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*ENTRY* Thread DSS #30: Environmental Portrait

LlywellynLlywellyn Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,186 Major grins
edited August 11, 2009 in The Dgrin Challenges
Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenge #30

Welcome to Round #30 of the Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenges. This challenge is open to any Dgrin member. It will run from Monday, July 27, 08:00am, EST time (GMT -4) to Monday, August 10, 08:00am, EST time (GMT -4).

The topic ready for your interpretation: Environmental Portrait

Portraits introduce us to new faces and stories, but there is more to a person than their eyes and smile. Your goal this round is to give your viewers a glimpse of who your subject really is through an environmental portrait. Include elements or places that hold meaning for your subject and that are clearly communicated to your audience. Introduce us to new friends, family, or even you!

Your Judges:
nightpixels (Winner of Round 26)
KevXman (Guest Judge)



IMPORTANT NOTE: Your entry is to be submitted directly into a Smugmug gallery. It's pretty simple, just go to the gallery link below, and follow the upload instructions at the top of the page: Remember, the basics stay the same: 1 entry per person, and the photo must be fresh, taken during this contest period. Do not use a minimal save method (such as "save for web"), and your exif will be embedded in your image, no worries!

To avoid disqualification, read, in full, the Dgrin Sharp Shooters Challenge Rules, there have been some slight modifications.
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    silversx80silversx80 Registered Users Posts: 604 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Interesting. The first thing I though was, "this is right up my alley as an environmental engineer." It seems a little tougher now, but I may stick with the dreaded two words: Self-Portriat :hide

    (he he he)
    - Joe
    http://silversx80.smugmug.com/
    Olympus E-M5, 12-50mm, 45mm f/1.8
    Some legacy OM lenses and an OM-10
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    jeffgrovesjeffgroves Registered Users Posts: 106 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Great challenge!
    What a great idea!

    Should be easy to do, but hard to compete!
    I would think that anyone and everyone will be able to learn from those that participate in this one.
    Looking forward to it.
    ;) Jeff
    http://jeffgroves.smugmug.com
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    dniednie Users Awaiting Email Confirmation Posts: 1,351 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    The hardest part of this will be to talk one of the people I have in mind into letting me take their photo.
    Donna

    My SmugMug
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    JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited July 27, 2009
    cool challenge!thumb.gif
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
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    jeffmeyersjeffmeyers Registered Users Posts: 1,535 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    I like this one. A lot. Good thinking!
    More Photography . . . Less Photoshop [. . . except when I do it]
    Jeff Meyers
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    KatmitchellKatmitchell Banned Posts: 1,548 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Well that's gonna be easy for all of us, just grab our point and shoot, and take a capture of ourselves holding our cameras:photo in front of our computer screens addicted to dgrin..:lol:lol:lol:lol4


    Wow Kerry.. Nice twist on the self portrait mwink.gif your a crafty one thumb.gif and you come up with some awesome ideas...... I like this one a lot.. It is going to be fun, but difficult too.

    Now I just have to talk someone into it..headscratch.gif...

    Kat
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    WhatSheSawWhatSheSaw Registered Users Posts: 2,221 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Excellent! I need work on portraits. And it will give me a great excuse to get some pictures of my son who is moving cross country next week. mwink.gif
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    DsrtVWDsrtVW Registered Users Posts: 1,991 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Sounds like fun. Need to ask is it a single subject only or could there be more than one subject in frame of portraitheadscratch.gif
    Chris K. NANPA Member
    http://kadvantage.smugmug.com/
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    LlywellynLlywellyn Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,186 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    DsrtVW wrote:
    Sounds like fun. Need to ask is it a single subject only or could there be more than one subject in frame of portraitheadscratch.gif

    There could be more than one, but I wouldn't go too crazy for risk of losing the portrait concept too much (a group shot can lose the intimacy of a portrait if it grows too large). And I'd hope the environment applies to all the subjects. thumb.gif
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    heatherfeatherheatherfeather Registered Users Posts: 2,738 Major grins
    edited July 27, 2009
    Oh yay! I had already been trying to talk my son and hubbie into posing for one of these for me all of last week! Now I have more leverage to get them to do so! rolleyes1.gif
    Heather
    my website
    facebook
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    DsrtVWDsrtVW Registered Users Posts: 1,991 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    Llywellyn wrote:
    There could be more than one, but I wouldn't go too crazy for risk of losing the portrait concept too much (a group shot can lose the intimacy of a portrait if it grows too large). And I'd hope the environment applies to all the subjects. thumb.gif

    What I had in mind would 2 subjects at the most. It would be part of the enviro. Thanks Kerry
    Chris K. NANPA Member
    http://kadvantage.smugmug.com/
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    richterslrichtersl Registered Users Posts: 3,322 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    :help I'm not 100% sure what an environmental portrait is.

    Would these be examples of environmental portaits?

    http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo100778.htm

    http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo185919.htm


    Versus this one, which would be a standard portrait?

    http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=3&p=594809
    Linda

    http://lrichters.smugmug.com
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    LlywellynLlywellyn Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,186 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    LMGTFY mwink.gif

    And I'm hoping people have figured out that I don't ever underline things in posts. If something is underlined, that should be a big clue that there's a link involved. So I'd look at the first post again. deal.gif
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    richterslrichtersl Registered Users Posts: 3,322 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    Llywellyn wrote:
    LMGTFY mwink.gif

    And I'm hoping people have figured out that I don't ever underline things in posts. If something is underlined, that should be a big clue that there's a link involved. So I'd look at the first post again. deal.gif

    ne_nau.gif I did. Until this thread, I'd never heard of environmental portaiture and the link you posted on the first page didn't work. It's clickable but it doesn't take you anywhere. I found a definition on line and just wanted to make sure I understood it correctly.
    Linda

    http://lrichters.smugmug.com
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    LlywellynLlywellyn Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,186 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    richtersl wrote:
    ne_nau.gif I did. Until this thread, I'd never heard of environmental portaiture and the link you posted on the first page didn't work. It's clickable but it doesn't take you anywhere. I found a definition on line and just wanted to make sure I understood it correctly.

    I just checked the link in the first post, and it worked for me. Takes me to the Wikipedia definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_portrait Anyone else having issues with the link?

    Linky malfunctions aside, do you understand the photographic technique now?
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    DsrtVWDsrtVW Registered Users Posts: 1,991 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    The link had work for me when I used it, To Wiki. I had not heard of the term either. Still works. Might be security settings on Linda's puter. The new challenge lends itself to many possiblilties
    Chris K. NANPA Member
    http://kadvantage.smugmug.com/
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    richterslrichtersl Registered Users Posts: 3,322 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    It very well may be security settings. I am at work as we speak. Though....Wikipedia should work. headscratch.gif

    Yep. I do have an idea now what to strive for. thumb.gif
    Linda

    http://lrichters.smugmug.com
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    billtaichibilltaichi Registered Users Posts: 75 Big grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    Gallery not working?
    Anyone else getting a blank page when they click on the gallery link?
    headscratch.gif
    Remember wherever you go, there you are.
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    GreensquaredGreensquared Registered Users Posts: 2,115 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    I think the general idea is that a "portrait" is often shot in arbitrary surroundings, like a plain backdrop, or in front of some pretty scenery. An environmental portrait is a well shot image of that person, but their surroundings tell us more about that person - a gardener in his garden, a chef in their kitchen, a business man in his office, a construction worker on a building site. There are many different ways to do it, and light seems to be super important. I've been wanting to do one of these for a long time. It's terribly exciting to be able to show someone's personality through photography.
    Emily
    Psalm 62:5-6

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    GreensquaredGreensquared Registered Users Posts: 2,115 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    billtaichi wrote:
    Anyone else getting a blank page when they click on the gallery link?
    headscratch.gif

    Yes, the link does seem to have some issues.
    Emily
    Psalm 62:5-6

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    LlywellynLlywellyn Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 3,186 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    Greensquared wrote:
    Yes, the link does seem to have some issues.

    Working now?

    Guess when I go on vacation I forget how to do all sorts of things. lol3.gif
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    GreensquaredGreensquared Registered Users Posts: 2,115 Major grins
    edited July 28, 2009
    Llywellyn wrote:
    Working now?

    Guess when I go on vacation I forget how to do all sorts of things. lol3.gif

    Yep - all good. thumb.gif
    Emily
    Psalm 62:5-6

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    JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited July 28, 2009
    that was interesting link...it went to google and typed it in for me and then redirected me to enviromental portraits...very cool. Never seen anything like that in a search.

    The enviromental portraits examples I have found are great too! I can hardly wait to get started...the possibilities are endless!thumb.gifthumb.gifthumb.gif
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
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    HoofClixHoofClix Registered Users Posts: 1,156 Major grins
    edited July 29, 2009
    richtersl wrote:
    :help I'm not 100% sure what an environmental portrait is.

    Would these be examples of environmental portaits?

    http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo100778.htm

    http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo185919.htm


    Versus this one, which would be a standard portrait?

    http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=3&p=594809

    Linda, I wouldn't really consider either of those to be particularly good environmental portraits, unless that policeman's whole life is sitting behind that desk...:D Think of a carpenter in his shop of many years, standing by his bench, with all of the chisels and adzes and planes and hammers and saws neatly hanging or on his table, a few pieces of work in progress, maybe some raw wood.. A librarian standing between racks of books with an endless ceiling... A .....
    Mark
    www.HoofClix.com / Personal Facebook / Facebook Page
    and I do believe its true.. that there are roads left in both of our shoes..
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    KinkajouKinkajou Registered Users Posts: 1,240 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2009
    Llywellyn wrote:
    LMGTFY mwink.gif

    AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA rolleyes1.gif This is fabulous. Quite possibly my new favorite thing on the interwebs. hehe

    Anyway, I'm excited because today I'm getting a twofur.... Doing the Portrait Round Robin with CookieS out on her land with her horse, and will be using something from it (hoepfully) for the environmental portrait. Wish me luck! wings.gif
    Webpage

    Spread the love! Go comment on something!
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    divamumdivamum Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
    edited July 30, 2009
    Kinkajou wrote:
    Anyway, I'm excited because today I'm getting a twofur.... Doing the Portrait Round Robin with CookieS out on her land with her horse, and will be using something from it (hoepfully) for the environmental portrait. Wish me luck! wings.gif

    Sounds fun! I'm so sad that my daughter's show isn't still running - I would have loved to capture the makeup artist at work with somebody in the chair. Unfortunately that's all over now, so I'll have to try and come up with something else.... headscratch.gif
    facebook | photo site |
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    JAGJAG Super Moderators Posts: 9,088 moderator
    edited July 30, 2009
    could a mod please delete this one...
    http://challenges.smugmug.com/gallery/9054314_hzW8C#606548394_PjMgJ

    Thanks.
    ~JAG (Joyce) - My site: JAG Creations JAG Creations be a fan.
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    jeffreaux2jeffreaux2 Registered Users Posts: 4,762 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2009
    Rules Clarification...
    Kerry,

    I know we have a "no frames or borders" rule, but for clarification...

    If, for instance, I shot an image that were a multiple exposure "pano" type shot....such as those that would be combined using photomerge....would it have to be cropped in so far as to eliminate all of the white background...or could it be left sloppy enough to identify it as such an image?...irregular as they are around the edges?

    Ive never shot one, but would like to consider the possibility.

    Yes or No is fine...I just need to know how to wrap my brain around my concept.mwink.gif
    Thanks,
    Jeff
    -Need help with Dgrin?; Wedding Photography Resources
    -My Website - Blog - Tips for Senior Portraiture
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    whitericewhiterice Registered Users Posts: 555 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2009
    jeffreaux2 wrote:
    Kerry,

    I know we have a "no frames or borders" rule, but for clarification...

    If, for instance, I shot an image that were a multiple exposure "pano" type shot....such as those that would be combined using photomerge....would it have to be cropped in so far as to eliminate all of the white background...or could it be left sloppy enough to identify it as such an image?...irregular as they are around the edges?

    Ive never shot one, but would like to consider the possibility.

    Yes or No is fine...I just need to know how to wrap my brain around my concept.mwink.gif

    You mean like this shot Jeff?: http://www.wickesberg.com/photos/588312469_F4N7K-XL.jpg

    I had the same questions.....was thinking about using panography but didn't know what the frame police would think?! mwink.gif
    - Christopher
    My Photos - Powered by SmugMug!
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    jeffreaux2jeffreaux2 Registered Users Posts: 4,762 Major grins
    edited July 31, 2009
    whiterice wrote:
    You mean like this shot Jeff?: http://www.wickesberg.com/photos/588312469_F4N7K-L.jpg

    I had the same questions.....was thinking about using panography but didn't know what the frame police would think?! mwink.gif


    Yes, something like that. I'd be willing to go to the edges some, but would prefer that it were still identifiable as a composite...like your example.

    I remember an "out of frame" shot someone entered awhile back and they used the Dgrin forum background color to really make it snap. That shot is what made me even think to ask.

    Edit: To add that I found the shot that made me think of this...taken by Shatch for Mega Challenge #1 "The Elements" :http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=901649&postcount=13
    Thanks,
    Jeff
    -Need help with Dgrin?; Wedding Photography Resources
    -My Website - Blog - Tips for Senior Portraiture
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