Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

In This Chapter

Revealing a person's story

Creating candid and posed portraits

Working with group shots

Looking into fashion photography

People may be the most common photographic subject in the world. After V all, people are the ones controlling the cameras, and a certain level of vanity is and always will be associated with photography. Folks enjoy seeing themselves in pictures; it gives them an opportunity to see what they look like to other people. However, nobody enjoys seeing a photograph in which they look bad. Some go as far as to say they don't like having their picture taken, but usually that means they feel that the results will be bad. How wrong! Anyone can look beautiful or handsome in a portrait.

On the other hand, some people relish their time in front of a camera. I've had friends who handed off their cameras at every area of interest so I could take a picture of them. When you look through those photos, you notice not only that these people are in every picture, but that they also pose the same way every time. They're trying to look good for the camera. The problem is that they're not the ones looking through the viewfinder.

As a photographer of people, your job is to direct them so they look their best. (You do this in part by choosing the right perspective, which I talk about in Chapter 8.) This mission is especially true in portrait and fashion photography. So, in this chapter, I guide you in your quest by showing you the best ways to capture candid and posed portraits of individuals and groups. I also include a section on fashion photography.

Unless you work for the DMV or the police department, you're probably looking to draw something out of your subjects when taking their portraits. A successful portrait can reveal so many different things. For example, it can uncover a certain aspect of a person's personality or tell viewers what the person does for a living. It also can express a difficult time someone is experiencing or create an iconic representation of them. An iconic portrait typically represents a recognizable person during a recognizable time period. (Think Marilyn Monroe with her dress swirling up around her as she stands over a sidewalk grate.) The image itself becomes symbolic of what that person and others like them stood for.

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.

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'llmost 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.

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.

The3/4: 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.

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.