Include the Foreground.
The one problem with outdoor sessions taken in a head-and-shoulders style
is that clients like to see the depth and beauty in the background, but they
also want to have the facial size. To overcome this problem, I changed the
way in which I pose my head-and-shoulders portraits. I used to put the sub-
ject under a tree with the limbs or other close-by foliage as the background.
This gave me a portraits that I could easily re-create in the studio with green
screen and an old stump. Now, I look for areas that offer foreground ele-
ments branches, grasses, etc.) to hide or soften the areas of the body that
might be a problem to the client in the final pose. This
also helps provide the sense of depth that clients want to
see in their outdoor portraits.
When using foreground elements, I suggest that you
don’t pose your clientin front ofthe background. In
stead, pose theminthe background. Most photogra-
phers place their client in a clearing with a background
that features numerous elements at many levels and dis-
tances from the subject. To create a foreground, you sim-
ply put the subject in the middle of what was to be the
background. You still have the same depth, because you
are using elements in front of the subject as well as be-
hind, however you now have the ability to hide portions
of the client from view.
Clothing Selection.
One word of caution about head-and-shoulder poses:
avoid strapless dresses or tops. You and I might under-
stand that even though you can’t see the clothing the
client had on, she definitely wasn’t naked. To others,
however, this is less obvious. Fathers often bring this to
my attention if I take a tight head-and-shoulders pose in
a strapless dress that just shows the bare shoulders and
no clothing below. It makes me glad I have sons!
Posing Guidelines.
Shoulders at an Angle.In a head-and-shoulders pose,
the shoulders should never go straight through the
frame, with the left shoulder being at the same height as
the right one. To ensure this isn’t a problem, have the
subject lean slightly to the side.
Body and Face at an Angle.
never have the body squared off to the camera. Always
94 JEFF SMITH’S POSING TECHNIQUES FOR LOCATION PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
The background is a big concern in outdoor
portraits. By carefully choosing the position
of your subject and camera, you can often
improve your results. In the top image, the
background has both very light and very dark
areas. Moving to the right (middle) did not
produce an acceptable background either. In
the final image (bottom) repositioning the
camera so that the background was filled
with dark foliage produced a better image.