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No Sleeveless Clothing in The Head and Shoulders Portrait.
I took the image on the left, cloned her blouse several times in order to cover her right upper arm. Note the difference as to where your eye is drawn when you view the image. In a portrait the first thing you should see is the face.
No shorts in group portraiture.
This happened to me twice this year (for the first time in years!) Even though we specifically state in our clothing consultation NO SHORTS we still get people who show up in shorts. When this family called, they said they wanted to be photographed in blue jeans and asked if that is OK. I said yes and told mom to make sure the shirts/blouses are all the same color. I of course was expecting long blue jeans NOT shorts.
The image below is one of the poses. Note how dad’s and his youngest daughter’s bare legs really attract attention. That is because our eyes are attracted to bare skin, and that is why the ONLY bare skin that should show in PORTRAITURE is the face. Remember, the FACE is what portraiture is all about.
Correct Posing Stool Height
I have found that a 24 inch tall stepladder works wonderfully as a posing stool for nearly all of my traditional head shots, provided my subject is not very overweight. For the overweight subject use a taller stool to allow their paunch to drop. I added a wider top rung (the seat) to the wooden ladder because most people’s buns are wider than 4 inches!
In the image I posted below, you can see my modified stepladder. It also shows how raising the leg closest to the camera will tilt the torso (and the shoulders) slightly away from the camera.
Lean Slightly Away From The Camera.
I also place a small wooden wedge under the buttock closest to the camera. This will keep the shoulder that is closest to the camera higher than the other one, but will still allow the subject to relax. I added "sides" to my widened top rung with slots on both sides for the wedge to fit into.
Proper Head Tilt
Never tip a man’s head to the high (feminine) shoulder as he will look feminine. Woman’s heads can be tipped toward either shoulder, but the feminine shoulder is more appealing.
feminine head tilt
Proper Eye Direction
Generally speaking, in males the eyes should follow the direction of the nose. For females there should be slightly more whites of the eyes on one side than on the other. Rule 12a. The eyes should never be turned so far in their sockets that there is no white area on one side. A slightly higher camera angle will give more whites at the bottom than at the top which is more appealing in images of young females. In the image below the subject is staring up into space. Some wise sage once said; "The eyes are the windows to the soul." This is not to say that every image must have the subject looking directly at the lens, but it seems most people like images that the subject is looking at the camera (them) and sales data will bear this out to be true.
Avoid Flat Lighting.
Portraits usually look best with one side brighter than the other side. When the shadow side of the face is closest to the lens it is called short lighting. Short lighting will make the face appear narrower and more slender. If the shadow is on the side opposite of the lens it is called broad lighting. Broad lighting will make the face appear wider and heavier. Flat lighting is where there are no shadows on the face at all. On camera flash will give you flat lighting. In the image below, the flat lit image was lit with my home made ring light, the other with a 24 x 32 inch soft box with louvers at camera right.
Watch the Nose and Cheek Line
The face should not be turned so far away from the camera that the nose will break or nearly break the far cheek line. This will make the nose look large. 16 a. The far eye should either been seen completely or not be seen at all, but one should never photograph the face so that only 1/2 of the far eye shows.
Crop Between The Joints, Not At them.
Cropping at a joint makes the subject appear amputated. Several months ago, I critiqued an image on the ’net that broke this rule and the image maker responded that he sees "amputated" limbs in fashion magazines all the time. I told him he needs to keep two things in mind. 1. He was seeing the image after the art director of the magazine had cropped the image to fit the space allowed in the magazine, and these rules are mainly for the portrait photographer.
Don’t Stack The Hands or Clasp Them Together
Separate them and place them apart and between the joints. Hide the rear hand if possible in group portraits. I’ve posted three images showing how this rule was broken three different ways.
Don’t Photograph The Back of Woman’s Hands.
The sides are much more graceful than the flat of the hand. Fists are masculine, open hands are feminine. Note how much more graceful the edges of the hands of the young lady in the second image looks when compared to the flat back of the hand in the first image.
If The Subject Has Two of Them, Make Them Different.
Feet, knees, arms, hands and elbows at different levels are more interesting than when placed side by side. Note in the posted image that everything that can be made different has been made different. His hips are not level, his shoulders are not level, his head is tipped to the masculine shoulder, he is leaning slightly, his knees, feet, arms, hands and elbows are not side by side but are placed at different and multiple levels. Sameness leads to boringness in a photographic image.
I took the image on the left, cloned her blouse several times in order to cover her right upper arm. Note the difference as to where your eye is drawn when you view the image. In a portrait the first thing you should see is the face.
This happened to me twice this year (for the first time in years!) Even though we specifically state in our clothing consultation NO SHORTS we still get people who show up in shorts. When this family called, they said they wanted to be photographed in blue jeans and asked if that is OK. I said yes and told mom to make sure the shirts/blouses are all the same color. I of course was expecting long blue jeans NOT shorts.
The image below is one of the poses. Note how dad’s and his youngest daughter’s bare legs really attract attention. That is because our eyes are attracted to bare skin, and that is why the ONLY bare skin that should show in PORTRAITURE is the face. Remember, the FACE is what portraiture is all about.
Correct Posing Stool Height
I have found that a 24 inch tall stepladder works wonderfully as a posing stool for nearly all of my traditional head shots, provided my subject is not very overweight. For the overweight subject use a taller stool to allow their paunch to drop. I added a wider top rung (the seat) to the wooden ladder because most people’s buns are wider than 4 inches!
In the image I posted below, you can see my modified stepladder. It also shows how raising the leg closest to the camera will tilt the torso (and the shoulders) slightly away from the camera.
Lean Slightly Away From The Camera.
I also place a small wooden wedge under the buttock closest to the camera. This will keep the shoulder that is closest to the camera higher than the other one, but will still allow the subject to relax. I added "sides" to my widened top rung with slots on both sides for the wedge to fit into.
Proper Head Tilt
Never tip a man’s head to the high (feminine) shoulder as he will look feminine. Woman’s heads can be tipped toward either shoulder, but the feminine shoulder is more appealing.
feminine head tilt
Proper Eye Direction
Generally speaking, in males the eyes should follow the direction of the nose. For females there should be slightly more whites of the eyes on one side than on the other. Rule 12a. The eyes should never be turned so far in their sockets that there is no white area on one side. A slightly higher camera angle will give more whites at the bottom than at the top which is more appealing in images of young females. In the image below the subject is staring up into space. Some wise sage once said; "The eyes are the windows to the soul." This is not to say that every image must have the subject looking directly at the lens, but it seems most people like images that the subject is looking at the camera (them) and sales data will bear this out to be true.
Avoid Flat Lighting.
Portraits usually look best with one side brighter than the other side. When the shadow side of the face is closest to the lens it is called short lighting. Short lighting will make the face appear narrower and more slender. If the shadow is on the side opposite of the lens it is called broad lighting. Broad lighting will make the face appear wider and heavier. Flat lighting is where there are no shadows on the face at all. On camera flash will give you flat lighting. In the image below, the flat lit image was lit with my home made ring light, the other with a 24 x 32 inch soft box with louvers at camera right.
Watch the Nose and Cheek Line
The face should not be turned so far away from the camera that the nose will break or nearly break the far cheek line. This will make the nose look large. 16 a. The far eye should either been seen completely or not be seen at all, but one should never photograph the face so that only 1/2 of the far eye shows.
Crop Between The Joints, Not At them.
Cropping at a joint makes the subject appear amputated. Several months ago, I critiqued an image on the ’net that broke this rule and the image maker responded that he sees "amputated" limbs in fashion magazines all the time. I told him he needs to keep two things in mind. 1. He was seeing the image after the art director of the magazine had cropped the image to fit the space allowed in the magazine, and these rules are mainly for the portrait photographer.
Don’t Stack The Hands or Clasp Them Together
Separate them and place them apart and between the joints. Hide the rear hand if possible in group portraits. I’ve posted three images showing how this rule was broken three different ways.
Don’t Photograph The Back of Woman’s Hands.
The sides are much more graceful than the flat of the hand. Fists are masculine, open hands are feminine. Note how much more graceful the edges of the hands of the young lady in the second image looks when compared to the flat back of the hand in the first image.
If The Subject Has Two of Them, Make Them Different.
Feet, knees, arms, hands and elbows at different levels are more interesting than when placed side by side. Note in the posted image that everything that can be made different has been made different. His hips are not level, his shoulders are not level, his head is tipped to the masculine shoulder, he is leaning slightly, his knees, feet, arms, hands and elbows are not side by side but are placed at different and multiple levels. Sameness leads to boringness in a photographic image.
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