The Rules Of Good Portraiture

[Benji]

Originally Posted by Keith_Indy

I think people who are criticizing this fine effort are forgetting the caveat Benji included after the last rule.


I'm taking a course on Composition and Lighting for Studio Portraits, and that is something that has been continuously mentioned. That once you learn the basics (ie the rules) you can experiment and figure out when you can break them.

Benji, I think if you have the makings of your own book here.

Keith,

I've been thinking about doing that exact thing.

Benji

[Keith_Indy]

Well, if my experience is any indication, I was looking just recently for a book on portraits, and they all seemed to advanced for my comfort level. I've been into photography for almost 30 years. I do great with nature, architecture and sports type shots. Haven't really gotten into portraits because it was always a mystery to me.

So all the books I saw, none of them had simple to read, if you do it this way, it looks like this, if you do it this way, it looks better. Lighting maps for simple setups would be nice. Only 1 of 5 books I looked at had a lighting setup for just 1 light and a reflector (my instructor is using that setup, with a softbox on the light,) and they only had 1 setup like that. I didn't pick up any books because they all seemed over my head. I'm just learning the basics, and your guide has gotten the light bulb flashing quite a few times over my head already.

[btrials]

Wow, thanks for taking the time & efford to put together the thread. I know the thread is old but was linked in other web forums. I hope to practice some of the information here at home!

[lurker]

great write up... thanks for sharing

[Harry]

Time to publish your own book. Virtually all of the "How To" books keep going over the same bs over and over. You have to buy 12 books to find 3 new and useful ideas. I learned more from your short lessons than I have in all of the books and tutorials I have read up to now. On the downside, now I'm looking over my old photos and finding all of my mistakes.

[tensixteen64]

Thank you for this thread. I've learned a lot and didn't know that I knew some things already! I appreciate the .pdf, I have it printed out!

[amethyst_jean]

Thank you so much. I am just starting out in portraiture so this has been very helpful. These are tips that you don't always find...like the sleeveless and shorts rules. I look forward to trying this out.

[Not4wood]

Benji,

While looking around at some magazines in the local offerings, most of the poses I see are terrible compared to what I have seen of yours. I do remember some basic poses from way back when but I would say I dont have enough in the file drawer of my mind and I need to study more.

I can see using Monte Zuckermans and others pages for referance, what magazine or where do you look for inspiration to get an idea to work a pose? I need to start from scratch to get some information so I can remember this if I have to take a shot. I have tried candids but they only go so far.

Thank you very much for all of your hard work and time putting into this and thanks in advance.

[Harry]

I'll go back to my post about books full of stuff that we aren't looking for. There are tons of people looking for this type of information that have to keep sifting through all of the crap in books. "This is a camera, these are different types of lights, here are some modifiers and then a whole book full of portraits that someone took using those tools, with no explaination." I even have the lighting cookbooks, pretty much the same crap. What we all want, and need, is more stuff like Benji and Jimmyz have put together, so simply and eloquently, right here on the Camel. Two or three of you guys should put your heads together and collaborate on just such a publication/DVD. Right off the bat, Ben, Kelly L and Jimmyz come to mind, but there may be others also.

I'll bet that there's enough talent right here on the Camel to actually produce such a project. I've always had aspirations of producing a project like this, just no access to the talent and photography knowledge.

[puggers]

I've learned a lot reading about these rules - I never realised there were so many. However, I'm not really a portrait photographer...

[Not4wood]

What I find interesting about all of these Guides is that all of them are common sense if you just pay attention to your surroundings. Granted, I haven't done this kind of Work Professionally in oh about 20 Years and I would say most of them are still Ingrained in me out of Reflex. I am also impressed that Ben has been able to not only write them down to share them but to be able to eloquently place them in a way that we can't or it makes it hard for us to forget them.

Being there are so many ways or outlets for us to Enjoy Photography: Portraits, Sports, Fashion, Product, Scenery and Landscape, Architecture and Wildlife (sorry if I missed anything LOL) that whatever makes your fancy and you might get open minded enough to try to explore other areas theres always something to learn. This just makes it a little bit easier.

[B&W_Fan33]

Great topic. Very important for newbies like me. Is a helpful guide to take a beautiful portrait photo. Thanks a lot.

[Not4wood]

I find that I keep coming back to this over and over to just to try and refresh whats going on in my mind. This is a great lesson in some of the basic rules and I just want to say thanks again to Ben for your efforts and patience.

Also, on this note I've seen a lesson or Tutorial on Bens Method of using an Eye Dropper to make sure that the skin color is true. I have been playing and reading to get my very basic editing skills up to a level that I feel I can now understand and try this method but I cant seem to find that thread. Can someone link over from here to the thread in question. I think that would be a very good next step in the Portraiture learning process.

Thnx in advance.

[Harry]

I found a cure for coming back over and over again. Buy Ben's DVD. Send him a PM.

Looking for this: Correct a color cast like a Pro

[Not4wood]

Great Harry, thanks.

A Karma for you for your very prompt great Link. I just checked it out, it is a great thread and I cant believe it hasn't been mentioned for color correction in the other threads.

anyway, thnx again.

[pjackson]

Benji,

Thank you SO much for sharing your knowledge. Like many people here, I have learned more from your post than hours of web searching and book reading.

If you are still here, I would like to ask something about Rules 8 and 9. They seem to be contradictory to me. One is asking the model to lean forward, and the other to lean away. Or am I missing something?

Regards

Peter

[Benji]

Originally Posted by pjackson

Benji,

Thank you SO much for sharing your knowledge. Like many people here, I have learned more from your post than hours of web searching and book reading.

If you are still here, I would like to ask something about Rules 8 and 9. They seem to be contradictory to me. One is asking the model to lean forward, and the other to lean away. Or am I missing something?

Regards

Peter

Peter,

The subject actually leans two different ways at the same time. They should lean "over the belt buckle" then lean away onto the far buttock. This adds what I call dynamism.

Ben