Some Thoughts About Portraits

The strongest portraits are those that are well posed and/or have a good background. Portraits don’t always need backgrounds to work.

It’s not always a good idea to have people smile. It’s also important that they don’t frown. The expression must convey a feeling of who they are as a person. This is best done by directing the subject. The directions don’t need to be complex, but they do need to put the subject at ease so that they don’t smile excessively or frown excessively.

Some favorite portraits of mine

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/C/callahan/callahan_eleanor_chi47_full.html

http://del.icio.us/paullight/portraits

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/arnold-newmans-incredible

http://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/nicholas-nixon