Portraits

This is part two of my thinking about the upcoming Macon State College Arts Festival. Yesterday, I discussed my approach to pastiche, today I want to share my ideas about portraits, the more formal and traditional part of my photography.

Perhaps the most interesting subject to human beings is human beings. This makes sense. Even the things we make reflect the makers. One could say that we’re obsessed with ourselves. One of the ways we make sense out of the universe is by projecting our image onto it. Indeed, if we weren’t around, would there even be a universe?

More than anything else, I like shooting portraits. This art not only gives friends, family, and clients a reflection of a meaningful time and place, but it allows me to add a part of myself to this matrix. If pastiche is my new-media expression in photography, portraits are my more traditional and formal approach to the art.

This is not to say that the two — pastiche and portraits — are completely different. They do influence each other. I love to experiment with portraits, but I find that most folks tend to favor a more predictable approach, especially when these images are attached to a traditional event like a wedding, engagement, birthday, or a similar occasion. Again, that’s not to say that I can’t experiment, but most portrait shots emphasize the subject rather than call attention to the medium.

I keep a couple of general guidelines in mind when shooting portraits: (1) intimate is better; (2) longer lenses are better; (3) decentered subjects are better. As I said: these are guidelines, and occasionally I do not follow them. Every session is unique, and a good photog must be prepared to meet the challenges of each situation.

My portraits tend to be closer — more intimate — than traditional portraits. To me, the subject is the most important part, so why not fill the frame with the subject? Again, sometimes a professional portrait will need to include more than the person for the portrait, so that will need to be taken into consideration. Part of this guideline, too, is a tendency to avoid the straight-on, centered portrait. This is so often a blunder of inexperienced portrait photographers; however, sometimes it can be effective.

No lens shorter than 50mm is usually a good idea with portraits. In fact, I like 85mm or longer. A short lens tends to distort the subject, elongating heads or scrunching faces depending on where they are positioned in the frame. While this distortion is less noticeable in landscapes and can even be desirable when photographing objects, for portraits it is generally not a good idea. Also, the closer you get to an object with a short lens, the more distorted it will be. So my guideline #1 necessitates a longer lens. Also, long lenses let the photog get intimate with a subject in the frame while staying at a comfortable distance from the person during the session.

As I mentioned above, a common mistake of new photographers is not using the rule of thirds. While one should not be slavish to this rule, a strong photog will at least know it and be aware of it in composing photos. I think this is particularly important for portraits and is something that I am hyperconscious of during portrait shoots.

See more of my portrait work in a gallery I set up just for the Arts Festival.