Do's and Don'ts of Portraits

I'm working on my portrait skills and would like to get some feed back from some of you. Please share any do's and don'ts that you can think of.

One question I had was relating to extreme angles. Is there any rule of thumb against taking a portrait of someone who is looking down at you while they are standing, and you are close to the ground shooting up at them? Or how about you are up on latter and shooting down at them looking up?

I'm trying to built a portfolio of 'different' looking portraits. Honestly I would love to figure out a type of portraits that is unique and isn't something you see everyday. I was reading that successful photographers are going to be the ones who establish their own path that makes them stand apart from others.

Thank you for your help.

Pamela

Be carteful that "different " doesn't become "weird". Try shooting up at someone, and see what mean. Very difficult to carry off successfully. Look at Richard Avedon's portraits for inspiration

There are very few situations where I've found that looking up at someone makes a flattering portrait. Sometimes if your angle is just slightly below them it works -- I just did a session last weekend where I used that kind of angle and I liked the outcome. So did the client, which is even more important! But usually that only works if someone has a model's physique. If your client has even the slightest double chin, for example, the lower angle can accentuate it and be very unflattering.

As far as dos and don'ts that I would always follow:
DO focus very precisely on the eyes
DO blur the background, unless there's something specific about the background that you want to show (e.g., edgy portraits with graffiti in the background, amazing landscape that adds to the photo without distracting from your subject, etc.)
DO try to get catchlights in the eyes
DO learn as much as you can about lighting
DO learn how to pose people to suit them best (i.e., differences between masculine and feminine poses, etc.)
DO practice basic portrait skills, before you start trying to get too unique/different -- when you're technically sound, it'll make your more creative portraits much better

I guess those are all dos rather than don'ts. So um...don't do the opposite!

Do not cut off limbs at the joints, such as elbows.

Pamela wrote: One question I had was relating to extreme angles. Is there any rule of thumb against taking a portrait of someone who is looking down at you while they are standing, and you are close to the ground shooting up at them? Or how about you are up on latter and shooting down at them looking up?

Rules of thumb aren't for people

"trying to built a portfolio of 'different' looking portraits. ...a type of portraits that is unique and isn't something you see everyday."

There's definitely plenty of advice out there on how to take nice everyday portraits. Learn those rules. Break them when it makes the photo better.

Pay attention to perspective. The closer you are to your subject the more slight adjustments in camera position really change body proportions. If you are far away from your subject camera position changes don't change proportions much. That's why longer focal lengths are often preferred by portrait photographers.

For even proportions have the camera level and pointing in the middle of your subject. For instance taking a full body standing portrait you would point towards the waistline. As you raise the camera the head starts becoming bigger and the feet smaller, and the other way around as the camera is lowered. When shooting relatively level make sure people don't raise their chin. They do it to stretch the neck, but it makes the forehead smaller, the chin bigger, and the view is up the nose.

Shooting from above can make the body look smaller relative to the face, and that's good for thinning. Also the subject looks up which is usually flattering to the neck and chin.

Watch out for close-ups from below. You get a nice view up your subject's nostrils. I rarely shoot portraits from below unless I want something on the ceiling or up high in the background. Shooting up with a background of beautiful architecture can look great. Shooting up in a way that makes the subject's feet look huge may not appeal ( www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20050425,00.html ).

I read a really interesting artice the other day that helped me loads. It warned about taking photos from a lower angel for severalreasons. 1. You can see up the nose. 2. It makes people look heavier. 3. It said it can make the shot awkward and make their bodies look odd.

It also said don't be afraid to get all up close and person. In the past I stood at a distance. Now I get up close to the client and get a tight shot. I've noticed that my photos look a whole lot better.

Back to the above/below debate, it also suggested taking a step stool and shooting slightly downward. This tip also worked for me.

Good luck! Play around and see what workes best for you!

Potrait photography is not as easy as it seems, some beginners think that they have an object whom they can mould according to them. However they fail to preserve the naturality of the shot. Having a casual conversation before the shoot will definetely help you out in making your subject comfortable while looking at the lense. If you are clicking them in a mood looking away from the lense, give them some object to look.