Portrait of Tyson and Ashton, 2019

Toni-Maree Savage
Portrait of Tyson and Ashton, 2019
Digital photograph

Artist Statement

I wanted to create a character portrait of my identical twin sons that portrays the powerful connection between them. I am fascinated by their similarity in appearance and personality, and I wanted to reveal this to the viewer.

I feel my portrait communicates the incredible emotional bond that the sitters' share with each other; they are two people but sometimes think and behave as one. I asked the boys to go shirtless so that the fusion and personality were the primary focus of the image without any distraction. I asked the boys to position themselves to merge their two faces. The effect is fantastic with the chins, mouths, noses, moustaches, beards, eyes, eyebrows and foreheads entwined. I was careful to include their beautiful long hair that contributes so much to their narrative and helps to define their character.

I used soft light in this portrait as I wanted to diminish the separation into two separate people by avoiding any harsh shadows. I think the final portrait is highly emotive and intriguing.

Technical Specifications

In this portrait photography, I have used the speedlight as the mainlight to help merge the two sitters' faces (identical twins) into a single portrait. The image was taken late at night, so there was no natural light. I experimented with turning on the ambient overhead lights and using the speedlight at different powers and angles. I found that setting the speedlight at maximum power and positioning it to reflect light from the light-coloured ceiling with the soft ambient overhead light turned on created the effect I was seeking. The speedlight evenly filled the faces of the twins. I made sure that the catchlight in the sitter's eyes was still visible to ensure the image had a sense of life and dynamism which would be missing without this important feature.

Again, I wanted to include as much detail and clarity in the portrait as possible. With this in mind, I selected ISO 100 to avoid any loss of detail, a mid-range aperture of f11 to permit an appropriate amount of light to reach the camera's sensor, and accompanied this aperture with a low to mid-range shutterspeed of 1/60. The speedlight and settings allowed me to create a photograph that captures every detail of my sitters' faces while fusing them seamlessly.

⭐This artwork is available for sale. For further information please contact me.