Image Bank - Back of Head Portraiture

Internet Images

Even though that portraits are associated with a person's face, feeling and mood. There is also 'back of the head' portraiture, whereby we can only see the back of somebody's head. I chose the image above because the man is in the center of the image, and therefore is the first thing that we look at. Also, the background is slightly blurred and plain, which allows us to solely focus on the back of the man's head. 

In this next back of head portrait, we can see more of the model as the photo is not only showing their head and shoulders, but a little bit more of their body. This allows the photographer to fit all the model's hair in the image. Again, I like that the background is plain and boring, and lets the viewers fixate their attention on the model. 

This back of head portrait, is of an old man outdoors. The background is completely blurred, and so we can only see a smear of green from the trees. The man is positioned slightly to the left, and so is not centered. However, because the background is so blurry, we can see the man in complete focus, and therefore concentrate on the details of the back of his head.

This back of head portrait also relates to location because we can see the sea and sand of a beach in the background, in front of the woman. However, the background is slightly blurred and almost colourless, so we focus on the woman. The woman's hair is very dark which stands out from the background, and the photographer has allowed the image to fit all of her hair and so we can see more of her back. 

I like this portrait in particular because it is black and white, so everything blends well together. However, the background isn't in focus, so despite that everything is in black and white, the viewers are able to concentrate on what is in focus, which is the man and the back of his head. He is also centered so is the first thing we look at. Also, this image has been taken very close-up and therefore, we can only see small parts of the background as the back of the man's head covers most on the image, which I think was the photographers aim.

Lastly, I chose this portrait because the girl has extremely bright hair, which is emphasized among the dull, grey background. I like that there is colour only coming from the girl, and no one or nothing else. I also like that the image is close-up so we are able to see the detail of her hair, like the fish-tail braid and the red ribbon. This photo isn't centered because the girl is on the left side, however, the background is so plain that it doesn't distract the viewers from looking at the back of the girl's head.