Whether your subjects are recognizable by the masses or just by their close friends and family, the folks who know them can appreciate portraits that make their loved ones look great and reveal something about them. To an extent, making people look good is a matter of taste and individual scenarios. But you can apply some general rules that tend to work most of the time. I explain these rules and some ways to enhance your portraits in the following sections.
Portraiture is the art of showing the likeness of a person. In a portrait shoot, your subject wants to look good because he cares what people think about him. That portrait represents who he is, and the message relayed in the photograph says a lot about him.
Capturing genuine expressions
The most basic way to show the essence of a subject is to capture a genuine expression from the person — something that gives insight to what they think or how they feel. If you simply tell a subject to 'Say cheese,' you probably won't capture a real smile. Chances are your subject will be forcing it, and that will be obvious in the photos. The worst thing you can do is to force a reaction out of your subjects. And sometimes people aren't smiley; they may be more comfortable revealing a different expression. Some people are more comfortable in front of the camera than others, so each individual has to be approached differently. To capture a genuine expression, you need to engage your subjects and earn their trust.
I can't tell you the best way to get a real expression from your subjects, but I can tell you what works for me (most of the time). I like to take a few pictures that are meant to warm up the subject. After those are finished, I lower the camera and bring up something off-topic that my subject can share her opinion about — like a really good taco stand I discovered or a story from the news. This gives her something to concentrate on besides the camera. If she talks enough, I'll most likely see a part of her true personality that's worth bringing out in the portrait. Then I direct her toward revealing that trait when I begin shooting again.
Choosing your angle and qow lens
Unlike fashion photography (which I describe later in this chapter), portraits often are taken from a higher angle. This angle helps to define the shape of someone's jaw line and to separate it from the neck. It also creates a view in which the eyes are more dominant than any other facial feature. When a subject looks up at your camera, he's putting a slight effort into it. This effort could come across as if he's engaging the camera or the viewers. Plus, looking down at someone could be more comfortable for a viewer compared to looking up at him. People usually associate looking up with authority figures, which can make folks uncomfortable.
The camera angle also minimizes each subject's different physical concerns. If someone has ears that stick out, for example, you may want to photograph him from a sideward angle so you don't highlight that feature. Similarly, if a subject's nose is big compared to the size of his head, you probably won't photograph him at a profile angle.
The angles for photographing people consist of the following:
The mug shot: With this angle, you photograph straight on to the face from the front. Avoid using a mug shot angle for people who have wide faces, big ears, or very asymmetrical features.
The profile: With this angle, you photograph straight on to the face from the side. Don't use the profile angle for people who have big noses or weak chins.
The 3/4: With this angle, you approach the face from an angle somewhere in between mug and profile. The 3/4 angle is most commonly used because it's less formal than the mug and profile, and it generally works best for most faces.
You can combine each of these angles with higher or lower angles and variations of head tilts to find the best angle for each particular face.
Much like the angle you shoot from, the lens that you choose also impacts the way your subjects look. A wide-angle lens causes facial features to appear
larger than they actually are, and a telephoto lens helps to compress the appearance of features. As a result, someone with small facial features may prefer the way he looks when photographed with a wide lens, and someone with large features may prefer to be photographed with a long lens. For more about how your lens choice affects your subjects, refer to Chapter 3.
Adding interest by integrating your subject's hands into the photo
Hands say a lot about a person. People use their hands to gesture and support themselves, to hide things, and to comfort others. So, incorporating a subject's hands into a portrait can add interest to your composition. When shooting on the streets or in public, I tend to observe what people are doing with their hands. When someone makes a significant gesture, I take my photo.
When you ask your subject to do something specific with her hands, be careful not to create an awkward or discomforting position with them. When the hands support too much weight, certain signs of stress appear. For instance, a hand pressed firmly against the face causes skin to bunch and turn red. Similarly, a hand pressed firmly against the ground while someone supports her upper body weight in the sitting position makes the shoulders rise and appear stressed. So, when posing someone, ask her to place her hands in the way you want without using her hands for full support. Sometimes faking an action comes across more pleasantly than the real thing.
In the left-hand image of Figure 13-1,1 had the woman rest her head on her hand without using her hand to fully support her head's weight. If she had put her head's full weight on her hand, her skin and left eye would have been stretched back, and her face and hand would have become blushed because of the skin-to-skin contact. In the right-hand image, the woman's hands are pressed together firmly enough to bring a certain level of tension to the portrait but not so much that they begin to look overstressed.
Taking advantage of a person's surroundings
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Figure 13-1: Incorporating the hands in a pose helps to bring confidence to the subject and creates interesting shapes.
The environmental portrait presents a compositional challenge because you must create harmony between the subject and his environment. By including supporting elements in the portrait, you risk taking too much attention away from your subject.
To make sure your subject gets the viewer's attention, take note of the following compositional elements before you shoot:
