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Improve your portrait sales by following these simple rules - part 3 of 1 2 3 4

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Posing

Standing pose Place the Weight on the Back Foot- and shift the hips This will put the hips and shoulders at a pleasing angle. Ask the subject to point her foot that is nearest to the camera toward the camera and shift her weight to the back hip. This means the front leg and foot will have no weight on it. She should then bend her knee slightly toward the other leg. This will give a pleasing "S" curve to her body.

Head
vFacial positions: accepted standard facial positions
Full Face
3/4 Face
2/3 Face
Profile

Full on face: Shooting your subject straight on, square to the camera, is generally not a good idea. Head on portraits are very direct, and can sometimes take on a confrontational appearance.

3/4 Face Care needs to be taken with 3/4 portraits (i.e. the face is at an angle of about 45° to the subject/camera axis). The tip of the nose should not coincide with, nor cut through the profile of the cheek.

Two-Thirds View. A two-thirds view of the face is achieved when the head is turned to the side, leaving both eyes visible from the camera position. The eye on the far side of the face should go almost to the edge of the outline of the face, but a small amount of flesh should still separate this eye from the background. The tip of the nose should be contained within the outline of the cheek; it should not come close to the edge of the face or cross over the outline of the face and protrude into the background.

Profile. In a profile view, you see exactly half of the face. To achieve a pure profile turn the face away from the camera until the far eye and eyebrow both disappear. If they are long enough, you may see the eyelashes of the second eye, but this is unimportant. All that really matters is that you see an exact profile. Once you have your subject posed for a profile, be sure to reposition any hair that may be showing on the far side of the face-especially below a woman's chin.

Group shots

Avoid space between faces as much as possible - space between people - keep same distance between heads equal

A basic pyramid composition, with the tallest person in the centre and the heads gently sloping down to either side, is a simple starting place for groups.

The biggest mistake you must avoid is having all subjects facing square on to the camera.

Couples or group portraiture. Do not have a head directly above another-All heads should not only be at different heights but also not directly above another subject.

Do not photograph two heads at the same height- Ideally the eyes of the shorter subject (usually the female) should be at the same height as the mouth of the taller subject.

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1st Published
last update 09/12/2022 14:55:11

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