How to create portraits of European classical oil paintings

Lead: Since this summer, I have been thinking about whether I can use the style of European classical oil painting to break through the decoration of some pictures and convey emotions. The girl in oil painting, the girl with a rose ring and Fang Fei in April are my little attempts. Use this tutorial to share some thoughts and insights with you.

Let's first understand the characteristics of European classical oil painting.

(1) Keep the picture peaceful and smooth, and no brush strokes can be seen.

The master of classical oil painting thinks that the painting should be bright and clear, and the surface should not have too many ups and downs, but should be as smooth as possible. The wrinkled surface is meaningless to early classical oil painting.

In portrait photography, it needs to be soft and three-dimensional. If the light ratio is too high, you can try to use Rembrandt's lighting theory. The shooting of "Girl in Oil Painting" is such an attempt to light up.

(2) the same? Transparent painting? Give priority to

Classical oil painting is produced by transparent painting, and many classical oil painting masters' techniques are also based on transparent painting. Although it was improved and developed later, even in Rubens and Rembrandt's paintings, thick painting has become the main means of expression, but in their paintings, the background and dark areas are still dominated by transparent painting.

Transparent painting is mainly to cover the color and let the two colors produce a third color through visual harmony. Although it has the same hue as the third color derived from physical harmony, the visual effect is different, and the transparent painting is deeper and has a jewel-like luster.

In order to achieve this effect, in the filming of Fang Fei in April, I used both cold light source and warm light source in the early stage, so in the transition of cold and warm colors, the third harmonic color appeared, which shaped the color overlap for the whole scene. The later color matching also follows the visual sense of overlapping colors as much as possible.

(3)? Dark background and black dialogue? , but also the characteristics of classical oil painting.

Many famous oil paintings by classical oil painters are based on dark colors such as gray, brown, tan and earth green, with other bright colors as the main body. This technique can be clearly seen from the unfinished drafts of many existing painters, and also from the original works of some painters. This painting is set on a dark background and a black background.

The advantages of using deep background color are: you can grasp the overall tone of the picture well, and you can use the contrast method of light and dark to make the picture clear and focused. The background part can also be thinned and colored by transparent drawing.

Yui, a girl wearing a rose ring, is such an attempt. In a relatively dark outdoor environment, the subject to be represented is illuminated by a soft flash, and the background is illuminated by a flash with another color card and an index lower than that of the main light source, so the area with less light reception naturally becomes? Dark background color? .

With your early thinking and preparation, let's start shooting.

(1) Let the light say a few words to you.

① light ratio

When shooting, whether using artificial light alone or combining artificial light with natural light, I always follow the principle that the main light source is higher than ambient light? EV+0.5？ Maintain an appropriate light ratio. Light that is neither too soft nor too hard can bring a better transition between light and shade and outline a three-dimensional sense.

② position

Take the girl in the painting as an example. The back of the model is 45? As auxiliary light, the index is about EV+0.5；; Model front 45? It is the main light with an index of about EV+ 1

(2) Composition when the shutter is pressed

When it comes to composition, there are too many textbooks to explain it, so you can use it flexibly according to the actual shooting situation.

In the portrait shooting of classical oil painting style, I suggest using a standard lens (50mm) as much as possible, because the ultra-wide angle and too blurred background are not suitable for such works. And from the point of view, it is usually a standard composition.