If I had a penny for every time someone has said to me, "I don't photograph well", I would be a rich woman. Now I am not saying that we are all Salma Hayek who would look beautiful dressed in a paper bag, but I think that a lot of bad pictures have to do with bad posing. The goal of every photograph is to accentuate the positive and downplay what people do not like about themselves. Part of understanding that comes from taking a lot of portraits and learning what looks good and part of it comes from talking to your clients about what they are happy with and what makes them insecure. Here are some helpful tips to get you started:
- Change perspective:
- Stand on a chair
- Lay on the floor
- Hold the camera above your head.
- Use things around you to change your perspective
- Close, Close Close
- Break the ice, make people laugh
- Make a photo more intimate
- Get at their level and take candids in their environment:
- Play outside
- Sit on the ground or a chair
- Side over the shoulder most flattering angle
- Need to be at eye level in most cases
- Avoid photographing down someone’s shirt!
- No Mug shots
- Turn person slightly to the side and have them look over their shoulder; that is the most flattering for all body types. And don’t we all have something we don’t like! I have never posted a photo on Facebook that I have not photo shopped!
- Chin Down
- Photographing underneath can increase stature as you saw but make sure that people are keeping their chins down or else you will end up with what I like to call the double chin effect!
Happy Shooting!
