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

The Essentials of Photographing Seated Portrait Subjects

Chris Gampat
No Comments
03/03/2017
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 85mm f1.4 G Master lens review samples portraits of Grace (4 of 4)ISO 1001-100 sec at f - 2.8

Portrait subjects and people have so many possibilities when it comes to creating a great photo of them. Most photographers take pictures of their subjects when they’re standing; but taking portraits of your subject while seated is a whole different game. They’re essentially rooted to a position and you can work with them off of that one spot. But like all portrait subjects, when you’re going to take a photo of them they’ll need direction.

If you’re working with someone who has never posed for a proper portrait before, consider these tips.

Have Your Subject Not Sit on the Thighs

Model: Megan Gaber

For starters, when someone typically sits down, they try to have their buttocks and thighs cover as much of the seat as possible. It’s just more comfortable. But when you’re photographing someone, this can work against them. Because so much weight is being put onto the thighs, it can make them look unflattering. You can negate this by having them sit only on their buttocks. That way the thighs aren’t squished.

Even out the Posture Based on Your Lens

When they’re sitting forward near the front of the seat to unsquish their thighs, then you need to find a way to work with their posture. This comes with a variety of options. Depending on their body type and the clothing that they’re wearing, you can have them lean forward and more into the camera. Otherwise, sometimes a great idea is to have them stretch out a bit and become more comfortable. Lean back, etc.

Make the Arms Do Something

A BIIIIIGGGG part of portraiture is what the arms and hands are doing. You can do the typical arm crossing but that gets boring after a while. Perhaps have them work with a prop or something else that tells us about them. This specifically gets tied in again to body language because everyone uses their hands to be expressive.

Are They Sitting Naturally?

Note how people actually sit based on what setting they’re in and the situation like watching television vs being in a bar stool. Make it look natural and you can do this by giving the person a mental situation to be in. Actors and actresses are usually the ones to ask for this.

Light from Above and the Side

Model: Bec Fordyce. Shot with the Nikon D810

Lastly, if you’re not necessarily using natural light to photograph your subject, then use a large light modifier and light them from above and slightly to the side. This will give the most flattering light possible in the scene.

arms body language hands images portrait posture seating thighs tips
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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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