Posing for Portrait Photography

most stunning scene, but if the eyes are not properly lit and proper-

ly posed, the portrait will not be salable. The eyes give life to the

portrait, and it is particularly the catchlights that give the eyes life.

They attract the viewer of the portrait to the eyes and are one of the

primary goals of any professional photographer.

In my book Outdoor and Location Photography (Amherst

Media, 2002), I stated that the single biggest mistake photographers

make outdoors is not having distinct catchlights in the eyes. The

same is true for inexperienced photographers in the studio. They

don’t check the eyes with each and every portrait they take.

Most photographers don’t really think about posing the eyes.

They look at the face as a whole, but, again, it is each part as well as

the sumof the parts that make a good pose. A good working strate-

POSING THE FACE 39

Catchlights attract the viewer of the portrait to
the eyes and are one of the primary goals of
any professional photographer.

The single biggest mistake

photographers make outdoors

is not having distinct

catchlights in the eyes.