Pontificating on portrait photography

I used to, and still do, have difficulty in taking portraits – pointing a camera towards a person’s face always felt like intruding and I kept away from portrait photography, preferring instead “faceless” images of all kinds. A moment of epiphany and I set myself the task of bravely pointing my camera at people.

And here are some thoughts I have (I bet you never suspected me of having actual thoughts) on what has worked for me so far… When I refer to portraits here, I mean candid images and not posed studio work. If some of these seem embarrassingly obvious, please bear with me – for me, these are slow and hard lessons.

Think about your story: A great portrait, like all good photography needs to tell a story- it needs to make the viewer curious about the person behind the face.

The best kind of portraits, of course are of those who are naturals – people who like to pose, who like to be in the center of attention, who throw attitude right out of the frame… Like this lady in Sikkim – she was chatting with a couple of friends when she stopped and looked straight into my camera, blowing smoke into it as I went click, click, click. Or my other all-time favourite of this old lady with the ice lolly – this is from the Chatuchak market in Bangkok.

These two images are also interesting for the way they show unusual, or unexpected situations – there is no sense of apology or embarrassment on their faces – it is perhaps just that I saw them as unusual…

Make friends with your subject:

The first rule that works for me is to talk to the person I am aiming my camera at. I think this is essential, unless it is a stolen moment or you have a great telephoto lens that lets you capture from a distance. Put people at ease – talk to them, get them to smile crack a joke (even if it is about yourself and your photography obsession) distract them where required so they lose that stiffness – sometimes it helps to show them the first pic you have taken so that they relax… The other thing I have learnt to do is to take several pictures – the ‘posed’ ones anyway and others when they let their guard down…

Do not force that smile: The other thing is about the smile – all that ‘say cheese’ business – surely you agree that natural expressions are more interesting than those plastic smiles. Anger, boredom, impatience, that scowl, that yawn…

Follow the gaze: A photograph taken when your subject is looking at something else that has caught his / her attention works very well – the ‘object’ in this case would be either completely out of the frame or in the background in bokeh or a mere glimpse of it is visible – the intention here is to draw the viewer into the frame with the question – hey, what is it that is so interesting out there? Alternatively, images where the ‘object’ is part of the frame also work well – e.g. a child looking at a ball in his hand, a mother looking at her child, a person staring at a painting…

And oh, the parent-child thing never fails – these two images are from Rajasthan (India) and Siem Reap (Cambodia) – but really, they could have been anywhere.

Move beyond the mug: Portraits are often understood to be mug shots – the person looking straight at into the camera, only the face filling the frame and so on – that need not always be so. Try to include details in the frame – e.g. where they are looking at, what they are doing with their hands… these add a lot to the image.

Even if it is only a mug shot, try different angles – or have the person turn away from the camera, just the eyes looking towards you…

Throw in context: Often in an effort to focus on the face / eyes, we tend to miss out other aspects – this is a typical example – I wish I had taken time to compose this better – to include the lance he was holding in his hand, placing him unmistakably in the context of the golden temple in Amritsar. His gaze is compelling but this image is not complete as a portrait- where is he? what is that piece of stick in front of him? why is he looking at me like that?

In contrast is the second image – without the cow and the greenery, he is just another old man – the stick in his hand, the glimpse of the cow make it obvious that he is a farmer and the land behind him give the viewer some sense of his life.

Even when your composition requires a tight focus on the face or a part of it, I think it is worthwhile adding a bit of background – put it out of focus if needed but offer glimpses to spark the viewer’s imagination – like the bits of make up and paint in this image.

Capture people at work: This works very well especially when they they are engrossed in what they are doing; the story that emerges is interesting. Related to this is the idea that in good portraiture, it is essential to focus on the eyes – but there need not always be direct eye contact…

Like these, for instance – the boatman from Rajasthan and the cap-seller from Delhi – they looked at my camera and decided they could not be bothered and looked away pointedly. The real story is when I had finished taking pictures and their faces broke into smiles as I showed them those – and I wish, oh, how I wish, I had managed to capture those expressions.

Sometimes, a portrait becomes dramatic when you let the context rule… I have tried it often, especially when the idea is to capture the sense of that time and place overall…

Compare the two images of the boy with the bubbles – which do you prefer and why?

I am working on portrait photography – but I am glad to have made a start. One of things I need to do is experiment with angles and perspectives (like all other types of photographs, portraits can become repetitive and predictable) – for instance, notice all are in the horizontal format? I tend to use it all the time – the vertical format is not called portrait mode for nothing – I need to remember it and try it…

What are your tips for portrait photography? Do share them here…

Also read: the extremely insightful and interesting What the Mona Lisa Can Teach You About Taking Great Portraits