Top tips for great portraits

It’s always difficult in photography when there is more than one person to please. At the beginning of your career you might start out by taking casual snaps to build up your portfolio, or resign them to a personal album for your own enjoyment, or a blog site for the perusal of others. Then things get a little trickier, you might be asked to photograph an individual for a gift, or be present at a wedding to take some snaps on that all important day. Having more than yourself to please with a photo, means getting even cleverer. It requires you to think about exactly what the person in the photo is looking to portray, and even say with their image.

This is just one of the problems faced by many portrait photographers. Not only do they have to find just the right perspective which will compliment the sitter to maximum effect, but also portray a story in that photo which surrounds a particular part of their life, usually the part being exposed in an accompanying article from a journalist who has had far more time to get inside the individual’s head, than the poor photographer, who is then flung into a room with no redeeming quality for five minutes and told to produce something “poignant.”

To top it off, this environment has to produce something pleasing for the subject and for the editor who will be paying you for your services. So, with extremely limited time and resources, an anxious editor and a hopeful subject, what can you do?

A great Billie Holliday Portrait

Environments where you meet subjects may vary, but more often than not, important subjects will be staying in a hotel room, which doesn’t really allow the creative juices to flow, particularly if painted in generic beige.

One trick I have seen implemented several times is the ‘venetian-blind’ effect, which, fortunately, only calls for a set of blinds. These are a common feature in office spaces which is great news for subjects who you have to catch in the middle of their working day. Simply stand your subject at a right angle to the blind and use the light streaming in through the cracks to create an enigmatic portrait, with a hint of ambition.

There is also a tried and tested method used by many of the major newspaper photojournalists which involves dragging your subjects to the fire escape or roof of the building you find yourselves in. It can open up your location options slightly more and give you access to a light source which you might not otherwise have had available to you inside.

Blue skies, if you can find them in the UK, are perfect backdrops for that ambitious, hopeful feeling that one might apply to an entrepreneur of public figure. The trick is to kneel down, pointing the camera upwards for the purest shot of the skyline.

Other great devices include using mirrors, windows, or rivers which have the ability to create a reflection.