William S. McINTOSH - Classic Portrait Photography.pdf

lassic Portrait Portrait
PhotographyPhotography
TECHNIQUES AND IMAGES FROM A MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER
William S. McIntosh
Amherst Media®
PUBLISHER OF PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS
On the Cover
The concept for this portrait of JoAnn Falletta was to get the entire audience (over 2000 people) in focus in the back-
ground and JoAnn conducting in the foreground. Because this portrait would have been very difficult to make during a
concert, JoAnn was photographed in rehearsal the morning of the concert. The audience was then photographed just
before the curtain rose at 8pm for the concert. They were informed that I had photographed JoAnn that morning and the
finished result would be a one-of- a-kind image of JoAnn conducting and the audience included in the finished portrait.
Fuji NPH 400 film was just the film to meet the challenge of lighting the people in the audience so that you could
see most of their faces in a 30x40-inch portrait while keeping them subdued enough that they would not overwhelm the
conductor. The film allowed me to make my exposure at f-11, which was just right to get the depth of field needed. The
soft contrast of the film allowed me to get more detail in the very dark areas of the symphony hall and the audience.
Had I used Fuji NPS 160 film, I would have needed much more light; with Fuji NPZ 800 film, I could have made the por-
trait in the same light, but the contrast would have been higher.
Digital retouching artist Patricia VanBecelaere plished an awesome task on this portrait. There were a num-
ber of empty seats in the hall, so Patricia moved people that could not be seen behind the conductor and filled the
empty seats with them. Some of the people close to the lights were a little light and some in the back were a little dark.
I exposed for the dark areas and Patricia evened out the tones to the depth I needed, showing off the conductor and the
audience at their best. Patricia Van Becelaere can be reached at ******@kc..
(SUBJECT—JoA