Decoding Donald Trump’s new official portrait

Serious. Ominous. A “message picture”.

Those are some of the descriptions of Donald Trump’s newest official portrait, captured by his chief photographer, Daniel Torok. In the photo, the president-elect wears a stern expression, eyes cocked.

“The official portrait of the president is the most printed, most seen image of the president, ever,” former White House photographer Eric Draper told the BBC.

He worked for George W Bush throughout his eight-year presidency, taking both of his official portraits.

Mr Draper’s first impression of Trump’s image was that it was “heavily manipulated” with both studio lighting and retouching after the shoot.

The photo appeared to use “monster” lighting, he added, to dramatically illuminate the president-elect from below and make his eyes pop.

The lighting setup gives the image an “ominous” look often seen in horror films, said Eliska Sky, a portrait photographer with the London Institute of Photography. She compared the portrayal of Trump to a boxer before a fight.

The lighting “suggests seriousness and intent”, according to Paul Duerinckx, a senior documentary photography lecturer at the Swansea College of Art.

This image is striking, he added, because the light source in most photos comes from above, like the sun or ceiling lights, and flipping the source in this photo “tends to really have an effect on us”.