Research: Annie Leibovitz. (WK 6)

Annie Leibovitz is well known for photographing celebrities, but they aren't embarrassing or surprising shots as you would see with paparazzi, they're photographs with willing participants. The photographs themselves are beautiful. This example of her studio photographs is soft, with lighting that accentuates certain parts of the image. There is obvious positive and negative space in this image, with a shallow depth of field as well. There is no background to this image, only the figure in the foreground. The pose of the figure sets her apart from the viewer, she's closed off and a little withdrawn, as if lost in her own thoughts. Unlike the last photographer I looked at, there is a fair amount of shadow and light in this image. The shadows highlight parts of the image, namely in the skin of the figure. Ideal lighting in this image would be, one soft one for the background, not so much that it looks completely white because we can still see a little texture to the background. As well as a light on the figure, or flash, something to bring out the highlights in her skin tone and detail in her face and hair, but doesn't make her look completely washed out.

Angelina Jolie, for Vogue, 2007.