MARTIN SCHOELLER

MARTIN SCHOELLER

Martin Schoeller created a book “Close Up” where his subjects are photographed, well, close up. Taking inspiration from Richard Avedon who “has taken many very harsh portraits in his life where his subjects don’t come off necessarily very flattering”, he strives to create portraits “showing a person for who they are and what they look like without retouching, without tricky lighting, without distortion, without crazy wide angle lenses, just straight up honest portraits.” (Smithsonian.com, 2009) Most  people photographed are celebrities and politicians.

Martin Schoeller example of lighting set up

How were these shots created?
Martin Schoeller takes advantage of continuous lighting to create his signature look.
 A very shallow depth of field and a very narrow depth of field which emphasizes the eyes and the lips, where most of the expression in a person’s face is all about the eyes and the lips. He tries to get my focus right so the eyes and the lips are the focus. Everything falls away so quickly because of the shallow depth of field. Everything else becomes secondary. So not only is he focusing on just the face, he is even concentrating it more by having everything else look like it’s out of focus.

Martin Schoeller was Annie Leibovitz’s assistant for several years

http://madphotoassistant.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/lighting-title/

Phtoshop techniques to create Martin Schoeller

Can be found at the following web address

Part 1

http://phlearn.com/martin-schoeller-lighting

Martin Schoeller Part 2
http://phlearn.com/martin-schoeller-photoshop

Martin Schoeller

Martin Schoeller (born March 12, 1968) is a New York-based photographer whose style of "hyper-detailed close ups" is distinguished by similar treatment of all subjects whether they are celebrities or unknown. His most recognizable work are his portraits, shot with similar lighting, backdrop, and tone. His work appears in "National Geographic Magazine", The New Yorker, "New York Time Magazine", Time, GQ, and Vogue. He has been a staff photographer at The New Yorker since 1999.

Born in Munich, Germany on March 12, 1968. In his early years he was influenced by photographers August Sander, Bernd Becher, and Hilla Becher. Schoeller studied photography at Lette Verein in Berlin.

Schoeller started his career in Germany, and came to New York in 1993 and worked as an assistant for Annie Leibovitz from 1993 to 1996, here he developed his "big head" portrait technique, a term coined by him, of his style of "hyper-detailed close ups", which later gave him worldwide acclaim. He left in 1996 to pursue his freelancing career. Soon his street portraits started getting published in Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly, and W. In 1999, Schoeller joined Richard Avedon, as a contributing portrait photographer to The New Yorker since then.

The following are my attempts at Martin Schoeller type Set up in the studio:-

I have emphasized the eyes and lips. The portraits have been enhanced using the Photoshop techniques out lined on :-

Part 1

http://phlearn.com/martin-schoeller-lighting

Martin Schoeller Part 2
http://phlearn.com/martin-schoeller-photoshop