4

CHAPTER
NIGHT AND LOW-LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY / People and Places Indoors

    ■   Hands can be a problem. The side of the

hand looks thinner and therefore better than

the front or back of the hand. Try not to have

the hands too far forward in the frame, as this

can draw the eyes away from the rest of the

image by drawing attention to the hands.

    ■   Sitting or standing. When your subject is sitting

in a chair, angle the chair slightly and have your

subjects sit forward, as shown in Figure 4-12.

Looking off camera. Having the subject
look off to the side or just past the camera
can create a sense of mystery in the photo.
The viewer will wonder what the subject is
looking at. Here is the important part:
Make sure that the subject is actually look-
ing at something and not just staring into
space because it will show in the image.

Eyes closed or looking down. If the subject
is looking down or has her eyes closed, you
still need to focus on the eyes. This look
can be really intimate, but make sure that
you don’t capture the subject with her eyes
half open — that doesn’t look very good.

See the whites of the eyes. A way to make
the eyes look more open and larger is to
have the subject look slightly up so that
the whites under the iris are visible. This
works well when you have the subject tilt
her head down slightly while looking up
slightly. The key word there is slightly. A
little tilt goes a long way.

■   Control the tilt of the head. Everybody’s

head tends to lean to one side or the other
when they are relaxed. Make sure that, as
your subjects get comfortable, they don’t
suddenly start to lean to the left or right.

■   Turn the body. Turning the body slightly

towards the camera makes the distance
between the shoulder blades narrower, which
makes the subject look slimmer. Conversely,
when the subjects are square to the camera,
they seem wider and more aggressive.

■   Watch the legs. Make sure that the knees are

not locked out. This can make the pose look
very stiff and unnatural. Have the subject
shift weight from one leg to the other, and see
how it changes the composition.

ABOUT THIS PHOTO After a long day of posing for photos, a

glass of wine is not a bad idea. This was lit with a single flash bounced

off the ceiling; you can see the soft shadow on her neck. Taken at 1/30

second, f/4.0, and ISO 100.

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