want to try to do something very similar like the ones where the faces are blended but blank. In order to do so I will need:

- Models

- soft or natural light

-a story

-environment

-props

My first idea is having a full classroom empty with maybe two - five students in there. I want to create a creepy controlled emotion. By doing that I need soft light and a semi dark room. I then want the students posed in different areas and different body positions. I also want to try and show how the blank face can become creepy. I would also need rows of desks in a small classroom or a large classroom ( depending on cropping). Students can have paper and books out to express more on the environment. *I talked to my teachers to use their classrooms for this assignment. That way the environment and learning will be captured. 

My second idea is to have my subject lit by a TV or computer and still have a blank face. The light from the electronic will shine onto the face and illuminate the room. The emotion or story for this one can be up for interpretation for how young people are focused on technology. I want her to hold like a remote or popcorn to show how warped her mind is.I still want to smooth the face out so everything looks blank. 

I can also play with the same concept as my second idea where a subject is lit by a computer and surrounding the subject is papers of homework. Can show how homework or any work can consume a person. The frustration by the different body language or even how lonely a person is. 

*One of my ideas was not working as planned or in my head. I decided to reshoot for that and make a different plan. My new plan is to do candid photos of people doing everyday things. That way I can focus mainly of the effect of of the blend, blur, softness of faceless portraits. That way a story can be created and the effect can be a lot more noticeable. I will try to focus on soft, natural lighting for the mood. Or I can even try harsh lighting for a dramatic feel in the composition. 

*Things I want to change

- Lighting

- Angles

- Focus within the details I wanted to focus on

- Composition

- environment for each photo

- Model with the clothes and hair

- white balance

- Exposure of photos needs to either be longer or shorter depending on how much light a screen can give off. 

Select AND DEVELOP Best Solution:

First shoot: This didn't turn out the way I wanted because the light source was not enough. I need to have more light and try to reshoot that way the photos will come out better. 

First- My first photo is a reshoot where the computer is the main source of light. I liked this because of how the colors on the screen were and how soft the lighting is. It was hard to capture the stillness I wanted to so I decided to go with my back up plan of the subject moving their face. I also like the interaction of small things like a highlighter too. 

Second- This photo I went out and took some portrait of my subject with different backgrounds and with natural lighting just to focus on my original plan. I also just wanted to see if the background would help or destroy my idea.  

Model and Prototype:

First- This photo I mostly focused on lighting and the technique for the face. I didn't know if I liked the eyebrows in the photo still of if I should get rid of them. I frames the face and I like that but then its not much for the smooth face I want. I also had to match the correct tone in the face to cover up so it doesn't look wonky. 

Second- For this photo I put it through photoshop and Lightroom for development. I tried matching the colors of the face and the shirt to hide away distracting elements. I tried having the photo in color and in black and white which shows a difference in emotion. I think the black and white is better because of the Erie feel and contrast within the photo. tried using highlight and shadow tints to create a new emotion but the final product is what best felt right. 

Test and Evaluate:

First- This photo is slightly conceptual depending how much you'd want to go into detail. I think the idea of the computer screen is the light source creates a different mood. I experimented with stylizing this photo as well with different tones and different colors too. I think the focus is a bit off but overall its okay. 

Second- For this photo I mainly wanted to focus on the face and how to manipulate it so there is no expression. I like how the shadows matched and how smooth it mostly looks. I think the focus overall is good but still not creating the amount of clarity I always wanted. Overall this photo is exactly what I wanted technical wise. I think the photo itself could use a different angle or better direction. 

Produce:

First- Overall I think that this one is slightly interesting but I don't think this is the best that can come out. I think that the idea is good but composer of this was still not my best. I believe that the development can improve but I still like the concept. 

Second- This one I liked a bit better for the tone and emotion that was create. I like the background and lighting and the color tone as well. I would've tried a different angle but I still wanted the focus primarily on the technique for this project. 

this photo is one that I liked as well but I thought the composition was just a bit too cliche. I still really like it so here it is posted.