File:The artistic side of photography in theory and practice (1910) (14595411178).jpg

Identifier: artisticsideofph00ande (find matches)
Title: The artistic side of photography in theory and practice
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Anderson, A. J. (Arthur James), b. 1863
Subjects: Photography
Publisher: London, S. Paul & Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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. Of coursethere are some professionals who themselves operate,and love their work ; but even in such cases theretoucher usually destroys the likeness. The ordinary amateur devotes far too much atten-tion to text-books, and becomes wrapped up in schemesof composition, schemes of posing, and schemes oflighting, until he forgets all about the characterrendering, which is the heart and soul of portrait work. If a man wishes to take, or even to appreciate goodportraits, he must forget nearly all he has been taughtabout composition, and begin by learning to realisethat the likeness is everything ; that the pose of thefigure is not an essay in composition, but part of thelikeness ; that the lighting is planned to throw upthe particular features and bring out the particularmodelling of one particular face ; and that even theplacing of the hands is a portion of the characterrendering. Velasquezs half-length portrait of Philip of Spainis perhaps the finest portrait in the world ; yet, what 288
Text Appearing After Image:
MRS. WIGGINS OFBELGRAVE SQUARE. By Baron A. de Meyer, jfe Some Elements of Portrait Work professional or what ordinary amateur would dreamof posing his sitter in such a simple manner ? As amatter of fact, the composition in most of the greatportraits is exceedingly simple, and we can onlyassume that the less the artist has worried himselfabout his composition the more has he been able todevote his attention to the interpretation of characterand the surrounding of his sitter with a typicalatmosphere. II. In photography the drawing is performedautomatically; but it depends on the station-point ofthe lens whether the drawing appears natural or un-natural, the perspective pleasing or exaggerated, andthe foreshortening true or false. If we realise that in portrait work the station-pointof the lens is everything, and the focal length of thelens only affects the size of the image, we shall saveourselves trouble and confusion. Given a station-point about 8J feet from the sitter—and this is

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