Visual artistry in the pursuit of expressive portrait photography has exploded over the past few years. So many options and approaches are now available to photographers, enabling them to elevate their image’s to another level. Through alternative processes either in printing or in the digital darkroom, photography has had a complete makeover.
Digital creative techniques can add impact and emotion to an otherwise standard portrait. In Photoshop, by using different brushes, colour adjustments and textured layers combined through blending modes, I often discover I can come up with numerous variations from just one image. My absolutely most favourite technique at the moment is reworking an image into a vintage look reminiscent of the Pictorialism style popular in the early days of twentieth-century photography. It’s what I’ve been showing to most of my Toronto portrait photography clients these days and the unique, artistic look is winning approval.
For photographers, the digital darkroom has great benefits as they create a catalogue of expressive portraits. What doesn’t work for one image can be saved and repurposed for a future image. Of course, you can also spend a lot of time experimenting in Photoshop only to discover that the original image was best, that it was most powerful when expressed as simple and pure and unfettered.
The creative spark gained when discovering a new technique or application to artistic portrait photography always ignites a feeling of passion in me. The inspiration in photography comes from embracing these opportunities that new technologies or forgotten techniques offer us in our art.
