Just because 99% of the mind numbing head-shots you see are about as exciting as watching paint dry, there is no reason portrait photography can’t be unique and dramatic.  Photography is meant to be exciting, creative and fun.  Not the typical “sit on this stool, tilt your head to the left and give me your best cheesy smile” routine.  That’s when you go from being a photographer to one of those people.  Don’t get me wrong, those photos do have their place and time – but once you’ve had that shot done you need to get more creative.

I am by no means the Francis Ford Coppola of portraits.  Hell, I just began trying them a few weeks ago – but I find the real and natural shots to be the best ones.  I don’t let my kids strike a pose, but rather catch them off guard to get their natural look.  And for Goddess’ sake, if you need to pose someone, do it in a more dramatic way.

For this shot, I chose to have the natural unsoftened sun off to his right to cast harsh shadows, deep blue sky that would turn deep black in B&W, low angle with a wide lens, and framed so there would be space for some creative text.  OK, my text wasn’t that freaking creative, but I knew when I was setting this up that I wanted something above his head.

Subtle things really make a difference.  Be creative.  Now stop reading and start doing!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.