Create a cinematic period interior portrait.
Subject: a woman reclined in an armchair, from the thighs up. Dark hair worn short and full in
loose curls with volume at the sides. Warm olive skin, softly defined eyes with a subtle wing, a
dark red matte lip. Long ornate gold drop earrings. She wears a cream silk blouse with full
gathered sleeves, a high collar and a deep pleated placket opening at the chest, tucked into a
high-waisted black skirt.
Action: sitting back into the chair with her weight settled to her right, shoulders open and
turned 15 degrees to her left, her right arm resting along the chair's arm and her left arm laid
across the chair back. Head turned back to camera, chin slightly lowered, direct steady gaze into
the lens from under the brow, lips closed and neutral.
Setting: an ornate period room. Carved wood panelling with gilded moulding fills the wall behind
her, patterned wallpaper and two gilt-framed pictures hang on the wall to the left, and she sits
in an armchair upholstered in a figured red and gold fabric. A polished round wooden table edge
crosses the lower quarter of the frame in soft focus.
Visual style: photoreal cinematic film photography, warm amber and deep brown palette, soft
atmospheric haze visible in the air, heavy film grain, lifted low contrast in the shadows, slight
lens softness.
Composition: vertical frame, camera at seated eye level and slightly low, subject centred, the
panelled wall filling the upper right, the framed pictures at the upper left, the table edge
crossing the lower quarter out of focus.
Lighting: a single warm low sun from the front left raking across her face and blouse and
throwing a hard angular shadow shape across the panelling behind her, strong falloff into deep
shadow at the frame edges, the beam catching and glowing in the haze.
Text inside: none — picture content on the walls stays indistinct.
Constraints: never sit her upright or lean her forward, never lower or fold the arms into her lap,
never look away from the lens, never smile or part the lips, never clear the atmospheric haze,
never soften or remove the hard shadow shape on the wall behind, never flatten the warm palette to
neutral or cool, never brighten the frame corners, never add people, modern objects or a second
light source.
Output: 9:16 vertical.
