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Creating a Portrait a Few Hints and Tips - part 3 of 1 2 3 4

Published 01/07/1997

Note:

The masculine pose can be equally flattering for men or women. It is particularly useful for women who are heavy, because when their head is tipped to the lower shoulder, the fullness around the neck and jaw go towards the rear and is not seen from camera position.

The Feminine Pose is where:

The head is turned and tipped to the higher shoulder to avoid distortion of the neck line.

To get the high/low shoulder position, the body is leaned forward at the waist, as with the masculine pose. Since in this pose, the head is turned to the higher shoulder the body always leans in the opposite direction from the way that face is turned. I.e. if the subject is looking to the left shoulder then the body leans to the right.

The body faces away from the light and the face turns back towards the light.

Always lift the subject for better posture. The feminine pose looks elegant for slim women.

Tilting the camera

When there are no vertical or horizontal lines in the picture you may tilt the camera exaggerate or change the lines of composition. This can be useful say when you want to lower a shoulder on one side of the picture, tip up the camera on that side, or tip the camera down if you want to raise a shoulder.

Camera position

You might think that the proper of the camera position when photographing portraits is at the subject eye level. I have found that photographing at eye level makes the subject body appear to large, in relation to the face. Have the camera slightly above the subject eye level this will place more emphasis on the face.

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1st Published 01/07/1997
last update 09/12/2022 14:58:01

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