Portrait Photography
Capturing our likeness has been a pursuit of the human race for thousands of years. From paintings of gods in Egypt and Greece, to portrait paintings of royalty, to the unabashedly narcissistic selfie of today. Portrait photography or portraiture is photography of a person or group of people that captures the personality of a subject by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait picture might be artistic, or it might be clinical, as part of a medical study.
Taking a great selfie
Some studies have estimated that a third of the photographs young adults, ages 18 to 24 take is of themselves!!! One of the reasons that teenagers take and share pictures of themselves is because they’ve been empowered to do so. That’s why smart phones have two lenses, one on the front and one on the back. And it’s one of the big reasons why social networking sites like Facebook even exist. So, until the next big thing comes along, or enough “old people” pick up the fad, selfies are here to stay.
However, love them or hate them, because selfies are so popular they can be a wonderful teaching opportunity. Because at the heart of each poorly lit, poorly composed and haphazardly focused selfie, lays the heart of a wonderful portrait.
You have 5 minutes to take some selfies of you and your friends around school. Upload 5 or 6 of your favourite selfie images to a gallery on your portfolio.
However, love them or hate them, because selfies are so popular they can be a wonderful teaching opportunity. Because at the heart of each poorly lit, poorly composed and haphazardly focused selfie, lays the heart of a wonderful portrait.
You have 5 minutes to take some selfies of you and your friends around school. Upload 5 or 6 of your favourite selfie images to a gallery on your portfolio.
FAMOUS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS
Review a selection of some of the worlds most famous portrait photographers below. As you are doing this make notes of how the photographer has used to light, background and emotions to create a dramatic portrait image. Choose 5 or 6 images from various photographers that you feel are most powerful and save these onto your portfolio in a gallery next to the gallery of your selfies!
Now compare the works of your favourite artist to some random selfies. The point is to contrast and compare the work of portrait artists to the quick and dirty selfies, showing how light, contrast, backgrounds and emotion can make one image memorable, while the other is simply forgettable.
What is in each of the professional photos that makes them unique and powerful? What is it that the selfies that is lacking?
Now compare the works of your favourite artist to some random selfies. The point is to contrast and compare the work of portrait artists to the quick and dirty selfies, showing how light, contrast, backgrounds and emotion can make one image memorable, while the other is simply forgettable.
What is in each of the professional photos that makes them unique and powerful? What is it that the selfies that is lacking?
BACKGROUNDTake your 5 or 6 chosen images from the famous photographers and describe the backgrounds you see in each shot. Are the backgrounds sharp and in focus, or soft and blurry? Are the backgrounds darker than the subject, lighter or a combination that is both darker and lighter in certain areas? Do the backgrounds take away from the subject? In other words, are their eyes drawn to the background instead of the subject? Is there a lot of the background showing, or does the subject take up the majority of the photograph?
It is essential as a photographer when you are creating portrait images that you are thinking about every part of the photograph, from corner to corner, and not just the portrait itself. |
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DIRECTIONAL LIGHTING
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Light is such a vast subject that we could focus days to its study in relation to portrait photography. For the purpose of today we are going to narrow our discussion to just the “direction” of light and the difference between harsh light and a softer light.
In groups of 4 or 5 one student will be the volunteers and sit in the chair. Another member of the group will have a light and a diffuser and as a group you will walk around the volunteer, keeping the light aimed at them, but raising and lowering the light as you go. Take another rotation with your diffuser in front of the light. As a group identify and point out both the location and the strength of the shadows as you circle the sitting student and compare how the light “feels” from one location to another and with and without the diffuser. Which kind of light looked the most “dramatic”, and which kind of light seemed the most “flattering”? There is no “Right” answer with lighting a portrait. Light is simply a tool the photographer uses to convey a feeling or emotion. |
TASK: Capture two unique portraits, either of yourselves or someone else. The two portraits must have different backgrounds, different lighting and unique poses, and you must be ready to explain the choices you made and why they made them.
TOP TIP - MOOD SWINGS
Photographs that convey a mood are going to be more memorable than those that don’t. It seems like a simple concept, but even though as a photographer we can think about, and I try my hardest to make it happen, not every photograph we produce conveys a mood. Therefore when you take your images look for expressions, objects and the kinds of light that help convey a mood.
TOP TIP - MOOD SWINGS
Photographs that convey a mood are going to be more memorable than those that don’t. It seems like a simple concept, but even though as a photographer we can think about, and I try my hardest to make it happen, not every photograph we produce conveys a mood. Therefore when you take your images look for expressions, objects and the kinds of light that help convey a mood.
Now for something a little different!
Below are a series of ideas that you are going to try and capture to produce a 'unique' portrait image. Have a go of as many as you can, however, while these are fun, you must not forget what we have learnt about background, lighting and emotions this morning.
PERSPECTIVE
Take the image looking up or down, alter you perspective and angle to capture an interesting portrait. INCORPORATE HANDS AND FEET
How could you add other parts of the body to the face to make an interesting and unique image? |
FOCUS ON THE EYES
Use the black cloth or any other material to help you capture an image that focuses on the eyes. THE OTHER HALF
Take a portrait image of yourself, print it out and then cut it in half and overlay over your face. Try different facial expressions to add to the shape and form of the image. |
SHADOWS
Cast dramatic and interesting shadows on your subject. You can use natural or man made objects here or cut out some shapes using paper and scissors! PROJECTOR PORTRAITS
Project various patterns on to your subject before you take the image to give an unique and abstract look! |
MIRROR MIRROR
Try and create a unique image from the reflection of a mirror or other reflective objects. |
BLURRED AND DISTORTED
Use cling film, wire, bubble wrap, perspex and water or any other semi transparent material. |
HIDDEN FACES
Hide behind a wall, fence or other object and only reveal half the person |
Portrait Poses
Not everyone works with models. A lot of photographers have the job of shooting with everyday people and we need to make them look like models. So how do you do that when the subjects have no experience posing or controlling their face for the camera?
1. Pose the Hair
Let's assume you're doing a basic portrait session without makeup artists and hair stylists. The first thing to remember is that hair sitting on the shoulders looks terrible. If the hair sits on their shoulders, then it looks wild and you need to do something with it. There are five different things that they can do with their hair.
Hair on the shoulders (#1) should be avoided at all costs. All of the other hair positions have their place depending on your model and the look you are trying to achieve. The reason both sides (#4 and #5) should be tested is because the natural part in a person's hair will lend to one side looking better than the other. |
Generally you want their part facing the camera so more of their face is included. You might choose to put the hair up (#6) so you can more easily see the posing instructions without distraction. Many women see ponytails as the "day-off" hair style, but it actually lends itself very nicely in portraits and headshots since you have clean view of their face.
2. Pull the Chin (or Ears) Forward
When someone stands in their normal relaxed stand, or even stands up straight to have nice posture, there is a little bit of flab right underneath their chin. No matter how skinny they are, you will see this. If you tell people to bring their chin forward, which sounds like the sensible thing to do, they will point their chin at you, which brings their face up and ends with you shooting up their nostrils. (Not attractive.) Instead, tell your model to bring their ears forward. Sometimes I call this "turtling," because they feel like a turtle coming out of their shell. It is a bit uncomfortable or unnatural, but the results are always worth it. |
3. Lift the Arm
When people stand naturally, another thing they do is stand with their arms flat at their sides. This causes several problems. First, it makes them look awkward and uncomfortable in the photo. Secondly, their arm presses against their torso. This squishes the arm out and makes it look larger than it actually is. You can correct that by having them just lift their arm an inch or two so it is "floating" and not pressed against them. Alternatively, you can pose their hand so the arm is in a different position, such as putting their hand on the hip. In the image above, the red line is the size of the arm when standing unposed. The exact same red line was moved over to the second photo so you can see how much smaller the arm becomes when not pressed against the body. |
4. Leave Visual Space by the Waist
Everyone loves looking thin. One of the things you can do to trim down your subject is by giving them their "natural" waist, without any additives. What I mean by that is visually isolating the skinny part of the torso so they look as thin as they are. You can have your model put their hands on their hips. The first photo shows no further posing. The arm in the back has no space between it and the torso, so it visually extends her mid-section. By having her pull the arm a little forward, you can see the space, so the waist doesn't have anything adding visual bulk.
The red line shows the visual width of the subject from the first photo. It is replicated in the second photo to show how much width the arm actually adds. This rule does not just apply to arms. Anything that will be in the background of your subject and make them look larger can be an offender. |
5. Turn the Shoulders
This is a very simple tip, but important. If your subject stares at the camera head-on, they look bigger. This can be good when shooting a football player or CEO of a big company, but it is bad when shooting beauty or portraits. By having your subject turn, they are showing a slimmer profile of themselves to the camera, and look slimmer.
The red line shows the full width of the model when standing straight forward. A small turn to the side gives a photo that is still the subject facing the camera, but in a slimmer profile. |
6. Don't Show the Whites of the Eyes
When you want a far off, dreamy look and choose to have your subject look off camera, do not tell them to "look over there." Give them an object behind you to focus on so you can control their eyeline. You can see the majority of the white of her eye, which is a bad thing. You want to see the iris, the colored part.
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7. Don't Let the Nose Break the Face
This one is a bit more complex, but still important. When you don't want your subject facing forward, you have them turn to the side. Assuming you don't want a full profile where you only see one side of the face, they will be at a quarter turn with both eyes in frame. If you draw an imaginary line down the side of their face, this line is the line that cannot be crossed by their nose.
If they turn too far and the nose crosses this line, it "breaks" the natural curve of the face. It creates the "pinocchio" effect and extends the length of their nose. You can avoid this by having them turn back toward you slightly, until you can see a little bit of space between the end of their nose, and the side of their face. You don't want to break that line or it makes them look like they have disproportionate facial features. |
TASK: Portrait of a Partner
Now its your turn! You must practice these series of poses in groups of three.
Now its your turn! You must practice these series of poses in groups of three.
- Hair is behind one shoulder, in front of the other
- Chin is forward to create a strong jawline
- Arm is lifted from the torso
- Waist doesn't have any visual extenders
- Shoulders are turned
- Iris is seen over the whites
- Nose doesn't break the line of the face