Jeff Smith's Guide to Head and Shoulders Portrait Photography

Including the Background.

The way you pose a person on location can add a great deal of interest to the
head and shoulders portrait. On location, more than anywhere else, we use the
technique of compressing the body to achieve a head and shoulders head size
by bringing the upper body close to the camera and then having the lower body
recede into the background. While some might say this is not strictly a head
and shoulders pose, this type of portrait will satisfy older purchasers who want
a larger facial size and younger purchasers who want to see more of themselves
(and their outfits).
Including more of the background, or a certain part of a background that a
clients feels is important to include, in a head and shoulders portrait requires
some distance; you have to put the background element in the proper perspec-
tive to get the correct size. If a client wants to show a building in their head and
shoulders pose, most photographers would meet the client at the building and
then use small sections of the building in the background. To get the back-
ground that the client wants (the whole building) in a head and shoulders pose,
you would probably have to meet the client and use an area across or down the

100 JEFF SMITH’S GUIDE TO HEAD AND SHOULDERS PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY

LEFT AND FACING PAGE—Outdoor images

should show the location—the reason you

bothered to do the session outdoors!

The way you pose a

person on location

can add a great deal of

interest to the portrait.