Photo Tips – The Pyramid In Portrait Photography And Where To Position The Eyes!
We want to capture this quality in our portraits! The pyramid is known for its strength and stability. The pyramid shape is well-known in group poses. Today’s tip will show you how to make a portrait with it.
Photo Tip #1…The pyramid in portrait photography.
The pyramid is a familiar shape for most people. It is strong, solid, and timeless. Everywhere you look, pyramids are everywhere. It’s printed even on American money! And we don’t have any famous Pyramids here!
This shape is so deeply ingrained in our culture and subliminal consciousness that it gives us a feeling of comfort and relief when we see it and unease and instability when it’s missing or misused incorrectly. (Upside down.)
The pyramid is a popular shape for photographing groups. We can add as many people as we like, so it’s possible to scale the pyramid in any way you want. The most important or central figure is usually the highest, and all other figures become visually leading lines that point to the apex. So on.
We don’t think of the pyramid shape often in portrait photography, but we should.
Great portrait photos should avoid football shoulders. We turn our model towards the side. We can go too far. It is impossible to go beyond 90 degrees from the camera. It produces a straight-up and down image with no visual support for the head. It appears unstable to the viewer.
Yes, I do know that sometimes we want to create a “profile image”. Before you can make an informed decision about when to break the rules, it is important to understand them.
It is usually more pleasing to photograph the subject at 45 degrees from the camera. This angle is slimmer, and the shoulders provide visual support for the head. To complete the pyramid’s sides, you can lift the arms a little.
We now have a solid and visually appealing base for the head of the model. Subliminally, the viewer feels more secure because there is no danger of anything falling over.
Photo Tip #2…The Eyes – Where to Get The Model Look.
This is a quick one. We always look into the eyes of someone we are engaging in conversation with. We are always looking into the eyes of our subjects when we engage them. Portrait photography is not about setting the viewer on edge. We want them to be drawn into a portrait.
It was a long-standing trend for the subject to look just to the side of a camera. The subject was almost looking at the camera. This still happens from time to time.
Don’t do it! If you don’t have a very good reason to, the model should look straight into the camera and make eye contact with the viewer. By very good reason, I mean one that is obvious to both you and the viewer.
This rule is supported by portrait sales figures. It is more enjoyable for people to make eye contact.
These two tips can be incorporated into portrait photography. Although they might seem obvious, I see them being ignored all the time. It can make a big difference. Check out the resource box for more information!
