Portrait photography tip: Show what you want

Saturday 13 March 2021, 13:31 by Elja Trum | 3,673 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

It is very difficult to explain in words how you would like someone to move. What is easy is simply showing them.

If you want to see a particular pose or expression, demonstrate it so the person you are photographing can copy you. That makes it immediately clear what you want.

Anna - f/9.0, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 75mm
If you often work with a particular model or have an experienced model in front of the camera, you can take this a step further. Use your hand to make it clear what you want.

Do you want the model to tilt their head slightly? Hold one hand up and tilt it slightly to one side. The model can then copy the angle and direction with her head. This also prevents a lot of confusion with 'Tilt your head slightly to the right... No, the other right'.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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Elja Trum

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Would you like to take better photos and keep up with what is happening in photography? Photofacts publishes articles that teach you something about photography — from a product announcement to a practical shooting tip or a look at a website. Photofacts covers photography every day and is a hobby project of Elja Trum's that got out of hand. The articles are written by a team of volunteer authors. If you would enjoy writing one or more articles for Photofacts, do get in touch.More about Photofacts

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