Portraits full-face and profile - what is it?

The terms "full face" and "profile" can often be heard in the environment of photographers engaged in portraits. Do you know what these words mean? Our article is devoted to a detailed coverage of this issue. Read, it will be interesting ...

What is full-face?

Now we will give the simplest example, and you will immediately see everything. Let's say you came to the photo salon in order to take a picture for a new passport. How will you be imprisoned? Completely smooth, so that your eyes were directed straight into the lens - a strict still position, in which there is no place for artistic fiction. Turn your head to the right or left, even a centimeter - absolutely unacceptable.

This is the perspective and is called full-face. This word comes from the French en face, which can be translated into our language as "in front of". Such portraits are practiced not only in the photo, but also in painting, and in the drawing, but more on this later. So, we just figured out what is full front, now we'll talk about the profile.

What is a profile?

With the profile is even easier. Few people will not understand what is at issue, if during photography he is asked to turn in profile. You just need to stand up to the lens sideways and let the photographer capture their proud appearance. True, usually one-stage photo full-face and profile are made when a person commits any offense. Ordinary law-abiding citizens are rarely forced to be photographed in this way. Unless someone wants to fall asleep in this way, perhaps for a joke or for a rally.

However, some people have a very beautiful profile. Girls who are lucky to have the right features, in this case, do not miss the opportunity to demonstrate their external virtues to the camera. Very impressive look black and white profile portraits, especially when a person is shot on a dark background. Here, contrast plays a role - the dark background favorably shades the light features of the human profile.

Scenic portrait full face

And how are things in the fine arts? After all, despite the fact that modern people have the opportunity to obtain inexpensive and high quality photos of their personalities, picturesque portraits are still popular. Yes, it is, but such angles as full face and profile, in portraiture today is not in vogue. And among the paintings of past centuries, there are not many such samples.

One of the most famous full-face images is the famous self-portrait of the artist Durer, which he wrote in 1500. This man made a very brave act for his time, portraying himself directly facing the viewer, because before this only the faces of the saints and Jesus Christ were written.

There is a well-known portrait of Ernesto Che Guevara, on which the face of the hero of the revolution is deployed ahead. It is believed that this is also a front-end portrait, however, one can argue with this statement - after all, an easy, slightly noticeable turn of the head is still there, and the legendary Cuban is looking somewhere in the sky, which makes the image very dynamic.

Famous portrait of Simonetta Vespucci

And now we will tell you about an old picture of the work of Italian master Sandro Boticelli, which depicts an inexpressibly beautiful profile of a girl named Simonetta Vespucci. This is one of the most famous portraits, written in a profile perspective. The girl at the time of writing the picture was very young, but already a married lady. She was considered the first beauty of Florence. Historians believe that in Simonetta was passionately in love with Giuliano Medici.

Sandro Botticelli - a court painter Medici - often painted a girl. She served as a model for his paintings such as "Birth of Venus", "Spring", "Madonna Magnificat", etc. In honor of the first beauty, knight tournaments were arranged , poets dedicated poems to her, and singers sang of her unearthly, sublime beauty. Thanks to the brush of the great master of the Renaissance, we can now see the subtle angelic features of a girl who long ago left this world. By the way, Simonetta Vespucci died very early, at the age of 22, from fleeting consumption.

What other perspectives are there in portrait photography and painting?

Well, about the perspectives of full face and profile, we have talked enough. Now let's talk a little about other positions of the body in space, which are often used in the creation of portraits. The most favorite foreshortening portraitists of all time is "three quarters" - a slight turn of the face and torso to the left or to the right. In order to illustrate this angle, we decided to take the most famous portrait in the history of mankind - the unique and unfading Giaconda of the great Leonardo da Vinci.

It happens that the artist asks his model to turn even more. This perspective is called "two-thirds". This is something between the profile and the full face.

Finally

We hope that you did not make you feel bored reading this little article. However, the theme "Anfas and profile" was revealed by us in full, is not it?