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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Education Field Instructional

How to Communicate With a Portrait Subject

Chris Gampat
No Comments
06/09/2015
3 Mins read

The-Phoblographer-What-to-Pay-Attention-to-in-a-Portrait-Infographic

Communication, no, effective communication is what will take you far way in life when working as a photographer. For the most part, your job is about marketing and sales and convincing someone that they should pay you for your services. But even more so, you’ll need to actually communicate across to the person what you want in an image. Chances are that that person is not a mind reader, so when taking (or creating) a portrait of someone, you should have totally open communication with the person and also have an idea of what you want or what you at least want to work with.

Note that this post isn’t about models necessarily, but it’s about working with portrait subjects to actually get a better image.

The first thing you should find out about a portrait subject is what they’re exactly looking for. Do they want a photo for a graduation? Or maybe a headshot for Linked In? Maybe they want something for a dating website–whatever it is they’re most likely not going to use the same image all across the board for their online personality. So start this off by talking with the person about what they’re specifically looking for in a portrait.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 35mm f1.4 photos with Evelyn (3 of 4)ISO 4001-80 sec at f - 2.8

Then after you’ve talked to them about their personality and what they do for a living/for fun (more on that here) it’s time to actually talk with them through the portrait.

When you’re communicating, always mind your manners and say please. But in addition to that, you should realize that the person is a heck of a lot more nervous than you are. You’re literally putting them on the spot and you want them to perform. For them to do that you’ll need to actually turn them into a quasi-puppet. You’ll get better ideas for what to do by looking at other portraits on Pinterest, 500px and much more. In fact, it’s a great idea to start out with those being handy on an iPad or your phone.

SAM_0098-EditChris Gampat The Phoblographer AlienSkin Exposure 7 review image sample Melissa Fuji Pro 160 S

Start out by asking the person to stand straight for you and then take a close look at their shoulders. You’ll easily be able to see which shoulder is the higher one. Then move the shoulders accordingly so that they’ll equalize out with a lens when you take the photo. Move onto the chin, the nose and positioning the face, the hair, the legs and the specific stance, and what to do with the hands and arms. Use hand gestures by telling someone to do something like follow your finger with the tip of their nose so that you can move them without touching them. Also be exacting and tell the person why you’re doing what you’re doing. Folks appreciate honesty and they’ll most likely understand that you’re trying to create the best portrait you can. In fact, reassure them of them through body language and mannerisms.

If the person can’t do what you’re asking or if you find that you’re not communicating it effectively (which is most likely the case) then ask if you can come in and move the person.

Then I recommend that you take a test shot of some sort and with the model holding the pose or relatively close to it, show them what the framing will be and how to work with it. Then after each shot, just tell them to change it up a bit. Or, just have them hold it and shoot a couple depending on what the purpose is of the photo.

Again though, the whole purpose is to keep a dialogue going with the person.

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Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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