There are nearly 40 rules (suggestions) that should be followed if one expects his or her portrait images to rise above the "that is a nice picture" to
"WOW you did that?" status. I have never seen them assembled into a book and published, other than a book by master photographer Don Peterson written in 1985. He listed 25 of them. Even when Googling it all I get is his rules (posted by myself and one other person) over the past several years on various websites. Several of those rules have become, let's say, "obsolete" in the new millennium.
I have garnered these rules over the last 25 years as a professional photographer. Some of them have been modified somewhat by the general relaxation of posing people in the last ten to fifteen years or so.
Why rules in portraiture? Most people would not spend $100.00 for an 8 x 10 snapshot that they could have done themselves with a point and shoot camera in their own backyard. They will however spend $100.00 (or more) for an 8 x 10 if it is a beautiful portrait of their loved one, one in which they look good, and if you follow the rules you should get beautiful portraits. Once you learn them you can
then judiciously bend or break them a little to achieve that "perfect" image that
you see in your mind.
These rules are for PORTRAIT images. Just as there is a difference between a mini van and a sports car, even though both are motor vehicles, both run on gasoline and both will get you to your destination in comfort, there is also a difference between portraiture and fashion images. In portraiture it is all about the face. In fact the word "portrait" literally means "A pictorial likeness or photograph of a face." In fashion photography it is all about the clothing.
While some rules will be applicable to both fashion images and portraiture some will not.
Benji
P.S. Most of these rules are covered in detail in my instructional DVD Photographing The High School Senior in The New Millennium. PM me for ordering information.
This tutorial is copyrighted by Sonshine Studios 2006.