Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Term for the Day: Portrait Lengths


Typically portraits (whether painted or photographed) fall into three categories of length:


1. Head and Shoulders (or bust) portraits show, as you’d guess, the head and shoulders of the subject and, often, his or her crossed arms such as in this antique portrait by Vivien Biett Smith
2. Three Quarter Length portraits show at least three quarters of the subject’s body. This can include compositions in which the subject is seated and a bit of his or her lap is pictures such as the composition of this mid-Nineteenth Century English portrait.
3. A full-length portrait shows the subjects entire body, posed in relation to his or her surroundings. This F.W. Baker portrait is an excellent example of a well-planned full-length composition.


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