Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

shoulders portraits: to create depth and realism in the portraits, which pleases

me, and to add interest to the portraits, which pleases my clients.

In the typical portrait, created using a painted background, you have two

points of focus: the subject in critical focus and the flat, painted background at

one other point of focus (which is obviously slightly out of focus). I like to have

four points of focus in my portraits: something in front of the subject in the

foreground, the subject in critical focus, and then at least two points of focus

in the background. The resulting portrait has more depth and realism.

This idea works in the studio or outdoors. In the studio, you can add a plant

or column in the foreground or a swag of fabric between the subject and the

background. Outdoors, don’t lean the person against the tree with only back-

BACKGROUND SELECTION 35

ABOVE AND FACING PAGE—Including some
foreground and background elements en-
hances the sense of depth and realism. In
the image above, notice the girl’s feet in
the background. Although this might tech-
nically be considered a full-length portrait,
because her body is so obscured in the
background, it’s really more of a head and
shoulders image.