Hey, welcome to my first blog post here!
I love photographing people because they are the ultimate challenge. You can take the best technical shot of a river and everyone is satisfied, or you can take an ok shot and be satisfied with yourself. The river has no opinion. Photograph a person, however, and they will rarely be happy about an average photo of themselves, and will very often not be satisfied with a photo that is technically or artistically great… if the photographer and model are not a team. I’ve had so many say to me, “I never like photos of myself” and that’s a challenge I love, especially when they have spent big bucks at expensive studios.
A very well respected conceptual artist and photojournalist in Australia did a journal recently asking for the most basic tips on shooting people. This guy has some of the best landscape photography and shots of just human life that I have ever seen online. People responded to his journal with comments like “shoot in the afternoon” and “use a focal length of 50-100mm”. Those things may be important but they are things I am sure he already knew, and if he didn’t he could find that in an basic photography “how to” write-up. I gave him my method and he replied saying, “Thanks, that is exactly what I wanted to hear.”
So here’s Timmy’s tips, so easy anyone can do and so simple you’ll want to have a photo session right away. It’s not technical stuff, and it doesn’t matter if you’re on a beach with a cell phone camera or in a studio surrounded by slave lighting.
1. The Roles – Portraits are a two person job, not two jobs done by one person each. The model and the photo are a team, each with a role and an understanding of the role of the other person. The role of the model is be the person they always wanted to see in their photos, the real person they are proud to share with others through the photos. That might sound easy, but it entails getting all those fake looking poses from magazines out of your head – those poses are meant to sell a product, not a person. The roll of the photographer is to capture that with the shots in the best technical way that they can.
2. The Shots – A photo session should be a relaxed conversation as the main event, with the photography just something that happens in the background. The photography part should be as covert as possible, almost taking place without notice. That is the only way the model can really look natural, regardless of the setting or anything else. Yeah, there’s always going to be “wait till I do this” or “move a foot to the left” but those are just things happening at the same time as the photo session – not driving it. Keep chatting like you would in a restaurant or on a walk. Laugh, sign, breath like any other hour of the day.
3. The Finish – Lately I’ve started editing at least a couple photos immediately after the session. Once the photographer puts the camera down, he or she has the material they need to produce photos they like, but to make sure the model is happy you have to get an idea of what they expect. I show them different looks in contrast, shading, and any special effects that come to mind. This gives the model an idea of the possibilities and directs the artist, the photographer, in a direction that is going to make everyone happy.
That’s it! Yes, equipment, lighting, time of day are important but that’s all stuff that should be worked out beforehand. The actual photo session needs to be just two people getting together and doing what they do best – being themselves.
Timmy
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