Francis Wu
Hon PSA, FPSA, FRPS, FIBP, FRSA
Hon. Master of Photography.
Introduction
I am often asked to write a book on Portraiture for the benefit of all those who are interested in this field of photography, whether he or she is an amateur or a professional. To write a book of this sort is difficult, as it would be necessary to please both the beginners and the advanced workers. Bearing this in mind, I am trying to write something about portraiture that will aid the beginner as well as the advanced worker. Many of the ideas, which other portrait photographers have conceived or written about, will be repeated. Gathering all their points together and adding the experiences and mistakes I myself have made in producing portraits. Expecting my readers to follow through my personal methods of making a portrait, but I hope this will guide them to avoid some common mistakes made by photographers.
Portrait photography can be said to be the most interesting branch of photography. It will interest everyone and anyone: not only the photographer himself, but the sitter, his or her friends, and an audience of admirers.
Portraiture
Why is portraiture such a fascinating subject to talk about in photography? We often ask ourselves this question, and once we start asking ourselves questions about a subject, it must be an interesting one. Indeed, it is fascinating and interesting. The constant change of facial expressions, moods, age (of childhood to old age), the individual characters, the personalities – all these – make up out of portrait photography a study of human nature.
We, as portrait photographers, must record in our portraits all the characteristics of human nature. We can make the record in our portraits good or bad, many times we even distort or exaggerate. A portrait can either mar a successful print or emphasize it to such an extent that it will arouse the enthusiasm of the viewers or the audience, A successful print depends not only on the ability of the photographer, but also the cooperation of the sitter.
Naturally, a portrait photographer must know his camera and accessories, his lights, films, developers, papers, and be able to manipulate and handle his equipment with ease. His technique must be good; otherwise the finished work will have no significance at all.
In addition of being capable of managing his equipment and expressing his technique, a portrait photographer must also be an artist: arranging of pose, draping, make-up and dressing the models, etc. all require an artistic sense.
After fulfilling the qualifications of a good technician, and artist, the last requirement is to be a good psychologist – to know the habits, the likes and dislikes of human beings – how to apply the right approach to obtain the inner, natural expression so that the portrait can be truly and actually represented.
All human beings have a pride in themselves; this pride produces individualism. In order to manifest our pride, therefore, we comb our hair, put on nice clothing, polish our shoes and manicure our nails. The women, especially spend hours in front of their dressing mirrors, taking care of every minute detail of their make-up and dress: yes, it is all done out of pride and vanity. All women love to be beautiful – and it is the duty of the portrait photographer to make them beautiful. On the other hand, men have a pride in themselves, different from that of women: their pride is their dignity, their bold, manly character, their strong feature that distinguish them from Wong or Wu, or John or Jack.
All in all, the portrait photographer must concentrate on giving a good likeness, showing outstanding features of beauty and character. What more do we want of a portrait photograph?
Individualism
All human beings have the same features given to them by nature, such as two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two ears and so forth: and all human beings act according to the law of nature. Therefore a frown, a smile, a cry, a laugh is nothing but a human manifestation of expression. Individualism does not mean that one person is distinguished from another by a physical peculiarity, such as one eye, two noses, two mouths or one ear. This type of individualism is classified as freakish. It is not the job of the portrait photographer to make “individualist” portraits of them. What I really mean by individualism is that each person is endowed with the same features but different characters – the character that distinguishes one person from another. Although we all look alike, we can say that this is Mary or Jane, or Ching or Ming. Mary may have a pair of large round eyes, while Jane has a pair of small slanted eyes. Ching may have a wide thick mouth, and Ming have two large elephant ears. These slight variations sort out the features of the individual, and these individual features, added to expressions, form individual characters. Individual characters, therefore, can be said to develop from expressions habitually used and the contractions of the facial muscles to such a form when such expressions are required. As we grow older, these expressions have mobility; they constantly change from one to another according to the mood of the individual. Thing changing of expression according to mood gives the portrait photographer ways of capturing outstanding portraits. Mr. A. photographer may make a picture of Mary in a smiling mood, while Mr. B. photographer may make another one of her in a melancholy mood. This depends on the photographer themselves in creating and capturing their subject’s expression.
While we are on the topic of expression, I would like to say that this is the first essential of a good portrait. Expression arouses the emotions, produces sentiments: expressions can bring laughter or tears to the one who is looking at the portrait. Expression in a portrait photograph is like the expression of a dream, a scene in a stage or in a movie. Writers have described their characters with words, and their words are reflected into expressions and images in their mind. But looking at the expression in a photograph, the emotions are aroused directly. Therefore, to compose a portrait photograph requires the skill of the photographer to bring out the full expression. Not many photographers can achieve this skill. Many attempt to do it and are not successful. This skill depends on the photographer’s personality, how well he manages to know life and habits of his fellow men. He must have enough education and be well brought up in life; he must also have mingled with all classes and types of people, in order to understand their lives. The photographer must play-act in front of the camera and their sitter. In order to create a feeling or mood to get the expression out of his sitter.
The face is generally said to be an open book. Everything on the facial surface reveals everything within that person. From the surface of the face, we can get the message from the bottom of the heart. Therefore, the face is very important. From the face, there are the eyes, and the eyes re said to be the windows of the soul. Expression in the eyes reflects the expressions from within – gaiety or sadness, seriousness or hilarity. “Look me straight in the eye” is also another phrase – expressing honesty.
The mouth is next in importance in expression. If the eye and the mouth are hidden from a photograph, what other features will reveal the character, mood and expression? I don’t think the nose or the ears would create a sensation. But if we hide the ears and the nose and only reveal the eyes or the mouth, we can be aroused by their expression.
The Sitter
No matter whether you are a beginner, an advanced amateur, or even a professional photographer, you will have the same problem with your sitter. And no matter whether the sitter is a friend or an unacquainted stranger, he will react in the same way – he will inevitability be camera conscious. Even we, being photographers ourselves, when approached by other photographers who want to make a portrait of us, feel camera conscious when we face a camera. From experience, I can say that everyone is self-conscious when having a portrait taken. This camera consciousness must be overcome before the sitter is clicked. Camera consciousness will put the sitter at ease. His mind will be wandering and wondering. He will be over worried and anxious over nothing. I have seen people who come to me for portraits, whose camera conscious keeps them from moving all the time. Occasionally, a sitter is so nervous that he trembles, blinks his eyes, twitches his mouth, and makes funny expressions. This uneasiness is registered not only on the face, but also be the camera on the film. The photographer must be careful with such a sitter. From my daily experiences with sitters, I have formulated a way of getting along with them. My method is this: I pretend to be ill at ease myself, fumbling around with unnecessary gadgets, and manipulating out of the way light stands, and so forth. In this way, the sitter will be conscious of my own clumsiness or fumbling, and forget about his sitting for the portrait. I never pose my sitter and tell him to give me a smile or look into the camera. I leave all the expression to his natural responses. But in the meantime, my camera is well checked and ready for taking. As soon as I see the expression that is good, click goes the shutter.
How To Avoid Camera Consciousness
Fumbling around the camera may work at times, but not all the time. Sometimes this will make a fool of the photographer in front of the sitter. Another method of avoiding this camera consciousness is to get acquainted with the sitter. The photographer before the sitting should spend a few minutes talking with the sitter, being friendly, asking a few questions about his business, his hobby, or interest in life outside of work, what he likes and dislikes, what kind of amusements he indulges in, how he likes to be entertained, about his friends, his social background, and his position in the community or society. The more the photographer knows about his subject, the easier it will be to work with him. He must also keep in mind while he keeps his conversation going, he must be on the alert to watch the expression he wants. Once he has captured the confidence for the sitter, it will not be difficult for the photographer to capture good facial expressions for the portrait.
However, when he cannot get any information on the life of the sitter, the photographer must rely upon his own powers of appraisal; he should train himself to gather quickly a correct impression of the subject’s intellect, his taste, his aspirations, and by conversation draw from him some ideas of his special interests, which may be used as topics for continued conversation.
Such conversations will sooner or later strike a responsive note within the subject, and brighten up his face, what is most interesting to him will bring to life the natural pleasing expression so essential to a good finished portrait.
Natural Expressions
Since a good portrait depends upon a natural expression, the photographer’s task will be to remove all suspicion from the subject’s mind, to break down all antagonism and to create a friendly situation in which the subject feels he has an equal part. The making of a successful portrait will depend upon this mutual co-operation. The photographer should not rush and hurry a sitting and above all, should not get flustered. He should always be in command of the situation. In addition he should always be polite and invite the sitter into the studio in a casual way. He should not put on an artificial appearance, or assume affected mannerisms in greeting the sitter. If a person is treated in a natural, friendly way, he will easily make himself at home, and assume natural or habitual pose which would suit him best, or be more likely to be associated with him. Sometimes, through this system is not very successful. For instance, some people who are too conscious of their own shortcomings may try to correct them before the camera. A mild, timid man may try to make himself look severe and bold, a stern man may force an unaccustomed smile on his face, and the camera will in consequence capture these artificial aspects. Needless to say, this resulting portrait will not reveal the person as he really is, and will not show him as he usually appears. The photographer should bear in mind that a portrait should be candid as well as flattering, and should, be casual conversations, by subtle handling of the situation, be an insight of human feelings, and a knowledge of the psychology of human nature, be able to capture pose that is graceful, dignified, and in relation to the sitter’s personal status.
Posing The Sitter
Arranging The Bench
When the bench is placed directly in front of and parallel to the camera, the sitter will tend to site squarely on it. As a result, his shoulders will be spread directly across the picture, and he will seem broader than he really is. If t he sitter is woman, she will naturally dislike the picture, as it would make her look fat, and not flattering her as it should. As for men, only very few will be pleased with such a pose. A great Man, or a person of dignity would appear statelier with this straightforward pose, but only a small number of people have such high positions in life as to demand such a pose.
The bench therefore should be placed slightly slant from the camera, so that when the person sits on it, his shoulders will be turned a little away from the camera. The picture will not appear stiff or artificial because with his shoulders at an angle from the camera and his head turned back to the cameras, the person does not seem to be entirely still; an element of motion is thus added to the pose.
The Eyes
Never let the subject stare right into the camera: the picture would give anyone an uncomfortable feeling no matter where it should be placed. Having the sitter look near the lens – a little to one side would be best. However, don’t direct his eyes too far from the camera, as this would give his eyes a faraway look, and should not be as intimate as a portrait should be.
Head And Shoulder Portraits
When you look into the ground glass of your camera, you must know how much to include and how much to leave out. Amateurs usually place the head too low in the picture space, and not enough body is shown in the resulting negative. This is very inadvisable, as there would not be any pleasant proportional relationships between the head and body areas. Good portraits should show a head with ample support from the body below.
On the other hand, some people place the head too high. The picture would, in this way, have a cramped appearance, and would not be pleasant or comfortable to look at.
If the head and eyes are facing one side, it is better to allow more space in front of the head than behind. This will give the eyes a directional scope, and a well-balanced composition.
Three Quarter and Full Length Poses
A three quarter pose is more difficult than just a head and shoulder pose, and should not be attempted until the latter is mastered. The photographer would have to pay attention not only to the head and shoulders, but also to the arms and hands. When you are taking a full-length picture. You will have to consider the legs as well. You should be careful not to let the legs or arms point directly towards the camera. Turn the legs as well as the body to one side, and don’t let the arms fall close to the body, as this will make the body look wider. When the sitter is slender, the three quarter length pose will be very effective, but when he is quite old or stout, you should restrict the pose to head and shoulder views.
In three quarter poses, do not have the feet and legs placed stiffly together. Either let one foot be slightly in front of the other, or have the other foot crossed over the other. Crossing the knees will add grace and rhythm to the composition.
When you want to show the person standing up, remember not to make him stand with equal weight on both feet. Let the weight rest more on one foot than the other; better still, have him put one foot slightly forward and flex that knee. This will abate any awkwardness or ungracefulness, and add a feeling of naturalness and relaxation. You must bear in mind, though, that when the body is turned slightly away from the camera, the near foot should always be flexed, not the further one.
If the sitter is not an experienced one, he will inevitable be at a loss with what to do with his hands. When the subject is a man, he will want his hands to express strength and character. The most effective and popular ways of posing the hands is to have the subject hold a book, a pipe or a cigarette, or maybe, a pair of spectacles. If he is a lawyer, doctor, scientist, artist, or a band leader, you could successfully post him with some instrument or tool customarily associated with him: this will put him at ease, as well as give the picture a story. However, whatever he is holding, makes sure that he is not grasping it too tensely. Pose his hands, so that they are shown slightly away from the camera, and be careful not to pose the wrist, hand and fingers in acute angles.
If the subject is a woman, you must try to enhance the gracefulness of the hands. The most important rule is never to show the broadest aspect of the hands. Again, I must remind you that the best thing to do would be to have her turn her hands a little to the side. The back of her hand and her fingers should curve gracefully. Sharp angles or unnatural placement of the hands would spoil the whole picture.
When the sitter has graceful hands, she can place them near her face with a very pleasing effect. When she is sitting, she can cup them slightly in her lap, and you can have the lady hold something in her hands. Good props would be a fan, open or closed, a scarf or handkerchief, or maybe even flowers. However, you must bear in mind that she holds and how you pose her should be natural to her personality, her habits and temperament.
