Martin Schoeller is a German-born portrait photographer based in New York. He is known for his close-up portraits that focus only on the subject's head. Schoeller takes posed portraits in a studio using specialized lighting and cameras to capture high quality images. In contrast, Sir Cecil Beaton was a British photographer active in the early to mid 20th century. He took more candid, organic portraits of celebrities and royalty without specialized equipment. Beaton captured emotive portraits in natural settings rather than a studio. The document discusses both photographers' styles and provides examples of their portrait work, noting differences in their technical approaches and compositions.

1. Photographers
Portraiture

2. Martin Schoeller
• Martin Schoeller is a portraiture photographer who is still alive. He was born in Germany 1968. He is now a
New York based photographer who is best known for his portraits & the way he photographs them. He
specifically uses a very close shot of the head, with only the head being in focus (you can see examples of
this are on the other slides). The photographs are of incredibly high quality, allowing the viewer to see
every inch of the subjects face. The different subjects he has used include celebrities & twins. When he is
taking a photograph of a celebrity, you are usually greeted with the same kind of image on the first slide of
photographs. But sometimes, the portraits will feature an object of interest e.g. cello tape, which will then
be used on the celebrities face. Another example of this is photograph two, where you can see Amy
Poehler has a flower crown on.
• Schoeller's work has appeared in magazines such as Vogue, GQ & The New Yorker. He has also released
three of his own photography books: Close Up: Portraits 1998-2005, Female Bodybuilders, Fotographie
Portfolio 54 & Portraits of Twins. He also shot a very controversial cover which shows a mother breastfeeding for the cover of Time Magazine. He has done a lot of photography in his career.

3. • This photograph is the typical composition of a
portrait that Schoeller shoots 9. The use of a widelens camera has allowed the extreme close-up of
the face that is only focused on his face. The use of
a a shallow depth of field (which is gained when
using a high aperture) has made his ears, neck &
shoulders out of focus. This is quite clearly a posed
photograph, as are most portrait photographs. As
the photograph has been taken in a studio
additional lighting (high key lighting) would have
been used. The use of the lighting gives the
photograph a professional & high quality look. It
appears that the lighting brightens the look of the
photograph, although this could have been done in
post-production.
• Although the human face is not symmetrical, you
would still say that this photograph is symmetrical
as the middle of the photograph is straight down
the middle of his nose.

4. • This photograph is slightly different from the portraits
Schoeller usually shoots. This is a portrait of Amy
Poehler. The reason why this portrait is slightly
different to others he has shot is because 1) she is not
looking directly into the camera & 2) she has a flower
crown placed on the top of her head. This stylizes the
image in a different way & gives the photograph a
personal touch, compared with the first portrait I
looked at. Slightly different composition.
• It again includes features I found in the first portrait like
the use of a wide-lens camera, high-key lighting & high
quality camera gives you a high quality image that still
follows the style of other pieces of Schoeller's work.
Although there are some similar features, there are
some differences I have not mentioned earlier. The
photo is just a close-up, compared to the other portrait
(this allows the flower crown to fit in. I have also found
that none of her face or body is out of focus, which is
again different to the other portraits (larger depth of
field = smaller aperture).

5. • These two photographs are part of Schoellers collection of
twin photographs he shot. He would take a portrait of a set
of twins & then put the photographs against one another.
The style & composition of the photographs are incredibly
similar to the shots he took of Jay Z & many other portraits
Schoeller has taken. This is particular to his work.
• This photograph is the typical composition of a portrait that
Schoeller shoots 9. The use of a wide-lens camera has
allowed the extreme close-up of both of their faces that is
only focused on their faces. The use of a a shallow depth of
field (which is gained when using a high aperture) has made
their necks & shoulders out of focus. This is quite clearly a
posed photograph, as are most portrait photographs. As the
photograph has been taken in a studio additional lighting
(high key lighting) would have been used. The use of the
lighting gives the photograph a professional & high quality
look. It appears that the lighting brightens the look of the
photograph, although this could have been done in postproduction. Although the human face is not symmetrical,
you would still say that this photograph is symmetrical as
the middle of the photograph is straight down the middle of
each of their noses.

6. Sir Cecil Beaton
• Sir Cecil Beaton was a portraiture, fashion & war photographer. He was born in 14 January 1904 & died
in 18 January 1980. He has had many different models & subjects to take photographs, most notably
being the royal family, Audrey Hepburn & Marilyn Monroe. He also shot for magazines such as Vogue (he
would later be fired due to some ant-semantic writing in an image he shot for them).
• His style of photography was never very technical. What he would usually do was wait for the perfect
time to close the shutter to take the photograph. Due to the times he was taking his photographs, they
would always be in black & white. This obviously giving his photography a classic look.
• Like mentioned above, his photographs were never very planned or technical. I like the idea that his work
isn't very forced & he will only take the photograph wants he feels like he will capture the perfect image.
This technique is very organic, compared to Schoeller's work.

7. • This first photograph is of the iconic movie star
Audrey Hepburn. He has shot her many times. Like
mentioned on my earlier slide, Beaton's work is very
organic & unplanned, so I would assume that this
photograph was not planned & she was wearing that
outfit & in that place because that is just where they
were at the time.
• Although she is clearly posing for the camera, this is
clearly a different kind of posing compared to most
portraits. It a very natural.
• As also mentioned on the slide above, he had to
shoot in black & white. This has given the photograph
a timeless look. Audrey Hepburn is also a timeless
movie star, so it seems obvious that he would shoot
her.
• The composition of the photograph is minimalist,
with Hepburn just posing in front of an off-white
wall. This photograph is similar to the first Beaton
image as it is centered in the middle. Because he has
done this, your eyes automatically go to the centre of
the image.

8. • This is one of the famous photographs he took of the
royal family (mother and child in this photograph).
Similar to the photograph of Audrey Hepburn, it is
only slightly posed for, as the background is an off
white colour like the Audrey Hepburn.
• I like this photo as it does not seem as posed as other
royal family photographs. It seems very natural & like
it is an every day photograph. The way she & the
baby are not looking at the camera also add to this.
Overall, this makes a very unique portrait. This is
typical of Beaton's style.
• Beaton’s style is different to Schoeller’s style as his
photographs are not taken in a studio & are not
posed. Due to the the time difference, Beaton’s
photographs are taken in black and white & are
lacking a certain high quality.

9. • In this photograph you can see Marilyn Monroe posing
for a portrait for him. Again you can see an occurrence
of themes & conventions that Beaton puts into his
photographs.
• This is a very candid photograph (I assume candid) as
she is topless & is not up against a white wall/studio
setting. Due to the time the photograph was taken in,
it is black & white. The framing of this photographs
suggests Beaton used the rule of thirds to take this
photograph, as her body is not centered. This makes
the image more visually stimulating & also look more
candid.
• Overall, I find that I could take inspiration from both
artists to create a piece of work. The way Beaton can
take photographs anywhere & make them look like
they are posed. I will take inspiration as I shooting in a
house & not in a studio. The way Schoeller creates
image with high quality images with vibrant colours. I
want to incorporate my inspiration from both these
photographers to merge with my own ideas to create
my own photographs.

10. • In this photograph you can see Marilyn Monroe posing
for a portrait for him. Again you can see an occurrence
of themes & conventions that Beaton puts into his
photographs.
• This is a very candid photograph (I assume candid) as
she is topless & is not up against a white wall/studio
setting. Due to the time the photograph was taken in,
it is black & white. The framing of this photographs
suggests Beaton used the rule of thirds to take this
photograph, as her body is not centered. This makes
the image more visually stimulating & also look more
candid.
• Overall, I find that I could take inspiration from both
artists to create a piece of work. The way Beaton can
take photographs anywhere & make them look like
they are posed. I will take inspiration as I shooting in a
house & not in a studio. The way Schoeller creates
image with high quality images with vibrant colours. I
want to incorporate my inspiration from both these
photographers to merge with my own ideas to create
my own photographs.