Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer born in 1949. She studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute but developed an interest in photography. In 1967, she began working at Rolling Stone magazine, becoming chief photographer for a decade. She is known for her bold use of color and surprising poses. Leibovitz famously photographed John Lennon just hours before his death. The document then provides analysis of several photos taken by Leibovitz of celebrities like Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, and Isabelle Allen, examining composition, lighting, use of color, and subject matter.

1. ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

2. Who is she?
Annie Leibovitz is an American Photographer born in 1949
In 1967, Leibovitz began studying at the San Francisco Art Institute, she did
initially study painting but she developed an interest for photography. After
briefly living away Leibovitz returned to the US at 21 and applied for a job at
the rolling stone magazine, which was just starting up at the time, within 2
years she became chief photographer for the magazine she held this position
for the next decade.
Her trademark is the use of bold colours and surprising poses being pulled by
the subject.
Leibovitz is famous for being the last person to professionally photograph
John Lennon who was shot and killed 5 hours after their photo shoot.

3. In this photo it shows Meryl Streep is shown pulling her face while wearing a
face mask, this could be her and Leibovitz way of making fun of how
celebrities try desperately to stay young. She is framed centrally and she is the
main point of interest, her hands pulling her face could be seen as leading
lines which show someone where exactly to look and attention to her face.
The picture isn’t very bright however I think there is high contrast as her
white shirt and white face mask seem bright. The lighting in this photo seems
as though it comes from directly in front of Meryl Streep, the subject, this can
be seen by the way that her arms cast shadows on her shoulders, if there was
lighting more towards her left, right or both these shadows wouldn’t appear.

4. This photo is a landscape medium shot of Leonardo DiCaprio and a swan. In
this photograph Leonardo DiCaprio is show holding a swan, this may have
been done due to Leonardo’s campaign for people to reduce pollution and
generally help the environment through the passing of new laws etc.
DiCaprio is framed on the right (would be his left) him and the swan being
the points of interest. This photo has quite a shallow depth of field as the
background is not in focus. I think the long grass acts as leading lines as it
leads upwards drawing attention to Leonardo and the swan. This picture is
in black and white with high contrast. This use of high contrast draws more
attention to DiCaprio’s face and the swan. Because this photo is entirely
black and white there is no colour. This photo uses the rule of thirds with
DiCaprio and the swan occupying the right third and the field background
occupying the rest of the frame.

5. Both photos are portrait close up shots. In this photograph Cate
Blanchett is the point of interest. She was photographed with high
contrast, this can be seen by the whites of her eyes being very white and
behind her being very black. The lighting in this photo seems to come
from the top right side of her face (which on the photograph is the
viewer’s left) I think this picture also has a shallow depth of field as the
background can’t be made out in either photo. In this one image it
feature two photographs put into one picture. This photograph or
photographs are referencing the classic sign for drama which is the
happy and sad masks. These photos have been taken with an extreme
close up which exaggerates the expression on her face. The lack of a
background of sorts or at least a background that can be easily made out
also exaggerates and draws attention to her expressions.

6. This shot is an extreme close up landscape photo. This Photograph shows
Isabelle Allen in her role of Cosette from the film Les Miserables from
2012. She is the point of interest of this image, her hair covering her face, I
think is leading lines. In this photograph it shows the child actress looking
very upset, her character is growing up during the French revolution and a
lot of problems in France and her expression shows how her character and
many of the characters’ from the film would feel. This photo has a deep
field of view, as her hair and the background are still in focus and not just
the actresses expression. I think this photo has a high contrast as the
paleness in her face seems exaggerated as do the shadows that are being
cast. The photo’s left side is very bright which suggests that the lighting
equipment for this photo was placed on Isabelle Allen’s right side of her
face. There is very little colour in this picture, the only distinct colours
seem to be her eyes and her blonde hair. By having a lack of colour it
draws more attention to the places in the photo that do have colour.

7. This photo is a close up portrait shot of Conan O’Brien, the photo shows his eye in the
centre of the frame with his hand occupying the right side of the frame and the rest of his
body and face occupying the left side of the frame. In this photo Conan O’Brien is shown
holding one eye open with his fingers with a small amount of light being shined on his face.
This suggests that the lighting equipment was quite small as it shines quite a small amount
of light onto a small area of his face. The lighting equipment would have also been placed
directly in front of Conan, almost in line with the camera. This photo does not feature very
much colour, the only use of visible colour is the colour of his eye, which is blue but it
doesn’t appear to have been altered, the other use of colour in this photo is the glimpse of
colour we see from Conan's ginger hair, which appears to be visible because he is standing in
front of another light. I think this photo has a slightly low contrast as the white of Conan’s
shirt is relatively difficult to make out because the white shade of it is relatively dull due to
lower contrast. This photo features a lot of black and darkness, this is the case because the
studio that this photo was taken in would have had to be quite dark. The photo shows
O’Brien wearing his signature suit that he wears when hosting his talk show, I think this is
the case because many people would recognise him along with his suit.