Welcome to portrait tips and techniques 2012.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at our State convention for photographers, “Hair of the Dog” - my overseas friends….. don’t ask!

So many new faces, but all with the same passion to learn. The thing that struck me was the enthusiasm to learn more about the craft. I have been sensing for a while, that new photographers have missed learning the old skills such as finding and using natural light, angles of the face and body language to flatter people etc.

Technology has moved so fast, photographers have been caught up in learning Photoshop and how to use their latest camera equipment, that the very foundation of capturing and creating a quality image has become secondary.(IMO)

It was refreshing to have so many new photographers take such an interest in my timeless classics. When someone mentions “classic portraits”, people generally think old school. That can be true in some cases – the old stiff studio portrait as an example. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I showed B&W images from 1998 – 2011 and I don’t think anyone could tell - timeless, heart & soul portraits.

I’m talking about creating a piece of personal art for your client, that is so emotionally attached to them, that they will never remove them from their walls. My approach is to use the foundation skills of lighting, posing, emotion and mood during a session, to create such pieces of art. It’s called CRAFTSMANSHIP.

The following is an extract from my presentation.

Listed below are the 6 styles I try to use during any one session. Some of these could be bracketed, eg: interactive & controlled candids, but I will try to explain why I separate them. Sometimes I can only do 3 or 4, but more variety the better. TIPS: I would rather take less images and concentrate on quality and variety, than blaze away aimlessly.

CLASSIC

EMOTIONAL

INTERACTIVE CONTROLLED

CANDIDS

LIFESTYLE

STORYTELLING

CLASSIC….. Typical classic portrait, the light is wrapping around the young girl, creating shape and texture – the strong catchlights in the eyes – and an engaging soft expression would make any parent melt.

EMOTIONAL….. The bond between father and daughter says it all…… a lifetime special moment. This can be any family member or even a pet.

INTERACTIVE….. Finding a common interest amongst kids and letting it play out is my approach. Playing cards worked here.

CONTROLLED CANDIDS….. This style is a bit like a movie director, who has a vision, but needs the players to act it out. Easy when you have boys and their toys, I just had to guide them to create composition and lighting. The rest I guess is a bit of luck.

LIFESTYLE…… The parents of these three kids are professional golfers and kids love it, so it’s easy to get co-operation. Just find out the lifestyle of the family, it could be music, dance, surfing, sports etc. This will personalise their portraits and create uniqueness to their images.NB….don’t overdo the instruments/equipment/toys etc. Remember your adding variety to the session. TIPS: No parent wants every portrait on the wall with  props.

STORYTELLING…… This could be bracketed with a couple of the other styles, but sometimes the story of the kids having fun comes from the parents when they proudly show off their wall portraits, while telling the story of the session to their family and friends. TIPS: That’s priceless PR.

I hope this has given you some thought to the way you approach your next session. By all means be creative and keep up with the trends, have a foot in both camps – Timeless Classics and Contemporary.

My family, friends and peers tell me I shoot from the heart. The truth is, I SHOOT FROM THE HEART FOR THE HEART…… It’s a win, win, think about it.

Until next time, happy shooting

Wayne

portrait tips and techniques

First, let me explain my viewpoint of high-key portraiture and the pastel look. To most photographers, high-key portraiture means a white background in a studio environment, lit with multiple lights with subjects dressed in white clothing. You would be correct, but unfortunately somewhere along the line, some photographers think a white shirt with blue denim jeans is high key. I don’t and the reason is simple, your eyes are drawn to the brightest colour or highest contrast area. In the case of the white shirt and jeans, the contrast of the clothing takes away from the face and as portrait photographers, the face is more important not the clothing. So clothing selection will make or break a high-key pastel portrait.

By having the clothing light, top to bottom, the face now will contrast against the clothing, allowing the eyes and lips to draw the viewer.  So white clothing on a white background in the studio is traditionally accepted as high-key portraiture, but as I photograph mostly outdoors in natural light, I  look for light coloured or neutral walls for backgrounds. Light and rough textured is my preference – concrete walls are a good example, as shown in these prints below. My version of high-key is about achieving a soft, low contrast look in the clothing, so clothing in pastel colours and whites are ideal to blend with these types of backgrounds.

On location, watch for dark object in backgrounds that will draw your eye. Example of this might be on a beach with soft light sand and kids in light clothing, then in the background , large dark rocks drawing your eye away from the kids.

The “karate boy” below is a good example of white clothing mixed with a textured, neutral concrete wall. The eyes, lips and hair draw the viewer, not the foreground, background and clothing.

HOW TO LIGHTEN AND DESATURATE THE IMAGE: This not going to be a long Photoshop tutorial, just a overview so you can play and experiment to suit the look you want.

Now you have your perfect image, that is, the  right clothing and suitable location, we need to lighten the image, but not lose detail. This is my procedure for this image, as each image will need its own adjustments.

1 Original

2 Duplicate the layer > desaturate that layer > change  layer blend mode to screen > you may want to adjust the opacity slider, but on this image I selected > image >adjustments> shadow/highlights to improve the white detail > flatten

3 Duplicate the layer > filter > high pass > 8-10 pixels > change layer blend mode to hard light to sharpen and create some edginess – change opacity to suit > select hue and saturation  layer > slide saturation to -54 you may choose another setting to suit

4 I created another curve layer to improve the clothing detail and add some warmth via colour balance > +3 red  -3 yellow I also added some gaussian blur to the bottom.

The following image is the textured concrete wall used for the two sisters.

The portrait of the girls was warmed up more and the eyes and lip colour was retained. Note with these pastel portraits, the background and clothing blend and not compete with each other.

Original colour portrait before conversion to a pastel portrait.

Not all pastel portraits have to have very light backgrounds. In this portrait of the three brothers, the colour hue of the sand and water matches the boys clothing, so there is no colour contrast. I would have preferred lighter coloured clothing on two of the boys, but when I applied the techniques above, I liked the tones.

Well that’s it for this post and I hope this helps those who would like to try this style. It’s not new, just a variation of an old technique that I think is timeless. Give it a try, you never know, you may find a better way. If you do let me know.

Until next time, happy shooting.

Wayne

PS………feel free to make comments. They are always appreciated.

Welcome to this post on “pastel portraits”. I am going to reminisce a bit, then show you my updated 2011 version, but first some history.

Back in the early 1990′s, yes… the dark ages for many of us, I was creating a portrait style called “Pastel Portraits. Many other photographers also enjoyed creating these emotional portraits. Basically they were created using 35mm 1,000 ISO Kodacolour negative film, with an adjustable softening device, called a “Pictrol”. The Pictrol was originally designed as a darkroom  enlarger softening device, but many photographers converted it to fit tele prime lenses. (85-135mm)

Lighting was with a 500 watt (or 250 watt) tungsten floodlight through a starfish or softbox  positioned close to the subject for the softest light and large catchlights. As the tungsten light was so warm, a 82B blue correction filter was used to bring the light  close to daylight balance, but still retain some warmth. Most portraits were shot close and had a very dreamy warm feel, extremely good for babies and young children with perfect skin. Retouching these was not an option, make up prior was a better solution if necessary. The “pictrol” created softer edges and a slightly sharper centre where the eyes would be.

Flash wasn’t an option as we needed to shoot at around F4 and with the light so close for the required softness, the “pictrol” wouldn’t work at F8 or F11. Besides, tungsten has its own special look and was ideal for this style.

The style was ideal for large moody and grainy portraits; no smiles, just soulful  expressions with captivating eyes that would follow you.  They were also suitable for High-Key and Low Key portraiture. Kodak for some reason discontinued the film and replaced it with a 1600 ISO film which didn’t have the same grain structure that gave the original “Pastels” its uniqueness. Many photographers tried other films, but the grain was too fine.

I always loved the “Pastel Portraits”, so unique. They required a lot of work to set up and I have to say, a higher level of studio skills to get it onto the film first go. No peeping available. So, I had to practice and get it formulated, before testing it on my clients.

Fast forward to 2011. I am always looking for new ideas but the problem is, it’s usually been done before. I am a true believer that “the pathway to the future often lays in the experiences of the past”, so I started looking at things I had done before, that I could reinvent. Pastels jumped up real quick. I was never going to get the same effect, as the Kodak film grain was unique even in its day and the softening device over the lens is totally different to using Gaussian Blur.  Photoshop offered its own opportunity to create a new “hybrid” Pastel Portrait style, but this time, in the High-Key style. Not the same grain and warmth as the originals, but a soft and desaturated style.

In part 2 next time I’ll explain the Photoshop techniques.

So till next time, happy shooting

Wayne

PS ….. feel free to make comments, thank you.

So in this post I’ll let the portraits speak and I’ll just add a few words why I selected them. Everyone should do this from time to time. Pick your top 10 and see how hard it is, what to include and what to leave out. Initially I got down to around 30, then 20, then I struggled because there were many I thought should be included. . Anyway I hope you enjoy them. Please note they’re not any special order.

This was definite from the start. The little girl’s expression and the clutching of her father’s hand won my vote for best emotional portrait.

My best pet portrait. Well I don’t do a lot of pets, but this was special. Getting them to stay still, plus the owners hand coming into the top left of the frame was bonus. It added the extra element to tell the story of the moment.

The “Boxer” was one of my lifestyle series. It wins my vote for my best lifestyle portrait. It looks like it was taken in a studio, but in fact was taken under a back patio of his parents house. The background was so full of scattered bright light, I decided to use an old piece of olive green tarpaulin as a non distracting background. The portrait was lit with natural light and an old 120J sunpak barebulb – flash through a beauty dish. I love the dramatic lighting.

This portrait wins my vote for my best experimental black and white conversion. Shot with Canon 5D and converted through Alien Skin software using the Infrared Fog setting. I find the infrared conversions very good for smoothing the skin and giving a subtle glow. Sometimes I make two conversions – one infrared and one a higher contrast standard conversion – merge them together and brush the lips hair and eyes back. That’s why it my experimental portrait winner, no rules.

My best rain portrait. I told them what to do, but they did it so naturally – holding hands, walking and talking. So I guess the lesson is to always be prepared for the worst conditions and still look like a pro.

I voted this one as my best music portrait. There were many contenders for this selection, but her expression, pose, composition and post production make it my winner.

It really is just all the basics coming together.

This one is going to be a lifetime favourite for me. I liked it the moment I saw it in the camera and pressed the shutter. No faces, no expression, but the body language makes it a winner. You see I only told the two eldest boys to put their hands in the pockets and the little guy just mimicked his big brothers. I asked them to walk away talking to each other and when the three heads went down, that was the captured moment.

My favourite siblings portrait, probably because it’s outside the normal. I used her brothers as background and foreground props framing the young lady. The lighting is  natural light with a 30″ softbox/lumedyne portable flash on a stand.

The family portrait winner was a difficult selection, but for me it was the expressions and reactions to each other that stood out. The selection of clothing colours helped simplify the portrait.

Last but not least are  the twins. Clear winner as they were the only twins I photographed in 2010. I had to include them, as I don’t think I could do it any better.

All the basics coming together again – subtractive lighting techniques, modeling light on the faces to show shape and form, light in the eyes to show depth and sparkle, great bokeh, simple background, great hand shape, body position and attitude to finish off.

Beats point and shoot.

Well that’s it for this blog post. I hope the photo tips with each image give you some thoughts for your next shoot.

Until next time happy shooting

Wayne

portrait tips and techniques

YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED…thank you.

Many photographers ask me how they can develop a style to help brand themselves or differentiate themselves from “the pack”. Firstly it’s not easy, it takes time and dedication to develop such a unique style that allows instant recognition or branding. You want people to view your images and say “WOW this is different”, not say ” nice, but nothing special”.

BOXER

This “Lifestyle Portrait” is based on the actual life activities of the subject…………………….

So how do you develop a style?

STEP 1…..Learn the basics of  lighting and composition so it is instinctive.  There are photographers who are naturally creatively gifted, but lack the technical expertise to reach their true potential. These photographers often think that learning too much technical stuff will stifle their creativity. I disagree. Knowing rules and techniques allows you to constructively critique and fine-tune your own work, and, when and why you should break or modify them for better artistic content.

Then there are the photographers (including myself) who have some creative and technical skills, but have to keep continually learning and fine-tuning their craft. I truly believe these photographers achieve great personal satisfaction. As the years pass, they can look back at their humble beginnings and be proud of their journey so far.

The parents of these children are Professional Golfers, the kids also play. To me it’s the perfect Lifestyle Portrait – it’s who they are……….

STEP 2…..While improving your knowledge,  you will want to take more images to test your new skills. This is part of “passion and desire” to being a better craftsman…….continual growth.

My style was developed by viewing the work of photographers and artists who inspired me. Images that I kept being continually drawn back to. I didn’t know why at the time, but those were the images that stuck and I had some emotional link to. Now I can look back and see why.

My technical knowledge has improved to the point that I can look at those early inspirational images and understand how the technical aspects of lighting, composition and printing all combine to give the mood and feel that appeals to me.  I truly believe our own unique style is more to do with our personalities.

TIPS…. I suggest you should expose yourself to all types of images – paintings and photographs in galleries, books and online. See what images continually grab your attention, do they “tug at the heart strings”, do they make you laugh, do they bring a tears to the eyes or do you simply say “wow”?  This will give you some idea as to what your style is. It is easier to develop a style based on your own personality than it is trying to be someone else.

Soccer is a big part of this teenager’s life. This style of  portrait has more meaning for he and his parents………….

STEP 3…… Once you feel you have found your style, go and practice and try different things. Use the ideas and inspirations from your research as benchmarks, there is nothing wrong with this.

We all need  catalysts or benchmarks to point us in the right direction. After a while you will start to move away from the original images that inspired you, this is the start of developing your own unique style.

As you progress you will notice that it is not one thing alone that builds your unique style – but the combination of  lighting, composition, facial analysis, posing, perspective, lens choice, time of day and more, that creates your uniqueness. But most important of all is what you see and the feeling or message you want to project.

TIPS……Lifestyle Portraits have been around since the beginning of photography and there are many interpretations of what a Lifestyle Portrait is. For me they are always images that relate to the actual activities within the family or individuals, particularly when they are long-term interests and not passing phases.

One way of improving your creativity and uniqueness is to create some new projects. A couple of popular examples would be music and sport. My advice is not to go to your usual portrait locations, but to find more interesting and challenging locations. This is part of the process of developing your unique style and standing out from the pack.

TECHNIQUE EXAMPLE…… The image of the BOXER came about through consultation with the young man’s mother. She told me her son had a home gym under the back balcony, so I thought why go to the local park, this was an opportunity to create something unique. Also a great way to motivate teenagers who don’t want to be photographed, is to incorporate their lifestyle, (cars, bikes, gym, music, sport etc.).

To make it more dramatic, I took a portable “beauty dish” light to create a more moody style of lighting. This was my first shoot with my “beauty dish” set up and I was  happy with the look, although I’ve since made some subtle changes. The main light is from the beauty dish and the fill is the ambient light. The background is an old piece of olive green tarpauline I have had for 35 years, his mother and sister held up the tarp to hide the sunny background that was distracting, therefore creating a stronger low key portrait.

With the Soccer Player I used the same  lighting set up, but I used the practice nets at his club for the background and I guess foreground also.

CONCLUSION…….Strive to improve your technical skills, then search for images that appeal to you and study their technical and emotional strengths. Ask yourself, “are these the style of images I would want of my family and would I display them on my walls FOREVER, AS A PIECE OF ART?”

This may be the way to finding your true style. If it is, take ownership of it and expand and improve it, but above all, make your images speak – “UNIQUELY YOU”.

Good luck and best wishes for 2011

Wayne

portrait tips and techniques

As I specialise in black and white, I’ll talk from that point of view. I would approach colour a little differently, as colour temperature of the background, clothing colours and skin brightness require a different thought process.

TIP…. if you want to learn this approach in colour I would start by looking at portrait paintings of the master artists such as Johannes Vermeer – 17th century Dutch/Flemish artist. See how they balance and place faces against certain coloured backgrounds etc.

I like things simple and try to avoid complicated backgrounds when possible. Of course if a client wants a certain location and it’s a busy one, then you may have to do extra post production to correct any problems. Usually my clients leave it to me. The first thing to understand is how to recognise these problems and deal with them before you take the portrait.

In general, most caucasian skin complexion is around a zone 6 on a gray scale (give or take half a stop). In other words a stop brighter than a gray card (zone 5) – darker skin around a stop or two less than a gray card. The idea is to place the face on an area that is darker than the skin tone, so the face being lighter stands out more than the background.

The image below is a good example of a light face contrasting against a darker background.

Canon 5D – 70-200 F2.8L IS – ISO 400 – 1/80th @ F2.8

The next problem can be busy and contrasty backgrounds. My portrait tip here is to look for locations with even-toned, textured backgrounds. Again the image above is an example of this. The boy is sitting on the side of a gully and the background is the continuation of the gully. The area is covered in weeds and vegetation of the same texture and colour. With a camera setting of 1/80th @F2.8 there is very little depth of field, so the background is soft and dark like an old canvas background, allowing the face to stand out.

Below are two overview images of the working area of the above portrait, plus I have attached a stepped gray card to the black & white image to show the tonal relationship between the gray scale and the background as seen in black & white.

The stepped gray scale is a quick and accurate way to learn to see in black and white. It will show you how different scenery and objects record in black & white.

TIP….. if you’re new to B&W, create a step chart on your computer, go out and take photos of scenery, painted buildings, multiple brick colours, concrete, weathered timber, grass and as many things you can think of. Then create a duplicate copy, convert one to B&W. Align the colour image side by side with the B&W image and attach the step cart to the B&W (as above), then you can compare how the different colours and textures record in B&W. This will also show you what clothing colours work best with certain background textures and colours.

The image below is an example of how bright skies can pull your eyes away from the subjects. A study of where the background is much brighter than the faces and will require post production work to improve it. Having said that, the emotion in the image overrules the technical side. Where possible, I try to avoid these types of backgrounds, as the broken spotted light is distracting and in my opinion worse in colour. But I like these old tracks and it’s a case of giving the boys some fun and recording the moment.

The two images following are more examples of combining darker neutral tones with the soft texture of vegetation to create a simple background to allow the subjects to stand out without distraction.

Hopefully these photo tips on location selection,  will give you a different thought process to selecting backgrounds for your portraits.  Used this way will save time on the computer fixing unwanted background distractions. Striking and exotic backgrounds are great, but learning to place the subjects in the scene, based on skin tone and clothing colours, will make your subjects the centre of attention.

TIP….When in doubt – KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Thank you to those who leave comments, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to do so. Without comments I don’t know what you’re looking for.

If you have a particular subject you would like me to write on, please let me know. I try to keep the info not too technical, as this blog is for photographers of all different levels to enjoy. If you’re looking for more in-depth techniques on available light portraiture, my eBook, Black & White – Natural Light Portraiture is ideal.

FREE GIFT……If you would like a free copy of the “gray scale step chart” for your computer desktop, just enter your email address in our STAY IN TOUCH subscription box and I’ll send you a copy with our next newsletter.

Until next week, happy shooting

Wayne

Welcome to this weeks portrait tips and techniques. This week is about using portrait reflectors outdoors and how to choose the right one for each situation. Firstly, what is a reflector and why should you use one?

A portrait reflector can be any flat object that is preferably neutral in colour and larger than the area you wish to lighten. Some examples would be a white piece of foam core, white sheet, newspaper, brides dress, white shirt, light coloured wall, white beach sand, light coloured tiled floor and the list goes on. Any of these will lighten shadows, which in turn reduces contrast.

The more popular reflectors are the portable fold up types, available in various sizes. For outdoor half length and closer portraits I use the 30-42″ sizes, of course in the studio large sheets of white styrene are great, but for outdoor portraiture they need to be portable and quick to use. The list of examples above all have their use at various locations, so when you are looking for light direction also consider the elements around you and what effect it will have on the final result.

The image above is an example of increasing the depth of shadow on his left by placing him beside a dark doorway (subtractive) and filling under his eyes with a white reflector. The image below shows the set up.

The aim is to fill without actually noticing.  If you bring the reflector up too high and directly under the face it can look unnatural. I find the best way is to move the reflector towards the subject,  until you start to see the effect, then back off. When I’m looking for dramatic light I place the reflector more to the main light side, as shown above, this keeps the side shadows deep, but cleans up the eye area. When using a reflector from under the subject, you should notice reflections at the bottom of the eyes and this will also increase colour and texture in the eyes. (shown below)

CHOOSING THE RIGHT REFLECTOR – to me it’s “horses for courses”, on a bright day in the shade, I would opt for white, on a slightly overcast day I would use white again or a white/silver mixed reflector, on a very dull day a soft silver reflector (not a shiny silver). For my style of portraiture white is my most used and also a translucent white has an advantage as demonstrated further down. I personally don’t use gold reflectors, I prefer neutral ones and I can adjust the colour temperature more evenly in photoshop. If you are a film user and you are in the shade,  attach a 81c or 85c warming filter and use a neutral reflector.

TIP – if you are seeing the effect, the reflector is too close.

Hats and caps can cause dark shadows around the eyes, so a reflector is definitely an advantage to put some sparkle back into the eyes. Notice the reflector in the bottom of the eyes.The other catchlight sitting at 10 o’clock is the natural light reflectance from light coming in under the overhang (see subtractive lighting) (The pin light source in the pupils is from the distant natural light from behind the camera, in case anyone was wondering if it was flash)

The next photo is an example of handling bright sun with a translucent reflector and a white reflector. I think the set up photo says it all. The girl’s father is holding the translucent reflector and with a simple pose the girl was able to hold the white reflector, possibly a little too close, but with a little Photoshop work I think it’s still an acceptable image. This was set up and shot under 90 secs while walking to another location. I needed an example of using a translucent reflector so I grabbed the opportunity.

There are other ways to control fill light outdoors such as flash, but reflectors are just part of the tools you need for quality outdoor portraiture. Used properly they can give your portraits more impact. If you don’t have any professional reflectors start by using a piece of white board or foamcore, the results will be very much the same and when you are ready you can purchase a more portable reflector.

Until next week, happy shooting

Wayne

TECHNICAL  |   Hasselblad 503cx   150mm lens  Tripod

Welcome to this weeks portrait tips and techniques. This week’s blog post is about “interactive portraiture” or as I often refer to as “the story telling portraits”. This style is easily applied with young children, but with a bit of creative thinking can be used for any age group, children or adult.

It’s not new, artists have been applying the story telling style as a way of expression long before photography was invented. So this week I am going to let the images show my version of interactive portraiture with a brief description of my thoughts and hopefully this can contribute or change your thought process to the way you photograph a session.

Firstly, what is “interactive portraiture? For me it is personalising a portrait session by asking questions about the family lifestyle and applying that lifestyle to the session. Some examples of lifestyle would be fishing, reading, bikes, boating, cars and for younger children it could be dolls, teddy’s, painting and drawing etc. This planning process takes place during my planning consultation with the client before the actual portrait session.

Before I start talking about the images, you need to understand all these images are set up and directed. My style has always been a “directive” approach as opposed to a “follower” (candid). I work to my strength as a director and enjoy the process of planning and creating wall portraits as art.

Others may enjoy the candid approach. There is no right or wrong, just follow what you enjoy, but I would suggest adding the clients lifestyle into the mix.  This will give them something unique and usually pays better because you took the time to personalise their portraits.

The first example above is an easy one. The boys love the water, so why do  a country theme when the lifestyle is beach. I directed the boys by making a game of it. The youngest one enjoyed running back and forth from the water, so all I had to do is direct the eldest boy to a better position, so his brother wouldn’t run out of the frame. Then I  asked the boy to dig for shells, which he was very happy to do. (Seagulls were a bonus). The attention span is usually good for 5 minutes, then I find it’s time for a change. As a storm was coming fast, we had less than 3 minutes to set up, shoot and go.

TECHNICAL   |   Leica M6  35mm F1.4    |    black & white -  tinted & artwork in PS CS3

In the second image, it’s obvious the life style is fishing. The weather was dark, windy and about to rain. The first thing is to find a good scenic spot to allow the kids to face the wind. This would help eliminate hair blowing in all directions.

Next was to place the kids in a pleasing composition that wasn’t too structured, such as a triangular pose. The idea was to give each child’s face and body their own space and angle the bodies to make a more interesting composition.

Sometimes I’ll tell them what I’m looking for (sitting, squatting or kneeling) then see what they do naturally. If I think their natural pose looks right, that’s it, if not I’ll make some small adjustments such as a face angle or a hand etc. to refine the look.

NOTE: Sometimes with interactive portraits you don’t always see all of each individual, this is often deliberate, so it doesn’t look over posed. These interactive images are just part of the session, of course there are other group and individual images to compensate for full face views.

I find these are the “art images” that clients want to display on their walls, so usually full recognition of each individual is not that important, it’s the mood, character and personalisation that is important.

TECHNICAL   |    Canon 5D    70-200mm F2.8L

The boys above are cousins and when they visit their grandparent’s farm, they love to ride all over the property. So in consultation with the parents, I found out this was the common bond between the boys.

The property is an avocado and pineapple farm, so there were many tracks the boys could ride up and down. This is how I make it interesting for the kids. Find something they like doing and incorporate it into part of the sitting, this will give more co-operation and extend the attention span.

TECHNICAL    |     Hasselblad  503cx  150mm    |      tripod

Sometimes with mixed age groups, I try to get the kids to talk amongst themselves and wait for the reaction. Little ones will play, but for the older kids, it’s not cool. So I find setting them up in the scene and directing or teasing works best. Eventually there is a reaction, so it’s a game of patience.

I’m always looking at the angles of the face and where possible I’ll direct the kids to move. Above is an example of two profile views and a two – third facial view.

For me it’s still important to fine-tune the portrait, but if there is a reaction and the pose isn’t quite correct, I’ll still take the photo because expression is the most important thing. Having said that, I’m not suggesting going for expression only and not applying craftsmanship. Do both when possible.

This photot was totally controlled, shot with a Hasselblad on a tripod in low light – two shots were all that was required for this pose, then I moved to another spot. So slowing the process down, thinking and creating does work.

Although I mostly photograph with a DSLR camera these days, I still use a tripod for about 30% of my images.

These are usually the interactive images, where I want to see and be involved with the kids. Preferring to direct from over the top of the camera, rather than hiding behind the camera and talking from behind it.

TECHNICAL    |     Canon 5D    70-200mm F2.8L

Another example of setting the scene and waiting for the right moment. Usually with boys this age you don’t have to wait too long for a reaction. In this image I have a two – third face view and two profile views.

So that’s it for this week, I hope his “directive” style has shown a different way of creating portraits. Some may think it’s old school and would prefer the “photo journalistic” approach. In my experience as a portrait photographer, we should apply all three disciplines – classic, directive and reactive.

I try to apply these 3 styles in  my sessions, not always in equal proportions, but enough to create variety for my clients. Usually they like all three, but it’s the “classic” and “directive” styles, that is usually the larger wall size prints. My theory is that many clients think the “reactive” candids look too easy to do and they think they can do it themselves. The classics and directive images appear to take on a more craftsmanship experience to them and possibly see more value as art.

Just a theory.

Until next week, happy shooting

Wayne