Portrait Techniques

I think a simple, but nice way to make a portrait more interesting is framing the subject. By framing one element of the picture with another, you can draw the viewers eye to a desired point. Having a person stand in a doorway, look through a window or even use another prop to frame their face would be a good way to draw more attention to a certain focal point in the photo. Another way to make a portrait more interesting is to experiment with facial expressions. Serious facial expressions can make great portraits depending on the mood the photographer wants to convey, but it can be nice to spice things up a bit. If I wanted to evoke a more playful mood, I could ask the subject to laugh or smile at the camera. If I wanted to portray a more somber mood I could ask the subject to look at the lens in a serious way, or maybe look off camera. Altering the perspective at which you take a photo can also make a huge difference in the quality of a portrait. Sometimes it works really well to shoot a person at eye-level as one would normally see the subject in real life. Shooting from another perspective can provoke an elevated interest of the portrait in a viewer. This can also convey a fuller story by giving the viewer a broader look at the subject and their surroundings. Playing with eye contact is something else I would like to experiment with in my work. The eye contact in a portrait can really effect the mood and/or message of a photo. While direct eye contact with the camera can be a powerful way to invoke a sense of connection between a viewer and a subject, sometimes having the subject focus on an outside object can be powerful as well. Having the subject look off camera can make a viewer more interested in the photo as it can cause intrigue in what the subject is looking at. I personally think that not having eye contact between the lens and the subject can make a photo look more candid which I find interesting. I think this is something I'd really like to play with to discover in which scenarios which technique creates the most powerful photo.