another weblog

FOX Freakout Over Unretouched Palin Photo On Newsweek Cover

For now, let’s leave aside opinions about whether this sort of quibbling is ridiculous.

I find this video interesting because I’ve recently been working through Posing Techniques for Location Portrait Photography by Jeff Smith. He devotes a chapter to the interplay between lighting and perceived beauty, and then (as you might expect from a book on posing techniques) discusses the goals and methods of posing.

One point that Smith really hammers home is Just How Much This Stuff Matters. Of course, you know he’s right in the sense of “well, of course, if you want to satisfy your client you need to make sure they look their best”, but (for me, at least) it takes televised mainstream media rants to really drive the idea home.

So. Back to the photograph.

The photograph interests me not because of the alleged imperfections it shows, which I haven’t confirmed, due to both the low quality of the YouTube copy of the broadcast and me not having seen a Newsweek cover in months. It’s more the lighting choices.

I’d like to know why the photographer and graphic designer made the choices they did. One guest on FOX News obviously believes that Newsweek has a Liberal Agenda To Destroy The Republican Ticket, but I’d like to hear it from the primary sources.

The photograph plays contrasting elements against each other; I’m not sure what the intent was. Note the dominance of light tones in the background and the visible part of her face. This is a classic high-key lighting setup for portraiture, and it’s usually used to denote youth, sprightliness, happiness. But then look at her clothing: it’s dark, formal. The intensity of this contrast might be magnified by the lack of fidelity in the YouTube reproduction (perhaps highlights in the black clothing are being lost by compression). So…is this supposed to be a portrait of a mature stateswoman who nevertheless has a youthful aura about her? An impostor who feigns friendliness but hides a dark agenda? Just bad clothing and lighting interplay? Something else?

Another interesting element is the choice of light placement. It’s not dead-on in front of her; it’s off to camera right. It’s also probably a small light, based on the abruptness of the highlight-to-shadow transitions. This emphasizes her facial features, and can have many interpretations. It generally makes people look weathered (as FOX News said), which sometimes makes people look ugly and deceitful. But it can also make them look experienced and wise. Photos of elderly people sometimes use this effect.

Perceptions of the subject factors into the determination of both items, and definitely more.

…and sometimes, what you think about photography says more about you than it does about the subject or the photographer…