Most portrait photography advice is technical such as what lens to use, how to position lights, what pose to use, etc. This is the easiest advice to offer but it’s also the least valuable.
You can do a good portrait with almost any lens in almost any type of light. The reason is that the content of a portrait always trumps the technical aspects of the photo.
Viewers don’t look at a portrait and say, “Wow, look at that lens choice!” or “I really like that 3:1 light ratio.” If a viewer notices the technique before the subject then the photographer has failed.
The most important factor in creating a good portrait is the ability to capture the moment when the subject’s character, personality or, to be overly dramatic, their soul, is reflected in their face.
Your job as a portrait photographer is to get that moment to occur and ideally many times over. The way to accomplish this has nothing to do with lenses or lighting. It’s simply about talking to the subject.
A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it. — Edward Steichen
Talk to make a connection
Some photographers keep a list of corny jokes or silly sayings to help a subject relax and smile. This may be okay when shooting family portraits but it may be detrimental when photographing executives and other VIPs.
Other photographers suggest that you get to know your subject, ask about their hobbies, engage them in conversation and build a rapport. Well, good luck with that when shooting 30 business portraits in three hours or when you have only two minutes with a busy executive.
For business portraits, annual report portraits and other corporate portraits, a photographer has to be a good “understander.” You don’t need to know your subject or be friends with them. Just understand them. Understand what they expect from the photo and from you, the photographer.
You have to talk with the client long before the photography happens and make sure both of you are on the same page with regard to the photography. Don’t just ask, “What colour background do you want?” Ask what the pictures are for, how are they going to be used, what message do they want to send, who is the intended audience. Use all this to guide your portrait plans.
At the photo session, talking with your subject, especially when time is limited, is about you diplomatically and confidently directing – not posing! – your subject. The worst thing a photographer can say is, “Look this way and smile.”
While it’s often necessary to say things like, “turn slightly toward the window” or “bring your chin up a tiny bit,” your main directions should encourage an emotional response from your subject.
Talk to create a response
Most people are not actors or models and they will have difficulty conveying an emotion. Try giving them a “scene” or “character” to act out or at least something to think about. Some very simple examples:
• Imagine you’re playing a high-stakes poker game and you know you’ve got the winning hand. Show me the confidence you’d be feeling.
• You’re a car salesman and you just sold a Rolls Royce. Think about your sales commission!
• Lean towards me as if you’re about to tell me some really great news.
• Imagine you’re a boxer and you’re staring down your opponent before the fight. Show me your best steely determined look.
I know a photographer who needed a bank executive to smile for an editorial portrait but the executive only stared into the lens. Finally the photographer said, “You’re a banker. Imagine you just foreclosed on someone’s mortgage.” The executive immediately smiled.
Talk to keep things moving
It’s important to always be talking (within reason). Never let long periods of silence happen. Silence makes time move slower. Your subject will assume that silence means something is wrong.
During a portrait session, if anything isn’t working out, it’s always the photographer’s fault. Never say anything like, “You have a weird shadow on your face” or “Your chin looks odd at that angle.” Instead use something like, “Let me adjust the lights to brighten the look” or “Let’s change the position to make things even better.”
With an executive or other VIP, don’t use the word “pose.” Use something like “position.” For example, “Let’s change your position to add some variety” or “We’re going to position you closer to the window.” Fashion models pose, executives don’t.
If a CEO enters the room without smiling and looks very serious, don’t ask them to smile for a photo. Children smile to get approval from their parents. Students smile to get approval from the teacher. Employees smile to get approval from their boss. A CEO doesn’t need approval. Asking this CEO to smile might make them feel subservient. But this doesn’t mean the CEO can look mean or arrogant in the pictures. This type of CEO should be guided to look confident not smiley.
Also don’t say, “Just a few more” to a busy executive. Instead try something like, “We’re going to finish with a few strong looks . . . (click, click) . . . and I’m going to change the camera angle to make it even better . . . (click, click) . . . and now the last ones to make sure we have it . . . (click, click, click).”
It’s important your subject feels that there’s a progression happening, that things are moving along on schedule and everything is working out.
Talk to relax
Telling people to turn left or right can be confusing. Is it their left/right or your left/right? Instead use nearby objects as reference: “turn to the window,” “lean toward the desk.”
Some subjects may have the “deer in the headlights” look. If all else has failed, try the “TV teleprompter” trick. Instead of asking the person to look directly into the camera lens, have them look at the camera manufacturer’s name on the camera body. This should still look as if they’re making eye contact with the camera and the person might feel less intimidated.
When working with nervous or fidgety people, ask them to hold something – a rolled-up magazine or newspaper or anything else that’s small and lightweight but still requires two hands to hold. Obviously this is only for head-and-shoulder photos.
If you need a portrait where a smile or laugh is required, the photographer and subject have to play toward the final photos rather than expecting a perfect smile on command. For a simple example:
“Raise your left eyebrow . . . (click) . . . Wrinkle your forehead . . . (click) . . . Scrunch up your face . . . (click) . . . Make your nose longer . . . (click) . . . Look like the Mona Lisa . . . (click) . . . Look wet . . . (click). . . Now look dry . . . (click) . . . Lean toward the Niagara Falls . . . (click) . . . Look like the colour yellow . . . ”
By playing around with silly looks, your subject will eventually become relaxed enough that a natural smile or laugh should happen.
To do this with an executive, get them to work through a progression of smiles: “Let’s start with a small, closed-mouth smile . . . (click) . . . Breathe through your mouth . . . (click) . . . Now a small smile to show you’re mildly amused with what we’re doing here . . . (click) . . . A smile that a politician uses when they want your vote . . . (click) . . . The smile you use when you get home to your kids . . . (click) . . . And the smile you’ll use when I tell you we’re done . . .”
Talk for a better photo
Remember that a portrait subject always reflects the attitude of the photographer. If you want your subject to smile at you (your camera) then you have to smile at them. And this won’t happen if you always have your face hidden behind the camera.
If someone complains that they never look good in pictures, you might say, “Okay let’s do all the bad pictures first and get them out of the way. Close your eyes . . . (click) . . . Make your mouth go sideways . . . (click) . . . Stick your tongue out . . . (click) . . .”
These throwaway pictures can help relax a nervous subject since they’ll see that every click of the shutter isn’t a final judgement. They will hopefully feel much less pressure to get it right. This probably shouldn’t be done with senior executives.
It’s not something they teach in photography school but you have to learn to talk a good picture.
This is really really great advice. Actually, this website is filled with great advice, I’ve been reading for the past 30 minutes. Thank you!
Thank you for reading here. Just remember that free advice is often worth what you paid for it :-)
Everything is easy on paper (or on a web page) but making it happen is the hard part. Every photographer is different and what works for one may not work for another.
If someone is not used to being photographed, they will look to the photographer for “clues”. When you photograph a young child, you will often make silly faces and funny noises to get a smile or laugh from the child. (Side note: young children get their “clues” from their mother first. If the mother acts like you’re a friend, then the child will accept you as being safe.)
Well, you also have to do this with adults, too. Probably not funny faces and noises but you still have to lead them with suggestions. For many photographers, these suggestions are only about posing (e.g. “Turn your head to the left.”). But these suggestions should also be about the subject’s attitude because you want more than a blank stare in the portrait.
In every portrait, you’re trying to draw out an emotion (i.e. a believable facial expression).