Tyrone Lebon is a London-based photographer and filmmaker who has worked on various projects since 2005 that have been shown internationally. His work includes fashion portraits that experiment with perspective, focus, and unusual backgrounds or modifications to clothing to make the images striking. Irving Penn was an influential American fashion and portrait photographer known for his work with Vogue magazine and portraits of celebrities. His portraits used passive, artificial studio backdrops and high-key lighting to draw attention to the centered subjects.

1. Photographer comparison
By Jonah Adshead

2. Tyrone Lebon
Tyrone Lebon is a photographer and filmmaker based in London, UK. He started taking photos and
making films in his teens; at 18 years old he shot his first film, which was screened on MTV, and at 19 had his
first work published in i-D magazine, London. Since completing his MA in Social Anthropology in 2005, he
has worked on various film and photography projects. They have been shown by a variety of international
broadcasters, galleries, and publications. He has also created imagery and film for a selection of relevant
clients including Adidas, Nike, Stussy, Dr. Martens and I-D Magazine.

3. This is a fashion portrait photograph that has
been posed for. The image has a central focus of the
subjects upside down head, with the “Stussy” logo
drawn on his it in very striking bright pink that
contrasts the other duller colours. The choice to
have the image upside down and taken from a high
vantage point is interesting and gives it a slightly
surreal effect.
Further bringing the focus to the head of the
subject and the pink logo is the fact that it is the
only part of the image in perfect focus, the rest of it
fades out and is blurry. This effect is achieved by
setting a higher aperture to lessen the depth of
field.

4. This image has been set up and the subject is posing
for the image. It isn’t taken in a studio but instead in
what appears to be a bedroom, this gives an extra
interest to the image and allows more things to
feature in it around the main subject such as the
shelves and ornaments on the right.
The model is wearing a school uniform but it
has been heavily customised giving it a strange and
striking appearance.
The model is the main focus of the image being
positioned in the centre and staring straight at the
camera with quite an expressive defiant
look, reflecting the heavily customised uniform.
Further making the model stand out, the background
is blurred and only she is in perfect focus.

5. This photograph is a more set-up and planned
one compared to othersbyLebon. The model is
posing in the portrait, and has a bunch of balloons
tied to his hair.This gives an interesting
abstractlookto the image as his hair is lifted up as if
he is hanging upside down.
The organic circular shapes of the balloons
contrast the geometric and neat lines present on
the ceiling. The top of the photograph is quite
busy, with a lot to look at, whereas the lower half
only really has the model as the main subject and
the background is very passive.

6. This photograph is another portrait and is posed. The subjects are
looking straight at the camera and don’t look overly natural.
The background is quite busy with the very repetitive geometric lines and
shapes of the tiles and window panes. This room looks quite strange and stirs
up questions in the like what is the room and why are they there?
The Natural light coming in through the large window makes the image
very bright. This illuminates the models well and allows you to see them and
what they are wearing.

7. Irving Penn
Irving Penn (1917-2009) was an American fashion and portrait photographer born in New Jersey. He
worked for many magazines including vogue, his first cover being in 1943, as well as photographing many
famous people such as Audrey Hepburn, Bridget Bardot and Al Pacino. His work still influences the industry
today.

8. This portrait photograph by Irvine Penn
is monochrome and posed for by the subject
Audrey Hepburn.
The photo is high key and very well lit, and the
artificial studio background is very
passive, focusing all attention on the main
subject in the centre of the image.
The photo is well balanced with the central
focus in the middle and nothing present on
either side of her.

9. This photograph is very bright with a lot of eye-catching colours. The
subject is the main focus of the image and the artificial studio background is
very passive, drawing no attention away from her. The high key lighting
illuminates the model very well.
She is posing for the photo and her body position does not look very
natural. She has quite a blank unexpressive look on her face. This adds to
her looking like a model, as they often adopt a blank expression, looking
away from the camera.

10. This posed portrait photograph
was taken in a studio. The passive
background is artificial and the lighting
is very high-key, these two things both
allow for the subject to be seen
perfectly and she is in perfect focus.
The image is monochrome and
this creates a stark contrast between
the subject and the background, really
making her stand out. The
repetitive, geometric shapes on her
blazer also contrast the plain
background further.

11. This portrait photograph is posed, but in a
more naturalistic way. The photo isn’t taken in a
studio and the background is quite busy with a lot
to look at.
The flooring has a lot of intricate geometrical
shapes on it and makes the scene look fancy and
posh, this gives a certain feel to the image and
makes it look as if the woman is posh or well
off, giving the clothes a rich quality.
The subject is posing but looks as though she
could be waiting for someone or is listening to
someone, this makes her look more candid and
realistic.
The low key lighting along with the black and
white colours off the image creates a lot of
interesting shadow and texture in this image.