Sunday, April 5, 2020

People Pictures

The pandemic has put most of us in self-isolation. Hello out there! I'm here in this little studio flat all by myself, but that's okay. I'm not uncomfortable spending time in solitude. 

If you are self-isolating with a partner or in a family group and you have a camera handy, perhaps this would be a good time to try some serious portraiture. And maybe I can help with a few tips.

A good portrait has nothing false in it. We don't need to see another empty smile. Of course, some people smile a lot. If a smile is real and natural, and if you can encourage and capture that with your camera, great. 

In the long-ago, I did hundreds of portraits of actors. I've not done any in a very long time but I will try to find my way through the cobwebs of a faulty, aging memory to tell you how I used to work. 

I was lucky to have an apartment with great natural light from two sets of windows, one with north light, the other with unhindered light from the West. And my building was just a short walk from Central Park, where I would often take my subjects to do the second half of a portrait session. The Upper Westside was an affordable, pleasant place to live back then. 



To begin, I would have the subjects sit on a cushioned stool and coach them to sit up straight and be comfortable doing it. I wanted a relaxed long-body look. 

I used a Nikon F 35mm SLR with Kodak Plus-X or Tri-X. Tri-X was my go-to Street film, which I developed myself in Acufine (without pushing) and rated it at ASA 800. Acufine produced a tighter, more even grain than Kodak D-76. I would shoot 3 or 4 rolls of 36 exposures. At one point, I switched to Ilford's medium speed film of the time.

I found a 105mm lens best for headshots. Sometimes I would go a bit longer with women, 135mm or even 180mm. Bright, soft open-shade lighting works best with most women. A more dramatic crosslight is better for men. Usually. But each person, each subject, is a different judgment call. 



If this old-timey tech info confuses you, don't worry about it; it's all in the past now. Irrelevant. You'll be shooting with a digital camera or your smartphone, right? 

A trick that works well is to have the subject look to the left or right and then turn back to look directly at me. That simple move puts life in the body and lessens stiffness. 



Being an actor myself helped when directing actors, I think. An important acting tip is—don't act. Listen and react. I would ask the subject what he or she had for dinner the night before. Then I'd ask them what they had for breakfast. 

"But," I would say, "this time say nothing. Don't speak. Just think the thought as if I can read your mind. Please don't act, and don't put any expression on your face. Just look at me and let me read the thought in your mind." It works! It's magic.  


































1 comment:

  1. Great advice on portraiture, thank you. I dabbled in the 70s/80s with a camera club, also using Tri-X. You've given me the impetus to give it another try.

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