Portrait 101

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Long have I been dreading this one but my community group asked me to pen something after some members spent a day photographing each other as a portrait workshop. The pics were great but the conversation got round to whether there were any simple rules that could be applied to make portrait shots look better without getting technical or delving into fancy camera settings or loads of Photoshopping. The answer is yes.

First off a clarification. Rules don't actually mean rules as in 'never break them'. These rules are more guides to taking better portrait images that once understood can be selectively broken. By that I mean that before I would break a rule I'd learn what it was and why it existed. Only then would I maybe experiment with breaking it to see if I could get a cool effect or interesting look. i would usually fail utterly but now and then I'd get an interesting result or two. So don't be afraid to experiment. Digital pictures are free.

Also there is some discussion in this article about masculine and feminine 'looks' and the idea that while women can happily strike both a masculine and feminine stance, men look odd if they are in feminine poses. I'm not going to comment on our societies ideas about what is and isn't an acceptable 'look' for the different sexes. People can be photographed looking any way they like. However unless we're specifically trying to achieve a certain visual style making men appear masculine and women feminine is going to make most people you photograph happy. In the same way that we seem to have no issue with women wearing jeans and t-shirts it seems fine for us to photograph them in traditionally masculine poses. It gives the subject a certain look which we may or may not be going for. Photographing a woman in a  sharp business suit sitting behind her desk might need a masculine pose but photographing her flouncing through a poppy field in a summer dress and floppy hat might be more successful if we have her looking more feminine. In the same way that we find men in dresses odd looking we tend to find men in feminine poses equally strange. No idea why we treat the sexes so differently, but there you go

Eyes

1. Shoot the eyes. Possibly the most important rule is to get the subjects eyes into focus. We're immediately drawn to peoples eyes (windows into the soul) and if they're blurry or dull the whole image falls down. If you're photographing someone who is posing for you focus on their eyes. Many cameras have different focus modes and one of them is 'spot focus'. This mode allows you to move a single point of focus around the viewfinder and to position it over a specific part of your scene. The camera will focus on this single point. Other options allow the camera to choose the focus point itself and it may not choose the eyes as it's focus point. Using spot focus means you keep control and can make sure you keep your subjects eyes in focus.

2. Catch lights in the eyes. In the world of TV and movies there is a light called a 'catch light'. It has one job only and that is to put a little white light into the eyes of the actors during close ups. Take a look next time you watch a film or drama and you'll see that in scenes where one or more actors is close to the camera there will be a little highlight in their eyes. This light really lifts a portrait as well. It's harder to achieve than just getting good focus but worth the effort if you have time. By turning your subject towards a light source or using a little bit of flash gun light (assuming you have one) you can pop the light into their eyes. Flash built into a cameras body is usually not much use for doing anything but if you can set the output manually to a low setting (1/64 or there about) you can get the light into the subjects eyes nicely. Sometimes moving over to a window works and in one case I held up a piece of white photocopy paper that reflected into the subjects eyes to get the effect. To be really fussy the catch light is best if it's positioned at the 11o'clock or 1 o'clock position in the eye, but that's taking it a bit far

Below is an image with eyes out of focus and no catch light compared to the same image in focus with catch light.

In focus with catch lights

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Out of focus without catch lights

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3. Try not to photograph someone where they have turned their eyes so far in one direction that there is no white to either side of their eyes. It seems to make a person look aggressive. Humans are the only species of animal that always shows whites in their eyes and it is said we evolved with this trait as it allowed us to make a lot better non verbal communication using just our faces. The position of the eyes, direction we're looking, how wide or narrow our eyes are all convey messages about our emotional state and frame of mind. So we feel more comfortable if we can see the white of another persons eyes, as we can better read their mood and intentions. It makes them seem more open, communicative and approachable..... or so they say.

Body Position

4. How you pose a person differs between men and women. It might sound odd but subconsciously we expect men to look 'masculine' and women to look 'feminine'. Putting sexual stereotypes to one side there is a simple rule for posing men and women. Men should look straight ahead when being photographed. They can be turned 45 degrees away from the camera but their heads should be pointed straight at the camera and they should be looking forward into the lens. Women however can turn their heads slightly away from the camera and then look back into the lens. An ideal set up, if you imagine the camera is at 6 0'clock, would be to have a female subject turn to about 5 0'clock then turn her head back round to 7 0'clock and then look straight into the lens at 6. Men should face 5 but turn their heads to 6 and look into the camera at 6. If they strike a 4 - 7 - 6 female pose it will make them look more feminine. Women can pose like men at 7 - 6 - 6 and it's looks powerful but still OK. This positioning is often refered to as the 3-1-2 (feminine) and 3-2-2 (masculine) pose.

5. Lift a shoulder. Try to get your subject to make the shoulder nearest to the camera higher than the other. Some photographers get their subject to sit half on a cushion to lift the side closest to the camera. If you do use this pose it's Ok for a woman to tilt her head towards the hight shoulder but men should keep their heads level or tilted towards the lower shoulder or they will look all girlie. Again girls can be posed either way although you'll get a more masculine (confident) look for a woman who strikes a masculine pose. So it's a good look for a female business woman etc.

6. Bend all the joints. If you're shooting more than head and shoulders make sure any visible joints (wrists, elbows, waist, knees, hips) are not straight but at least bent a little. Also never crop across a joint as it looks like some part of the subject has been cut off. Always crop between joints, odd but it works. However don't bend any joint especially elbows and knees to exactly 90 degrees. The lines of the body should flow rather than turn sharp corners or be rigid striaght.

7. Don't pose a subject so their nose appears to project past the line of their cheek. It's not a big issue but does make the nose look bigger which is often not a good look.
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8. While all kinds of effects can be obtained from shooting at different heights in relation to your subject shooting level with their eye line will always work. So unless you're going for a very specific look stick to the same level as your subject. This is very important when photographing kids. Get down to their level, the shots are much better as you're effectively now down in their world and your photographs will be much more engaging

Clothes.

9. The human eye is drawn to skin and likes to look at it (insert crude comment here). So unless you're on a swimwear shoot (oh to be so lucky) make sure the only skin you shoot is a persons face. So that mainly means no bear arms and certainly no bear shoulders and avoid having your subject wear shorts if possible. Clearly there will be many occasions where you'll be photographing people not swathed in clothing such as summer BBQ's, beaches etc but remember that the more skin you shoot the less the viewer will focus on your subjects face.

10. Try not to photograph people wearing lost of patterns or very bright colours. Again often your shots will be specifically of a person in bright colours but remember that your viewers attention will be split between the face and the clothes. If you're photographing a carnival there's no issue, but if you're specifically taking a personal portrait of someone get them to wear simple plain clothes with no gaudy patterns or colours. they'll be much more impressed with the result if you do.

Groups.

11. Never shoot groups where one persons head is directly above another. If you have some people standing and some sitting space them out so no one is stood directly behind and above someone else.

12. Don't pose two or more people at the same head height. Always get them to sit, kneel or stand so that each persons head is not level with anyone else's. The best option is to have the lowest persons eyes at the same height as the next tallest persons chin. Each next taller person also should be  posed so that their chin is level with the eyes of the person below them. This can be hard to achieve if you have a lot of people or are short on time but try it if you can.

And that's about it. I once read a guide with a hundred rules of portrait photography! It went into all kinds of details about how to pose hands and feet and how each type of person should be posed for best effect i.e. how to photograph a group of men, a teenage boy, a little girl, a young woman and so on. There's no way anyone can remember all that but maybe a dozen tips for photographing people might be more useful