When photographing a subject/model, there are many things going through your head as you fire away--is my exposure good, is my white balance set appropriately, am I shooting in RAW, how does the subject look in relation to the background, are they framed appropriately, did I make adjustments to my camera settings that I should have reset before I started, oops they blinked -- take another shot, etc. There are far more things to consider besides these basics to capture some really technically proficient portraiture, and, although it may seem overwhelming, the more you practice and implement these techniques the easier it will come--like second-nature.
The first tip to better your portraits is posing the hair.
"How do you pose hair?" you may ask. There is generally no "rule" for what works best here because everyone is different, but pay attention to the way the hair lays over the shoulders and where the hair is parted in relation to the camera. It is recommended to avoid having hair falling over the sides of the shoulders. If possible try one or more of these hair poses:
- All hair behind the shoulders.
- All hair in front of the shoulders
- All hair on one side.
- All hair on the other side.
- All Hair up (pulled back).
The next tip is to pull the ears forward.
"Wait, what? How you do pull the ears forward?" you may be wondering as you question where I learn these crazy tactics. This is a development to originally asking your subject to pull their chin forward; often, asking your model to do this will cause them to lift the chin up and you will therefore be capturing the inner-workings of their nostrils. Avoid this by asking them to pull their ears forward and by doing this you are hiding the appearance of a double-chin and it makes the jaw line slightly more defined as in the examples below. It may feel unnatural and uncomfortable to them but the intent here is to make your portraits better and with that comes a slight, temporary awkwardness.
Tip number three: lift the arms up.
When having your subject or model posing for you the natural response is typically to let the arms fall flat to the sides. It causes them to look awkward and squishes the arm against the body causing it to look bigger. You can ask them to lift the arm an inch or two away from the body as if it were floating or have them place a hand on the hip with the pinky-side of the hand facing out. This will create the illusion of length.
Tip number four: leave visual space at the waist.
The above photo is an example of how you can maintain the perception of a slimmer waist as demonstrated by the red line. The arm, when pulled away from the torso, will reduce its visual size. This also applies to other objects that may be in the background such as light poles, trees, and even other people. These have the potential to add bulk to the torso so be conscious in isolating the torso.
Tip number five: turn the shoulders.
This may be second-nature to you, but it is important to understand exactly what this does. When your subject or model stands square to you it makes them appear larger and more broad. By having them turn their shoulders they are slimming their profile and will thus appear slimmer in the photo as we can see below. Note the slimmer area between the first red line and the one on the right.
Tip number six: avoid showing the whites of the eyes.
You may start thinking about how much editing you have to do to make the eyes look whiter, but this is about position of the iris. To keep a portrait looking natural and not awkward, avoid telling them to simply "look away," rather, give them a specific area to focus on where you can control their eye-line. If you can see more of the whites of their eyes than you can the iris, or colored part, ask your subject to direct their gaze somewhere that brings their eyes to a more pleasing position as you can see in the photo below.
The seventh and final tip for better portraits is to not let the nose break the face.
It sounds confusing, but let the photo below illustrate what I am talking about. Turning the face too far in one direction will ultimately cause the nose to break the natural curve of the face. This tends to make the nose look bigger and is also referred to as the "Pinocchio" effect. Have them turn their face back towards you until there is a small space between the nose and the adjacent cheek.
It certainly sounds like a lot to consider, but once you put it all together you will have new skills to create better portraits. So, as a self-proclaimed Nature photographer you might be wondering why I am offering tips on portraiture all of the sudden. I am currently in the Portraiture class right now and I feel as though I have uncovered a hidden talent, opened a door of potential that I never knew I had or never thought I would want. I know I have a lot to learn still but these small steps will help us all create better portraits.
Do you have any tips for better portraits or questions that I might be able to answer? Comment below and thanks for reading today!
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