Taking Portrait Photos

Portrait photography provides many opportunities to earn money including poses of school children, high school seniors, wedding parties, families, events, teams, groups, and pets

Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

Keep shooting. Typically, people only take one or two shots of a person or situation, which reduces your chances for a great photograph. By shooting four or five photographs of the same situation, your chances diminish for someone’s eyes being closed or not looking at the camera. And with a digital camera, there is no harm in taking extra shots because you can simply delete the bad ones

Wedding Photographer's Handbook

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You can make the transition from amateur photographer to professional photographer by knowing less and not more. Rather than going to photography school, I was fortunate to have a mentor whom had worked as a portrait photographer for a major studio. He reduced the vast mystery of photography techniques down to just the most important elements to sell a picture. One important tip area received from my photography mentor had to do with the elements of body positioning:

First, you should rarely photograph anyone straight on.

This advice, I believe, is partially responsible for our recently signing our ninth school for their pictures this coming fall.

While other photographers seat the children straight-on as in a police mug shot, I turn their shoulders slightly toward the side at a bit of a 3/4 angle so they don't face straight on with their body.

The resultant pose is a slight head turn which comes off fabulous and makes every child look like they are getting a professional portrait and not just a typical school picture. Now, when you're not just photographing a head and shoulders close-up, you'll have to understand other aspects of body positioning that will make people want to buy their pictures.

Hands. They should always be turned slightly so they are seen from the edge with fingers together, or hide the hands altogether behind your subject or somebody else next to them. Never position hands straight on with open fingers.

Simply put, anything that minimizes how much hand you see works to make it a better portrait. This is always more flattering in a portrait and you'll see they are the ones people buy.

When we get down to the legs and feet it's something I noticed on my own: they are almost always crossed at the ankle.

Crossing legs at the ankles refines the pose and minimizes this area of the body making it more appealing.

When standing, one cannot simply cross their ankles unless they have something to lean against, so I will have one foot in front of the other in such a way that they taper into one general unit. Have them place their weight on the back leg (remember, they are at a slight 3/4 angle) and bring the front leg forward and slightly tilt the foot to face out toward the camera.

As I began to look for these simple things during my portrait sessions, my pictures got better.

I can't stress enough how basic, but important, it is to watch for these details.

My mentor taught me a term professionals in the industry know, that term is saleable. It is the point at which a portrait will find a ready and willing buyer. Much of the perfecting in the art of photography goes beyond what is necessary to the common client.

These techniques for saleable body positioning are what you need to produce a portrait good enough to please your client. 

When photographing people full body standing, seated or reclining on the ground, noticing body angle, hands and feet is the way to "fine tune" your portrait and distinguish it from just a "snapshot".

Lastly, I must share my favourite saleable tool that makes it easy to produce a better portrait than many photographers whom don't really know what they're doing: the head tilt.

A woman alone tilts her head just slightly in either direction to make a more stunning portrait. A man's head can stay straight up or tilt slightly away in the opposite direction from his most forward shoulder but never back towards his most forward shoulder.

I¹ve had exposure over the years to many different photography educational venues such as classes, workshops, conventions, guest speakers, lectures, teaching videos and books but never have any of the teachers been willing to simply say look, there are just a few rules to follow and people will be happy with their pictures. You don't have to be a master photographer to know what sells; I now earn a living from the helpful advice that I received from my mentor.

Tom Ray is a Certified Professional Photographer through the Professional Photographer's of America RayPhotography.com

Related Pages: Photography Poses - Portrait Photography - Photographers Model Release Form - Taking Outdoor Portraits - Family Portrait Photography

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