Portrait Photography - Tricks of the Trade

You are probably familiar with the phrase “the camera never lies”. Yet people also say things like, “the camera always puts on 10lbs”. The latter is a problem which occurs frequently in portraiture.

The reason for this boils down to a simple fact. When a photograph is taken of a 3-dimensional subject and converted to two dimensions, the 3-dimensional effect is lost. Also, unless we’re very careful, the subject’s personality is often lost too.

There might be other features that we (or our sitter) may want to minimise. The following lighting and camera positions will minimise the feature mentioned. If instead you want to emphasise that particular feature, just do the opposite.

Feature	Camera	Lighting	Pose
Round Head	Camera eye level	Backlighting	Pose with profile towards the camera
Long, Narrow Face	Camera at high level	Diffused main light high	Pose full face, Head level or pointing slightly down
Prominent Cheekbones	Camera above eye level	Main light at eye level	Head tilted back, Full face towards camera
Thin Hair	Camera low relative to angle of head	Avoid backlighting	Head straight, Hair tidy
Fat Cheeks	Camera slightly above eye level	Soft side lighting	Head tilted back slightly, Avoid full face
Long Nose	Camera low	Main light low and in line with camera	Pose full face towards camera
Wrinkles		Soft and even front and side lighting	Pose position fairly low
Scars		Position light so that scar is in shadow
Small Eyes	Camera below eye level	Main light high	Pose with head tilted forward slightly, Full face toward camera

All the above techniques may seem straightforward - and they are. However, remember that everything is relative to the position of your subject.

Say, for instance, that you are trying to minimise a long and narrow face.
You’ve lifted the camera up and your main light is nice and high. Then your sitter tilts his/her head upwards… the effect you were after has just been lost!

As always, practice makes perfect!

A face devoid of love or grace,
A hateful, hard, successful face,
A face with which a stone
Would feel as thoroughly at ease
As were they old acquaintances,
First time together thrown.

“A Portrait” by Emily Dickinson