Fill The Frame With Your Subject
Posted by sepial at June 19th, 2006
When you are taking a portrait your aim usually is to capture the beauty and character of the person you are photographing.
Beginners commonly stand too far from their subjects, take a landscape (horizontal) shot of a single person in the centre of the frame, and leave the vast majority of the image to things that have nothing to do with their subject. Sometimes they do this to include a landmark in the background. Sometimes they do this because they feel they must photograph the full length of their subjects’ bodies. No one cares what your subject’s feet look like. Well, they don’t most of the time.
When people do care what your subject’s feet look like then just photograph her feet.
I’ll write about centres and sides and backgrounds and foregrounds later, but for now remember:
- Don’t be afraid of the edge of the photograph—but never let it cut your subject’s eyes.
- Don’t be afraid to invade your subject’s space to take his picture—but be prepared to distract him until you get a more natural shot.
- Don’t be afraid to let your subject dominate the image—he’s what it’s all about.
My photo above might have been improved by my moving slightly further away from the subject and leaving more space on the side of the frame he was looking towards.
I don’t have a problem with the amount of space on the left as much as missing part of his ear. Otherwise it’s not a bad shot, his expression and the lighting are good.
Hey,
I love what you’e doing!
Don’t ever change and best of luck.
Raymon W.