Posing a face

I’m supposed to be witting this blog so that I don’t forget… but I did forget! I watched an interesting video, thought “wow, I must save that”, and then promptly forgot to do so :(

Today I spent ages searching for it again. At long last I found it.

Threatening grass

Here’s a shot that I like, I even like the fun text with it (click on the photo to read that) but I’ve never been 100% happy with the face angle.

D300 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4 + SB800 + SB600 at ISO200, 85mm, f2.8, 1/80sec

Rembrandt Lives

David Ziser of Digital Pro Talk gives a great 15 minutes presentation called Rembrandt Lives on posing a face for portrait shots. He says:

Classical portraiture is an important starting point in becoming a good “people photographer”. By knowing the classical basics, we can do out best at creating the and most flattering images for are clients.

It is probably the of stuff that is taught in the first year of a photography course, but since I’ve never done any such courses it was all new and interesting to me. Also, it addressed something that I was starting to get an inkling of in my portraits – how do I angle the face? I hadn’t yet found anything that explains a such concept, and then I stumbled across David’s video which does it so well. Now I’ve got to put it into practice, and then learn to break those rules.

I’m not certain that “Threatening grass” above can be improved by following one of the classical poses; perhaps it is one of those cases where the rules have to be broken.

My notes

These are my notes to act as a memory jogger for me, but make sure that you watch the video; David goes into depth about the poses and suggestions on use.

Full Face Here’s lookin’ directly at you babe

• The axis of the subjects face is in line with the lens axis.
• Pupils are centred in the whites of the eyes.

2/3′s View It defines the mask of the face and is not dependant on the eye direction

• Inside corner of the eye lines up with the tip of the nose. Outside eye always contained in far side of face.
• Don’t let the tip of the nose break the check line, and/or don’t let the far eye hang out in space.

Modified 2/3′s View

• The axis of the subjects face is not quite 2/3s View.
• Pupils slightly decentered in the whites of the eyes.
• Even a little white of the eye shows at the bottom of the eye.

Profile View

• Exactly half of the face.
• Only look for far eye lashes, not eye ball, eye lid or check.
• Pupils looking slight towards the camera side to give centred appearance and reduce eye white on the side. Chin down a fraction to get eyes looking slightly up.
• Keep profile clean.

Just starting?

A friend of mine has bought a Fujifilm FinePix S2000HD for a safari trip and asked me “Help!” I offered to go along on the safari to take the photos for him (as long as he covered my expenses, of course), but what he actually wanted was help with understanding photography :(

So anyway…

I found this great series of articles that explain the basics of photography. If you are just starting out, then perhaps you’ll find them a good introduction too. The clear explanations, diagrams and exercises really make this series a brilliant tutorial, particularly lessons 4, 5 and 6.

Lesson 1: Light and the Pinhole Camera
Lesson 2: Lenses and Focus
Lesson 3: Lenses, Light and Magnification
Lesson 4: Exposure and Stops
Lesson 5: Aperture
Lesson 6: Shutter
Lesson 7: ISO
Lesson 8: The Light Meter

They say:

In this series, we cover all the basics of camera design and use. We talk about the ‘exposure triangle’: shutter speed, aperture and ISO. We talk about focus, depth of field and sharpness, as well as how lenses work, what focal lengths mean and how they put light on the sensor. We also look at the camera itself, how it works, what all the options mean and how they affect your photos.

Questions and answers on this series have been posted to Question Time.