Painterly Photography

Creating photographs that look like paintings is a wonderful alternative to the standard sort of image. I’ve found as I experiment with the studio portraits I’ve taken lately, that some of the effects i create lend themselves nicely to images that border on painterly looks..so even though they are still recognizable as photographs, they are softer around the edges, have much less saturated color and subtler expressions than more modern version of the same person. I may also use, or create a backdrop that feels like it’s from another time, textured and quiet.

i’m thinking that even though we love what’s new and “modern” we also enjoy the feeling timelessness that these sorts of images evoke in us. This could be your grandmother, instead of a retro rendition of you. For example, the image of Mahsa was taken with natural light in front of a toile linen drapery and she’s dressed in one of my mother-in-law’s gorgeous silk nightgowns bought in the 1930’s as part of her trousseau. Her wistful expression also lends itself to that feeling of times-gone-by. And her direct gaze toward the camera makes us feel that she’s been posing for an extended time in front of a portrait painter.