Pete Souza: President Obama Sitting for Smithsonian's 3D Portrait

This intimidating photo isn't a publicity shot for the latest Star Wars movie (although it could be with a little bit of Photoshop); it's President Barack Obama sitting for a special portrait session for the Smithsonian's 3D model, as photographed by White House photographer Pete Souza.

In this June 2014 portrait sitting, the Smithsonian installed a special mobile light stage in the White House for a unique portrait sitting. This unusual process aimed at capturing a 64-bit 3D impression of the President's portrait. The data gathered would then be used to recreate his likeness in a poly mesh and texture map, and then printed using a 3D printer. As the photo captured by Pete Souza shows, the Smithsonian meant business with this portrait.

The highest resolution model was inspired Abraham Lincoln's life mask which was captured earlier by the Smithsonian with the same technology. For the equipment used, the Smithsonian installed 50 custom LEDs and 14 high res DSLRs all around a mesh surrounding the President. The illumination took about one second for the different LED lights to change in directionality and the quality in order to capture the President's face

After the sitting, another handheld structured light 3D scanner, using stereo cameras to capture the geometry of the President's face. The result is the first ever 3D printed President.

The video of the 3D portrait process (with the 3D bust outcome of the President) can be seen here. For other portraits of President Barack Obama, check out Martin Schoeller's up close and personal portraits, and Shepard Fairey / Mannie Garcia's Hope Poster. For more of Pete Souza's West Wing photography, click here.

Chuck Close: The 2014 Hollywood Portfolio

Nick Stern: Photographing Banksy

Street artist Banksy has gained immense popularity for his graffiti art work which combines humor and political commentary. His stencils blend in perfectly with their surroundings, sometimes incorporating their surrounding environment. Banky's interesting subjects has inspired many artists to recreate his works in real life, with Nick Stern photographing Banky's recreations almost perfectly in his series, "You Are Not Banksy".

Nick Stern is a professional photojournalist and feature photographer. He has traveled extensively around Europe, Asia and North America, photographing everything from the everyday lives of the British, to the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. He is the founder of First News Limited, and devotes a portion of his time to mentoring younger photographers.

Banksy is the most recognized street artist of this generation. Over the last decade, Banksy's graffiti art has captured the attention of popular media due to their humorous yet poignant message. The artist uses stencils to convey political and social messages, often with a twist. The artist's fame shot up quickly about five years ago when his art pieces became popular items in high-end auction houses. His 2010 documentary, "Exit Through The Gift Shop" also help spread his name, all the while maintaining his anonymity.

Stern had always been a big fan of Banksy, and thought of creating a small photo reenactment project of some of Banksy more popular street art. The photographer started out with the Flower Thrower stencil art, and only meant for it as a way to test out some of his new equipment. When he received favorable responses to his work, he decide to continue with other of Banksy's artworks.

The photographer tried to be as detail-oriented as possible, making sure that the subjects, costumes, lighting and poses matched those of Banky's. His photo series was eventually dubbed "You Are Not Banksy", from a graffiti text he spotted in Los Angeles from other street artists emulating Banksy's work. For Stern, this was the perfect embodiment of his photographs as he wouldn't consider his reenactments as surpassing the original.

As with the previous post, these recreations can be seen as a form of appropriation art, as the photographs are clear copies of Banksy's original graffiti works. However, so much work has gone into Stern's own photographs that they've become artworks of their own. In addition, Stern's photographs pay homage to the original street artist rather than simply ripping off his stencil artworks.

It would be interesting to get Banksy's own opinion on Stern's works, but that has proven to be more difficult. The photographer has not received any communication from the artist, whether in the form of praise or otherwise. However, it's probably safe to assume that someone as anti-establishment as Banksy would consider this a tribute rather than an infringement on his works.

This is Nick Stern's photography website, and his project "You Are Not Banksy" can be found here. This is Banksy's own website. For more appropriation art done well, check out this link. To find out the controversy behind appropriation art, read this post.