1. Evaluation
My photo
For this project I chose to use a photo of Zinedine Zidane. The photo,
taken by Clive Brunskill, features Zidane gripping a football with a low
backlight and a strip of bright light onto his eyes, whilst possibly sat in
the changing rooms. My photo is almost a spitting image of the original
photo, and this is how I did it.
Programme
I used Photoshop to edit my photo and aim to make it look extremely
similar to the professional portrait. The tools I used were curves,
brightness/contrast and the gradient tool. The “curve” tool allowed me to
curve and position the beam of light to the correct position (over the
eyes) like in the original image. The “brightness/contrast” tool enabled me to alter the
overall brightness of the photo (foreground and background) and how powerful the
white and black colours in the photo should be. Finally the “gradient” tool helped me
adjust which way the white and black colour should run across the photo, either
diagonally, horizontally and vertically.
Camera settings
At first I had trouble with capturing the pure white light when the background was too
light. I used the “night portrait” setting to really make the background a lot darker,
which enhanced the white light across the eyes. The picture wasn’t taken with any
zoom; it was just a close up shot.

2. Skills
When using Photoshop, I was aware that the tools where the tools were, and I roughly
knew what they helped with, but I did receive some explanation and guidance from
peers and teachers of how and where to use tools. I have vaguely used the tools
before, but for this project the editing just required messing around with the tools and
see what I had created.
Strengths and weaknesses
I would say that the strengths of my portrait would be the camera angle (position and
distance), the replica of the equipment used (e.g. the football) and the overall lighting
of the portrait wasn’t too bad for my first real photography attempt. Perhaps, the
clothing could have been more suitable; wearing a football shirt, but to be honest I was
running a little behind schedule and I just needed a portrait.
Am I pleased?
I am pleased with my first attempt at recreating a portrait image, and I don’t believe it
was a poor recreation. However, the weaknesses mentioned above are the things that
come with experience and practice but overall I am pleased with my efforts.
What I would do differently
If I was to redo this project, then I would possibly choose a photo with lots of natural
colours, not all darkened with lighter areas, just a simple portrait. That way I believe
there would be more beneficial tools in Photoshop to help adapt the photo to look more
professional and similar.
Success?
In conclusion I believe my portrait to be a successful recreation of the Zinedine Zidane
portrait. My portrait shows the same camera angle, character position and stance and
the emotion shown in the original image. I am proud of my photo and the techniques and
skills I used for a first real attempt and with some practice I can only get better.