24/09: What makes a portrait photograph photogenic?
Category: Photo Discussion
Posted by: admin
by campos-davis @ 2007-03-18 - 18:06:14
I have worked as a photographer for more than thirty years and on numerous occasions I have been amazed that the person I have met and thought had attractive facial features appears un-photogenic in a photograph. Conversely with some of the groups I have photographed it has been the person I least remembered in the group who turns out to be most photogenic.
I have now embarked on a PhD to find out why this happens.
Part of this project has been to conduct a survey of portrait photographers.
I have now come to the conclusion that the same phenomenon happens to them, and that even experienced photographers sometimes fail to recognise a photogenic or non-photogenic subject in the flesh.
What I really want is to discover exactly what happens to a three-dimensional face, which seems to me photogenic, when it is "flattened"
by the optical image formation process. To do this I am using 2D and 3D still and video photography with a special projector built for the purpose called a TARDIS (Top And Rear Display In Stereo).
I have set up a blog site on the internet for photographers who can contribute to this research by inputting their views about why some portraits are photogenic. I interviewed many SWPP members at the Hammersmith Convention last January and hope many more will help me in this research.
So please do contribute. You can see the theories and results of my experiments and surveys on our web site at www.campos-davis.com/phd as they happen.
Many thanks for taking the trouble to read this.
Richard Davis, FRPS, MSc
PhD Researcher
University of Westminster, Imaging Science Dept, Harrow Campos
I have worked as a photographer for more than thirty years and on numerous occasions I have been amazed that the person I have met and thought had attractive facial features appears un-photogenic in a photograph. Conversely with some of the groups I have photographed it has been the person I least remembered in the group who turns out to be most photogenic.
I have now embarked on a PhD to find out why this happens.
Part of this project has been to conduct a survey of portrait photographers.
I have now come to the conclusion that the same phenomenon happens to them, and that even experienced photographers sometimes fail to recognise a photogenic or non-photogenic subject in the flesh.
What I really want is to discover exactly what happens to a three-dimensional face, which seems to me photogenic, when it is "flattened"
by the optical image formation process. To do this I am using 2D and 3D still and video photography with a special projector built for the purpose called a TARDIS (Top And Rear Display In Stereo).
I have set up a blog site on the internet for photographers who can contribute to this research by inputting their views about why some portraits are photogenic. I interviewed many SWPP members at the Hammersmith Convention last January and hope many more will help me in this research.
So please do contribute. You can see the theories and results of my experiments and surveys on our web site at www.campos-davis.com/phd as they happen.
Many thanks for taking the trouble to read this.
Richard Davis, FRPS, MSc
PhD Researcher
University of Westminster, Imaging Science Dept, Harrow Campos
