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Useful Photography Tip

Useful Photography Tip #175: Photographing Someone With Deep Set Eyes

Chris Gampat
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05/03/2017
1 Min read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Sony 100mm f2.8 G Master STM FE portraits of Natalie 3

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Not every person is created and shaped in the same way, but everyone is indeed beautiful in their own ways. So when it comes to portraiture, one of the toughest subjects to photograph at least when it comes to facial features can be people with deep set eyes. I first realized this years ago when shooting at weddings and bouncing my flash off a ceiling and behind me to illuminate the person’s face. What I realized is that I just wasn’t getting the coverage because their forehead was out a bit extra.

So to counter this problem I really started to experiment and shoot with people that had the deep set eyes facial feature.

The solution: Well, there are a few

  • Have the subject raise their chins just a bit
  • Have your subject look into the light source
  • Move the light source to more directly on with the subject’s face but still diffused/indirect enough to deliver soft light.

What you’ll find is that the portrait subject’s eyes will finally be fully illuminated–and it’s one of the reasons why something like a Rogue Flashbender is used so often at weddings and events.

deep set eyes light modifier portrait
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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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